Towards dusk, Weiss arrived with the division headquarters at a temporary station close to the front line. Standing here, you can look up at the pass called "Belakasser" and the fortress that has long been famous in the Federation. Of course, what you see in the telescope at this time is not a majestic fortress, but a pile of ruined ruins and a dark "big rock" that does not fit in with the environment.

The Norman army placed a 28,000-ton battleship in that pass as a steel fortress, and although it was far less protective than a modern fortress, it created a major problem for the federal army aspiring to recapture the fortress. Because the Norman cruisers equipped with "devil's bombs" were flexible and good at hiding between the mountains of the Monamolin Mountains, the capital ships of the Federation did not dare to get too close to the pass of "Bela Casser", relying on cruisers and corvettes to harass the Norman army from time to time, but they were helpless against the Norman battleships that were forcibly stranded.

The atmosphere at the first divisional headquarters combat meeting after arriving at the temporary station was quite depressing. According to reliable battle reports, the 14th Combat Division, one of the elite units of the 1st Army Corps, which had arrived in advance, launched three attacks in half a day, but because the Norman steel batteries were too heavy to approach the fortress of Belakasser, they had to withdraw from the attack because of more than half of the casualties.

After the combat meeting, Weiss walked out of the division headquarters and breathed on the small hill next to him. After a while, an infantry company of more than 200 men passed by, heading for the starting position of the attack, which was closer to the front line. They did not look like they were burdened by a long march, nor were they lightly armed when they were about to go into battle. In addition to conventional weapons such as rifles and rapid-fire guns, they also carried some unusual equipment, such as curved guns with short barrels, explosive canisters with slender barrels, and tightly bundled explosive packs.

In this special heavy company, whether it was an officer or a soldier, everyone's expression was grim, and there was an air of solemnity in the ranks. Looking at them, a thought popped up in Weiss's head: Isn't this a death squad ready to attack at night?

Suddenly, Weiss saw a familiar face in the group and was stunned.

Hart Resos, his classmate at the Bathton Military Academy, the sophomore who was severely reprimanded by the third-graders for spilling over the stove during the spring convention drills, and the robes who lived and died together during the Frontier Battle.

If memory serves, he also joined the 1st Defense Division under the command of the old headmaster, Van Luo. Could it be that the company in front of you is composed of the remnants of the 1st National Defense Division?

Weiss ran down the hill as fast as he could, caught up with the group, and said hello, "Hart!" Hey! Hart! ”

Resus turned his head when he heard the call, and saw that it was Weiss, he said something to the officer beside him, and then left the group, and walked up to Weiss unhurriedly, barely squeezing out a smile on his face: "Hey, dragon, long time no see." Ha! Lo and behold, you're already an acting captain! ”

Weiss didn't smile, he hadn't seen him for more than two months, Resos looked like he was a teenager old, his face was full of scum, showing the vicissitudes of life, and there seemed to be a kind of depression on his body, but it didn't make people feel tired.

The two men stood facing each other, Rexos wearing a green collar badge with a rifle cross pattern and a four-pointed gold star on the epaulettes to indicate his status as an army midshipman, while Weiss wore a gray collar badge with three four-pointed gold stars on the epaulettes, which were two levels apart from each other in the informal ranks.

After a moment, Weiss said: "I joined the 11th Defense Division and just arrived today. ”

Resos nodded: "I heard that several newly formed defense divisions will arrive one after another to take over the troops in front and continue the attack. ”

"You look like you're going to have a night raid?" Weiss asked.

Rethos turned his head to look at the heavy but determined company, and responded, "If we don't turn the tide of battle tonight, our hopes of retaking Belakasy will only get slimmer!" ”

Knowing that Resos didn't have time to talk to him, Weiss hurriedly asked, "How are they?" Otto, Wats, Mullen, and, of course, General Van Lowe, how's it going? ”

Rethos lowered his head and was silent for a few seconds: "In Belakasser, we have experienced a harsher and more tragic battle than the border battle, most of the people are either killed or missing, and the whole division has withdrawn less than 600 people. Colorlight was killed, Rundes and Enge were nowhere to be found, as was General Van Rowe, but no one saw him killed, perhaps they were still trapped underground, in ammunition depots or other caves...... Sorry, Dragon, sorry, I have to go. Good luck! ”

With that, he took Weiss's hand tightly, then turned resolutely and ran away with the company that had pursued him.

After a series of fierce battles, less than 600 officers and men of the 10,000-strong troops were withdrawn. With more than ninety percent casualties, what a brutal battle? More than ninety percent of casualties were left before withdrawing from the battle, what a resilient force it was?

After a long silence, Weiss turned and returned to the divisional headquarters.

In less than half an hour, the command of the Western Front issued a battle order: the 931st Infantry Regiment of the 11th National Defense Division immediately went to the starting position of the attack, preparing to advance to Belakaser after dark, and the 932nd Regiment, the 933rd Regiment and the battalions of the division were on combat alert at the station, and as soon as the order arrived, they immediately went to the starting position of the attack.

After receiving the battle order, the division commander De Luca, who had always been amicable, actually quarreled with the chief of staff, Butich. If nothing else, the fight is over who will take the lead with the 931st Infantry Regiment. De Luca said that he should uphold the fine style of the commander of the federal army, give the front-line officers and soldiers the greatest encouragement, and as a division commander, be able to judge the situation as accurately as possible at the front. Butich's reasons are also very good, the division commander should sit in the division headquarters and control the overall situation, as the chief thinker of this unit, he must go to the front line to find out the enemy's situation and find out countermeasures.

This is the first battle after the formation of the 11th National Defense Division, except for the inspector and quartermaster, the division headquarters can be said to be the first, but Wei Si stood quietly aside, quietly thinking about the problem, and when the high-spirited officers were almost finished, he quietly poured out a basin of cold water: "Everyone, please listen to me, just now, I met the brothers of the 1st National Defense Division, I think, they are familiar with the situation of the fortress, it should be tonight's sharp knife troops, but if we can't destroy the enemy's battleship parked there, or force it to leave, we have almost no chance of winning." Therefore, I think the focus of our debate is not who will be the vanguard, but what kind of tactics and strategies will be used to break the dilemma. ”

De Luca squinted at Weiss: "What, are you scared?" ”

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's unwilling." "I am not willing to watch our brave and elite soldiers fall in groups under the enemy's guns, blood frozen on this cold land, only to consume the enemy's ammunition. ”

De Luca frowned and pondered, and the always calm chief of staff, Colonel Butich, muttered: "Dragon's idea is not unreasonable, you must know that the combat quality of the 14th Combat Division is ranked first in the 1st Army Corps, as one of the last reserves on the Western Front, its attack power is undoubted, but as a result, it lost most of its troops in less than a day, and has not achieved any results, so there must be a big problem in tactical selection." In North Freese, in Wessex, in the northern part of the Union, we kept using traditional tactics, we kept losing to the Normans, and it became clear that if we could not get direct support from the fleet, we had to find something else! ”

"That's right!" Weiss immediately affirmed Colonel Butich's statement, "We must find another way!" ”

"Maybe you've already figured out a solution?" Colonel Butage locked his gaze on Weiss's face.

Weiss took a deep breath: "We do have ideas, but from ideas to strategies, we still need everyone's joint efforts. ”

The former is to use smoke to interfere with the enemy's field of vision, approach the enemy warship by means of sound and attack west, and use the method of blasting to blow up an opening that can enter the enemy's battleship, and even if it cannot capture the enemy's battleship, it must force it to leave quickly, so as to sweep away the Norman army's firepower fulcrum to defend Belakasser; The latter also used smoke to cover the movement of troops, but the combat troops went directly into the almost ruined fortress, avoiding enemy fire as much as possible, and fighting with the Norman infantry for control of the fortress.

The two lines of thought, the difficulty, the risks, and the potential gains, seem to be obvious and the trade-offs seem to be a little weighed to reach a conclusion. On the sand table of wargame deduction, this contrast is indeed clear, but in reality, with mature and rational thinking, this may not be the case. No matter how subtle the tactics are, if they are not feasible, then they are only on paper. In order to turn an idea into a feasible idea and from an idea to a strategy, it is necessary to comprehensively consider whether the troops have the basic qualities, whether they have received similar training and drills, and whether they can carry out them on the battlefield.

Smoke screen cover is neither necessary nor common in the regular tactical mode of the Federation Army, as the smoke screen obscures the enemy's view as well as your own. The commanders admired the battleship's heavy artillery to open the way, the ground infantry to push it, and the strong fortifications and tenacious will to fight, and deliberately created a smoke screen on the battlefield, as if it was a dishonest character, and it was a sneaky trick that could not be put on the table.

Thankfully, the Union Army was not only tactically rigid but also inflexible in terms of rationing, and even if the front-line troops did not ask for it, they still provided combat units with grenades, armor-piercing, shotgun, flares, incendiary grenades, and smoke grenades in a fixed proportion, which meant that if the division decided to adopt Weiss's tactical ideas, a certain number of smoke grenades could be obtained in a short period of time.

At first glance, the officers of the division, including De Luca and Butich, were inclined to the idea of attacking the enemy ships first and then seizing the fortresses; after all, in the past years' conference drills and large-scale exercises, although the examples of infantry successfully seizing ships were rare, they left a very deep impression on the people, but after listening to Weiss's comprehensive analysis, they still calmed down and carefully considered the feasibility of tactics.