"Captain, the division headquarters called, and the whole line will launch a counter-attack in ten minutes!"

"Ten minutes?"

Hearing the deputy's report, Weiss raised his hand and looked at his watch, then cast his gaze forward, his expression solemn, in sharp contrast to the longing at the beginning of the war.

The location he was in at the moment was a street in the south of the central city of Aocheng, and there was a building that was burned to the ground and only the frame remained, which was neither suitable for defense nor concealment, but it was a battlefield reconnaissance point with a good view. Here, Weiss can clearly see the remnants of the Grumman Building, the main building of which has collapsed in a crushing manner, but the ruins are still 100 feet high, like a man-made mountain of considerable scale. Also in the heart of the city, there are three smaller and similarly shaped ruins of the Carsten Building, the Padras Building, and the Auguste Steel Building. Like the Grummen Tower, they are also a testament to the glory days of Aocheng, and they also led the way at the beginning, and at that time, probably no one expected them to end up in the same way.

The Battle of Aught has been going on so far, the Norman army has advanced to the hinterland south of the city, and the day before yesterday, the federal army has launched a major counterattack, and before dawn has crossed the center of the city and arrived near the stadium in the north of the city, only ten miles away from the goal of expelling the Norman army from the city. Although there is not a single thorn in this ten-mile road, it is already difficult to move an inch.

More than two hours had passed since he was appointed commander of the reconnaissance battalion task force company directly under the 16th Combat Division, and during this time, Weiss put aside the distractions that had plagued him for the time being and devoted himself to his new role. Thirty-six old men, plus 64 new reinforcements from the reserves, made up this company of 100 men. Weiss divided them into four groups, two for ground reconnaissance and two for sewers to probe - as he expected, the explosion of several skyscrapers by the secret service forces, and the purposeful destruction of the Norman army, the sewers in the center of the city were less than a third of the passable area. Even so, with careful planning, there is still a chance to send elite troops to the rear of enemy positions to launch a surprise attack in the midst of a fierce battle.

On the frontal battlefield, under the attack of wave after wave of the Federal Army's flying troops, the Norman fleet, after losing a cruiser and a cruiser one after another, retreated from the sky above the city to the northern suburbs of Aocheng, covering each other with ground artillery, and continued to support the Norman army in the city with artillery fire. After driving the Norman fleet out of the city, they tried to continue the pursuit, but their losses increased sharply under the attack of the Norman fleet and ground anti-aircraft fire, and they immediately changed the direction of their operations and turned to attack the Norman army in the city. In this way, the air battle temporarily formed a confrontational trend, and the ground battlefield set off a bloody storm: the Norman ground artillery group covered the vast battlefield from the north of the city to the center of the city, and the amount of single artillery fire projection had a devastating effect on the Union troops within the block, no matter how brave the Union officers and soldiers were, even if they disregarded their lives, it was difficult to continue to push their battle line north, and the regiments on the front line fought fiercely with the Norman army who were constantly counterattacking, and the casualties continued to increase, and the battle line did not advance but retreated. With the support of artillery, the Norman army captured one block after another they had occupied, but they also paid a bloody price for breaking through the rain of bullets and bullets of the Union army, and the bombs and strafing of the Union fighters also made them suffer, so that wherever the Norman army reached, on the streets and among the ruins, the Norman soldiers were killed no less than their opponents. Perhaps, as General Karl said, this crucial battle has reached a critical stage, and whichever side is more sacrificial will have a better chance of victory.

Ten minutes went by in the blink of an eye. At the entrance of the street, as far as the naked eye can see, hundreds of Norman soldiers are launching a strong attack under the guidance of armored fighting vehicles. On the other side of the street, many Union soldiers are still holding on to the ruins, but judging from the scene, it is obvious that this street fighting position cannot be held.

At this moment, three green flares were launched into the air, which meant that more than 50,000 officers and soldiers of four infantry divisions, including the 16th Combat Division, were about to launch a counterattack against the Norman army's attack in the heart of the city. The green flares had not yet fallen, and the dust and smoke dispersed in the south of the city, and the rumbling cannons merged. Countless shells flew overhead, whizzing down on the Norman-controlled area. In an instant, the sound of a dense explosion completely filled people's auditory senses, and the ground continued to tremble, and the broken walls trembled with it.

Weiss patted his deputy next to him and made a "follow me" gesture. The two climbed down the brick corner along the edge of the wall, ran out into the street as fast as they could, slipped through the uncovered manhole cover, and returned to the familiar underground world in three or two clicks. Following the route taken by the Federation during the counterattack, it leads all the way to the North of the City Stadium, but it has been reoccupied by the Norman army, and the Norman battleship that was finally captured was also abandoned by the Union army because of the heavy damage of the Norman fire, and now it makes no sense to risk through the artillery coverage area to the north of the city. At a fork in the sewers, Weiss and his two squad leaders gathered together, ignoring the effects of the artillery bombardment, studying and discussing the next tactical countermeasures against the familiar sewer distribution map - the main task was to find a suitable breach behind enemy lines for their own combat units. The process lasted for about ten minutes, and the shelling from outside continued, and despite the possibility of the sewer collapsing at any time in the area covered by the artillery, the brave scouts rushed to the target area they had just selected, and at each fork in the road, they either placed a kerosene lamp in the passage ahead, or asked a soldier to stay behind to guide the subsequent combat commandos.

As always, Weiss led a detachment into action. Due to the dispersion of a number of "navigators" along the road, when they reached an exit behind the enemy's line, Weiss had six companions with him. These skilled scouts calmly descended to the surface, searching for hidden combat reconnaissance spots in the collapsed buildings—not only to watch out for nearby Norman soldiers, but also to pray that they would not be hit by their own shells, but fortunately neither tragedy happened. Soon, the Union artillery bombardment began to extend deep into the battlefield, and the Union troops deployed behind the battle line quickly crossed their own lines, passed through the areas of fire, and pierced the Norman positions like arrows......

Observing the battlefield from the rear of the Normans' front-line positions was a completely new perspective for Weiss: he clearly saw the Normans' layered offensive and defensive system of street warfare, and was surprised to find that the Normans' fire support in the forward positions was neither light and heavy machine guns, nor field artillery, nor weapons in the hands of infantry, but armored combat vehicles equipped with machine guns, machine guns, and short-barreled artillery!

War is a natural catalyst for military progress, but when it comes to different countries and different armies, the effects are often very different. The Federation army "evolved" a fighter unit that did not rely on the star source stone at all, and repeatedly staged the air battle of "ants bite the elephant", saving the precarious battle situation in an unconventional way, and the "evolution" of the Norman army was mainly reflected in the artificial star source stone, they cleverly used the aerial lightning strike tactics, and successively defeated the flying fleets of Wessex and the Free Federation, and this is obviously not their only "evolutionary direction". As early as during the Northern Frontier Campaign, Weiss had already seen the majesty of the Norman army's armored forces, and the more the fedgrates were in a difficult position in field and sports warfare, which was inseparable from the Norman army's use of armored fighting vehicles.

When his mind returned, Weiss's fears, and General Karl's melancholy, had become a reality. On the battlefield filled with gunpowder, waves of Union troops poured across the streets and into the rubble-strewn neighborhoods, devouring the Norman soldiers who were in the front and had no time to retreat, a scene that seemed to have never been seen before after the Norman army stormed the city. However, such a heroic and fearless act was not exchanged for a victory like a mercury fall, but a sharp increase in casualties. Although the Norman army lost its forward positions, it did not lose its position, but the Chinese army covered the front army and the rear army to support the Chinese army, and organized a strong blocking line in the second-line position. On this blocking line, a considerable number of armoured fighting vehicles, static or moving, each in their own position, opened heavy fire. Many of the Union soldiers fell under their fire, and even if the Union called for artillery support in time, straddle fire from the rear of the battle line would not have been able to destroy the Norman armoured fighting vehicles one by one. If this continues, even if the Federation army can break through the enemy front, it will inevitably run out of strength and blood here.

The battle ahead was miserable, Weiss glared, clenched his fists, and squeezed out words from between his teeth that only he could hear: "Why hasn't the combat commando team come up yet?" ”

Taking advantage of the fierce battle between the two sides, sending an elite combat commando team through the sewers through the enemy line and attacking from behind the enemy was a strategy that Weiss offered to General Karl. Because the sewers are not convenient for transporting heavy equipment, the combat commandos can only carry ordinary firearms and a certain amount of grenades and explosives, and the effect of flanking the enemy from the front and rear is exerted. Despite its weak firepower, as long as the enemy's attention is pinned down in the front, this surprise army has every chance to disrupt the enemy's battle formation. With the combination of three factors of courage, technology, and opportunity, the Norman battleships can be won, what is just a few dozen armored combat vehicles?

The counterattack of the Federation army has just begun, and it is obviously not the best time for the combat commandos to make their debut, Weiss certainly understands this, but watching hundreds and thousands of Federation soldiers go forward and follow, every second is so tormented, every second is so long. But even so, he still watched the battlefield intently, observing the enemy's strength and firepower distribution, and trying to explore the enemy's flaws and loopholes. With the passage of time and the accumulation of remains on the battlefield, the frontal attack of the Union army seemed to show signs of abating, and this weakening trend only existed for two or three minutes - a short burst of artillery fire smashed on the Norman line without warning, blasting the exposed Norman soldiers to pieces, and then a large number of Union soldiers emerged from the rubble across the block, and they rushed forward in great stride, but unlike the friendly troops who had previously engaged in the attack, they did not rush straight forward, Instead, they rhythmically changed their speed and line, and after approaching, some of them stopped and threw mines at the enemy's bunker positions, and some of them looked for shooting cover nearby, and at first glance, the momentum of the attack slowed down suddenly, but after a while, the soldiers who followed up rushed past their comrades who were ready to support at close range, like an iron fist smashing into the enemy's chest!