The mountain city of Slane, a place where soldiers must fight for the terrain of dangerous terrain, has left a history of bloody battles that can be sung and cried, and is a spiritual symbol of the unyielding spirit of the soldiers and civilians of Lorraine. After the fall of Lorraine, the name of Slyon did not disappear, but became more well-known than in peacetime - the armed resistance of Lorraine launched a fruitful counterattack here on their own, severely wounding the then Norman military governor of Lorraine, striking a severe blow to the invaders, greatly encouraging the people of Lorraine and the whole country, and sending a ray of light to the gloomy Ulster war situation at that time. After that, even in the face of the repressive control of the Norman occupation forces, the resistance organized several small-scale attacks and launched several workers' strikes...... The inhabitants of Slane have always resisted the Norman control with an unyielding and uncooperative attitude, and have become a model for the resistance movement in the enemy-occupied area!

Time flies, and a year has passed in a flash. When Weiss set foot on the borders of Slyen again, the city remained the same, but its "inside" changed dramatically: the Normans saw it as a strategic stronghold on the Lorraine Front, and invested heavily in transforming it into a more modern military fortress and military port. Two months earlier, the Union had advanced the front to the border of Lorraine, and the Flying Forces had begun to launch air strikes against important military targets in Lorraine. The two large-scale bombings were both with more losses and fewer results, and hundreds of pilots were killed or captured here. Having learned the sharpness of the enemy's combined ground-air firepower, the Federation Flying Force has since turned a blind eye to its strategic position, but has tried to weaken the air defense system here through other means. It was against this background that the guerrilla advance detachment of the Federal Army, which had returned to Lorraine, was given high strategic and tactical expectations by the military top brass for the first time.

As a year earlier, Weiss, under the cover of local residents, approached the town single-handedly to reconnoiter the Norman military installations and defensive deployments. Thanks to the special effects of the "human radar", he had an even more accurate grasp of certain military deployments than the Norman commanders. After several days of hard work, a hand-drawn map of the distribution of the enemy situation in Slane was presented to the officers of the Union Army's guerrilla task force and intelligence officers.

“…… This is the 'moat' built by the Normans, which surrounds the east and west of Slien on three sides, and only those who have been verified are allowed to enter it through the designated passages. Behind the 'moat' is the city of Slien, which is 11 miles long from east to west and 8 miles wide from north to south, with ammunition depots and fuel depots in the middle, and aviation facilities mainly located in the southeast. Across the 'moat', our mortars were powerless against targets that were too far away, and the resisters here miraculously saved a field gun disassembled into parts, as well as a certain number of shells. Until Slane's air defense is reduced, this may be the only medium-range support firepower we can utilize. ”

As the planner and commander of the operation, Weiss succinctly and accurately presented the key information to the officers. According to the guerrilla warfare strategy of "dividing but not dispersing, unifying command, and concentrating superiority," excluding the officers and men who had lost and scattered their activities on the way, nearly 2,100 officers and men of the guerrilla advance unit had arrived at the outskirts of Slien.

Most of the officers of the guerrilla advance unit have relatively rich experience in actual combat, have made meritorious contributions and been wounded, and two of them have even won the honor of combat heroes. However, guerrilla warfare is basically a new field and a new challenge for them, from the raid on the small town of Wallier to the encirclement and interception of the Norman army, and now to the ambush outside the mountain city of Slien, the way of fighting is something they have rarely seen before.

Representing the intelligence of the Federal Army came to liaise and assist in the operation was a major under the command of an old acquaintance, Brooks. This man is not very old, but he is calm and sophisticated, and he speaks without leaking. It was not until everyone had finished their thoughts and questions to ask that he calmly spoke: "Gentlemen, I will only add one point here...... In order to prevent attacks, the Normans planted a number of secret posts outside the city, some of them were Normans who were fluent in Ulster, and some were Lorraines who were bribed or coerced by them. Seven or eight times out of 10 of the enemy's outposts, we have the situation. In other words, there are still many that we have not recognized. Once the action begins, it must be fast, and with a slight delay, the enemy will perceive it. ”

Weiss nodded, and the reminder was very spotty. The Norman army's garrison in Slane has two division-level numbers alone, and judging from the intelligence of all parties, its garrison strength has been maintained at more than 20,000 for a long time, and no matter how brave the guerrilla task force soldiers are, it is impossible to defeat one enemy with ten, not to mention that the enemy still has fortress artillery and flying warships to support the battle at any time. Weiss knew that not only would they have to avoid a full-scale confrontation with the Norman army, but they would have to retreat with a single blow, and not get bogged down in a bitter battle.

"Next, I would like to focus on our goals for this time. According to normal logic, we should try to destroy the Norman aviation facilities, the ships stationed at Slyen, the ammunition depots, and the fuel depots, and weaken the combat hardness of the Norman army on the Lorraine front...... If we think this way, the enemy will think the same way, so these targets must be the enemy's focus on guarding. In my opinion, we should do the opposite, find a way to remove the enemy's anti-aircraft fire points at Slane, or temporarily render them incapacitated, and then hand over the task of dealing with the enemy's aviation facilities and aviation to our flying units. ”

Pointing to the markings on the map, Weiss said: "Most of the enemy's air defense positions are located near the 'moat,' which is within the reach of our mortars. According to the intelligence we have discovered in the past few days, these air defense positions have more than 100 heavy air defense guns, more than 300 medium air defense guns, and about 900 light air defense guns, and they are roughly divided into 34 air defense positions, 25 of which are field positions and 9 are fixed positions. The field positions are easy to deal with, as long as they are lured into combat and the shells are transported from the ammunition depot to the gun emplacements, they can be served with mortars. What is more difficult is the fixed positions of these 9 fortresses, especially the 3 core fortresses equipped with steel turrets, and if you want to pull them out, you have to use some brains. ”

Weiss described the number of enemy firepower in such detail that the major intelligence officer couldn't help but look at him a few more times, and although he was puzzled, he did not directly raise it. Instead, the youngest captain officer of the guerrilla advance detachment put forward his opinion: "Chief Clumber-Haysen, if we find a way to seize part of the enemy's artillery and use them to bombard the rest of the enemy's positions, we should be able to uproot most of the field positions, so that the enemy's anti-aircraft fire at Slane will be weakened by more than half, and then let our planes attack those fixed positions with bombs, and the two paths will be much less difficult to achieve!" ”

From the standpoint of self-interest, handing over part of the task of attacking fortified positions to the flying unit can indeed reduce the difficulty and reduce the pressure, Weiss has not considered this strategy, but if you start from the overall situation, on the one hand, the preciousness of the pilot is far greater than the task force that can be sent behind the enemy in two weeks of special training, on the other hand, the more anti-aircraft firepower the task force removes, the more bombs the flight unit can drop on the enemy's aviation facilities and flying ships, and the greater the overall results, and the third aspect, If we blindly expect friendly troops to undertake more difficult tasks, how can we be competent for such an extremely difficult guerrilla warfare environment for a long time?

Based on these considerations, Weiss responded to his face: "If we really can't find a solution to the problem, or if the enemy's defenses are really invulnerable, it is feasible to seek the support of the flying troops." It's just that objectively speaking, the distance between us and the enemy is only a few miles, and our flying unit needs to cross hundreds of miles, and it is possible to encounter multiple interceptions by the enemy on the way, so if we can solve it ourselves, we will solve it by ourselves as much as possible. ”

Although this young captain is no longer the kind of enthusiastic young man who has just joined the ranks, in just two or three years, he has accumulated the combat exploits required for the advancement of an intermediate officer, and he does not mind joining a dangerous guerrilla combat unit behind enemy lines, which is enough to prove that he is capable, courageous, and intelligent. Weiss's agitated words, although they did not make him excited, at least swept away his previous fluke mentality.

"I see!" The captain held his head high and said, "An epic battle requires everyone to show victory and must have my fighting spirit and determination." ”

After the words of encouragement were spoken, Weiss straightened his face: "In this battle, we must not only be determined, but also be prepared to sacrifice, and you must do a good job of ideological work for the soldiers." At worst, half of the people would be lost. ”

This number made everyone present dumbfounded. Not to mention whether more than half of the casualties of the troops will collapse, and how the wounded will be transferred, such casualties are expected to go far beyond the scope of guerrilla warfare.

Weiss didn't have the ability to read minds, but he was well aware of the conventional logical thinking of Union officers and soldiers, and he could see something in the officers' expressions. He had been prepared for this in advance, so he said in no hurry: "Gentlemen, guerrilla warfare is based on 'swimming,' but if we only swim without attacking, or if we blindly avoid the important and trivialize, the value of guerrilla warfare will be greatly reduced. At the same time, guerrilla warfare is different from frontal warfare, and unless it is compelled to do so, the first priority should be to preserve strength and sustain operations. By projected casualties, I mean the worst-case scenario, which is that if the battle goes well, or if the enemy's response is at the expected level, then our casualties will be much smaller. In fact, in the last night raid at Slane, which I commanded, the total casualties of the troops involved in the battle were less than one-third, and the troops, equipment, and combat experience we had at that time were not comparable to what we have now. Of course, the Norman army we faced at that time was not the same as the one stationed in Slane now, they were better in quality and morale, and the enemy we faced, although they were heavily defended, had much weaker will to fight and mental tenacity. ”

Weiss's assertion is based on technical observation of the enemy, which is well-founded and accurately measured, but in the eyes of others, this is just his sensory judgment, a false and untrue statement, intended to boost his own confidence, and if he is really about to go to the battlefield, how much impact can the so-called gap between fighting will and mental tenacity have on the battle?