Seeing the appearance of the Norman fleet, not only Weiss, but also all the defenders of the Scammo Heights and even the officers and men of the Union Army on the Sambara River defense line felt a suffocating oppression. With the anti-aircraft weapons in their hands, it was impossible to compete with the heavy guns of the Norman battleships. If the Federation fleet doesn't come, the Norman fleet can calmly bombard everything here!

The much-anticipated Federation fleet did not show up quickly, and the Norman fleet did not immediately enter the battle. The two sides looked at each other from a distance and spent this evening peacefully.

As night fell, there was a shout of cheer from the monastery on the top of the hill, and then the officers and men on the position rushed to say: "Our fleet is coming!" ”

In the direction of Aocheng, at the end of the sky, a group of black dots appeared.

Weiss hurriedly squinted and saw that the Federation fleet, which had been waiting for a long time, had two big guys whose combat values were "off the charts". Extrapolating from the numerical interval, they should be Honor-class battleships. Among the active warships of various countries, it is a powerful role second only to the Loyalty class and the Norman class in terms of comprehensive combat power. It is not a problem for the two ships to appear together and take out a Norman-class, but on the battlefield, there are many factors that affect the outcome of the battle, such as the "unique secret weapon" of the Norman fleet, and the "Devil Bomb" that combines artificial star source stones and conical charge technology, which can play a small and large effect.

At both ends of the battlefield, the Norman fleet, which arrived in advance, seemed to be huge, but in fact the transport ships accounted for more than half, and there were only 9 real combat ships, including 1 battleship, 2 cruisers, and 6 frigates. On the side of the Federal Army, all 16 ships were battleships, including 2 battleships, 2 cruisers, and 12 frigates.

According to the superiority of quantity and quality, and the advantage of fighting at home, the Federation fleet did not take the initiative to attack after taking position, but lined up in the airspace north of the city and south of the Sambara River. In the previous battles that took place in the territory of the Ulster Free Federation, there were also many situations in which the fleets of the two sides only confronted each other and did not fight hard. On the one hand, the Norman occupation area covered most of Wessex and the northern part of the Free Commonwealth, and the battle front was too long, holding back a large number of troops, and almost every battle involved fewer aviation units than the Union Army. On the other hand, a considerable number of ships in the Federation Fleet are in wartime service, and the training and running-in of the crews are not yet in place, and the battlefield adaptability is relatively weak, which is suitable for static braking and rear-strike.

Seeing that the two fleets were facing each other in the distance, people thought that this battle would be a mode of spectatorship and land warfare, but as it was approaching midnight, the Norman fleet suddenly launched a threat and took the initiative to challenge the Federation fleet with a thin lineup. The heavy guns of the battleships roared through the sky, and the powerful cannonballs burst through the air with a terrifying scream, and the earth trembled in the violent explosion, and the night sky was repeatedly illuminated by the orange flames.

The long-range artillery battle between the battleships of both sides was majestic and amazing, but in the Scamo Heights, the Union soldiers did not dare to wait and watch from their positions. The officers, fearing that the Norman fleet would take advantage of the engagement, bombarded this important tactical stronghold with heavy artillery, and ordered all of them, except for a few guards, to enter the bunkers and tunnels to the south to stand by, and only the dozens of officers and men on duty at the hilltop monastery had a chance to feast their eyes on it.

Not long ago, Weiss was still immersed in hard studies with the idea of joining the aviation force, but after all, he still had no chance with those steel battleships. Disappointed, he left behind the books and materials related to warship technology and tactics and devoted himself to the field of land warfare. After the Battle of Bellakaser Pass, Weiss realized that no branch of the military exists in isolation, and even if he never had the opportunity to become a member of the flying fleet in his lifetime, it was necessary to study the construction of warships and fleet tactics. After coming to the 340th Reserve Regiment, he used the little leisure time he had to pick up the air combat textbook and study aviation skills. The opportunity to watch the fleet engage was of course not to be missed, and with the consent of Colonel Joranton, he left the regimental headquarters and hurried to the observation and liaison post set up at the top of the hill.

At the beginning of the battle, the Federation fleet held its position and calmly fired, while the Norman fleet slowly moved forward, bombarding each other from a distance of more than ten kilometers, and the hit rate of both fleets was very low, and the shells that failed to hit the target fell on the field one after another, igniting trees, blowing up houses, and causing many fires.

As the Norman fleet continued to advance, the Federation fleet began to retreat in the direction of Aujo in order to maintain a sufficient distance from it. As a result, the Scamo Heights gradually came into the range of fire of Norman cruisers and corvettes. Their naval guns couldn't reach the Federation fleet in the distance, so they simply vented their energy on ground targets.

As the Federation officers had feared, the Scamo Heights stood abruptly on the north bank of the Sambara River, and were the clearest target in the eyes of the enemy gunners.

The Norman fleet rained fire, and the north side of the Scamo Heights and the top of the hill were enveloped in a blazing storm of fire. Smoke billowed up, converging into a thick and thick column of smoke, which was particularly eye-catching even in the night sky!

Scamo Heights was heavily bombarded by the Norman fleet, and if the Federation fleet, which had the advantage of hard power, continued to retreat, it would be an invisible damage to both the commander's reputation and the morale of the officers and men, but if it stood still or took the initiative to step forward, the Norman fleet would seize the opportunity to launch the "devil's bomb". Faced with this dilemma, the commander of the Federation fleet did not hesitate much. The flagship issued the order, and the ships stopped retreating one after another, and although the fleet array was a little scattered, it was quickly adjusted. The two battleships turned their hulls, and after scattered artillery fire corrections, the bow and side of the ship, together with the stern main guns, fired a salvo, and the powerful cannon sound seemed to blow the horn of counterattack.

Moving from the top of the mountain to the reserve observation post at the back of the mountain, Weiss kept a close eye on the damage to his own ships. As the artillery battle continued, the artillery fire on both sides hit each other. The first battleship to be shot on the side of the Federation Fleet was a battleship, and although its equivalent protection capability was capped at 14,000+, the shells from the enemy battleship still caused its various values to drop by nearly 10%.

On the side of the Norman fleet, a cruiser was hit by artillery fire. In Weiss's special vision, its values dropped sharply, and then, an explosion from the inside actually caused the Norman battleship to set off large fireworks in the night sky.

Seeing that an enemy ship had been destroyed, the grizzled Federation officers in the pre-observation post cheered, but they were obviously a little early in their joy. Not long after, Weiss was using his human radar to spy on the enemy, when he suddenly discovered that two enemy ships had launched "devil's bombs" with extremely high combat ceilings. In the night sky, they dragged a bright tail flame and a faint trail of smoke, and quickly swept across the sky and "slipped away" towards the Federation fleet.

Worst!

Weiss secretly said that the reason why the Norman fleet chose to engage the Federation fleet at night was to wait for such an opportunity. From the ground, the wake of those aerial torpedoes is obvious, but from the Federation warships at the same level, even if they can be detected in time, it is difficult to accurately calculate their azimuth height, and maneuvering and avoiding it correspondingly increases a lot of difficulty.

Sure enough, although the Federation fleet reacted, it was obviously half a beat slower, and the consequences were catastrophic: a battleship and a cruiser were hit on the spot, the former received two heavy blows in succession, and the combat effectiveness was sharply reduced by forty percent, and the latter only received one shot, but the operation of the battleship deteriorated sharply, and finally left the battlefield with a trace of blood......

The Norman-class battleships made a difficult diving move, the bow of the ship was tilted downward, and the rest of the main guns were all thrown into the bombardment of the Federalist ground targets except for the stern main guns. The Scamo Heights bore the brunt, the northern position turned into a sea of fire in a series of massive explosions, and the hilltop monastery turned from ruins to dust, and then even the dust was swept away. In the reconnaissance post near the top of the mountain, everyone, including Weiss, endured the tremors and sounds, and almost fainted and died, even though the process only lasted four or five minutes, and no one had the courage to experience it again!

The devastating bombardment of the positions north of the Scarmo Heights was certainly not the end of the night's victory for the Norman fleet, as the formidable Norman-class battleship descended from a high altitude to a height of thousands of feet above the ground, then circled the bow of the moving ship and ravaged the defenders' positions on the south bank of the Sambara River with artillery fire.

Before the ground battle began, the Federation Army had already been beaten and bruised and swollen. If the Norman battleship continues to be stranded on the battlefield and the Federation fleet is repulsed, how will this battle be fought?

Weiss's concern was obvious, and the "high" Federation fleet commander certainly did not ignore this. When the Norman battleships bombarded the Allied positions, he resolutely gathered the remnants and calmly commanded the fleet to block the charge of enemy cruisers and corvettes. In the process, two Federation battleships carried a wave of mines thrown by the enemy ships, and the Normans paid the corresponding price this time - two cruisers with the ability to throw mines were destroyed and one was damaged, and three of the four cruisers were hit by bullets and caught fire.

The wounded Norman battleship hastily retreated, and the Federation fleet pursued decisively, and concentrated fire on the Norman battleship at a low altitude. The cannonballs rained down, and the Norman battleship, which had just been majestic, was quickly wrapped in the flames of the explosion, and at first glance, it seemed that it was not lightly damaged, but the Norman-class battleship was worthy of its status as a top battleship, except for the main guns of the two Federation battleships, the rest of the ship's guns were basically tickling it. I saw it climb up quickly, and the bow of the ship was facing forward, putting on the fierce posture of a monotonous Federation fleet.

One out of ten, is there a chance of winning?

The Norman ace battleship immediately shocked the audience with a neat and fierce forward salvo, and this round of artillery fire actually exploded in the air directly from one of the two Federation battleships. Although it was injured by the "Devil's Bomb" before, and the ship's condition was not very good, it seemed that it was something that no one dared to imagine when it was killed by the opponent in an instant.

Things don't seem to be good......