At around 3:20 a.m., shortly after the 17102nd Panzer Battalion redeployed, a sudden disaster befell the vanguard.

Without the slightest warning, not even an alarm, more than 20 A-10As of a whole brigade appeared over the battlefield.

What's worse is that at that time, in the middle of the battlefield, all the tanks and fighting vehicles that could still be driven were the tanks and fighting vehicles of the Imperial Army, and the armored forces of the Van Army had already been defeated.

For the attack aircraft of the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force, there is no question of identifying friend or foe.

In addition, according to the artillery tactics used by the Vatican army before, I am afraid that they will not worry about accidentally injuring friendly troops.

For the officers and men of the vanguard who were still fighting hard, those attack planes that suddenly appeared in the sky overhead were simply demonic existences.

The key is that the anti-aircraft company incorporated into the vanguard is subordinate to the 17304th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, which is at the back of the ranks.

In addition, the company had only a few self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and a few anti-aircraft groups on armored personnel carriers and individual anti-aircraft missiles.

It must be said that the commander of the vanguard neglected the air defense operation.

Because the Van Rowe Air Force had long since collapsed, and the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force did not have any outstanding performance, only one air defense company was incorporated into the vanguard, and the air defense company belonging to the 17309th Infantry Battalion was left in the rear in order to reduce the burden of logistical support.

But the problem is that the air defense company of the 17309th machine infantry battalion is the main force, and the seventh company of the 17304th machine infantry battalion, that is, the air defense company, has not been in good condition. Mainly, after arriving in Pakistan, the new air defense system that was originally planned to be provided to the company was delayed due to the problem of transportation capacity. Because there was no air threat, the commander of the 173rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade was not in a hurry.

Interestingly, on the contrary, several additional battalions were temporarily formed to obtain new air defense systems.

The main thing is that there is no time for the officers and men of the main forces to adapt to the new air defense system, and even if they are replenished, they have not fully mastered the new air defense system. Otherwise, there is no reason to put the new air defense system without it, and let the old anti-aircraft guns go to the front.

The root of all this is the underestimation of the enemy, especially the combat effectiveness of the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force!

In addition, it must also be admitted that the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force used the right tactics and seized the opportunity.

At that time, it was the joint command aircraft that hovered over Jaiselmeier that was responsible for providing battlefield information to the front-line troops and monitoring changes in the battlefield. Because of the upgraded radar, which has the ability to detect low-altitude and low-speed targets, the joint command aircraft is able to detect enemy helicopter gunships. The problem is that the phased array synthetic aperture radar of the joint command aircraft is not suitable for detecting high-speed targets such as attack aircraft.

According to the deployment of the Air Force, the AWACS aircraft responsible for directing air supremacy operations are deployed southwest of Balmer.

This arrangement is also to take care of the marines on the side of Gujibang, after all, the Imperial Air Force also needs to provide air cover for the marines.

As a result, AWACS is located almost 400 kilometers from the front line.

If it was only to deal with the threat of Van Luo fighters, there would be no problem in deploying it in this way, after all, the joint command plane was more than 200 kilometers west of the battlefield, and there were several air supremacy fighters nearby. However, to provide cover for the ground forces, this distance is indeed a little farther.

For attack aircraft flying at low altitudes, the detection range of the "Finger-8C" is only 350 kilometers at most.

Those A-10As entered from a low altitude and were not detected by AWACS.

In the following 10 minutes, the vanguard suffered the heaviest losses after the engagement.

According to the battle reports of the 171st Armored Brigade and the 173rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, in this air raid, the main combat equipment of the five battalions of the vanguard was almost completely lost, and even the transport vehicles under the care of the 17309th Mechanized Infantry Battalion were bombed, and most of them were destroyed by attack aircraft.

Just one round of air strikes smashed the counterattack of the vanguard.

If it weren't for the 17102nd Armored Battalion that had turned the tide of the battle before this, the 17104th Armored Battalion had also launched a counterattack before the air attack, and the 17309th Mechanized Infantry Battalion had controlled the middle defensive line, I am afraid that the vanguard would have been completely wiped out by the Van army before the end of this round of air strikes.

Of course, the nearby Van army had already been routed by the vanguard before the air strikes.

The rear commander, having received a call from the front-line troops, immediately contacted the air superiority fighters and went to expel the attack aircraft.

After the "Battle-11B" group arrived, the attack aircraft group of the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force was immediately routed.

More than 20 A-10As were all shot down by the "Battle-11B", and none of them escaped.

It's just that one "Battle-11B" was attacked by an anti-aircraft missile of the Vatican Army when it was pursuing the A-10A, and it was shot down by a missile.

That is, at half past three, the vanguard was already in a state of collapse.

According to the post-war investigation, after the air strike, less than 400 officers and men remained in the five combat battalions of the vanguard that were still fighting, and almost all of them were slightly wounded, with more than 1,500 officers and men incapacitated due to serious injuries, and as many as 600 officers and men killed in action.

It can be seen that at this point, let alone resisting the attack, it is not enough to treat the wounded.

Moreover, the senior officers of the five battalions were either killed or wounded, and on the front divided into several sections, it was the second lieutenant platoon commander who temporarily assumed the command duties.

The officers and men of the vanguard had not yet collapsed, and they only believed that the main force following behind was about to arrive and would soon be able to receive air support.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with the excellent quality of officers and men.

Under the circumstances, another attack by the Vatican army would definitely be able to annihilate the vanguard.

Unfortunately, near the battlefield, there were no formed Vatican troops at all, and some were just stragglers who had been defeated and were similar to the rabble.

Crucially, the 171st Armoured Brigade took immediate action after learning that the vanguard had been hit by an air strike.

At half past three, the 17107th Artillery Regiment received the order from the brigade headquarters, and after just two minutes, it opened fire for the first time.

The main thing is that the 171st Armored Brigade had already let the artillery battalion deploy on the spot before this, and it was only because the battle was too fierce and it was worried about accidentally injuring friendly troops that the artillery brigade was not allowed to participate in the battle, so after receiving the combat order, the 17107th Artillery Battalion could immediately open fire.

As an artillery battalion under the armored brigade, the 17107th Battalion is equipped with all self-propelled howitzers, a total of 36 ZS-66E.

This self-propelled howitzer, designed and produced by the Reich, has been in service with the Reich Army for nearly 30 years and has always been the absolute workhorse. Even if the ZS-86R was later introduced from Dongluosha, in order to improve the efficiency of logistics support, it was only supplied to the main forces of the Northwest Theater of Operations.

The main forces of the other theaters of operations are equipped with ZS-66s.

In addition, the Imperial Army was constantly improving the ZS-66, and the massively equipped Type E was already in many respects no worse than the ZS-86R.

Even with the long-criticized range problem, combined with the high-density projectile that was developed before the war, the ZS-66E can reach 25 kilometers with ordinary artillery shells. Even with the use of stock propellants, the range exceeds 20 kilometers, which can fully meet the needs of operations.

After all, the artillery battalions of the brigade are generally deployed in the front, not to mention that the artillery battalions of the armored brigade are generally followed by the armored forces for assault operations.

In addition, the latest modification, which has already been put into mass production, also uses a 54-fold diameter barrel, which increases the range of ordinary artillery shells to 30 kilometers, and rocket extended-range shells to 40 kilometers, and the effective range of the new artillery shells being developed can even reach 70 kilometers.

However, the self-propelled howitzer, designated ZS-66F, will not be delivered until next year at the earliest.

Direct artillery support greatly relieved the pressure on the vanguard troops.

However, at that time, the vanguard did not engage the enemy, after all, the nearby Vatican army had been routed, and there was no way to organize an attack for the time being.

This was followed by front-line attack aircraft.

As a matter of fact, these "Attack-9B" had been hovering around the periphery of the battlefield for about half an hour, and it was not until the air defense suppression fighters destroyed the field air defense system of the Van Army, especially the short-range air defense missiles that had shot down the "Battle-11B" before, that the joint command aircraft issued an operational order.

Crucially, the front-line attack aircraft are under the direct command of the joint command aircraft.

Because the Van army near the battlefield had been routed, front-line attack planes were sent to the east to attack the Van reserves assembled there.

That is, those units drawn from 3 infantry divisions.

Previously, the besieging of the vanguard was 2 main divisions.

Although these Vatican troops are not equipped with many tanks and combat vehicles, after all, they are infantry units, not the main force, it is very good to be able to get some armored personnel carriers, in fact, most of them only have troop trucks, but the front-line attack aircraft are not picky eaters, and it is also easy to deal with scattered infantry.

In addition, front-line attack aircraft are only a start for a massive air strike.

In the hours that followed, until dawn to be precise, heavy attack planes of the tactical air forces and bombers dispatched from the Diego base appeared one after another, pushing the air strikes to a climax. At dawn, the long-range artillery of the 17th Panzer Division also joined the battle, plowing Pelodi's Van camp with tens of thousands of long-range rockets, and also drew an end to the fire strike.

This round of ferocious firepower strikes is not only revenge and anger, but also covering the vanguard.

It was only after dawn that reinforcements from the 171st Armored Brigade arrived, and helicopters from the Army Air Force also arrived after dawn.

It was only at this time that the threat to the vanguard was completely lifted.

In fact, it was only after receiving the report of the 171st Armored Brigade that Ding Zhennan left the command center and went to the officers' cafeteria for breakfast.

This time, the exquisite preparation prepared by Chef Sagi failed to whet Ding Zhennan's appetite early. If he wasn't hungry and there were still many important things that had to be dealt with as soon as possible, Ding Zhennan wouldn't have come to breakfast at this time. Staying calm at all times is actually a must-have for commanders.

Although the vanguard was ambushed, Ding Zhennan did not blame Fu Weimin.

If you have to say anything, you can't blame anyone.

The most fundamental reason was that the previous battle was too smooth and did not encounter many setbacks, so all the officers and soldiers, including Ding Zhennan, relaxed their vigilance.

Of course, looking at it from another perspective, this is not a bad thing.

At the very least, the losses suffered by the vanguard were within the limits of what they could bear. If these problems had only flared up during the storming of Jaipur, the trouble would have been even greater.

The key is that the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force has not been defeated and still has strong combat effectiveness.

It is precisely like this, while waiting for the battle report, Ding Zhennan contacted Li Tianling, mentioned the matter of the Newland Expeditionary Air Force, and asked Li Tianling to find a way.

Of course, even if Ding Zhenna didn't call, Li Tianling would find a way.

Prior to this, to be precise, before Li Tianling's arrival, the Air Force spent a lot of resources searching for those Nuland fighters who left Trivan and moved to the hinterland of Van Luo Kingdom. It is a pity that, apart from the conclusion that those threatening attack planes were deployed in the northwest region and sporadically participated in combat operations against Pakistan, the Imperial Air Force made great efforts to confirm the location of the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force.

According to the more credible judgment, these attack planes were deployed in a certain air base near Jaipur.

But the problem is that near Jaipur, there are only seven large air bases, more than a dozen civilian airfields, and a large number of temporary field airfields. Crucially, Jaipur is the industrial center of the southern part of the city, with a lot of factories and a large number of warehouses for supplies.

Obviously, it is not difficult to hide more than a hundred attack aircraft.

It was in this way that the search for the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force came to an end after some time.

In addition, after Li Tianling's arrival, he did not ask the Air Force to step up the search effort, or did not have time to deal with matters related to the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force.

Actually, it's easy to understand.

After all, the main forces of the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force had already been routed in previous battles, and only those front-line attack aircraft were transferred ahead of time to escape annihilation.

In addition, even a small number of fighters who escaped were almost consumed.

Not to mention Li Tianling, if it were anyone, he would also focus on more important things, such as how to make the combat troops on the northwest battlefield pick up the heavy burden after Ding Zhennan went to the east coast to open up a new battlefield, and use the foundation laid by Ding Zhennan to sweep the hinterland of the Fanluo Kingdom.

Now, when such a thing happens, not only Li Tianling, but also the officers and men of the Air Force below him have lost face.

Of course, Ding Zhennan is not concerned about the face of Li Tianling and other Air Force officers and men.

After breakfast, he contacted Fu Weimin, and after inquiring about the situation of the vanguard, he asked a very sharp, but also very crucial question.

Will the 17th Panzer Division be able to attack Jaipur as planned, or will it need reinforcements?

Under Ding Zhennan's questioning, Fu Weimin gave an ambiguous answer.

While ensuring the completion of the combat mission, Fu Weimin emphasized the difficulties faced by the 17th Armored Division, such as the fact that this battle directly caused heavy losses to the two main combat brigades, and even those units that did not participate in the battle had to stay to help the brother troops clean up the mess.

The implication is that there are only 3 combat brigades that can be put on the offensive.

Obviously, relying only on this little force, it is a question of whether it can reach Jaipur.

Don't forget, even if you take advantage of the situation to take down Pelodi, you will have to attack Jodhpur next.

In fact, this reply did not surprise Ding Zhennan.

If you want to say it, this is Fu Weimin's character, and he will not say it to death at any time, not to mention that this is related to the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the 17th Armored Division.

On the phone, Ding Zhennan did not give Fu Weimin a clear statement, but just asked him to act according to the original plan.

Obviously, even Ding Zhennan had to admit that this counterattack by the Van army disrupted his combat deployment and inevitably affected his follow-up actions.

Then, in order to keep the original battle plan unchanged, it is necessary to make adjustments to the number of troops.