When the news of the Magellan's sinking and Rear Admiral Watten's death reached Rebier's flagship Annak, Rebil was not so distressed or furious.

He just sighed softly, "Yes, Hua Ken too。。。。。。。 ”

That's all he could do, and he restrained the grief in his heart.

Sending off comrades and friends is by no means a pleasant thing, but Rebile is indeed a little accustomed to it, and on the path he has chosen, new comrades are constantly coming together with him, but also comrades are leaving.

Those who died in factional struggles, accidents or bandits, simple old age or illness gradually sank and forgot their original ideals.

At first, the loss of his comrades would have made the old man so sad that he was depressed, but now, the number of people he sent away has become so large that he can't remember it clearly.

The sending off of these comrades is indeed sad, but nothing more.

This does not mean that he has become apathetic, but it is already clear at his age that it is useless to express his grief, and the best way to mourn the dead is to do what he can do.

Moreover, Walken had done his best to carry out his orders, and had bought himself the time he needed most now, if his efforts were to be ruined by his own grief.

That would be ridiculous.

The situation for the Federation Space Force is not optimistic, but Rebiel has not given up hope of victory.

Speaking of which, could I please explain the current situation on the battlefield?

While Lear struggled to break through the First Fleet's line, the rest of the Zeon Special Mobile Group, which was attacking the Second Fleet's line, was also locked in bitter fighting.

Of course, this bitter battle seemed a bit unworthy of the name, and it was too easy for them compared to the troops fighting against the First Fleet.

The Zeon Army was clearly in great advantage, and the Federation Army was not unstoppable in the battle, but it was still suppressed by them.

But again, due to the large number of MS detachment from the formation, the number of MS units of the Zeon Army was slightly insufficient, and although they had the advantage, they were unable to break through the Second Fleet under the command of Rebile as quickly as expected.

This is not only because of the lack of MS troops in the Zeon Army, but also because under the hard work of Huaken and the dispatch of Rebile, the formation of the Second Fleet has basically taken shape.

With Rebil's flagship Anak at the center, the Second Fleet of the Federation put on a slightly complicated formation, and thanks to Tovalken's battle (and the foolishness of a certain Zeon Side's freshly baked hero), the Second Fleet gained a brief but crucial amount of time.

Compared with the one-line formation, the box-shaped formation is not only conducive to defending against the enemy's mobile units, but also does not affect the artillery ability of the battleship, and can be said to be the most suitable formation for warships in the universe century.

Its only drawback is that it is more complex than the one-line formation, and it requires a higher quality of soldiers to be organized, so it takes a certain amount of time, so it is not suitable for use in encounters, but only in battles.

At the beginning, the Fourth Fleet was only less than a tenth of the number of the Second Fleet, which inflicted heavy casualties on the MS troops of the Einsatzgruppen Fleet, but now, they have organized a tighter defensive line, and the density of firepower has increased exponentially, and the commander is the commander-in-chief of the Space Force, Rebier, not Douglas.

Although the number of Zeon troops they faced was also far greater than that of the original Einsatzgruppen MS troops, they were inferior to the latter in terms of quality, and the MS troops of the Einsatzgruppen Fleet were all elites from the teaching brigade, while there were a considerable number of rookies in the special mobile brigade who had only enlisted a few months before the war, and they did not have any combat experience, and because of someone's mess, a large number of squads and even squadrons were incomplete, and the command was also a little ineffective.

In this case, the Zeon side can still have an advantage, in addition to the advantage in weapons and equipment, the fighting spirit and dedication of the Zeon side are indeed real.

It can be said that both sides did their best.

Due to the blockade of the First Fleet, the MS forces of the Zeon Army attacking Rebir were divided into two groups, left and right, and flanked the defense line of the Second Fleet, which was a very reasonable and effective tactic.

The premise is that the Federation Army fails to form a formation or can only form a simple formation such as a one-line formation in a hurry, if that is the case, the MS troops of the two Zeon Army can fight more and less, forming an absolute numerical superiority in the local area, and then, like the Pocky Game, gradually encroaching on the fleet of the Federation Army from both ends, which can be said to be a battle against the point.

But at this moment, when the Federation Army has formed a box formation, the MS's greatest weapon, that is, its agility and mobility, has been greatly hindered.

If the Zeon Army doesn't want to get caught up in a chaotic battle with the battleships, they can't force themselves to break through to the depths of the Federation formation, and can only eat the Federation Army's battleships layer by layer like peeling onions on the periphery, which means that the Zeon Army's numerical advantage has no room to play, only a part of the MS in direct contact with the Federation Army can exert their combat power, and more MS can only stand behind awkwardly waving flags and shouting to make a strong noise, and even look around at the scenery.

Therefore, although they suppressed the fleet of the Federation Army to the death, they only compressed the formation of the Federation Army smaller and smaller, but they could not annihilate it one by one.

Under Reybiel's command, the rectangle shrank slowly on one side and stiffened on the other, making it impossible for the Zeon Army to devour it in a big gulp.

And the means of the Federal Army are not just passive defense.

"Your Excellency, our auxiliary fleet has arrived at its intended position," Kaningan said, turning from the captain's seat to Rebil, "Do you have any instructions?" ”

"Well, get them all moving," said Rebier, "all fighter wings take off and launch an attack on the MS units of the Zeon Army on either side of our army." ”

Kaningan was stunned for a moment and asked, "Your Excellency, don't you need to divide your forces to intercept the MS troops of the Zeon Army in the direction of the First Fleet?" ”

Rebiel shook his head and said, "There's no need for that, the number is too small to be useful, and the amount is too much to put the cart before the horse." ”

He did not send a fighter unit in the hope of what kind of results his fighters could play, but to disrupt and force back part of the Zeon army with a wave of counterattacks, and to gain breathing space for his own side - to describe it as Go, it is to take a breath through robbery, after all, although the fleet of the Federation Army is in a state of constant consumption but unable to swallow it in one gulp, if the distance between them is compressed to a limit, it will be very disadvantageous in the face of the Zeon Army's nuclear bombs.

As long as the fighter unit can break up the MS troops of the Zeon Army, the Second Fleet will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to 'expand', and the results that the Zeon Army has spent a lot of time and so hard to achieve will be ruined.

As previously mentioned, Rybir knew from the moment he was attacked that there was no victory in this battle - at least the traditional hope of a military victory, and although Walken had traded his life for a better situation, this did not change the balance of power between the Federation and Zeon.

Therefore, he had only one purpose, that is, to hold out until the Zeon army's attacking troops ran out of ammunition and food and retreated, and the battle ended in a draw with the Zeon side in the upper hand, but the federal army was not completely defeated, which was the result that Reybir was pursuing.

It sounds frustrating, but it's really the best Rebiel can think of at the moment.

At this point, the battle situation has basically equated with a war of attrition, and the war of attrition is the most unfavorable for the Zeon Army, which is exactly what Reybiel wants to see and deliberately guide.

After all, there is no problem of endurance in the battleship, equipped with a Minovsky reactor, the federal warship that mainly uses gravity return as a mode of movement can even carry out interstellar navigation from the Earth to Mars, of course, it will not be afraid of a war of attrition, in fact, in the design of the Magellan and Salamis, the Minovsky particle environment is low hit rate, and the problem of long-term combat is taken into account, at least not Zagu will consume energy to death.

However, Zagu of the Zeon Army is different, as mentioned before, because the number of warships with maintenance capabilities on the Zeon side is not large, and they dare not get too close to the battlefield and can only stay in the coverage of Minovsky particles, which means that the MS of the Zeon side will be difficult to repair and rebuild after the battle is damaged, and the recovery rate is extremely low.

Maybe someone here wants to ask, Reybir tried to hold out until the Zeon army ran out of ammunition and retreated, but now because of the box defense line set up by the Federal Army, isn't only a part of the MS fighting with the Federal Army, and many MS still maintain full combat effectiveness, right?

Will Reybiel really be able to fulfill his vision?

The answer is yes – not in absolute terms, but it is very likely.

This is because the preparation of battle damage is still secondary, and the consumption of chemical propellant is the most important problem faced by the Zeon Army MS, and the miniaturized Minovsky fusion furnace carried by the MS can only provide energy for the movement of the body itself after all, but if the MS wants to move in space, it still needs to consume various chemical propellants, and the main propulsion system and the attitude control nozzles throughout the body of the MS need to consume a small amount of chemical propellants.

Of course, the MS that directly engages the federal warship needs to consume chemical propellant, and those MS who are not put into battle do not stay in place, they also need to keep moving, so as not to be used as a target, in fact, the chemical propellant reserves of the Zeon MS can support several hours of high-intensity combat, and there is usually no problem of chemical propellant depletion when the battleship is used as the center, but it is impossible to fight a war of attrition with the battleship, which means that as long as Rybier holds on, It is likely that the Zeon side will have to retreat due to the depletion of propellant before the ammunition is exhausted.

This time it will actually face this problem, and the Zeon side was also unexpected, not only because the Zeon side has never fought a large-scale space war and is inexperienced, but also because this was originally a planned raid, in the original concept, even if Zeon's MS troops could not destroy the federal fleet, but they did not expect the situation to evolve like this.

No matter how much the war is planned, when it comes to confrontation, it is inevitable that there will be a thousand changes, and if the staff of the Zeon side knew the truth of everything, they would probably have to lament, who would have thought that one of us would have a traitor and successfully stir up many people.

It's really not their fault for poor planning.

It is conceivable how much trouble Lear caused to Zeon Fang by interrupting halfway, such a person will be regarded as a hero by most people, in addition to his own superb acting skills, it also gives people a sense of injustice.

"Then Your Excellency, leave at least some fighters to protect our auxiliary fleet。。。。。。" Kaningan also tried to say something, and made a very sound suggestion.

Usually a very reasonable suggestion, because if the fighter forces of the Federation Army pour out, those modified air carriers with little combat ability, and other various auxiliary warships are equivalent to appearing in front of the enemy unsuspectingly, and now these auxiliary warships are only about 40 kilometers away from Rebil's location, if the MS of the Zeon side wants to kill them, these auxiliary warships can be said to have no room to escape.

But that's normally, Caningan is able to become Brigadier General of the Space Force not only because he is a friend of Rebir, but also because he is also very talented in his own right, somewhat similar to Walken, he is a cautious and meticulous type, but he is also a typical deputy character, and his thinking is inflexible as a main general.

This is also the reason why he, unlike Thiam, was not sent out by Rebir to take charge of himself, in addition to the fact that Rebir needed him, and because although he was a good staff officer and adjutant, he was only a good staff officer and adjutant.

And at this moment, his proposal is fully reflected, and his proposal is not problematic, but it is not linked to the current situation.

"There's no need, if we are defeated, the auxiliary fleet will not be able to escape, in this case, it is better to make good use of their sacrifices," Rebiel shook his head and said coldly: "Again, instead of scattering the troops, it is better to concentrate." ”

“。。。。。。 I see, Your Excellency, I'll deal with it. Now that Rebir had made his decision, Kaningan would be in full obedience, and he connected to the communication of the Federation Air Carrier, and then relayed Rebiel's order.

"The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Air Wings are attacking the enemy on the left flank with the Annak as coordinates, and the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Air Wings are attacking the right flank!"

The Federal Air Carrier, which received the order, quickly began to release fighter jets, and the huge cluster of nearly 700 planes of the nine wings also launched a counterattack on both flanks towards the MS troops of the Zeon Army.

It stands to reason that although this wave of attacks is troublesome, it is not impossible to deal with, after all, MS has an advantage over fighters, and although the number of fighters of the Federation Army has been gathered as much as possible, because the Federation did not pay attention to fighters before the war, it is only 700 at the moment, and it is not even as good as the number of MS on the Zeon side and the Second Fleet.

The quality and quantity are inferior, and the pilots of the Federal Army do not mean that everyone has an ace-level operation level, but in fact, the attack of the Federal Army's fighter unit this time has played a result that even Leibir expected.

Although this army, which did not have advantages in any sense, could not be called devastating, it also dealt a painful blow to the Zeon army.