By mid-June, the situation in Enspan had become clearer. Although the harassment and ambush of the enemy by Gastens' Sharp Knife Regiment and Production Brigade achieved excellent results, causing a total of more than 10,000 casualties, it still did not prevent the enemy from gradually taking control of the cities of Enspen. Located on the western border of Ankenrein, the province has a total of 11 cities, including the provincial capital Van Ensten. On the eastern flank, Diego, Dapa, and Sorena were already under control in the early days of Prince Eliot's attack. Redcos, on the east side, was also taken by Eliot not long after Gastens launched the Battle of Black Bay. And the cities of Sturm, Robida and Entebraus, on the western border of the province of Enspan, were also controlled by the enemy in the western theater of operations from the beginning. The remaining cities of Moon, Sam, Elkdis, and the provincial capital Van Ensten formed a narrow north-south zone between the Western Theater and Eliot's Guards Control Zone. The city of Moon, to which Elena belongs, is waist west of this area, less than a hundred kilometers away from the army of Skye Hamm, the Third Army of the Western Theater.

"Boss, it's good that we fight like this, but we haven't been facing the enemy head-on, the territory is occupied by the enemy, and our space will get smaller and smaller, what can we do?"

At an operational meeting of the production brigade, Ivan took the lead in raising this issue. All the new and old officers present here have the same concerns. They looked to Gastens and expected him to answer.

"It's not a difficult problem to solve", Gastens thought about it. The same problem has arisen in the communist movement on the planet, "First, control of a city is not the same as control of an entire region. They can control the city, because we didn't plan to hold it in the first place. But they can't really control the vast countryside. The essence of our guerrilla warfare lies in giving full play to the role of our serf brothers, relying on our characteristics of maintaining high combat effectiveness in the enemy's controlled areas, relying on our ability to maintain high combat effectiveness in a high-speed mobile state, dodging the enemy's fists, and attacking the enemy's soft underbelly. Second, the more cities they control, the fewer troops they can use to fight. If, like Eliot, two regiments were placed in each village and serfdom was forcibly promoted, his 70,000 men would soon become targets for each of us to break. If, as Skye Hamm did, half a division of each city was left to defend and the rest of the troops continued to attack, the dispersion of forces would be severe. The army they could now use for the offensive had grown from six divisions to four, and two divisions had lost their mobility because of heavy attrition in battle and their use to defend large cities. Elliot was in a similar situation, with only four divisions left to attack, and three divisions were scattered to control the areas they had occupied. Thirdly, Ivan is also right, if only guerrilla warfare is fought, the space in Enspen Province is sufficient, but it is not sufficient. On the basis of fully mobilizing the enemy, we should fight a battle similar to the Black River Valley to give the enemy psychological deterrence. ”

"Do you want to fight?" , Bellanchier was eager to try, "Our Sharp Knife Regiment requires that we must participate in the battle!" ”

"The battle will be fought, but before the battle begins, we must first make full use of our own mobility and firepower superiority under the condition of the same number of people to create conditions for a superior battle", Gastens stretched out his hand to signal the officers to calm down, "I think so......

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Two days later, Elena's Sharp Knife Regiment, which was wandering in the province of Enspan, together with the Production Brigade, bypassed the forward forces of the Western Theater and attacked three regiments of the 2nd Division of the 3rd Army Corps, which was responsible for guarding the city of Sturm in the Western Theater. There was a brief but fierce exchange of fire between the two sides, and the three regiments of the 2nd Division, which was responsible for defending the city of Sturm, were scattered, and after the battle less than half of the defeated troops were collected, while on the side of Gastens, the casualties were less than a hundred.

A day later, this force attacked the defenders of Robida on the south side of Stum, and the same three regiments, with the same fighting methods, again achieved more than a thousand casualties, and their own losses were less than two hundred.

"My lord, we can't go on like this!"

In the headquarters of the 3rd Army, the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Army, Manny Castir, held the battle damage report and was emotional, "We are too far behind in weapons, and the tactics of lining up to shoot are simply not able to resist the enemy's skirmishers." In this way, before we reached Elena, the soldiers in the rear were almost killed! ”

"I know, I know, you make me think", Skye Hamm, commander of the Third Legion, waved his hand and looked at the sand table. On the sand table, the area that had been occupied by his troops, near the two cities that had been attacked, had been marked with red to represent the enemy army.

"The total number of troops that Gastens used to launch the attack is a regiment and a brigade, can you find their whereabouts and surround them?"

"It's hard", Manny Castil is honest, "we have too little control over the countryside. It's hard to get all the news on our own scouts alone. Now that our troops have arrived in one place, the peasants and serfs in the countryside below have almost run away, and there is no one to ask about their whereabouts. However, judging from the places of their two attacks, their troops should still be in this area. ”

Manning Castle drew an irregular pattern on the sand table that encompassed a large area south of Sturm City and north of Robida City.

"You mean, our big army turned back, surrounded this place, and forced them to fight a decisive battle?" Skye Hamm asked, looking at the area Manning had drawn.

"Yes, their numbers are too small, so they can only sneak attack, and they don't dare to fight us head-on. In a head-on battle, even if their weapons are advanced, we have an absolute advantage in numbers, and we can annihilate them regardless of casualties. ”

"What about Elena?" Skye Hamm raised a new question, "We didn't fight Elena, like that Paul Gibson, to eliminate communism, but to destroy Elena's technology, you must understand that." Eliot's serf contracts in the east and all that he did were meaningless. Those things, when they win and eliminate Gastens, and then go back to it, it's the same. If, as you say, we surround or even annihilate Gastens's forces regardless of casualties, then Elliot's men will be able to take Elena without much effort. When the time comes, we will have a group of remnants in our hands, how can we compete with Elliot for Elena's technology? ”

"Then ......," Manning thought for a moment, "then follow the original plan and get to Elena as soon as possible?" ”

According to the original plan of the Western Theater, they only need to spend about a week to rush to Elena and complete the encirclement of Elena with Prince Eliot's troops. But now, because of Gastens's guerrilla and ambush tactics, the Third Army was advancing much slower than expected, and had entered the province of Enspan for nearly two weeks, and had almost nothing to gain from it except successive defeats and attritions.

"Draw back the troops defending the cities, we want Elena, not those cities. Arrange for heavy troops to protect our supply lines, and we will march directly to the legions, and try to reach Elena as soon as possible. They're comfortable beating us out there now, and when we start attacking Elena, they're not going to come back? ”

"Also, since they don't want to fight head-on, then force them to fight head-on!" Manning Casdir understood what the commander meant and began to develop a more specific plan for the march. Skye Hamm looked at the small flag representing Gastens troops on the sand table and fell into deep thought again.

Will there be a problem with such a fight?

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Soon after the 3rd Army Corps marched in the Western Theater, Gastens launched a high-frequency and high-intensity raid on the area controlled by Prince Eliot in the East. They attacked seven larger villages in succession, attacking the 14 regiments responsible for guarding them, wounding and killing more than 4,000 of the enemy, and successfully forcing Eliot to withdraw all the soldiers stationed in the villages and reconcentrate around the large army. At the same time, Elliot also absorbed the experience of the Western Theater of Operations and gave up sending troops to protect the cities under his control. Through these means, he concentrated more than 60,000 men that could still be used to attack Elena, and headed straight for the Elena's plain.

"Head, this situation doesn't seem to be what we thought......"

Looking at the latest battlefield intelligence, Ivan frowned and looked at his boss, "Both sides are clenched into fists, we can't fight." ”

"Yes, head", Berranchier was also a little worried, "if they attack Elena directly, Elena's defense force is definitely not enough now, we must go back." But if we go back, we will have to face more than 110,000 enemies on both sides, and even if they will divide their forces to surround Elena, how can our more than 10,000 people fight against so many enemy soldiers? ”

"They are the right coping strategy, forcing us to defend Elena or risk losing Elena's factory. And this risk is something we can't afford to bear. ”

Gastens touched his chin, looked at the sand table, and thought for a long time before asking with some uncertainty.

"Or how about we have a fight before they form a siege and hurt one side? In this way, not only can the gap between the two sides be brought closer, but when they are surrounded in the back, they can at least have some confidence and not panic. ”

"Ten thousand to thirteen thousand?" , Berranch's voice didn't know whether it was excitement or fear.

"No, it's 10,000 against 60,000," Gastens corrected, "we must finish this battle before their forces are combined, and then return to Elena and start fighting Elena in defense." This battle will be the only one we can fight in the coming period. The outcome of this battle will determine how long Elena can hold on and whether she can hold it or not, so you must fight seriously and do your best! ”

Although at the beginning, he was a little hesitant to throw all the cards in his hand on the table, but once he decided, Gastens reverted to his original resolute personality. After dividing the general direction of the battle by two, he began to discuss the details with the comrades. As he said, this battle can only succeed, not fail.

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Two days later, for the first time since entering the province of Enspan, the 3rd Army of the Western Theater of Operations spotted Elena's troops in the direction of the march. The size of about 10,000 men had already completed the assembly and formation, and began to advance towards the Third Army.

"Good, good!"

Skye Hamm, who had been harassed by guerrilla tactics and couldn't sleep at night, heard the news and couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh. He had so many troops in his hands, but he had no way to get the strength of the enemy's division, and he didn't want to suffer this kind of shame a second time.

"Pass my order, battle formation, order the 2nd and 3rd divisions to spread out and meet the enemy. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Divisions came out from both flanks and surrounded them! In this battle, they can't even recognize my mother when I'm going to fight! ”

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As both sides of the war were well prepared for this battle, the battle began quickly after the Third Army Corps in the Western Theater was semi-encircled.

Because of the limited number of Luoshan 1 steam machine guns, Gastens divided the Sharp Knife Regiment into more than 40 teams, each responsible for one Luoshan 1 steam machine gun. At the same time, he concentrated the production brigades, which were mainly equipped with Valiant rifles, intending to cover large forces from the flanks and avoid being surrounded by the enemy. And he placed in the middle of a militia division of new serfs, still using the Glory rifle. Gastens hoped that before the two sides engaged, they would rely on their own weapon superiority as much as possible to wear down the enemy and reduce the casualties of the militia combat division.

The battle began shortly after the two sides had set up. The Western Theater faced the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of Elena's troops head-on, and set up the usual formation of queues and shots. However, unlike in the past, the soldiers standing in the front row each wore double armor. Although the armor was heavy, it greatly slowed down the soldiers' advance, but it also provided them with sufficient defense. Among the weapons on Gastens's side, only the Luoshan 1 can barely break through these armors outside the enemy's range, and the other weapons can't do anything with these armors. The only forty Luoshan Type 1, although they inflicted a lot of damage on the enemy, were powerless to prevent the enemy from approaching the critical point of the firing distance.

At this stage, the Western Theater of Operations finally found a relatively equal way of fighting that could inflict damage on the enemy. Although the soldiers in their first row were scattered, the soldiers in the back were still equipped with single armor or no armor. But the feeling that his own attack could hit the enemy made the commanders of the Western Theater breathe a sigh of relief. While arranging for the 4th, 5th, and 6th Divisions on the flanks to speed up the encirclement, they sent their own soldiers to the battlefield where they exchanged fire and bullets flew with a complete disregard for casualties.

"Boss, are they stupid? It's all like this, even if those double-armored soldiers have hard shells, but the soldiers behind can't stop us, and now we have an absolute advantage in the exchange ratio on the front! ”

Although when the enemy's double-armored spearmen appeared, Ivan and Bellanchir and others were nervous for a while. But then they found out that the enemy only had two rows of such soldiers, and after being eliminated at a little price, the back were still ordinary soldiers. It gives them a sense of peace of mind. Judging from the combat effectiveness of their own side on the current frontline, it seems that this battle can achieve good results.

"No, it's not that simple," Gastens whispered to himself as he surveyed the battlefield not far away. He discovered the hidden dangers of the battlefield before anyone else. Although they still have the production brigade in their hands, the exchange ratio on the front line is also very advantageous. However, the enemy's front line and its own front line have entered a close battle, and it is impossible to distinguish the winner in a short time. If they were left to flank their side, they would most likely win the battle on the front, but lose the battle.

"You can't fight like that," Gastens thought for a few seconds and sighed.

"Tell the production brigade to prepare for a breakthrough."