Jon Warren This is the first time to fight. It was also the first time to fight such a fierce battle. The machine gun point in the left front of their line barely stopped, except for the time when it was accumulating. The sound of machine guns was like fried beans, stabilizing the morale of Elena's soldiers. The enemy's steam cannons, on the other hand, were much deeper and deeper, and the shells they fired began to turn towards the machine-gun fire points after almost destroying the iron shield breastwork behind Jon Warren. Even with smoothbore guns, under intensive enemy shelling, there will always be some shells that hit the target. So, although progress was slow, the enemy was indeed destroying Elena's machine-gun fire points.

"Gross-"

Jon Warren's men, the soldier named Halder Warren, are retching. Beside him was a corpse that had been deflected by a shell that had smashed the entire upper half of its body. Blood, offal, and pieces of meat were sprayed everywhere. Even Jon Warren has a lot on his body and face. And Hand, who was closer to the soldier, was covered in patches of red meat. How could this young man have ever seen such a scene, and how could he be mentally prepared to deal with such a brutal war? After the person next to him was shattered by a cannonball, he froze for two seconds and began to vomit violently. To him, it seemed like the only way he could deal with the corpse.

"Keep shooting! Keep shooting! Don't stop!! ”

Jon Warren tries to command, but finds it difficult for his voice to come far. The trench, which was not very rich, was crowded with many soldiers who had been in charge of defending the iron shield line, and it became a little difficult to get off their feet. Many of the soldiers couldn't even find space to reload their guns. At the same time, the soldiers who had been guarding the trenches were firing intermittently in odd and even numbers. Those who fired, those who loaded, those who tried to rotate back and forth, and those who were killed by the occasional bullets flying by the enemy, the whole trench was in chaos.

"The whole team! The whole team!! Give me the whole fucking team!!! ”

Jon Warren doesn't know much about the big picture of this fight. However, he had a hunch that the situation in the trench must not continue like this, otherwise something would definitely go wrong. Jon Warren, who had always had a very good temper, lost his temper rarely, and his company began to gradually restore order because of his orders. As the grassroots commanders of other units began to increase their efforts to maintain order, the soldiers who later joined the trenches gradually calmed down.

"Line up and shoot at intervals! Listen to the conductor's drums and don't shoot randomly! ”

Jon gave a new order. Although the soldiers were a little dissatisfied with this man's inexplicable anger, they gradually began to follow the order. For a while, the bullets fired from the trench were much more neat. Jon Warren had just breathed a sigh of relief when his rhythm was disrupted by a cannonball that missed again. The shell smashed the two soldiers standing together before everyone was looking, rolled twice on the floor of the trench, and stopped. The soldiers, who had just quieted down, panicked again. Jon Warren continued to shout at the top of his voice, and finally reassured everyone again, but the sound of artillery came from the front position.

And this time, almost all the soldiers, including Jon Warren, retracted themselves inside the trench. After the sound of the cannon had passed, they poked their heads out and continued to shoot. And in front of them, the enemy's infantry phalanx, still advancing according to the rhythm of the sound of artillery.

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"Commander, the enemy's defensive line is stronger than we thought, the 19th Army in charge of the main attack suffered some heavy casualties, and four regiments have already been destroyed in formation. More than twenty infantry phalanxes have been dispatched, but progress is still not significant. ”

At the command of the Negro Republic's troops, the Chief of Staff of the Eastern Front Command, Stefan Schwa, is reporting to Taijia Bush on the progress.

"Thinking about the setbacks that the Western Military District has encountered here, it's good that we can fight like this," said Bush who did not show shock at the casualty figures, "How about the steam artillery, how broken it was?" ”

"So far, we've blown up three, and we still have forty-two guns to use. Because of the topography of the Luoshan Pass, these cannons are used in such a small area, and the effect is still good. ”

"What about the enemy's machine-gun positions, can they be destroyed?"

"Yes", speaking of this, Stefan Schgwa clearly came to his senses, "the effect of direct bombardment with artillery is good, although the accuracy of the shells is limited, but all the enemy's soldiers are in the trenches, and we can only shoot at the trenches." From the beginning to the present, we have managed to destroy two enemy machine gun points. ”

"Only two?" , the Tayi family frowned. Before deciding to attack Elena, he was amazed by the energy of this tiny land and studied it deeply. He even carefully read Gastens and other articles on guerrilla warfare written in "Fluorite" to figure out Gastens's thoughts. It is precisely because of this that he was able to cross the sky and the sea, and drag all the elite troops of Gastens outside with the broken steam cannon. The soldiers and generals defending Elena were now newcomers, much worse than the well-trained soldiers under his command. Therefore, the Tai family has always believed that they and their soldiers can win this battle against Elena.

"Well, thick mounds of earth have been built in front of and on the sides of the enemy's machine-gun points, and it is difficult for our shells to hit directly. Occasionally, it may miss the target. So far, we have been able to ascertain that the information returned by the front-line soldiers has indeed destroyed only two machine-gun points. ”

"Two places are two places, pass my orders, continue to attack, today's task is to destroy half of the enemy's machine gun points, and if you don't reach the task, you won't stop!"

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"The situation is not good right now", on the conning tower on Elena's side, the expressions of Caleb Warren and Garence Warren were not very good, "the enemy's steam artillery is too deterrent. Now the soldiers in the trenches are trembling when they put their guns, for fear of being hit. This to a certain extent affected the density of our shots. Moreover, the enemy's steam artillery continued to destroy our machine-gun points. Already five of our machine-gun points have been destroyed. Machine guns are the key to our defensive battles now, and if we give up on them, this battle will be even more difficult to fight. ”

"Can we destroy the enemy's steam artillery?" , Daisy asked tentatively. She knew that she didn't understand military affairs, and she wouldn't take the initiative to make suggestions when she didn't have to. But according to the rules of procedure of the Communist Party, as a party member, she has the obligation and responsibility to put forward her ideas in this life-and-death battle for Elena.

"You can try," Calaiber's tone was not entirely certain, "I remember that when the first steam cannon was used in the Neglo Republic, the Western Theater used our Valiant rifle fighting units. That combat unit seemed to have managed to break through the enemy's protection, capturing and destroying Negro's steam cannons. ”

"But our advanced weapons units have been taken out by Gastens......"

Gallence Warren was well aware of the cards in his hand, "The 1st and 2nd Militia Divisions that we can mobilize now are still using the Elliott rifles and Glory rifles that we have in our backlog before because of the relative complexity of the members and the limited production capacity of the factory. This weapon must be used in conjunction with platoon tactics. In the current battlefield environment, it is impossible for us to leave the trenches and counterattack in line against the enemy's attack. Moreover, the enemy's steam cannon is a big killer against the formation of the queue to shoot, and even if we successfully line up, it will be difficult to break through the enemy's defense line several times that of ours. ”

"Then that's the only way to fight?" Daisy walked over to the conning tower and looked at the battle ahead. The enemy's phalanx seemed endless, destroyed by machine guns, and another came out. They stubbornly advanced and advanced, slowly but surely closing in on Elena's trench defenses.

"There is no better way at the moment, and any way out of the trench will lead to more, greater casualties that we cannot afford", Caleb Warren walked up to Daisy, looking at the battlefield ahead, "This is war, there is no sacrifice, there is no victory." ”

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The attack of the Tayyi's troops lasted more than four hours. The battle lasted from morning to noon, with both sides leaving more than 10,000 bodies in the small area of the Naksan Pass. Most of them are from the Negru Republic, but there are also quite a few, wearing Elena's gray military uniform.

In terms of results, the troops of the Tai family lost five steam cannons, destroyed 10 machine gun fire points of Elena, and destroyed the enemy's iron shield breastwork defense. As for Elena, she withstood the pressure of the enemy and held the line of defense at the Naksan Pass at a heavy cost.

Jon Warren sat down on the edge of the trench with his share of potatoes and sausages, and hung his legs in the trench as he looked at the battlefield ahead. The afternoon sun shone down on the corpse-strewn land, staining everything, whether it was flesh or blood, weapons or armor, with a layer of gold.

After a morning of gunfire, the Luoshan crossing after the armistice was exceptionally quiet.

"Head", a familiar voice rang out next to Jon, it was Halfe Warren, a young man who was on the battlefield for the first time. He munched on sausages in his mouth and sat down next to Jon Warren.

"Head, did you say that we won the battle today?"

"Of course", Jon didn't even think about it, "what's our mission?" Defend the Luoshan crossing, do we hold it? Held. That's what you won. Even if the enemy has steam cannons, they don't have the same problem with us? ”

"However, seven people have died in the company," Halder Warren swallowed in a few bites, "if we continue to fight at this rate, we will have no soldiers in less than ten days." ”

"You're still worried about a lot", Jon Warren was amused by Halde's thoughts, he thought about it and answered the question.

"Have you forgotten who we are? Militia, militia. Elena is not short of people right now. I've heard that the 3rd Militia Division has already started recruiting, and the leader and Daisy won't leave us without soldiers. ”

"That's good", Halder took two bites of the sweet potato and asked, "The enemy's steam cannon seems to be very useful, what does the head say, is this weapon really not good?" ”

"The leader said that steam cannons are not the direction of development of weapons......"

Jon struggled to remember what he had heard from the third party and what the leader had said, but he couldn't imagine what the direction of the weapon should be. If the steam cannon that can be used to suppress Elena is not the direction of the development of weapons, then what is the direction of the development of weapons?

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Two hours later, the Neglo Republic went on the offensive again. Elena's defenders resisted to the death. Perhaps thanks to the experience of the morning, the gunners operating the steam cannons in the afternoon were a little more accurate, and 11 more steam machine guns were destroyed on the Elena Line. And the enemy's steam cannons also blew themselves up 6 because of their overuse and poor quality, and the two sides did not seem to differ much in the combat attrition of key weapons. However, the troops of the Negro Republic came from afar, and the defenders of Gastens relied on the factories. At this rate, the Negru Republic will lose all of its steam cannons first.

"Don't worry about this," said the Tayi family, who calmed the army at a night meeting after a day of fighting. Although the daytime battle was successful, the price paid was not small. Nearly 10,000 soldiers of the Neglo Republic are laid to rest on this land. And their sacrifice in exchange for a trivial advantage at the tactical level, "The new steam cannon in our rear has been on departure for half a month, and it should arrive soon." By the time those steam cannons arrived, we would have plenty of weapons to attack. Moreover, according to the people of the research institute, there were more guns in the early stage because many guns were inexperienced in the production process. The steam cannons that are now being produced have been improved, and the number of boreholes will be less and less. ”

"If we can get less and less, our chances of victory are still quite good," concluded Lieutenant General Levi Slattery, commander of the 19th Army and who was in charge of the main attack today. If they want to break through or take it, they must rush with their lives. Moreover, intelligence shows that the enemy's advanced weapons army has been taken out by Gastens to fight our 17th and 18th armies, and now they are still being dragged in the rear and cannot return. On the opposite side were two new militia divisions, using the same front-loading steam rifles as we did. At the level of weapons, there is not much difference between our sides. And we have a huge advantage in numbers. As long as we continue to play at this rate today, we will definitely win! ”

"Don't underestimate the enemy," Taika Bush said with one hand on his chin, the look on his face was not relaxed, "never underestimate Gastens." Although his power is weak, this person has always been a person who can create miracles, and he must not be given a chance to turn over. Tell John Clemonz and Alan Carvallo that they will do whatever it takes to drag Gastens and his troops beyond Elena! ”

"Understood!"

Chief of Staff Stefan Schgvar nodded, turned around and began to give orders. Tai Bush looked at the sand table in front of him and fell silent again.

How long will it take to take down Elena, and how much time will it take?