Chapter 699 07.698: “The best defense is offense”

Everyone could feel the ground shaking uneasily.

“God Emperor, that is… a Fallen Knight mecha?!”

Farida turned around abruptly and eagerly lay down on the shooting slope, her eyes wide open, staring at the war machine walking on the ground behind her, and she couldn’t help but hold her breath and exclaimed in a low voice.

Horatio stared at the heretic war creature that had reappeared. Its blood-red eyes slowly turned along with its hideous head. Its cold gaze was like an icy blade, cutting through everything within its sight, as if searching for the scent of blood.

Whose blood? That’s a good question.

“That’s the position of the 1145th Infantry Regiment that’s about to launch the attack.

Give me the walkie-talkie and connect to the military headquarters (military-level general staff).”

Horatio looked grim as he took the microphone of the wired walkie-talkie from the grenadier.

Inside the headquarters of the 15th Siege Army, dust occasionally fell from the top of the fortifications onto the rough ground due to the bombardment, and the atmosphere was heavy and depressing.

General Blücher stood in front of a large scaled-down sand table of the central hive cluster. More than a dozen staff officers surrounded him, discussing the attack plan in an orderly manner.

Their low voices intertwined together, the atmosphere was tense but orderly, and the batons in their hands were constantly gesturing on the sand table, marking key strategic points.

A soldier came running over, holding a microphone in his hand, and said nervously, “The 1313th Infantry Regiment is calling.”

The sound was particularly abrupt in the quiet military headquarters.

General Blücher turned around and calmly took the phone from the soldier. His voice was low and calm: “Go ahead, Colonel.”

“Please order the 1145th Infantry Regiment to stop the attack immediately, General! The enemy’s Fallen Knight mechas are advancing towards their positions, and they must switch to a defensive posture!”

On the other end of the phone, Horatio’s voice was occasionally interrupted by fierce gunshots and dull cannon fire.

General Blücher lowered his head slightly, looked at the sand table in silence for a moment, and then slowly spoke: “Negative, they will launch the attack as scheduled, Colonel.”

“But the enemy’s war weapons are heading towards their positions! If the 1145th Regiment launches an attack, it will face a head-on conflict with the Knight Mechs. You should know much more about this situation than I do for the infantry that have left the protection of the fortifications.”

Horatio’s tone revealed confusion and anxiety, and he tried to make the general understand the urgency of the current situation.

“Your concerns are justified, Colonel.”

General Blücher’s tone remained calm, as if all this was within his expectations. “But all these possible situations are within the numbers that the staff officers have accurately calculated.”

“Numbers…?” Horatio couldn’t help but feel unbelievable when he heard the unexpected answer, and his brows furrowed tightly.

“Yes, numbers.”

General Blücher patiently explained, “Our staff will calculate all possible situations in the offensive and arrange the corresponding troop deployment.

We have made detailed plans for every possible situation that each regiment may face during the attack. And the attack is the best defense.

We will win the attack, the only difference is the number of casualties.

An army assault regiment has been deployed in the follow-up attack echelon of the 1145th Infantry Regiment. Their assault cannot be delayed by the infantry troops in front. This is our last armored force. Even if all members of the 1145th Infantry Regiment are killed, they will continue to advance on the corpses of the victims.

However, for you, after completing the task assigned to you by the General Staff, if you want to save more lives, you can try it.

The acting regiment commander has the right to coordinate the attacks of various regiments.

Likewise, when the assault regiments arrive on the battlefield, you can coordinate their actions.

Staff Officer Clausewitz and his team will assist you.

Although the Military Affairs Department specifically mentioned to me… not to let the Imperial Navy get involved in the command of the armored forces.”

In General Blücher’s words, he implicitly emphasized the extra power that Horatio possessed, as if conveying a special trust from the Krieg people. “… Got it. Thank you, General, I will make good use of these powers.” After a moment of silence, Horatio replied in a firm tone, with a hint of determination in his eyes.

“Good luck to you,” General Blücher said, and hung up the call.

“So, what did the General Staff say?” Farida, who was standing by, looked back frequently and asked anxiously when she saw the call ended, her eyes full of worry.

“The 1145th Infantry Regiment will rush out of the trenches to attack the enemy. No, to be precise, it will be a counterattack.” Horatio said in a low voice with a serious expression.

“Oh, God-Emperor, there will be a massacre in the no-man’s land.” Farida shouted, covering her mouth with her hands.

“Not necessarily, Warden Hood, Captain.”

Louise suddenly spoke up, denying Farida’s opinion. Her eyes were calm and thoughtful. “Considering the size and weapons of the Knight mecha, if the Kriegs were dispersed on a wider flat ground, perhaps there would be fewer casualties.”

Louise pointed at the war machines moving slowly in the mist and continued, “These weapons can instantly destroy everything concentrated in the trenches. But if the Krieg infantry can spread out far enough on the flat ground in the no-man’s land, there will inevitably be casualties, but they should be much less than if a group of people were crowded in the trenches.”

“Your speculation makes sense, Louise. But we have to do something before the Knights’ Spears arrive.”

Horatio nodded slightly, acknowledging Louise’s point of view, then raised his head and looked down at the entire battlefield from a bird’s-eye view.

On the offensive line, the situation became increasingly tense.

The enemy was desperately trying to mobilize reinforcements from the rear and counterattack the captured trenches.

The vanguards of Krieg’s two reinforcement regiments had just arrived at the already vacant positions of the 1313th and 1314th Infantry Regiments, and were making intensive preparations, ready to launch an attack at any time.

Horatio quickly calculated in his mind that if he could stop the enemy troops trying to counterattack from the front, the 1313th and 1314th Infantry Regiments would be able to launch a surprise attack from the left side behind the Knight Mech.

With the fierce fire support of artillery, even such a huge war machine will suffer heavy damage.

As long as we hold out until the Armored Assault Regiment and the Knights’ Spears arrive, we might be able to completely wipe out these traitors of Creedence.

“Are you sure about this, Captain?” Louise asked softly, looking at Horatio.

“Yes.” Horatio raised his head, his tone full of determination, “Since it dares to come to this battlefield, we must at least make it lose a hand before it goes back! No, we must make it come here without a chance to return!”
–
Boom!Boom!
Da da da! Da da da!
Artillery fire rained down on the rebel positions. The trenches that were not strong enough and lacked support collapsed in the violent explosions, raising clouds of dust and rubble.

Soldiers from both sides used light felling rifles to fiercely block or fight for control of the communication trenches. The shouts and sounds of gunfire were intertwined and deafening.

The logistics trenches were filled with supplies needed for the rebel front-line positions. Boxes of ammunition and bags of supplies were piled up like mountains. This was the key to the rebels maintaining their battle.

Horatio’s eyes were fixed on the logistics trench. He knew very well that his goal was to destroy these supplies within a very limited time.

Once these supplies are lost, the position will lose half of its strategic value.

For the Chaos rebels, if they were to make such a big hole and were unable to expel the Kriegs, then the front line would completely lose its meaning of defense.

“The 12th Company will launch an assault from the side! Grenadiers! Form an assault team with combat engineers! Within a quarter of an hour, take down the central bunker firepower point! Break through the logistics trench and end this dispute!”

Horatio personally commanded the breakthrough in the center, his voice transmitted through the communicator throughout the battlefield, firm and powerful.

The battle line was vast and long, but with the huge amount of real-time information obtained through the bird’s-eye view, the well-trained Krieg Death Corps demonstrated organizational coordination capabilities far superior to those of the rebels. They were like well-trained wolves, attacking from multiple weak points simultaneously.

This scene seemed like a carefully planned large-scale war command game. Each assault team was like a chess piece, moving in an orderly manner under Horatio’s command, rather than fighting in chaos without any rules.

Their execution was well-trained, which made Horatio’s tense nerves relax a little.

Dozens of breakthrough teams were quickly formed.

The grenadiers exuded a cold temperament, and the pockets on both sides were filled to the brim with various long-handled grenades.

Working in conjunction with them were Krieg engineers carrying melta-blasting explosives and flamethrowers.

(End of this chapter)