Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!

Chapter 332 05.0331: ‘Montachia Mountain Position’

The second day of landing.

At dawn in the morning, the officers and staff advisers of the brigade headquarters had already washed and got up with the help of servants.

Horatio stepped on the pedal of the RV in a respectable manner and walked out of the RV in high spirits. Louise lowered her head to adjust the wrinkles on her collar, following closely with a hint of imperceptible gentleness.

“Look, it’s that Imperial Navy officer. I heard that the front-line attack was unimpeded, and he contributed a lot.”

“He became a naval captain at a young age. He is really young and promising. He is also handsome.”

Several ladies who also got up early and prepared to follow the brigade headquarters to visit the front-line battles, covered their red lips with their slender hands wearing white lace, and laughed at each other:

“Did you hear it? The whole RV was shaking last night.”

“Oh my God, the whole RV was shaking ? Sure enough, brave men are brave in every aspect. "

"That female naval officer looks serious, but I didn't expect she has this side, eh? Tell me, how did she make such a gentle and melodious humming, and it's quite rhythmic, hehe."

Faced with the ladies' increasingly unbridled whispers, Louise's tense expression was a bit deliberate. She shyly trotted to catch up with Horatio, leaving the discussions behind her, and raised her head and chest again, exuding the same reliable and capable temperament as always.

"Greetings, Mr. Cochrane. I'm sorry that our conditions are limited and we can't provide you with such a comfortable living space on the warship, but it seems that you rested well last night."

"It's already very good, sir. Thank you for your hospitality." Horatio smiled.

The RV has good sound insulation, and after intense exercise with Louise, the two of them had a hearty extra game in the bath. After drying their bodies, they both fell asleep on the pillows, and the sleep quality was naturally good.

"Breakfast is ready, please." The man raised his hand gentlemanly, motioning him and Louise to enter the tent.

Horatio glanced at the wooden table covered with a white tablecloth, and the food on it was clearly visible, a very English breakfast.

Drinks were hot milk tea and coffee.

The staple food was grilled bacon, soft-boiled eggs, hash browns, sausages, vegetables similar to grilled tomatoes, and blood pudding sausage, which is the symbol of British "food".

[Oh, eating these early in the morning, just looking at them makes me feel full for the whole day, God Emperor, this side dish is too greasy. ]

Horatio, who was used to ordering meals on the warship, with a combination of meat and vegetables, raised his eyebrows and silently complained in his heart.

Of course, it was good to have these in a field environment, and being picky would be a bit ungrateful.

He gentlemanly helped Louise pull out a chair and sat down with her.

Not long after, Collingwood also walked in from the other side.

"Good morning, Archie." He greeted his roommate at Zhongsi College.

"Did you hear the noise last night, Horatio? It was a big artillery battle!" Archie had dark circles under his eyes, obviously he didn't sleep well, but his bloodshot eyes still looked very excited.

"Uh... I didn't hear it." Horatio blinked, looking like he didn't know what Archie was talking about, and scratched his palm with his middle finger imperceptibly.

He glanced at Louise with a little embarrassment, who blushed slightly and looked nervous after hearing the word "big artillery battle". She lowered her head and chewed the roasted bacon silently.

"Last night, the Astra Militarum and the Rebels had a big artillery battle. It seems that there was an ammunition explosion in the enemy camp. God Emperor, I almost fell off the bed."

"A heavy shell from the artillery of our 88th Infantry Regiment, relying on the anti-artillery auspicious instrument, hit the field artillery position built by the enemy.

In order to reload faster, those idiots opened the ammunition boxes one by one and piled them on the ground, even forming a small mountain. Then, BOOM!"

Sir Wellesley sat on a special chair with his legs crossed, holding a teacup in one hand and a tea tray in the other hand, and smiled proudly.

"It sounds like the enemy's artillery unit has been destroyed."

"The scout reported that there is not even a gun mount left in the opposite position."

"Congratulations." Horatio raised a cup of coffee and shared the joy sincerely.

Confirming that they were not talking about another artillery battle, Horatio and Louise breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Although the world is quite open about sex, and the act of reproduction is even highly respected under the propaganda of the state religion, it is still somewhat embarrassing to be teased by acquaintances.

The Jazz took out his pocket watch and took a look: "There are still two hours and 30 minutes before the front line will launch the first round of attacks on the enemy's defense line. I think you gentlemen and ladies will not want to miss the opportunity to watch the battle."

"That's natural. It sounds like you have already chosen the location of the command post."

"A fruit forest mountain in front was flattened by our artillery in the previous artillery battle. From there we can directly see the front line."

--

80 kilometers away from the initial landing site, the new front line, the 'Montachia Mountain' position.

After a night of artillery fire, the rebel front position is now in a devastated state.

Limbs, broken arms, and pieces of meat can be seen everywhere on the charred land.

The pungent smell of burnt, cold, and high explosives filled the nasal cavity of the surviving rebels.

The people who were blown to pieces were still wriggling, like half-crushed beetles. Next to them were corpses that had long since lost their breath, some standing still.

On the top of the mountain, Horatio, holding a monocular telescope, carefully looked at the front of the enemy position.

During the buffer time of more than 20 hours before the official attack of the Astra Militarum, the rebels once again urgently strengthened their positions on the basis of the original permanent defense line fortifications.

The temporary front position was very simple, with no quick-setting earth bunkers, only spider-web-like trenches and fixed mobile ceramic steel breastworks.

There was a row of anti-tank dragon teeth cast with quick-setting earth on the road, but after last night's shelling and the Royal Engineers' risking their lives to blast, they were already incomplete and were forcibly opened up to a barely passable road.

Any enemy soldiers who tried to lay mines in the gap were sniped one by one by riflemen hiding in the dark. There were already more than a dozen rebel bodies carrying anti-tank mines lying around near the dragon teeth.

But this line of defense has a defensive depth, and Horatio can see that this is a composite defense position.

Starting from the front position, the plains and hills for a full 30 kilometers behind are part of the defense position.

The rebels did not pile up all the heavy equipment on the front line at once, but evenly distributed them on the 30-kilometer-deep position in accordance with the tactical canon of the Star Army.

On the slope 10 kilometers behind the first line of defense, a group of quick-concrete bunkers began to appear. They were the ancient permanent defense positions of this planet, specially used to block the important traffic point of Highway 54.

Although the surface of the bunkers has become uneven after the curved bombardment of the Star Army artillery, the camouflage nets and the laid trees have disappeared, and they look miserable after the smoke and fire.

However, the shell equivalent and accuracy of the earth-shaking cannon are indeed difficult to remove these stubborn blackheads on the snowfield.

The high-explosive shells of the 203mm earth-shaking cannon can indeed blast the quick-concrete, but for the quick-concrete protective layer measured in meters, it only cuts off a layer of the surface, which really seems to lack penetration.

The Astra Militarum only has three types of ammunition: high-explosive grenades, armor-piercing shells, and air-blast fuze grenades, none of which are suitable for destroying heavy permanent defense positions.

But the high-yield bombs of the Imperial Navy Air Force may be able to blow it up.

And behind the bunker group, according to the feedback from the aerial firepower reconnaissance last night, the enemy should have dragged a towed Hydra or a Chimaira Hydra self-propelled anti-aircraft gun to form an air defense position, but the specific location is still unclear.

According to the Imperial Navy Code, the Imperial Navy Air Force is an important asset of the Imperial Navy. It can only support the Astra Militarum for close-range ground attacks when it is relatively safe.

In other words, the Imperial Navy cannot risk the risk of its fighter planes being shot down for the advancement of the Astra Militarum and provide close-range air-to-ground support.

As the fleet liaison officer and commander of the aviation department, Horatio knew that he must have a scale in his heart to weigh the pros and cons, and not act rashly.

Although the navy and the army are both the Emperor's currency, the currency values ​​are different.

Whether it is worthwhile to pay the price of a Navy Void Fighter and the life of an elite pilot for the Star Army, which has been separated for nearly ten thousand years, remains to be discussed.

At the same time, this place is both an agricultural production area and a key transportation line, so spear strikes are naturally not allowed.

"The enemy's defense is tight. Among the multiple reconnaissance squads sent out last night, only two rifle squads and a Ranger dismounted cavalry squad successfully infiltrated the defense line 5 kilometers deep. After the infiltration failed, the other squads could only retreat to the nearby periphery to investigate the possible movements of the enemy's reinforcements.

We don't know the military deployment behind their entire defense depth, so we can only fight and investigate at the same time." The reconnaissance battalion commander from the Rangers reported.

"The frontline position is very fragile. It won't take us long to break through it, but it will be difficult to break through the hilly bunkers that block Highway 54.

We can try to suppress the fire, and then cover the grenadiers and royal engineers to approach and blast them at a fixed point."

"Should the Makarius tanks of the 1st Armored Heavy Cavalry Squadron join the first attack echelon or the reserve attack echelon? This is our assault trump card, and we must carefully decide the order of involvement in the battle."

"Would it be too risky to use the Makarius tanks right away? The front of the bunkers must be full of anti-tank mines.

This is our weapon against enemy armor. If it is destroyed by a mine, it will be more trouble than gain.

I think it is enough to use Leman Russ. Anyway, the frontal armor of Leman Russ tanks is reliable enough. "

"When we go up, we must let the infantry accompany the guard. Once our tanks drive into the main road of the bunker group, we will be caught in a pincer attack.

The rebels can use the laser cannon through the side bunkers to seize the opportunity to penetrate the side armor of the tanks. We can't afford the risk of losing too much armor here. "

It is still a while before the scheduled attack time, and the officers are confident that they can successfully break through the frontline with low casualties.

Breaking through the fortress group is certainly not a problem for the Astra Militarum troops with such sophisticated equipment, but now the officers are discussing how to minimize casualties in the process.

Especially the loss of armored vehicles.

If people die, soldiers can be drawn from the reserve camp in the rear to replenish the combat battalion.

But if one armored vehicle is lost, it is really one less.

Especially in this kind of near-by route, which is close to the warp storm, and the harsh void environment where Chaos and greenskin pirate fleets are cruising in the void.

Deploying 12 regiments at a time, more than 700,000 Astra Militarum troops are already very many.

Whether the Ministry of the Interior will approve the reinforcement request in the short term is not to be mentioned. Even if it is approved, the Imperial Navy will have to spend time to organize a new escort fleet.

After multiple services and departments coordinate and arrange the support schedule, it may take up to 40 to 50 years, or even longer, for the next batch of reinforcements to arrive.

Thinking about it this way, these more than 700,000 people are not many. Because the Ministry of the Interior is equivalent to transporting all the subsequent reinforcements at once.

This is not the highest priority. The Empire will not care about the cost, even if it drains the manpower and material resources of several nearby star regions, it will ensure that the troop transport ships and supply ships in orbit can be continuously delivered. It is a rare apocalypse-level battle, but a "higher priority" battle.

It is considered special, but it is not so important in the overall situation of the entire Empire in the 41st millennium.

This is also a relatively common war maintained by the Empire in the entire galaxy-there are no Astartes, no God Machine Titans, only mortal steel, gunpowder, flesh and blood, and courage, and it is a battle entirely responsible for the Imperial Navy and the Astra Militarum.

In this kind of battle, the cards in the hands of the commanders of the Astra Militarum are often seen at a glance, and what you see is all.

Many commanders think about how to use the military forces they have to fight the entire war.

For the subsequent reinforcements, they have a "better if there is, but it doesn't matter if there is none".

Therefore, the officers of the Astra Militarum in this battle must control casualties, make prudent decisions, and use every Emperor's currency reasonably.

"Sir." Just as the officers were discussing how to deal with the bunkers, Horatio suddenly spoke up:

"If the scouts can find out the location of the enemy's air defense positions and launch a special operation with our Hell's Vanguard to destroy more than 70% of the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery, the Navy's aviation team can help you clear most of the high-threat fixed fortifications on the way forward.

In addition, before the attack, the Imperial Navy will also give you a big gift."

(Hydra self-propelled anti-aircraft gun)

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