Chapter 339 05.0338: "New Land Combat Skills"

"Harvey Squad, Leidos Squad, Fideo Squad, report your deployment status." Horatio's voice came from the helmet communication audio array of the three Hell Vanguard Squads.

"Harvey's squad received. We are already behind the left wing of Mount Montachia, conducting an infiltration reconnaissance mission."

"Roger that, this is Leidos, our men are behind the right wing, on standby."

"Roger that, Horatio, this is Fideo, we are working with the Astra Militarum artillery to direct the bombardment, and we are currently in the bushes on the side of the defense line."

"Horatio got it. Now I have a task to assign to you." Horatio looked at the long tactical holographic sand table in front of him, and with a slide of his fingers, the chess pieces of the Hell's Vanguard moved to three places respectively.

Horatio spread his fingers apart, moved them in an arc in the air, and finally brought them together.

"Harvey Squad, you will go with the dismounted rangers of the Astra Militarum Army to scout and confirm the enemy's anti-aircraft positions and the enemy reinforcements on the main road of Highway 54."

"Yes! Promise to complete the mission!"

"Ledos Squad, your squad is all equipped with heavy power armor. I need you to lead the nearby rifle squad to infiltrate from the right rear, scout the enemy's air defense positions and artillery positions, and wait for an opportunity to destroy them, and eventually reunite with Harvey's Squad."

"Leave it to me, our flamethrowers will get the job done!"

Then, Horatio drew an arc from the front.

"Fideo Squadron, the British heavy dragoons and tanks are about to attack the main road. You are responsible for providing precise guidance for the artillery fire, while destroying and suppressing the bunkers on the side of the road."

"Yes!"

The sky was stained gray by the diffused smoke, and the two stars were nowhere to be seen from the ground, as if the cloudy days had returned again.

Occasionally, a glimmer of light would shine through the clouds, reminding the people on the battlefield that it was still daybreak in their hemisphere.

More than a dozen square kilometers of flat land suitable for farming were now covered with craters of varying depths under the pounding of flames and artillery fire, as if the land had grown festering scars caused by a disease, which were still increasing and spreading.

The heat from the various weapons melted the snow. On the muddy ground, shrapnel and gravel were intertwined, and the grid-like trenches outlined a fragmented picture.

There were dots of red scattered across it; they were the bodies of fallen Astra Militarum soldiers, staining and marring the otherwise respectable and gorgeous uniforms.

The pungent smell of gunpowder and blood intertwined together to form a suffocating and uncomfortable smell, stimulating everyone's senses and forging and strengthening the inner beliefs of both warring parties.

Amid the broken walls, there were occasional shouts of soldiers and the sounds of explosions and gunfire.

After the fierce trench warfare, the Astra Militarum had advanced six kilometers on foot.

This is different from the heavy dragoons who would throw their baggage into the infantry fighting vehicle, from which they could resupply the necessary combat equipment at any time, and then get back on the vehicle and continue on their journey as soon as they had eliminated the threat.

The infantrymen had to carry a certain amount of baggage and ammunition on their own and be fully equipped for full-scale combat and long-distance raids.

Everyone was exhausted. The Star Realm soldiers' ears had already been buzzing from the sound of the sky-shaking cannons. Their physical and mental strength had been pushed to the limit. They urgently needed to rest on the spot, otherwise their subsequent combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

The British also sent out the third echelon to replace the first echelon infantry line on the fields on both sides.

Boom!

The tank's tracks crushed a twisted and deformed carbonized tree, rolled over the mud, and crushed the bodies of the rebels. Countless mud mixed with blood and gravel was thrown backwards from the tracks.

The third echelon's Leman Russ tanks were filled with infantry. They rolled over the no-man's land filled with the breath of death and the three destroyed trenches, and rushed towards the advance line of the first echelon.

A few hundred meters away from the front line of the firefight, the tank commanders ordered the infantry to jump off the tanks and launch an attack on foot.

The soldiers whose uniforms were cleaner and tidier jumped off the vehicles and spread out under the artillery fire, forming a new thin red line, stepping deep and shallow in the muddy water that emitted a pungent smell.

Every step was accompanied by splashes of mud and water and dull puffing sounds. The black gaiters and leather shoes that were brand new and clean in the last second were soaked by mud and water in the next second.

They stepped over the corpses of their comrades and rebels, passed through the first echelon of comrades who were hiding and resting in place, and took over from them to charge to the front.

The Astra Militarum mechanized dragoon troops in the front took the lead. These elite infantrymen cooperated with the Chimaera infantry fighting vehicles, efficiently eliminated the threats, and immediately got on the vehicles, moving towards the group of bunkers that sandwiched Highway 54 without any delay.

Chimera dropped the dragoons 600 meters in front of the enemy's crossfire point.

The Fideo team found a higher ground from which they could conveniently observe the terrain of the pass.

One of the scouts took out a portable ground surveillance auscultator from behind.

This device is a miniature variant of the 'reconnaissance sonar' on the Imperial Navy's escort ships. It is rare and expensive and can be carried by a single soldier, but it is very heavy and will take up the entire back of the power armor.

Without the support of the 'assault type' heavy power armor with an exoskeleton structure, carrying it would be purely a pain in the ass and quite torturous.

However, once the device is deployed statically, the detection wave with a one-minute interval can detect almost all targets within a radius of three kilometers, regardless of whether they are visible or not, as long as they are alive, they can be detected. It is very suitable for special forces infiltrating behind enemy lines to explore bunkers and ambushes. In addition, tactical soldiers in the Space Marine tactical team will also carry an active ground surveillance radar to send reconnaissance beacons to designated target points.

One of the forward artillery observers in Fideo's group kept in touch and continued to communicate and collaborate, while the other three specifically connected with the heavy dragoon squads and reported the enemy situation to them.

But Horatio's directing hand made the coordination among the latter a little easier.

The ground surveillance auspex extended the Command Hand's field of view, just as he could see the target from the photographic field of view of the Servo Skull and CAT Drone.

Although he could not point to a specific individual through the ground surveillance auspicious instrument, he could still mark a conspicuous red arrow on the enemy's position to remind people that there was an enemy infantry squad there.

This method of use is obviously more suitable for large battlefields, but he doesn't have time to help his subordinates mark out the enemies one by one like a nanny, otherwise he wouldn't have to do anything else.

But to be honest, the command hand that is suitable for fine tactical level still seems a bit powerless when it comes to managing and commanding a large battlefield.

[Give me some strength, Commander's Hand. Don't you have any tactical and strategic command branches that fit the battlefield?]
Horatio was a little exhausted by the micromanagement of "moving the machine gun position five meters to the left" and was very busy.

This is no longer the small battlefield with only a few hundred people. Looking around, nearly 10,000 people from both sides are fighting on a battle line that is more than ten kilometers long.

Only those ladies who had leisure time were savoring sweet milk tea and desserts, chatting while watching the battlefield with raging gunfire, and occasionally uttering a few exclamations or silvery laughter.

In sharp contrast, the entire brigade headquarters and the staff and commanders of command posts at all levels were extremely busy.

As the battle progresses, personnel replenishment, logistics supply, tactical arrangement, alternating battle lines...

Massive amounts of feedback data and applications came in from all aspects of the war. Officers and staff had to make timely judgments, give responses and orders for various situations, and pay attention to the all-round battle situation. The several switchboards at the brigade headquarters did not stop throughout the whole process.

The operator of the Ministry of the Interior, who had undergone mechanical transformation, typed on the typewriter with his fingers flying in the physical sense. The mechanically driven feather pen printed out the battle situation reports one by one on parchment, and then sent them in piles to the holographic sand table of the brigade headquarters.

There, Sir Wellesley, the battalion lieutenant colonel, the majors of the branch battalion, and dozens of brigade staff and advisory officers were all talking and pointing at the holographic tactical sand table.

The brigade's observation artillery telescopes were not enough, so Sir Wellesley asked the artillery unit to send more than a dozen high-precision artillery telescopes to the brigade headquarters so that officers could observe progress on the front line.

On Highway 54 behind the front line, long lines of various types of trucks were busy but orderly transporting supplies and personnel to various artillery positions and front-line military stations.

Batches of young and even immature-looking lads from the reserve camp were sent to the front-line military stations in rickety trucks.

Yesterday, they were still carrying out boring training in the reserve camp in the rear.

Today, they were pulled into a military station filled with wounded soldiers. A mixture of tension, excitement and fear filled their hearts. The wind blowing from afar carried the smell of rust, gunpowder and terror.

These reserve battalions were composed entirely of light infantry, lacking heavy weapons and armor. They were only responsible for maintaining and consolidating the front line and preventing infiltration. They were Britain's second-line troops.

Once a combat battalion suffered organized casualties, they would be loaded onto trucks and sent to the front line like blood in a spare blood bag. They would get off at the military station and walk to the battlefield where artillery fire was raging.

They were then sent to the first echelon squads that were resting at the front line to replenish the casualties.

The veterans who were originally part of the combat squad will first fill the positions of heavy weapons teams and special weapons shooters.

They would resolutely pick up the plasma rifles and melta guns of the victims, and then fill their rifleman positions with the reserve battalion soldiers armed with las guns.

Round after round of shells landed on the target located by the ground-based auspicious detection device. The first to reach the target were the 120mm mortar shells fired from the quad-mounted launcher.

Because they are fired from positions close to the front lines and reload quickly, they are far superior rapid fire support weapons than Earthshakers.

These whistling shells left behind long, terrifying screams that made people shudder, making no effort to conceal their purpose of bringing death and destruction.

Then, three Chimera engineering vehicles, escorted by reconnaissance sentry mechas, arrived at the front line, loaded with royal heavy engineers.

They belong to the engineering demolition team. In addition to building fortifications, they are also good at destroying bunkers and buildings.

The Sentinel Mech is an all-terrain bipedal mech. In Horatio's own words, its style is very similar to the AT-ST walker from Star Wars. The weapon positions on both arms can be flexibly replaced with any weapon mount owned by the Astra Militarum, even the melta spears used by the Lancers.

"Well, before our naval friends can fly in the sky, let us, the Astra Militarum, give these traitors a good drink." Sir Wellesley looked at the attack in the direction of the pass through the gun scope.

"Mr. Wellesley, although I am only an advisor sent by the Imperial Navy, please allow me to make a bold request. Can you grant me the authority to work with the lieutenant colonels to judge the front-line command and to conduct certain command interventions on the front-line troops?"

Horatio, who was examining the Hand of Command skill branch tree in the dark vision, wondering where to use the Soul Fire skill points accumulated from so many previous battles, suddenly spoke.

He apparently discovered something from the skill tree in the dark vision.

(Hunting Vanguard - Sentinel Mech)
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(End of this chapter)