Chapter 369 05.0368: "The first real large-scale independent land battle training"

This was Horatio's first training in land warfare, and without Sir Wellesley and his team of lieutenant colonels, he was the highest-ranking authorized commander in the area.

Everyone waited for his order.

The defense line near the airport was planned by Horatio according to the Land Warfare Manual given to him by Sir Wellesley, combined with the knowledge he learned from modern army combat manuals read in the warship library during his long life at sea in his previous life.

As a time traveler, Horatio knew very well from the beginning of his arrival in this world that the Imperial Navy could not win independently on the front line, especially now that it was the end of the 41st millennium.

He wanted to be a generalist like Macharius, although he could not say that he could definitely save the empire. At least, he wanted to keep everything he loved before the end of the world.

He let out a long breath, looked at the war sand table for a while, then raised his finger and started clicking.

Unlike the traditional Astra Militarum that liked to fill the lines with human waves, Horatio used the wisdom of his ancestors to plan the battle lines and combat tasks especially for the light infantry. At the same time, he used the "modern mechanized corps" combat theory of his time to arrange a mechanized mobile defense reserve.

He used the war sand table to set up a forward observation command post, which was selected as the basic command post of the base camp at the bunker defense group command post on Mount Montachia, and the rear command post was located in the airport tower combat situation room.

A dozen lieutenants and even a major from the Astra Militarum were under his command and sent to different command posts.

Based on the major battalion commander, he established his own combat staff team in the base command.

Although Horatio looked like only a naval captain, in terms of rank, he was a proper civil servant commissioned by the Empire, not a local civil servant appointed by the Military Affairs Department of the Conscription World like the Star Army lieutenant.

Lieutenants rank above their Astra Militarum colleagues in the rank chart, somewhere between Lieutenant Colonel and Major.

In terms of the battle front, he preset a battle depth of 15 kilometers.

The first 5 kilometers are mobile harassment positions, where skirmishers conduct reconnaissance and harassment of the enemy and provide reference for artillery fire points.

The front line of defense is 10 kilometers away from the airport. It is based on three trench lines dug by the Star Army early this morning. Horatio has sent heavy weapons teams to the jungle and slopes next to it. They will use sandbags and fast-building ceramic steel bunker panels to build defense-counterattack positions there.

Next, he began to set up a company-battalion battle line.

A large company of more than a thousand Astra Militarum soldiers, Horatio did not intend to use them as a real "company".

Instead, they treated it as a "battalion" that could fight independently, a battalion of the ancient Terra Blue Star standard, to arrange the battle line.

In principle, the basic command post should not interfere with the site selection and construction of squad-level defensive fortifications. This task is usually arranged by the forward observation command post because they are most familiar with the terrain of the frontline positions.

But Horatio, who possessed the command hand and the war sand table, could see the terrain ahead even more clearly than the front-line command post. This tactical artifact of being high above and being able to adjust and zoom at will and compare the shooting range allowed him to inspect whether the place was suitable for building corresponding defensive positions without having to go there in person.

He first established a combat alert position in front of the first line of defense, which was a salient located in front of all defense lines to warn and guard against the enemy's incoming movements.

They are crucial to the entire battle line. Once they open fire, all the troops in the subsequent battle depth will move like gears.

For the Astra Militarum, the battle alert position usually becomes a discarded pawn, because it is very difficult to evacuate this position. There is often a fairly empty "no man's land" between them and the main position. A rash attack is equivalent to giving up the advantages of fortifications and terrain, and falling into the field battle stage that the attacker likes the most. Therefore, the Astra Militarum can only watch as they are surrounded and annihilated without fast mobile vehicles.

But with limited resources and manpower, Horatio did not intend to waste these manpower. There were enough Averus landing craft at the airport to carry members. Anyway, there was no need to transport supplies and no need to break through the atmosphere. After removing unnecessary loads, as the classic mule of the Imperial Navy, it was no problem to squeeze more than 50 people in it.

Then, according to the actual terrain and the mobile-position defense doctrine, there were fake positions, squad-level fire support points built based on tank pits, mortar positions, and logistics support positions.

The second line of defense is 5 kilometers away from the airport, consisting of four trenches spanning 3 kilometers.

Compared to the first line of defense, the defense network here has many preset battle positions reserved.

The combat mission of the first line of defense is mainly to rely on heavy weapons and artillery firepower to attack the enemy and thwart the enemy's first wave of offensive momentum.

The expected engagement distance is 800-3000 meters.

He did not think that the first line of defense could stop such an aggressive enemy, so each line of defense had reserved a transportation hub for retreat, which could help the Astra Militarum troops withdrawing from the front to quickly retreat to the second line of defense with heavy weapons and transfer to preset positions to block the enemy.

Once the enemy approaches within 500 meters of the first line, the mechanized infantry will rely on the tank vehicle defense support points located in the tank pit to cover the heavy weapons and retreat.

Then the infantry and tanks took turns to provide cover, gradually moving from the first trench to the second trench, and laying traps and mines in the first trench and the communication trench.

When they moved the three trenches, as Horatio expected, almost all the heavy weapons on the first line of defense had begun to be transferred to the rear along the traffic lines.

The mechanized infantry will abandon their positions, get on their vehicles, and have the Chimera vehicles drive in reverse to cover their retreat.

As the order was given, everyone saw their own psychic beacons in front of them with their naked eyes. Each unit would only see their own combat mission beacon, so it would not be confused with the beacons of other units.

On the war sandbox, all units began to move in an orderly manner like ants.

Amid the alarm, British line soldiers grabbed their rifles, jumped off military trucks, and then adjusted their hats, just as they had rehearsed a thousand times in training, and rushed to their respective combat positions.

"Anti-tank guns in place!"

"Autocannon in place!"

"Laser cannons in position!"

"Heavy bombs are in place!" "Firing positions are being urgently constructed!"

"Laying mines and pulling barbed wire!"

Next, he began to build a wired communication network for company and battalion defense.

Wireless communication is an extremely unstable factor in warfare. It is easily interfered with and even more easily eavesdropped on. Therefore, on the battlefield of the 40,000th year, wired communications are still not outdated.

The messenger rode a three-wheeled motorcycle and led the engineers to start laying cables on the triple defense line. All the cables were hidden in areas where they were not easily cut by bombs.

As a time traveler, Horatio had a rough idea of ​​the greenskins' troops, as well as their equipment and weaknesses.

Consider that among these greenskins there might be jumping Stormboys with rockets on their backs.

These bold, violent and fearless green-skinned guys often use their homemade jumping rockets to jump thousands of meters, then fly behind the front line to cause huge chaos and sneak attack defensive positions.

In order to deal with this possible threat, Horatio referred to the anti-air assault and anti-airborne tactical theories of Blue Star in his previous life.

Hydra self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and mobile reconnaissance teams of anti-airborne forces were deployed between the defense lines.

These troops are composed of wheeled light reconnaissance vehicles and motorcycle teams of the reconnaissance company. Although their firepower is a little poor in anti-armor, it is enough to deal with the threats at the level of Storm Boy infantry.

"Sir, the fake position used to deceive the rebels has been constructed." A message came from the front-line observation command post.

"Very good. How long will it take for the rebels and greenskin troops to enter the frontline to harass the enemy?"

"In 10 minutes at most, sir, the rebels' flank troops and the greenskins have already been victorious. The greenskins have won."

"understood."

Horatio inferred from the report of the observation post that the greenskins would attack from the right and front, while the rebels would attack from the left wing after the remnants joined the main force.

With this information, he made a quick judgment and increased the proportion of the fake positions on the left wing, making the rebels mistakenly believe that the Astra Militarum had deployed its main force on the left line of defense.

"How long will it take for the follow-up reinforcements to pass through the Montachia Pass?" Horatio asked the major of the battalion.

"The first reinforcements will arrive in 45 minutes, sir, but they are the troops used to support the front line of the First Brigade."

"I will make a decision based on the situation. If the defensive situation is more severe than I expected, this reserve force will have to be requisitioned. Later, the Avirus transport plane will be used to transport personnel and supplies to the front of the First Brigade."

"Yes, sir..." Seeing that the naval officer was so strong, the major of the battalion had no choice but to obey his wishes.

I thought that since I was facing an amateur, I could show my skills and gain some military merits, and see if I could be promoted to lieutenant colonel and battalion commander when I receive postwar awards.

This is great. How come this naval officer seems to know more about land warfare than those senior lieutenant colonels of the Astra Militarum? He doesn't look like a novice at all.

The battalion major could not find any fault with the defense layout on the war sand table. Each one was recorded in the Star Army Drill Manual, and the naval officer's layout even looked more advanced.

Horatio certainly knew that his tactics and strategy were more advanced.

Aren't the tactics of 20XX more advanced than the Astra Militarum's manual of operations comparable to that of World War I?

The Astra Militarum doesn't have much air power, so it's understandable that they fought like they did in World War I.

Now that I have both air and ground forces in my hands, if I still follow the old-fashioned fighting methods of World War I, then as a time traveler, wouldn't all the books I read in the military academy library be in vain?

"Sir, the enemy is approaching the 15-kilometer outer harassment zone."

The officer in charge of lookout reported.

Horatio immediately walked forward quickly, opened his monocular telescope and looked forward.

As an advanced reconnaissance tool with a built-in micro-thinker array that can help the navy engage in artillery fire over a distance of hundreds of kilometers, he thinks this thing is better than an artillery scope.

Sure enough, the scene in the mirror showed that the vast ocean of greenskins was rushing towards him with ferocious war roars, and the ugly graffiti faces on the tall killing cans seemed to be shouting at him.

Even on the mountain, he seemed to be able to feel the earth shaking.

"Let the blocking troops start the action as planned, and the artillery positions begin calibrating parameters in advance." Horatio raised the telescope to observe while calmly issuing combat orders.

"Yes!"

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(End of this chapter)