Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 449: Battle Strike

Although General Albert commanded the second division of the Legion of Thunder to attack three defensive battalions of the Hicks on the northern mountain border, the casualties were heavy. But for Claude, he still found the fighter. Simply put, the second division suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and even the Nikanchas suffered equally heavy casualties. How many troops would the Hicks lose?

Why would the Hicks push General Albert's second division out of the front-occupied position despite casualties as the first division of the Thunder Legion approached the camp? Claude thought the Hicks were undermanned and unable to cope with the clamps in the front and rear directions. He could only strike the second division first, recover the loss of ground and then turn around to deal with Claude's first division...

According to General Albert's estimation, Claude believed that the Hicks casualties in the camp should also have a division's strength, proving that the second division had collected more than 8,000 Hicks veterans' plates in a three-day offensive against the battle, which was also collected from the body. According to two to one casualties, the Hicks in the camp have been maimed by a division.

If the camp still has two Legion four-division Hicks veterans, Claude may have to consider whether to command the first division to launch a strong offensive, but it is estimated that the Hicks now have only two Legion divisions left in the camp, so there is nothing to worry about. Claude decided to destroy the Hicks veterans here first, as originally planned.

As General Albert said, the first barrier easily fell under the control of the first division, accompanied by the first and second trenches in front of it, and only as it continued to advance did it encounter the resistance of the Hicks in the third trench. Those Hicks veterans always ambushed silently in the pits of the trenches until the soldiers of the Thunder Legion approached and suddenly stormed out for a direct battle with a white blade...

In addition to this, the Hicks shelved dozens of light infantry field artillery above the third trench under meticulous disguise. Due to the altitude drop, the third trench shows the majority of the second trench, which is about 50 meters apart. General Albert said that the Hicks had used trench drops to target the second division with precision, posing a great threat to the second division's officers and soldiers, and that I could not hit the enemy's plight until the second division's officers and soldiers resolved the enemy's attack on me with a foot soil pad.

Claude was well prepared for this, allowing the attacking soldier to take the planks directly into the trenches and build the floor mats. But it never occurred to me that the Hicks were not defending themselves against fire. Soldiers travelling in and out of the trenches for a while also forgot the danger. As the troops assembled in the second trench in preparation to continue their attack on the third trench, the Hicks hid several light infantry field artillery above the third trench and fired shotguns at the assembled troops. The first regiment in Berlin was reimbursed for more than two hundred troops...

Claude can only lament the reports of a setback in the attack, the enemy is making progress, and they are improving their defenses. Claude immediately ordered the troops to stop attacking the third trench and to firmly defend it. Since the enemy regards this place as the main battlefield of defense, it must be well prepared, and the first division does not need to lose its own strength to occupy the third trench.

Claude allowed the first regiment in Berlin to go left and Muried's second regiment to go right, first occupying the first fence line and the two trenches in front of the entire camp to avoid the risk of enemy raids on his left and right flanks. In doing so, a positive second division could be added to the offensive. Although General Albert's second division now has only two regiments, this 10,000 joining the battlefield can help Claude's first division considerably.

Claude also wanted to see how much Hicks were left, a large defensive battalion, and even if Claude commanded the Legion of Thunder to occupy the entire first fence line and the two trenches in front of it, it would be tantamount to dispersing the force in his hands among all occupied positions, allowing the Hicks to find an opportunity to muster their forces and launch a raid on an area.

But that's Claude's purpose, which is to stay on course, to give up and engage the Hicks in a third trench area where they were already ready to drain their troops, but to wait for the Hicks themselves to get to the door on the second first trench or even the first wall line of defense. Although the force was dispersed and only one team was guarding many of the second trench areas, it was a big net, and the Hicks would never go back as long as the raid came.

The Hicks are really out of their minds because of Claude's trick, and they don't understand why Claude is spreading his men around these positions, trying to trap them? So they launched a few tentative attacks, just by accident, and the soldiers of the Thunder Legion defended in the second trench saw that the attack was not a resolute resistance, but a resolute withdrawal, and the position fell into their hands.

The Hicks then continued their attack on the first trench, which they found to be the same. Continuing the offensive against the first barrier, the first barrier was easily occupied by them. However, the enemy did not find that they could not return, and the soldiers of the Thunder Legion on the left and right flanks of the occupied area of the second trench had responded and quickly regained their positions. Then, the veterans of Hicks, who occupied the first trench and the first line of defense of the building wall, became among them, and they fought heroically and stubbornly, and eventually became martyrs.

At first, the Hicks thought it was too little force to attack and the Thunder Corps responded too quickly, so they increased their forces to attack and were ready to expand along both sides of the offensive area until the entire area of the offensive was occupied. It's just that the Hicks veterans can't resist the Left and Right Winged Legion soldiers, and the area they occupy will always soon fall back into the hands of the Legion.

It was not until a battalion of veterans of Hicks similarly surrounded the area between the first trench and the first fence line that the Hicks understood that it was a trap set up by the Thunder Legion and that they had no longer taken the initiative to attack. Just to learn that lesson, they lost nearly a regiment of troops.

“It is true that the Hicks are understaffed, or else their last offensive will not be with just one battalion. If they can invest in a regiment of Hicks veterans, then they can withdraw at least half the men and horses.” Claude told General Albert.

General Albert nodded and thought Claude's analysis made sense. If the Hicks are strong enough, they don't really need to be so petty that even the first attack will directly throw in a regiment.

Then, when attacked by both wings of the Legion of Thunder, the men and horses occupying the first wall of defense and the first trench could be evacuated faster, or thrown into resistance, and would not be surrounded so quickly. Perhaps the soldier who escaped will understand the trap set by the Legion of Thunder as soon as he talks about the course of the attack.

All Legion of Thunder troops attacking on both wings were three Legion horses equipped with new rifles, divided into four battalions, each occupying four points, which area between the four points was attacked by the enemy, and two battalions on both sides immediately attacked from both wings, enclosing the enemy.

Six rounds of new-style rifles dominated this trench offensive as opposed to a firerope gun that would have to be loaded with a cumbersome charge if only one gun had been fired. Four battalions of the three regiments killed or injured less than 400 people in two days of combat, killing nearly 5,000 Hicks. Especially those Hicks veterans, who were ready for a special death blade fight, ended up one of them being knocked to the ground in a series of new rifle launches, dying without meditation...

Now that the Hicks are no longer attacking the positions occupied by the Legion of Thunder, Claude Rebellion-dominated Third Regiment soldiers commanding Diavid launched sniper warfare with new rifles, and all Hicks who showed up to observe within 200 metres were targeted for firing. Ten successful sniper rifles developed just before the war became the main force of snipers, and all the Hicks observation posts exposed to positions three or four hundred metres apart could be shot dead.

While turning the Hicks blind with new rifles and sniper rifles, Claude allowed Thunderbolt's Fourth Regiment to escort large numbers of prisoners into positions, and the first and second trenches were altered and expanded with a dagger axe, and the excavated soil was piled on top of the trenches and built into a half-height wall, completely blocking the sight of the Hicks' inhabitants at high altitude so that they could no longer see what was happening in the second and first trenches.

The Hicks veterans guarding the camp resented each other because they were all working in the position with their fellow captives, who could not shoot or stop the construction, and could only greet the captives as they managed to escape, apart from verbal outrage. In the meantime, they also organized two attacks to rescue some of the Hicks prisoners, but their attacks failed and all the prisoners who followed them escaped were killed in trenches and positions. Since then, all Hicks prisoners have done their job well and stopped fighting to escape.

Claude used the Hicks captives to expand the first and second trenches to accommodate Hicks-produced throwers, and he was preparing to bomb the Hicks-guarded trenches with Hicks-produced iron pumpkins. Of the 5,000 iron pumpkins seized from the General Logistics Base camp of the Hicks, Claude was prepared to be used in this Hicks camp, and it was not believed that the Hicks' turtle shells could be blown up.

The sight of the Hicks was sealed with new rifles and sniper rifles, and a half-man high mud wall was piled on top of the trenches, along with Claude's direct excavation of deep traffic trenches from the first trench to the first wall defensive line to the periphery, so that the Hicks did not know that Legion of Thunder soldiers had pushed more than a hundred heavy caster-like throwers into position in the first and second trenches.

As nearly a hundred iron pumpkins were thrown into the third trench by air, veteran Hicks guarding in the third trench caught their doom. Claude ordered focused bombardment of all third trench traffic to the fourth trench, depriving the pit walls on both sides of the shelter. This led to veteran Hicks guarding in the third trench either evacuating from the traffic trench with a bombardment of iron pumpkins or climbing out of the trench to evacuate from the position.

Whatever they choose, they become targets for new rifles and sniper rifles. The fact that veterans of Hicks could be evacuated to the fourth trench did not mean that they were out of danger, and Claude ordered the throwers in the second trench to throw iron pumpkins into the fourth trench.

Throwers produced by the Kingdom of Hicks can throw iron pumpkins a hundred and thirty metres away, and even make distance adjustments to keep the throwing target at a hundred metres. The third trench is more than 110 metres from the first trench and is within throwing range. And of course, there's a big deviation in this throw, not where you want to throw.

Claude ordered eight rounds of nearly 700 iron pumpkins to be thrown into the third trench, just one third of which actually fell into the trench, but one third of the iron pumpkins that fell into the trench were enough to clear most of the Hicks veterans in it. As more than two dozen throwers placed in the second trench began to throw iron pumpkins at the fourth trench, the Thunder Corps soldiers had rushed towards the third trench, successfully occupying the position. Then a large number of Hicks prisoners were escorted to the past and the renovation and expansion of the third trench began...

The removal of the bodies of nearly 5,000 Hicks veterans from the third trench, coupled with the evacuation of the positions and the shooting to death, can be judged to have cost the Hicks yet another regiment of troops. To these Hicks veterans, Claude admires the tenacity of their will to fight, but he still thinks it's a good idea to wipe out such a tenacious enemy.

Because during the occupation of the third trench by the soldiers of the Legion of Thunder, many of the Hicks veterans who were stunned or injured caused accidental injuries to the soldiers of the Legion of Thunder, and finally Colonel Muried had to order that the soldiers who saw the bodies of the Hicks veterans who had fallen on the ground in the trench should first shoot or stab them in the face of a sudden burst for life...

The Hicks have suffered a great loss in the third trench, but they still haven't given up. Claude sent a Hicks prisoner to send a letter of surrender to the Hicks commander in the camp. As a result, Claude's request was rejected, and the Hicks captive was beaten to death and released. He was verbally abused and beaten by veterans of Hicks, who considered him a traitor who served his enemies and who might not have been able to return if their commander had not required him to send back a letter.

Claude knew very well that the Hicks believed that the battle they could keep was the second fence, and that the throwers behind them were not yet in use. Waiting for the Legion of Thunder to attack and occupy the fourth trench, the Hicks will be able to retaliate violently against the defeated hatred of the third trench.

If you stand high, the Throwing Ride produced by the Kingdom of Hicks can throw the Iron Pumpkin a hundred and fifty meters away, which means that the third trench, another ten meters ahead, is placed by the Hicks in the bomb range of the thrower behind the second protective wall. But Claude was not so foolish to send Thunder Corps soldiers to attack and occupy the fourth trench, betting that the Hicks must have forgotten the most important thing, and that there were also bomb throwers in the immediate area of operations or were the first users to throw bombs.

The Hicks were well aware of the maximum distance the throwers threw iron pumpkins, so they were indifferent to the Thunder Corps soldiers' blatant coercion to dig up trench expansion positions for those Hicks prisoners. Even if the Legion of Thunder were to place the thrower in the third trench, what could it be? At most, it could only be thrown in the fifth trench, with no damage to the second protective wall and those throwers and light infantry field artillery behind it...

But Claude wasn't planning to put the thrower in the third trench to throw iron pumpkins, but to throw projectiles produced in the war zone. Throwing bombs produced in the direct jurisdiction war zone, although less powerful than iron pumpkins, are light and concealed and do not expose throwing sites like iron pumpkins that require ignition ropes. Just one centimeter long with a slight adjustment of the ignition rope inside would be enough to explode over a distance of 200 meters.

Originally on the second defensive front in the eastern mountains, General Bitchklin used seized Hicks Kingdom-produced throwers to throw projectiles from the war zone, raising the throw distance to more than 200 metres, suppressing Hicks iron pumpkins and alleviating the defensive front's crisis with iron pumpkins bombing. It is likely that the Hicks stationed here on the northern mountain border were unaware of this, so Claude was left to place a thrower in the third trench.

Although the Hicks have also launched several night raids during these three days, they have been repelled by well-prepared Thunder Corps soldiers. Perhaps it was the Hicks who were really under-powered, who did not invest much in these nightmares, who were not fierce enough, who left more than a hundred bodies behind and retreated, allowing Claude to command the troops well enough to lay all the throwers in the third trench.

Though the Hicks did not set up observation posts on the bright side, snooping remained indispensable. Even though Claude had those Hicks prisoners build half-human walls of excavated dirt over the trenches to shield them from the trenches, the Hicks noticed that the Thunder Corps was about to attack, so they were ready.

With more than 1,200 projectiles produced in the first division's battle zone and 300 remaining in the second division, Claude intends to use all of the more than 1,500 projectiles on the second protective wall within a kilometre distance of the front, from where he opens the opening of the second protective wall. The Thunder Regiment did launch an offensive, not to get tangled between the fourth and fifth trenches with the Hicks, but to break through the second fence.

With the order, more than a hundred projectiles flew into the sky. The Hicks behind the second fence still wonder, isn't that a waste of iron pumpkin? If there's no guard in the fifth trench, it's useless to blow up a piece of shit. It wasn't until these projectiles in the sky fell on the second fence that the Hicks woke up. At this moment, they couldn't help but wonder why the Legion of Thunder could throw the projectiles so far away. The most important thing now is to save their lives...

The Thunder Corps soldiers in the third trench kept shouting and nothing could have boosted morale more than watching the enemy get bombed. Above the second defensive wall, the front and back are constantly rising, exploding fire and black smoke, and the body limbs and objects that have been blown up into the sky can be seen implicitly...

“Nice blow!” General Albert was thrilled to give the order: "Throw all the projectiles away, and the last two rounds of pre-throw troops launched a total attack, defeating the enemy and annihilating all the Hicks! ”