Macho Wars

The two unexpected shallow-water heavy gunboats were quickly suppressed by the air force, and they had no time to attack the landing forces on the beach.Dragon took the opportunity to throw into the third wave of armored forces, trying to defeat the defenders in one go.

With the landing of the tank battalion and the gradual disintegration of the coastal defense lines, the garrison commanders realized desperately that they could no longer hold on to the inland reinforcements.

So after weighing it over and over, the commander who didn't have the courage to die for the country decided to abandon the position, and with his remaining troops, he retreated to the rear in a panic.

Chapter 270 The Marine Corps Rolling Forward

After the shore defense forces of the Sapphire Principality retreated, the Marines did not pursue them, but began to deploy on the spot to consolidate the occupied beachhead positions.

The sea and air battle on Crystal Lake also ended shortly thereafter.Eight Haiyans that went into battle one after another bombarded the two running ships in shallow water. Although none of them were able to sink, they succeeded in achieving their goal, leaving the two gunboats fled in embarrassment.

After the battle, Dragon went ashore with the third batch of tank battalions.At this time, the first and third battalions had already begun to clean the battlefield. They gave priority to collecting the remains of their soldiers who died in battle, and transported them to the beach, covered with white cloth, waiting to be transported back to the ship by the landing craft.

The corpses of the enemy army were carried by the prisoners, and a large pit was dug and buried on the spot.

In this battle, the independent regiment actually engaged in the battle with only the first battalion, the third battalion, and the Roebuck's strong reconnaissance company. 128 people were killed and 263 people were injured in varying degrees.Nearly half of the casualties were caused by shallow-water heavy gunboats, but the infantry confrontation was crushed all the way.

The defenders were killed in battle alone, and more than 800 people were killed, and more than a hundred people were captured, one by one, most of them suffered permanent hearing loss.

Only a few surviving troops followed the commander to withdraw from the position, but soon afterwards they encountered the strong reconnaissance company on the way, and left hundreds of corpses. In the end, only two or three kittens escaped.

Through interrogation of the captured officers, Dragon learned that the coastal defense force stationed here was the 522 Infantry Regiment of the Ninth Division of the Duchy, with a strength of only about 1,500 men, and just changed defense last month.

After the expeditionary attack began, the fleet shelling alone wiped out nearly one-third of their troops. Most of the open-air positions, together with the soldiers squatting in the trenches, were destroyed by overwhelming artillery fire.

Regarding what happened to him, the poor lieutenant with a perforated eardrum was full of resentment, because they were the cannon fodder deliberately thrown here to death by their superiors.

The army of the Principality has long known that the imperial army will come over. If they lack a strong navy, if they organize defenses on the coastal beaches, they will not only need to invest a lot of manpower and material resources to build fortifications, but when the imperial fleet actually comes over, these troops will be ten The Eighty-Nine Club was within the range of the naval gun, and the bombed did not even know his mother.

Therefore, the headquarters of the Principality Army’s Eastern Group (Occupy Army) decided after research to deploy only minimal garrison troops in coastal areas. They did not expect them to prevent the enemy’s landing. As long as they could serve as an early warning, they would consume more ammunition from the Imperial fleet. OK.

The real defensive method is a number of mobile divisions deployed in the interior. They will wait until the Imperial Army has actually landed, and then block according to the plan.

The Eastern Group of the Principality Army is confident that it will turn the Tarrans region into a huge meat grinder, so that the invading Imperial Army will pay a heavy price as they invaded the small kingdom of Pani three years ago.

Upon learning of this, Dragon will immediately report to the Expeditionary Force Command, and the Command will soon call back. Everything is proceeding as originally planned, and the priority to seize the port remains unchanged.

A few hours later, all the officers and soldiers of the Independence Regiment and the main heavy equipment had been transported ashore, and Kane immediately ordered Dragon to lead his troops northward to occupy the town of Orphee.This is an important transportation hub in the southeast coast of Tarrance, and several major roads and railways pass through here.

For the sake of safety, Brigadier General Kane assigned the tank battalion directly under the brigade to Dragon, and battalion commander Lano Stein returned to Dragon again.

The strengthened independent regiment was about to hand over the beachhead position to the subsequent 772 regiment that went ashore, and set off on its own for the town of Ofi.

At this time Roebuck brought two "local guides" to Dragon, who were said to live in the town of Orphee.

So Hank and Misha's uncle and nephew were brought to Dragon. Hank saw that the colonel was so young. He subconsciously thought that he was that kind of nobleman with a deep background, so he was very cautious.

And Misha's attention was more attracted by the tank under Dragon's ass.Such a big gun wagon must be very prestigious to sit on it!

Hank told Dragon that there were a large number of principalities’ troops in the town of Orphee, one regiment of regular troops, and an equal number of "two devils," the former Tarrans who were willing to defect to serve the principality. Drop troops.

These occupying forces usually acted very brutal and aggressively levied the locals. The local residents dare not say anything about it, because as long as they disobey, they will be beaten severely, or they may lose their lives.

Under such high-handed rule, there are naturally people who are unwilling to become slaves to stand up and try to resist.Although Hank did not join the resistance organization because he had to take care of his nephew, he secretly helped the resistance organization like many locals.

There has always been a resistance group of rebels active near the town of Orphee. Their commander is Staki, a former major of the Tarrans army.After the defeat of the kingdom, Major Stucky did not surrender to the enemy, but led the remnant to go underground and insisted on confronting the occupying forces.

After hearing the name, Dragon hurriedly opened the information book that he carried with him, and soon found information about Major Staki on it.It should have been sent to join Roebuck.It is his men.

In less than half an hour, the vanguard of the independent regiment passed through the coastal forest along the road and saw the town from a distance.But less than a minute after they stepped out of the forest, the leading company was hit by heavy shelling.

Dragon judged by the messy sound of the guns that the opponent had 75, 105 and 150 guns of different calibers. Obviously, the defenders stationed in the town of Orphee were not like the cannon fodder units that had been thrown on the beach before. They received heavy firepower. The main force.

However, compared with firepower, Dragoon, who has two tank battalions with more than 60 tanks on hand, is completely worthy of them!

Under his order, the tank troops, relying on their mobility, quickly deployed to both sides of the town to test the fire deployment of the defenders.

The infantry units that followed up were now on standby at the edge of the forest.From here to the small town, there is an open land about six hundred meters wide, with almost no shelter in the middle.

If the infantry is allowed to cross over on two legs, it is bound to become a living target for the enemy in the open.

So Dragon allowed the infantry to set up the mortar and fired smoke bombs into the open area directly in front, and then a number of tanks with smoke generators started to further enhance the smoke concentration in the open area.

Subsequent tanks and infantry strayed in formation and rushed past them at the fastest speed.The 600-meter sprint is fully equipped, which is a basic operation for the officers and soldiers of the independent regiment within 150 seconds!

Chapter 271

Without any hesitation because the enemy had heavy artillery, Dragon used dozens of tanks and eight seven-five-mountain cannons to suppress the outskirts of the town, allowing the troops to directly attack from the front.

Detours and stalemate will only waste time, which is exactly what the enemy expects.

The assault mission was handed over to the second battalion by Dragon. They did not participate in the previous landing operations, so the staffing was complete, and the physical condition of the soldiers was maintained at the best.

Under the cover of heavy smoke, 122 officers and men of the Second Battalion and First Company rushed out of the forest first.In front, six tanks responsible for pulling smoke started, and the infantry followed behind in a loose enough formation.

Frank, as a company's deputy commander, naturally did not have anyone left behind, and led his troops to charge forward behind a tank.Cannonballs were constantly falling around, and bullets were flying everywhere. Soldiers had to roar to disperse their fears.

Fortunately, Frank ran fast enough, or simply because of good luck, he rushed through the open ground all his tail.

The leading tank overturned the machine gun position placed in the middle of the intersection with one shot, then ran over it directly, placing an oblique angle that was easy to ricochet and blocking the intersection.

Frank, who followed behind, stuck to the wall of a building outside the town with a gesture of almost crashing.The thought of running for more than 600 meters in the rain of bullets made him feel so exciting!

Looking back at the comrades around him, the infantry squad with him rushed over eight, and more soldiers came out of the smoke.

With the cooperation of the tanks, the rushing company quickly destroyed several positions outside the town.The remaining troops of the second battalion immediately launched an assault, and all pressed up.

As a century-old town, the buildings in the city area lack proper planning, so the whole town looks chaotic, with maze-like alleys everywhere.

The defenders seemed to have deliberately used the complex pattern in the town to fight street battles with the Imperial Army, so Dragon reminded the Battalion Commander Jack before the second battalion set off and told them not to worry about the building.As long as casualties can be reduced, he doesn't mind flattening the entire town.

So the second battalion that rushed in once again brought into play the unique "demolition spirit" of the independent regiment, and the soldiers carried huge amounts of explosives and...sledgehammers.

With the smooth entry of the second battalion, the infantry of both sides immediately started street fighting in the city.

At this time, the two Haiyans flew over the battle zone, and the pilots quickly spotted the enemy's artillery position from a high altitude, immediately dived and dropped their bombs, and shot the ground with machine guns.

The Principality Army had no experience in dealing with such high-speed aircraft, so it seemed a little at a loss.

Suppressed by the fighter jets, the enemy’s artillery quickly went silent, and Dragon immediately seized the opportunity to press all the troops at hand.The tank companies quickly destroyed all enemy positions outside the town, and the infantry battalions attacked the town from multiple directions.

The defenders fought and withdrew, only supporting less than two hours before giving up about one-third of the city to the east of the town.However, the offensive of the Independence Group was also forced to stop, because the entire town of Orphee was divided into two parts by a river that crossed the city.

There were originally three bridges on the river, and the defenders rushed ahead of the imperial army's troops to blow up two of them, leaving only the middle one for key defense.

Seeing that the sky had dimmed and the sun was about to go down, Dragon was not in a hurry to let the troops cross the river or seize the bridge.

From landing in the morning to now, the Independence regiment has been fighting continuously throughout the day, fighting from the Silver Sand Beach all the way to Orphee Town. The soldiers' physical strength and energy are exhausted and they need to take a break.