Alien Arms Empire.

Chapter 1848 1849 The defense line was broken overnight

Not everyone can enjoy the same food treatment as the commander-in-chief. After all, there are only a few officers who have their own cooks and can enjoy hot meals at any time.

Having missed the hot dinner, the allied soldiers could only eat cold compressed biscuits and dry fried noodles in the trenches. The rain gathered into streams, winding along the bottom of the trenches, soaking the already soft soil into even more muddy.

The soldiers' boots were deeply sank in the water, and they had to struggle to pull them out with every step, making an annoying crunching sound. The air was filled with the smell of damp earth, sweat, and a strange mixture of rotting things, which was disgusting.

The Allied soldiers could only huddle in the narrow space of the trenches, looking for a slightly drier place to barely rest.

However, the damp and cold air was pervasive, and even if one found a piece of land that was temporarily free of water, one could not escape the bone-chilling cold.

The sky had begun to darken, and the intensity of the Tang army's air raids had weakened. Many artillery positions that had dared not show up in the afternoon finally had a chance to catch their breath and began to occasionally fire at areas where the Tang army might appear.

But no one knows how accurate this blind shooting can be, but this is the best effort these artillerymen can make.

Soon, the counterattack could no longer continue, because the Tang army's artillery had already arrived at the designated position. Compared with the coalition artillery, the Tang Empire's artillery response speed was much faster.

The Tang army directly replenished a large number of self-propelled artillery through sea transportation. These equipment were more advanced and powerful than the howitzers equipped by the coalition forces near Yucheng. With the support of ballistic detection radar and computers, the brave coalition artillerymen who opened fire under the cover of night soon suffered a setback.

They were accurately covered by the Tang army's artillery fire, and the other side did not give them any chance at all. They adopted the tactic of continuously adjusting the elevation angle of fire to let the shells hit the ground at the same time, allowing several self-propelled artillery to fire with overwhelming momentum.

Although doing so can easily wear out the gun barrel, its power is amazing. Often one or two cannons can suppress the enemy's entire artillery position. Moreover, because the opponent can be caught off guard, the destructive effect is also very good.

What the senior commanders of the coalition forces did not expect was that such shelling actually covered the actions of the Tang army special forces. The rumbling sound of artillery in the distance became the best background sound, allowing these ghosts in the dark to kill their opponents without restraint.

Although the rifle with a silencer still makes a lot of noise, it is not so obvious among the gunshots. Without the characteristic sound of gunfire, the sound of firing can be easily ignored.

This kind of environment is really suitable for infiltration and penetration. The Tang army's special forces are like entering an unmanned area. It was already dark, so the Tang army's actions were almost unimpeded.

The native troops of the Lions Empire, who had never seen such tactics before, were completely unadaptable to them. One after another, their headquarters were taken down, and one after another, their positions were infiltrated and destroyed.

By dawn the next day, the senior commanders of the Lions Empire in the Jade City Command discovered that they could no longer contact the headquarters of the 91st Dorne Division.

Later they discovered that several important positions had lost contact, and they had no choice but to send people to confirm the situation.

When Paul woke up and opened his eyes, he heard all kinds of bad news. The entire command system was in chaos, and no one could tell what happened on the front line. It was not until noon that it was finally confirmed that the 91st Division of the Dorne Empire had been attacked last night, and the entire infantry division had collapsed at this moment, and most of them had been captured... The news that their position had also fallen had already been heard.

At lunch time, the coalition forces' losses last night were barely counted: they had lost the first line of defense, the Tang army had made a breakthrough, and the vanguard troops had reached the second line of defense.

As the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Paul did not dare to order his troops to try to counterattack from both wings and attack the Tang army troops that broke into the first line of defense. Because he knew very well that such a counterattack was simply futile.

Even with his absolute advantage, he was unable to break through the defense line formed by a small number of Tang troops. Now it was even more impossible for him to launch a pincer attack to encircle the Tang army.

So he obediently gave orders to strengthen his defense line and avoid the harassment and bombing of Tang army aircraft as much as possible. On the morning of this day, Tang army aircraft once again launched a large-scale attack, destroying countless ground targets and causing the Yucheng defenders to pay a heavy price.

Just over a day had passed since the war began, and the coalition forces not only allowed the Tang army to cross the first line of defense, but also lost thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands were captured.

Such losses obviously exceeded previous expectations, and Paul had to readjust his deployment and focus all his energy on street fighting in the city.

He also realized that it would be too disadvantageous to fight the Tang army in the wild. It would be better to place his main force in the city and fight a decisive battle with the Tang army in more complex terrain.

But the problem with this is obvious: the tactic of only defending the urban area does not have much strategic depth, the defense lacks flexibility, and it is unknown whether it can be held for a long time.

But now he can't care about so many things. As long as he can reduce the losses and stabilize the existing defense line... he is willing to try any tactics.

Of course, he would not abandon the defense line outside the city, and he had to hold on to the end no matter what. Because once the Tang army surrounded Yucheng, no matter how many troops there were in the city, they would not be able to hold on for a long time.

"Leave the northern line of defense to Dorn! We will guard the southern line of defense... Strengthen vigilance and patrols at night, and we cannot make any more mistakes under any circumstances." In the afternoon, Paul adjusted his deployment and moved the original defense focus from the north to the south.

The south and east were his important supply lines, and even if there was a problem in the north, it would only mean losing the suburban positions outside Yucheng. So he made a choice and placed Dorne's troops in a less important direction.

"Also, tell the artillery to preserve its strength as much as possible...don't waste ammunition if you're not sure." After seeing the losses of the artillery, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces added another order with a painful heart.

We can't let the artillery be lost outside the city, how can we fight the street battles in the city in the future? After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to give up some things: "Withdraw all the troops behind the first line of defense, and redeploy them based on the first line of defense..."

(End of this chapter)