Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 310 The Real Massacre Begins
Milton had already seen the situation on the beachhead—it was said to be concentrated, but the soldiers were also deliberately spreading out as much as possible in the limited space, not all of them were piled up in a very small area like the crowds on National Day.

It looks satisfying to fire a shot, but in this situation, the killing efficiency of a 105mm howitzer is actually not as good as that of a Gatling gun.

The 25mm autocannon is the most efficient killing machine against lightly armored or even unarmored units.

Milton aimed the crosshair on the sight at the target on the screen and pressed the fire button. An extremely dense "buzzing" sound immediately came from the front of the aircraft!

The entire aircraft trembled slightly.

A dense array of white lines appeared from the left front side of the aircraft, accompanied by a huge amount of dust rising from the ground as it was hit by 25mm shells!

The dust, following Milton's firing trajectory, formed a straight line from the beachhead into the river, and no living thing or vehicle in that line was spared!
The assault boat's bulletproof steel plates were penetrated without resistance, and the numerous bullet holes allowed the assault boat to begin to sink and capsize in an instant!

After the dense dust settled, all that remained of the area Milton had swept through were bits of flesh and some soldiers who hadn't been directly hit by the shells but had been struck by flying shrapnel and were rolling around and howling in pain.

And they are not a minority.

“That’s the purpose of body armor.” Milton chuckled as he observed his battle results. “Body armor can’t directly stop heavy machine gun bullets on the battlefield, nor can it stop direct hits from artillery shells, but the proportion of casualties caused by direct hits isn’t particularly high… Flying shrapnel is also a significant source of casualties.”

Various general-purpose machine guns are highly efficient killing machines.

With the protection of heavy body armor and tactical helmets, most deadly shrapnel, and most machine guns that do not use full-power ammunition, will not have enough kinetic energy to harm soldiers.

Facing the enemy, the Pan Madre Group, a "tax police force" that even had gunboats, was always able to achieve great results with very few casualties, and these seemingly fragile bulletproof vests played a crucial role in this.

buzzing...

Milton casually quipped as he maneuvered his weapon to create another line of fire on the enemy's beachhead—those who were clearly following from behind, the so-called main force, were no different from the infantrymen filling the gaps in front under the attack of the gunships.

Several main forces of the Allied forces found a very low shell crater in fear and huddled together, desperately trying to avoid the enemy's terrifying firepower.

These makeshift "buoyancy shelters" are usually very effective in the face of machine gun fire or even mortar attacks, and can significantly reduce casualties.

However, the act of crawling into makeshift trenches or lying in shell craters appears ridiculous from the perspective of an airplane.

Milton fired a short burst of light fire at the small shell crater.

The Gatling gun spat fire, unleashing countless bursts of firepower towards the shell crater.

When a barrage of anti-material shells hits a human body, there is only one possible outcome.

Milton couldn't hear the sounds coming from the ground, but he could clearly see on the screen that the few people huddled in the shell crater couldn't even make a single extra movement before instantly turning into blood-stained chunks of flesh—most of the chunks of flesh bounced back and forth in the shell crater, turning it into a pot of minced meat.

The remaining bits of flesh splattered out of the shell crater and hit the faces of other soldiers.

With no way to protect themselves and no means of surrender, no matter how strong their combat experience or what they did, the outcome was always the same: being torn to pieces by a shell falling from the sky without warning.

To the gunship, each and every one of these vibrant lives was no different from the virtual characters in an arcade game.

After several rounds of firing, various wrecked assault boats and body parts mixed with excrement filled the field of vision of every soldier. Some of the soldiers who were lucky enough not to be targeted by Milton even began to vomit!

All the enemies know that the only reason they are alive now is because of luck.

The morale on this beachhead finally crumbled visibly. Some looked up at the sky in despair and fired their small rifles at Milton, while others simply began to scatter and flee.

Most enemy units, including infantry fighting vehicles, began to abandon their beachhead positions and flee like headless flies.

"The enemy's beachhead has collapsed. Over."

A BMP-1, billowing black smoke, drove haphazardly for a short distance before breaking down. Several dark figures tumbled out of the hatch, but before they could run two steps, they were shot down by the surrounding ground forces. The friendly forces on the beachhead had already heard the commotion from the sky, and two soldiers poked their heads out of the foxholes, excitedly waving their helmets into the air.

The company commander's voice came through the radio, requesting fire support: "Significant strike results, currently holding off the remaining troops, over."

To facilitate faster and more convenient communication on the battlefield, the reporting process for requesting support was drastically streamlined—frontline officers, such as company commanders, could directly contact the "gunships" to request support.

"This is the 1st Infantry Battalion, 3rd Infantry Company... Coordinates: There is a machine gun position that we are unable to take down. Requesting backup."

With the first beachhead completely destroyed and the gunships running out of ammunition, Milton stopped dealing with the remaining enemy and focused his attention on new targets.

Indeed, there was a machine gun position there, and it was firing wildly. The speed of the relocation was very fast, and it successfully dodged several rounds of mortar fire, and even luckily avoided a round of bombardment from a 155mm howitzer!

Because the beachhead was too close to friendly forces and the dock, and could only be fired indirectly, the artillery positions, which were gradually moving away from precision-guided shells, did not bombard the beachhead directly, but instead continued to attack various fire support positions further back into the enemy's rear.

The fact that the machine gun positions, which were under so much firepower, had not yet completely collapsed is enough to show how fast they moved and how cautious they were.

The indirect firing process, which requires frontline soldiers to locate their positions, report their coordinates to the artillery, the artillery to calculate firing parameters, and finally fire, is indeed quite challenging against such a slippery opponent.

Only direct firepower like attack aircraft can eliminate the lengthy positioning process and complete the positioning and firing the instant the machine gun position opens fire.

Milton stared for several seconds, then asked, puzzled, "That position is firing, but the target seems to be... enemy troops? Are you sure you want to attack?"

What the hell is going on?
Judging from the panel, those people were not marked as friendly forces, so they must be enemy forces, right?
The company commander said hurriedly, "I'm sure... those are the enemy's supervisory team. As long as we take them out, the enemy will fall into chaos!"

Milton suppressed the urge to sigh and said, "...Received."

Since it's a position, it's time for the 105mm howitzers to make their appearance.

"Switch to 105mm howitzer, target: enemy supervisory team machine gun position, use high explosive shells."

"Ready."

"..."

Milton slightly turned the guns around and saw the machine gun positions of the overseer team begin to withdraw. A full minute later, they resumed firing from another well-hidden position not far away. They seemed to think they wouldn't become targets of the "gunship."

"fire!"

boom!
The instant they fired, Milton pressed the fire button.

The shock caused almost everyone to jolt. The recoil from the 105mm howitzer was transmitted to the fuselage through the hydraulic buffer system, causing the entire aircraft to shake noticeably!
The muzzle flash lit up a blinding yellow light in the air, and a few seconds later, the machine gun position was completely covered by flames and smoke, and the machine gun that had been firing fiercely just moments before fell silent.

The tense loaders immediately crammed a new shell into the howitzer.

"Load, load quickly!"

"Howitzer loading complete!"

"105mm howitzers are ready!"

boom!
Without hesitation, Milton pressed the fire button again, firing a high-explosive shell at the spot where he had just been. Another fireball exploded, engulfing the position, which was no longer known to exist.

Milton fired three shells for this position!
"We are currently confirming the results of the battle."

"No evidence was found that the target still exists."

"At least the enemy's supervisory team has stopped attempting to fire, and the tactical objective has been achieved."

"Received, thank you."

"..."

After the conversation ended, Milton found it somewhat amusing—because from the sky, it was clear that not only had the machine gun position of the supervisory team that he had blown up fallen silent, but the other supervisory teams that had not actually been attacked had also stopped firing almost simultaneously.

These people who were desperately sending cannon fodder to their deaths immediately chose to hide themselves after realizing they had become targets of the "gunships in the air".

After eliminating the oversight team, no ground troops requested support in the short term, so Milton began adjusting his gun barrels and observing the ground situation.

He soon spotted an enemy infantry squad—of course, calling them an infantry squad was a stretch; one look at their equipment and you could tell they were cannon fodder.

Just as Milton was about to inform the ground troops of the enemy's location, he suddenly realized that many of the enemy soldiers were facing the opposite direction...

Upon seeing the supervisory team's position destroyed and realizing that no more bullets would fly behind them, many people jumped up, threw down their rifles, and excitedly waved to the "gunships" in the sky. Milton could feel their excitement and joy even from such a distance, across a screen.

After waving goodbye, they didn't pick up their weapons but instead fled towards the outskirts of the battlefield...

"Now I understand why the frontline commanders were so eager to eliminate the supervisory teams... Once the supervisory teams are gone, a significant portion of the enemy forces will collapse on their own, which is much more efficient than directly attacking the enemy."

Milton couldn't help but mutter a complaint, while continuing to control the fire control system and scanning the battlefield.

Soon, another request for support from ground troops arrived, this time at a beachhead with a traffic jam and a large number of people gathered... It seemed that because of the officers' deliberate concealment, the soldiers here were unaware of the terrible attack their allies had suffered.

But they'll find out soon enough.

buzzing...

boom!
Milton held nothing back, unleashing his most powerful firepower on the enemy forces on the beach. Armored vehicles, assault boats, makeshift fortifications, and infantry—none could escape this insane barrage.

Soldiers on the beachhead would often see their comrades suddenly shatter without warning, and would see teammates who were just sitting in a vehicle or on a boat suddenly reduced to just a pair of shoes on the ground!

In the blink of an eye, the row of comrades who were just talking were reduced to shoes with a section of shinbone sticking out on the ground!
Why do gunships, despite seemingly having a limited amount of ammunition, so easily destroy enemy morale once they open fire? The most important reason is that they can destroy hard-won gains in the simplest, most direct, and most violent way.

After paying countless prices and finally achieving some results, just when they thought they had at least made progress, the enemy was wiped out by a monster in the sky in just a few seconds... and then they were told that these soldiers, who were on the verge of collapse, had to fight again?
With shells potentially falling on your head at any moment, and your life or death depending solely on whether the enemy wants to kill you, the pressure is immense.

The Allied soldiers on the beach made the most foolish decision – after seeing people take refuge in the shallow makeshift trench, many of them, driven by herd mentality, rushed in without thinking!
In no time, more than 20 people gathered in this small, makeshift trench, packed to the brim!

Milton paused for a moment, then immediately fired a 105mm howitzer shell at that spot.

boom!
This shot was incredibly lucky; it hit the trench directly and even killed one person with the force of the direct impact.

The high-explosive bomb exploded in the trench.

In the semi-indoor environment, the power of the shell's shockwave was fully unleashed. The intense force tore the bodies of more than 20 people in the trench into pieces of flesh and bone, while the scorching heatwave cooked these pieces of flesh and bone, slamming them against the trench walls.

When the smoke cleared, it wasn't that there were no living people in the entire trench, but rather that there wasn't a single corpse that was even remotely intact.

Even dog tags, which are keepsakes, are mostly destroyed in the explosions.

This is no longer a trench, but a mass grave.

On the beachhead, even the officers' psychological defenses completely collapsed. After learning that the supervisory teams behind them had fallen silent, they no longer had the courage to fight. They turned around and either put on life jackets or crowded onto assault boats, desperately fleeing towards the rear positions.

Once one position collapsed, the pressure on other positions suddenly increased, and they quickly fled as well.

Like dominoes falling, everyone began to flee backwards, and the Allied forces' river-crossing campaign was declared a complete failure at this moment.

The scene of enemy soldiers jumping into the river amidst the sound of cannon fire was truly spectacular.

However, before Milton could even look, he heard Ismya's voice.

"We are about to launch a river-crossing operation to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop... How much longer can your gunships remain airborne?"

P.S.: In yesterday's chapter, my eyesight was failing me, and I mixed up the ratio of feet to kilometers, resulting in a slight error in the aircraft altitude value. It has now been corrected. Thanks for pointing it out.

(End of this chapter)