Chapter 1619: Chapter 1536: Tang Army Forming One Continuous Front
After the Tang Army’s troops occupied position No. 4, they had almost guaranteed absolute safety for a part of the landing ground, despite the Dwarf Troops launching some symbolic Scud Missiles, whose damage was almost negligible.
On the afternoon of the day when the Tang Army’s main forces began landing, the Tang Army had already launched a full-scale assault on position No. 6.
This time, the Dwarf defenders at position No. 6 couldn’t handle it: the Tang Army gathered thousands of soldiers and, under the cover of tanks, advanced steadily, giving the Dwarf defenders no chance before driving them out of their position.
By that evening, the Dwarves had already been pushed out of position No. 6, only able to continue fortifying and holding the line near position No. 7.
In the depth of the defensive area, the Tang Army not only controlled the airport behind the second line of defense at position No. 5 but also seized control of a highway forward.
Although they had not yet made actual contact with the paratrooper units as planned, the two forces were now less than a kilometer apart. An armored vehicle and tank unit crossed over this stretch of highway, reaching the area controlled by the paratroopers, delivering them some ammunition and medication.
Everyone knew, this distance was nothing; by the next morning, the Tang Army could meet successfully, and then the occupation zone would take the shape of an "L".
This shape was quite interesting, with a protrusion that could threaten the Dwarves’ defenses on both sides at any time, while also appearing to be caught between two lines of the Dwarf forces.
This formation tested the power balance of both sides, with the advantageous side gaining massive strategic initiative. An act of aggression could turn the tide and achieve astonishing results.
Tagg certainly seized this opportunity, ordering a nighttime redeployment of troops to continue fighting, to encircle and annihilate the Dwarf forces on his left wing.
He made this decision because his special forces and troops equipped with night vision devices had already rested for a whole day and had significantly recovered their condition.
With these forces, he could make the night less tranquil: as night fell, the Tang Army immediately launched a new round of attacks.
Under the cover of night, the Tang Army’s attack speed only increased: infrared night vision devices easily distinguished the Dwarves hiding in the trenches, and the attack aircraft deployed at night accurately dropped bombs on these hiding places of Dwarf Troops.
The meticulously constructed Dwarf bunkers were soon mostly destroyed; the remaining Dwarf soldiers, before figuring out what had happened, were surrounded and annihilated by the advancing Tang Army.
After a night of chaos, the Tang Army had captured the Dwarves’ second line of defense behind position No. 4, significantly expanding their controlled area.
The paratroopers were not idle that night either; they cleared the final kilometer that separated their area, then approached a Dwarf ammunition depot from another direction.
Ultimately, because the Tang Army’s offensive was too fierce, the Dwarves had to blow up their own ammunition depot and then withdrew from the battle.
Moss waited bitterly in his command post all night, hearing reports of attacks by the Tang Army on various positions to varying degrees.
Position No. 4 was almost surely not recoverable, and position No. 6 was lost as well; the defensive line the Dwarves had arranged along the coast was all but unrecognizable in just one day and night.
Binghan the First called to question what measures Moss had, but Moss had no answer: he had no good options, and all his plans seemed to have failed by then.
The Tang Army’s paratroopers had not been surrounded and annihilated, nor had the landing troops suffered major setbacks. The coastal defenses the Dwarves spent almost two years building didn’t seem to function as needed.
Early the next morning, the Dwarf Troops who had barely steadied their footing finally breathed a sigh of relief: they at least had not been entirely driven off the coastline by the Tang Army.
In fact, due to the presence of night vision devices, the Tang Army’s nighttime operations appeared even more aggressive than during the day. The Dwarf Troops had to use up a large number of flares during the night to resist, though they hadn’t prepared enough flares beforehand.
After all, before the outbreak of fighting, the Dwarves couldn’t predict that the Tang Army would make such large-scale use of technological advantages for night combat—previously, the Tang Army’s night raids were small-scale and not so deadly.
About 170 kilometers from the beach, the Dwarf missile units were preparing for a new round of attacks. These were Scud Missiles, which the Dwarves had reverse-engineered, producing over 500 of them.
This type of missile, however, always lacked accuracy, forcing the Dwarves to use them as siege weapons to threaten the Elves to the south.
Now, the Tang Army’s bombings had destroyed most of the artillery positions the Dwarves had deployed near the Steel Rampart, leaving them no choice but to use their last ace, the Scud, to attack the Tang Army’s landing zone.
These expensive ballistic missiles were not something the Dwarves were usually willing to squander, but now, at this critical moment, they had to use whatever was available.
Even though the accuracy wasn’t great, due to the density of the Tang Army, these missiles still achieved certain results, killing about 100 Tang Army Soldiers, including a major.
This was almost the last opportunity for the Dwarven missile units; if the Tang Army repaired the airport facilities in the landing zone, then the strike radius of their aircraft would reach those missile launch positions, putting the Dwarves’ Scud Missile Launchers at risk.
In fact, the commanders of the Ice Cold Empire’s missile units misjudged the situation: the Tang Army’s radar, already deployed onshore, had deduced the location of the Dwarves’ missile launch positions, and these places were not as safe as imagined.
They were within the strike radius of the Tang Country Navy’s carrier-based aircraft, so the Tang Army’s Intruder and Flying Shark aircraft immediately launched a suppression attack on these missile positions.
On the morning of the second day of the Tang Army’s landing, the missile positions in the Dwarves’ hinterland suffered devastating strikes, losing almost all of their missile launchers after being rampant for about 20 hours.
To continue using the Scuds to disrupt the Tang Army landing, the Dwarves would have to redeploy more Scud Missile Launchers from the south to continue subsequent attacks.
But all that needs time; by the time these launchers reach the Steel Rampart, the Tang Army might have almost captured Eternal Winter Port by then... or perhaps, they might already be using Eternal Winter Port to unload supplies and advance into the Ice Cold Empire’s hinterland.