Chapter 1629: Chapter 1546: The 2nd Corps’ Solo Advance
“Counterattack! We must counterattack! No matter the sacrifices, no matter the cost! We must retake Ben! Otherwise… the bastion is lost!” Standing in front of the map, the Commander of the Ice Cold Empire’s 2nd Corps, Harev, said with determination.
His headquarters is closer to Ben, and his troops are deployed in areas that are more dependent on Ben. When Ben was lost, he received the news faster than Moss.
The positions defended by the 2nd Corps of the Ice Cold Empire include the 1st to 3rd coastal lines and the depths of these lines. Of course, their defense zone does not include Ben, so when Ben was lost, they did not even react.
But now it’s different, they must worry about their own survival: once encircled, annihilation is only a matter of time. Even if they have stockpiled a large number of supplies, they will eventually run out.
Waiting for the Tang Army to establish a foothold and then breaking out is absolutely foolish, as no successful case has proven that Tang Army’s defense lines can be breached.
Therefore, Harev couldn’t sit still any longer. He decided to use his last reserve forces and engage in battle to retake the crucial city of Ben and stabilize his retreat route.
How many troops does he have? The answer is two divisions, plus an independent armored regiment as support. Altogether these forces amount to over 20,000 personnel and more than 90 tanks.
“Tonight, we will use all our strength to attack Ben from the west and catch the Tang Army off guard!” Harev gritted his teeth, hastily drafting a seemingly reasonable operational plan.
According to his plan, a nighttime raid would at least create chaos, and since the Tang Army hadn’t fully established themselves, they would certainly incur some losses.
By the time they penetrate the city, the chaos will continue, and after dawn, leveraging the ruins in the city, his troops can persist in resistance. Surrounded by Dwarf troops, as long as they hold out long enough, reinforcements will arrive from another direction.
He’s taking a significant risk because these reserves are meant for defending positions 1 to 3, representing the backup forces. If they are all expended, the 2nd Corps won’t have enough troops to maintain the size of their defense zone.
Despite this counterattack plan contradicting Moss’s original ground defense strategy, losing Ben was not in the plan, thus Harev decided to take a gamble for the Empire’s fate.
Moss is unaware of this impromptu counterattack plan, and Harev has no way to notify Moss because communication between the two is completely cut off.
The original telephone line went through the Ben node, and now that Ben has changed hands, the phone line is naturally unusable. As for radio, the Tang Army’s interference has been ongoing, and the anti-radiation missiles carried by the Voyagers are not merely for show. The Dwarves’ communication has been intermittently disrupted.
After losing the crucial city of Ben, everything for the Dwarves fell into disarray, and what used to be effective communication was completely cut off. Moss began to lose even the most basic control over the entire battle situation. Perhaps this is the biggest loss for the Dwarves in unexpectedly losing Ben.
In fact, the Tang Army was not idle either. The 2nd Paratrooper Division of Tang Country, with support from the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Armored Division, launched a fierce attack on the flank of the Dwarves’ 4th Armored Division.
The Dwarves’ 4th Armored Division, which was originally planned to reinforce Ben, had already battled with the Tang Army Paratroopers for two days, and after encountering the Tang Army’s tanks, they could no longer hold and began to retreat.
As they retreated, the direct distance to Ben immediately increased: the nearest Dwarf Tank unit was originally less than 2 kilometers from Ben, now they have been driven to a position at least 5 kilometers away from Ben.
By this time, the sky was gradually darkening, and neither side had any intention of halting the battle for the third day’s dinner. Everyone was constantly exchanging fire during meal times, and the soldiers could only quickly solve their hunger problem in the fastest way possible.
On the Great Tang Empire’s side, the soldiers tore open plastic bags, gnawing on soft bread, sausage beef cubes, and self-heating vegetable soup, while in the opposite trenches, the Dwarves’ soldiers only had potatoes and hard bread.
The disparity in food was enormous, and the technological content was entirely different, so Tang Army’s soldiers, having finished their meals, began to harass the eating Dwarves, causing a lot of trouble for the Dwarf Troops.
As the last rays of sunlight slipped behind the mountains, the sky became completely dark. The soldiers of both sides, who had engaged in fierce combat all day, began to regain their strength, and the intensity of the fighting began to diminish.
Everyone needed rest. With the Dwarf Troops, which had a numerical advantage, began appearing more active: The Ice Cold Empire’s 2nd Corps commenced action, with the recuperated 2nd Infantry Division and the 12th Infantry Division advancing toward Ben.
Soon, they encountered the Tang Army reconnaissance units equipped with infrared night vision devices: the Tang Army immediately reported the situation, and the Dwarves’ troops on the western flank were maneuvering frequently, heading straight for Ben.
“Dwarves’ troops on the western side of the landing field are organizing a counterattack… they seem to be getting impatient.” Tagg grinned as he looked at the map being gradually marked with the Dwarves’ positions.
Being able to lure the enemy out of their shells and eliminate them in open field conditions is the ideal scenario for the Tang Army. Although the Tang Army has plenty of means to take out those fortifications, getting the enemy to come out is clearly more convenient.
“Deploy carrier-based aircraft to take them out?” Bernard felt he had possibly made a wrong decision: just two hours ago, the Great Tang Empire Navy fleet was divided under his orders.
The main naval fleet with three aircraft carriers had left the war zone for fuel and ammunition resupply, making immediate participation in the battle now impossible.
Additionally, there were three more aircraft carriers heading south under General Lu Qianshan’s command to raid Eternal Winter Port of the Ice Cold Empire. The task of this split fleet was straightforward: destroy the Dwarves’ fast boat units deployed near Eternal Winter Port and cripple Eternal Winter Port to prevent the Dwarves from further utilizing it.
The remaining aircraft carriers continued their operational support but, due to ammunition consumption issues, the Navy fleet’s support capacity is not as effective as it was two days ago.
When asking this question, Bernard was considering deploying half of the remaining ammunition to suppress once more, to at least ensure Tagg’s army could establish a foothold in Ben.
However, Tagg saw no need for this, as he was aware the Navy had already split because this was an arrangement he and Bernard developed together.
Even Tang Mo was aware of the Tang Army’s division because such an important decision was definitely something Tagg and Bernard had to report to His Majesty The Emperor.