In the command bridge of the Tianshi Chapter's flagship, the battle barge Sekelen, Chapter servants and staff wearing different uniforms are busy working or walking around. The Chapter's command and senior officers of the Astra Militarum are surrounding them.
Next to the huge display, there is a slowly rotating planet with a faint green projection, and the positions of various troops and enemy strongholds are accurately marked. Now there is no dazzling red on the planet.
As he spoke, the war leader Saul pointed to an area marked gray on the imaging device.
"Although the enemy's core stronghold group on Glory III has been removed, there are still some underground bunkers that the army is clearing. In this general attack, the Cadian Army suffered approximately 190,000 casualties, and the Krieg Army suffered approximately 190,000 casualties.
360,000 people, and other Astra Militarum forces also suffered 210,000 casualties. In addition to the losses caused by attacking other strongholds on the planet, after two weeks of fighting, the Astra Militarum casualties totaled about 2.1 million people...of which about 1.1 million people were killed.
, 300,000 people were severely disabled.”
As the number of casualties was reported, the dim light reflected by the constantly rotating imaging device also made the expression of Commander Layinfu Mensa, the chapter leader of the Tianshi Chapter and the commander of the Maelstrom Second Theater, look gloomy.
The weather is uncertain.
"...and the brothers of the Chapter also lost 39 people, mainly the 2nd and 3rd companies."
After listening to this, Layinfu Mensah couldn't bear it any longer and punched the edge of the imaging device, causing the metal frame to make a dull sound and causing the entire imaging system to tremble.
The staff on the bridge briefly glanced at the display at that moment. They had never seen the well-known gentle chapter leader so angry, but they immediately withdrew their gaze and continued their almost helpless actions.
Exhaustive work.
"Damn it! How could there be so many casualties!"
"Chapter Commander, let's just say that the enemy is at the core of Glory III. This is a huge fortress group with a diameter of more than fifty kilometers. Not only does it have solid fortifications, void shield generators, and high-power laser sequences on the surface, but it also has complex underground structures.
The deepest transportation network can reach 3 kilometers! It is connected by rails, allowing its troops to be mobilized quickly. Although the naval force bombed it for a long time and destroyed a considerable part of the ground facilities, the underground part still exists.
The enemy is guarding every inch of the ground, and the soldiers' attack will come at great cost."
At this time, war leader Wakambe also said:
"And after these two weeks of observation, I found that the enemy's tactics are very strange. They did not concentrate their forces to counterattack our landing troops, or they concentrated on the main strongholds. Almost every stronghold was defended by relatively complete forces, and their defense
The strategy is not to defend any place. All deployments are to kill people as much as possible. Even their heretical space warriors will not show up before the stronghold falls. It is not until the stronghold is almost fallen that they suddenly rush out and use the narrow terrain to attack them.
We carry out killings. For example, the 912th Krieg Regiment was ambushed by Heretic Space Marines from underground passages when attacking a medium-sized stronghold. Although the enemy was finally eliminated, we were almost wiped out... I feel,
The enemy's core strategy is to use all means to kill and injure our personnel. It seems that they have long known that this place cannot be defended."
"In fact, we shouldn't send troops to attack many strongholds at all."
The war leader Darkens folded his arms and expressed his opinions calmly.
"Erase it directly with orbital bombing, so that unnecessary personnel consumption can be avoided."
Darkanbi, the Warmaster in charge of the Chapter's fleet strength, shook his head.
"The existing orbital force alone is only enough to carry out bombing support for the enemy's core stronghold groups, and cannot achieve global orbital bombing. Moreover, the Red Pirates have really spent a lot of money. Void shields have been deployed in slightly larger strongholds.
Weapons, this means that only attacks from capital ships can pose a threat to them. We don’t have that many capital ships on hand right now. In addition, don’t forget that those scattered strongholds are not without threats. Heretic Space Marines are deployed in them. This
This dispersion strategy is very effective against orbital bombardment. We cannot turn a blind eye to the heresy that may appear behind us at any time when attacking the enemy's main area."
"Then this is really strange. How did the Red Pirates make those Heretic Space Marines stay in those death strongholds? This is not at all like the discipline that Heretic Space Marines should have. I feel that there must be something wrong here.
"
Rayinf Mensah turned to look at a naval officer.
"What's going on with the Navy?"
"Report to the commander, there are always signs of enemy fleet activities in the surrounding star field. Therefore, the strike fleet can only search for the enemy as much as possible to avoid its threat to the landing fleet, and it cannot carry out long-term orbital bombing missions, because this will easily allow the enemy to take advantage of it.
The commander of the Supreme Lord has emphasized many times that the strike fleet needs to maintain a deterrent effect as much as possible instead of rashly engaging in a decisive battle with the enemy."
Although Ze Ze was annoyed at the casualties of the ground troops, Layinfu Mensah knew that this was not the fault of the navy. After all, the imperial fleet could not be said to have an overwhelming advantage over the Red Pirates. Both sides had already broken out several times around the Badab sector.
In this small-scale contact naval battle, each side has its own victory or defeat. Now both sides are not sure where the other side's main fleet is, so they are very cautious.
The execution of orbital bombing means that the naval fleet must be restrained by the planet's gravity for a period of time. During this period, if the enemy fleet suddenly attacks, it will be very dangerous.
Many fleets were destroyed in the orbit of the planet.
"Moreover, the commander of the regiment, what's more serious is that in order to attack the fortress and reduce casualties, each unit adopts the strategy of over-delivering firepower, which causes the consumption of our ammunition and equipment to rise sharply, and the armor and vehicles of some regiments are also at a loss.
Huge losses and a large number of casualties have also caused the inventory of pharmaceuticals and synthetic pharmaceutical raw materials to drop rapidly, which need to be replenished immediately."
Saul's words gave Layinfu Mensa a headache.
He looked at an officer in charge of logistics.
"When will the next batch of supplies arrive?"
"Report to Commander, it should be five standard Terra days later, but...this batch of supplies is based on the original ration, and I'm afraid it won't be able to meet the current demand."
At this time, Zukara, the death whisperer of the battle group, hesitated for a moment and whispered to Layinfu:
"Chapter Commander, we need to apply to the general headquarters for more troops, equipment, and fleets..."
La Yinfu shook his head.
"How long has it been since the war began? We have to ask for help from the rear... What will other theaters think of us? Aren't we betraying the trust of Commander-in-Chief Soshyan?"
"But the reality is like this. We have already lost nearly a quarter of our ground troops just after the war started, and there are still three worlds in the Decabulus system that need to be conquered. With our current strength alone, let alone forcing the Red Pirates to come for reinforcements, can we
Dealing with the possible counterattack of the Red Pirates is a problem. If we withdraw from the galaxy hastily, then the strategy formulated by the general headquarters may be..."
"Speak of it."
War leader Wakambe stared at the planet map and said:
"The Red Pirates are not without reinforcements. Even when we first besieged Honor 3, they had transport ships that rushed directly to orbit to drop troops in a suicidal way. However, the Red Pirates' support methods seemed to be in small units.
model, rather than the large-scale support we envisioned, I always feel... that the opposing commander has seen through the strategy formulated by the general headquarters."
"When we first formulated the strategy, the headquarters told us that if the enemy abandons the Decabulus system, we will quickly capture it and then use it as a springboard to directly attack the Badab system."
"This is the strange thing. The enemy did not give up directly, but did not provide large-scale support. It seemed that they were..."
"It's consuming."
La Yinfu thought for a moment and shook his head.
"No, or rather... more like delaying, waiting."
"By the way, when we attacked, according to the plan, the first theater should launch a threatening attack on the enemy, but it seems that the Red Pirates were not disturbed. What were they doing during this time?"
La Yinfu took out a briefing and entered it on the monitor, and then the situation in the first theater appeared in front of everyone.
"They attacked the Eschuna system on one side and defended the Yinxin system on the other, but the situation on both sides was not good, and their casualties were also very high. Although there were two battle groups, the actual number of space warriors was less. Now Sa
Muir has given up the attack on the Eschuna system and is going all out to expel the enemies attacking the Yinxin system."
Everyone fell into silence for a while.
After a long time, La Yinfu sighed and said:
"That's it, report our situation to the headquarters."