Chapter 663, Battle of Titans

Chapter 663, Battle of Titans

The ships of both sides were entangled with each other in space. If one side came to the vicinity of the planet's orbit to provide support to the ground battlefield, the other side would definitely not agree.

However, both sides are always able to seize similar opportunities.

The other side's ships will come to rescue immediately, and the orbital guns on the ground will often open fire at this time. Soon, the starships that come to interfere with the ground battle will be driven away.

However, it doesn't take a long time for the starship to come to support. In just a short while, dropping a few missiles, macro cannons, and light spear shots can bring about significant changes in the ground battle.

Both sides had to rely more on orbital gun groups to drive away enemy ships and intercept orbital firepower.

What needs to be intercepted are not only the orbital strikes from the occasional starships, but also the enemy's land-based missiles.

The battle unfolded in this plain area, with a seemingly long contact surface of 300 kilometers. But in fact, under the attack of high-destructive weapons, it was actually very short.

It is also a feasible option to transport some Dongfeng Fen-class missiles to the ground, then configure missile launchers to directly attack the opposing positions from land.

The power of a single Dongfeng Fen missile can cover dozens of kilometers - with a few more, the entire enemy front line can be covered.

Under this missile, all exposed personnel within a radius of six kilometers in the central area will be eliminated, no matter how many soldiers are stored inside; for soldiers in the trenches, the killing radius can reach about three kilometers, which means that hiding in the trenches is not very useful.

Unless you are in some sturdy permanent fortifications or shelters, you may be able to survive as long as you are more than one kilometer away from the impact point.

Using this super-large bomb as the core is a conventional tactical means. After the huge missile explodes, the ground troops will take up the defense equipment and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Both sides have this weapon deployed on the ground, and also in the sky on larger starships.

Every bombing often results in tens to hundreds of thousands of casualties, and major changes will occur on the battle lines of both sides.

But the reason why the battle line was not completely covered by such large bombs was due to the interception of various types of anti-aircraft firepower.

This thing is expensive and in small supply. If it is released once and then intercepted at an altitude of ten thousand meters, it can still have some power, but it is relatively limited. Moreover, depending on the interception location, it may even hit one's own people.

To put it bluntly, the interception methods of these universities are the key to the continuation of the ground war.

But who doesn't want to bomb the opponent at the same time as not wanting to be bombed by the opponent?
Salilius and Martins thought so.

Before, they had tried to conduct Space Marine infiltration operations to attack the enemy's defense and interception firepower and railgun fortresses, attempting to destroy them.

But it failed every time.

Tiekai attaches great importance to this defense.

It was as if the Empire attached great importance to the defense of its own interception positions.

This was the reason why precious Titans were used earlier to create a large salient in the battle line.

This type of salient is an excellent starting base for an attack, making it easier to encircle the enemy because the salient itself poses a threat to the enemy's flank. It is also the closest to the strategic target behind the enemy, shortening the distance required to advance.

The salient created by the Alliance National Knights pointed directly at a core area behind the enemy.

It was not only the Iron Armor's ground-based material distribution center, but also a large storage base of the Empire before the outbreak of the Wanzhou Star Battle. At the same time, key fire interception positions and orbital guns were also deployed there.

If we take over that place, we won't win the battle, but at least some of our super-large bombs, dropped by missiles or strategic bombers, will have a better chance of being intercepted and will be less likely to be intercepted.

But from a defensive perspective, the salient position is extremely disadvantageous because the length of the salient defense line is much longer than the length of the defense line stretched into a straight line, which means that more troops are needed for defense, and because the flanks are exposed, it is easy for the enemy to break in from the roots of the two wings and be surrounded.

It is precisely because of the obvious advantages and disadvantages of the salient that both sides of the war fought fierce battles around the salient, and even strategic decisive battles.

At the moment, the Empire was unwilling to give up the opportunity to attack, so it invested a large number of troops to protect those salients; and Tiekai was naturally aware of the Empire's strategic goals. In order to eliminate the threat of this "offensive springboard" to important bases in the rear, he also tried his best to eradicate the salient that penetrated deep into his own defense line.

After a night of fighting between the Space Marines, the dawn was about to break, and the Iron Armor side launched a fierce attack on the salient.

In the early morning, heavy artillery covered the Imperial positions.

Almost every inch of land was bombed.

The Empire's heavy artillery was also firing back.

It was a bit difficult to bomb the enemy's artillery positions, as both sides moved their artillery positions to the back. But we could predict the direction the enemy would attack from, and no matter whether the enemy had actually launched an attack or not, we could just bombard them with countless shells.

However, Iron Armor's army of infected still rushed forward under the pressure of the bombardment.

Even though every inch of the land had been bombed, many human soldiers appeared at this moment. Machine guns, rifles, and company-owned howitzers were pushed out from the anti-gun holes one by one, and both sides even faced each other and fought with bayonets.

Moreover, both sides are still continuously sending reinforcements to the front lines of the battle.

However, it was very difficult to increase the troops. It was not easy to directly bombard the troops of both sides who were fighting face to face, but the bombardment line could be moved back a few hundred meters. Whether it was the Iron Armored Infected troops or the Empire's infantry and armored troops, if they wanted to come up, they had to cross this bombardment line, and it was unknown how much it would cost.

During this process, the human side's troop reinforcement situation is more ideal than that of the Iron Armor side.

People were smart and knew to dig tunnels to reinforce the troops. When the tunnel collapsed, they knew to stop for a while. If they had to climb over it from the ground, they knew to take it step by step, seek cover, and advance in the gaps between shellings.

There will still be huge casualties before reinforcements can be sent to the front line.

Fortunately, the other side is in a worse situation. The stupid infected people have a lower chance of coming to reinforce.

We focused on the salient and worked hard for the entire morning, suffering heavy casualties and wasting a lot of artillery shells, but the effect was mediocre.

The Empire also faced great challenges and suffered heavy casualties, but at least it managed to hold on.

By noon, the number of new infected reinforcements was decreasing, and the remaining enemies were being eliminated one by one. The imperial soldiers on the positions thought they could calm down for a while, relax and fight the next battle.

As a result, the expected calm did not come, instead, the whole earth began to shake.

The soldiers were a little surprised.

They were familiar with this trembling feeling.

The footsteps of the Titans.

Two days ago, when they were fighting out of this salient, they were fighting together with the Titans.

Titans are coming again? But I haven't heard of any large-scale offensive operations recently?
Titans are not defensive weapons, they are the most powerful offensive weapons.

Perhaps because it was difficult to defend the salient, the superiors sent out Titans to fight and teach the attacking infected a lesson?
But soon, they felt something was wrong.

As time went on, they heard not only the shaking of the earth, but also the sound of real footsteps. They were shocked to find that the direction the Titan came from was actually the enemy's side!
The armored Titan is on the move!
The Ironclad Rebels also had Titans. Previously, they had such a good relationship with the Alfonzo Cult, so of course they would ask Alfonzo for the support of the Titan Legion.

Titans, Knight mechas, they also have them all.

However, the number of Titans and Knights owned by Iron Armor is definitely much less than that of the Empire. In previous battles, they rarely used this powerful but precious weapon.

But today, they used it, and once they invested, they invested a big amount.

At least two hundred knights and Titans rushed into this position!

A few days ago, the Iron Armor side suffered a lot under the attack of the Alliance Titan, and now all the humiliation they had suffered was returned to them.

After paying a huge price and holding the defense line for a whole morning, it was finally breached.

The Ironclad rebels even pushed their artillery positions forward a lot and fired at the Imperial artillery positions.

Titan is doing the same.

In an instant, the artillery positions of the Empire, which had been firing fiercely before, became somewhat silent.

If they continue to bomb like this, I'm afraid the whole thing will be destroyed.

What was even worse was that the Iron Armor Rebels were aiming at the "root" of the salient. If they were to penetrate it, the entire salient would be wiped out.

In the entire salient, there are not only 16 divisions deployed as defenders, but also a large force ready to launch an offensive from this salient.

If they were really surrounded by the Iron Armor rebels, their retreat would be cut off and their logistics would not be replenished, and they would probably have to face the consequences of being annihilated as a whole unit.

That’s millions of troops!

If this happens, it will be a tragic defeat.

At this critical moment, it was still the National Knights of the Alliance that showed their power.

As the Titans of the Ironclad Rebels were showing off their might, the Titans of the Alliance also appeared.

All of a sudden, a rare battle between Titan legions broke out on the land of Wanzhou Star.

……

Colonel Gu Zhouhua was sitting at the console, nervously trying to do two things at once. On the one hand, he was observing the enemy situation, and on the other hand, he was also paying close attention to the information coming from the various components of the warlord-class Titan he was on.

Beside him, there are two major-level assistant operators; inside the Titan, there are another fourteen operators and coordinators responsible for various components.

Together they form the operating team of this Warlord-class Titan.

This is the biggest difference between Titan and Knight Mech. Titan requires a whole operating team to operate, while Knight Mech only requires one person.

According to general tradition, there is no distinction between military ranks in the Titan Legion.

It's also easy to understand.

The Titan Legions of the Empire were basically all subordinate to the Mechanicus. The Mechanicus did not use military ranks to distinguish superiors and subordinates, so naturally, there were no military ranks in the Titan Legions.

But the alliance is clearly not an ordinary case.

The National Knights, with the title of a Knights, drove knight mechas and Titans, but in fact, they were still part of the Alliance Army and were directly led and governed by the Alliance Army Department. Most of their precious equipment was produced by the Alliance itself, and some was sent from the Mingyang Cult of Jindi Star. But even if it was from the Mechanicus, it was bought. The drivers and Titan operating team were all trained by the Army itself, so they would naturally be managed by military ranks.

Colonel Gu Zhouhua is one of them.

His last name is Gu, and he is actually from the same family as Governor Gu, but the blood relationship is quite distant. His grandfather was a middle-level manager of the Gu Trading Company. By his generation, the Gu family was no longer limited to working in trading companies and transport teams.

Although Governor Gu had not given them any special care, just based on their surname, background, and their own abilities, they were still able to achieve some results in various aspects within the entire alliance system.

Gu Zhouhua was a graduate of military school and Zhongsi College, and then he joined the Titan Corps with good grades. Within a few years, he took on the role of a warlord-level Titan commander.

However, he was still very nervous at the moment.

Before this, although there had been many confrontational trainings between Titans, could training be the same as actual combat?
The training was mainly for drills, and the shells fired were all fake training shells. In close-range combat, people were even more cautious, for fear of damaging the Titan, which would be extremely expensive to repair.

They are certainly not without practical experience.

Wasn't the battle a few days ago fought by the Titans?

Going back further, as the decisive force in the army, they participated in many battles.

However, wars fought in the past have always been fought with superior forces against inferior forces; with superior equipment, against infantry, tanks, and fortresses.

This was indeed the first time that the Titans had faced off against each other in a life-and-death battle.

But what made people feel relieved was that the number of enemies seemed to be smaller than theirs.

After receiving the urgent order to attack, the Alliance National Knights rushed out in full force.

There were three hundred knights and Titans, while the other side looked to have only a little over two hundred.

This made Gu Zhouhua feel a little relieved.

You should be able to win, right?
But he soon became worried again.

Winning or losing is a matter of strategy. When a war really breaks out, who lives and who dies on the front lines has nothing to do with who wins in the end.

But all these messy thoughts disappeared when the first shell hit the warlord-class Titan he belonged to.

"Confirm void shield loss!"

"Weapon systems ready!"

"Lock on the target! Hit the traitor mecha that stands out the most!"

"emission!"

"Shoot again!"

"Charge! Kill them!"

----

To make up for yesterday, there is one more chapter.

(End of this chapter)