Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 139

139. Chapter 139, The Limit of Persistence

Seeing the appearance of the Challenger tank and another war machine that he didn’t recognize, Li Kexi was shocked at first.

He really didn’t expect to see such a thing here.

He had thought about buying a Challenger tank, especially after he formed the Beast Slaughter Group. If there was such a tank as the core of the battle, with a large number of infantry troops next to it and a cannon that could provide support at any time, the battle would be much easier.

Unfortunately, whether it could be afforded or not was one thing, but the key was that there was no channel to buy it.

Not to mention the chariot next to it. Although there was no cannon on it, the double-barreled machine gun was not something that could be underestimated.

And the effect of the two firing together was amazing.

A tank gun exploded among the green-skinned orcs, causing at least three casualties; and what was even more terrifying was the machine gun on the infantry fighting vehicle and the attack of the parallel machine gun that didn’t look like a machine gun at all.

The 40mm machine gun could cause fatal damage to the greenskins; the strange coaxial machine gun that exploded after firing could still explode from the enemy’s body after hitting it with one shot, ensuring that a greenskin could be killed. Under the

crazy shooting, six or seven greenskins were killed directly on the road in one round.

This round of firepower projection, plus the one killed by the infantry squad in front, a total of fifteen greenskin orcs were killed.

It turns out that the orcs are not really brainless. They know to rush up when they encounter a battle. On the contrary, their wisdom in combat – or instinct, is extremely outstanding.

They know that if they continue to rush up under this level of firepower, even if they all die on the road, they will never be able to rush the last twenty or thirty meters.

They each scattered around and urgently found shelter. One guy even popped his head out and shot at the infantry squad, and he really hit it, breaking the left arm of a soldier.

Someone helped to bandage the wound with medical gauze – mainly to press and block the wound to minimize blood loss, and then the other two took the wounded and tried to retreat.

The remaining seven people were not in a hurry to attack – they just waited for the tanks and armored vehicles behind them to come up.

After clearing this wave of enemies, they will continue to move forward, encounter the enemy again, stop again, fight, try to eliminate the enemy, and if they can’t eliminate them, they will save their living strength, and the tanks and armored vehicles will come up again.

Infantry-tank coordination is by no means a simple armored team in front, and the infantry follow behind to use tanks or armored vehicles as cover, which is a very low-level approach.

In fact, when assaulting in areas with wide terrain and fewer obstacles, the armored troops can still be in front, and the infantry can follow up and attack within a few dozen meters behind.

But at this moment, here, in the battle in the ruins of the city, it is usually necessary for the infantry to fight in the front, and the armored troops to cover their advance with firepower behind the infantry, and carry forward the infantry’s close combat advantages to eliminate the enemies one by one.

If the armored forces are in the front, the terrain and enemy situation are complicated. Who knows what kind of enemy will appear and what weapons will be used to threaten the armored vehicles?

For example, there are ambushed and hidden enemy infantry, using explosive packs, anti-tank rocket launchers and other weapons to give tanks and infantry fighting vehicles a hard blow.

Of course, Li Kexi didn’t quite understand these so-called infantry-tank coordinated tactics. He only knew that the seemingly large number of green-skinned orc clusters had no chance of turning the tables and would inevitably be wiped out.

Compared with this tactical system of coordinated operations of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and infantry, Li Kexi actually envied the tanks and armored vehicles themselves.

His entire orc-killing regiment, with six or seven thousand people, could not get together a tank; the offensive tactics of an infantry squad had tanks and armored vehicles coordinated…

They were all people, why was the gap so big? !

Tactics and the like can be practiced; equipment, if you say there is no equipment, then there is really no equipment, there is no way.

…

Perbov was not in a good mood.

He had received several reports of damage.

According to the previous plan, there were about 20 assault groups coordinated by infantry and tanks, which attacked in waves and controlled only a battlefield area of about three or four kilometers wide.

He asked the front-line combat troops to advance the battle situation to the front for two kilometers, which was regarded as a head-on blow to the green-skinned orcs who were still rushing in.

The troops under Perbov did successfully achieve the predetermined goal. Moreover, during the two-kilometer advance, at least 300 green-skinned orcs were eliminated under the firepower of infantry and armored forces.

However, in this process, his troops were not without damage.

Two tanks were blown up, three armored vehicles were written off, and more than 50 soldiers were killed or injured… This was enough to make him heartbroken.

Moreover, this level of casualties would indeed affect the combat effectiveness of the entire battalion.

The biggest loss was that an assault group was almost wiped out.

Perbov saw the oral summary of the wounded after they retreated. It was said that they were ambushed by the green-skinned orcs during the march.

Those greenskins hid in the ruins of the building very cunningly, and avoided the scope of the infantry’s search. Then, they launched an attack at the same time, and when they were discovered, they were already sixty or seventy meters away.

These orcs tactically divided into four formations, and attacked the infantry in front and the armored forces in the rear from both sides at the same time.

Suddenly entering the close range, the infantry squad suffered a great loss in the exchange of fire. They shot and killed four or five people at close range. But they were also shot at close range by the greenskins. The crude firearms in their hands can make soldiers lose their combat ability with one shot. Even if they hit the bulletproof vest, they may not die, but breaking ribs and causing internal organ damage to reduce their combat effectiveness is not a problem.

What’s more terrifying is that those greenskins like to use shotguns very much, and the flying marbles sometimes break their limbs.

In close combat, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties.

Then the greenskins brought them into a cold weapon battle. Although the G9 rifle with a bayonet could be considered a handy long-handled weapon, it was still no match for the greenskins.

More importantly, they could not get fire support from the armored forces for a while.

The armored forces could not protect themselves.

Twenty or so greenskin orcs approached the vehicle from the side with the protection of obstacles and bunkers, and kept moving while the muzzle and machine guns were turning, forcing the vehicle to be unable to fully exert its firepower advantage.

Although a considerable number of greenskins died on the way to the charge, and two were killed by the protective infantry accompanying the armored forces, there were still seven or eight approaching.

With their shotguns, they killed the accompanying infantry and placed explosive packs on the sides of the tank tracks and the armor on the sides and rear. They did the same to the armored vehicles.

These explosive packs destroyed a tank and an armored vehicle.

If the squad leader who was ambushed had not sent out a distress signal immediately, and if there was a team a few hundred meters away who came to support them immediately, they might have been wiped out.

But despite this, they still suffered heavy losses.

Only six of the more than 20 infantrymen survived, the tank was destroyed, and only one of the two infantry fighting vehicles remained.

A warning bell rang in Perbov’s head.

The enemy he faced this time was definitely not something that was easy to deal with like the looters.

Although these green-skinned orcs only had light weapons and even cold weapons, they could only destroy the armored forces by using human flesh to install explosive packs, which was a rather backward and primitive method. And it seemed that these greenskins also lacked long-range fire.

But with their beast-like physical fitness, their surprisingly strong combat ability at close range, and their fearless characteristics…

Even if his troops had a firepower advantage far exceeding that of the opponent, they still could not avoid losses in the battle.

Counting it up, since the self-defense of Xingcheng, Perbov’s first battalion has lost a total of two tanks (one of which was broken down on the road and has not been repaired yet), two armored vehicles, and nearly a hundred casualties.

This means that his troops have lost more than 10%.

The battle against the greenskins must be extremely difficult, but there have been such heavy casualties at the beginning… What about later?

I dare not even think about it!

But soon, he suppressed this uneasy thought.

The battle must continue.

The troops that set out in front have pushed the front line two kilometers as planned and eliminated a large number of greenskins. At the same time, due to their decisive forward pressure, a large number of greenskins who were originally in an offensive posture had to retreat.

It must be said again that these greenskins are wild, warlike, bloodthirsty, and easily get excited, but they are not without wisdom. On the contrary, they are quite cunning and pragmatic in fighting.

After realizing that they would suffer a disadvantage in fighting on flat ground and suffer great losses in the face of armored impact, those greenskins did not continue to rush to fight with their flesh and blood.

This also made Perbov a little regretful, otherwise the number of greenskins captured might be more than just over 300.

The greenskins who retreated began to build simple fortifications, or simply relied on the ruins and defended on the spot.

It will be very difficult for the armored combined forces to continue to advance. It is foreseeable that if they push back further, not only will the results of the battle drop sharply, but their own losses will also be great. It is possible that the casualties will be 1:2 or 1:1.

Perbov does not have so many people to fight against these greenskins.

After completing the predetermined goal, there is no need to continue to push forward.

The front-line combat troops began to defend on the spot, also relying on the ruins, and built firepower points and fortifications at key locations. The advantage over those greenskins is that the defensive positions established by his troops have armored vehicles and tanks in the rear for mobile support. If those greenskins dare to come out and attack the positions, tank guns, machine guns, and explosive machine guns will teach them a lesson.

The two sides entered a stage of confrontation.

If this situation is maintained, Perbov can accept it.

He has discussed the goals of this operation with the political commissar of the battalion and several staff officers and adjutants.

It is impossible for them to turn the entire corrupt situation into victory with the strength of a battalion. What they have to do is to stabilize the front line, become the mainstay, plug the gap, and stop the overall collapse.

As long as the battle can be maintained until the arrival of the Governor, it will be considered a success.

But those greenskins don’t seem to be willing to give up, they still have the idea of continuing to break through human defenses.

But this time, Perbov will not be polite to them.

Twelve kilometers away from the front-line battlefield, the 155 howitzer position has been built. It is not the breakthrough stage, and a large number of adventurers have retreated from the front line to reorganize. There is no need to worry about accidental injuries. Our own troops have also transmitted the shooting parameters of the front line back.

Then without saying anything, five rounds of artillery fire were fired first.

Sixty heavy artillery fell on the offensive route of those green orcs in less than ten minutes. The nearest shell was even less than a hundred meters away from the front-line soldiers.

It is difficult to cross the front-line positions to explore how many casualties these five rounds of artillery fire caused. But if we roughly estimate, the casualties suffered by the greenskins are probably more than the casualties caused by the tanks, armored vehicles and infantry before.

After losing another three or four hundred greenskins, the greenskins attacking the fifth area basically lost 20% of their manpower.

After five rounds of artillery fire, the attack that the greenskins had accumulated strength to launch was ended, and they finally stopped.

Of course, the 20% loss did not exceed the upper limit that the greenskins could bear. But the casualties must be meaningful. It is not a question of bravery to bite the bullet and attack the layered defense positions with heavy artillery. It is a question of stupidity.

The greenskins are definitely not stupid in fighting.

Moreover, the greenskins do not necessarily have to bite the bullet. The battle area that the first battalion opened up to hold was only five or six kilometers wide at most. But the width of the battle line from the entire tower ruins to the garbage town is probably more than 60 kilometers, covering the entire tower area and the surrounding suburbs. There is a lot of front width for penetration and outflanking.

If you can’t bite it, don’t bite it, just change the place to fight.

Perbov also understands this.

The scale of this war is that a team of nearly 100,000 adventurers and armed scavengers is against tens of thousands to 20,000 green-skinned orcs. The 800-man synthetic battalion, no matter how well equipped, is like a heavy weight that can affect the balance of the scale.

But the highest level is just like this. You can’t expect a battalion to withstand a 60-kilometer front line.

It’s enough to achieve the current results.

A large number of greenskins’ living forces were killed and wounded, and the defense line was stabilized. The peak of the greenskin orcs’ assault force was resisted, and time was bought for the reorganization of the follow-up troops.

Perbov has done what he can. The rest depends on how Denison Henry, Jason Swan and others can do.

Oh, yes, he also received intelligence that the leader of a slaughter group was rescued by them.

You can also count on it.

Perbov had an estimate of how long he could hold out: he could hold out until the artillery support company ran out of ammunition; if the pressure was too great and the 155mm howitzer shells were used up, then there was no choice but to withdraw immediately.

If he didn’t withdraw, it would mean that the troops were trapped here in vain.

A 155mm howitzer weighed 60 kilograms, and the 12 guns had just fired five rounds, with three and a half tons of shells fired. The logistics support company had three trucks specifically used to transport shells. Excluding the ones used in Sanchi Town, the remaining shells could be used for thirty rounds at most.

This was the limit of holding out.

(End of this chapter)