readytorunbook Chapter 256 Changes in Warfare – Escalation of Intensity
Chapter 256 Changes in Warfare – Escalation of Intensity
"The artillery has completed their mission! Gentlemen! It's our turn!"
"Long live the nation and the people!"
The weather had turned from warm autumn to cool, but the temperature inside the Sherman tank was still not very good, which was perfectly normal—the gasoline engine, the heat and sweat emanating from the four strong men, and the gunpowder smoke permeating the vehicle made these metal coffins stuffy and hot.
But what man doesn't love these steel beasts? Besides, the armored soldiers have long been accustomed to these cramped, smelly, and stuffy metal canisters.
"Alright, let's go!"
Since the birth of the Armored Forces of Amerlane, tanks, these novel war machines, have been an important force on the battlefield.
Enemy bullets couldn't hurt her, nor could they hurt the infantry behind her. After the 72nd Armored Division was awarded the title of Armored Guards Division of the Republic for its collective bravery in the liberation of Provence, the armored soldiers loved tanks even more.
After all, it is invincible.
The tank commander looked out through the commander's cupola. The slightly blurry glass could not block out the intensity of the battlefield. Shells fell from time to time, bullets flew by, and the ground was lifted up and then fell back down.
One, two, three, four, until an entire platoon, an entire tank regiment, deployed and charged toward the church. The Shermans raised their long 76mm main guns, pointed them at the church's position, loaded with high explosives, reduced their speed to the level where the low-speed stabilizer was activated, the gunners aimed at the target, and pressed the trigger.
"Hit the enemy's firing point!"
"Load!"
"Loading complete!"
"Alright, kill them all!"
"Iron-Blooded Spearhead, this is Overlord 2-1. I'm relaying the latest intelligence from the front lines to your unit—the Church's army has gained a foothold at the D tactical node. According to frontline reconnaissance, the Church is suspected of possessing light armored forces. Repeat, the Church is suspected of possessing light armored forces."
Intelligence spread throughout the army, and the remnants of the defeated troops on the outskirts of the northern front were wiped out in 1 hour and 22 minutes. After shedding this layer of skin, the core main force of the church immediately attacked several front-line rapid reaction forces.
"This is Ranger 2-4. Calling all nearby friendly forces. Immediately requesting support for friendly forces in area D-A3. The enemy possesses anti-tank firepower and humanoid armored units. We are surrounded by an enemy force several times our size. Repeat, we are surrounded by an enemy force several times our size and require anti-tank fire support! Immediately!"
As the war progressed, intelligence that the Church possessed armored forces and anti-armor capabilities shocked the entire battlefield. Although there was still no concrete visual evidence, there were indeed more and more eyewitness reports.
"The preparation time has been too long; just the time to relieve Napoli was ten months..."
"But the church doesn't have that technology... You repeat, their armored units..."
"The report states that two types of enemy armored units have appeared on the front lines. One type is a humanoid machine about three meters tall, equipped with a magic launcher and a machine gun. It can withstand direct fire from the currently used 7.62x51mm M61 bullets, and the 12.7mm machine gun has a certain killing power against it. The damage assessment of the RPG-2 combined with the shaped charge round is currently unclear."
"Another type, which is extremely rare, is a seven-meter-tall orange-yellow robot equipped with an anti-armor automatic cannon, a rotary machine gun, and—a peculiar type of rocket that can automatically fly toward its target."
At the International Brigades headquarters in Naples, Alice and her officers begin to assess the new weaponry that has appeared in the church. The front is still winning, but Alice discovers that the closer they get to the Holy City, the greater the losses of the troops, especially the new humanoid robots.
"If the .50 caliber can work, then the RPG-2 will definitely work too... It is necessary to continue to strengthen anti-tank capabilities."
Previously, Amerlane was the only country to use armored forces on a large scale, so anti-armor capabilities were not a high priority, but now it seems that this must be strengthened.
"In this way, we will reinforce each squad with an additional RPG-2 launcher and a corresponding shaped charge warhead, including troops from various countries..."
Alice frowned. Although the main force in the north was advancing rapidly, it would not be able to take the Holy City in a short time. The southern forces were mainly light infantry. Apart from two marine brigades and one Britannian mobile combat brigade, they had no armored units. The anti-armor capabilities of the other units were almost zero.
"However, this is not enough. We need to transfer two or three complete armored divisions from the country, but it will take at least three months before they can be put into combat."
The basic message is: call for reinforcements.
Afterwards, Raffarin Low found Alice, who hadn't expected this, but it wasn't beyond her comprehension.
"Alice, that's property left here by the United Nations of Earth. The Church will eventually take back the legacy buried beneath the Holy City..."
Raffarin Loe frowned and said seriously.
"Tell me, Sister Raffarin, what exactly is that? Is it beyond our capabilities?"
Alice felt a sense of crisis rising in her heart. The weapons of the previous civilization... a small Emily Lancy might not be qualified to fight against them.
"No, it won't, but it will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of taking over the Holy City. The three-meter-tall one is a 'simplified individual combat armor.' There is a complete set of automated production equipment underground in the Holy City. My database shows that it is an early colonial self-defense version. Its strength is average. It comes equipped with an automatic machine gun and has multiple expansion interfaces."
Raffarin Lowe showed Alice her terminal, which was a small power armor.
"Basically, it's an enhanced infantry unit that can be easily destroyed with a 20mm autocannon. The most important thing is the automatic machine gun. This version doesn't have an automatic aiming fire control system, but it does have a 20x scope."
"That means the enemy forces in urban warfare are stronger."
"That's right... but overall, it won't affect the overall battle situation, unless..."
Raffarin Lo glanced at it, and a huge armored figure appeared on the terminal.
"The United Nations Colonial All-Terrain Armored Mobile Combat Powered Armor, which we generally call Colonial Armor, is a retired and downgraded version of the previous generation of military armor. All weapons of mass destruction have been removed, but it still has everything it needs: auxiliary AI, brain-computer interface, armor for dealing with dangerous environments, anti-armor automatic cannon... it has everything."
"How do we...?"
"The advantage is that, according to the IFF's positioning, the church only has three units."
"But we can't destroy it..."
"Not now. According to the tech tree, at least the L7 105mm gun needs to be paired with the M833 Caliber Great Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot round to reliably penetrate its frontal armor at a distance of one kilometer."
Do we have such a thing?
Alice asked, after all, she knew that the latest tanks deployed on the battlefield were the M45s, which were only equipped with 90mm tank guns and were not from the same era.
"The bad news is that even if those guys in China have the complete data, they still lack the manufacturing technology and equipment. The L7 is not a simple artillery piece. The later version of the M833 tungsten alloy fin-stabilized discarding sabot armor-piercing projectile requires advanced computer simulations."
"Do we really have to use multiple divisions to encircle and kill them?"
"Of course not~ Little Alice, this kind of mecha has short-range flight capabilities. It can use a rechargeable flight module to fly short distances and break out of the encirclement very quickly~"
"Then we need to set a trap... and then..."
Raffarin Lo smiled, gently patted little Alice's head, and then took her hand.
"America's West Star has quite a few military legacies, little Alice. United Industries did leave something underground, but—I ruined it~"
A ship was docked on the shore. It was a large dock landing ship, one of the ships of the new era navy of Amerlane, but the things being pulled out of it were not products of this era.
Low-slung body, saucer-shaped turret, 125mm 2A46M tank gun, Kontakt-5 reactive armor, Norinco general-purpose accompanying UAV interface compartment, "Shtora-3" optoelectronic jamming device, and UN General Intelligent Data System.
"However, even though it broke down, we still managed to achieve something before it broke down—I'd like to proudly introduce the three old-fashioned tanks—the T-90MS-UN main battle tanks, and of course, the 3BM60 fin-stabilized discarding sabot armor-piercing rounds."
The T-90MS-UN (United Nations Revolutionary Armed Forces Improved Version) is a former main battle tank of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, improved by the United Tank Industry at the end of World War III. It was an old tank used as an emergency measure in the face of the unstable world situation after the global revolution. It was produced in large numbers and was easy to manufacture. Its design concept directly influenced the next generation of main battle tanks of the United Nations.
Three identical tanks are displayed here, and these tanks bear the emblem of the United Nations of Earth.
"My God..."
"But remember, Alice, these things were placed here to hunt those mechs, so don't expose them too much..."