Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 104 The War Restarts
Six days after the signing of the Antarctic Treaty on March 1, Dozle's First Combined Attack Fleet began final preparations before setting out.

In the magnificent Solomon Fortress, Dozle, accompanied by a group of officers, inspected the last batch of mobile suits that were replenished for him.

"Is this the last batch of new mobile suits?"

"Yes, Lord Dozle, these are the final batch of mobile suits to be added to our army!"

"How is the performance? What are the soldiers' evaluations?"

A Zeon pilot looked around at his colleagues and then stepped forward.

"Report, sir, we believe the Tiger's capabilities are unmatched, and it's even possible that it could rival the enemy's Gundams, and even destroy them!"

“Oh, so confident?”

Dozle looked at the pilot who stepped forward with admiration.

"Yes, Lord Dozle!"

Then, Dozle stopped and carefully examined the machine in front of him.

Its appearance is not much different from that of Zaku, but there are many extremely obvious feature changes, such as a horn-shaped antenna on Zaku's bald head and sharp horns on both shoulders.

In addition, what people are most concerned about is the peculiar left hand of this machine. It does not have the humanoid finger design of an ordinary mobile suit, but five thick gun barrels.

This is the secret weapon of the mobile suit called MS-07 Guff (Tiger), the 75mm quintuple-finger cannon.

Although the Zeon army sang the song of victory and beat the Federation army black and blue during the One Week War, they were psychologically traumatized by the mobile suit units led by Macharius on the local battlefield, especially those highly skilled veteran pilots, whose deaths at the hands of Macharius exceeded three digits.

Moreover, the Zeon High Command also discovered that the Zaku 2, which had been highly anticipated by the Zeon army in the past, was not powerful enough to fight against the Gundam, and was even inferior to the GM.

Therefore, after the end of the One Week War, the upgrade and improvement of mobile suits was once again put on the agenda.

In fact, Zeon has conducted many tests and experiments on ground combat inside its secret satellite. The Zaku 2C produced for nuclear attacks has exposed many problems in the gravity environment.

Therefore, after the end of the One Week War, the Zeon army began to dismantle these unused nuclear combat equipment and changed the C type to F type.

In addition to improving existing equipment, due to the large number of Zakus and mature production lines, Zeonic designers also redesigned a mobile suit based on Zaku that is suitable for gravity environments.

This is the Tiger currently deployed in the Dozle Fleet. The Zeon designers have absorbed many lessons learned and even tried their best to obtain the little information about the Gundam, in order to develop a product that can compete with the Gundam as much as possible.

After development, the Tiger has indeed learned a lot in many aspects. For example, it has a large shield that is no less than the size of the Federation machine, and is much thicker than the Zaku's pitiful shoulder shield.

In addition, this shield is also a scabbard, which contains a heat sword. In addition, it also has a retractable whip that can release electric attacks to destroy enemy equipment.

As for other weapons and equipment, they are no different from Zaku. Whatever Zaku can use, Tiger can also use.

In terms of power and fire control, the Tiger has been strengthened unsurprisingly. It has been equipped with a new specification power reactor, which has improved acceleration and output. Even its detection distance is much farther than that of the Zaku 2.

And this is just an early-model Tiger. Zeonic is already prepared to follow the Zeon army into the Earth. Once the Zeon army occupies a certain area on Earth, it will move the production line to Earth, produce nearby, and replenish on the spot.

This will also allow us to make modifications to the machine based on feedback as soon as possible.

But at present, the only places that can replenish the Zeon army's machines are the factories in Zeonic and the production base in Grenada on the moon.

However, after supplying the first batch of Tigers to Dozle's fleet, the latter stopped the subsequent supply. However, Dozle was not angry. Zeonic had supplied his troops with more than 100 early-model Tigers during the armistice negotiations. Together with the Zakus that had been replenished before, his attack force had returned to its peak state.

And what they have to do next is to kick the dilapidated house called the Earth Federation and eliminate the biggest obstacle that prevents the Zabi family from ruling the Earth!
Subsequently, on March 10th, Dozle's First Joint Attack Fleet once again set out from the Solomon Space Region. After emergency repairs, the Zeon fleet, which had largely restored the combat effectiveness of its damaged warships, bypassed the moon and quickly approached the Earth's orbit.

At this moment, the Earth Orbital Defense Fleet, which had suffered serious damage, was no match for the Zeon Fleet. Less than an hour after the battle, it was forced to withdraw from low-Earth orbit.

However, the Zeon fleet did not launch an attack on the Earth. Instead, it continued to release a large number of rice grains and then withdrew from low-Earth orbit.

Then, within a few days, the Zeon fleet approached the Earth's low-Earth orbit many times, each time releasing only rice grains. The large amount of scattered particles seriously interfered with the detection and observation of the Federation's ground air defense forces, and also interrupted the real-time intelligence connection between the orbital defense fleet and the ground.

Afterwards, after confirming that the rice grains had been successful, the Dozru fleet began to continuously test the Earth's orbital defense network through optical remote observation, or by releasing the sub-Musai aerospace vehicles on the Musai-class cruisers.

Although the Federation Army's Army, Navy, and Air Force conducted emergency combat drills for the micro-interference environment after the First Week of the War, they did not accumulate much experience. This meant that the Zeon reconnaissance operations were not interfered with. There were even daring Zimsey shuttles that broke through the Karman line and officially entered the Earth's atmosphere.

This move greatly inspired Zeon officers and soldiers at all levels, making them full of confidence in the upcoming large-scale combat operations.

Dozle later awarded the Medal of Honor to the first Zeon crew to break into the Karman Line on the flagship to commend their bravery.

"I hope that you will follow my example and forge ahead bravely. Then, I will treat all the brave warriors with the best wine on earth!"

The focus of the Dozru fleet's reconnaissance is naturally Central Asia, or more precisely, a series of locations from the Middle East to Eastern Europe.

"The federal army's defense is very tight!"

"Yes, we've also discovered a large number of Federation mobile suits active here. According to reconnaissance intelligence, the number is no less than one hundred!"

Dozle was not in a hurry to attack, naturally because he was afraid that the first attacking force would fall into the trap of the Federation Army just like the Zeon Military Academy cadets who revolted that year.

He didn't know why he felt this way, but ever since he knew that Macharius had returned to Earth, he had been a little scared.

Although previous intelligence showed that the Red Dragons commanded by Macharius had been dispatched to Gabro as a direct force of the Federal Army Headquarters, it was always better to be cautious.

Although the movements of the Dozle fleet were well concealed by the grains of rice scattered in orbit, this excessive concealment actually made the Gaburo Command notice the abnormality.

"It's been a week, and the Zeon forces are still scouting. Why haven't they launched an attack yet?"

"Just hesitating!"

"Why are you hesitating?"

"Hesitation fails!"

Gop, who was tapping on the desk, stood up and looked at the electronic map in front of him with a smile.

"Get the 160th Special Aviation Regiment moving, and release that footage!"

Then, the next day, when the Zeon army began to conduct reconnaissance again, they captured a large and neatly arranged fleet of Mediah transport planes forming a formation in the air and flying towards the Baikonur base.

Afterwards, these huge Media transport planes unloaded a large number of mobile suits and other military equipment at the base.

"Sir, we can't delay any longer!"

The commander of the front responsible for attacking the European region knocked on Dozle's door.

"The federal army has apparently noticed the direction of our attack and is currently sending reinforcements to Central Asia!"

"Damn it!"

Dozle couldn't sit still any longer!

"Is the information true?"

"A large transport fleet has arrived at Baikonur and unloaded about a squadron of mobile suits!" Dozle then gritted his teeth tightly, his brows furrowed so tightly that it looked like he could pinch a fly to death.

"No news about the Red Dragon Team yet?"

"no!"

"Then let me think about it again!"

But soon, Dozle didn't have to think about it anymore, because the Gaburo Base sent a video file about the Federation Army's combat readiness to the Earth's public network. In the video, Macharius's body showed a small face.

"The Red Dragon is in Gaburo!"

As soon as this news came out, all the officers and generals felt relieved.

"Then the action begins!"

Then, on March 16, a huge army no smaller than the First Combined Fleet once again sailed out of the Solomon base. Afterwards, the fleet accelerated all the way and headed towards the Earth's orbit.

Finally, the two fleets merged.

The second Zeon fleet was naturally the transport force responsible for carrying combat troops. For this purpose, the Zeon army mobilized all domestic equipment ships that could carry large atmospheric entry capsules, HLVs and simple HLVs, HRSLs, shuttles, and other equipment. Even the precious Gwakin-class battleships were dispatched.

This behemoth can carry dozens of HLVs, or heavy-lift launch vehicles, at a time, and the only ship that can rival the Gwakin is the Papua-class transport ship.

After the fleets reunited, Dozle's attack fleet immediately remained firmly in low-Earth orbit, and then a meteor shower began!

The huge Zeon transport fleet launched 400 HLVs in one go. These heavy rockets, loaded with fully armed Zeon troops and their equipment, floated out of space and then, under the influence of gravity, continued to accelerate towards the ground.

When this large-scale landing corps began to move, the federal army's ground air defense firepower also began to intercept with all its strength. In an instant, dense missiles and anti-aircraft artillery flew towards the descending corps from all directions.

"Release the rice grains, release the rice grains!"

Faced with the Federation Army's fire interception, the Zeon landing troops could not even put up a little resistance. They could only grit their teeth and land under the artillery fire, while at the same time began to release the small amount of rice they carried to interfere with the accuracy of the Federation Army's firepower.

This approach does have an effect, but not a great one. Starting from low-Earth orbit, HLVs are constantly being hit. The protection level of the huge rocket body is very poor. Once hit, it can only turn into a dazzling ball of fireworks.

The personnel and troops transported by the broken rocket will be ignited and burned away by the intense friction.

Before breaking through the Kármán Line, the Zeon forces lost nearly forty HLVs and countless other orbital landing vehicles. These losses left no possibility of survival.

"That's gravity!"

Looking at the ever-increasing number of losses, no matter how heartbroken Dozle was, he could only stand in the flagship and watch with an expressionless face. After all, neither the Musai nor the Chibe class had the ability to enter the atmosphere.

As for providing fire support to the enemy, forget it. The curvature of the earth and the refraction of the atmosphere will greatly reduce the effectiveness of naval guns.

At this moment, the only one who can show favor to the Zeon army is the space ghost wandering in space.

After breaking through the Kármán Line, the Federation's incoming orbital missile firepower was slightly reduced, but this did not mean that the pressure on the Zeon forces would be relieved much.

Because they would then have to face interception by the Federal Air Force taking off, as well as close-in defense artillery fire from the ground.

During this process, the Zeon army lost even more HLVs, totaling more than sixty. That is to say, the 1st Landing Division of the European Front, which was the first batch to enter the Earth, had lost a quarter of its personnel and equipment before even seeing the shadow of the Federation Army.

"It's okay, it's okay. As long as we land on the ground, the federal army will have no chance!"

Just as a Zeon pilot was struggling to endure the tremendous pressure brought by the rapid fall, he suddenly saw a strange purple light through the rocket's external camera.

"what is that?"

"Point the camera at the ground!"

Then the pilot shouted loudly, asking the rocket operator to do as he ordered.

Then, the camera turned around, and then a clearer light flew past the camera. Although the pilot did not know who the light was hitting, there was no doubt that it hit it, because the rocket they were riding felt the violent vibration caused by the explosion. At the same time, the camera also captured the various fragments falling in all directions like flowers scattered by fairies.

There were rockets, broken mobile suits, headless tanks, and human bodies floating like feathers.

"Beam rifle, Gundam, Gundam is here, it's a trap!"

Finally, a pilot reacted and let out a sharp soprano cry.

"Sir, we've been tricked. This is a trap!"

In low Earth orbit, Dozle, relieved that the landing force had finally safely entered the final deceleration phase, was just about to pour himself a cup of hot tea.

Then, his adjutant rushed in, sobbing with tears of blood.

"The Red Dragon is not in Gabro, he is in Baikonur!"

Dozle shuddered at the words, and the teacup in his hand fell to the floor.

"Have the landing troops change the landing coordinates!"

"Subsequent batches have been changed, but as the first brigade of the first wave, it's too late!"

"puff!"

Dozle felt a sweet taste in his throat and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Sir?"

The adjutant was also shocked by this situation. Dozle, who was known as the toughest man in the Zeon army, actually vomited blood?
"doctor!"

"return!"

Seeing that the adjutant was about to call for help, Dozle swallowed the blood in his mouth and shouted angrily.

"I'm fine!"

Dozle calmed himself down and then spoke.

"How many troops are left in the First Brigade?"

"They were attacked by the enemy and have already lost seven HLVs. There are still more than twenty left!"

"Have them break out immediately after landing and reunite with the outer troops. Don't attack Baikonur directly!"

Dozle tapped his dizzy head. He was not sure how many of the First Brigade's men were left after falling into Macharius's trap. He could only pray that the enemy was in poor condition and that the First Brigade would have time to withdraw enough of its men.

After watching the adjutant turn and leave, Dozle's eyes immediately swept over the holster hanging on the clothes hanger.

He had a premonition that Zeon would lose this battle!

(End of this chapter)