Blood-Red Front

[1nd Battalion, 11th Regiment, 14th Brigade, 10th Army.]

[2nd Battalion, 11th Regiment, 14th Brigade, 10th Army.]

……

Looking at the newly formed rank-up army units that had reappeared on the minimap, Lin Zhiyuan's expression turned serious.

The 6th Regiment's forward canal position was nearly two kilometers long, with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions each responsible for half of the position.

However, the starting position in front of the Second Battalion was relatively small due to other waterways, so the 41st Regiment of the newly promoted army had always mainly attacked the area defended by the Third Battalion.

However, the newly arrived 11th Regiment of the newly promoted army has deployed its troops across the entire front, and the implications of this are self-evident.

After a moment's thought, Lin Zhiyuan decided to take action.

"Chief of staff, the enemy's formation is quite large. This should be the biggest wave of attack before nightfall."

"I'm going to the front lines to command the Second and Third Battalions in coordinated operations. I'll leave the fortifications at Lujia Town to you."

Upon hearing that Lin Zhiyuan was going to the front lines, Guan Jianchu quickly put down the documents in his hand and came over.

"Commander, it's the chief of staff's job to command from the front. You should stay in the center and I'll go to the front."

Lin Zhiyuan waved his hand, "This issue doesn't need discussion, it's decided."

Lin Zhiyuan's position in the rear and on the front lines will have completely different effects on the minimap.

If Lin Zhiyuan were to use the telescope himself, information within a radius of several kilometers on the minimap would be refreshed.

However, regardless of whether the soldiers of the 6th Regiment used binoculars or not, they could only provide a 500-meter field of view on the minimap.

Now that Chu Shengjun is clearly going to make a big fuss, how could he possibly sit idly by?

Most importantly, Lin Zhiyuan's ability to command from the center is far inferior to Guan Jianchu's.

One is a five-star commander in the game, and the other is a real-life top student from a military academy. They are simply incomparable in terms of professional ability.

Once Lin Zhiyuan made up his mind, Guan Jianchu naturally couldn't change it.

After handing over all the work to Guan Jianchu, Lin Zhiyuan led several soldiers from the guard platoon straight to the front line.

As soon as Lin Zhiyuan arrived at the second-line position, the mountain artillery regiment of the newly promoted army began shelling.

Thirty-six 75mm mountain guns turned the entire front line of the 6th Regiment into a haze of smoke.

Some soldiers' bodies were blown into the air by the explosions, and before they could even land, they were hit by another shell and sent flying into the sky...

……

"Third Battalion Commander, what's the situation with your unit?"

The battalion commander turned around and saw Lin Zhiyuan crawling into the underground command post from outside.

"Commander, what brings you here?"

The battalion commander was very surprised. Although this was a second-line position, a lot of shells were still falling.

Moreover, he had been in the army for almost ten years and had never seen a commander appear at the front lines as soon as a battle broke out.

This is not to say that others are afraid of death, but rather that this is not in line with common sense.

The most important task of a commander is to direct operations from the center.

Lin Zhiyuan patted the dirt off his clothes. "I asked you how things are going?"

The battalion commander hurriedly reported: "It's not a big problem. The previous counterattack wiped out a company of the newly promoted army. We only suffered less than a hundred casualties."

"Nearly a hundred casualties, and you think that's not a big problem? How many frontline infantrymen are there in the entire Third Battalion?"

If it were at full strength, the 3rd Battalion should have been a main force of 850 men plus 300 reinforcements, but the 6th Regiment was not at full strength and had no reinforcements.

Before the war, the three battalions had only about 500 men in total, and at most 350 infantrymen were actually capable of fighting on the front lines.

Lin Zhiyuan came to the Third Battalion because they had suffered considerable casualties and were under the most pressure.

"Commander, I know there are no reinforcements in the regiment. No matter how many casualties we suffer, we have to keep fighting," the Third Battalion Commander said in a low voice.

Even before the war, Lin Zhiyuan had already reassigned the non-essential personnel in the regimental headquarters to various battalions.

Lin Zhiyuan didn't say much, but simply raised his binoculars and carefully examined Chu Shengjun's situation through the observation hole.

He could clearly see the initial deployment of the rising army through the minimap.

……

The artillery bombardment by the newly formed mountain artillery regiment continued for half an hour before it began to extend backward, and the newly formed infantry began to deploy forward.

Due to the terrain, the Third Battalion remains the main attacking force.

The 1st Battalion of the 11th Regiment launched a strong attack right from the start, with 12 heavy machine guns firing fiercely.

Under the cover of fire, a squadron of newly promoted soldiers carried wooden planks of a boat and charged forward frantically.

The Third Battalion immediately opened fire with full force, continuously strafing with light and heavy machine guns.

Seeing the frenzied rank-and-file troops, Lin Zhiyuan ordered, "Have the mountain artillery battalion conduct a cover strike according to the established coordinates."

"The 82mm mortar company of the 3rd Battalion and the 60mm mortar squads of each company will focus their attacks on newly promoted soldiers operating in small groups."

The newly formed army was carrying planks and boats, clearly intending to forcibly build a bridge, but Lin Zhiyuan wouldn't give them that chance.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Zhiyuan called the anti-tank artillery position, and Li Tianle answered the phone.

"Commander."

"Same old rule as always: I'll call out the points, you take the hits."

"Commander, I now have a scope, I can guarantee I can hit exactly where I aim."

"Okay, let's begin."

……

As Li Tianle fired shot after shot, Nakamura, who was observing the situation from the rear bunker, sensed that something was amiss.

"Is it just my imagination? Why does it feel like the sound of heavy machine guns from the front lines is getting weaker and weaker?"

"Previously, the sound of the Type 92 heavy machine gun was the mainstream, but now how come the sound of the Maxim heavy machine gun has become the mainstream?"

The chief of staff listened intently and nodded in agreement.

"The sound of the Type 92 heavy machine gun has indeed disappeared, and the firing rate of the infantry guns also seems to be decreasing."

Although the 6th Regiment's anti-tank guns had a caliber of only 37 mm, their extremely long caliber ratio resulted in a flat trajectory and a range of up to 4 kilometers.

Even though the infantry guns of the newly promoted army were relatively far away and hidden behind cover, they would still have to stop firing from time to time due to the shelling.

"Call the front lines immediately and ask what's going on."

The chief of staff picked up the phone and dialed, "1st Battalion? This is the regimental headquarters, I'm looking for your battalion commander."

"The jade just shattered?!"

The chief of staff was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped to the ground. How could someone be dead so soon after the start of the war?

Nakamura, equally surprised, reached out and took the phone.

"This is Nakamura. Who is commanding the battle now? What's the situation at the front? Why has the heavy machine gun fire stopped?"

"What? They were all destroyed?!" Nakamura stood there dumbfounded.

During the phone call, the newly promoted communications soldier was still reporting the situation. The 1st Battalion was now under the command of the deputy battalion commander, and in addition to the heavy machine guns being completely wiped out, the light machine guns and grenade launchers, which were front-line firepower, had also suffered heavy losses.

However, Nakamura was no longer listening to any of this.

Without the fire support of heavy machine guns, breaking through the Xia army's positions would be much more difficult, and the casualties would be considerable.

And things unfolded much as Nakamura had predicted.

Before nightfall, the 11th Regiment launched three waves of strong attacks, suffering more than 300 casualties, but they didn't even get close to the 6th Regiment.

As darkness fell, the Hatsushige Army reluctantly halted its attack, and Nakamura returned to the brigade headquarters, looking dejected.

……