Empire Conquest-Chapter 805 - 74: Full Retreat

Just in one night, the outer defensive line of Astrakhan was breached by the enemy, beyond everyone’s expectations.

Fortunately, the situation didn’t turn out as bad as it seemed.

To break through this line, the Western Group paid an extremely heavy price.

After dawn, the Air Force dispatched reconnaissance aircraft for a full-scale reconnaissance of the eastern bank of the Volga River front line.

The Western Group not only deployed 3 armored brigades but also 1 artillery brigade, 1 rocket artillery battalion, and at least 3 battalion-level low-altitude assault forces.

The total strength involved exceeded 18,000 personnel, and the various types of main battle weapons used were innumerable.

Among them, just the main battle tanks exceeded 500 units.

Near the main position at the eastern end of the defensive line alone, there were nearly 100 wrecks of T-series main battle tanks, and more tank wrecks near the main position at the western end.

The 3 armored brigades committed by the Western Group have basically lost their combat capability.

So far, just on the offensive line from Volgograd to Astrakhan, the Western Group has lost nearly 1,000 main battle tanks.

The key lies here.

In this direction, the Western Group has a total of only 3 division-level armor units, even if considering other units, the main battle tanks available are between 1,500 and 1,800 units. The key issue is that several hundred tanks were already lost in prior battles.

In other words, the Western Group has lost about two-thirds of its main battle tanks in this direction.

This means that the Western Group’s ground forces have basically lost their assault capability, and even if they manage to launch an attack, it would merely be a futile effort.

Now, the Western Group faces only two choices.

First, attack Astrakhan without adequate preparation, engaging in a life-and-death battle with the unwavering defenders of the Eastern Group in the city now transformed into a fortress.

Perhaps Astrakhan can be taken, or perhaps a strategic defeat might be encountered here.

Second, temporarily halt the attack and wait for the reserves to catch up before assaulting Astrakhan.

Clearly, any commander with a bit of sense would choose the latter.

But the problem is, when will the reserves be able to catch up?

Although the Western Group has achieved breakthroughs in all directions, the losses are not small, and the reserves have been used prematurely.

For example, near Novorossiysk, reserves have already replaced the main forces.

If it were just a problem in one direction, there would be nothing to worry about.

The reserves are divided into tiers. In the initial offensive phase, the reserves that follow the assault forces are actually campaign-level reserves, that is, Group Army-level reserves, whose main task is to provide support in campaign-level battles to ensure the accomplishment of campaign objectives.

Above that, there are strategic reserves.

In the Western Luosha Army, the strategic reserve is the 9th Group Army.

This Group Army is deployed west of Volgograd and has a peacetime establishment rate of 60%, and can complete mobilization within 72 hours to reach full establishment.

The key point is that this Group Army has a full set of main battle equipment and can head to the battlefield upon mobilization completion.

Before the outbreak of the war, this Group Army had already completed mobilization, with total strength reaching 150,000, and its main force comprising 1 armored division and 3 mechanized infantry divisions.

Here, the 3 mechanized infantry divisions are light armored units.

Actually, this is also a feature of the reserves, possessing strong strategic mobility, able to appear at crucial locations at critical moments.

But the problem is, there is only this one Group Army. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

In the Western Luosha Army’s operational plan, the foremost task of the 9th Group Army is to assist the 1st Group Army at the front in attacking Astrakhan, or, after the 1st Group Army seizes Astrakhan, to continue assaulting eastward before the Eastern Group completes deployment adjustments.

When there are issues in all directions, relying on only one Group Army is certainly a drop in the bucket.

Moreover, the 9th Group Army itself is not considered strong.

Among the five main Group Armies of Western Luosha, the strongest is definitely the 1st Group Army, not only with a full establishment total strength of an astonishing 350,000 but also a peacetime establishment rate of as high as 95%, almost ready for battle at any time, without needing time for mobilization.

The other 3 main Group Armies have total strengths of 250,000 to 300,000, with establishment rates not below 90%.

It can be seen that the 9th Group Army is the weakest.

Now, relying on the 9th Group Army to fill all the gaps is obviously difficult.

Even more critical is the fact that in the first phase of the strategic offensive, the primary task of the Western Luosha Army was not to capture Astrakhan north of the Broad Sea, but to advance toward Novorossiysk, seizing this port located in the northeast of the Mo Sea and cutting off the maritime line between the Liangxia Empire and Eastern Luosha.

The ultimate goal still remains to sweep the Chains Bridge and attack and occupy the Baku oil fields.

To achieve this, the Western Group not only committed 2 main Group Armies, the 3rd and the 7th Group Armies, in the direction of the Chains Land Bridge, but also nearly half of the materials, even sending a mechanized infantry division from the 9th Group Army over to specifically guard the logistics supply line.

Moreover, the offensive operations near the Chains Land Bridge consumed too many transportation resources.

As a result, when the operation to advance on Astrakhan encountered troubles, the Western Group simply didn’t have enough transport capacity to bring up the reserves.

Of course, there weren’t enough reserves available either.

To be said, this is thanks to the Empire’s Air Force.