Empire Conquest-Chapter 822 - 82: Reprisal Operation

Strictly speaking, the "secondary mission" is actually more important.

It’s what Zhang Jiazhen mentioned, bombing the capital Mosa City in West Luosha, destroying the President Mansion, General Staff Department, and the national telecommunications center, these strategic targets.

If blowing up the frontline headquarters of the West Continent Group can buy a few days’ time, then hitting the central nerve of West Luosha might allow us to initiate a reprisal in advance.

When discussing this matter, Wang Qing’en mentioned a very important issue.

Up to now, almost all the other countries in the West Continent Group are just watching the spectacle. The only one directly participating in the war is the Tiaoman Empire, and they’ve only deployed a single armored brigade.

Of course, this is not surprising, as the war has only been going on for a few days.

But the problem is, apart from the Tiaoman Empire, the other major member states of the West Continent Group have not dispatched ground troops to participate in the war as promised.

The closest "Allied Forces" to the frontline are still in Kyiv, over by the Dnieper River.

Even if they set off now, these troops would take at least three days to reach the frontline.

The fatal issue is that the troops are inadequate.

Over there in Kyiv, there’s only one Raleigh Mechanized Infantry Brigade, one Locke Rapid Reaction Brigade, one Sban Armored Brigade, and one Bulan Reinforced Mixed Camp.

Critically, these units are not at full strength.

Three brigades plus one reinforced camp, totaling just over ten thousand officers and soldiers.

Actually, even if they were at full strength, they wouldn’t total twenty thousand.

What can be done with such a small force?

According to Wang Qing’en, the West Luosha authorities are very dissatisfied with their allies’ laxity, and the failures at the frontline have exacerbated the discontent.

The resentment towards allies within the West Luosha Army has already become quite severe.

The real crux lies here.

If the offensive goes smoothly, even if the allies react a bit slowly, it wouldn’t be a big issue; after all, victory boosts morale.

The problem now is that the offensive isn’t going well.

The result of this is that the officers and soldiers of the West Luosha Army feel that the setbacks faced on the frontline are significantly linked to the allies’ reluctance to commit forces.

Of course, it’s somewhat far-fetched to say this, and it can also be seen as shirking responsibility.

Objectively speaking, it’s not that the other countries of the West Continent Group are powerless; it’s the West Luosha Army that’s messed up.

In the pre-war operation plans, the time for the Allied Forces’ participation was set for a week after the outbreak of the war, mainly to undertake support tasks, at most serving as a reserve team.

At least for a week after the war began, the West Luosha Army had to independently shoulder the offensive responsibility.

This arrangement, or rather the determined timing in the strategic plans, wasn’t made arbitrarily, it was due to limitations of objective factors.

Simply put, other countries, including the Tiaoman Empire, needed a week for mobilization and to transport combat troops to the frontline.

Actually, just transporting and assembling combat troops would take several days.

The current situation is that after only 3 days of fighting, the West Luosha Army has exhausted their reserve team and is asking for the allies to immediately send reinforcements.

Of course, it’s not to say that the allies are without fault.

To be fair, the support provided by the Tiaoman Empire and other allies has indeed been inadequate, with significant issues present.

Not to mention anything else, the Tiaoman Air Force has not yet deployed its main forces, and the dispatched tactical air forces have always been operating behind the lines, carrying out defensive missions.

Clearly, this is far from enough!

Although West Luosha possesses the largest frontline air force in the entire West Continent Group, with over a thousand frontline fighters like MG-29 suitable for deployment at forward airfields, the West Luosha Air Force severely lacks long-range strike capabilities, and even battlefield support capabilities are insufficient.

The only attack aircraft that the West Luosha Air Force possesses is the MG-27.

This is an attack aircraft, developed from the third-generation MG-23 fighter, mainly having removed radar and other electronic equipment, specifically for ground attack missions. It is far from perfect, with performance now considered inadequate and not very suitable for battlefield support tasks.

Within the West Continent Group, the main forces responsible for air support have always been the Tiaoman Air Force and the Locke Air Force.

This is an unavoidable situation.

West Luosha simply doesn’t have extra resources to develop air power.

But the problem is, neither the Tiaoman Air Force nor the Locke Air Force have shown a decent performance so far!

In previous battles, the setbacks suffered by the West Luosha Army were nearly all linked to the lack of air support, forcing reliance on armored forces for breakthroughs.

Take the fighting that occurred north of Astrakhan, for example.

That night, if a high-intensity bombing could have been carried out, perhaps the armored forces of the Luosha Army wouldn’t have had to re-enter the fray; the Tiaoman armored brigade coming up might have broken through the defenses held by the East Luosha infantry, and the reinforcement troops sent by the Empire’s Army might not have reached the battlefield at all.

However, to be fair, the Tiaoman Air Force wasn’t unwilling to provide support; they just couldn’t do it.

In the past few days, the primary task of the Tiaoman Air Force has actually been air defense, which means dealing with those enemy aircraft continually launching assaults from the east.

Because more air superiority fighters needed to be deployed at the frontline, the Tiaoman Air Force continuously delayed sending more attack aircraft.

Regardless, doubt has already arisen within the West Luosha Army.

The situation can still be maintained, firstly because the frontline troops are still advancing, and there is still hope for victory, at least not reaching the point of despair. Secondly, because the West Luosha authorities, namely those politicians, have played a proactive role, putting immense pressure on the military commanders.

It is precisely for this reason, the need to attack the central nerve of West Luosha.