Empire Conquest-Chapter 823 - 82: Reprisal Operation (Part 2)

In the words of Wang Qing’en, if we can eliminate the leadership group of West Luosha in one swift action and achieve a sufficiently large victory on the front, it might compel the commanders of the West Luosha Army to make new choices, even if it’s only to become passive, which would greatly benefit the Eastern Group.

From a strategic standpoint, this is essentially the key to rapid victory.

Once West Luosha collapses, the West Continent Group won’t last long!

Don’t forget, the member states of the Tiaoman Empire and the West Continent Group have not completed their mobilization yet.

If West Luosha quickly suffers defeat after the outbreak of war, then the Tiaoman Empire might have no choice but to compromise, at which point the war would be over.

Of course, Li Tianling does not agree with this view.

In his opinion, the only result of West Luosha suffering defeat on the battlefield is actually to force the Newland Republic to immediately send troops to participate in the war.

However, Li Tianling also knows that the urgent task is to stabilize the situation.

As long as the military and political system of West Luosha is destroyed, everything will be easy to talk about!

Thus, Li Tianling did not delay. After getting the news from Wang Qing’en, he went to find the pilots who came with him and began to prepare.

On the Northwest Battlefield.

The order for reprisal has already been issued by the Battle Zone Headquarter to the forward command centers in each direction, though it has not yet been distributed to the combat troops.

Zheng Zhishuang immediately gathered Lian Mingyang and other main officers.

The reprisal action is directly arranged by the Battle Zone Headquarter, and the combat units participating in the reprisal are arranged by the Battle Zone Headquarter, with front-line troops only responsible for providing assistance.

Simply put, it’s about transporting the reprisal troops onto the battlefield.

The task is very simple: Zheng Zhishuang’s Air Brigade arranges transport helicopters to deliver the Air Assault Forces to the battlefield.

On the Astrakhan side, a brigade of forces will be invested.

That’s right, it’s the 101st Air Assault Brigade under the 1st Infantry Division.

Do not be misled by the name "Infantry Division." In the Northwest War Zone, the 1st Infantry Division is a heavily equipped unit without a hint of lightweight.

Moreover, the 1st Infantry Division is also the most populated division-level unit in the Northwest War Zone.

In peacetime, its forces number up to 23,000 people, and in wartime, it is generally reinforced to over 30,000.

During the Boi War, the forces of the 1st Infantry Division once reached 44,000 people, almost comparable to an entire army in other war zones.

In fact, the 1st Infantry Division itself was established according to the "army" level.

Simply put, during wartime, the headquarters of the 1st Infantry Division will automatically upgrade to the 1st Army Headquarter of the Empire Army, responsible for commanding the ground forces of the Northwest War Zone.

This is precisely why the structure of the 1st Infantry Division is so large.

The division’s main combat units include 5 Infantry Brigades.

Of course, these so-called Infantry Brigades are actually all mechanized units, with the 111th Brigade and the 112th Brigade meeting the standards of an Armored Brigade, and the other 3 brigades meeting the standards of a Mechanized Infantry Brigade. After full formation, these 5 brigades alone total a force exceeding 28,000 people.

The support units include 2 Artillery Brigades, with the 121st Artillery Brigade equipped entirely with self-propelled howitzers, and the 122nd Artillery Brigade equipped with long-range rocket artillery.

In fact, the 122nd Brigade is also the Empire Army’s only Artillery Brigade wholly equipped with long-range rocket artillery.

During operations, these 2 Artillery Brigades are generally broken up and reinforced into the Infantry Brigades.

Additionally, there are support units directly under the division’s headquarters, such as the Air Defense Brigade, Logistics Brigade, Communication Support Battalion, Guard Battalion, Electronic Warfare Camp, and Medical Battalion.

During the Boi War, an additional low-altitude assault force equipped with hundreds of helicopters and over ten thousand officers and soldiers was added.

Although, under the firm opposition of the Land Air Force, the Army Headquarter did not integrate the low-altitude assault force into the combat units, nominally allocating it through the Land Air Headquarter, in practice, the low-altitude assault force was always reinforced to major combat units like the 1st Infantry Division, stationed at crucial locations.

To be specific, this is also the key reason for incorporating the 101st Air Assault Brigade into the 1st Infantry Division.

This brigade originated from an Airborne Division of the Empire Army.

Though the Airborne Forces were very popular during the last great war, especially in the West Continent, where the Tiaoman Empire’s Airborne Forces made outstanding achievements, the Empire Army did not place much importance on the Airborne Forces, either during wartime or post-war, and did not invest heavily in developing such forces.

Mainly, the Empire Army followed a defensive strategy after the war.

Of course, it also had a lot to do with the Airborne Forces’ severe lack of armored strength.

According to the Empire Army’s theory, both offense and defense must rely on armored forces, thus the Airborne Forces essentially have no combat power or are unreliable.

As for the paratrooper chariots, that’s a matter for later.

In the years after the war, constrained by the performance of transport aircraft, no one thought of developing direct air-drop paratrooper chariots.

The key point is that even up to now, paratrooper chariots are quite fragile, at most serving as means of transport in large-scale wars.

With improved transport aircraft performance, there is no longer a need to develop paratrooper chariots.

Even if long-range raids are necessary, because it is essential to seize and control enemy rear airports, it is better to use transport aircraft to airlift main battle tanks directly to the front lines.

However, what caused the Airborne Forces to fade from the war stage were not these factors.

During the Boi War, helicopters shone brilliantly.

Thus, after the Boi War ended, the Empire Army retained only 3 Airborne Brigades and converted all other Airborne Forces into Air Assault Forces.

In addition, all Air Assault Forces are organized as brigade-level units, all under the name of Infantry Divisions.

This arrangement actually assigns a dual mission to the Air Assault Forces.

Simply put, during the defensive operations phase, the Air Assault Forces are the reserve team, responsible for plugging gaps. In the offensive phase, they are the rapid assault force, acting as the sharp tip of the spear.

Of course, in the current organizational system, the Air Assault Brigade is a genuine rapid reaction force.

To say it more precisely, it is a legitimate light infantry unit.

This is also the reason why the Air Assault Brigade is placed under the name of the Infantry Division.

The 101st Brigade, when fully staffed, has only 4,200 people, making it the least populated of the 6 combat brigades of the 1st Infantry Division, even less than the 2 Artillery Brigades.

The key is, they are all infantry.

Although they are equipped with some heavy equipment, they are all recoilless guns, mortars, and light howitzers that can be carried by helicopters.

The main feature of the Air Assault Brigade is that all its weapons and equipment can be transported by helicopter.

However, in actual combat, not all weapons and equipment have to be transported by helicopter. For example, light howitzers are rarely airlifted by helicopter.

As long as conditions allow, the units use trucks to transport the light howitzers to the front lines and arrange for helicopter lifting mostly during retreats.

During the mission assignment, Zheng Zhishuang specifically mentioned that because the Air Brigade reinforced to the 1st Infantry Division was dispatched to perform more important combat tasks in another direction, all transport work has to be carried out by the 135th Brigade, meaning multiple round trips.

Crucially, 20 10-ton general-purpose helicopters will be delivered by transport aircraft in the afternoon.

The main task of these helicopters is to transport heavy equipment that the light transport helicopters cannot lift to the forward positions.

Here, Lian Mingyang received a new mission.

Lead these 20 10-ton general-purpose helicopters to complete the most critical task.

The rear sent the helicopters, but did not arrange for pilots to participate in the combat operation, as pilots are scarce everywhere now.

In Zheng Zhishuang’s words, the front-line units have suffered too much loss; even reserve teams like the 135th Brigade have casualty rates exceeding one-third.

Currently, throughout the entire battle line, there are personnel shortages everywhere.

To solve the problem of insufficient pilots, Zheng Zhishuang has ordered that outstanding pilots accumulating over 1,500 flight hours can decide whether to undertake missions independently based on their own circumstances, meaning flying without a partner to independently operate the helicopter.

Of course, solo flight participation rates will double.

According to the regulations of the Empire Air Force, after completing 100 missions, a pilot can receive at least 3 months of family leave.

In summary, after the battle commences, the sole task of Lian Mingyang and about 100 other flight crews is to transport troops and supplies to the front line.

As for why the reprisal was launched at this time and came so suddenly, Zheng Zhishuang did not explain, nor did anyone ask.

Is there even a need to ask?

The enemy’s vanguard units have already advanced to about 50 kilometers north of Astrakhan and sent reconnaissance units; they might soon launch an attack.

We must resolutely defend Astrakhan and use tactical reprisals to pin down the enemy, thereby gaining more confidence to defeat them here.

In Lian Mingyang’s view, at this point, as long as there is a task and continuous deployment, it’s not a bad thing.