Munitions Empire-Chapter 1144 - 1064 Landing Battle
"Boom!" On the beach, the Great Tang Empire’s ship artillery laid down smoke bombs, quickly engulfing the air with a choking smell, shrouding the entire beach in a white smog.
Stationed in the trenches, the Goblin soldiers couldn’t see anything. They couldn’t see the sea conditions or tell whether anyone had landed ashore.
The only thing they could hear were constant explosions around them, occasionally accompanied by the roar of fighter jet engines. This wasn’t like what they had anticipated: it seemed impossible to massacre the Tang Empire Troops as they landed.
They couldn’t see any figures nor did they know where to aim, so they could only foolishly wait, wait for the enemy to come into the visible range to start firing.
As white fog started cloaking the sand beneath their feet, Mirage Country’s pilots grew more anxious: they couldn’t stop the opposing fleet from disembarking troops, and even lost the ability to defend themselves.
The Zero Fighters could only scatter and flee from the pursuit of Pirate Fighters, while Dragon Bombers had hastily dropped their bombs and returned to base, running away.
"The enemy has used a large number of smoke bombs! We can’t see anything beneath our feet!" The Goblin Flight Team Leader radioed while fleeing in his plane, "They have planes coming from nowhere! We can’t strike their ships!"
"Can you confirm the origin of the enemy planes? Can you confirm it?" The voice of the ground command tower queried through the headphones.
"I..." The Goblin Flight Team Leader was only halfway through his response in his angular cockpit when a Pirate Fighter attacked him from the flank, its dense cannon fire directly shattered the Zero Fighter’s cockpit and also shredded the Goblin pilot inside.
The Zero Fighter was notoriously weak in defense, and the Pirate Fighters modified by the Great Tang Empire were equipped with four 20mm cannons.
The power of this equipment was truly frightening; whether shooting Dragon Bombers or attacking Zero Fighters, a couple hits were enough to disintegrate them.
On the beach, amidst the smoke, a landing craft surged onto the shore; its forward hatches burst open, and the weapon-clad Navy Marine Corps Soldiers swarmed out.
Although the cold seawater instantly soaked their shoes, landing in such a good condition was much better than they had anticipated.
The saggy, equipment-laden Marine Corps soldiers clumsily walked forward on the sand, yet not a single bullet came through the smoke in front of them.
"The first batch of Marines has landed! Cease fire! Cease fire!" Over the radio, the coordinating Commander repeatedly reminded the fleet to extend their artillery fire deeper into enemy territory.
"No enemy attacks encountered! Troops are deploying!" The Captain on the landing craft that was preparing to reverse shouted loudly into his radio, reporting the situation.
Soldiers on a second landing craft dispersed as well, running towards further distances; at this moment, the defending Mirage Country guards finally spotted figures and began to shoot frantically.
"Tat-tat-tat! Bang! Bang!" Sounds of machine guns and rifles intertwined, with soldiers from the Great Tang Empire Marine Corps who were advancing at the front taking shots and falling, their surrounding comrades also being hit and tumbling down.
"Enemy firing! Directly ahead! Directly ahead!" Lifting their weapons towards the area flickering with gunfire, the Marine Corps Commander shouted loudly while firing back, "Fire! Fire! Suppress enemy fire!"
"Move! Move! Don’t stand there! Run!" An officer, amidst raining gunfire, waved his arms, urging his soldiers to quickly seek cover, "Find cover! Be cautious!"
"Cover! Cover! Fire! Fire!" The landing craft’s Captain ducked slightly as he saw tracer bullets approaching and shouted to a machine gunner beside him.
The machine gunner behind the shield aimed in the direction the bullets were coming from and pulled the trigger. The heavy machine gun spat out flames, with rounds of tracer bullets diving into the smog.
The smoke bombs not only obstructed the enemy’s vision but actually also blocked our own sight: under such conditions, accurately suppressing fire was almost impossible.
Frankly, this kind of firing for cover was just to bolster our soldiers’ courage, as for its effectiveness... what use could it really have?
"Ding!" Just when the heavy machine gun on the landing craft roared non-stop, a tracer bullet struck the shield, causing everyone to flinch.
"Damn it! Reverse! Go back to the sea!" The Captain eyed the heat-emitting bullet crater on the shield, and ordered loudly with lingering fear.
Amidst his shouting, a gigantic dark shadow passed by the landing craft; it was a 77 amphibious armored transport vehicle. Its tracks churned in the sea water and mud, shaking its massive body and charging onto the gun-ridden coast.
"Follow behind the armored vehicle! Use it as a cover!" The surrounding Navy Marine Corps soldiers, as if seeing a savior, quickly gathered together, following behind the armored vehicle, slightly shifting their steps forward.
"Tut tut tut tut!" The machine guns atop the armored vehicles on shore, equipped with shields, continuously fired, protecting the surrounding Navy Marine Corps soldiers as they constantly moved forward.
With this cover, the soldiers were no longer naked under enemy fire, and they quickly continued advancing, inching closer to the enemy’s main defensive line.
However, just as the Tang Empire Troops’ landing force was making swift progress, a soldier was suddenly blown away by an explosion while running, forcing the rest to stop immediately.
"Landmines! It’s a minefield! Damn it!" A soldier knelt on one knee, spotting an exposed landmine and loudly warning his fellow soldiers to be careful: "There are landmines on the beach!"
During his warning, another soldier stepped on a landmine and was blown up into the air, only half of his body left when he fell back down.
"Watch your steps!" A Navy Marine officer warned his soldiers, but before he could finish, a stray bullet took his head off.
"Move! Move! We can’t stop! Keep moving!" Seeing the heavy casualties among the troops, the commanding officer on the ground couldn’t care less, shouting loudly and leading the troops to push forward.
Every now and then, someone would step on a landmine and be thrown into the air, but more soldiers reached cover behind a rock, finding a place to shelter.
On the battlefield, smoke still enveloped the area, a 77-type amphibious armored vehicle was incapacitated by a landmine damaging its tracks, only able to serve as a shelter in its original position.
The soldiers from the vehicle disbanded and spread out, with more soldiers already crowding the beach. That’s when the Mirage Country’s artillery shells began to fall, their precise coordinates making the impacts particularly problematic.
Due to the dense formation of the landing troops, any random artillery impact point picked by the enemy could inflict heavy casualties on the Tang Empire’s landing troops.
Soon the beach was covered in blood, with bodies of Tang Empire soldiers everywhere. The soldiers who landed later could even use the bodies as cover, and many bodies drifted ashore piled up in a horrifying line.
"RPG!" Finally nearing the enemy position, the Tang Empire’s Navy Marine Corps soldiers fought back. They found a good angle and fired a rocket towards a bunker flickering with muzzle flashes.
"Boom!" The rocket hit the bunker, but it appeared to be ineffective. The Commander ducked back and shouted to the shooter loading the second rocket: "Fire another one! Kill those bastards!"
"Yes, sir!" The shooter with the loaded rocket peeked out and fired a second rocket at the machine gun bunker. Watching the rocket trailing long smoke towards the target, an explosion soon followed from that direction.
"Group 2! Cover me! Group 3! Get ready with the explosives! Alternate advance! Go!" Seeing the distant, fuzzy machine gun bunker seemingly quiet, the leading Navy Marine officer waved his hand forward, leading the charge.
They maneuvered around the rocks, sweeping fire at the Mirage soldiers occupying the trenches by the side of the rocks. Group three soldiers directly pushed detonators into the barbed-wire, then everyone quickly withdrew behind the rocks.
A massive explosion reverberated seconds later, ringing everyone’s ears. Brushing off gravel from their steel helmets, the Navy Marine officer, carrying an assault rifle, charged into the still-clearing smoke.
His soldiers followed him, crossing the shallow pits blown open by the detonators, breaking through the severed barbed wire, and charging into the Goblin trench now littered with casualties.
"Tut tut tut tut!" Without any shouting or scolding, the Tang soldiers raised their weapons and began relentless firing.
Some soldiers pulled out hand grenades, pulled the pins, and tossed them, creating explosions in the distance; others charged along the trench, continuously firing at Goblins in the trench.
They expertly reloaded their magazines, some even pulled out their sidearms to continue firing, with Goblins flipping over, unable to return fire with only their Shireck rifles.
At this time, the situation on the beach also changed drastically, with the slower 63 amphibious tanks arriving. They possessed more substantial caliber cannons, suppressing some enemy positions at extremely close range.
Increasingly, Tang Empire soldiers breached the Shen Army’s trenches, and the intensified defenses weakened the Shen Army’s firepower.
"Hello? Hello!" Inside an underground bunker, commanding the Mirage Country’s coastal defense forces, a Mirage Country officer held the telephone receiver, helplessly pleading with Shengwu Zhong: "If reinforcements don’t arrive soon, we won’t be able to hold on! Hello? General! Hello! Reinforcements! Request for reinforcements!"
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Two updates today, will continue to make up updates tomorrow.
