Munitions Empire-Chapter 992 - : The Cruel Battle of Defense and Attack

Chapter 992: The Cruel Battle of Defense and Attack

Between Fengjiang and Hezhe, a Dahua Empire soldier is swiftly navigating through the trenches on the complex defensive line known as the “Ring” built by the Dahua Empire.

He and his comrades had just entered a very complex defensive position, where the environment was chaotic with abandoned ammunition boxes and casings everywhere.

The Fengjiang military had held out here for seven or eight days, treating the defense line as their home during that time.

An eerie smell was present everywhere, akin to that of a boys’ dormitory; indescribable and peculiar, recognizable instantly by outsiders even as the resident could not pinpoint it.

Corpses could occasionally be seen strewn in the trenches, often surrounded by a variety of discarded weapons in disarray.

The weapons used by the Fengjiang defenders included the same model as the Dahua military—Shireck Type 1 bolt-action rifles, and their machine guns also followed suit, mainly being Maxim machine guns.

While running, the Dahua soldier gasped for air, a bayonet-fitted Shireck rifle in his hands and some subtle bloodstains on his uniform.

Just as they rushed into the trench, he and his companion encountered a few Fengjiang soldiers, and a fierce battle ensued.

In the end, he and his companion killed the two stubbornly resisting Fengjiang soldiers; they did not go easy on them despite their youth.

The blood of the opponents splattered onto their uniforms, a brief struggle, then silence. The combat effectiveness of these defenders wasn’t too high, it was just that their positions were too complex to penetrate.

This included underground defensive positions that, once reinforced with concrete, were very difficult to deal with.

Some machine gun bunkers were only recognizable when approached very closely, and every time a battle ensued, the Dahua attacking forces experienced substantial casualties.

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In the past two days, the Dahua military encountered a strange weapon never seen before on the battlefield—a 50mm caliber long-barreled anti-tank gun.

This type of anti-tank gun had an extremely low silhouette and high chamber pressure, with a very high initial speed of its shells, resulting in an impressive penetrating power.

Armed with this new type of artillery, the Fengjiang defenders could easily penetrate the Dahua military’s Type 3 tanks from a distance of 900 meters, so with the emergence of such weapons, the losses of the Dahua armored corps surged more than double.

However, in the realities of the battlefield, most fights did not involve tanks. The desperate hand-to-hand combat of soldiers in complex environments was the main theme of the war.

The running Dahua soldier could even hear his own breathing; he carried his weapon and kept running until he reached a corner to stop, leaning against the trench wall to catch his breath, and then cautiously peeked around to look to the other side of the trench.

The trench turned here, not far from a concealed mortar position: four Fengjiang defenders were operating an 80mm mortar, firing at the attacking Dahua troops in the distance.

In a flurry, they lifted the lid off a box full of shells; the loader took a projectile from inside, moved next to the muzzle, and inserted the shell into the barrel.

The gunners and the commander, who had already adjusted the angle, covered their ears. Soon a shell was fired, a puff of white smoke and a thunderous noise came from the muzzle.

“Hurry up! They are getting close to our position!” The commander urged his subordinates to fire rapidly with a sense of urgency.

The Dahua soldier hiding nearby heard the commander’s voice clearly. He reached for his waist, where a wooden-handled hand grenade was tucked.

This Shireck-style grenade can be traced back to the early hand grenades of the Great Tang Empire. Later the Great Tang fully transitioned to egg-shaped grenades, but due to cost reasons, Shireck continued with the design of wooden-handled grenades.

Of course, in recent years, with Shireck being acquired by the Great Tang Group, they also started mass-producing easier-to-carry egg-shaped grenades, yet many countries retained the production line for wooden-handled grenades and equipped their forces with them.

The reason is that such grenades can be thrown farther, are less likely to roll, and are cheaper—naturally less expensive if the production line is retained than switching to new ones.

In military budgets across nations, major expenses are allocated for heavy weaponry like tanks and artillery, leaving limited funds for improving individual soldiers’ arms—any savings are welcome.

After pulling out the hand grenade from his waist, the Dahua soldier cautiously unscrewed the cap at the end of the handle and pulled out the firing cord, giving it a strong tug.

White smoke emerged from the base of the handle, and the Dahua soldier flung it forcefully, sending the hand grenade flying into the mortar position.

Before the occupants inside could react, the grenade exploded, the blast wave kicked up a cloud of dust, and without a second thought, the Dahua soldier charged in with his bayonet ready.

He stepped on the enemy still struggling on the ground, trying to rise, and finished him off with a bayonet. Then, amidst the swirling dust, he continued searching for his next target.

In fact, the remaining three Fengjiang soldiers were already dead, hit by fragments of hand grenades, having stopped breathing almost instantly.

“They’re attacking us! The mortar position over there has engaged!” In the neighboring trench, the chaotic shouting of the Fengjiang defenders was heard loud and clear.

As the dust slowly cleared, the Dahua soldier finally confirmed the safety of his surroundings. He dared not linger here, as nearby Fengjiang soldiers could reclaim this mortar firing position at any time.

There was no time to concern himself with the overturned mortar on the ground. At this moment, the Dahua soldier realized that his comrade had apparently failed to keep up with him.

“Dammit!” His first thought was that the other must have been too cowardly and had found a spot to hide halfway through.

Unable to defend the position alone, he had no choice but to retreat immediately. Before he retreated, he bent down to take a nicely made pistol from the waist of a fallen officer near the mortar, and tucked it into his waistband before turning to run.

Following the trench they had come through, he stopped at the bend, waiting for Fengjiang soldiers to return to the mortar position. Then, raising his rifle, he took a shot at one of them who had bent down to inspect a body.

Seeing that his target had been hit and fell, he continued his retreat. The Fengjiang defenders, caught by surprise, dared not pursue and could only shout, urging everyone to be on high alert.

The retreating Dahua soldier continued to run forward without daring to look back. He sprinted past the corpses he had encountered just moments before, making his way back to the segment of the trench where he had originally jumped in.

Here, he unexpectedly saw his supposed companion lying on the ground, his steel helmet rolled to the side.

By this time, the Dahua soldier had already become a corpse, seemingly struck in the head by shrapnel. His blood had soaked into the mud of the trench, creating a black, sickening pool.

Not far away, next to a machine-gun bunker destroyed by an artillery shell, lay the bodies of seven or eight other dead Dahua soldiers. They had been killed by a shell, as the crater beside them was still emitting heat.

“Retreat! Retreat! What are you dawdling for? The Fengjiang military is counterattacking!” A Dahua soldier leaped into the trench, scrambling in panic towards the other end while kindly reminding his stunned comrade to move.

It was only when he heard the shout that the Dahua soldier snapped out of it and followed the one who had called him, climbing over the trench to escape the battle.

As he climbed out of the trench, he saw that the kind soldier who had warned him was hit by a bullet from behind.

He hurried over, crouching low and attempting to help. Unfortunately, by the time he crawled over, the man was already dead, the bullet having gone right through his chest, beyond any hope of rescue.

When he left, the other man’s eyes were still moving, and he tried desperately to grasp at him, seemingly hoping he would help carry his wounded self away.

But in the end, he lost all strength, and his grip on the other’s hand was pulled away. In his eyes, the bastard who had just stood dumbly in the trench was gradually moving away, eventually disappearing into the darkness.

Soon, the Fengjiang artillery’s shells landed between the two armies’ positions, greeting the retreating Dahua military once again. Both sides left behind numerous corpses, and the landscape was littered with ruined trenches and smoking craters.

Having survived numerous dangers, the Dahua soldier who fought bravely in the trenches finally made it back to his starting position. Seeing the wounded all over the ground, he truly didn’t know whether he still had the courage to do what he had just done again.

His friend had fallen on the enemy’s territory, and many of his comrades had also fallen there. He did not know if he would end up the same, everything was still an unknown.

This was just one of the day’s many fights. Such fights seemed childish, but they were actually extremely brutal, with battles happening almost every hour.

Every day, nearly three thousand per side were killed in action. This number might not seem excessive, but in a month, that amounted to a loss of 90,000, and within two or three months, 250,000 would have to be committed to the conflict, an astonishing rate of loss.

The Dahua Empire could not sustain such losses, and in fact Fengjiang could not either.

Although they suffered fewer casualties due to their trench works, losing about 1,000 men per day, the cumulative effect was still deadly.

It should be noted that before the war, Fengjiang had a total of about 300,000 troops, with only about 100,000 at most left to defend on the Western Front.

But losing 1,000 men per day meant 30,000 would be gone in a month. At this rate of loss, Fengjiang’s commanders were already bleeding internally.

Any fool could see that if such losses continued, they would likely collapse within the next ten days. They needed reinforcements, a great deal of reinforcements!