Chapter 1613: Chapter 1530: The Turret Is Done For
The massive bomber formation opened its bomb bays in the unstable air currents, revealing enormous bombs that were clearly not ordinary implements.
These were thermobaric bombs the Great Tang Empire had prepared to deal with the dwarf bunkers, capable of penetrating every corner of underground shelters through tunnels and effectively killing soldiers hiding inside.
Amid the cold air currents, the bombs disengaged from their mounts, falling one after another. The Hu-6 bombers that dropped the bombs began to climb, and the ground below them blossomed into giant flames.
The earth trembled, and the dwarf defensive lines shook as the black smoke from the enormous explosions covered the sky. Countless dwarf soldiers lost their lives to the thermobaric bombs.
The enormous thermobaric bombs created earth-shattering explosions, inflicting significant psychological pressure on the dwarf defenders.
Under the heavy pressure of the Tang Army, the dwarf troops gradually wavered. Adjacent to position 5, position 4 had already lost a large portion of its area due to a lack of personnel.
This was largely related to the Tang Army’s firepower suppression: the dwarf’s nighttime counterattack disturbed the southern Tang artillery fleet, but the northern fleet remained unaffected.
Thus, this fleet continued to bombard the dwarf positions; the 350mm caliber heavy artillery was formidable against the dwarves’ strong fortifications.
As important bunker strongholds were destroyed one by one, the dwarf defensive line also began to falter. The Tang Army fought trench to trench, almost driving the dwarfs holding position 4 out.
"I can’t hold on anymore! Yes, General! I need reinforcements! Lots of reinforcements!" Inside the bunker, the dwarf commander reported the latest battle situation with a tearful voice, clutching the phone.
Many of his troops had already lost contact; the Tang Army was at most a few hundred meters away from his tunnel.
The corridors echoed with gunfire, and many exits of the extending passages had actually already been taken by the Tang Army.
"Hold! Hold for me! Not one step back!" From the other end of the line, the general’s voice came through in a hysterical roar: "I have no reinforcements for you! I’m at the frontline too! For His Majesty The Emperor! For the Empire! Hold!"
"Yes! I will fight to the last soldier! Long live His Majesty The Emperor!" the dwarf commander gritted his teeth and promised, clutching the phone.
"Still no contact with tower 44?" In dire need of artillery support, the dwarf officer hung up the phone and looked at his adjutant beside him, asking.
The adjutant shook his head with a difficult look on his face, dust falling from above with the shell drops: "No contact, someone saw smoke coming from tower 44, it’s likely out of commission."
The Tang Army’s firepower was fiercer than any previous exercise or estimate. Those tower strongholds originally planned to hold for ten, twenty days were now being destroyed one after another.
Those terrifying bunker-busting bombs could scrap a twin-barrel 300mm cannon turret upon impact, even if the turret’s top armor thickness exceeded 150mm, it made no difference.
This standard was even higher than that of battleship main gun turrets, but it still couldn’t withstand the Tang Army’s bombing. The high-caliber rotating turrets supposed to cover the whole beach were now utterly ineffective.
Without artillery support, the dwarf troops could only rely on small caliber cannons and machine gun bunkers on the positions to stubbornly resist.
Although these fortifications did cause a lot of trouble for the Tang Army, without heavy artillery cover, the system collapsed, and inevitably, positions were breached one by one.
The medium and small caliber artillery were quickly wiped out by the Tang Army’s efficient coordination and the landing of 155mm caliber howitzers. The reaction speed of the Tang Army’s large caliber artillery significantly outmatched these outdated dwarf small caliber guns.
Machine gun emplacements, without artillery cover, were struggling alone, easily cleared by the Tang Army’s gun grenades exposing their sides near bunkers.
After suppressing mutually covering crossfire, the Tang Army could deploy armored vehicles or tanks, even armed helicopters, to clear these bunkers.
Despite a slow advance, Tang Army steadily chipped away at the dwarf steel ramparts. The dwarf troops, though causing some troubles, lost ground much faster than anticipated.
"Get me through to bunker 407!" The dwarf officer grabbed the phone again, loudly ordering: "By any means, hold the main peak for me! Bunker 407 can’t fall! Not even in death!"
The divisions of the dwarf steel ramparts followed a certain pattern in numbering; main positions had solitary digit numbers, from 1 to 9 making 9 large positions, with Tang Army occupying position 5 as one of them.
In these main positions, there were important cannon turrets. These expensive battleship main gun turrets were numbered using main position plus cannon position independent numbering method: for example, the 4th heavy turret in position 4 was named turret 44.
The large machine gun bunkers across the position used three-digit numbering: for instance, the first position in position 4 was named 401, the second position was named 402, and so forth.
Bunker 407’s position being crucial indicated the Tang Army controlling many bunkers within position 4, reaching the core defense perimeter’s outskirts.
Within these steel-reinforced concrete defense lines, dwarf soldiers were hurriedly running, carrying ammo and weapons, rushing to support zones the Tang Army almost breached.
At the trench gaps destroyed by bombs, Tang Army soldiers were clearing the sides continuously counterattacking, attempting to reclaim positions from the dwarfs.
These dwarf soldiers madly counterattacked as if they feared not death, blood spilling everywhere inside the cement trenches, dyeing slogans on tunnel walls.
"What? You saw Tang People’s flag raised on position 406? Damn it! The 1407 regiment should be hanged! Hanged!" Clutching the phone, the dwarf officer cursed furiously learning of lost important positions: "Do you have any reserves? Take back position 406 for me! Reclaim it! Absolutely reclaim it! Otherwise, your position will be at risk! Do you understand? Hello? Hello hello?"