Capítulo 1615: Chapter 1532: I’m Not Dead Yet
“Tank! Tank!” A dwarf soldier loudly reminded his comrades, as another dwarf soldier beside him had already hoisted a single-soldier anti-tank rocket launcher, reverse-engineered by the Ice Cold Empire.
This thing is very similar to a bazooka rocket launcher, both being a long tube. Due to its weight, an infantry platoon could only be equipped with a few pieces of it.
Unfortunately, the dwarf engineers could only replicate the general design. They sourced Tang Army rocket launchers from various channels and copied the design principles to create this contraption.
Although they copied the firing principle, they couldn’t innovate on the warhead design. Their rockets lacked the trumpet-shaped “shaped charge warhead” and instead used a large bomb.
Placed on the Tang Army’s side, this would be merely an anti-infantry grenade, but on the dwarves’ side, it became an anti-tank rocket launcher.
The dwarf soldier bravely shouldered the massive device, pulled the trigger towards the distant Tang Army tank crossing obstacles, and a white smoke shot from both ends of the launcher as a rocket sped towards the advancing Tang tank.
“Boom!” The explosion engulfed the tank, and simultaneously, the dwarf soldiers who exposed their position were buried under the shells from the 20mm cannons on the Tang armored vehicles.
Tracer bullets pierced through the sandbags with ease, recklessly tearing through the dwarves’ position. Gravel splattered everywhere, shells hit the broken anti-aircraft gun, sending sparks flying, flesh was shredded, and screams were drowned out by the sound of cannon fire…
Elsewhere, out of the rolling dust, the Tang Army’s Type 96 tank emerged unscathed, its churning tracks uninterrupted, and its thick barrel now aimed at the direction from which the rocket came.
The armored car, which had discovered the dwarves’ position and fired first to suppress it, had already rushed over. Its huge wheels crushed the battlefield’s uneven ground as it swiftly approached the flesh-scattered dwarf position.
A dizzy dwarf soldier climbed up from the ground, seeing his companions’ corpses and a booted foot, though he didn’t know whose it was.
Blood was everywhere before his eyes, even spotting his officer’s army cap, though the face below had become a bloody hole.
By reflex, he wanted to reach for his rifle but couldn’t achieve it. Only then did he realize his arm seemed to have vanished.
Just as he was about to shift his gaze in search of his arm, a shadow enveloped his location. It was the Tang Army’s armored car’s broad chassis stopping by this anti-aircraft gun position.
The dwarf soldier wanted to continue struggling, but he quickly realized his wound wouldn’t allow it. If he could lower his head, he would see the terrifying wound on his torso.
The passing Tang Army soldiers, covering the tanks and armored vehicles, jumped into the shattered anti-aircraft position, and after a quick check, they shouted to their comrades above, “It’s safe! They’re all dead!”
“I’m not dead…” The last consciousness of the dwarf soldier drove him to try to say this, but in the end, he merely moved his lips, unable to make a sound.
Across the airport runway, the dwarf machine gun positions roared, unwilling to hand over the forward airport to the Tang Army, organizing a stubborn defense.
Several dwarf soldiers carrying weapons attempted to cross the runway to establish an advance position closer to the Tang Army.
But they failed. During their run, shots rang out from an unknown direction, and they fell one after another in the middle of the runway.
Cao Fei ultimately couldn’t locate the dwarf sniper who had previously fired and killed several Tang Army soldiers. Later, he heard about a damaged rifle found at the dwarves’ position and a dwarf soldier’s corpse dressed like a sniper.
The enemy had been taken out by a rocket; a helicopter-fired rocket hit his hiding spot, turning him directly into a corpse. On the complex battlefield, snipers don’t necessarily meet enemy snipers or engage in an exciting sniper duel.
Sometimes, after waiting all day, you awkwardly find out the prey you’d been waiting for was already killed by another hunter… and the corpse has started to smell.
After losing his opponent, Cao Fei, along with his assistant, continued to search forward, then he was ordered to move here to support the Tang Army operations to seize the airport.
In Cao Fei’s view, coming here was entirely unnecessary since the Tang Army had already dispatched armored forces to seize the airport, and the opponent had no way to contend with that.
“This is a complete waste of time! These people died without knowing there was a sniper nearby.” Cao Fei, slightly bored, said to the observer as he viewed the last falling dwarf soldier through the scope.
These dwarf soldiers were incredibly brave, yet their tactics were indeed outdated. The soldiers hadn’t even brought smoke grenades, attempting instead to traverse the entire battlefield.
As a result, one by one, these brave or foolish dwarf soldiers fell on the path forward, not even understanding why they died so easily.
Quickly, Tang Army tanks reached the airport runway, then began bombarding the dwarf positions with their 125mm artillery.
Due to the Tang Army’s rapid response and capable of calling in heavy weapons support via various radio communications, the dwarf machine gun positions couldn’t last three minutes. Yet, from their combat experience with the Elves, the dwarves believed their machine gun positions could fire for over ten minutes without relocating.
This experience cost the dwarves dearly: their machine gun positions were lost too quickly, depriving them of sufficient machine gun support during defense or attack.
However, Moss, when drafting tactics, had high hopes that these machine guns could eliminate much of the Tang Army’s living forces, thereby forcing the cross-sea-operating Tang Army to retreat…
In reality, the dwarves’ machine gun tactics didn’t work; they were taken out by various Tang Country weapons, leading to the collapse of the entire dwarf defensive line.
Soon, the Tang Army began to raise smoke near the airport. Under the cover of smoke grenades, they crossed the runway, taking over the collapsed and damaged control tower and some building ruins.
The two regiments of dwarf soldiers stationed inside the airport had no choice but to continue retreating, abandoning the airport and moving further away from the beach.