The civilians in the southwest and west of Tonglong City saw the National Defense Force of the Eastern Spirit Empire below and felt incredibly moved. However, they didn't dare to go down because there were still stray bullets flying about.
Even so, a few elderly people did make their way down, specifically to help the wounded soldiers from their side.
As the troops continued to push forward, the rear areas became much safer, and an increasing number of civilians began to emerge.
"Don't touch those weapons! You can't touch them. Stay far away; there's still fighting going on over here!" the logistics cleanup crews shouted loudly upon seeing so many civilians coming out.
"Go to the air raid shelters! Do you hear me? Go to the air raid shelters! The streets aren't safe!" many soldiers also yelled.
"You're not leaving, right? You're staying?" a young man ran up to an armored vehicle and yelled loudly.
"We don't know yet. The Allied forces have a massive number of troops. They brought hundreds of thousands of soldiers; we might not win this. You should evacuate to the cities in the rear now. It isn't safe here. If you're going to leave, do it quickly. Tonglong City will definitely see continuous combat. If you stay, you might get caught in the crossfire!" an officer shouted back.
"Alright, we can evacuate! This is wonderful!" Many civilians were overjoyed to hear that they could finally leave the city.
Previously, as soon as the Allied troops arrived, they had locked the city down. Anyone who wanted to leave couldn't, forcing them to try and sneak out later. But getting caught meant death. Regardless of age or gender, anyone caught by the Allied forces was executed by firing squad.
"Report, Hao-ge! Many civilians in the city have come out. They are on the streets, which is extremely unsafe. We are currently urging them to evacuate the city!" a staff officer said to Hu Hao, holding a document.
"Let them evacuate. Guide them to retreat toward Nanli City, Tianyu City, and Tianjing City. Tell them not to go to Tianxi City. Sigh!" Hu Hao instructed the staff officer upon hearing the report.
"Understood!" The staff officer nodded.
"Hao-ge, there's no problem. Our troops are advancing incredibly fast. We might just recapture Tonglong City tonight!" Dong Qipeng said, standing beside Hu Hao.
"We can definitely recapture it. However, the Allied forces definitely won't give this place up easily. Their reinforcements might already be on the way, so we have to fight fast!" Hu Hao nodded.
"Should we urge the frontline troops to speed up the attack?" Dong Qipeng asked tentatively.
"No need to rush them; they know what to do. If Wu Kexiao and Weng Tao didn't understand this much, how could they even be commanders? You kick a man when he's down. If we don't wipe out a chunk of them now, we'll have to face even more troops once their reinforcements arrive!" Hu Hao replied, shaking his head.
Meanwhile, on the front lines, the ground troops were advancing rapidly under the watchful eyes of the Special Operations Regiment. The Allied forces were also organizing a counterattack. Tanks and armored vehicles had all mobilized, pressing down upon Hu Hao's troops!
Bang, bang, bang!
"Beautiful, brothers! Their tank is wrecked! Focus on their infantry! Damn it!" An officer cursed as he saw a massive hole blown into the turret of an enemy tank, rendering its main gun useless.
The heavy machine gunner mounted on top had also been killed, and the machine gun itself was destroyed. Behind the tank, hundreds of Allied soldiers were charging forward alongside it.
Rat-tat-tat! Many soldiers of the Eastern Spirit Empire fired into the distance. Some had set up heavy machine guns on the second and third floors of buildings further back, strafing the Allied troops.
The Allied forces also had men positioned on upper floors. However, they were being targeted by sniper rifles. The moment they dared to shoot, snipers would immediately fire and take them out.
"Damn it, hold the line! Heavy machine guns, start firing! Are you just waiting to die?!" an Allied company commander screamed!
"They're all trashed! Our heavy machine guns have been blown to bits!" another company commander yelled from a distance.
"Use grenades! Throw them over there! Throw them from cover!" the Allied company commander roared!
Boom, boom, boom! The Allied forces began hurling grenades left and right!
"Rifle grenades! What are you waiting for? Blast them! Ours can shoot further!" Seeing the barrage of incoming grenades, an officer on Hu Hao's side immediately shouted. Many soldiers began loading rifle grenades and firing them back at the Allied positions!
"Our tanks are here, brothers! Move up! Don't let them keep throwing grenades! Rocket launchers, aim at their hiding spots and blast them! The rest of the infantry, follow the tanks!" A company commander on Hu Hao's side yelled upon seeing friendly tanks arrive.
Boom!
Whoosh!
Boom!
Throughout the city, the combat zones between Hu Hao's forces and the Eastern Spirit Empire's troops formed a distinct line of fire. Through the drones, Hu Hao could pinpoint the rough locations of the troops just by looking for the flashes of gunfire!
He could also identify where the Allied troops were concentrated and where his own forces were struggling to hold the line under heavy Allied pressure. Through the drone feeds, Wu Kexiao and the others could also assess the frontline situation, instructing their commanders to adjust troop deployments and reinforce weak points!
The battle raged from 8:00 PM until past midnight. By this time, the third Allied defensive line had failed to hold and was breached by Hu Hao's troops. The casualties on the Allied side were devastating.
Up to this point, Hu Hao's troops had seized control of the majority of Tonglong City. However, the train station, bus station, and several major warehouses were still in Allied hands!
"Here! Food is here!" The logistics troops knew the men at the front would be starving. Some units had been pushing forward for four straight hours, covering about 10 kilometers. They hadn't stopped at all, fighting and chasing the enemy the entire way. The soldiers were undoubtedly famished.
While they would eat dry rations, the soldiers much preferred the hot boxed meals delivered from the rear!
"Brothers, keep an eye on them! If they don't shoot, we eat!" a company commander yelled loudly! Hiding behind the rubble, the soldiers took the lunchboxes and water passed forward by the men in the back and quickly scarfed the food down. On the battlefield, eating had to be done fast. You never knew what would happen in the next second.
"Is there any more? Give me some! Don't shoot, everyone, I'm from the Special Operations Regiment!" a soldier from the Special Operations Regiment shouted from a second-floor window in the distance.
"We have some! Come on over, brother, we've got plenty! Quick, brothers, hold your fire! Don't shoot blindly! The brothers from the Special Operations Regiment helped us out immensely tonight!" The company commander immediately yelled upon hearing this.
"Understood!" the soldiers promptly shouted back.
"Come on out, brother!" the company commander called out.
"Alright, I'm coming out!" Soon, a soldier wearing a backpack and carrying a rifle jogged over.
"Good job, brother! You guys saved our skins so many times tonight! Here, brother, take this!" The company commander immediately grabbed a bag of boxed meals and another bag of water to hand to the soldier.
"No need, there's just two of us. Two boxes are enough, and two bottles of water. It's just the two of us keeping watch around here!" the soldier said with a smile. He picked up an empty bag from the ground, placed two boxed meals and two bottles of water inside!
"Take a bit more! We have plenty of food!" the company commander urged.
"No, this is enough, thanks! We have to head back up to keep watch. By the way, ahead and to your right, there's a heavy machine gun that we can't hit; it's in our blind spot. You guys can hit it with a rocket launcher. They are ambushing right there, see? Right under that sign! Directly below it!" The Special Operations soldier pointed to a spot about 300 meters away and informed the company commander.
"There's a heavy machine gun over there?" the company commander asked, pointing in that direction.
"Yeah. Be careful when you guys charge later. We can't hit everything. There are things you can see that we might not be able to!" the Special Operations soldier replied.
"Understood, thanks! We'll take it out later!" The company commander nodded. He then pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and stuffed it into the soldier's jacket pocket!
"Thanks, I'm off!" The Special Operations soldier smiled, nodded, and jogged away with the lunchboxes.
This was merely a brief respite. The attacking troops were exhausted, and many of the heavy weapons needed to be resupplied with ammunition and fuel. Because of this, the offensive had momentarily lost some of its ferocity.
…
Meanwhile, on the Allied side, Vostok had already received the news. Not only had the counterattack to reclaim the second defensive line failed, but the third line had been lost as well. Now, Hu Hao's troops were pressing their attack toward the fourth line of defense.
As for his own forces, contact had been lost with five division commanders, and their subordinate units were also unreachable. Furthermore, the troops of three other divisions had suffered over 50% casualties, losing nearly all their heavy weapons. The remaining three divisions at the rear were now forced to hold the fourth defensive line and didn't dare retreat. If Hu Hao's troops were allowed to keep slaughtering their way forward, they would completely lose Tonglong City.
"Report! Our reinforcements are still about two hours away from Tonglong City. Can the frontline troops hold out?" Vitali walked over and reported to Vostok!
"Can't hold out?! Kesma should be shot! More than two full corps defending a single city against an attack from just over one Eastern Spirit Empire corps! They are the attackers! They are attacking! Yet our defending troops have suffered even heavier casualties than the attackers! Is this a joke?! Huh?!" Vostok roared, standing furiously in the command center!
"Sigh!" Hearing this, Vitali was helpless. It wasn't that the Supreme Command hadn't planned well; the frontline troops had simply been too disappointing. Despite allocating so many troops, providing weapons and ammunition, and establishing defensive lines, they had still been beaten this badly. Nobody could have predicted this!
What frustrated Vitali even more was that the three corps originally intended to assault Hu Hao were now being forced to divert and reinforce Tonglong City.
(End of Chapter)