Chapter 674: Outnumbered
“Too many!”
While screaming, the soldiers were shocked by the vast green area in the distance.
Is this their last moment in a tiring war?
With terrible thoughts in mind, Hartmann Paul tried to slide out of the trench a certain distance to take a look at the enemy's position behind the no-man's land outside the trench - although he did not know where the opponent would come from. Launch an attack, but based on his understanding of the greenskins, the front must be the main direction.
But when he stretched out his head, all he could see was dust and dirt.
Lasers then roared past, and the enemy's shouts were heard in the air. At the same time, more and more shells fell. One exploded right in the center of the traffic trench next to it, and the soldiers' screams were immediately heard. lament.
What fell on Hartmann’s face was no longer water and soil, but fragments of human body.
He stood up cursing, his face full of anger, holding the pistol in one hand and the command sword in the other, cutting through the morning air.
"In the name of the Emperor! They are coming, all hold the line until the enemy breaks through the mud wall before firing!"
Dong Dong Dong——
Suddenly, he heard the sound of drums, annoying drum sounds.
But what really annoyed Hartmann Paul was not the sound of the drums, but its rhythm.
The rhythm is completely chaotic and irregular. Although it sounds no different from ordinary drums, the drum beats are like coming from an ups and downs heart, overlapping each other and syncopated.
Although the bombing was still continuing, the sound of drums was already close to the position and seemed to have overwhelmed the explosions coming from the frontline trenches.
When he picked up the telescope, he saw a crazy machine.
Thousands of crude mechanical structures are placed on crude crawler devices, which are full of reciprocating engines and small rotating turbines, driving levers in some way to make the drum hammer Knocking on various cylinders of various sizes, the cylinders were covered with human skin, and countless green beasts were shouting around.
Hartman tried not to think about where the skin came from.
Ten minutes after the greenskin artillery launched the bombing, the human artillery also responded. The hive itself has certain defense facilities, especially the middle and upper hives, which have a large number of fixed turrets and super-large calibers installed. of artillery.
Soon, on a battlefield two hundred kilometers long and five kilometers deep, the artillery fire from both sides began to interweave, and the artillery shells collided randomly in the chaos.
Then as usual, a large group of green-skinned infantry appeared.
After these days, Hartmann has learned how to estimate the number of enemies by their area, and just at a glance, he roughly estimated that their position faced more than half a million enemies.
And their "bad" group only has 3,000 people at full count.
3,000 men against 500,000 beasts, Hartmann thought this was ironic enough.
Perhaps this defensive battle will be as legendary as many great battles in history, but He also pessimistically believes that such a feat will be remembered and told by no one, and even the high command will remain silent.
He has always believed that he is just a mortal and cannot keep pace with the glorious generals in history. He can only do what he can do.
With the support of light and heavy artillery, the greenskin troops formed a formation like a chokehold and gradually surrounded the position of the 9th Infantry Regiment of Armageddon. A dense barrage passed through the soldiers. Above the head, some hit the soil, splashing layers of dust, and some set fire to the tent, igniting a raging flame behind the battlefield.
Hartman kept insisting on holding up his binoculars behind the bunker. He saw the enemy troops advancing with such terrifying and determined steps. This time the greenskins were determined to take them down, and all the troops they sent out were They are heavy infantrymen who are taller than ever before, wearing thick battle armor of different shapes. These should be elite commandos, not the previous stragglers.
For the 9th Regiment, which had very little heavy firepower, this was nothing short of adding insult to injury.
What frightened him even more was that these greenskins did not charge regardless of hearing the sound of cannons as usual. They made full use of every centimeter of cover and advanced at a leisurely pace, heading towards Then the ninth regiment raised their claws. "No firing without my order!"
In fact, the opponent has already entered the shooting range, but Hartman restrained his desire to fight back because they lack long-range heavy weapons, and long-range laser gun volleys can only have a psychological effect. Unable to cause actual damage.
Soldiers were spread out in trenches and foxholes, surrounded by sandbags. Hartmann's orders were simple: fix the bayonet, set the weapon to semi-automatic, and wait for his signal to fire.
For the first ten minutes of the battle, they remained silent, despite enemy fire pouring down on their positions, the air filled with feathery white smoke and floating dust, artillery and rocket bombardment on the battlefield, but most of the shells hit closer, blasting new foxholes into the slopes.
Hartman once heard political commissar Yarek say that there are two kinds of enemies that are the most terrifying, one is cruel and bloodthirsty but extremely shrewd, and the opposite is cruel and Rough.
The latter is sometimes more deadly than the former.
Estimating the distance of the opponent’s leading troops, Hartmann summoned the communications troops and selected the public command channel:
“Soldiers, choose your targets carefully and make sure every shot hits. , now fire freely."
The soldiers immediately opened fire and fired back, and bursts of laser gun fire hit the greenskin troops' attacking spearhead.
With just the first salvo, Hartmann saw a hundred or more enemy troops fall, and then the soldiers increased their firing frequency and began throwing grenades and firing rifle grenades, while mortars Also fired.
The confrontation between the infantry began, and the greenskins were no longer walking at the same speed as before.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
After the familiar roar, the earth trembled.
They began to charge.
The air became hot and filled with the smell of ozone produced by laser ionization. Because the human troops relied on the terrain and had higher bunkers and firing angles, they could basically ignore the bullets fired randomly by the enemy.
But even though they were firing one round every half second, killing an enemy every four rounds, Hartman felt they were hopeless.
There are too many enemies, and they cannot retreat or break out of the bunker.
Either defeating the enemy or being overwhelmed by the enemy, the Ninth Regiment can do nothing but hold its position and fight to the end.
"Heavy explosive bombs! Move to the flanks! Suppress that side!"
"Lunengt, you take half the company to support the third company, and you take the remaining grenades with you! ”
"Never allow close combat unless absolutely necessary!"
Hartmann has been commanding from the front line, even though his hat has been shot off by bullets three times.
The enemies have swarmed up the defensive earth wall, and the three thousand guns have no time to carefully find their targets.
In the previous firefight, hundreds of greenskins fell, their mutilated bodies rolling down the slope to the bottom, but the Ninth Regiment was still unable to stop this wave.
“Fight and bleed for the Emperor!”
Hartmann shouted, standing under the crude and somewhat comically crude regimental banner. The enemy's intention was very simple: to destroy them with overwhelming numbers and an unquenchable desire to fight. The greenskin commander would undoubtedly destroy their Soldiers are seen as victims.
But it is also very scary in a sense.
(End of this chapter)