Munitions Empire

The squad leader looked again at the burly man in the group: "Machine gun team! After landing, immediately look for cover! If the enemy has machine gun suppression fire, do your best to counterattack and cover the disbanding of the troops!"

"Understood!" The burly man nodded slightly.

Then the squad leader tirelessly reminded everyone else: "Remember, move laterally as much as possible. As long as the enemy's tracer bullets sweep past, advancing immediately is unlikely to get you hit. Make sure to keep your bodies as low as possible!"

While speaking, he gestured with his hand in a downward pressing motion as low as possible: "Our attack is near a giant bunker. That thing dominates from on high and is quite dangerous unless destroyed... So move and concealment are key to survival; once you reach their shooting blind spots, you're safe, understood?"

"Understood!" everyone replied.

This transport ship bobbed up and down amidst the waves, and about 100 meters away was a larger transport ship.

The deck was piled with supplies, and some soldiers who had taken a break from duty were leaning on the rails, continuously vomiting. Sailors from the taller structure looked down at those landlubbers on the deck, pointing and whispering about something.

In the distance, on the deck of a Qingluan-class amphibious assault ship, Tang Army sailors were removing the securing ropes, preparing a Black Hawk Helicopter for takeoff.

They needed to unfold the rotor blades, check the engine status of the helicopter, refuel it, and fill the short wings on either side with rockets.

Ahead, a transport helicopter had already completed these operations. That helicopter had no short wings and didn't need to carry weapons; it was for transporting personnel, and the soldiers aboard would rappel down to the battlefield.

The soldiers who had never landed this way were quite nervous, despite having trained for a long time. Boarding a helicopter was no longer difficult for them, yet they were still tense.

No one knew how the other side would welcome their arrival. Perhaps high-angle machine guns would directly shoot down these helicopters, causing these unfortunate infantrymen to crash into the sea with the aircraft.

"Tonight, the Air Force will carry out bombing missions to cut off the enemy's supply lines and destroy all known fixed targets. The airstrike will last for 4 hours, expected to end before two o'clock in the morning." The Air Force liaison officer in the command room aboard Bernard Navy Marshal confirmed their combat mission one last time.

"Next, paratroopers will complete the airdrop from 3 to 4 in the morning, disrupting the enemy's deployment and clearing obstacles as much as possible," he said, waiting for the landing force's chief commander, Tagg, to speak.

Four hours of attack couldn't destroy all targets; it couldn't even destroy a tenth. But to avoid collateral damage, they could only attack for such a duration. Once paratroopers start the airdrop, the Air Force's bombing would be very dangerous.

Therefore, theoretically, the Tang Army couldn't completely destroy most of the defensive installations set up by the Dwarf Troops, at least the Air Force couldn't achieve that.

The Navy aspect was even less likely; they could perhaps bombard the entire landing area's Dwarf defenses by early tomorrow morning. There weren't many gunships available for action, relying mainly on Intruder Attack Aircraft's ground missiles and bombs for support.

The Tang Army primarily relied on precision-guided munitions to destroy defensive installations, which could save a lot of ammunition. However, this impacted the firepower coverage intensity, making sustained suppression appear insufficient.

In the command post of the Dwarves' Eternal Winter City, General Moss was still busy, deploying troops targeted at the Tang Army's so-called "Three Axes" tactic.

Indeed, the Dwarves had been studying Tang Army's landing tactics for a long time, and Moss considered himself well-versed in their strategy and tactics.

He had studied the Tang Army's landing combat patterns and found they generally used the same method: first, conducting large-scale night bombings on the landing site to paralyze the opponent's transportation and scheduling capabilities; then deploying paratroopers to disrupt the battlefield; and finally, overwhelming landing troops break the shore defenses.

This set of tactics seemed simple but effective. No matter how much one studied this tactic, finding a way to defeat it wasn't easy.

Moss's strategy was to take a hard stand, ignoring the Tang Army's bombardments and paratroopers: he believed that as long as the Tang Army's landing could be halted, the first two moves wouldn't be vital to the Ice Cold Empire.

Conversely, paratroopers deployed early on would instead be trapped within Steel Rampart's defensive structure crevices, becoming hostages and potential "strategic opportunities" for the Dwarves!

As long as they defeated the Tang Army paratroopers and captured many prisoners, if the Tang Army landing forces couldn't break through, the war would develop in favor of the Ice Cold Empire.

A subordinate asked Moss if an immediate deployment of aircraft to harass the Tang Imperial Fleet was warranted: "Do we need to launch the fighter jet forces to engage with the Tang Navy? It's estimated that the opponent has already entered our aircraft's operational radius."

"No need, wait until they approach within 200 kilometers to do anything; deploying planes now would just waste lives, with no significance," Moss waved a hand to refuse his subordinate's suggestion, unwilling to waste his resources.

Once they dispatched aircraft to attack first, the Tang Army could easily counter with carrier-based planes, and the loss of valuable elite pilots would be irrevocable.

Even if they ejected, they'd only float on the sea's surface, with the lucky ones becoming prisoners and the unlucky ones possibly drowning. Wasting precious air power like this was evidently unwise.

"When the Tang Army starts attacking, our planes will intercept them. This way, the Air Force operates over our homeland, ensuring safety after ejection," Moss explained, calming everyone significantly.

Immediately, Moss also drafted the Navy's counterattack plan: "The Navy's fast boat units should penetrate the battlefield at night, approach the enemy's fleet as much as possible, release torpedoes... Their role is just interference; do not go too deep, preserve strength as much as possible."

He had been studying anti-landing combat these days and had somewhat researched callable naval forces.

The Navy's liaison officer immediately nodded and said, "Understood."

Seeing that his subordinates were somewhat tense, Moss reassured them: "Gentlemen, this battle will last more than ten days, or even over a month. As long as the coastline is in our hands, we have time to counterattack, so there's no rush."

"Yes! General." Although still somewhat nervous, at least these dwarf officers appeared much better on the surface than before.

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Two updates today