Chapter 324.1: Never Retreat

"Squadron A, follow me! Squadron B and C, flanking maneuver! Everyone keeps their eyes on their respective targets, and even if it's just 1 dive, make sure to drop those air-to-ground bombs before crashing!"

"For the Alliance!"

"Let's go!"

Shouting loudly, Mosquito gave the final order and lifted the restrictions on the team voice channel. The communication channel was instantly filled with excited shouts from the players.

"Awooo, awooo, awooo!"

50 W-2 Ground-Attack Aircraft tilted their bodies and began to dive towards the ground in three different directions.

The 10mm machine guns equipped on the aircraft began to spew tongues of fire.

These propeller planes, with their flashing gun flames, were like airborne cavalry descending from the sky, raining death upon the ground.

Caught off guard by the hail of bullets, the marauders who were charging alongside the tanks scrambled to take cover, fleeing towards the nearby forest as if their lives depended on it.

At the same time, the tank commanders leading the fourth and fifth columns advancing towards the front shouted with a near frantic voice.

"Forward! Full speed ahead!"

"Who dares to retreat..."

"I'll personally execute him!"

That was the most correct choice.

Facing the diving aircraft dropping bombs, stopping or retreating would be the most foolish choice. Only by utilizing the downhill speed to charge into the pine forest could they have a glimmer of hope.

The 10 tanks rushing to the front pushed their speed to the maximum, and the marauder leading the way into the forest deployed smoke grenades to cover the tanks behind them.

The battlefield was shrouded in smoke.

At the same time, the 50 anti-aircraft trucks that were advancing with the tank forces also spewed bullets towards the sky.

Those anti-aircraft trucks had machine guns of various calibers. Although Dillon had originally planned to equip all fifty trucks with 12mm heavy machine guns, the airborne operation by the Burning Corps had disrupted a significant portion of the modification production lines, leading to many of the anti-aircraft machine guns being 7mm small pipes.

Nevertheless, with all 50 machine guns firing simultaneously, the firepower was still quite fierce.

The bullets flying from the ground into the sky were like snowflakes falling in reverse, and in an instant, 2 gliders caught fire and crashed into the forest after hastily releasing their bombs.

"Oh damn... These guys even managed to make tracer rounds!" With 2 bullet holes on his cockpit, and bullets narrowly missing his thigh, Mosquito cursed as he maneuvered his aircraft, evading the anti-aircraft machine guns that were targeting him, and searching for an opportunity to dive.

It seemed that the marauders had learned from their previous encounter. This time, they had incorporated copper salts into a few of their warheads. Every now and then, a gloomy green tracer round would shoot up from the ground towards the sky.

Although limited by production technology and quantity, these tracer rounds were weak and in short supply, but they were enough to help the machine gunners correct their shooting trajectories.

"Ahhh, you're not going to stop me!" Falling Feather, whose cockpit had been severely damaged by a volley of bullets, screamed loudly, no longer bothering to evade. He pushed the throttle to the maximum and dove directly towards the nearest tank.

Seeing the plane coming towards them, the tank commander seemed panicked, immediately retracting into the turret and urging the driver to evade.

However, it was too late.

The plane, riddled with holes and engulfed in flames, was diving rapidly. But just a second before the battery exploded, a bomb was separated from the wreckage.

The massive bomb struck the turret of the Conqueror 10 almost with the remains of the plane, creating a deafening explosion while kicking up dust and soil several meters high.

A quad-mounted anti-aircraft truck, parked too close, had its engine destroyed on the spot. The driver and co-driver were both internally injured by the shockwave, bleeding profusely from their mouths and noses until they died.

As for the tank?

The connection between the turret and the chassis was significantly deformed. Although it wasn't blown off or set on fire, the crew inside had clearly met their demise.

[Congratulations to the player, Falling Feather, for successfully achieving the first tank kill in this battle.]

[As this player has chosen to publicize the achievement, it will be included in the "Pinewood Forest Valley Battle" related entries...]

"Goodbye, my friend! See you in 3 days!"

Watching the line of text floating on the VM, Mosquito mourned for his apprentice for a few seconds. Then, he took a deep breath, activated the buzzer, and pushed down on the control stick.

"Here goes nothing!"

The planes changed their course and descended straight down one after another.

They weren’t shot down. Instead, they started to dive.

The piercing screams were like a sounding horn, and whether it was tanks or infantry, they fled for their lives. In the eyes of those marauders, those planes spewing fire were no longer just aircraft; they were the scythes of death.

The firepower of the anti-aircraft guns was completely ineffective.

Often, a plane would be blown up, but then another would quickly break out during the gaps in the anti-aircraft fire, careening toward them without any regard for their own safety.

"Have they all lost their minds?" Bear Fang, standing on the northern high ground and watching the successive suicide-diving of fighter planes, was filled with terror in his eyes.

In just a few minutes, 5 tanks were rendered inoperable, and the remaining 5 rushed into the pine forest, desperately seeking cover.

While they managed to temporarily evade the crisis, they were now caught in a difficult situation with no easy way out.

The continuous casualties weren't limited to the Conqueror 10; their quad-mounted anti-aircraft trucks were also taking hits. The planes, driven by madness, were no longer confined to the tanks; they were now launching suicidal dives against any target they could reach.

Dillon furrowed his brow.

What concerned him more than the enemy's relentless attack was their almost illogical tactical choices.

Honestly, when the rain had just stopped, his heart had almost stopped for a moment. Anticipating that the enemy's pilots wouldn't engage in combat in the stormy weather, their anti-aircraft units were mostly deployed on the northern high ground, waiting for an opportunity.

Once those planes targeted the 17 tanks in the first, second, and third columns, the anti-air firepower, spaced 2 kilometers apart, would have a hard time forming an effective deterrent. There was no doubt that their side would suffer heavy losses.

Dillon contemplated. If he were in command, he would order the air force to prioritize hunting down the tanks that had lost mobility due to track damage and then withdraw from the battlefield before the anti-aircraft units arrived, preparing for a second round of airstrikes.

However...

The New Alliance's aircraft had gone against the norm, concentrating their firepower on the fourth and fifth columns that were advancing.

It was almost as if they were charging straight into the face of the anti-aircraft trucks.

This suicidal style of attack could be deemed ineffective. Many planes were blown up during their dives.

Though they had incurred losses to their anti-aircraft trucks, compared to their precious tanks, these losses were negligible.

As long as they could eliminate the New Alliance's aircraft, even if their anti-aircraft trucks were completely wiped out, what did it matter? Those anti-air weapons were meant for planes, after all...

Dillon's brow furrowed deeper. "I want to know what they're really up to."

Tumen probably guessed what his superior was thinking and pondered for a moment before speaking. "Perhaps in their eyes, those tanks that have lost mobility aren't a significant concern? They've obviously seen our deployment, so they can probably guess our intentions. Once our fourth and fifth columns join the first column in the attack, focusing on one point, it will undoubtedly create a gap in their defenses."

"That makes sense," Dillon said thoughtfully, "but it also doesn't. Compared to the fourth and fifth columns, the second and third columns on both flanks pose a greater threat. From their perspective, they won’t be able to hold Pinewood Forest Valley. The optimal solution is to consume our tanks as much as possible."

Unless...

The New Alliance believed they could hold their ground with just a few trenches.

Dillon's lips twitched.

They have quite an appetite.

Are they not afraid of choking to death?

Bear Fang listened to the 2 men talking with a bewildered expression, not understanding what they were talking about.

What was the optimal solution?

The enemy's planes had already been decimated, and with the number of people they had, they could easily take the hill.

Dillon raised his binoculars and observed the high ground on the southern side.

Although the assault force had suffered heavy casualties from machine gun fire, the enemy was suffering losses as well. Many soldiers were killed by machine gun fire, or blasted into the sky by the 100mm main canons of tanks.

The New Alliance soldiers brought out recoilless rifles, but ordinary armor-piercing rounds couldn't penetrate the Conqueror 10's armor, nor could they stop it for even a second.

Watching sparks flashing on the tank's armor and the mere 20 meters of distance between them, a cold smile crept onto Dillon's lips. "It's over."

When his infantry followed the tanks into the trenches, what awaited the enemy defenders on the other side would be a massacre!

As he was about to lower his binoculars, at that very moment, a dark shadow suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

More precisely, it wasn't just one shadow; it was a multitude.

Unmanned hexacopters rose vertically from the trenches, hovered in the air briefly, then shot out like arrows.

In the instant Dillon identified those drones, his pupils shrank abruptly; he had a foreboding feeling.

As if confirming his suspicions, those drones swarmed towards the Conqueror 10 tanks on and below the slope as if they had eyes.

The tank closest to the trench was the first that came under the attack of the drones. The coaxial machine gun's fire couldn't even catch up with the speed of the drones. Especially in such a short time, the machine gunners couldn't even react in time.

One of the drones easily slipped under the tank.

The crew inside the tank hadn't realized what had happened, and neither had the marauders advancing alongside the tank.

Just as they were about to crouch down to see what had entered under the tank, a dazzling light appeared before them.

Before they could react, a scorching shockwave hit them heavily like a hammer. Their bodies were blasted into pieces and blown out of the rising flames and thick smoke like kites with broken strings.

The scalding blood was splashed all over the marauders below the slope.

The marauders crawling under the slope were all stunned by the scene before them, and for a moment, they even forgot to move forward.

"What the fuck was that?!"

Pressing his chin firmly against the ground, Wabu lifted one eye to peer up the slope, his gaze filled with terror. Even when the broken stones and dirt showered onto his head, he had no reactions.

A second ago, he saw a shadow flying below the chassis of the tank almost touching the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the eardrum-shattering explosion and the fire that shot up into the sky swallowed up the tank and the 10 men squad behind it.

The destroyed turret and heavy wheels rolled down the slope together.

The explosion beneath the tank created a deep crater in the slope, revealing the reinforced earthworks with wooden stakes.

And those drones didn't stop; soon, the second, third, and more all targeted the vulnerable chassis of the Conqueror 10. In an instant, 3 more tanks were torn apart.

Hundreds of rotor drones were flying towards the tanks in the air, their whirring blades sounding like a swarm of angry bees.

"Fire the machine guns!"

"Quick, shoot down those drones!"

"We're all gonna die if we don't!"