Chapter 166: Chapter 138, The Limit of Perseverance

Seeing the appearance of a ‘Challenger’ tank and another war machine he didn’t recognize, Li Kexi was initially stunned.

He had truly not expected to see such a thing here.

He had once thought about buying a Challenger tank, especially after forming the Beast Slaughter Group, his desire grew stronger. If he had such a tank as the combat core, surrounded by a large number of infantry troops with a cannon ready to provide fire support at any time, battles would be much easier to fight.

Unfortunately, affording it was one thing; the key issue was that there was no channel to purchase it.

Not to mention the armored vehicle next to it. Though it had no large cannon, the twin-barreled machine gun was not something to be underestimated.

And when these two opened fire together, the effect was astonishing.

A tank shell blasted into the midst of the Green Skin Orcs, killing at least three on impact; even more terrifying was the volley from the armored vehicle’s machine gun and the alongside “machine guns” that didn’t look like regular ones.

The 40mm caliber machine gun could cause fatal damage when it hit the Green Skins; the strange, explosive twin-barreled “machine gun” could still detonate inside an enemy after a direct hit, ensuring the death of an orc.

Under the frenzy of the strafing fire, six or seven Green Skins were killed on the spot with one round.

After this round of fire projection, coupled with the casualties inflicted by the infantry squad, a total of fifteen Green Skin Orcs were killed.

Facts proved that orcs were not brainless creatures that only knew how to charge in battle. On the contrary, their wisdom—or rather, instinct, in combat was exceptionally sharp.

They knew that continuing to charge forward under such firepower would result in their deaths before they could cover the final twenty to thirty meters.

They scattered to the sides and quickly found cover. One even poked his head out and took a shot at the infantry squad, actually hitting and breaking a soldier’s left arm.

Someone quickly administered first aid with gauze—mainly pressing on the wound to stop the bleeding and minimize blood loss—and then two others helped to evacuate the injured to the rear.

The remaining seven soldiers were in no hurry to advance—they would wait for the tank and the armored vehicle to come up.

Only after clearing this wave of enemies would they continue forward, encountering and stopping at the next enemy, fighting to try to eliminate the enemy, or if not possible, preserving their combat power, with the tank and armored vehicle soon supporting them again.

Infantry and tank coordination is not as simple as armored units leading with infantry following behind, using the tank or armored vehicle as cover; that’s a very rudimentary approach.

Indeed, in relatively open terrain with few obstacles, armored units can lead the assault with infantry closely following within tens of meters to support the attack.

But at this moment, in this location, in the midst of urban ruin combat, it is usually necessary for the infantry to lead, with armored units providing fire support from behind and leveraging the infantry’s close combat advantage to eliminate the enemy one by one.

If armored units led under these circumstances, with complex terrain and enemy situations, who knows what sort of enemy might emerge and what weapons they could use to threaten the armored vehicles?

For example, enemy infantry could be lying in ambush, utilising explosive charges, anti-tank rocket launchers, and other weapons to deliver a severe blow to the tanks and armored vehicles.

Of course, these so-called infantry-tank coordination tactics were not something Li Kexi could understand clearly; he only knew that the seemingly numerous cluster of Green Skin Orcs stood no chance of turning the tables, and their fate was certain annihilation.

Compared to the tactics of coordinated operation between tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry, what Li Kexi envied even more were the tanks and armored vehicles themselves.

His entire Beast Slaughter Group, with six or seven thousand men, couldn’t muster a single tank; yet an infantry squad’s attack tactic included the coordination of tanks and armored vehicles…

All were human, so why what a huge gap there was!

Tactics could be practiced; but equipment, if you didn’t have it, you really didn’t have it, and there was nothing you could do about it.

…

Perbov was not in the best of spirits.

He had already received several casualty reports.

According to the earlier plan, there were nearly twenty infantry-tank coordinated assault groups operating in phases, controlling a battlefield front about three to four kilometers wide.

He had ordered the frontline combat units to advance two kilometers forward, planning to strike a blow to the Green Skin Orcs that were still rushing in.

Perbov’s troops did indeed accomplish the predetermined objectives, and in the two-kilometer advance, at least 300 Green Skin Orcs were eliminated under the fire of the infantry and armored units.

But his troops did not come out unscathed during this process.

Two tanks were destroyed, three armored vehicles were lost, and over 50 soldiers were casualties… That was distressing enough for him.

And indeed, such casualties would impact the entire battalion’s combat effectiveness.

The biggest single loss was when an assault group nearly got wiped out.

Perbov saw a verbal briefing from the evacuated wounded soldiers, who reported that during their march, they were ambushed by Green Skin Orcs.

Those Green Skins cleverly hid in the building ruins and avoided the infantry’s search range. Then they launched a simultaneous assault, and by the time they were discovered, they were already within sixty to seventy meters.