Chapter 142: War (4) Decision or Gamble

Unlike the fierce and bloody battlefield, the senior officers of the command center behind the mortal legion have always maintained an almost cold scrutiny of the battlefield.

In the command sequence of the empire, the biggest difference between commanders at the regimental level and those above the regimental level is whether they can break away from their own perspective and turn the casualties on the battlefield into cold numbers one by one.

This ability is not likely to be acquired through training, because the cost is too high. In most cases, such officers have already shown signs at the junior officer stage, and are noticed by senior officers and promoted later.

This is completely different from the standards of the grassroots soldiers of the imperial army. Soldiers certainly prefer "parent-type" officers who eat and live with them.

In other words, in terms of normal human moral standards and spiritual needs, this is in line with the needs of most events in the long survival of the entire group.

But war is just an exception. It has been known for being anti-human and anti-human nature since the beginning. All normal human moral needs are shortcomings here, and all normal behaviors for the survival of human groups are flaws.

In a nutshell, the essence of war is anti-human.

So after the human race spent tens of thousands of years to study the art of war, they clearly knew that the logic of the upper and middle levels of war was exactly the opposite of the logic of the lower levels.

The more you care about the survival of the entire human race, the less you care about the damage to a corner of the country;

The more you want to win a comprehensive victory, the less you can dwell on the local costs.

This is the real selection standard for officers:

The most basic quality requirement for a qualified officer who has separated from the grassroots front line is that he must be able to ignore the gains and losses of a city or a place, so as to look at the overall situation.

And now, the commanders of the legions deep behind these positions are like this.

"42nd Infantry Regiment is running out of ammunition! Position B9, needs to be replenished!"

"33rd Motorized Infantry Regiment has been in close contact with the enemy! Heavy armored units found! Position B2, requesting heavy firepower support!"

"19th Anti-Aircraft Armored Regiment encountered a Tzeentch demon teleportation raid, coordinate C15, has eliminated the target! But most of the weapons are damaged, requesting a change of guard!

The information from the front is fed back here like raindrops from the front command post, and the messenger and the communication room are overloaded under the various requests for help.

"Notify the 42nd Regiment, the corps' transport troops have set off 5 minutes ago, let them hold on for a while!"

"Notify the 12th Heavy Artillery Regiment, coordinate B2, forward progressive shooting, three bases!"

"Notify the 16th Armored Anti-Aircraft Regiment, immediately arrive at the C15 position to take over the defense! The 19th Regiment is ready on the spot and replenished at any time! "

After seeing the information on the desktop screen, Chief of Staff Colonel Eric frowned and quickly issued an order, which he confirmed with his fingerprint and encrypted after writing.

After finishing his work, he raised his head from his seat and inspected the status of the entire hall:

The staff were updating the enemy and friendly situation on the holographic map according to the latest information feedback at all times.

The mechanical priests and officers of the Quartermaster Department were also paying close attention to the inventory of supplies on the front line and the latest consumption index, ready to send supplies to the rear of the second line at any time.

In the hall of the entire legion headquarters, the seemingly chaotic information was being sorted and sorted in an orderly manner and handed over to the decision makers for processing.

In contrast to these busy backgrounds, the whole In the dim corner below the information map, the corps commander, Major General Horn Chavez, was wearing a black and gold uniform coat, holding his pipe and thinking silently in the mist.

Compared with these officers who were busy with specific affairs, the veteran who decided the battle direction of the entire corps was the one with the most pressure.

Colonel Kane, the chief political commissar of the corps, wanted to interrupt his thinking several times, but he raised and lowered his hand and finally chose to remain silent.

The feedback from the part of the front troops that was in close contact with the enemy was very bad. The position was easily lost within ten minutes after entering the hand-to-hand combat. Although it was later recaptured by the counterattack organized by the political commissar of the regiment, whether it was necessary to enforce battlefield discipline again was a question of fact. The question he has been struggling with.

Killing is simple, just one bullet will do. But after the command sequence is paralyzed, can the regiment political commissar take on the complete tactical command responsibility?

After the moment of gratification, what should he do in the next battle? Just rely on the regiment-level political commissar's three tricks of gun burst, formation, and follow me?

What should he do after the swing? Bullets are always the most deterrent when they are not out of the barrel, and the battlefield discipline of the political commissar is also true.

As a veteran who has become a corps political commissar, this point is clear.

Then the question is, should he trust the commander in front? Or to put it more clearly, should he believe in the ability of the corps commander in front of him to judge people?

Colonel Kane decided to re- Wait a minute, it is true that he has his difficulties, but Horn is under greater pressure, which is an indisputable fact.

Major General Horn, the commander of the legion, is also making a difficult choice. What he is facing now is, as Kane knows, a seemingly stable but actually rotten mess.

The large forces have already started to engage the enemy, and there is no room for retreat and adjustment. However, the defense line of more than ten kilometers, with 32,000 troops invested in it, is too thin. Fortunately, the pressure from Nurgle and Slaanesh is not too great, which gave him a chance to breathe.

This combat mission has been an oversized existence from the beginning. Such a narrow and long defense line should not be something that a mere legion can defend.

However, the war situation is urgent, and soldiers always have no chance to choose their enemies and battlefields.

Whether it is honor or sense of mission, as the elite of the advance corps, they have no choice but to take on such a difficult task.

The oversized front and the number of enemies exceeding the estimate were temporarily informed before the airborne landing. They had no choice but to activate the worst plan in the emergency plan:

The first-line positions were arranged with minefields to delay time, and the existence of the second-line troops was actually prepared for flexible defense based on the subsequent counterattack.

As for the third-line troops? Sorry, Horn has no third line, and a step back, it is the ruins.

A good cook cannot cook without rice, and this principle is also applicable in the 40K universe. The current situation is really difficult for this old man who is over 50 years old.

What to do? What to do?

Major General Horn stood up again and looked at the holographic screen. He examined the interlocking red and blue sides on the battlefield situation map.

The six infantry regiments ahead have already engaged the enemy, and the five air defense and armored regiments have too few people, and are purely supported by functional equipment.

So, excluding the departments directly under the corps, Horn only has three reorganized regiments in his reserve forces.

Once thrown in ahead of time, it is like a poker on the gambling table, which means that he is playing a gamble with the entire corps with more losses than wins. What is the price? What will happen if he loses? Horn dare not think about it, nor does he want to think about it.

The chief of staff and the political commissar also noticed his actions. They understood that the decision that the highest person in charge of this corps was about to make would affect the fate of the entire corps.

The entire command hall was affected by the decision that Major General Horn was about to make. Everyone's eyes followed his figure, and the atmosphere became quiet and anxious.

At this time, on the huge clock on his left hand, the countdown scale for the next airborne reinforcements had just passed 49 minutes.

Second update, please vote.