Chapter 1647: 1648 Saint Lo Farce
Chapter 1647 1648 Holy Lo Farce
The Tang Army has occupied the port of Saint Luo and obtained some supplies through the airport. The Tang paratroopers were fully prepared, just waiting for the coalition counterattack to arrive.
But they waited until noon, but there was no counterattack from the other side. In fact, it was not that the coalition forces gave up their counterattack, but that they found that they seemed to have no way to counterattack.
Due to problems such as communication interference, the response of the coalition forces was very slow. The troops were unable to assemble and mobilize at all, and there was also no authoritative commander to issue orders.
The consequence of having to discuss everything is that nothing can be decided. Some people think that we should wait for help, some people think that we should fight back as soon as possible, and some people only talk about the difficulties without mentioning how to deal with them.
The roughly two regiments of the 2nd Elf Division that were finally assembled were inexplicably split up. Two battalions of troops were deployed to the city, two battalions were left in place, and two battalions were surrounded. After passing the city defense area, they headed towards the field airport occupied by Tang Army paratroopers.
The reason for this split is that some people think that the Tang Army in the city must be dealt with first, some people think that the direction of the airport is the key point, and some people give a reason that cannot be ignored by the other two camps and leave two battalions behind. reserve team.
The Tang Army's armored forces were moving south rapidly. The news spread back to Saint-Lô for some unknown reason. Tanks from the Tang Empire had arrived more than 30 kilometers north of Saint-Ló. It might be possible to attack the northern defense line of Saint-Ló today.
In order to prevent the Tang army from breaking through the position, it was necessary to keep as many troops as possible in the north to face the enemy, so two infantry battalions were left on standby.
The two battalions of soldiers transferred to the city were confused. After entering the city, they began to maintain local security and build a line of defense without any intention of attacking.
Later they learned that it turned out that the Tang army had invaded the city with too many troops, and the elven and dwarf commanders were not sure that the counterattack would be successful, so they could only stick to the existing area.
Such a decision forced them to stay in place and defend. In fact, the soldiers of the two battalions did not have any possibility of attacking the Tang army. Unless they are crazy, these troops will probably be scrapped after two charges.
The situation outside the city was the same: when the surrounding dwarf troops provided some intelligence and roughly guessed the scale of the Tang Army's paratroopers' airdrop, the two battalions of elven infantry reinforcements were immediately dumbfounded.
They only have two battalions, and they are launching a counterattack against several battalions of the Tang Army in the wild? They are not stupid, how could they do such a stupid thing? Therefore, although they arrived in the nearby area in the morning, they delayed the attack until noon.
Let alone attack, they are not even sure they can defend the current defense line: the surrounding heavy artillery positions have either been lost or are being bombed, and they have nothing to do with the **** field airport a few kilometers away.
This farce lasted until the afternoon, when it finally came to an end: the coalition forces gave up their plan to attack the airport outside the city, and prepared to deal with the Tang Army paratroopers in the fortress first.
So, the two elven infantry battalions that finally arrived at the corresponding positions were transferred into the city to prepare for battle.
Having said this, many people may have a question, why are there only a few battalions of troops in the Saint Lo garrison with tens of thousands of troops being transferred?
In fact, the tens of thousands of coalition troops are quite scattered. The largest part is within the northern defense line of Saint-Lo City, and there are not many forces in other directions.
The sudden appearance of the Tang Army's paratroopers disrupted almost all of Van Kruse's deployments. Even his own command may not be able to respond, let alone a group of staff members discussing the command. The determination to mobilize large troops simply did not exist. No one dared to take responsibility and would blame each other when problems encountered. In the end, only battalion-level troops were willing to mobilize.
But the problem is that troops of this level cannot solve the problem at all: when dinner was about to be eaten, the Tang Army in the port area of the city waited for an unseemly attack. It may not be accurate to say it was an attack.
About 200 elven soldiers tentatively attacked, and then left more than 30 corpses, ending the day's battle hastily.
That's right, the coalition forces only launched one counterattack throughout the day, and it was mainly probing in the urban area. Precious time was wasted like this, and at this time, the main force of the Tang Army was less than 15 kilometers away from Saint Luo.
The Tang Army was not idle that day. They tried their best to mobilize some transport ships to St. Lo. At the same time, the task of delivering supplies to the 1st Group Army was also successfully completed.
Although the Tang Army only advanced five kilometers in this day, the Tang Army completed the most important supply process and launched a night attack.
So, after dinner, Hogg's attack became faster and more fierce, and the defense line in the north of Saint-Lo became precarious. There was no longer any discussion about dispatching more troops into the city.
It was also on this day that Marshal Flix, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces in the direction of Saint-Lo, finally received the exact information. The whereabouts of General Van Cruz, whom he should have relied on, was unknown, and he was suspected to have died for his country.
Flix, who received the bad news, didn't know what to do. He was still on the road and didn't understand the situation in Shengluo at all, so he had no way to remotely control it. What's more, given the intermittent communication between the coalition forces at that time, there was no way to conduct remote control.
In fact, the outcome of the battle has been decided here. There is no pressure on the Tang Army at all, and the situation in the direction of the Allied Forces in the Shengluo direction has actually collapsed.
As expected, early the next morning, the main force of the Tang Army broke through the outer defense line of Saint-Lô. The entire Saint-Ló defense area collapsed. About 30,000 coalition soldiers laid down their weapons and chose to surrender.
The remaining troops began to flee again. They broke into pieces and ran away from the incomplete defense zone of the paratroopers.
At noon that day, the Tang Army announced that it had occupied Saint-Lo. It also announced the capture of Van Cruz, the supreme commander of the Saint-Lo fortress.
Within two days, the offensive and defensive battle of Shengluo Fortress came to an end. The Tang army controlled the second port, and at the same time, the coalition's plan to encircle the Tang Dynasty's 1st Group Army in the wild failed completely.
The 4th and 5th Elf armies, which were still rushing towards Saint Lo, quickly stopped their advance as if they had stepped on the brakes, and then began to frantically build fortifications in the wilderness.
They have to do this, because further south of Shengluo is the northern border of the Elf Yangmu Empire! In other words...the flames of war are not far from their doorstep.