Road Of Advancement

As both forces engaged the scale of destruction the mechs could do was on full display.

Theodore mind was in complete turmoil. He had already equated the mech's too giant tanks with extreme firepower, their full power still surpassed his estimation by a margin.

In his life prior to reincarnating, he had only seen movies of war on the television and the occasional footage of war on the news. He knew that these machines would triumph any conventional weapons he could think of, but they just dwarfed all his expectations!

Prior to his reincarnation, the old Theodore had seen some occasional footage of mechs in action, he even knew some family members who were proud mech pilots, but to see it on a scale of 100 v 100 it was still incredible.

Theodore slowly became enamoured by this display of extravagant war-potential. He calmed down after considering these were 'commercial' mech models, piloted by mechs of the private sector. If anything he learned so far about military troops, the actual war potential of an army was several times higher then what was on display. Even more so when you factor in the incredible amount of mechs the army could field.

The attack met with strong resistance.

Theodore noticed that the attacks had different approaches and rosters. The heavy mechs were split into two teams on the west-side.

One team was actively supporting the front, using their superior firepower to suppress the defenders. The second team consisted of heavy artillery mechs, that needed to be stationary to use their mighty weapons. These artillery mechs had to support themselves as they fired, making them even slower than their heavy counterparts.

Their influence on the battlefield was huge, making their abysmal ability to manoeuvre very acceptable. In both defence and offence, these machines would make a huge contribution if used correctly.

As the distance was meticulously calculated, they were out of reach of most light mechs and most medium-ranged mechs lost to much power at this range to threaten them. Only the heavy mechs of the defenders could threaten them, therefore, a small squad of medium mechs were tasked with shooting all ballistic missiles out of the air. The knight mechs had placed their shields in the ground at strategic intervals to obscure the vision on the heavy mechs.

Those shields couldn't hold long against the laser fire of the defence, but as long as they bought some time, the attackers were more than fine to waste all of them!

The medium mech pilots in the supporting team were instructed to keep moving in random lines and evade all laser fire from the heavy ranged mechs from the defenders' team. In the end, their armour wasn't made to take the beating of these superior war machines.

Under this barrage of missiles, the middle ground was slowly occupied by the attackers as they steadily but carefully made their way to the defenders camp.

The distance was too great to sprint, the casualties would rack up too quickly if they rashly attacked.

Their goal was to get into a strategic without too many sacrifices before pounding them with their pent up aggression.

Where the west side was using a careful and steady approach, the eastern assault was like the raging tide! They had significantly less heavy mechs and used a rush strategy where, under intense cover fire, the light mechs and medium mechs sought to close in quickly. There was no restraint on the attackers' ratio of fire!

They did not care for the heat building up in their weapons or the burden on their rifles due to continued fire! They were only concerned with advancing!

The casualties on the east side were definitely bigger, but the defending side also lost quite a bit of their power! Number wise, the defence was winning in this clash, but that did not account for the ground gained by the attackers!

The difference in strategy also made that the pressure was increasing on the defending party.

Continue their stalemate on the West and accept a quick loss of ground on the east or reinforce the East and lose out on the west?

With reports of losses and requests for reinforcement practically flooding commandant Springer, he did not react impulsively. He ordered all personnel to hold their ground and report all significant occurrences. He did not wish to alter his defensive strategy. He speculated that even if the east side would come close, their casualties would make them hardly a treat.

Though Springer's judgement quickly showed true as the Eastside attackers had more mechs drop out due to acc.u.mulated damages. It did not deter the attackers determination at all. They seemed to have staked it all.

This attracted Theodore's attention, as it seemed like it was sending his troops on a suicidal mission. Even if they managed to scale the wall and come into close range, their close-ranged combat prowess would have already diminished to such an extent that they would not be able to punch through and secure a victory on the east side.

Then, something unexpected happened.

Two mechs in the back of the east side started firing, they had set up on a ridge, perfectly obscured from the defenders. Their signals had been active, but who would have noticed these tiny sparks of activity on the periphery of the map. Is was even questionable if they were even in sensor-range.

Their shots were as deadly as you can imagine. With the defenders trying their all to subdue the intense assault, many mechs were exposed from their cover. They were marked by the sniper duo and they were now picking them off one by one, their kill count quickly rising.

Why had they not taken action before? Chaos. The reason was chaos.

They had been identifying all officers on the Eastern wall and were now targetting them, quickly disrupting the chain of command.

The focused fire became sluggish and less accurate as the defenders were fl.u.s.tered after their direct superiors were taken out. However, they were well trained and command was quickly re-established as they tried to push back the wave.

With the threat of the snipers looming, they did not dare to shoot continuously and they hid behind cover directly after they took shots. Their accuracy faltered as they tried to hit the rushing light mechs.

The imminent defeat on the Eastside prompted commandant Springer to jump into action. He took a small squad of medium mechs from the West wall and joined the Eastside. He chose to actively engage in the battlefield with his superior skills and his entourage he decimated mechs left and right.

The fight on the East side quickly became an all-out brawl, with both sides entangled on a rather small battlefield, both snipers could not continue to take shots in fear of killing their brethren.

It was both a smart as a dumb play. It mitigated the immediate problems on the East side but also left the Westside vulnerable to the attackers.

At this point, the casualties were still higher on the attackers' side, but with the Westside now actively pushing forward with a numeric advantage, the casualties started to mount on the defenders as well.

The western defensive structures were pretty much in shambles after the barrage of ballistic missiles from the heavy mechs in the backline. The artillery mechs were less useful now as their goal of destroying the fortifications had been met. Theodore had suspected they would now rack up casualties but he was proven wrong as a small team of ranged mechs now focused on taking down the missiles. With their slow rate of fire, the threat wasn't much to the defenders.

Though they had 'sacrificed' their defensive structures, the rubble still gave them plenty of cover. Their height advantage, however, hadn't proven very useful yet because of the relative distance at where they had been fighting and with the loss of their fortifications they gave up this strategic advantage.

The western attackers now quickly moved up the battlefield as well, though still taking precautions as they were targeted by ranged mechs.

Their numeric advantage, however, was showing now as the defenders found it increasingly difficult to hold back the attackers. The loss of their commandant, as he was now actively fighting on the East side also showed as the commands of the appointed officer were less effective.

As it stood now, the attackers would win. The casualties on the west side were piling, and with the brawl on the Eastside in full swing, there was nothing stopping the Westside from achieving victory.

Even if the Eastside defenders managed to pull a win off, they would only have a pyrrhic victory as the toll on them was too high to effectively continue and fight the Westside attackers.

Worst was, they would have to fight with their backs to the two deadly snipers that were calmly waiting for their chance to strike.

On the Westside, the attackers had finally managed to close the gap and engage in close quarters. The defenders fought bravely, but their heavy mechs could not contribute much in a close quarter fight. They were accruing heavy losses at this point as they struggled to stall the inevitable.

It was then that the fight on the East side had been decided. It was a victory for the defenders, but the losses had taken a harsh toll. The commandant did not linger in his victory and concentrated on the battle on the east side. Even with the reports showing what would seem an evident defeat, the commandant smiled.

30:00.

The simulation stopped and all participants feeds were cut off. Theodore had not even noticed, but thirty minutes had elapsed. A victory was o so near for commandant Trustful, but time had been his downfall! He did not achieve a victory on this battlefield! He had lost because he had not completed his objective within the set timeframe!

Even if his commanding was superb, his tactics well executed, he still lost.

Time favoured the defender. This lesson was always applicable! Reinforcements would spell doom on any raid or invasion!

Theodore smiled wryly. In his mind, he still gave the victory to commandant Springer as he had tactically outmanoeuvred his opponent But with time running out, he objectively had lost. Theodore admired the man's wit as he had sacrificed a pawn with the intention of winning the battle. He was as capable as he was ruthless. He had no qualms sacrificing halve his regiment for a decisive advantage.

Theodore admitted his tactic worked out in the end. The question was whether the victory would have been worth it?

In the end, it was a simulation and it did not matter much. It did put the abilities of both commanders on a great display. The fifth Abelardo regiment heavily relied on commandant Trustful his abilities as a mech pilot. He has been very calm throughout the battle but seemed to have been resigned himself to the outcome when he chose to participate by himself on the Eastside and left the Westside exposed.

Theodore also noted that, on the defensive side, the extra heavy mechs did favour them for a good while, but with distance diminishing quickly, they could not display their full potential!

They had later become rather useless as the attackers had forced close-range combat. Their sluggish movements made them easy prey for the medium mechs and light mechs.

The nimbleness and aggressive movements of the light mechs had made closing in on the defender possible. These cheaper and less durable mechs were pivotal in the plans of commandant Springer. Theodore imagined the forty mechs to fold quickly, but their pilots had made these flimsy mechs a true disaster for the defenders. It all came down to suppressive fire and movement.

If played right, the light class mechs were a great asset to any regiment.