In the frontier observation center, officers can clearly see the various details of the battlefield ahead through the artillery mirror: according to the offensive tactics that were practiced many times in advance, the artillery was responsible for clearing and suppressing enemy fortresses, and using special minesweeping bombs to clean up the minefield. After the attack began, the engineers responsible for battlefield operations carefully used mine deflectors to detect residual mines in the minefield and detonated them one by one with special detonators. When the passage was opened, the chariot group slowly crossed the minefield in a compact formation, followed by crawler armored combat vehicles and semi-tracked armored personnel carriers...

When the coalition attacking troops approached the periphery of Elsden Fortress, several horizontal shells roared into the group of chariots, and two coalition tanks were instantly blasted and caught fire. Immediately afterwards, the huge fortress was awakened! The defending fire points hidden in various places of the fortress began to block and fire one after another. Howitzers, field artillery and war defense artillery woven into a dense firepower net, exposed to the open area, the coalition armored forces were caught off guard. The tanks caught fire one after another and even exploded violently, and the armored vehicles were even more busy reversing and retreating. In this case, it was difficult to find and destroy the fortresses built using terrain!

The battle lasted less than a quarter of an hour, and the first batch of attacking troops of the coalition lost more than 20 tanks and wreckage of armored vehicles, and hurriedly retreated to the attack starting position.

Witnessing the strong defense of the Elsden Fortress, Crown Louis heard the marvel around him, and the coalition generals were evaluating the difficulty and cost of this battle with unprecedented caution, especially in terms of time span.

"It seems that we must use our home-savvy magic weapon to solve the problem!" In the Frontier Observatory, a general in the Austro-Hungarian Empire dressed in a double-breasted military uniform spoke. Although the uniforms of the officers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were old, they seemed to be antiques left over from the First World War, their large-caliber artillery was really nothing to say. The "Karl Cannon" named after the Apollo Karl I was a super self-propelled artillery that could move on its own and had off-road capabilities. Except for the short range, its power was no worse than the main gun of any battleship.

After a while, two thunderous sounds sounded in the attacking positions one after another. Then, two more violent explosions came from the Elsden Fortress. Apart ten kilometers apart, you could still feel the earth shaking!

I saw two huge smoke columns rising from the hillside of the dark brown Els climbing north, and there was only a rumble echo in the entire fortress!

The participation of the giant mortar cannons made the coalition generals regain their spirits, but these two attacking weapons did not carry out the second round of artillery until ten minutes later. In order to adapt to the needs of the battlefield, the Austro-Hungarian Army even equipped them with ammunition transport vehicles modified from the chassis of tracked tanks. However, because the shells were too heavy, and the lifted artillery had to be restored to level after each launch to load, and the firing speed was not much faster than ordinary train cannons!

At this time, the coalition artillery observation points deployed on the front line had already transmitted the pre-observation firepower points intelligence to the howitzer and cannon positions deployed nearby. Although these 105 and 150 mm conventional army artillery were not enough to penetrate thick concrete or even armored fortifications, considering the numerous small fortresses in the Elsden Fortress, the coalition staff, which needed to ensure a victory, still presciently dispatched four heavy artillery regiments and prepared sufficient shells in advance.

Following the attack pace of the two "Karl mortar cannons", the coalition artillery group began a fierce bombardment for two hours. The shelling scene was spectacular, but it was inevitable that there would be aesthetic fatigue over time. Bored, some officers even played cards in the fortress...

Two hours later, a coalition artillery group, including the "Carl Moon", poured tens of thousands of shells into the Scottish fortress. The scene of volcanic ash appeared again in Elsden, which was originally quite beautiful. The artillery fire seemed to hit an ammunition depot of the defenders, so that the fire on the south side of the fortress lasted for a long time, but after the shelling stopped, Scottish soldiers came out to put out the fire.

Taking advantage of the shelling force, the coalition ground forces decisively launched a real fierce attack!

More than a hundred chariots belonging to the 1st Armored Brigade of the New United Kingdom were like a black river rushing towards the sea, which spread across the open area south of Elsden. The brave armored soldiers were completely unafraid of the fierce fire from the Scottish fortress. They allowed shells to land around and explode violently. Each chariot and armored vehicles were advancing forward at a nearly sprint speed. With a harsh friction sound, the steel tracks turned rapidly, and bursts of dust were magnificently raised.

Seeing the fortress approaching, the squad of coalition chariots rushing to the front stopped. They slightly adjusted their muzzles and opened fire at the targets they discovered - a distance of only three or four hundred meters was no less than bayonet fighting between infantry. Hand-to-hand combat quickly showed its cruelty and tragic. The Scottish fire point, which was originally spraying the flames, was shot directly from close range, and the bursting bunker was blurred and the guns were twisted; the coalition chariots made with welding technology looked majestic, and when they were penetrated by large-caliber armor-piercing bullets, they would instantly become the iron coffin to bury the chariots. In just a few minutes, the number of bombed Scottish artillery bases and the destroyed coalition chariots were both increasing at an astonishing rate!

It was precisely these depressing few minutes that the chariots equipped with flamethrowers and the armored vehicles carrying infantry quickly crossed the open area south of the fortress. The former rushed to dozens of meters away from the Scottish fortress. Glorious fire dragons sprayed mercilessly at the bunker constructed by mountains. Many infantry soldiers were knocked down by bullets or even large-caliber machine shells as soon as they left the armored vehicles. Shooting on the spot did not help extend their war careers at all. Hiding behind the chariots and armored vehicles may also become burial objects in a few seconds. The wisest way to get involved in this cruel arena is probably to follow their companions forward!

Once they entered the dead end of most of the opponent's guns and guns, the well-trained coalition infantry quickly used various blasting tools to explode the defending fortress and the tunnel entrance sealed with steel gates, and then advanced along the narrow and dark passage toward the fortress. For the coalition officers and soldiers fighting on the front line, the danger inside the fortress is no less than that outside, and the battle surrounding the maze-like tunnel may last for a long time, but the Scottish gate has indeed exposed a gap, and magical holy light sprinkled out of it, baptizing every "pilgrim" who came here.

"Look! We have knocked on the enemy's door!" Lieutenant General Dimi Keith, the general of the English Army, who served as the ground commander, shouted excitedly.

"Have our troops attacked the fortress?" Crown Prince Louis quickly returned to the mirror of the artillery. Following the tradition of the Hohenzollern family, the crown prince entered the military academy since childhood to be influenced and officially entered the army to serve in the army after becoming an adult. During World War II, he landed in Britain as a staff officer, and originally wanted to participate in the military operations of the Allied troops in Central and North America. But just as the Battle of Britain was about to end, his adjutant unfortunately stepped on a landmine. Louis, who was still a prince, almost lost his life. After hearing the news, the old emperor William II personally intervened and transferred Louis back to the General Staff to serve. Since then, he has never been on the battlefield again.

"What a pity, we used our secret weapons in the first battle." The double-breasted general of the Austro-Hungarian Empire whispered loudly, implying that a large part of the credit for the coalition forces being able to break into the fortress was due to the two powerful self-propelled mortars.

Crown Prince Louis ignored this man and asked, "Which unit led the way to attack the fortress?"

Lieutenant General Case answered wisely: "I saw the Irish armored forces and the English infantry assault group attacking the enemy fortress group side by side."

"I have to thank our 'Karl' for knocking open the enemy's door." The double-breasted general of the Austro-Hungarian Empire muttered relentlessly, not caring that they joined the battle group without declaring war on Scotland.

"The battle inside looks very fierce, and many artillery bases are still firing. It is best to prepare the reserves to be ready to enter the battle at any time." The new United Kingdom general present, General Ziller, who has a mixed-race German and Irish blood, brought everyone's attention back to the point with a pragmatic reminder.

Compared with the famous fortresses that were widely known in the two wars, the defense front of the Elsden Fortress was narrower, and the defense depth was more than ten kilometers, like a super battleship parked on land. The use of a large amount of reinforced concrete gave this "warship" a high defense strength. Many of the original buildings in the town were preserved and transformed into ground fire points, and drainage ditches and underground pipelines were also used to form a crisscrossing internal defense system. Even if coalition tanks and infantry broke into the fortress, they could not easily conquer the remaining fire points of the defenders.

Before noon, the coalition offensive troops had basically removed the peripheral firepower points of Elsden Fortress. At this point, combat and transport vehicles could travel freely in the open areas in the southern part of the fortress, while the battle inside the fortress was intensifying. In the southern part of the fortress, the troops of both sides fought for four rounds. Not only did the offensive parties use flamethrowers and rocket launchers in large quantities, but the defenders were also equipped with these close combat weapons, which caused the intensity of the battle and the casualties of the participating troops to exceed the expectations of the command.
Chapter completed!