章節 68: Chapter 33
Copperfield was a town whose main source of income came from the mines in the hills around the town. There were rich seams of Chalcopyrite, Tetrahedrite, and Chalcocite, which were mined in the hills and carted into Copperfield for refining into Iron, Antimony, Sulfur, and above all, Copper. The refined metals were then shipped north through the Gritstone hills on a maglev line, where it would stop at the towns of Woolkirk and Builder's Corner to pick up wool cloth, mutton, cheese, leather, tallow at Woolkirk and quarried stone, cement, and timber at Builder's Corner before reaching the rail junction at Smeltingdown where it would be directed northeast toward the Planetary Capital at Onyx City.
Copperfield's Copper and Sulfur were important to the munitions factories at Onyx City, its Antimony was used in the production of various crucial antimonial medicines that helped keep the Blackstone Sheep herds healthy, and its iron, while not as important to the steel industry as the deposits of Iron or Molybdenum near Smeltingdown, still served a vital purpose. Taking Copperfield was a necessary step towards seizing control of Blackstone.
Naturally, it was where the second battalion of the Second Blackstone Guards Regiment was stationed. It was also where I was taking the Second Grand Ducal Guards Regiment. Meanwhile, Colonel Kadlec and the Third Regiment would move past Copperfield and take Woolkirk, while the Fourth would move on Builder's Corner and the Fifth would move on Smeltingdown. The Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grand Ducal Guards Regiments would act as our strategic reserve.
The idea was to lay down a carpet of regiments, so to speak, along the vital maglev line, seizing the towns along the line in a swift maneuver before moving on Onyx City to finish taking control of Blackstone. Given how there was only a single regiment on-world, along with whatever militia and police units could be scraped together, it was a safe bet the strategy would work.
Indeed, as we advanced on Copperfield, the enemy moved out of the town to meet us under the cover of artillery fire, forcing our advancing Mech and Combat Vehicle forces to take cover in the woods outside of town. We lost another Rampage, two tanks, and a Dragoon damaged badly enough to require repairs or destroyed even with the cover.
Fortunately, the creeping barrage of the enemy was silenced by Aerospace Fighters swooping in to take out the guns that had been positioned in the hills north of town. Unfortunately, they came under attack from concealed LRM Launchers in the process, downing another twelve fighters before the enemy artillery was silenced.
By that point, however, the enemy battalion had reached engagement range, supported by Militia Infantry in trucks and Militia Combat Vehicles. I sighted down on an enemy Dragon with my Gauss Rifle and Fired, ferronickel slug punching into the LRM Ammunition Storage and causing a massive explosion that ripped the enemy Mech in half thanks to the lack of CASE technology, but immediately had to retreat from a hail of autocannon rounds from an enemy Atlas that shredded out into the treeline toward me. Most of the rounds missed, chewing up trees and throwing up dirt, but two slugs cracked into the armor plating on my torso's right side.
I fired back, Gauss Rifle and Ultra Autocannon barking out, slugs and armor-piercing ammo slamming into The Atlas' torso. Return fire from the Atlas saw me ducking into a ravine to avoid the Salvo of Six Short-Ranged Missiles it fired as it closed with the tree line. The missiles sailed just over my head and two of them smashed into a Rampage painted in Gunmetal Gray and Burnt Orange. That was the Mech of Captain Amanda O'Toole, commanding officer of Alpha Company of Second Guards Mech Battalion. The SRM Round slammed into Amanda's Rampage even as Amanda's Gauss Rifle barked out and scored a kill on an Enemy Dragon that was moving to cover the Atlas.
I popped up and fired off another full salvo at the Atlas, Gauss Rifle Slug penetrating into the Atlas' reactor, causing it to force an emergency shutdown to avoid going critical. I turned to check on Amanda's Mech, hoping she'd managed to eject, but it turned out that though Amanda had been forced to eject her Autocannon Ammo with the CASE System to avoid total destruction, and although her Rampage's right arm had been blown off and the right side of her torso was missing several armor plates and the myomer cables were scorched black, she had somehow managed to survive a direct hit from the SRMs, if only barely.
"Captain O'Toole, are you all right?" I commed over.
"Grand, Milord! I still have my Gauss Rifle and Medium laser! I'd had a feeling something like this was gonna happen, so I took precautions. I'm wearing my lucky shorts in here, after all." Responded Amanda.
"Get to the rear, Captain. Your mech is in no condition to carry on the fight." I ordered.
Instead of responding, Amanda simply let off a round from her Gauss Rifle that smashed into an enemy Panther that was about to unload a quartet of SRM Missiles into the flank of the Blue and Yellow-painted Griffin of Captain Jakob Nilsson of Delta Company of the Mech Battalion, who had just let off a massive salvo of LRM fire that smashed several enemy Combat Vehicles and a pair of Locust Light Mechs. The Enemy Panther's reactor scrammed from the ferronickel slug puncturing it and caused Amanda's second kill.
"You were saying, Milord?" She commed back.
Instead of responding, however, I fired my Gauss Rifle and Ultra Autocannon into an enemy Dragon that came lurching toward her, attracted by the weapon fire. The slug of my Gauss Rifle punched through the armor of the Dragon's legs, causing it to stumble in the uneven terrain as the knee actuators malfunctioned from damage. The armor-piercing rounds from my Ultra Autocannon went through the top of its head, shoulders, and torso, where the armor was relatively thin, and into the cockpit, killing the pilot.
"Go to the rear!" I ordered again.
"As you will, Milord." Agreed Amanda, her Rampage limping off to the rear.
As the battle continued, I took out a Panther and another Locust in the fight to push the enemy mech forces back out of the woods. As we did so, our Aerospace assets returned to the engagement zone to begin peppering the enemy forces with Gauss Rifle Fire from above. Once that occurred, it wasn't long before the militia broke and ran. Bereft of Militia Support, and with their forces dwindling, the Second Battalion of the Second Blackstone Guards Regiment surrendered, a Captain Armstrong of the Second Blackstone Guards offering the surrender on behalf of what was left of the Battalion.
The battle in the woods had lasted just over two hours and cost us thirteen Aerospace Fighters downed, two Rampages, one Dragoon, and two Griffins destroyed or damaged badly enough to require repairs, and five combat vehicles destroyed or damaged badly enough to require repairs. Thirteen Percent Casualties among our mech and combat vehicles forces and twelve and a half percent casualties among our Aerospace Fighter Forces.
We also still had to take the town, which was guarded by a series of four bunker complexes at the cardinal direction points of the town. It took us the rest of the day to clear a path through those at the South and West compass points, and our Jump Infantry wound up having to go in to storm both complexes after artillery and combat vehicle bombardment softened them up.
Even then, reports from Major Aato in command of the mixed Infantry and Artillery Battalion of Second Guards said the butcher's bill for that was looking at around Forty-Five killed or wounded. Mostly from the South Bunker, where a number of Combine Advisors and Volunteers had been stationed and who wound up fighting to the last man accordingly. That was eighteen percent casualties from the Jump Infantry.
Captain Gamla himself, the commander of the Jump Infantry Company, was wounded, having taken a cut from a Combine blade in the forearm that pierced through his armor and laid open his left arm. He still managed to kill his attacker, a Combine Infantry Tai-I, with a bayonet to the neck. I was going to have to think up some sort of military decoration for him and Captain O'Toole for this battle. Actually, that might not be a bad idea in general.
By the time everything was settled, we managed to surround the town and seize the Maglev Rail station at around four in the morning, pushing hard into the city from two directions with Combat Vehicles and infantry, along with my Command Lance of Mechs. We only lost one more combat vehicle and some infantry to a hidden Thumper position and machine gun nest near the Maglev station. Apparently, the fight had gone out of the enemy by that point and that ambush was their last gasp.
Two hours later, a delegation from the Militia and the Mayor of Copperfield arrived to formally surrender the city. When the Militia Colonel handed me his sidearm as a gesture of his surrender, I noticed that it had been fired recently, which was odd for a Militia Colonel who normally didn't fight personally unless something went drastically wrong.
"This sidearm has seen use recently, Colonel Evans. What could you have possibly been firing at from all the way in the city center?" I questioned.
"Dai-I Nishimura, the Combine Advisor to the Second Battalion of the Second Blackstone Guards had proved. . .unwilling to allow us to withdraw or surrender. I was forced to kill him to end this peaceably." Informed Colonel Evans of the Copperfield Militia.
"Combine Fanatics. They would rather fight to the death than surrender or withdraw and leave the field to the enemy. I fear we will face more of that ilk soon, My Lord." Intoned Colonel Lindqvist.
"Indeed. Dai-I Nishimura was most insistent we make a stand here. Never mind the fact that we had no remaining Mech Support. He'd issued orders to all his men to do likewise. We're just fortunate that most of his remaining men after the battle in the woods were in the South Bunker Complex instead of with him at my Office. If they had been, they could have seized control of the City Center." Agreed Mayor Baker of Copperfield.
"The Second Battalion of the Second Blackstone Guards Regiment surrendered to us after taking a beating in the battle in the woods. Did they have no Combine Volunteers or Advisors with them?" I queried.
"None that survived. The last advisor who was with them was killed around fifty minutes into the fighting. I heard it all being reported to Dai-I Nishimura's radio." Answered Colonel Evans.
"That would have been the Dragon that was gunning for Captain O'Toole." I mused, thinking back to the rough timeline I'd figured out for the battle in the woods.
"Fortunately, Dai-I Nishimura only had a few of his men with him in the City Center. Most were with him at the command post we had set up in Mayor Baker's Office, but some had moved to establish a secondary strongpoint at the Bank of Copperfield. My men have them surrounded, but I was hoping that you would be able to send in your forces to handle it." Explained Colonel Evans.
"I can have my Infantry storm the Bank, but I will want your men to support the assault." I insisted.
"That's doable." Agreed Colonel Evans.
I sent Captain Elena Lindgren and her Infantry Company in to storm the building, along with a single platoon of Jump Infantry under Lieutenant Stanislaw Krawczyk and a Company of the Copperfield Militia under Captain William Taggart. The Combine Infantry in the Bank was apparently a partial Company of one-hundred-ninety Combine Volunteers. It took almost as long as the Battle in the Woods to root them out, but by Seven-Forty-Five in the Morning, Local Time, the last resistance in Copperfield had finally fallen.
The Final Butcher's Bill for the Battle of Copperfield was Thirteen Aerospace Fighters downed, two Rampages, one Dragoon, and two Griffins destroyed or damaged badly enough to require repairs, six combat vehicles destroyed or damaged badly enough to require repairs, fifty-five Jump Infantry Killed or Wounded, sixty-five Infantry Killed or Wounded, and forty allied Militia Killed or Wounded.
That was a casualty rate of twelve-point-eight percent for all Infantry and Militia Infantry on our side in the battle, twenty-five percent of all Aerospace Fighters deployed, sixteen-point-six percent of all Combat Vehicles Deployed, and Thirteen-point-eight percent of all Mechs Deployed. A steep price to pay for a battle where we had three-to-one numbers and a technical advantage.
Fortunately, it seemed that the other forces at Woolkirk, Builder's Corner, and Smeltingdown didn't have nearly as much trouble as we did. Colonels Kadlec, Kelly, and Oivo all reported their forces had engaged only company-sized units of mechs and combat vehicles, along with some militia. All told, we'd killed or captured two battalions of the Second Blackstone Guards today, along with a company-sized force at the landing zone. We'd also managed to take all the major towns outside of the Planetary Capital, which now lay open to us.
We would hit Onyx City with overwhelming force in two days. Hopefully, we would be able to take the city in a day or two of fighting and make preparations to begin moving on Oberon Six. If not, our window could close, which would be bad for us all. Somehow, though, I doubted we would take up the whole window on Blackstone, though. There should only be two companies remaining of the Second Blackstone Guards, along with maybe another Company of Combine Volunteers and some Militia. We should be finished on Blackstone by week's end at the latest. I just hoped that General Jorgensen was having an easy time on Placida.
We'd need his forces for the push on Oberon Six, after all. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
All right, here we have the battle for Copperfield. As you can see, the fighting is a lot harder against the Oberon Confederation than anything that Jozef has faced so far. This is primarily down to Combine Military Aid in equipment, advisors, and volunteers.
Of course, that sword, unlike a Katana, cuts both ways. The Combine attitude of holding at all costs, even unto death, isn't exactly endearing them to their local allies. We saw how Colonel Evans of the Copperfield Militia was willing to turn on the Combine Advisor here when his ideas of fighting to the death clashed with the Locals' willingness to surrender.
Something tells me that trying that with Hendrik Grimm present isn't going to go down nearly as cleanly as it did here. The King of the Oberon Confederation is far more likely to express his disapproval with explosives than with a bullet to the head and surgical assault.
At any rate, the next chapter will be the battle for Onyx City, then we'll get an interlude with how the assault on Placida went.
Stay tuned. . .
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