Chapter Ten: The First Victory

  "Chris, are you sure you want to execute this tactic?"

  "Of course."

  "What a crazy yet perfect tactic..."

  "Of course."

  "But it's still too dangerous..."

  "Of course, if the king doesn't take the lead, how can his subordinates follow? In other words, in this battle where we're betting our lives, winning means gaining everything, while losing means having nothing. This principle of equivalent exchange is quite fair, isn't it? The more you pay, the more you'll gain."

  A characteristic of the Soviet military was "brutality" or, rather, robustness. The nickname "Iron Blooded Lionheart" is not only suitable for armored divisions, but also applies to its navy. As a large main battleship of the Soviet Navy, the Invincible-class warship, this 250-meter-long and 23-meter-wide giant completely removed all redundant weapons to reduce the load on the ship's body and instead installed a large number of 2-meter-caliber V4 "Iron Hammer" cruise missiles to enhance its combat capability. Three missile launchers supported by retractable steel brackets were placed around the central control room, with a high fan-shaped radar communication tower erected above the control room, and two huge red-painted smokestacks behind it. If you've ever had a hand-to-hand encounter with an Invincible-class warship, you can only use one word to describe the feeling when those cruise missiles fall on your head - "torrential 'missile' rain", and saying "missile rain" is still an understatement, as each rocket has a payload of half a ton of cruise missiles, calling them "thunderbolts" is not excessive.

  And what's even more terrifying is not just their powerful firepower, but also the number of shells that each Dreadnought-class battleship can fire simultaneously. The simplest standard to measure a warship's attack power is its simultaneous firing capacity. Ten years ago, when the Soviet Union's original Dreadnought-class battleships underwent firepower testing, they could only fire two rounds at a time. But after Sergei Kondakov, a renowned designer of Soviet warships, made large-scale modifications to their internal structure, the simultaneous firing capacity of the Dreadnought-class battleships increased from two rounds to three; and with the installation of steam-powered devices that can offset strong recoil forces and adjust the shell's impact point inside the ship, the continuous firing speed and accuracy of the Dreadnought-class battleships have reached an extreme level. Just a month ago, when five new-style Dreadnought-class battleships reduced Germany's Kiel naval base to rubble without any other warships' support, the Allies finally learned what "Soviet Fury" means.

  Although the new dreadnoughts were very expensive due to technical and material reasons, Chelvan did not hesitate to allocate nearly 10 billion rubles to the Navy Department for mass production. The army generals had protested against this, believing that Chelvan was biased towards the navy. However, the brilliant performance of the dreadnoughts in the Battle of Kiel Bay finally proved their worth, and no one ever questioned it again.

  Today, advancing towards Brighton Beach with a majestic momentum, in addition to the four fearless-class warships named "Chapayev", "Kremlin", "Lenin" and "Slav", there is also a reinforced flagship guarded by them in the center - the "Soviet" (equivalent to a full-star warship). The "Soviet" warship, except for its thicker armor, has an engine configuration, firepower and firing range that are several times that of ordinary fearless-class warships. And on board the "Soviet" warship is none other than Soviet Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the Army Nikolai Kukov.

  An army commander was sent to command naval operations, which was obviously a foolish decision, but the Navy Department surprisingly did not raise any objections. The reason was unexpectedly simple: Zhukov's excellent performance in a series of wars attacking Europe made the Soviet troops completely recognize Zhukov's commanding ability, so they naturally thought that Zhukov would also be invincible in naval battles as on land.

  Today, Kukov sat spiritedly in the command room, his straight black military uniform covered with medals, making him look very majestic.

  From the large screen in the captain's cabin, he saw himself leading a huge Soviet fleet, including his own six Invincible-class battleships, 20 armored transport landing ships, 70 magnetic storm speedboats, and 200 Bullfrog anti-aircraft vehicles. In the sky above were 100 high-speed flying dual-blade armed helicopters, while at the rear of the fleet were 20 Kirov heavy bombers that had arrived late due to their own speed.

  And this was just the vanguard of the Soviet landing force. Behind him was a larger and more powerful Soviet Northern Fleet!

  It's absolutely impossible to lose, anyway~ Kukov thought optimistically.

  He was in such a good mood that he even recorded an extremely arrogant and provocative video and sent it to the Allied Command on the other side, hoping to see the enemy's frightened appearance.

  Kukuf swung his arm, just about to give a very refreshing gesture to order his subordinates to launch an attack, thereby proving how wise and powerful he was. At least that's what it should have been...

  But...

  Before he could even utter the first letter, several golden flashes of light suddenly appeared in the city across from him, which was shrouded in thick fog.

  "What's that thing?" Kukov, with his rich combat experience, immediately sensed the crisis from those few rays of light.

  Before he could even give the order to declare tactical evasion, the Magnetic Storm squadron in front of him, which was serving as the vanguard for the landing force, was instantly pulverized by incoming heavy cannon fire. What had been a neatly arranged military formation suddenly had several large gaps in it.

  Kukov's face turned red with rage, and he ordered: "All ships attack! Destroy those damned heavy guns!!!"

  One minute later...

  "Why don't you fire!!!"

  After a moment of silence, the cockpit responded with Golff's somewhat embarrassed voice: "Sorry. Comrade General, due to the rainy and foggy weather, we can't determine where the shells are landing at all..."

  Koukou: "..."

  Kukov has already tasted the bitter fruit of his mistakes, the most important thing in a beach landing is the weather conditions, such a foggy and rainy day that even the landing point and enemy positions cannot be seen, not to mention the artillery preparation, which is completely unsuitable for landing operations. Kukov, this commander who does not understand naval warfare, has already lost his first move.

  Of course, if he chose to retreat at this time, the Soviet Navy could still withdraw intact; but such a defeat without a fight would be immeasurable for Zhukov's psychological blow, and it was also a major psychological blow to the Soviet naval officers and soldiers. So, he ordered the Soviet army to force a landing, no matter what, to take down Brighton Beach.

  This is a decision that turns failure into a rout, and heavier blows will follow.

  After a brief reorganization, the Magnetic Storm fleet, which lost 13 boats in the previous round of bombardment, was divided into three small teams and formed a vanguard array to quickly conduct amphibious operations. The 20 Bullfrog transports were also following the Magnetic Storm boats at this time. However, after running for a short distance, they stopped about 500 meters away from the beach. This is because they do not have the capability to attack ground targets, and if there are ambushes on the shore, rushing up would make them easy targets. (囧, this is the most speechless place I've played in Red Alert 3...)

  "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  Five round "big bags" were ejected from a very thick "cannon barrel" on the rear side of each vehicle, but those "big bags" did not seem to be shells. They were all wrapped in a layer of red canvas and flew towards the beach along a standard parabolic curve at a uniform speed.

  After flying over the beach, a hundred "big bags" unfolded one after another. It turned out that they were a hundred Soviet paratroopers. The red canvas was a small parachute, and the top of the parachute still had the Soviet sickle and hammer logo printed on it.

  One hundred Soviet naval infantrymen cut the parachute cords from their bodies with bayonets, then carefully removed the ADK-45s from their shoulders and began to search cautiously on the beach shrouded in thin fog, but except for the waves of the sea and the cries of seagulls in the sky, there was no other movement.

  After a thorough search, the Marine Corps officers and soldiers fired a signal flare into the sky, indicating that everything was fine here. The Magnetic Storm Speedboat, which had received accurate information, accelerated its advance amidst increasingly frequent gunfire.

  After firing the signal flares, the 100 sailors did not rush to launch an immediate attack, but instead used the tools they carried with them to establish some simple defensive fortifications on the spot to meet the increasingly numerous landing troops.

  However, they did not relax their vigilance when building the fortifications. They divided about half of the people to build fortifications, and the other half was on high alert for defense battles.

  As they watched their own increasing number of magnetic assault boats approaching the coastline, the tension in the hearts of the Marine Corps officers and men suddenly dissipated a lot, "Hmph ~ it turns out that fighting can be so easy ~"

  But soon they couldn't laugh anymore, as the leading magnetic storm boats approached the shore and unfolded their four limbs like crawling insects. Suddenly, a loud noise came from the bottom of one of them. Then a red light flashed by, and that huge magnetic storm boat instantly split into two pieces, lying paralyzed on the shore with black smoke billowing out.

  "There's a landmine!!!"

  This is the landing force's war cry.

  The various anti-tank mines buried in the sand finally played their role, and those unlucky magnetic storm speedboats barely survived the heavy shore defense artillery fire, but stumbled on this small detail of landing.

  Linked lightning, strangulation lightning, triggered lightning, scattered lightning... So many, so many, all swallowed by those unlucky magnetic storm speedboats. Then in the deafening roar, they turned into charred metal fragments.

  And those land warfare soldiers who relied on catapults and other sensitive equipment also met their maker at this moment.

  A small, blue-black, four-wheeled motorcycle with a smaller front and larger back. They have a delicate appearance, with a square protrusion on the front of the car head, a black glass-encrusted driving compartment, and two red taillights at the rear, looking like a miniature racing car on the sports field.

  However they are not racing cars but military combat vehicles and their names are: Multi-functional Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Improved).

  Switch the original air defense missile system and load it with infantry. The originally powerful pump-action shotgun became a scythe that reaps life after being equipped with a rocket launcher barrel, instantly becoming a god of death.

  5 infantry fighting vehicles flashed in front of the unprepared Marine Corps soldiers at an extremely fast speed, and then the soldiers standing on the rear seat quickly cocked the heavy shotgun. After a series of shrill screams, a piece of residual limbs was left there.

  At this time, the thick fog had largely dispersed with the arrival of noon, and Kukov, located in the center of the fleet, finally saw the true appearance of the "undefended" city he was about to occupy. However, what he could see more clearly at this moment were his landing soldiers who were being mowed down by heavy machine guns and the magnetic pulse speedboats that were being blown up into scrap iron by landmines.

  Even if a few Magnetoboat managed to crawl up the shore, they would be blown into debris by missiles suddenly flying from buildings on the shore.

  At the same time, the coastal defense guns built on the shore's high points also fired their second shot. In the deafening roar, another batch of Kukuf's cargo ships that failed to escape were blown up. The blood mixed with metal shrapnel suddenly became so conspicuous in Kukuf's eyes.

  Kukov's flagship, the Soviet, also managed to dodge one, although the hull, relying on extremely thick armor plating, did not suffer any damage, but it still made the people on board tremble with fear. This was a big gift from the Allies to Kukov.

  The first landing plan of the Soviet Navy's landing troops ended in complete failure.