Chapter Eighteen: Hunting Kangaroo

  The second attack by the Australian troops was far less intense than the first, which had been a furious onslaught. Hebar was not an incompetent commander and the heavy casualties of the first attack were entirely due to underestimating the enemy, as no one would have thought that in this desolate land of Western Australia there was still such a ferocious force. With the firepower density of the previous attack, it could be compared to the machine gun battalion of the elite British Empire Army.

  After the emergence of the Vickers machine gun, it was soon proven that heavy machine guns were the greatest enemy of cavalrymen, and those armed men in strange uniforms did not have just one machine gun. The dense firepower must be woven together with multiple machine guns. Hemmel's anger made him want to curse, are those officials at the Canberra Military Department all idiots? What kind of wandering bandits or native robbers is this? This is clearly a group of well-trained professional soldiers. And does the Australian elite unit, the 1st Division stationed in Sydney, have such strong firepower? Still native... If the natives had such weapons, the rulers of Australia would not be white people now.

  Even if the rebel stronghold was taken, the casualties of the troops would not be small. Hermal had thought about retreating and letting the infantry regiment with heavy weapons attack, but as a graduate of the prestigious Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in the UK and holder of a baronial title, he could not return empty-handed and lose face. He would be ridiculed by his fellow nobles, and this would become a shame for his military career and a lifelong shame for him as the heir to his family's legacy.

  Colonel Hermal, commander of the cavalry regiment, shouted loudly as he gathered up the disheveled retreating cavalry: "We are glorious Australian knights! We are the proud cavalry troops of the British Empire with a glorious tradition! Our ancestors once slaughtered countless Turks in Europe with their sabers. Those Turks also had machine guns and artillery. Can our ancestors do it, but we, the glorious Australian knights, cannot?"

  The roar of Khemal had some effect, and the cavalry regiment finally reformed outside the firing range of the Red Alert warriors. Colonel adjusted the charging formation, increasing two wings to encircle and disperse the dense firepower of the enemy, leaving one battalion in the middle to select the best riders, using their superb riding skills to hide under the horse's belly for a rapid charge, a tactic invented by the Mongolian cavalry who once swept across Eurasia. At the same time, swords were sheathed, and carbines were loaded, although the last charge didn't even reach the effective range of the carbine before retreating, Khemal ordered to open fire in advance, hundreds of shots would have a certain suppressive effect even if the bullets flew randomly without targets, it was necessary to rush into the carbine's firing range once, Colonel had confidence that as long as they could cross the 400-meter line between life and death, the enemy would become frantic under the charging momentum of the knights, and eventually, like those Turks in one battle, be trampled by the Australian cavalry like sheep.

  It turned out that the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, which was named as one of the four major military academies in later generations and was on par with West Point, did not live up to its reputation. The academy's outstanding graduate, Colonel Hemmel, quickly changed tactics after the first charge was blocked, using a pincer movement with both wings and a central breakthrough. This forced the machine guns on the base to split their fire, and even without intersecting fields of fire, they were only slightly more effective than the assault rifles at longer range. The mortar's effectiveness was also greatly reduced due to the dispersal of the cavalry, and it was considered lucky if one shell could take out one or two riders. Without dense firepower to block them, the several hundred meters distance was nothing for the cavalry, who quickly charged to within 500 meters of the semicircular position. Just then, the most powerful heavy machine gun had to change its barrel, suddenly creating a clear path for a charge down the middle. The Red Guards maintained fire with their assault rifles and tried to block the charge with all their might, but they were too few in number to make a difference.

  Victory in sight, the Australian troops on the central road slung their rifles behind their backs and drew out and raised high the cavalry swords symbolizing knightly honor. "Charge!... Kill these bastards!... I'll chop up these native dogs!..." Such cries echoed across the battlefield.

  Behind the array, Lieutenant Holro organized the soldiers to retreat into the gate and board the infantry fighting vehicle. Looking at the cavalry's frantic charge, he smiled eerily, "If you want to make someone die, you must first drive them mad. If you don't seek death, you won't die!"

  Two companies of soldiers have already withdrawn, and the first to board the infantry fighting vehicle immediately gave orders. The heavy machine guns on the vehicle continued to sweep the cavalry, but after a few Australian casualties, the charging formation suddenly split in two and dodged to the side, avoiding the machine gun's line of fire. The trenches behind the position couldn't hold off the cavalry for long either, and soon the trenches were filled with horse corpses. Many soldiers inside the vehicle mouthed silently, "That's our meat!" - the base's logistics factory-produced military rations were too monotonous, either biscuits or canned goods, and fresh stewed horse meat had a certain appeal to the Red Alert warriors.

  Following the troops from behind, through the gate of the base, Hebal clenched his folded whip and gently tapped another palm, looking at the two strange cars running in front of him, which were not very fast, and he couldn't help but scold the military's idiots again. Now he was completely certain that the enemy was not some native bandits, they had killed so many natives over the years, when had they ever seen a native with a car? And it was an armored car with a heavy machine gun, did Sydney have such vehicles? Did Melbourne have them?

  However, with victory in sight, the tall chimneys emitting black smoke inside the base could be seen clearly from over a dozen miles away. But Hebal, who was already enraged and dizzy from the impending great victory, did not think carefully about why there were industrial signs of large chimneys here. Now he just wanted to cut off "the heads of those bastards", and in these two charges, more than 300 cavalrymen had been killed or wounded. Even if he won this battle, he would be investigated by his superiors, and might even lose his position as regimental commander.

  But now, Zhong Yi did not put all his attention on the battlefield. In the eyes of Commander Comrade, that group of Australian fools was doomed to be annihilated from the moment they rushed into the base gate.

  At this moment, Zhong Yi was admiring himself in the mirror, his shoulders adorned with two green stripes, occasionally tapping his heels lightly, and then giving a standard military salute. Being narcissistic is not exclusive to women, just like how most of Taobao's consumption comes from men, the proud and oblivious Lieutenant Colonel was trapped in an uncontrollable self-love, occasionally asking, "Bird, do you think I look spirited in this school officer uniform?"

  The female anchor had been disgusted for half a day and was too weak to mock, "Report to the commander, very spirited. The battlefield is still in fierce battle, the enemy's cavalry has entered the base gate..."

  "Alright! You've said it five times already. Contact Qian Zhihao and order him to execute the Dog Beating Plan immediately, seal off the base's main gate, and don't let a single one escape!"

  I've only said it five times, but you've asked me if I'm crazy or not fourteen times already! This sentence of complaint to the Heavenly Bird was left unsaid, as the increasingly humanized intelligent system knew that saying it out loud would have severe consequences. The communication channel with the Wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicle piloted by the Security Guard Squad was connected, and Qian Zhihao on the other end immediately shouted excitedly, "Boss, we've arrived at the battlefield according to plan! The six machine guns on board are aimed directly at the base gate, and not a single rabbit will be let go!"

  The battle is proceeding entirely as expected, only everyone has a different name for the cavalry. Zhong Yi named the battle plan "Operation Dog Beating", implying "beating a dog after closing the gate". Huo Lu and Qian Zhihao both call it "Rabbit Beating". Meanwhile, in the tank, Jiang Yunzhi looks at the two approaching infantry fighting vehicles used as bait and grabs the internal communication device, "This is 001, this is 001. All units be advised that after opening fire, pay special attention not to blast down the walls with cannonballs. Whoever does will have to go with the engineers to lay bricks together. Now I order... Operation Kangaroo Hunt to begin."

  At this time, Hebal, who did not know that he had quickly played three roles, also raised his whip and shouted loudly: "Glorious knights, honor is my life!"

  "Honor is my life..." The three armies roared in unison, and the war horses galloped again. However, they didn't run far, not even seeing what kind of factory was under those large chimneys, when they saw a massive dust storm on the opposite side, with vehicle after vehicle of dark green color, sporting long cannon barrels, howling like doomsday demons, their massive engines roaring like thunder, like the bellowing of death gods!

  The cavalrymen were not all bumpkins, tanks had already made their debut in the Battle of the Somme in World War I. "That... that's a tank!" a knight shouted in terror, his voice full of despair.

  If the heavy machine gun is the nemesis of cavalry, then the tank is a reaper of life. No troops can withstand the collective charge of tanks except for tank-to-tank and armor-to-armor combat!

  In the desperate gaze and helpless murmurs of the cavalrymen, the two light machine guns on the turret of 15 Type 59 medium tanks fired simultaneously. The dense and intense bullets quickly turned the ground under the cavalrymen's feet into a purgatory. The knights who had just been "honor is my life" really honored, many people were simply stunned and sat stupidly on their horses waiting to be shot. However, those who didn't go crazy didn't have any good way out either. Thirty machine guns fired at the same time, not giving the knights a chance to turn their horses around. At this moment, death was not the final outcome. Even in the process of falling off the horse, they would continue to be hit by bullets. The horror of heavy machine guns lies not only in their killing power but also in their ability to break and shatter the human body with strong impact force.

  "Hell on earth!" Zhong Yi also gave this four-word evaluation, then switched the scene, strongly enduring the rolling in his stomach and the foul smell in his throat, pretending to be calm as he looked at the newly appeared repair factory icon on the building interface.

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