Empire Conquest-Chapter 746 - 46 Strategic Location

September 11th night, Changala Army Base in the western Lusha Federation Republic.

Before the Imperial Army established a military base here, Changala was a small town that barely anyone knew about, with only a few hundred permanent residents.

The reason was simple: Changala was located north of the Rene Desert, and further north lay the Western Siberian Plateau.

The only reason to establish a city here, or to settle, was due to its proximity to the lower reaches of the Little Wujin River. The plain near the riverbank was barely sufficient for cultivation.

However, the Little Wujin River is a typical inland river with not much water.

The Imperial Army’s military base was built on the western side of Changala, right next to the Little Wujin River.

To control the water source, the Imperial Army also built a dam downstream, turning the river near the base into a reservoir.

Although the military base occupied a large amount of good farmland, and the farmland downstream turned into a desert due to lack of water after the dam was built, the local residents no longer depended on farming for their livelihood, their main source of income being the thousands of Imperial soldiers stationed there long-term.

Even during peacetime, at least 5,000 Imperial soldiers were stationed here.

Moreover, the base could accommodate up to two divisions, roughly 45,000 troops.

Although Changala was a small town, virtually unfindable on a general map, it held an irreplaceable strategic value in the Northwest Battle Zone.

The key was its strategic position, controlling the critical routes between the south Ural and North Broad Sea!

About 250 kilometers northeast of Changala was the city of Ural, a mandatory military location and transport hub from Saratov to Orenburg, it boasted the largest train transfer center in the south Ural area, responsible for about one-third of the east-west transport volume.

Moreover, Orenburg was a must-capture strategic stronghold on the way to advance to Leaf Castle.

The Eastern Group’s first line of strategic defense in the northwest direction was actually constructed around Orenburg, making it the central axis of the entire defense line.

Ural was the front line of Orenburg, and Changala was the front line of Ural.

But that was not all.

About 300 kilometers south of Changala was Astrakhan.

This city, located on the northern banks of the Broad Sea at the delta of the Volga River, held a strategic value even greater than Ural—akin to Orenburg of the North Broad Sea Plain.

Strategically, for the West Continent Group to push eastward, even just to conquer the Lusha Federation Republic, which meant capturing Leaf Castle—its administrative capital—they only had two lines of advance: through the south Ural via Orenburg and through the obligatory path of Astrakhan at North Broad Sea.

Other routes, although seemingly closer, actually posed greater challenges for the advance.

For example, the straight-line distance from Perm to Leaf Castle was only about 200 kilometers, but the Ural Mountains lay in between, traversable by only one road and one railway.

The mountainous region was easy to defend but hard to attack, and the bridges and tunnels along the way were susceptible to destruction, making it nearly impossible to cross directly over the Ural Mountains.

Of course, mountainous regions were not suitable for operations by armored forces.

Logistic support was difficult to maintain, and even the railway capacity was limited, so even if they crossed the Ural Mountains, it was impossible to deploy heavy forces in that direction.

Continuing northward would enter the extremely cold Arctic Circle, lacking railways and other transport infrastructures, making large-scale military operations even less feasible.

Similarly, the route from Ufa to the south of Leaf Castle through Chelyabinsk also involved crossing the Ural Mountains.

To avoid the Ural Mountains, the only way was to advance from the south, either choosing the Orenburg route or passing through Astrakhan.

If the main objective was to attack Leaf Castle, then Orenburg would definitely be the choice.

After capturing Orenburg, it would be possible to push eastward along the main railroad, then turn north at Orsk to attack Chelyabinsk.

Once Chelyabinsk was reached, it would be certain to advance to Leaf Castle and control the areas east of the Ural Mountains.

The biggest advantage of this attack route was that it was supported by railroads and highways along the way, eliminating the problem of logistical support lagging behind.

In fact, just the first main railway line from the eastern port city to the port city of Novorossiysk at the Mo Sea in Giant Continent had the capacity to support an army of 5 million.

It was also one of the most important main lines on the battlefield between Giant Continent and West Continent!

During the last Global War, the Imperial Army suffered from inadequate logistical support.

In the first two years, the Imperial Army failed to achieve a breakthrough in the Giant Continent battlefield due to inadequate logistic support. It wasn’t until the Navy broke into the Mo Sea and landed on the north side of the Caucasus, at the Chains Land Bridge, opening the seaway, that the logistics support issue was resolved.

After the great war ended, the Imperial Army, learning from the bitter lessons, invested heavily in building railways and roads in Giant Continent to solve the difficulties of material transportation.

Of course, this was also related to the substantial post-war development of the Lusha Federation Republic.

Interestingly, the initiative to build the first main railway line, which extended from the imperial eastern port city to the Mo Sea port city of Novorossiysk, covering a total distance of over 10,000 kilometers, was not driven by the Imperial Army but by Eastern Lusha.