Empire Conquest-Chapter 748 - 46 Strategic Stronghold_3

This railway was actually a symbol of the Luosha Federation’s march toward independence.

Before the construction of this railway, for 30 years after the war, the Lusha Federation Republic was highly dependent on the Empire in all aspects, and everything had to be done according to the wishes of the Imperial Authority.

Once the economy started to develop, the Lusha Federation Republic gradually freed itself from dependence on the Empire.

To put it plainly, it had "grown its wings."

In fact, this was an affair following the Boi War.

Despite the Imperial Authority’s clear opposition, and later merely tacit agreement without endorsement, the Lusha Federation Republic authority still managed to fund on its own and commenced the construction of the second mainline railway. This was to foster economic development in the southern regions and to showcase its own increasing power.

Naturally, this result was inevitable.

Within the Eastern Group, Eastern Luosha’s industrial scale and economic output both ranked second, surpassing all other member states except for the Liangxia Empire.

With increased power naturally came the desire for commensurate influence.

From this, it’s clear that Astrakhan held significant strategic value and was very likely a primary target for the West Continent Group.

Changala was only 300 kilometers away from Astrakhan!

This distance was precisely within the operational radius of armed helicopters.

Moreover, approximately 400 kilometers west from Changala was Volgograd.

Although this distance was a bit too far, exceeding the combat radius of the armed helicopters, it was also not possible to resist the enemy’s armored onslaught directly at the frontline in defensive operations.

Besides, the operational radius could be extended by utilizing forward field airports.

Indeed, Changala’s location was exceptionally advantageous.

That’s not to say there weren’t problems.

The primary issue was transportation.

Apart from a branch railway line connecting from Saratov by the Imperial Army, there was only one gravel road leading to the outside world.

Due to several tunnels and bridges along the railway, and frequent geological disasters, one should not rely on ground transport at all. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

For this reason, the troops stationed in Changala for a long time were actually an Assault Squadron of the Land Air Force.

Originally, before the Army’s arrival, it was an advanced Air Force field airport.

Even now, it also undertook the mission of providing support to the Air Force’s frontline aviation, maintaining two runways for the operation of fighter aircraft.

Hence, supplies and equipments were mainly transported by air.

Changala regained attention and came into play mainly due to the oil pipeline connected from Astrakhan, funded by the Army.

This deep-buried pipeline could transport up to 2500 tons of fuel daily.

Calculating based on two sortie frequencies per day, this fuel could support 250 Air Force tactical aircraft or 500 Army helicopters.

Because it wasn’t possible to maintain such a high rate of sorties continuously, along with supplies obtainable through air transport, the actual deployed troops could be higher.

For this reason, Changala Base became the Headquarters for the Empire’s Army Air Force in that direction.

During the past roughly 20 days, three brigades of the Land Air Force had been stationed at Changala Base, including over 100 armed helicopters.

Among them was Lian Mingyang’s Assault Squadron.

This squadron, being the first to reequip with "Z-10A," was also the premier unit of the Northwest War Zone of the Land Air Force, holding irreplaceable value.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been redeployed from Boss Bay back to Changala.