I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 528 - 426: Anti-tank Gun
Having nothing else to do, Chen Xin put down his book after reading for a while and paced into the Ark’s cockpit.
The atmosphere here was much tenser than before. After all, they had been attacked, and both Arks had now entered a state of battle readiness; even the Ark’s interior was under a blackout order, and the cockpit was no exception.
However, despite the blackout order, it wasn’t completely dark.
Chen Xin approached the Hai Zhu No. Captain and asked him, "What’s the current situation?"
"There hasn’t been any new instruction from back home yet; we are still on standby with the Xu Gou No.," the Hai Zhu No. Captain said, nodding to Chen Xin before explaining, "As for Lucia, they’ve been keeping in touch with us. According to the latest shared intelligence, the battle in Lucia Capital is currently at a stalemate."
"Stalemate? Why would you use that term?" Chen Xin was very curious that the battle had reached a stalemate. Has Lucia’s official power really declined to such an extent, that even in alliance with the Revolutionary Army, they can’t suppress a group of oligarchs working behind the scenes?
The Hai Zhu No. Captain easily read the meaning in Chen Xin’s expression, and shrugged helplessly, "There’s nothing we can do. Although Lucia’s official forces managed to push in immediately with the Revolution Army’s cooperation, the armed forces under those oligarchs are no pushovers either.
Most are mercenaries they raised previously, quite capable in combat, and among those oligarchs, some control military-industrial enterprises, so their weaponry is not weaker than that of regular forces. There are even anti-tank guns in the bunkers built by the oligarchs, which have created significant trouble for Lucia’s forces in their assault."
Hearing about the anti-tank guns, Chen Xin could understand the difficulty of the offensive.
Anti-tank guns, also called armor-piercing guns, are low trajectory firearms mainly used to destroy enemy tanks and other armored targets.
Typically, they are emplaced on the battlefield to resist the assault of armor groups. Still, if you position one of these in a narrow passage, even if Lucia’s official forces could drive a tank in, it would just be a sitting duck, a fixed target.
It’s like you block the only exit of an ant nest, where all the ants must come out of this exit, and yet you’ve set up a flamethrower directly at the exit. As long as the number of ants is not enough to block the flamethrower, no matter how many come out, it’s meaningless.
Though anti-tank guns aren’t flamethrowers, Lucia’s forces aren’t even comparable to the Suyia army back in the day or the even earlier Tsarist Russian grey beasts.
With such weaponry on the part of the oligarchs, it’s not surprising that the battle has reached a stalemate.
If Flame Country were to attack, they might use their Heavy Mecha’s 50mm short-barreled recoilless gun to forcibly knock out that anti-tank gun on the other side.
But for Lucia’s regular forces, a single anti-tank gun is enough to render them helpless.
After all, the other side couldn’t possibly use just one anti-tank gun to block the passage: pair it with a couple of heavy machine guns, small infiltrations get swept with machine guns, large-scale frontal assaults get shelled—it’s very difficult to break through such a defense before the ammo runs out.
And as for heavy firepower like rocket launchers, Chen Xin believed that Lucia’s official forces must have already tried them. But since those oligarchs have set up anti-tank guns, they must have prepared defensive measures.
It’s much easier to pour high-grade steel-reinforced concrete to build a sufficiently strong bunker than to set up an anti-tank gun beneath Lucia’s capital.
"So what do they plan to do now? Just wait it out?" Chen Xin shook his head; if that’s the case, there’s no need for them to linger. Dragging it out will only have one result: the capital of Lucia is beyond saving.
Regarding Chen Xin’s question, the Hai Zhu No. Captain shook his head, "That’s not it; they’re trying to find a way to bypass that anti-tank gun. After all, they are one of the five permanent members; their regular forces shouldn’t be unable to deal with a single anti-tank gun, but it will take time."
Both the Hai Zhu No. Captain and Chen Xin had no doubt that Lucia’s forces could resolve the issue.
However, how long it would take for them to resolve it was uncertain.
"Have they requested aid from us?" Chen Xin was quite concerned about this issue. Given how the situation is, Lucia’s leadership probably has their blood pressure at max, and it wouldn’t be out of the question to ask for their aid now.
After all, the Flame Country holds the method to easily solve the problem in their hands.
"Lucia’s leadership personally sent us a message requesting assistance, hoping we could lend them the Titan to break through the oligarchs’ armed defenses. However, considering the lack of orders from home and the possibility of the Titan being destroyed, after discussing with the Xu Gou No. Captain, we didn’t agree." The Hai Zhu No. Captain’s ’didn’t agree’ didn’t mean a complete refusal but suggested that Lucia’s leadership contact home directly.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Xin asked the Hai Zhu No. Captain, "What caliber are these anti-tank guns they’re using?"
He needed to evaluate the level of armed force used by the oligarchs and calculate the possibility of the Titan being destroyed if it confronted the anti-tank guns.
"75mm caliber, and it’s an old model. Its power is considered average on the battlefield, but in this scenario, it’s very effective, and they have a considerable stockpile of shells, making it hard for the Lucians to break through for now." The Hai Zhu No. Captain shrugged; as a naval officer, he didn’t see it as a big caliber; a 75mm caliber on a WWII-era naval ship would just be a small-caliber toothpick.
A 75mm caliber anti-tank gun, as long as it’s not firing armor-piercing bullets, would find it quite challenging to penetrate the Titan’s defense, especially since these Titans also have shields.
"With this caliber, the Titan can indeed withstand it." Chen Xin rubbed his chin, suddenly thinking of something, and asked the Hai Zhu No. Captain, "If it were our soldiers, without these new equipment like Titans and Heavy Mecha, how would you deal with this anti-tank gun?"
Facing Chen Xin’s question, the Hai Zhu No. Captain thought seriously before answering, "I’m in the navy; if we encountered such a situation, we would immediately call for fleet fire support or air force air support and directly use overwhelming firepower to destroy the target.
Although this is a common tactic of Federation forces, using human lives to fill an insurmountable firepower stronghold is the least desirable method! Of course, if there were absolutely no other options, our soldiers wouldn’t shy away from sacrifice."
