I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 730 - 628: The Europeans’ Dilemma

As the Land Fleet gradually approached Europe, the European countries eagerly awaited the arrival of this joint fleet of Flame Country and Lucia.

Although the military strength was merely a brigade, which seemed like a drop in the bucket for the current European battlefield, the equipment and technology they carried were undoubtedly the greatest support and assistance for the European battlefield.

For the current European countries, even though the military forces were tight, it was not yet at a breaking point. What really troubled them was that light weapons had no effect on the alien creatures.

These Europeans didn't have the comprehensive strength and luck of the Flame Country, with Chen Xin continuously supplying various advanced military equipment, and they also lacked the capability to produce advanced military equipment themselves and equip their troops.

Their military equipment remained in the state it was before the catastrophe. Although not considered obsolete, many of these pieces were considered advanced even before the catastrophe, but obviously, these were not suitable for fighting alien creatures.

Though these Europeans were once military powerhouses, and even now their overall strength was not weak, unfortunately, the two World Wars had already bled them dry.

Especially after World War II, the shift of the world's focus and the rise of national movements led these old European powers to lose their vast colonies and couldn't recover as they did post-World War I by exploiting them, which resulted in tough times for European countries in the ensuing decades.

The subsequent European refugee crisis was just rubbing salt into their wounds.

And this global catastrophe was like stabbing the wound again, with a dull knife at that, plunged in and not taken out, slowly draining blood.

England, to preserve its citizens, exchanged its homeland for the opportunity to merge with France, but Gaul itself was mostly plains, which had made France the strongest nation of knights in medieval cold weaponry but now left it unable to resist the rising sea levels.

The entire Western European plains' average altitude was not even two hundred meters, so the people of England and France could only retreat to France's southern central plateau and the Alps, where they built their shelters.

However, this became a headache after alien creatures launched attacks from the Mediterranean, as losing northern territories meant they had no strategic depth to fend off the alien invasion.

As for the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula, they could only cling together for warmth at this point.

Though the terrain of the Iberian Peninsula was elevated, preventing it from being submerged by rising coastlines, these weren't powerful nations. Their economic strength was limited, and national power could only be described as weak, long lost were the days of Spanish rule over the Eastern Hemisphere and Portuguese rule over the Western Hemisphere.

If not for the elevated terrain, the entire Iberian Peninsula would be a plateau sustaining an initial wave of alien attacks, those two countries might no longer exist now.

As for the remainder of Europe... the Balkan Peninsula had already fallen, and the Apennine Peninsula wasn't much better, with only a small portion near the German mountain areas still under human control, barely sustaining a defense line with German and Anglo-French support.

Although Eastern European countries hadn't been massively invaded by alien creatures, regrettably, they themselves had hardly any national power to speak of.

After the catastrophe struck, though they had relatively vast lands, they couldn't even build shelters for their citizens, leading Eastern European countries to a mere nominal existence; even if survivors remained, they were powerless to aid in the war.

On the contrary, the Northern European countries, after first ascertaining they couldn't withstand the catastrophic chills, followed England's example, abandoning their original lands to embrace Germany.

With the people and resources from Northern European countries, Germany instead became the European country faring best amidst this disaster.

Moreover, after the alien invasion began, since a series of Mediterranean nations bore the brunt, Germany's homeland hadn't been attacked by alien creatures.

This allowed the Germans to leverage their industrial advantage to supply equipment and materials to other national armies strenuously resisting alien creature invasions at the forefront.

However, even so, their resistance was extraordinarily challenging. If the terrain hadn't limited alien assault's extent, France might have already fallen.

But even then, the French territory had been split into two parts: the central plateau and the Alps, with the original Rhône River valley already breached by aliens, directly dividing the remaining southern French lands.

The French were eager to employ their traditional skills, but sadly, the aliens didn't understand the French military salute, rendering this traditional skill useless.

Nevertheless, this indirectly maintained the baseline morale of the European allied forces, for losing meant death, being devoured by aliens, which was absolutely unacceptable for any human.

Until the military completely collapsed, everyone could still fight like a cornered beast trying to fend off the invasion.

Regrettably, aside from employing heavy weapons and large-caliber machine guns, European countries now had no effective method to curb the alien attack.

Moreover, with each nation's industrial production substantially compromised, replenishing heavy weaponry was increasingly difficult, England had begun using their meager reserves of nuclear arms.

After light weapons, as the military's primary armament, had lost effectiveness, relying on heavy weapons to repel the overwhelming tide of alien creatures was an acute challenge for European nations.

It's crucial to note that these Europeans didn't have Exoskeletons, Power Armor, Titans, or Electromagnetic Rifles, nor did they possess cold-weather Protective Suits or Energy Towers for heating entire shelters or cities.

Along with the persistent dust clouds over Europe, they had been plagued by food shortages since the catastrophe struck.

On the frontline trenches, these Europeans seemed to revert to World War I era trench warfare, battling hunger and cold, barely holding off alien assaults through makeshift earthwork and wooden fortifications, not treating the enemy's lower sub-bodies as lives at all.

In such circumstances, when the Flame Country offered Electromagnetic Rifles capable of effectively killing alien creatures and Exoskeleton Protective Suits to afford soldiers some defensive capability against the cold, it was indeed providing timely aid to these Europeans.