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Mingug, 440mHz
The Prussians had launched their daring operation to bring 440mHz to itÂ’s knees by sending one of their strongest fleets to tie down the SENSE task force in the Sea of Fuchs, while their landing fleet moved on behind, but still they had landed with serious losses, in a landing that cost them 62 thousand casualties thanks to the much faster then anticipated annihilation of the Prussian fleet that was supposed to tie down the Xing Shianan naval task force, and the subsequent redirection of the XSNÂ’s attention towards the landing force, that was defended by only a Aegis cruiser. Under a hail of firepower, they had barely made it onshore, taking 25 percent casualties from their invasion force of 250,000 troops and 2 regiments of armour worth 290 tanks.
But such grievous losses were least of their worries, with SENSE holding airpower of the seas, it was impossible to maintain a supply lifeline to the invasion force, not to mention they had lost quite a bit of their precious supplies during the disastrous landing. There was no way they could complete their mission unless they captured the nearby city of Mingug.
Despite all the objections that the Prussian generals had raised against the daring plan for the backdoor invasion, conceived by the Grand Duke himself, the self-styled leader, who had a keen study of German battle tactics in World War 2, was convinced that this could work if they managed to accomplish what the Germans failed to accomplish during The Battle of The Bulge; to capture enemy supplies and utilize them to support their mission.
That was what made the city of Mingug important to the Grand DukeÂ’s plan. The Prussian troops had brought along a large load of ammunition, but fuel was going to be a problem. A problem that was already serious in the entire Prussian armies due to the SENSE strategic bombing of their industries, and relentless air attacks on their supply lines. Mingug was a city built on an extensive oil industry, and if the Prussians could capture them, they should have no problems with supply. Fail to do so, and the entire invasion force would grind to a halt as they ran out of fuel, and almost certainly lost.
The Prussians had made their best speed towards Mingug, but once again, they had reckoned without the SENSE Xing Shianan eint network, which cost them all their element of surprise. The SENSE generals could see what was coming from a long way off and had managed to rush forces to the defense of Mingug. Dragging what was supposed to be a swift Prussian victory into an increasingly desperate urban war of attrition where they were running low on ammunition, and most importantly, fuel.
But the mHzen defenders were not having it any better either, badly outnumbered by the desperate Prussians, they had been taking heavy casualties and losing ground as they tried their very best to stall for time, waiting for SENSE reinforcements (of which they were not even sure of if any were planned) and the Prussian supply problems to catch up with them.
The Prussians, running almost dry, had struck as hard and as desperately at the mHzen defense as possible, trading blood in an attempt to get their fuel, throwing everything they got at the enemy and advancing with scant attention to casualties. And the mHzen forces were caught off balance by such desperate tactics, taking heavy losses and forced to withdraw. Frustratingly, almost insanely frustrating for the Prussians, the much needed oil industries lay on the far eastern side of the city, which meant that they had to fight all the way through it in order to get to them.
But they had been making progress, despite their serious losses. And now the mHzen forces were on their last leg, badly depleted and pushed all the way back almost out of the city, defending just a scant 150 meters of city between them and the oil industries. The desperate and with the sent of much needed victory Prussians moved their forces for the last final push which involved the most effort they had every put in ever since this entire sorry urban fight started.
Outnumbering the mHzens, who lacked the support of their vaunted artillery, the Prussians attacked to put the final, desperate K.O punch to the enemy defense to break through to the salvation of their army. Infantry poured against infantry lines and tanks charged down the last defended streets. The mHzen defense would stand no chance, unwavering against the odds; they made their last stand.
But in that final massive attack, the Prussian forces were like a boxer that had overextended himself in attacking his opponent, leaving himself vulnerable. As the masses of Prussian infantry and what armor that could be coaxed to charged down towards the depleted mHzens, it was the very moment the SENSE generals had waiting for, and the exact thing they hoped the Prussians would try.
Screaming down out of the sky at the exposed Prussians, SENSE airpower that had been absent in all this while came down of out nowhere in the form of mHzen A-10s, the first few dropping Rockeye bombs on the exposed Prussians, the Rockeye canisters split apart midair, releasing hundreds of submunitions all over the place-
-The Prussian lieutenant commander leading the morale-boosting attack, running while waving his pistol like he had seen in his childhood propaganda films, realized that his forces were utterly exposed the moment the A-10s appeared, and he opened his mouth to scream for them to break up and take cover. He had managed to form half the order when the submunitions blanketed him and his troops in a pyrotechnic drumbeat of smoke and explosions.
“Good hit, good hit, they’re out of action.” One of the A-10 pilots said.
Out of action was a gross understatement; the largest piece of all the 210 Prussians killed by the Rockeyes was the lieutenant commanderÂ’s headless torso. That was just the beginning, more A-10s screamed in, dropping loads of FAEs, napalm and more cluster bombs on the stunned Prussians. Tanks exploded as the Warthogs engaged them with cannon and mavericks, tearing through the armoured columns like harvesters through a wheat field. Lacking any serious anti-air weapons, what Prussians that were alive and had the presence of mind to fire at the A-10s found their weapons ineffective against the well-protected aircraft.
The mHzen A-10s had attacked some distance away from friendly lines as they ran the very real risk of hitting friendly ground units, which, just minutes ago preparing for their last battle, were now cheering the aircraft on like spectators at a sports event. The Prussians closer to the mHzens who had escaped death as the A-10s dropped behind them found no respite when Xing Shianan attack choppers, a swarm of numerous AH-64D Longbow Apaches and AUH-X1 Little Foxes arrived from apparently nowhere after a long map of the earth flight from Hangug, the Apaches hovering and dodging up and down behind the ridge of the hill and engaging the forward Prussians with their Hellfires, Folding Fin Aerial Rockets (FFAR) and 30mm chain guns, while the Little Foxes dodged in, using their hellacious speed to strafe the Prussians with their 5.56mm minuguns and 2inch FFARs in attack runs so accurate and precise that rained spent shells on the mHzen position, but sprayed the Prussians with minigun fire. And that was not all, the AC-130 Spectres, fresh from their mission over Koln just a day ago, had turned up in force in the skies above Mingug to rain even more death on the Prussians.
The results were no short of devastating, what was a determined, advancing Prussian mass assault of infantry and armour had been transformed into a scene of dead bodies, body parts and twisted metal, while the survivors either lay dying or were now running away in any direction as long as it involved taking them further from the enemy. In just a few short minutes, the attacking Prussians had over 5,500 men and most of their armor out of action, turning the mass attack into a rout that continued to take casualties as they were harassed by SENSE airpower. SENSE airpower continued to arrive unopposed, now attacking Prussians positions within the city and outside with crippling effect. Enemy anti aircraft return fire was ineffective.
Then came a strike of thirty-five B1-B Lancers of the 2nd Albertosaur bomb wing, which approached, unnoticed by the Prussians until they started carpet bombing the stunned Prussian armies, guided by eint in dynamically updating bomb runs that followed the desperate enemy as they scrambled to get out of the way. More crippling casualties piled onto of crippling casualties.
Driven by airpower all over the area, the entire Prussian invasion force, now down to 55,000 men and just over fifty tanks, were driven from all their areas in and outside the city a general and chaotic rout towards the center of the city, where they all started to band up. Brutalized, demoralized and disorganized, the surviving Prussians lost all military instinct and banded together in the city center like cornered animals, in a mass collection of 55,000, not an army but shell-shocked men who took cover wherever they could find, stayed there at all costs and fired at anything they perceived to be a threat, better judgment clouded by clear panic. Some shot at shadows, others at their own people. Casualties from fratricide started to mount.
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