Empire Conquest

Chapter 545 - 541: Returning Home

Although Nizi felt powerless about the current situation, his trip to Huacheng had achieved all its main objectives, and it could be said that it was quite fruitful.

However, when Nizi was about to return to Treasure Harbor, the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet in East Ocean had also turned to head west.

It wasn’t the news of becoming a father that made Bai Zhizhan change his mind.

Before setting out, he had already known that he was about to become a father, as several court physicians dispatched by the Empress Dowager had confirmed that the Little Eldest Princess was carrying a male fetus.

What made Bai Zhizhan give up on advancing north and decide to return was actually a battle report forwarded by the Navy headquarter.

In the hinterland of the Giant Continent, the assault force led by Lian Xusheng was fiercely resisted by the Luosha Army north of Atla, suffering extremely heavy losses.

In the Atla Battle that had just concluded a few days before, four main armored divisions had been devastated, losing over a thousand tanks.

Those four main armored divisions had a total of just over 1500 tanks!

Due to logistical support always falling behind and the Reserve Team having little armored strength, the hope of attacking Baku within the year was now shattered.

The loss in the Atla Battle was not the fault of Lian Xusheng, nor was it the problem of the grassroots soldiers.

Rather, the Luosha Army was too tenacious.

In this decisive battle, which lasted less than ten days, the Empire’s Army committed four armored divisions, three mechanized infantry divisions, and eight infantry divisions, totaling less than 250,000 troops. The Luosha Army committed two armored divisions, eight motorized infantry divisions, and over thirty infantry divisions, plus mobilized nearly 300,000 local militia, totaling more than 700,000 troops, three times the strength of the Empire’s Army!

Moreover, the Luosha Army fought very tenaciously.

Just in the industrial area north of Atla, the Luosha Army had successively committed about 300,000 troops, contending with the Empire’s Army for half a month.

Eventually, at a steep cost of nearly 500,000 soldiers, the Luosha Army stalled the advance of the Empire’s Army within the city of Atla.

Of course, the key was the depletion of the Empire’s Army’s already limited combat supplies.

In the last three days, the Empire’s Army lost over 700 tanks, more than half of which were abandoned on the front lines after running out of fuel to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, blown up by the tank crews themselves. Meanwhile, many of the rest were inoperable due to a lack of spare parts.

According to the Army’s report, out of the approximately 1200 lost tanks, only about 700 were combat losses, the remaining over 500 were damaged beyond repair.

Crucially, in this battle, the casualties of the Empire’s Army were fewer than 50,000.

With only one-tenth of the casualties of the Luosha Army, this not only demonstrated the powerful combat capability of the Empire’s Army but also showed the incredible bravery of the Luosha soldiers, who fought very valiantly, often simply using human waves, fighting desperately at all costs.

Whatever the case, the frontline troops would have to stop and wait for supplies in the coming months.

To put it in the words of the battle report’s conclusion, all officers and soldiers of the Northwest Army led by Lian Xusheng had done their utmost.

With no hope of advancing to Baku, they must now capture Boss Bay.

Regardless of the situation at Transfer Island, one, preferably two, Special Mixed Fleets must be dispatched to Fan Flame Ocean by September.

Time-wise, the three carriers operating in the Fan Flame Ocean, especially the "Longjiang" and "Peijing," were almost due to return to the shipyard for major repairs.

Indeed, the Navy headquarter might very likely swap the eleventh and the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleets.

Of course, with four small carriers available, Transfer Island does not temporarily require a Special Mixed Fleet, thus allowing the eleventh Special Mixed Fleet to rest and recuperate in the rear.

Also likely, the twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet could possibly be transferred to Liu Xiangzhen.

According to such arrangements, the Empire’s Navy not only needed to march on Boss Bay but perhaps would also launch an offensive against Jibu Fortress simultaneously.

From a tactical perspective, they had first needed to attack Socotra Island.

As for the battle operations against Transfer Island, after annihilating Newland Navy’s last Special Mixed Fleet, they still needed some time but it could be said to be absolutely secure.

It was only necessary to keep an eye on the commerce raiding Fleet in the Southwest East Ocean.

Several days later, on the morning of August 27th, the 21st Special Mixed Fleet returned to the waters southwest of Transfer Island, successfully rendezvousing with the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet.

It was then that Bai Zhizhan had learned that, at the request of the Marine Corps, a temporary port had been built near the landing area in the northwest of Transfer Island.

The method was quite crude, involving several old, broken-down transport ships filled with cement, which were then sunk in shallow waters. Engineers would construct a pier on the sunken ships and build a floating bridge to connect with the beach to facilitate vehicle traffic.

With this temporary port, the speed of loading and unloading goods and equipment had doubled.

More importantly, it allowed more ships to anchor.

This included several fire-support ships.

After the fire-support ships were deployed forward, the Marine Corps had received more direct artillery support, making it easier to attack Newland Army’s bunkers.

Of course, most of the time, it had primarily caused tremendous psychological pressure on Newland’s officers and soldiers.

These fire-support ships never stopped firing their heavy cannons at the positions of the Newland Army, constantly reminding the island’s garrison that the battle was not over.

At night, the shelling became completely irregular.

Additionally, sometimes they would use the unusually large 350mm or 400mm cannons, equipped with enhanced ammunition armor-piercing bullets, to plow through Newland Army’s defenses.

This irregular and highly threatening shelling had made it impossible for Newland’s officers and soldiers to rest at night.

As for movement on the ground, that was even more impossible.

During the day, it was slightly safer—at least they could go out to get some air without worrying about sudden artillery fire.

Key also was that, after the Galapagos Sea Battle, the previously very active "Treasure Harbor Express," fast ships transporting personnel and materials to Transfer Island at night, never appeared again. Only occasionally did a patrol seaplane come at night to evacuate the severely wounded.

The seaplanes brought mostly just medicines.

Of course, there were also letters from home.

Home letters were the spiritual support of the garrison’s officers and soldiers, the motivation to continue fighting.

Clearly, the Newland Navy had virtually given up on Transfer Island.

Yet, the garrison on Transfer Island remained incredibly stubborn, showing no intention of surrendering.

Four days later, on the last day of August, Navy headquarters sent orders for the 21st and 22nd Special Mixed Fleets to return to port and stand by.

That day, the Marine Corps captured the garrison command center located near the airport.

This was the last group of surface fortifications on Transfer Island controlled by the Newland Army.

Although in the southeast of Transfer Island, an area equivalent to one-quarter was still under the control of the Newland Army, there were no longer solid surface fortifications; the remaining Newland Army troops were almost all hiding in underground fortifications, and they had lost the courage and will to come out and fight against the Empire’s Marine Corps.

At this point in the battle, whether the Special Mixed Fleet provided air support or not didn’t matter anymore.