At the end of the morning, the rain stopped and the wind stopped. The ground was wet and there were mud puddles everywhere.

Weis stood above the battalion bunker, silently watching his companions who were leaving in the marching formation. As the Norman army suddenly descended to the rear, the Federal Army's Northern Line Command urgently dispatched troops deployed on the border line to "fight the fire". The Baston Students' Group received the order to send three-quarters of the troops into a special combat group commanded by Lieutenant General Hendrik Durm. At the emergency meeting of the regiment headquarters, Colonel Capes made the decision to select a company-retained defense zone for each battalion, and all the other companies and baggage units went to fight, and personally selected two battalion deputy to serve as the acting commanders of the left-behind troops.

Weiss is one of them.

Weiss did not question Colonel Capes' decision, nor did he doubt it. Before joining the war, he felt that he was able to deal with various emergencies on the battlefield and even became the key teacher in key occasions. However, when the real crisis came, he found that his knowledge and experience were not helpful.

The gap between theory and reality requires continuous practice and continuous exploration to cross it.

The one who stayed with Weiss was the number one academic master among the fresh graduates of the Baston Military Academy. Although he was not as popular as Weiss, in terms of academic performance, Mr. Lundes was the most outstanding player from the first grade to the third grade. From military academy officials to subject instructors, everyone praised him unanimously.

Because of this, Colonel Capes appointed Lundes as the acting battalion commander of the left-behind troops, while Weiss was still the battalion deputy.

On the ground, tens of thousands of federal officers and soldiers left their original defense zone and drove towards the Norman army's sudden descent area. In the sky, federal ships flew in groups from Wessex in groups and rushed towards the direction of the Federation. In this busy scene, the officers and soldiers who stayed in the defense zone became a group of spectators.

"I think their trip has a worrying prospect, huh?" Lundes asked Weiss.

At the previous regiment headquarters meeting, Colonel Capes admitted to the battalion-level officers that the headquarters did not know how many troops the Normans had airborne, their equipment and firepower, and how much ammunition and medicine they had hoarded. In order to ensure the counterattack as much as possible, a large number of troops must be drawn from the border defense line. To the north of the border, there are still many federal troops blocking the Norman army. Even if the Normans continue to attack wildly, it will take three to five days to reach the border defense line.

This sounds comforting, but no one can predict how the situation of the war will develop.

"Why do you say that?" Weiss asked.

"Because I see a deep pessimism in your face," Lundes said. "It doesn't look like your personality at all."

Weiss turned to look at the top student: "You seem to understand me very much?"

"I didn't understand before." Lundes replied with a profound look on his face, "After last year's Spring Conference, I began to pay attention to your actions and think about your thoughts. Perhaps no one understands you better than me except your family and best friends."

Weiss was quite surprised. He couldn't help but ask, "What's the point of studying me?"

Lundes replied: "I thought it would be interesting, but it wasn't interesting, or... someone's departure made your life monotonous and boring."

Although Lundes did not directly reveal the man's name, how could Weis not notice it? He sighed silently and continued to watch the marching team of the Baston Students' Group travel until the blue regiment flag disappeared from the end of his sight.

After lunch, Weiss began to inspect the defense zone. It took only ten minutes to inspect the defense zone of the 1st Battle Battalion, but now it takes nearly an hour to inspect the defense zone of the entire Baston Student Group. Due to the reduction of three-quarters of the troops, the defense zones appear empty. Standing at a high place and looking around, the defense zones of the neighboring troops are the same.

At the end of the inspection, Weiss faintly heard the rumbling cannons coming from the south. It seemed that the temporarily formed Dulm battle group had begun to attack the Norman army in the sudden subsidence of the Federation. Since dawn, only federal ships have been seen around the border defense line, and no trace of Norman warships were seen, which is a crucial benefit for the Dulm battle group that hastily entered the battle. In addition to the firepower support from the air, the federal troops invested in the counterattack also brought a lot of field artillery, which should be enough to deal with the unstable Norman troops. But for some reason, Weiss always had a bad premonition: not only does the counterattack of the Dulm battle group be difficult to succeed, but the border defense line that takes time out will also be worrying.

From afternoon until night, no conclusive news about the battle situation came from the front line. However, at dusk, four transport ships flew from the direction of the Federation and took away several air defense companies equipped with light anti-aircraft guns from the border line. Judging from this situation, the battle had to continue, and at night, the Federal Fleet and the air defense forces in the border area could not stop the small-scale Norman Fleet's invasion on Sunday.

The next night, the southwest sky was occasionally shining with the flames of artillery fire, which made Weiss unable to fall asleep peacefully. It was not until early morning that he could barely take a nap. After less than an hour of sleep, he was awakened by the bloody scene in the nightmare.

After having breakfast, Weiss inspected the defense zone again. This time, he tried to start from the perspective of the defending commander, observe and think about the shortcomings of fortification construction and firepower deployment, record it and take it back to the command center to discuss with Lundes. The academic master was not vague at all. He followed Weiss to turn around the defense zone and solve the problems he found one by one. Therefore, in the defense zone of the Baston Student Group, the soldiers were struggling to wield tools and adjust the firepower positions. Of course, this was only based on the leakage and potential of the existing soldiers' equipment, and it was difficult to fundamentally improve the hardness of the defense line.

The main force of the Baston student group was incorporated into the Dulm battle group and went to the battlefield at dusk. The left-behind personnel got a very bad news from the border defense command: the coalition forces were sent to the main force of the 10th Corps of the Federation, together with six more uniform guard divisions, to fight with all their might from the Norman army advancing from the Mesport Airport to the Ulster-Wessex border. The two sides fought fiercely in the Loire Valley southeast of Mesport for two days and nights, but the Normans were still better. They defeated the coalition forces with their cunning and changing tactical strategies, and then took advantage of the victory to pursue them. The progress was rapid. Their vanguard had entered the town of Widenbor, which was more than 100 miles away from the border defense line. To the south of Widenbor was the Verde grassland that was without any danger and the border defense line with empty troops!

Upon hearing the news, Weiss, Lundes and everyone in the left-behind regiment headquarters were speechless.

The clouds in the evening burned the sky mostly red.

After nightfall, the southwest night sky was unwilling to be lonely and reflected in various lights, white, yellow, red, and orange, as if a unique light show was being staged. By midnight, the sound of cannons from afar gradually became clear, which was not good news for the coalition forces. As expected, before dawn, the border defense command sent all units through telephone lines to enter the combat alert, and should be especially wary of the enemy's retreating troops entering the defense zone with their own retreating troops.

In other words, the Dulm battle group is retreating to the border line.

Is this defeated?

After using the phone to send the battalions and companies into combat alert, Weiss and Lundes acted separately and patrolled the regiment’s defense zone overnight. It can be seen that the left-behind personnel, whether they were military academy teachers, cadets or reserve soldiers recruited during the war were nervous and nervous about the upcoming storm. Many people clearly wrote about worries or fears, and only those inspectors responsible for inspecting military discipline were trying their best to remain calm...

When the first wave of figures appeared in the south of the defense zone, the tension of the left-behind personnel in various departments reached its limit, and guns began to fire on the positions, which almost led to the tragedy of killing each other. Fortunately, the officers and inspectors of various departments played a restrictive role, and those soldiers who had no combat experience did not shoot because of excessive tension without distinguishing the enemy.

When the runners with no formation approached the position, the left-behind officers and soldiers finally heard the shouts of their own people. Out of necessary vigilance, they asked the other party's troops loudly, and the answers they received were the 107th Guard Division, the 124th Guard Division, the 142nd Guard Division, and the 63rd Combat Division, and these were the federal troops originally stationed in the border defense area.

The left-behind officers raised their guns and let these embarrassed guys enter their positions. When they got closer, they saw that these people were indeed outfits of the federal army, but most of them were empty-handed and even discarded the most basic tactical equipment. Most of them were not injured, or they were just irrelevant minor injuries on the skin, but they all seemed to have lost their souls. Even if they were given weapons and equipment again, it would be difficult to recover their combat effectiveness in a short period of time.

After understanding the situation, Weiss and Lundes's ideas coincided with each other: for the retreating personnel entering the Baston Student Group Defense Zone, they were asked to rest in the trenches and bunkers, and wait until dawn before they returned to their respective left-behind troops.

Not long after, the second wave of federal troops retreating disorder appeared in front of the defense zone. With the previous experience, the left-behind officers and soldiers from various departments were able to calmly identify their identities and temporarily shelter them.

Two waves of retreating personnel entered the Baston Student Group defense zone, and the width of their defense zone accounts for only one-forty of the overall width of the entire border defense line. While settling these retreaters, Weiss and Lundes were doing the same thing: inquire about the frontline situation over the past two days and the news about the main force of the Baston Student Group. By summarizing these people's narratives, the general situation of this counterattack was depicted. On the first day, the Durm battle group and the rear guards quickly formed an encirclement against the Norman troops and launched an offensive based on the fire support of the federal warships.
Chapter completed!