At dusk, when groups of Norman warships appeared in the northwest sky, almost everyone felt a kind of oppression that was coming. How many enemy warships are there? 30, 40 or more? Where is our fleet? Can we arrive in time? Can we control the field? These problems are like the layers of dark clouds before the rainstorm, which conveys to people the negative emotions of depression, anxiety, and pessimism.

What should come will always come. At the moment when the Norman fleet appeared, Weiss decisively ordered the orderly evacuation of the factory workers, and all combatants withdrew from the water towers, factories and other combat positions, and entered the anti-aircraft shelter set up in an open area. As expected, the Norman fleet was not purely "showing muscles". When they reached the edge of the range, they launched indiscriminate artillery bombardment on Ao City. Raindrop-like artillery fire fell outside the city and then gradually went toward

The city extends. Wherever the artillery fire reaches, red flames burst out, gunpowder smoke rolls, and sand and stones fly around. Not to mention being outdoors, even staying in a building may not be safe. From a realistic perspective, every time you experience a large-scale artillery bombardment by the enemy, you are fighting fate. Death is a moment of farewell, but pain may last forever and leave lifelong troubles. If you experience more, you may become tempered into steel, or you may be deaf.

The artillery bombardment of the Norman fleet lasted from dusk to night, and lasted for more than two hours. In addition to the south and east of the city, the huge Ao City was basically washed by artillery fire. During this period, the Federal Air Defense Forces deployed in Ao City invested hundreds of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and Federal warships and combat aircraft also rushed in batches and entered the battle. However, this time, without the main battleships participating in the battle, the tactical strategies of the Norman Air Force were significantly different from the past: all ships were divided into three teams, and the strongest team was deployed at altitudes that could not be reached by the Federal Army fighter jets. Their firepower sometimes dealt with federal warships, sometimes bombarded targets on the ground, or took into account both sides; the two teams with a slightly lower strength were mainly focused on dealing with federal fighter jets, but as long as the pressure on the federal fighter jets gave them slightly, they would install shells to bombard Ao City.

Before the shelling ended, the Norman fleet defended the front and refused to retreat, and several active attacks of the Federal Air Force were defeated. As a result, the fire in Aocheng, a city known for its heavy industry, soared into the sky. The fire seemed to ignite the city and burned the red sky. When the Norman fleet finished the shelling, the surviving federal military and civilians had to treat the wounded while extinguishing the fire. Until dawn, the fires throughout the various urban areas of Aocheng had not been completely extinguished, but the Norman fleet in the sky and the Norman army on the ground had arrived together.

At 8 a.m., there was a rumbling sound of artillery fire among the Normans. Their long-range artillery fire, which was close to the limit of the range, did not consider the shooting accuracy at all, but carried out brutal and indiscriminate coverage. In the following day, they projected tens of thousands of shells to the west and north of Aocheng with an hour of shelling and two hours of rest. For the federal army's city-circling defense positions and the city defense fortifications in the west and north of the two cities, they completely sorted out the land like farmers plowing the land. At this time, the M3 and M4 defense zones stationed by the 9th Corps of the Federal Army were not spared, but compared with the outer zone, they suffered much less physical and mental damage.

Just as the command level, officer level, and non-commissioned officer level were speculating on when the Normans would launch an attack, the Norman army launched a tentative night attack on the Federal Army's defensive positions west of O'City. Under the cover of some armored vehicles, the Norman infantry successfully broke through the peripheral minefields, went deep into the trenches and barbed wire areas, and used flamethrowers and explosives to attack the frontier positions of the defenders. With the determination to not give up in an inch of land, the Federal army quickly mobilized the department.

The team reinforced the war zone, with soldiers heading up one after another, and wounded transporting backwards one after another. In the battle zone less than ten miles wide, the two sides exchanged fire for more than four hours. The federal army on the defensive not only lost more troops than the Normans, but also struggled very hard. If the Normans attacked with all their strength, it is still a big unknown whether the position could be kept. These are the news that Weiss received during the meeting of the regiment headquarters, regardless of whether the news was objective or not.

An undeniable fact is that they brought terrible defeatist sentiment to the Federal Army. Fortunately, most officers have become accustomed to this series of bad news and have learned to use the cold humor they were not very good at to ease anxiety and pessimism. Another positive factor is that the federal army has achieved strategic victory in Ao City, which also makes the senior federal army determined to exhaust the spirit of the Norman army in Ao City. Even if one hundred thousand or more troops are sacrificed, two hundred thousand or even more troops are not possible. Based on such strategic decisions, elite combat troops and sufficient combat supplies are continuously transported to Ao City. The administrative system of the federal army has also shown amazing efficiency. The officers and soldiers who made contributions in the early stage and received recommendations have been commended and commended in Ao City. There are many promotions on the front line, which has enabled the federal army to maintain strong morale under this adversity...

After night fire tests, the Norman army's shelling the next day did make targeted adjustments. The ground artillery continued to carry out indiscriminate scattering, but the number of artillery shells falling into the city was much smaller, and the artillery fire attacks on the outer positions of the defenders continued to increase. Despite the increasing fierce attacks from the Federal Army's aviation forces, the Norman fleet's array was still stubbornly forward. Every time the air combat gap was in between, it used cruiser-level firepower to carry out precision strikes on several positions of the Federal Army.

This change, in the eyes of federal soldiers with rich practical experience and keen sense of the battlefield, was a prelude to the Normans' upcoming attack. Therefore, commanders at all levels urged their headquarters to hurry up and prepare for the fortifications and actively prepare for the war. After nightfall, the garrison troops in various defense areas of Aocheng were naturally waiting for trouble and did not dare to slack off at all. The federal troops deployed in the east and south of the city were even more ready to fight, guarding against the Norman army's flanks and forcibly cut off the defenders' retreat.

As midnight approached, the fierce gunfire made hundreds of thousands of federal soldiers and civilians in Aocheng widen their eyes and pricked their ears. However, the Normans did not attack the city in large numbers that night, but as people expected and worried, they attacked the defense strongholds of the federal army in the east and south of the city. These two strongholds transformed the original factory group into a solid fortress group to increase the defense level of the Aocheng front and cover the railway trunk line southeast to the rear. Once these two strongholds were lost, the Norman army could easily cut off the land between Aocheng and the outside world.

The face-to-face contact put the military and civilians of Aocheng into numerous encirclements. At that time, whether they are sieging each other on all sides or not, they will be able to gain more initiative. Because of this, the federal army spared no expense to build fortresses with thick outer walls with a large amount of steel and concrete, and built underground passages and bunker warehouses with spider webs between them. Before the Normans launched a large-scale attack, they mobilized elite ground troops, including six old fortress regiments drawn from the capital and the eastern border areas, thus achieving the effect of "a good horse and a good saddle".

The continuous exchange of fire outside the city in the second half of the night made the defenders of Ao City really hung their hearts in the air. After all, no one wanted to learn the bad news about Ao City being surrounded early in the morning. Although the Normans invested tactical support in the night battle, and armored troops led the infantry to attack in turn, at dawn, the battle between the east and south of the city was still ongoing. At the technical and tactical level, the Federal Army aviation troops, who were not confident in night battles, made a large move. They broke through the blockade and restraint of the Norman fleet and bombed the Norman troops on the east and south sides of Ao City, causing the proud Normans to throw away their armor in front of the Federal Army positions, and eventually had to retreat in a mess.

In this battle, the Normans left five or six thousand bodies and more than 200 chariot wreckage in the south and east of the city, and the casualties were definitely over 10,000. The Federal Army was less than 2,000 killed and injured about 4,000. The casualties were only half of the Norman army. The losses of technical weapons were minimal, which won a city back for the crucial battle of Aocheng.

In theory, the failure of the offensive in the east and south of the city should make the Normans feel a wake-up call, which slows down their attack rhythm a little. However, after the troops attacking both wings slammed the gold and retreated, the Normans had no intention of silence. They continued to launch artillery on the federal army's defensive positions in the west and north of the city, and the frequency became a fire of gunfire for one hour and rest for three hours. Although the rhythm slowed down, the continuous high-intensity artillery fire was like a sea otter knocking on a clam with stones, which could not be knocked out in three or two. If you were patient, you could knock open the clam shell and eat the delicious clam meat sooner or later.

That afternoon, the Norman fleet, who had been staying on the battlefield for a long time, suddenly withdrew most of the troops, leaving only two cruisers and two teams of patrol ships. After a period of observation, the Federal Fleet "bullied the weak" and took the initiative to challenge the opponent. The Norman warships did not bear it, and they fought and retreated. With the huge difference in the tonnage and number of artillery, the flying thunders fired by the two Norman cruisers from time to time became the only effective weapon against the Federal Fleet. As the Federal Fleet crossed the midline of the battlefield, the Norman army's ground artillery ceased on its entire line. If this ceasefire is regarded as the Normans who recognize the situation and force them to retreat in time, it would be a big mistake. After about five or six minutes of suspension, dense cannons like rolling thunder suddenly sounded behind the Norman army's positions, hundreds of
Chapter completed!