2750, Goalkeeper Plan(Part 2)
Oswald-Tessik grabbed the edge of the console with both hands, so hard that his knuckles turned white.
The current battle situation is very critical. The left wing of cluster A has shown signs of collapse. Kingdom of Dawn Archangel Titan warship's Doomsday Weapon has begun charging for the third time.
There are only 11 Shield Ship II ships left to deal with Doomsday Weapon. In other words, the next time Doomsday Weapon shoots, the shield ship can only protect his flagship.
What is even more dangerous is that the Swarm Drones and fighter formations that have invaded Imperial fleet have not been able to be dealt with until now. Densely packed drones and various types of fighter jets with excellent performance have cut up Imperial fleet's formation, leaving many warships to fight independently.
Angry shouts from captains continued to be heard from the communication channel, mixed with screams of despair and calls for help.
However, hope is still there!
Through the holographic combat star map, it can be seen that the battleships in Kingdom of Dawn fleet have been severely damaged, many battleships have experienced power loss, and the firing rate has been significantly slow.
Of course, in order to achieve such a result, his Combat Group A also paid a heavy price. Until now, more than 60 battleships have been destroyed, which is a shocking number. Because this means that including the injured battleships, his Combat Group A will no longer exist in four hours.
The key now lies with Combat Group B, and it can only lie with them!
When making the plan at that time, it seemed to Oswald-Tessik that such a huge fleet would naturally require a two-pronged attack.
Under such a premise, with the support of Cluster B, Cluster A, as the main attacker, needs to put enough pressure on Kingdom of Dawn fleet so that when Cluster B joins the battle, the opponent cannot be attentive to each other.
It was precisely because of this that he ordered the fleet to launch a fierce attack from the beginning.
However, Kingdom of Dawn was just a formation that disrupted all his plans. This caused Cluster A to join the battle earlier and Cluster B to get reinforcements later.
Now it is because of the interference device installed on Palanci Planet that the reinforcement speed of cluster B is even slower!
However, Oswald-Marshal Tessik still has a bit of luck in his heart, because he can also see that Kingdom of Dawn fleet is showing some fatigue. Under such circumstances, if Cluster B participates in the war, it will undoubtedly cause heavy losses to them.
Although there is no doubt that Imperial fleet's losses will be far greater than those of the other party, but it doesn't matter. With the strong productivity of the Empire as the backing, such an exchange ratio can definitely be tolerated!
Oswald-Tessik finally made up his mind and gave the order for Cluster A to continue the offensive.
He has absolute confidence in his fleet. After long-term training and education, First System Army has high morale and is well-trained. They can explode into amazing combat effectiveness in desperate situations.
Even if the hull catches fire and the cabin loses pressure, as long as the main gun can still fire, the formation will not collapse. This deep-rooted discipline is the sharpest edge of the the Empire military system.
Even though the war situation is so difficult now, Cluster A still does not show any signs of fatigue. This is also one of the things Tessik relies on.
Since we are going to fight, let's use all the blood of the First System Army to express our loyalty and determination to His Majesty the Emperor! Even if there is a sea of Hellfire ahead, First System Army will charge forward.
The battle between the two sides is still extremely fierce. Cluster A has been completely suppressed by Kingdom of Dawn fleet, leaving only room for passive counterattack.
However, at this time, Oswald-Tessik realized that something seemed wrong.
Because Kingdom of Dawn fleet always maintains a dense formation. What on earth are they doing?
Oswald-Tessik believes that if he were to command Kingdom of Dawn fleet, the best strategy at this time would be to disperse the fleet immediately, forming a very classic Claw Formation formation, and surround it from multiple directions.
Once the Claw Formation offensive is formed, there will be no way for cluster A to be spared.
But... why?
Oswald-Tessik was deep in thought. He observed the battle situation and focused on his own fleet. He suddenly discovered that if the dense red dots on the holographic star map were removed, the blue marks representing his own battleships would be obvious. At this time, he could see that Imperial fleet's formation was obviously elongated!
Originally, the attack was launched from three directions: left, center and right, but now their formation gradually began to be stretched into a long strip.
There is only one possibility for this situation to occur - it is caused by the different speeds of our own warships.
Speed?
Oswald-Tessik was suddenly startled, and immediately turned around and ordered, "Bring me the Sublight speed of the enemy and our warships immediately!"
"Yes!" His adjutant immediately carried out the order.
When countless data unfolded in front of them, Oswald-Tessik finally understood what was wrong - the Sublight speed of the Kingdom of Dawn battleship was at least 20% faster than normal, and it was still increasing!
This has caused Imperial fleet, which is in an offensive posture, to keep accelerating in order to keep up with Kingdom of Dawn fleet since the beginning of the war. As a result, some slower warships unconsciously fall behind.
Of course, after all, they are in a state of war, so the speed difference is not very obvious at first. But as Kingdom of Dawn fleet continues to accelerate, the gap gradually widens.
And even if they are accelerating, Kingdom of Dawn has most of its firepower deployed on the sides, so when accelerating in a circle, their firepower is not affected. However, most of the firepower of the the Empire warship is on the front, so in order to catch up, it can only turn sharply, which is why the formation is stretched!
"What the hell are they doing?!" Oswald-Tessik roared. He called the Staff Department members and immediately analyzed the current situation.
However, dozens of staff officers who were called over talked for a long time and failed to come up with a convincing explanation. Instead, an astronomer accompanying the army suddenly said, "Lord Marshal... I know why."
"Say!" Tessik said sharply.
"Separatist fleet, is in the acceleration state of the gravitational slingshot." the astronomer said.
"What did you say?" Oswald-Tessik, "Gravity slingshot? This is impossible! The acceleration of the gravitational slingshot needs to rotate around the star, which requires a long process!"
The astronomer nodded and said, "Yes. So I think that before we entered the battlefield, Separatist fleet was already accelerating the gravitational slingshot. It is equivalent to them flying around Planet Five for several times before hitting us head-on. And the gravitational slingshot The accelerated flight trajectory of the bow is around the direction of the star's rotation. Now as time goes by, their fleet has changed from aiming at us frontally to aiming at us sideways, and the speed is getting faster and faster. Our warships unknowingly can only keep accelerating to keep up, thus pulling the formation into a long strip."
"They... want to run away?" Oswald-Tessik finally figured it out.
"I think so." The astronomer nodded, "I'm afraid they wanted to run away from the beginning."
"What are they using to escape? I have asked Stalker-class Star Destroyer to activate the hyperspace blocking field. It is impossible for them to escape! Even if those few super battleships can break through the hyperspace blocking field, what about the other battleships?!" Tessik said loudly.
"I think... they may be planning to use the Sublight engine to accelerate their voyage, escape from the hyperspace blocking field of Stalker-class Star Destroyer, and then escape through hyperspace jumping." the astronomer replied.
Oswald-Tessik fell silent. He stared at the tactical star map and tapped the handrail heavily with his fingertips. The trajectory line on the screen continued to extend. Kingdom of Dawn fleet was drawing an elegant arc along the edge of Planet Five's gravity well. The longer the time dragged on, the harder it was to make up for the speed difference between the two sides.
He stood up suddenly and issued an order, "Notify Stalker-class to move the hyperspace blocking field forward. At the same time, all battleships give up formation reorganization, pursue at full speed, and prepare broadside firepower for salvos."
"Yes!"
The marshal's order was immediately implemented.
Oswald-Tessik pondered again, and he suddenly realized that he had completely ignored this possibility - that is, the possibility that Kingdom of Dawn did not want to engage in a fleet decisive battle with him at all.
Maybe it's because Palanci Planet has a very important strategic position as a transportation hub on the periphery of Core Worlds; maybe it's because Kingdom of Dawn fleet has repeatedly defeated Imperial fleet in combat.
Tessik subconsciously believed that the other party would definitely rely on the transportation hub planet that was finally conquered to engage in a decisive battle with itself.
However, the facts show that Kingdom of Dawn does not care about the gains and losses of Palanci Planet at all. Now, after inflicting a heavy blow to Combat Group A, they are preparing to evacuate the battlefield! And Palanci Planet is indeed undefended, and was just left to Combat Group B!
But why?
Tessik still can't understand that after occupying Palanci Planet, Kingdom of Dawn fleet can attack everywhere, causing Core Worlds of the Galactic Empire to panic., then the Empire will have to use more troops for defense on multiple fronts. As a result, mobile battleships will become increasingly stretched, and then Galactic Empire will lose its strategic offensive capabilities!
How could they just throw away such a huge strategic advantage?
What are Kingdom of Dawn planning? Or are they simply unwilling to engage in a fleet battle and want to preserve their strength?
Oswald-Tessik can't figure it out at all.
However, the result of this battle was before him.
As Kingdom of Dawn fleet and Sublight become faster and faster, Imperial fleet Combat Group A can no longer catch up with them. Moreover, Combat Group A has suffered very heavy losses and is unable to catch up anymore.
When Combat Group B finally broke through the interference devices set around Palanci Planet and accelerated to come, Kingdom of Dawn fleet had already broken away from the hyperspace blocking force field of Stalker-class Star Destroyer, started the hyperspace engine, and left here.
There is only one place they can go - the fortress planet, Bilbrin.
At the same time, Kingdom of Dawn Northern Fleet flagship, Archangel Titan warship bridge.
"Still, it's a pity. Tsk tsk tsk tsk... throw it away, Palanci Planet." General Trench sighed while stroking his chelicerae at the corner of his mouth.
"There is nothing to regret." Ander-Viking on the side said, "Our goal has never been Palanci Planet. Continuing to occupy this place and going deeper in Core Worlds directions will only distract our forces and lengthen our logistics supply lines. The most important thing is that in such an environment, our plan to plot the Empire Financial Center and Scipio will not succeed."
"That's true. Your plan is very creative. Tsk tsk tsk tsk..." General Trench said, "We withdraw, Bilbrin Planet, on the one hand, we can stabilize the existing front line, Tsk tsk tsk tsk... On the other hand, Dunn-Vesex will be even more afraid, worried about us attacking the planet Palin-Minor. tsk tsk tsk tsk..."
He looked at Ander-Viking with admiration in his heart.
Not only because of the bold abandonment of Palanci Planet, a transportation hub that was finally captured with great difficulty, but also because of Ander-Viking's genius tactical command in this battle.
In this battle, Ander-Viking did not let Northern Territory's secretly deployed trump cards appear. Instead, they all used weapons and equipment that had participated in the battle before to fight, which was equivalent to directly playing against the Galactic Empire.
However, Ander-Viking relied on the excellent performance of the Intelligence Department door and quickly made combat deployments on the premise of grasping the trends of Imperial fleet, allowing The fleet started gravitational slingshot acceleration in advance, and responded in a dense formation. On the one hand, it maximized the auxiliary function of Taowu Titan warship, and on the other hand, it also allowed the fleet to form a whole and not disperse during the acceleration process.
At the same time, he also deployed automated jamming beacons and false energy signal sources on Palanci Planet in advance to interfere with the movement speed of Combat Group B.
His combat goal is very simple, which is to hit Galactic Empire fleet head-on with Heavy Fist, then walk away and completely disappear before the opponent can react.
But in this process, he was able to figure out the opponent's Commander combat intentions and predict the opponent's tactics to the extreme. Even down to the choice of the battlefield and the timing of the battle, he made a comprehensive prediction of the factors that would lead to the failure of the battle if they were slightly wrong!
This battle is purely about the ability gap between the two sides Commander!
I rarely see Commander like this, General Trench sighed in my heart. Even Kingdom of Dawn is known as the first general, with many military exploits Sefrans-Tann, her combat thinking is more about "what do I want". She will maximize the strength of her own fleet, but rarely thinks about the enemy Commander's thoughts.
But Ander-Viking really took every factor on the battlefield into account!