Chapter 345 When the Regular Army Starts to Do Nothing

The Pyra IV attack was not an important node in the strategic offensive launched by the Federation.

Among the nearly 30 planets that served as offensive nodes on the entire front line, the importance of Pyra IV was only at the level of the second echelon.

But even if we only focus on Pyra IV, as time goes on, the front-line soldiers of both sides are in a different state from the beginning of the war because of the long-term mental tension.

Coming to the Empire Galaxy, which is unknown how far away, to fight, except for friendly forces, everyone on the planet you landed, including civilians, is your enemy. They are afraid of you, afraid of you, but at the same time deeply hate you.

Such pressure is unimaginable to many people.

If the Federation troops fought with the mentality of "revenge", "making achievements", "eliminating the tyranny of the Empire", and "creating history" at the beginning, they no longer have the original passion.

Instead, there is an increasingly strong brutality and irritability, and the desire to abuse the "Imperials" begins to dominate.

Although the commanders of the various federal forces on Pyla IV are still sober at this moment and know that they cannot do anything out of line, so they strictly restrain their troops, but such restraint has become weaker and weaker over time.

When the military police responsible for supervising military discipline began to collude with the combat soldiers due to the long-term high-pressure environment, the situation gradually got out of control.

In contrast, the situation of the troops on the Star Dragon Empire may be slightly better. But unfortunately, it is not much better.

Most of the current defenders on this planet are not actually the natives of this planet. Most of them are "mobilized soldiers" transported from other star systems because of the "general mobilization order".

Although at the beginning they did fight with the purpose of "defending the country", "repelling invaders", and "maintaining the glory of the empire".

But facing the fierce offensive of the federal army, the imperial defenders began to have problems with their thinking after suffering more and more casualties.

It is still the same problem shared by the Federation and the Star Dragon Empire - the sense of identity with the country.

In the Blue Star period, the people of each country had the highest sense of identity with the country, because they lived on the same land and were connected to each other.

But as humans entered deep space and entered the era of interstellar navigation, the sense of identity of civilians with the country can be said to have declined exponentially.

Many people cannot understand why they need to pay a price to provide help to a planet that is 108,000 miles away from them and they will never have any intersection in their lives?

Many soldiers, including some grassroots officers, began to ask themselves why they should sacrifice their lives for the planet they have never been to?

When this idea fermented in the team, it quickly spread at a terrifying speed.

The first impact was that the troops' willingness to fight began to decline significantly. Many troops would rather give up their positions than be nailed to the positions and fight with the federal army.

Then, after many commanders realized that they were likely to be abandoned by the top leaders of the empire, the mood of self-abandonment from top to bottom began to gradually erupt.

Many front-line combat camps, shouting the slogan "Let's drink today, no matter if we are broken tomorrow", began to let themselves go, and military discipline gradually became a decoration.

In this context, unarmed civilians became the worst group on this planet.——

"This is 'Totoro', the intersection is confirmed to be safe, and the large troops can pass quickly."

"Received, stay alert, and continue to move forward for reconnaissance after the large troops pass."

Such a conversation took place in the small town of Portia, 11 kilometers away from the No. 5 refugee camp.

The two parties in the conversation were a forward reconnaissance team and a mechanized platoon of Atlas' "humanitarian aid" troops that followed up.

At this moment, this town, which once had a regular population of nearly 50,000, has almost become an empty city after being "visited" by the Federation Army and the Imperial garrison many times.

According to the survivors who fled to the refugee camp for shelter, it was an offensive force of the Federation that controlled the town of Portia when they evacuated. After controlling the town, they immediately began to hunt down the scattered imperial remnants and civilians.

The residents of these towns who fled to the No. 5 refugee camp were able to escape because they lived on the outskirts of the town near the direction of Camp No. 5.

After hearing the descriptions of these refugees, Monton, the battalion commander of the second heavy synthetic battalion of the Atlas ground forces responsible for the defense of Camp No. 5, immediately realized that there was a high possibility that some bad situations would occur in the town.

Out of understanding the task of "humanitarian assistance", Monton asked the communication squad to contact the nearby federal army and report the situation, and then sent a platoon of troops into the town of Portia to search for other survivors.

The other units of the "forward control company" to which this platoon belonged were deployed in the rear position and ready to provide support at any time.

Since it was a search for survivors, rather than really going up to control the front line, Monton did not send too many troops to avoid misjudgment by the federal forces.

But he did not skimp on the support for this forward control company.

The firepower company and drone platoon equipped with self-propelled artillery and cruise missiles under the synthetic battalion were reinforced to this company, and the HCP company and armored company were also ready to attack at any time.

After the reconnaissance team with the call sign ‘Totoro’ who was in charge of forward reconnaissance in an armored infantry fighting vehicle confirmed that it was safe, the platoon that entered the town of Portia quickly passed through the intersection.

Whether it was the armored infantry fighting vehicle used as a force carrier or the three medium-sized multi-legged vehicles reinforced to this platoon, they all used a full white paint job like Atlas's air transport aircraft.

Although such a paint job completely lost its concealment, it at least allowed the warring parties to identify the identity of this unit at a glance and minimize the possibility of accidental attacks.

Just as the platoon leader and platoon sergeant of this mechanized infantry platoon were sitting in the command vehicle discussing where the survivors would choose as a hiding place, a good news and a bad news came back at the same time.

The good news was that a high-altitude reconnaissance drone that was searching in the sky finally found the civilian survivors gathered together.

The bad news was that a circle of federal troops was surrounding these survivors at the moment.

The infantry fighting vehicle that was out for reconnaissance reported its position with a loud speaker and played the contents of the "Talles Convention" in a loop. After rushing to the location reported by the drone, they quickly sent a communication to the command vehicle.

"Platoon leader, the federal army seems to be preparing to execute these civilians. How should we deal with them?"