Chapter 50: War of Attrition

The third wave began with another round of artillery coverage, followed by the advance of the MS squads.

This time, Li Boyong's MS combat company was reassigned to the dense forest on the left, where a commander's unit had ambushed them during the first wave, nearly letting the enemy run wild on the left flank.

Logically, there shouldn't be any ambushes this time, but Li Boyong was still cautious, sending two linear cannon tanks and infantry to scout ahead, with the MS squad following behind.

As it turned out, the scouting party didn't find anything, so Li Boyong had them stop outside the ZAFT defense line's fire zone, waiting for the MS squad to catch up.

By the time Li Boyong's side advanced to the edge of the enemy fire zone and launched their charge, the center was already locked in a heated battle.

Even so, the ZAFT forces didn't ignore Li Boyong's movements; as soon as the 3rd MS Combat Company entered the fire zone, they were met with ZAUORT artillery fire.

The four Strike Daggers gradually spread out, charging while holding up their shields, until they stopped behind two small hills below the left side of the left cliff.

The hills were quite high, out of reach of the direct-fire weapons on the cliff; only the indirect-fire artillery of the ZAUORTs and the Petrie could reach them, but that was only in theory.

The follow-up vehicles could only find suitable terrain nearby for cover; those that couldn't just hid behind trees, for psychological comfort if nothing else.

After a short rest, Li Boyong confirmed the squad was in good condition, and finding a gap while the cliff-top guns were reloading, all four Strike Daggers popped out simultaneously to suppress the cliff with fire.

Four beam rifles fired in unison, pinning down a CGUE Assault Type and a GINN on the left cliff.

Seeing the opportunity, the Alliance MS squad in the center tried to charge into the passage between the two cliffs.

"Isn't that too reckless... are they really that stubborn?"

Li Boyong hadn't even finished his complaint when artillery fire erupted in the passage. Before long, only three of the four Strike Daggers that had entered retreated, one of them damaged.

"Damn it, they actually ambushed a ZAUORT in a place like that. As long as that ZAUORT is there, we can't charge up."

Complaints came over the comms from the center MS combat company.

Li Boyong rolled his eyes. If it were that easy to charge, he would have had a chance during the first wave. He just knew it wasn't that simple and didn't bother committing suicide.

"All units, take cover."

After suppressing the enemy for a while, Li Boyong issued the order to take cover, and all four Strike Daggers retreated behind the hills.

Not long after they retreated, they were indeed shelled by the ZAUORT, but fortunately, none of the squad's MS units were damaged.

"Captain, should we launch a charge?" Bob from the squad asked tentatively.

"Charge my ass. Today is just a probing attack, don't be impatient."

Li Boyong snapped back. The enemy had such an obvious terrain advantage; were they going to charge up just to be slaughtered?

Besides, the main gun of that Petrie-class hadn't fired yet. Once it did, they would have to retreat anyway.

The subsequent battle went exactly as Li Boyong predicted. When the main force followed up, they were met with artillery fire from the Petrie-class, and the 5th MS Composite Brigade retreated one after another. The third wave ended without success.

The Alliance was unable to launch a fourth wave, and the ZAFT forces had no intention of leaving their advantageous terrain to fight.

With this, the battle of the 16th came to a complete end.

Li Boyong hadn't completed the system mission for the day, but he didn't feel it was a pity. In such a situation, there was really no need to risk it for a mission; the success rate was too low.

That night, the MS camp in the rear was full of noise, with the maintenance crew sweating as they rushed to repair the damaged Strike Daggers.

Throughout the day, the 5th MS Composite Brigade had lost quite a few Strike Daggers. Fortunately, most were just damaged and could be repaired with spare parts for use the next day. Those that were severely damaged were sent to the rear for repairs. A total of five Strike Daggers were truly shot down.

Come to think of it, today's battle was a bit humiliating. Their side had suffered heavy losses, and the only result achieved was the GINN head Li Boyong had blown off; there was nothing else.

However, looking at today's battle, the commander's conservative attrition strategy seemed correct.

After all, after the Alaska incident, the ZAFT ground forces were at their weakest. Although the Battle of Panama was won, it had exhausted their last bit of strength.

Now, the ZAFT ground forces were in a state of absolute passivity, and the Victoria battlefield was even more so.

The Alliance forces had them surrounded on three sides, and the ZAFT forces could only rely on the terrain for defense. The Gibraltar base was overwhelmed and had no capacity to provide support.

As long as they kept grinding, ZAFT would lose without a doubt.

Li Boyong was thinking about the battle situation while eating dinner when the soldiers around him suddenly became restless.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Li Boyong grabbed a soldier and demanded.

"Lieutenant!"

The soldier he grabbed saluted and whispered, "It is said that something happened in Orb. Although we won, we didn't get the Mass Driver."

So that's it...

Li Boyong let go of the soldier. This was a plot point he already knew, but he hadn't expected it to spread to the Victoria battlefield.

He then worried that this news might affect the commander's strategy, leading to an accelerated offensive and more casualties.

However, it seemed that no matter how much he worried, he couldn't influence such things, so he could only arrange for the duty personnel and then go to sleep.

The night passed without incident; the ZAFT forces did not launch a night raid.

The next day, the 5th MS Composite Brigade launched another attack.

The problem Li Boyong worried about didn't happen; the 5th MS Composite Brigade patiently waited for artillery and missiles to rake the enemy positions before slowly advancing.

It seemed the commanders from the Eurasian Federation and the East Asian Republic had withstood the pressure.

Half an hour into the engagement, the Petrie-class main gun fired, and everyone retreated like a tide. The ZAFT forces didn't even have a chance to pursue.

Then, after lunch, another offensive was launched in the afternoon.

Still no results, but one could clearly feel that the enemy's firepower had weakened significantly. He hadn't expected the ZAFT forces' supplies to run into problems so quickly; this was several days earlier than Li Boyong had anticipated.

Li Boyong had this suspicion, and so did the commander of the 5th MS Composite Brigade, so they cautiously didn't launch a general offensive, and even the third wave was canceled, ending the second day of fighting.

It was just a pity that Li Boyong, because he hadn't completed the system mission, was deducted one plot point.

Li Boyong was left speechless; it wasn't that their army wasn't trying, but that the terrain wasn't cooperating.

Then, that night, the 5th Composite Brigade's position was raided by the ZAFT forces. ===== CHAPTER 51 =====