The next morning, the assault on Walencourt began in earnest as the Gallian Army started to bombard the enemy with mortars and artillery fire. While the Imperial defenders in the citadel took cover and braced their defenses, the Nameless along with several other squads of assault troops advanced quickly across the icy terrain. Some of the Imperial defenders along the walls spotted the attack and began to lay down sporadic fire at the approaching Gallians.
Upon reaching their first waypoint, the troops of the 422nd and 117th ducked behind a low hill for cover that led up the first earthwork. Here and there machine gun fire sprayed the ground and kicked up chunks of ice and frozen dirt while the Gallian artillery fire continued to pound the ground beyond that. Giulio gritted his teeth as a mortar exploded nearby on the walls, "Well… so far so good, right?"
Felix grimaced as an enemy bomb exploded nearby and sprayed snow everywhere, "I still wish the terrain wasn't so uneven. We could really use our tank right now. Lieutenant?"
Kurt hastily checked his wristwatch, counting down the time to exact second before turning to his classmate, "Captain Fontaine? You know what you have to do?"
Bernard leaned behind his cover with his own troops as they carried satchels with dynamite sticks and demolition charges. He flashed a confident grin toward Kurt and gave a thumbs up, "We've got the fireworks ready."
Kurt nodded and put his assault rifle over the lip the embankment as the allied artillery began to slacken. "Imca? You're up!"
The petite Darcsen woman hauled up her trusted weapon named Var, oversized weapon combining the traits of a rifle, an anti-tank gun, and a greatsword. Despite her size, she wielded it with surprising strength and ease and took aim at several Imperial snipers posted on the rampart walls. She glanced to the commandos of the 117th and said with deathly calmness, "You might want to duck."
She pulled the trigger and the weapon erupted with a powerful scattershot of explosive rounds that blew the snipers clean off the walls. Imca gave a satisfied grin before Kurt signaled the rest of the Nameless, 'Suppressing fire!"
As the black-clad Gallians laid down a stream of covering fire, Bernard led his own troops forward before they reached the base of the ramparts. Once they were in place, the commandos swiftly began to lay down strings of explosives along certain parts of the fortifications for maximum effect. While they worked, Kurt checked his watch again and noted that time was running out before the next planned artillery barrage. He shouted to his comrade, "Captain! You have a minute-thirty to go! Hurry up!"
Bernard surveyed the work of his troops and waved them back to the embankment, "Come on! Let's move!"
No sooner had they scrambled back to safety, the Gallian guns began another barrage as Bernard hit the trigger causing the planted explosives to detonate all along the wall. There was a string of terrific blasts which shook the earth and rippled in the air as the forward ramparts burst apart and caved in. The Nameless and the 117th all gave a cheer as they watched the path open through the first line of enemy defenses. From their vantage point, it looked like the Imperial defenders had been caught by complete surprise and were scrambling in disarray.
The Gallian artillery continued to fall and explode in the icy air as Bernard surprised the Nameless by rising up and brandishing his own assault rifle. He gave a wave to his unit and urged the 422nd forward as well, "Come on! The enemy's in retreat! Let's press the attack and push forward!"
The Nameless soldiers hesitated for a moment as Kurt gave a protest and pointed to his watch, "Captain, we can't! It's not time yet. The artillery is still firing!"
This had been all part of Kurt's careful and elaborate plan to roll back the enemy in a controlled, gradual way. Although it was a little slower and steadier, his aim was to reduce casualties for the attacking Gallians and wear down the Imperials. It seemed Bernard's more aggressive, hard-charging mentality had now come to odds with that. It had been Kurt's worst fear in a situation like this.
"Lieutenant, we can't sit on our hands and let the enemy regroup! We have them on the run! We need to move now if we're going to seize that breach first!" Bernard called back.
Kurt paused another moment to consider the rate and intensity of the artillery fire and weigh that against the chances of multiple friendly fire casualties. Kurt had seen opportunities open up in battle before but he always wanted to double check and make sure he was not taking reckless chances either.
He didn't have time to think anymore, much less give orders as Bernard did it for him by pulling rank, "Let's go Nameless! On your feet! Let's go! Go! Go!"
The others got up and charged forward into the breach of the broken wall following behind the commandos in the 117th. Kurt growled at having been overruled but rose to his feet and followed the flow of battle. As he sprinted forward and burst through the breach, he found an Imperial element had reformed into a sloppy skirmish line to buy time for their comrades to retreat to the secondary fortifications. Those Imperials who remained at the skirmish line set up a forward command post and dug in putting up stubborn resistance. Kurt opened fire with his rifle and nearly went through his clip when the next wave of Gallian shells came through. Both sides dove for the ground as the mortars exploded around them and kicked up more snow and smoke.
A few soldiers in the assault group were caught in the edge of the blast and gave cries as they were thrown sideways and hurt by debris. Still, Bernard pushed forward with the charge, urging the Gallians on. The Imperials were so taken aback by the continued assault that they began to panic and fire wildly as their line disintegrated. As Kurt reloaded on the move, he gasped as he saw Felix take a hit in the thigh and fall to the snow. Kurt moved to assist and called Riela to join him, only to see her get hit in the shoulder by a shot and fall over into the snow. Kurt could only give a furious shout and rush to her side to help as the rest of the attack overwhelmed the last of the Imperial defenders nearby.
Riela winced in pain and clutched at her shoulder as one of her other other comrades Annika helped prop her up into a sitting position on the snow. Kurt grimaced and pulled out some bandages from his first aid pouch and began using them to staunch the bleeding. "Hang on Riela, you're going to be okay. I promise."
He looked up and shouted, "Medic! Over here quick! We have wounded!"
Riela shifted again and grunted from the pain of her wound before giving an apologetic look, "Sorry I got hit Kurt. I'm slowing you down today."
She looked ahead to where the rest of the squad along with several other commandos of the 117th were celebrating a victory over the captured Imperial position. Kurt narrowed his eyes toward Bernard who was at the center of the celebration leading the others in another cheer. As the squad medic Clarissa Callaghan came to tend to Riela and Felix, Kurt gave her a softer look and got up to leave, "It's okay. Don't apologize. Clarissa will take care of you right now."
He walked off several paces to survey the area and he saw that the Gallians had made a significant gain today. The fighting had died down and both sides settled in to rest and regroup. Gallian reserve units would surely come in later to reinforce the position allowing Kurt and his people some time to recover. Right now though, that was not Kurt's main concern. He stopped and turned when he saw Bernard leave the celebration to come over and talk to him. The captain wore a bright smile and extended a congratulatory hand, "Hey! Congratulations! What did I say Kurt! We did great together. Everything worked out fantastic here."
Kurt met his old colleague with an icy scowl, "No. It didn't. You disregarded the plan and got some of my soldiers hurt."
"Kurt, I'm sorry about that but we had a chance to strike and it paid off big!" Bernard protested in surprise, "You know as well as I do that this is war. Sometimes people get hurt or killed and we have to take necessary risks."
"Except in this case we didn't have to," Kurt answered heatedly, "No one had to get hurt and now we have a number of wounded!"
"Kurt, come on. I didn't think…"
"That's just it Bernard! You didn't think. You never did!" Kurt fumed, "You were always so hell bent on charging in, guns blazing that you didn't consider the cost."
Bernard frowned took up an edge in his voice, "That's not fair Kurt. You don't think I consider that either? You don't think that delayed action and prolonging things has its own costs? If I can win a battle and end the war quicker, then we still save lives."
"You shouldn't have been so unilateral and dragged my squad into your fight too," Kurt argued.
"I'm sorry if you're upset about that Kurt, but that is not my fault," Bernard countered, "You may have been top dog at Lanseal, but I have a job to do here and you'll remember there's a chain of command here."
Kurt bristled, "Really? You're going to pull rank on me here? Like this?"
"We're not going to have this argument here," Bernard replied sternly, "If you want, we can discuss this later. Best you see to your troops Lieutenant."
Bernard turned and headed back toward his own unit with a much darker expression on his face while Kurt stood taking a few breaths to calm down. From nearby, a few of the Nameless had caught the tail end of the heated exchange before Alfons came over hesitantly and prompted him, "Sir? What are your orders?"
Kurt took a breath and turned to leave the field, "Radio the artillery gunners. Tell them to halt the bombardment and send up a fresh infantry company to hold this spot. Let's get our wounded clear and regroup back in the rear lines."
By the looks of the current situation, it seemed like it was going to be a long rest of the day.
As the day passed and evening set in over Walencourt, both sides settled in for a pause in the fighting, using it as an opportunity to regroup, tend to wounded, or dig in their positions. From the outskirts of Walencourt, a small column of Imperial soldiers made its way to reinforce the frontline around the city. They had been called in when they heard the Gallians were massing their forces to make a push and although the Gallians had gained some ground today, it was far from one hundred percent secured either. It just so happened that this particular unit of the Imperial Army could prove to dismantle all that progress. The mysterious and intimidating soldiers were clad in black armor and hoods which were draped over the skull-like masks that they wore. This highly trained and highly disciplined unit known as the Calamity Ravens were feared for their deadliness and efficiency in battle, acting as a sort of special forces group of their own. In every respect, their menacing reputation had been earned. What the rest of the Empire did not know, was that this unit was in fact one composed of Darcsens.
Amid the falling snow and the fading light which hung over the horizon, the black clad Calamity Ravens stood out in the white snow, but they would gain some added camouflage once the darkness of night finally set in. At the head of their column, was a group of medium tanks painted in the colors and emblems of the Calamity Ravens. Leading the way, two men sat perched from the turret of their tanks getting a view of the approaching battleground. They both wore dark military uniforms and the first had some ornamentation signifying his position as a commander while the other younger one looked more like a warrior. They watched calmly as the tanks churned forward. The commander of the Ravens, the man called Dahau lowered his binoculars and wrinkled his features, "This should prove to be an interesting fight."
"Walencourt is a very strategic location," his comrade Zig agreed coolly, "I can see why the Gallians want to retake it so badly. If the initial reports are true, then it looks like our forces will already be on the defensive there."
Dahau remained untroubled by the news, "If that's the case, then I don't mind a little challenge. The fortifications and rough terrain may give the Gallian regulars an almost even playing field with us."
Zig glanced over curiously, "Perhaps. And what if that other group of Gallian soldiers show up? Those Nameless people who wear black like us? They tend to have a bad habit of running into us."
Dahau simply smiled, "If they do, I welcome another chance to match wits with them. Surely they'd be able to put up an even better fight this time."