Even with the reorganization and the strengthening of the 3rd and 8th armies respectively. Alexandra knew that there needed to be a breakthrough to get to Lemberg and Kowel. With Kay having joined her, she was ready to launch another attack.
"Well we got the news of Himari and her army conducting a night attack to encircle Pinsk but Erwin Taketa threw her back to the starting position. After this they decided to regroup the remaining students into the 3rd army." Konstantina explained that the night time attack was more like a raid. Alexandra nodded before she turned back.
"Okay." Alexandra nodded, now was the time to prepare to keep attacking.
As morning came. Alexandra was unaware that Manami had full control of the front and it wasn't Gisela that was now in charge. The plan was for the 3rd and 8th armies to take the Stokhod river and advance to Kowel. The 11th army was going to continue pushing to Lemberg and the 7th and 9th armies will try to capture Stanislau. Alexandra was ready to keep going but she tried to figure out if she was going to have enough steam to keep the attacks going especially with the all-out attack, she launched the day before.
"Nelly is ready to go, we're just going to try to take the river entrance and continue advancing to Kowel." Nelly told Alexandra that they were just about ready to keep going. Alexandra nodded before she began to speak.
"Go ahead, let's see how far you'll get." Alexandra replied to Nelly's request to continue the offensive. Alexandra knew full well the offensive was entering into a critical phase, capturing Kowel and then swinging to the southwest. She hoped that this wasn't going to fail or they would be held up. The artillery fired away at the Kuromorimine defenses for some time as some of the students were starting to use more of the old tactics as the new ones would require lengthy preparations. But still, they managed to sap their way to the enemy trenches and the artillery was doing its work. Nelly and her group continued to wait around, they had been partially reinforced and were still the most veteran of the fighting force that Alexnadra had. The offensive was entering its most critical phase, she was still counting on taking Kowel but marching through hell and back was proving to be more challenging than she had hoped for. Nelly continued to wait around until the whistle blew, it was the signal to begin another attack.
Nelly and the others began to hop from their saps as the artillery stopped firing. She began to make the dash across what was left of the enemy distance to the trench. Some of the students were firing their Fedorov rifles to lay cover for the first wave as it was their means of keeping the enemy suppressed. The dug-in Kuromomine students meanwhile were firing away with their portable Maxims and the Maxims they had set up. Nelly and a few other students fell to the ground as the machine guns rattled away and Nelly popped out another grenade of hers. The students did the same and tossed them into the enemy trench. The Kuromorimine students quickly began to scatter before the grenades exploded. In their chaotic rush to get out of there, they had left behind some of their machine guns and this meant that they weren't going to be able to carry them. Nelly got back up and went to the trench entrance where she spotted the Kuromorimine students advancing and began firing the Fedorov rifle at them as it was a means of sustained fire. A couple of the students had taken one of the Mg08/15's and mounted it on the other trench and began firing away with it. The other machine gunners were surprised with the students taking some of the portable Maxim guns and using it against them. Nelly raced down the communication trench and picked up a trench club. One of the students tried to rush her down but Nelly quickly swung the club around and struck it on the side of the student. The student collapsed as Nelly pulled out another grenade and chucked it ahead. The Kuromorimine students were still in their rout and continued to melt away. The others raced ahead while Nelly walked to the artillery pieces.
"We're beginning to run out of steam, this is day four of the offensive and we've advanced more than ten miles." Nelly huffed as the Gregor Legion was growing exhausted. While they were trained well, they were starting to slow down as their unit had taken the beating. She decided to abdicate to Alexandra if the Gregor Legion could rest. "Alexandra, the Gregor legion isn't in the best of shape, we need to rest as we haven't slept well in days. We could use a good night's sleep." Nelly began talking into the phone that the legion needed rest and having them plow on with the offensive wasn't the way to go.
"Okay get some rest Nelly, we're going to cycle you out anyway. I'm just waiting for my other units to continue advancing." Alexandra told Nelly that she needed some rest if she was going to continue fighting hopefully tomorrow. Nelly nodded, Atleast Alexandra was giving her a break. Even with Nelly breaking through the enemy lines again, she didn't go as far as Alexandra was hoping for, she could possibly go further if Megumi and the 3rd army had crossed the Stokhod River. She was praying that Megumi wasn't going to screw up.
The situation at the Stokhod River wasn't favorable, the wide river meant they were going to be wading their way through, the current was too fast for rafts and they couldn't sap trenches across the river. With the artillery having spent most of its ammunition. Megumi looked at her reinforced army.
"Okay we need to cross the river if we are to be able to successfully continue Alexandra's attack. Nelly has run out of steam and now it's up to us." Megumi told her students that crossing the river meant that the operation could be in jeopardy if they weren't able to cross. Kay and her legion were mostly at reduced strength as Jajka and Mika had been merged together to keep Kay's legion at full strength. "The Guards division will stay here in case Kuromorimine or the Dual Alliance counter attacks as they will be brave enough to hold off the attack." Megumi rose from her trench before pulling out her revolver.
"Come on!" Kay shouted. She began to lead the students down the slope of the hill and into the river. The river favored the defenders and not the attackers as the river was nestled between two hills which made it easy to pour machine gun fire down and let grenades roll. Megumi was sitting behind while Kay had taken a majority of the students with her. The students continued to charge down the hill as there was nothing stopping them. Megumi watched on as their Maxim guns began to open fire to cover Kay's attempt to cross the river.
Kay and the others splashed into the Stokhod River and began to move their way across, they were waist deep in the river as the strong current attempted to knock them over. The river wasn't deep which they were grateful for but the strong current could carry someone away. Kay and the others continued to forge their way through the river. The problem Kay knew she needed to tackle was getting up the steep slopes on the other side of the river. Kay continued to wade across when the machine guns on the other side began to open fire. It was Manami and her group as they had taken over much of the depleted ranks of the Bonple Legion and were shoring up the line.
"Fire!" Manami commanded. The Kuromorimine and Bonple students began opening fire on those that were trying to wade their way across the river. Kay meanwhile was determined to take out the machine gun positions so they could capture the river and advance to Kowel. However, this wasn't going to be the case. Many students were getting shot as they attempted to cross the river. Some were falling into the river and getting washed away a bit by the current. Kay knew she needed to keep going despite the mounting casualties to get her seat across the river.
"Come on!" Kay shouted as she was determined to keep the pressure up. Manami meanwhile wanted to keep the pressure from breaking her and she was doing a good job of it. She looked at Kay who was nearly on the other side with many students falling around her.
"Give me that machine gun." Manami grumbled. She gripped the Mg08 before she pointed it at Kay and the remainder of her legion. She began firing away, trying to prevent Kay from reaching the other side. Kay looked up as she felt a bunch of pellets hitting her. Kay collapsed on the shores of the other side of the river. The rest of the students were mowed down moments later while Mika and Jajka were watching from the river. They hadn't raced ahead to get mowed down unlike Kay. Now time to the correct order and the most logical decision.
"Fall back!" Jajka shouted, the remaining students turned their tails and began to flee. Jajka knew that they were going to get slaughtered trying to cross the river but for now, the most logical thing to do was retreat and regroup, the attack had failed. Megumi was watching as she spotted Jajka and the others arrive back at their trenches.
"Did the attack not work?" Megumi asked Jajka. Jajka looked at Megumi while thinking of the results. She wasn't pleased.
"Nope, Kay charged right in there and despite somewhat making it to the other side, we had taken high casualties in the attempt." Jajka told Megumi that the attack had failed. Megumi grumbled as this attack went nowhere and now they were taking high casualties to take a river. Megumi knew that she needed to signal to Alexandra.
"Alexandra?" Megumi asked for their leader. Alexandra picked up the phone and she began to speak.
"What is it?" Alexandra asked Megumi about the progress of the attack.
"We could not cross the Stokhod River. The attack failed, Kay went in first without softening up the enemy and took a majority of the troops with her. When we found out what happened, it's clear that we're taking high casualties for nothing." Megumi described what happened with Kay trying to attack across the river. Alexandra knew this was only making her angry.
"It failed, I wasn't planning on advancing until you guys caught up. Now the whole offensive to Kowel is ruined and we can't push on effectively." Alexandra told Megumi that their offensive started off promising but as Kuromorimine flooded reinforcements to its ally, this was jeopardizing the entire offensive.
"Don't be so negative about it, maybe we can sap the enemy strength away if they decide to counter attack." Megumi told Alexandra that all hope wasn't lost yet. There could be a chance to turn things around. Alexandra sighed. At least Megumi was trying to keep morale up so the offensive could continue. But for Alexandra, they were running out of supplies and she didn't know how much longer they could keep the offensive up for.
Manami and Gisela were chatting about the news of the failed attack that they managed to intercept. They were happy with Kay rushing in and attacking and then failing in the process.
"The defense was successful, and it was mostly due to the terrain. Since the river is fast flowing, we might as well build a bridge to get across and take them by surprise." Manami began.
"What seemed to be a dire situation is now turning in our favor, Alexandra is running out of steam and it's becoming clear that the offensive will be over. We don't know when but either today or tomorrow is when the offensive will end." Gisela told Manami that she had high hopes that the offensive was going to end. Manami nodded.
"All Alexandra needs to do is keep wasting supplies and she will have no choice but to halt." Manami told Gisela. This multi-day affair was coming to its conclusion and with the failed attack, they were hoping Alexandra was going to make up her mind and call off the attacks.
For the moment however, Naomi and her 7th army was getting ready to continue advancing on Kirishima. The Kuromorimine South Army and the Dual Alliance 7th army haven't received significant reinforcements and the middle schooler's were hoping to still conduct breakthroughs and take the objective towns from the enemy.
"Everyone ready?" Naomi asked her students, the students had finished digging sap trenches to the enemy as it was going to reduce the amount of time they were exposed to the enemy. The students funneled in and began to prepare for their attack.
"Okay." Some of the students chanted, after a five minute artillery barrage, they knew they needed to attack now to keep pushing the enemy back. Naomi blew the whistle while exiting the dug out with her revolver. The students followed in the wake of the whistle, they were going to make another attempt at pushing the enemy back. For Kirishima, Naomi had once again taken her army by surprise. The Dual Alliance Students scrambling from their dugouts and to their machine guns was the only course of action but by now Naomi's group had destroyed most of the machine guns. The students fired away with their rifles, trying their best to slow down the advance. This wasn't enough however, Naomi and their students had went prone as a couple of them were shot down. They pulled out their grenades, primed them and chucked them into the trenches. The Dual Alliance Students and their middle school counterparts had no idea what they were supposed to do against Grenades and they exploded. The students had been knocked away as they began to retreat once more. Naomi and the others entered the trenches when they heard a loud neigh. She looked back to see their cavalry was joining the fight. The cavalry students with their lances pointed downward, the students continued to retreat as the lances began to poke them before they were tilted up. The cavalry continued with the infantry. Within minutes, they ran into Olivia's rear guard which began to fire on them. Naomi's advance was over.
"Okay Olivia Kaya managed to stop Naomi but we're still getting pushed back. Azusa says that she's on her way with heavy artillery but that won't be ready until tonight or so. The 7th and 9th armies still have some strength left, so they will keep advancing. We know that the 3rd army had taken heavy casualties, the 8th army hasn't gotten very far and now the 9th army is advancing with the 7th army. We don't know the condition of the 11th army and its strength composition." Runa began as she relayed the news to Manami that the offensive still had some steam left, they didn't know how much steam but it was still some they were assuming.
"Okay we should be able to hold Lemberg and Kowel from being captured, the capture of those two cities will prove fatal." Manami replied that they needed to defend the two key cities which will decide the outcome of the offensive.
"Okay tell the students to abandon Stanislau on a moment's notice and we should be able to reorganize the front." Runa gave the order for the students to retreat instead of fighting the 9th army head on which will lead to more casualties. They needed to patch the southern part of the front together to prevent them from advancing.
Alexei's 9th army was ready to go into action, they had bombarded the defenses away for some time. The mood was tense as time was running out to continue with their offensives. He knew Azusa was coming with heavy artillery.
"Okay I got orders from Alexandra that we need to continue the advance with the 11th army as we're running out of time as Kuromoriumine is strengthening up the front and blunting some of the advances." Alexei told his students. The artillery stopped before he blew the whistle, signaling the students forward.
The holler of students was heard as they exited their sap trenches and began to charge forward to the enemy front. Their next objective was within a mile of their trenches and with the heavy guns still nowhere in sight, they needed all the time they could get. The students charged up as they had blown the enemy apart for some time now but what they were fighting as of now were the rear units as the majority of them had continued to retreat. The students began firing their rifles on Alexei's group while the group approached the enemy trenches. They pulled out their grenades and chucked them into the trench. The students tried their best to scatter though they were blown down by firecrackers. Alexei led the students into the trench while sticking far behind them due to his disorder. He was going to be hands off though he tried his best to keep morale high for the students. The students began to clear out the trenches when the snorting of their cavalry was heard. The horses galloped across the trenches and over the communication lines, they were going to assist in the breakout. The Dual Alliance students' logical response was to continue retreating as it was their only means of staying intact. The Dual Alliance also didn't have much artillery left as most of them had been knocked out or captured. The advance continued.
Alexei a half hour later trotted up as Dual Alliance students had been captured and were being escorted out.
"Casualties are mounting sir. This is as far as we can go." One of the students told Alexei. There was no way they could continue advancing further. "Azusa is bound to be here tonight with the reinforcements so we're going to have to call it a day."
"Okay At least we captured Stanislau and netted more prisoners. That is a local victory I can declare." Alexei sighed. He had to get this information back to Alexandra that he and Naomi were able to advance and capture more objectives. The students with the radios began to ring up as the news of today was getting back to Alexandra.
Alexandra was busy sorting out orders and waiting for Nelly to tell her that she was ready to continue the advance. The phone began to ring with Alexei on the other side. Alexandra picked it up, curious to see who it was.
"Hello?" Alexandra asked.
"Hey Alexandra, this is Alexei, so the advance with the 3rd army went nowhere and did not cross the Stokhod river." Alexei began. Alexandra sighed as this was the news that was still circulating through her head ever since Megumi gave the news that the 3rd army was unable to cross the river.
"Don't remind me." Alexandra sighed that they were unable to take the river. Alexei began to think and he began to speak next.
"I do have some good news that came from today." Alexei added. Alexandra's head perked up as the good news was something she was excited about if the 3rd army couldn't advance, maybe something could have come from the 7th and 9th armies.
"What's the good news?" Alexandra asked Alexei if there was some news that the attack had taken ground.
"The 7th army had captured more territory which I am happy about and I lead the 9th army with the capture of Stanislau and the netting of more prisoners." Alexei told Alexandra that they had captured another town and to Alexandra this was another victory in her basket.
"Sweet though the 9th army captured Stanislau and not the 7th army, I'm still willing to accept it." Alexandra replied. Alexei nodded before he began speaking again.
"Okay I'm going to let the soldiers rest, as this is as far as I'm allowing them to go." Alexei told Alexandra that his troops needed to rest up if they were going to prepare to continue carrying out offensives. Alexandra knew this as Nelly had told her that the Gregor Legion needed to rest as they were exhausted. The 9th army was facing much the same thing.
"Okay rest up, I'm going to need the troops to be ready to continue pushing." Alexandra replied. Alexei nodded.
"Okay see you." Alexei then hung up on Alexandra as Alexandra sighed, the 8th army wasn't able to make much progress, the 3rd army went nowhere but the 7th and 9th armies had chugged along and captured more territory and Stanislau, the only news that was left was the 11th army which Alexandra was praying it was able to go somewhere. The phone began to ring. Alexandra was praying it was the 11th army.
"Hello?" Alexandra asked.
"Hey Alexandra, this is one of the regiments of the 11th army." She began. "I have some news."
"Good or bad?" Alexandra asked if the news was good or bad. Silence washed over them as Alexandra was sitting in silence for a minute before the regiment leader began to speak.
"Pretty bad." She told Alexandra. "I heard that Lola's 11th army has finally exhausted its offensive strength and can no longer follow up the Dual Alliance 2nd army." She told Alexandra. Alexandra was filled with distraught, first small units were growing exhausted and now Lola's 11th army was unable to do anything as they had no steam left for any future offensives.
"Okay, just perfect." Alexandra growled. She slammed the phone down and hung up. Lola wasn't able to go anywhere and it was clear that the offensive was coming to an end. Alexandra knew she just needed to take Kowel and call an end to the offensive.
Kowel was her only remaining goal left.
[A/N]: Alexandra's offensive is falling apart, units are becoming exhausted from fighting and the 3rd army isn't able to cross the river. Aside from gains from the 7th and 9th armies, Alexandra is running out of steam for the offensive and the only hope she has left is taking Kowel.
The next chapter will be the last chapter of the offensive.