Munitions Empire-Chapter 1234 - 1154 Mirage Country’s armored forces

Mirage Country has a total of five armored divisions. These troops are considered the army’s prized possessions, rarely deployed under normal circumstances.

The five armored divisions are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Armored Divisions, equipped with tanks of four different models. It looks more like a chaotic stew than structured military equipment.

There’s no other choice. After Mirage Country dumped most of its resources into the navy, the army ended up as the underdog, barely getting by with outdated equipment.

That being said, it’s not entirely accurate. It’s not that Mirage Country’s troops couldn’t eliminate old equipment—it’s just that they refused to retire anything, which is why they managed to cobble together five so-called armored divisions.

According to Tang Army’s standards, these armored divisions aren’t even at full equipment capacity: a Tang Army armored division contains nearly 500 tanks, whereas a Mirage Country armored division barely manages 400 tanks.

The saddest part is that these 400 tanks are divided into four different models, making logistics an absolute nightmare.

The good news is that Mirage Country’s armored corps, due to geographical factors, doesn’t have the need for cross-border operations. Therefore, a weaker logistics system isn’t a massively critical issue.

The bad news is that the logistics are so incapable that even in domestic operations, they can barely keep these armored divisions functioning.

The four tank models equipped by Mirage Country’s army include: the oldest Shireck 2 Tank. This tank uses gasoline engines, has thin armor, and weak firepower, making it little more than a sitting duck in battle.

Mirage Country’s armored troops have given this tank the nickname "taxi." Its primary role in operations is to "pad the numbers."

The second type of tank is Mirage Country’s domestically improved version of the Shireck 2, named Mirage 1. It features thickened armor and a more powerful 90mm short-barrel gun, slightly better than the original Shireck 2.

But these improvements have little actual impact on modern battlefields, meaning this model essentially serves as a sidekick to the main battle tanks in operations.

The above two tanks belong to the "repurposed waste" category within Mirage Country’s armored corps. They haven’t been retired out of sentimentality, not because they’re particularly useful.

Typically, Mirage Country keeps these tanks at the rear to transport infantry or uses them essentially as armored personnel carriers.

The third tank model was derived from Shireck and involves the purchase of production blueprints for the M10 tank destroyer—a design discarded and repurposed by Great Tang Group.

Its overall performance can be considered decent, certainly an upgrade from the previous two models. When Shireck sold this production line and blueprint, they added a turret cover to the original American tank destroyer design, creating a "tank-like" vehicle.

Its armament includes a 76mm high-pressure cannon, producing straight trajectories, qualifying as a proper tank gun. With improved armor thickness and a sloped frontal armor design, its protective capabilities are also commendable.

As a "medium tank," this new Shireck 5 Tank exhibits paper specs comparable to World War II standards, boasting relatively balanced overall performance.

Mirage Country’s army is quite fond of this tank, and it has indeed become their most extensively equipped main battle tank. Mirage Country planned to produce 1,000 units of this tank, intending to equip each armored division with 200 units.

However, in actual deployment, the Shireck 5 Tank was prioritized for Mirage Country’s elite 1st Armored Division, which received 260 units outright.

The 4th Armored Division, also stationed on Ben Island, was allocated 240 units. The remainder was distributed among the other armored divisions, leaving the remaining three divisions with merely 100+ tanks each.

Up to the point of the Tang Army’s invasion of South Island, roughly 890 Shireck 5 Tanks had been produced, falling short of the planned 1,000 units. Later, the Tang Army’s massive bombings of Ben Island disrupted production lines, with only an additional 100 units made intermittently—barely bringing production up to planned capacity.

But everyone knew by then that the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions on South Island had been nearly wiped out, with no way to replace the losses with newly produced tanks.

The creation of Mirage Country’s last tank model was essentially forced by the Tang Army. Reality is harsh: as the Great Tang Empire continuously introduced new advanced tanks, the Shireck 5 Tank’s protection and firepower clearly couldn’t keep up with future battlefield needs.

Consequently, Mirage Country had no choice but to design a brand-new heavy tank, building on the Shireck 5 Tank with thicker armor and a long-barrel 90mm gun, barely creating a tank capable of going toe-to-toe with Panther Tanks.

This new tank was designated Mirage 2 Tank, but its speed was dismal, and its off-road capabilities were mediocre. Its advantages lie in the thicker armor and stronger firepower.

The new tank consumed more steel and labor hours, limiting production to just over 20 units by the time of the battle’s outbreak—completely insufficient for replenishing losses.

As of the start of the Ben Island campaign, Mirage Country had lost approximately 300 Shireck 5 Tanks on South Island, 70 Mirage 2 Tanks, 110 Mirage 1 Tanks, and 210 Shireck 2 Tanks...

The 2nd Armored Division and 3rd Armored Division were annihilated, retreating to New Island with not a single tank remaining. Numerous valuable armored troops perished on New Island, with fewer than one-tenth returning to Ben Island alive.

Thus, on the surface, Mirage Country now had only the 1st, 4th, and 5th Armored Divisions left. Nevertheless, General Shenwu Ke gritted his teeth and reorganized the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions.

However… the equipment and combat capabilities of these two divisions had plummeted: the soldiers were fresh recruits with limited combat skills; tank numbers were insufficient, models messy, and conditions poor.

In reality, Mirage Country managed to produce just over 100 Shireck 5 Tanks and about 20 Mirage 2 Tanks during the course of the war. These tanks were evenly allocated to the two rebuilt divisions.

Following that, Shenwu Ke scraped together a batch of Shireck 2 Tanks to integrate into the two rebuilt armored divisions, barely pushing their tank counts to around 100 units each.

To provide these two divisions with some combat ability, Shenwu Ke also equipped them with a dozen anti-tank guns, trucks, motorcycles, and even placed a few suicide anti-tank soldiers armed with "Sting Thunders." This barely endowed the divisions with a modicum of fighting potential.

Speaking of Sting Thunder weapons… it’s worth explaining: Mirage Country lacks usable shaped charge anti-armor technology. Their Sting Thunder devices… are basically just explosive packs...

Their anti-tank effectiveness purely relies on piling on explosives. With sufficient charge, they can indeed destroy enemy tanks, but the anti-tank soldiers using them... are left completely obliterated.

Currently, Mirage Country has approximately 1,400 combat-ready tanks, with 400 being old models, 200 heavy tanks, and around 800 Shireck 5 Tanks.

Of these tanks, roughly 400 are deployed on Northern Island, comprising the entirety of the 5th Armored Division. The remaining 1,000 tanks are stationed on Ben Island.

Shenwu Ke plans to unleash these three divisions, totaling around 1,000 tanks, for a small "shock" attack on the Orc landing forces.

Of course, given the Great Tang Empire’s control of air superiority, launching large-scale tank battles is practically suicidal. Shenwu Ke has no means to rely on pitiful logistics to ensure all 1,000 tanks enter a single battle.

His plan is to first deploy the 4th Armored Division for a major counterattack on the eastern side of the Orc’s landing zone. If successful, he would then send in the 1st Armored Division stationed on the western side to drive the Orcs back into the sea.

The 4th Armored Division can’t fully mobilize either. Upon receiving orders, the Mirage Country commander in charge of the division left the older, less capable models and slower heavy tanks in the defensive zone.

He assembled roughly 200 Shireck 5 Tanks that are combat-ready and plans to advance under the cover of darkness near the Orc-controlled area for a surprise attack at dawn.

There’s only one shot at this. If he can get his tanks moving quickly, they could engage the Orc troops directly, reducing Tang Nation Air Force’s suppression capabilities.

If he fails, they’ll suffer devastating airstrikes from Tang Army aircraft throughout the day, likely losing over half their tanks.

On the Orc side, Shan Lu welcomed his Orc 1st Armored Division, which had been established with the assistance of Tang Nation. This single division boasts 500 fully operational Mark IV tanks—a full-strength force of immense scale.

To support these tanks, the division also holds over 1,500 trucks of various types, 20 towed 155mm howitzers, and 20 Wild Bee automatic cannons mounted on Mark IV chassis. The entire division consists of over 20,000 troops, capable of executing independent operations.

With this armored division landing, Shan Lu felt he finally had a foothold. He positioned this division at the center as a strategic reserve.

One couldn’t blame Shan Lu for hesitating to deploy this division. Orc forces lack heavy weaponry overall, making this division his prized asset—it’s understandable not to squander it lightly.

The current situation is as follows: the western side of the landing area is defended by the Orc 2nd Infantry Division; the northern area by the 1st and 6th Infantry Divisions; the eastern area by the 3rd and 8th Infantry Divisions; while the 1st Armored Division and 5th Infantry Division serve as the central reserve.

At this moment, the Orc 4th and 7th Infantry Divisions are still afloat at sea. Even so, the Orc forces that have landed already number close to 100,000!

Efficiently transporting so many Orc troops ashore is largely thanks to Tang Nation’s formidable maritime logistics capabilities. Naturally, Mirage Country’s abandonment of coastal defense—the lack of submarines and aircraft capable of harassing the fleet—also played a role.

A glance at the map reveals that the direction of Mirage Country’s 4th Armored Division attack faces only the Orc 2nd Infantry Division, whose manpower is somewhat limited.