ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Battle of Mesto 2

I misunderstood how to calculate the area. The values in the work have been corrected.

- Bokutotsu Zen'u

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February 15

Mesto Forest, Imperial Domain 

The Mesto Forest, located in the Imperial Domain, is a forested area on the road connecting the capital city of Lithianburg to the largest port city of Miket Tirith. Within this forested area, which covers approximately 7,8 square kilometers, 125.000 soldiers were hiding. In a corner of this forest, there was a hut. It originally belonged to a hunter who used this forest as a place of activity, but the hunter was driven out by the soldiers and it is now a military headquarters.

"Sound communication with the last troops has been cut off. The enemy appears to be approaching within 43 leagues (30 km)."

An operator confirmed that communication has been lost with the last of the reconnaissance units stationed along the road, and he passed on general information about the movement of the Japanese forces to the five officers leading the allied forces in the four regions.

In this operation, a surprise pincer attack, it was difficult to send a dragon rider to monitor the surrounding area because of the high possibility of being discovered by the enemy. Therefore, now that they have lost contact with the scouting party, their only option was to wait and see. In addition, to prevent information leakage, the soldiers who remained in various locations as a scouting party were not informed of the mission. However, the infrared sensors of the high-flying recon planes had already revealed their hiding place, so it was a useless precaution after all.

"They finally arrived... it's much sooner than we expected," Moritz, the commander of the Northcairt Army, murmured as he folded his arms.

The speed of the SDF's march was far beyond what they were used to.

"They will pass through this forest before long. The time for a decisive battle is near... Tell all units to be ready for battle at any time!"

"Yes, sir!"

Tizero, the commander of the Letternken Army, who was in command of this operation, gave the order to his sound operator, who came to report to him. Upon hearing the order, he saluted and immediately left the command center.

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Flagship Amagi Flight Deck, Miket Tirith Harbor

On top of a black castle floating in the sea, two fighter jets, ready for launch, were set in the shuttle of the catapults. The pilots were bracing themselves for their second sortie, which came just as they thought they had been relieved of their duties after the bombing campaign.

"All ready!"

"Take off!"

The steam catapult was activated by the operator, who confirmed that the aircraft was ready for sortie, and the aircraft, given a rapid acceleration, took off into the sky. The second plane took off from the other catapult, followed by the third and fourth aircraft. Also from the Akagi, 16 F-35Cs from the Maritime Self-Defense Force and 17 F/A-18Ds from the USMC 12th Marine Aircraft Group took off one after another. On their fuselages were bombs carried by USS Green Bay, which should not have belonged to the JMSDF. Thus, the 66 carrier-based fighters, carrying a large number of Mark 77 bombs, a type of incendiary bomb provided by the USFJ, took off toward the west-northwest.

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28 km east-southeast of the Mesto Forest, Koyov Plain