Atlantic Federation, St. John's City—the easternmost city in North America.
Compared to other major cities, its population was not particularly large, but it served as a trade and commercial hub for the Atlantic region and housed a large shipyard.
During wartime, it was one of the Atlantic Federation's critical transit nodes, serving as the departure point for reinforcements and supplies heading to Paradise Island.
As a result, the local residents were quite accustomed to warships and Mobile Suits, as they could see a fleet of them just by looking out at the sea every morning.
Moreover, the city's climate was a temperate continental humid one, often shrouded in dense fog that typically did not dissipate until the afternoon.
This climate provided considerable convenience for Reid's surprise attack.
With the dual interference of fog and Neutron Jammers, the port dispatchers of St. John's City only noticed the New Misurugi Kingdom's fleet approaching the harbor when it was already close.
Due to the heavy fog, Reid's forces also had to advance relatively slowly to avoid turning a surprise attack into a collision. Consequently, the port dispatchers of St. John's City did not immediately realize it was an enemy assault.
After all, if such a large force were approaching from elsewhere, they should have received warnings much earlier.
Thus, the port dispatchers of St. John's City continued using the Atlantic Federation's communication channels to send messages to Reid's side, angrily stating:
"Stop approaching! The port is already full. Which unit are you from? Halt your ships immediately and wait for some of the forces ahead to depart before queuing to enter the port!"
Upon hearing this, Reid thought to himself that this dispatcher deserved a reward later—his words had almost completely revealed the situation inside the port.
The throughput capacity of St. John's City's port was no secret. Knowing it was full allowed them to roughly estimate how many forces were inside.
Moreover, the dispatcher had also indicated that the forces here would be departing.
This meant that the forces here were most likely reinforcements for the Paradise Island Base, consisting mainly of transport ships and Mobile Suits. As for Mobile Armors, they would at most be the size of Zamza-zahs, with no super-large Mobile Armors present.
Therefore, upon hearing this, Reid immediately ordered:
"Command the forces to advance under the cover of the fog, using the One-Five Formation, and swiftly eliminate the Atlantic Federation forces in the port."
The One-Five Formation Reid mentioned referred to a formation where one manned Mobile Suit controlled five Mobile Dolls. This formation allowed the Mobile Dolls to more accurately attack specific targets, preventing multiple Mobile Dolls from locking onto the same enemy while ensuring that, in low-visibility conditions, the Mobile Dolls would not experience delays in attacking due to being unable to distinguish whether a target was friendly or hostile.
As Reid's orders were issued, the Mobile Suits of the New Misurugi Kingdom flashed signal lights at a specific frequency and surged into the port.
It was only when Reid's side deployed a large number of Mobile Suits that the port of St. John's City realized something was seriously wrong—after all, only enemies would deploy such a large number of Mobile Suits while entering the port.
Thus, in the next moment, St. John's City sounded its air raid sirens, and the Atlantic Federation forces stationed in the port received emergency deployment orders.
However, by then, it was already somewhat too late. Five Rezels, leading twenty-five Automated Soldier Murasames as the first wave of troops, had already charged into the port. In MA Mode, they launched a barrage of anti-ship missiles at the warships docked in the harbor.
These thirty Mobile Suits all aimed their bomb drops at the warships in the rear section of the port. In an instant, the Atlantic Federation's fleet gathered in the harbor was literally "backstabbed," with the warships in the rear half exploding one after another.
Once the task was complete, the thirty Mobile Suits uniformly ascended to higher altitudes, evading the missiles and various machine cannons fired from below. They then headed straight for the military encampments at the city's outskirts, aiming to destroy the enemy's Mobile Suits before they could even be activated.
At the same time, the Jegans and the not-yet-fully-replaced Mobile Dolls—the Mass-Produced GM Astrays—began engaging in boarding combat.
The assault fleet led by Reid consisted of Constellation-class Warships and modified Antietam-class Freighters equipped with flight capabilities.
Thus, the Mobile Suits descended from high altitudes.
Even though Jegans and Mass-Produced GM Astrays couldn't fly in Earth's environment without special equipment, using their thrusters to jump directly from a high altitude onto ships was still relatively straightforward.
Most of the Atlantic Federation warships in this port were Des Moines-class and Arkansas-class vessels. Their close-in defense weapons could barely manage against the Mass-Produced GM Astrays but struggled significantly against the Jegans.
As for the main cannons, while Mobile Dolls might be one thing, if a Mobile Suit were hit by the slow-turning main cannons of a warship, its pilot would truly be considered incompetent.
Thus, aside from some Mass-Produced GM Astrays being destroyed by warship main cannons that had been converted to Beam Weapons, Reid's assault force quickly neutralized all the warships on the port's periphery through boarding actions.
However, by this time, Mobile Suits from other parts of St. John's City's port finally emerged to confront the enemy.
But as these Mobile Suits arrived at the port, they were met with a barrage of missiles and beams.
There was no other explanation: the ground forces Reid had deployed had already completed their boarding actions in the port, and the aerial units were no longer there. The numerous Mobile Suit signals appearing in the port could only belong to the enemy.
Consequently, the many Constellation-class vessels began bombarding the port's Mobile Suits, firing their main cannons and missiles as if ammunition were limitless.
In an instant, St. John's City's port was completely blanketed by missiles and beams.
It's worth noting that at this point, the Gran Chaos, with Reid himself aboard, had yet to take action.
However, if the Gran Chaos were to open fire, St. John's City's port would likely be vaporized on the spot.
Although Reid didn't expect to preserve this port—after all, with so many Atlantic Federation ships sunk here, cleanup would be impossible in the short term—destroying the entire port and rebuilding it would undoubtedly cost more than repairs and cleanup. Moreover, since he needed to stay here for a while, it was better not to leave too negative an impression on St. John's City's residents. This port was the livelihood for many people.
Fortunately, this battle likely wouldn't require the Gran Chaos to intervene. The New Misurugi Kingdom forces, having seized the initiative, had already driven the Atlantic Federation troops in the port to defeat. After the bombardment, few Mobile Suits could have survived, and the remaining surface warships, seeing the New Misurugi Kingdom's numerous aerial warships advancing into the port, quickly raised white flags.
It could only be said that the Atlantic Federation's rank-and-file soldiers had long harbored grievances against their superiors. While they might fight desperately against ZAFT, which had committed massacres, when facing the New Misurugi Kingdom, once defeat seemed inevitable, they surrendered without hesitation. After all, the New Misurugi Kingdom was famously lenient toward prisoners of war. As long as they hadn't participated in any inhumane acts, the New Misurugi Kingdom would, at most, place them under Focused custody, merely restricting their freedom.
However, with the port surrendered, St. John's had essentially lost its ability to resist, but that didn't mean the battle was over.
Reid soon received reports from the air units: the entire island of Newfoundland and the Atlantic Federation forces across the coast had all mobilized, rushing to support St. John's.
This situation didn't surprise Reid. St. John's was merely the most important transit point for the Atlantic Federation en route to Paradise Island Base, but it wasn't the only one.
There were other small temporary outposts on Newfoundland, and inland bases across the sea also belonged to the Atlantic Federation.
Thus, capturing St. John's was just the beginning. Reid had to crush all these forces and establish a defensive line before the Atlantic Federation could fully react, only then could they continue the offensive.
So Reid prepared to deploy his main forces, issuing direct orders:
"Neil, take the troops from the Archangel and the three Constellation-class ships, sweep along the southern coastline, and crush any Atlantic Federation forces you encounter along the way.
Gaia, Ortega, Mash—you three lead half of the ground forces and clear a path overland, eliminating all bases. I'll assign a hundred Virgo IIs to you.
Belfgang, take the remaining air forces and sweep along the northern coastline.
Remember, speed is crucial in this operation. If you encounter anyone raising a white flag, leave them for the follow-up ground forces to handle.
As for the reinforcements from across the shore, Yufang, Yulan, and I will take care of them with those five MAs."
With Reid's orders issued, the forces immediately sprang into action. Reid also piloted the Joyeuse Gundam · Infinity, leading the Blade Angel and the NT-X2 Gundam into battle.
Of course, behind the three Gundams followed five Autoregins—they were the true stars of this battle.
With St. John's under attack, the Atlantic Federation was clearly desperate. Reid's team had only flown toward the western shore for a few minutes when they spotted over a hundred Jet Windams straining with all their might to fly toward them.
As for these forces, Reid could only say their pilots had picked the wrong day to go out. In the vast expanse of the sea, they had run straight into Reid, the final boss.
Although this final boss wasn't planning to make a move just yet, preferring to send his elite minions to fight first, these over a hundred Jet Windams couldn't even handle the elite minions.
Under their pilots' control, the five Autoregins lined up side by side and began charging the Nibelungen Cannon.
The Jet Windam pilots on the other side, seeing five unfamiliar MAs ahead, didn't let their guard down. Their commander immediately ordered them to scatter, to avoid being wiped out in a single sweep by long-range enemy attacks.
Unfortunately, this commander had no idea just how absurd the attack range of the Nibelungen Cannon was.
As the charging completed, beams resembling knitting needles poured down like a torrential rain.
The over a hundred Jet Windams, already spread out, were instantly enveloped in a shower of green beams.
Reid had previously estimated that the scattered beams from the miniaturized Nibelungen Cannon could effectively damage lightly armored enemies, while causing less harm to heavily armored ones.
But "less harm" didn't mean no harm at all. Unless it was a Gundam equipped with Phase Shift Armor, which could rely on its PS Armor to neutralize beams of insufficient power, ensuring no damage before its battery ran out.
For other types of armor, even if coated with anti-beam coating, it was only a matter of how many seconds they could hold out.
Under such concentrated fire, even if it were the East Asian Republic's Heavy Armor Xuanwu Gundam, it would be like ordinary metal drenched in sulfuric acid—its outer armor would be destroyed by the beam rain within seconds, followed by the Mobile Suit exploding.
The Windam's armor weakness is widely acknowledged, being a standard light-armor unit.
Even if a Mobile Suit promptly raises its shield to block part of the Nibelungen Cannon's beam rain, its backpack and legs would be instantly destroyed.
When the Mobile Suit begins to fall, there's no hope for the pilot to control the shield's orientation anymore; the unit is immediately pierced and exploded by the subsequent beam rain.
Thus, with just one volley from the five Autoregins' Nibelungen Cannons, over a hundred Jet Windams were blasted out of the sky. From their appearance to their destruction, it took less than a minute, let alone any chance to counterattack.
Afterward, Reid was quite satisfied with the Nibelungen Cannon's first live-fire test and continued heading west, planning to pick a few Atlantic Federation bases to assess the cannon's effectiveness against anti-air defenses.
It can only be said that the Atlantic Federation was truly deceived by the New Misurugi Kingdom's standoff with ZAFT forces at the Gibraltar Base near the Azores. The Atlantic Federation military bases opposite Newfoundland were ordinary installations, with relatively few guarding Mobile Suits and not many Mobile Armors.
Reid eliminated five bases along the way, encountering the most threatening units in the form of two Gaelzics. These were targets Reid couldn't be bothered to deal with personally, so he left them to the Xia sisters to handle.
As for the Nibelungen Cannon's effectiveness against fortresses, it felt like the Atlantic Federation fortresses were caught in a downpour of highly concentrated acid rain.
Exposed weaponry could be destroyed, but as long as the cover was thick enough, the Nibelungen Cannon's extreme weakness in siege situations was exposed.
Fortunately, the Autoregins were equipped with numerous High-Energy Beam Cannons, so the Atlantic Federation Mobile Suits that swarmed in were quickly dealt with.
Of course, in the end, these bases were easily destroyed by the Blade Angel and the NT-X2 Gundam. Reid's outing this time felt more like that of a supervisor and quality assessor, as he spent the entire time using his Mobile Suit's computer to record the Autoregins' combat data.
As for the battle on Newfoundland, it can only be described as exceptionally smooth.
The island was never properly prepared for combat, with its main forces consisting entirely of Dagger Series and Windams.
The Daggers had no means to effectively damage the Virgo IIs, especially with three Kyubey EXs hiding behind Circular Magnetic Defense Shields, continuously bombarding with Beam Rocket Launchers.
Thus, the central part of Newfoundland was completely overrun.
As for the coastal areas on both sides, the northern forces were sparse to begin with. The handful of Jet Windams couldn't even defeat the Automated Soldier Murasames, let alone the numerous Rezels mixed among them, led by the squad command veteran Belfgang.
The southern Atlantic Federation forces were more numerous, but with the Archangel leading the charge and Neil commanding the elite troops aboard the Archangel, the Atlantic Federation stood no chance.
It's worth noting that the Gundam Epyon (Zero System Removed), restored to a Mobile Suit by Reid, was assigned to the Archangel and piloted by Barry Howe.
Coupled with the three formidable killers from the original unnamed squad and the MS Units carried within the three Constellation-class ships themselves, the Atlantic Federation forces on Newfoundland's southern coast were trapped—unable to escape or fight back. Those who didn't surrender in time could only end up as fish food in the sea.
Thus, by the time Reid returned to Newfoundland, the island had essentially been occupied by the New Misurugi Kingdom military.
And with the subsequent arrival of surface forces, all cities on the island were swiftly brought under control, and scattered resistance forces were eliminated.
The Atlantic Federation's strategic foothold was now firmly established, and the next phase would be defensive warfare.
Therefore, after Reid led the main surface fleet to arrive, they did not land at Saint John City but instead found a landing point at Placentia Bay.
After landing, tens of thousands of ground engineering units focused solely on constructing anti-aircraft turrets across the entire island.
There was no need to worry about supplies. Since the island was now under the control of the New Misurugi Kingdom's military, resources and troops could be rapidly airdropped from space. Various pre-made Anti-Aircraft Machine Cannons and missile launchers were precisely dropped from orbit, requiring only site selection and installation by the ground engineering units.
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