I don’t know of any historical precedent of a concentrated artillery barrage of a city of 25 million either.
Or artillery shells with cluster munitions.
No, it would not level the city, ala nukes, but the carnage would be horrendous.
Artillery is responsible for 75 percent of all casualties and even more so in built up areas with the overabundance of secondary missiles.
I don’t think he’ll try to flatten it necessarily, I think he’ll try to seize it.
A lot depends on our finding and targeting noko’s artillery & ada before our shock and awe first strike. Then there is counter fire capabilities. Firing an artillery round locates the source of that round before it even lands on its target. It is then targeted.
Noko’s artillery would be lucky to survive even a 2nd round of firing their tubes.
The real issue is their NBC weapons.