Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Page 134

"Hey, there's something I need you to look into again."

It's getting more and more interesting. In the past, when someone approached the computer at the foot of the mountain, he would always frantically clear everything off the screen, or even lock the screen and turn his face away before entering the password to unlock it after the person left. Oh right, he doesn't use external speakers either; he always has a big pair of headphones on his head, with green glowing cat ears.

Then Clark took a stool, sat down, and saw that the headphones were turned up to the maximum volume and placed on the table, with the desktop untouched. The game's graphics and background music were all clearly visible in front of him.

"Oh, another visual novel? What ending did you get this time?" He smiled as he looked at everything on the screen—a young man and woman embracing and kissing, the man wearing a khaki jacket, the woman with long black hair and a black coat. In the distance, another woman with dark blonde hair watched them, her face contorted with tears.

"Ah, no, no, no, no..." Yamashita hurriedly started to do something, quickly tapping the desktop, "Ahem, what can I do for you, sir?"

"Help me look up a name—Lelouch vi Britannia."

"Huh?! This is royalty!"

"I know, but what's wrong with checking this stuff? It's not illegal."

"Ah, it's nothing, it's just that..." Yamashita muttered, "I don't think I've ever heard of this royal family's name before, they seem to have a very weak presence..."

"After all, he hasn't been in the news much in the past year, right?"

……

As night fell, the lights in the Tokyo Concession dimmed considerably, revealing an ugly scar etched into the city—the Tower of Babel had been precisely blown up by terrorists, creating a rubble passage directly between its foundation and the Chinese Federal Embassy.

"So, that's how the Black Knights escaped into there?" Caronville was still busy into the night, leading his troops to search for survivors and clues in the collapsed area.

The main stage wasn't his at all. See the brightly lit, searchlight-equipped embassy of the Chinese Federation? With Governor Carales dead, Mr. Guilford stepped forward to take charge. Surprisingly, he ordered his soldiers to drag out the Black Knights members previously captured from the prison, intending to execute them if ZERO didn't show up by 3 PM the next day—in front of potential outlaws hiding in the embassy, ​​this was hardly in line with the Knights Commander's principles.

Indeed, there are some things we don't want to do, but we have no choice but to do them.

However, there are some things that we trust others about, and we only start doing them after we've never considered them beforehand.

For example, the thing he's dealing with right now.

"Is the search finished?" he asked, walking over to a few soldiers who had just thoroughly searched the American soldiers.

"Sir, the only thing they have that could be considered a contraband item is this world map."

"Hmm?" He took out the map, which had many circles, dots, and lines drawn by the soldiers before, but there were obviously fewer of them on the side of Area 11.

"Come on, I want to hear how you defend yourselves?"

“Lieutenant Colonel, perhaps you’re being a bit too sensitive.” Davis had to step in and smooth things over. “We’re coming to live in a new world, so we should at least know what’s around us, right? We’re not exactly good at geography, so we can’t be at a loss as to where we’re going when we need to move with you, can we?”

“No problem, sir.” Philip chimed in, “You mean we’re planning to escape, right? Oh God, to plan an escape in Area 11 with just a world map, this guy’s head must be nailed to a cross. We can’t even remember the street names in Tokyo right now.”

"so,"

Listening to their nonsense, the lieutenant colonel glanced at the map one last time. Finding nothing particularly strange, he crumpled it into a ball.

"Very good, you've worked hard, so I'm confiscating this map." He then instructed a guard to stuff the paper ball into his pocket. "Tonight, you'll continue your night patrol on the next street. I hope you'll curb your curiosity about this world; it won't kill you cats."

"Okay, bro."

……

Only when the four soldiers returned to the empty street did they feel relieved.

"Holy crap!" Taylor exclaimed, plopping down on the curb. "Was that pretty boy trying to scare us to death today?"

“Yes, that’s strange, sir.” Garcia pondered as well. “Usually, they only check our bags when we return to camp. Why are they making us take them off from head to toe right here on the street today, even our shoes?”

“I know this is a bad omen, but we need to find some solutions.” As he spoke, Davis took off his leather bag from his waist and, by the light of the street lamp, felt a section of the leather case with a ripped seam—upon closer inspection, a section of the seam looked as if it had been pried open with a knife, revealing a messy inner layer that was different from the inner lining.

"Toothpick." Slowly, he pulled out a flattened strip of paper and a photograph hidden inside.

"Making contact in the future might not be safe, so Clark will have to find another informant. Ah, let's put that aside for now and see who that boy who was performing witchcraft in the Tower of Babel is."

“Hmm, Lelouch Britannia, this name…” The four of them huddled together, looking at the words on the note. “Is there a mistake? He’s actually a member of the royal family of this shitty empire.”

"Born 18 years ago, the 11th prince of the Britannian Empire. His mother was Marianne Britannia, who died in an assassination attempt in the palace a few years ago. His sister, what's her name? Oh, Nunnally, she's three years younger than him."

"Then, after his mother died, he and his sister were sent to Japan, which still existed at the time. Then, eight years ago, Britannia invaded Japan, and this guy's whereabouts became unknown. The official news from the Imperial Capital was that he died during the war, but there are various rumors that people have seen him, but of course, there are no concrete photos or anything like that."

"Hmm, but it seems that his sister survived? She even made an appearance at an event in the Empire a while ago, although she wasn't the main character."

"So, boss?" Taylor asked Davis, picking up the photo of Lelouch and Nunnally—of course, it was an oil painting someone had drawn of them when they were quite young—"Is the strange boy you told us about that you met in that building the one you were talking about?

"Judging from the state of this country, no fool would dare to impersonate a prince or anything like that, but that's not what I'm concerned about. It seems that this young man named Lelouch and that group of terrorists, oh what they're called? The Black Knights, right? What a strange name, how come they're with them? And, if his sister was brought back to the country after being missing for several years, why was he abandoned by his own father? And why is he going against his own country?"

"Could that ZERO be Lelouch?"

“We can only say that it’s possible, but we can’t make a judgment right now. Although the way that guy was ‘casting spells’ in the building is quite similar to ZERO’s speech gestures.” Davis shook his head. “I can’t be sure about his height and build because of the camera’s range. His accent and tone? They’re somewhat similar, but it’s hard to make a definitive conclusion.”

"So, can I understand it this way, sir?" Garcia pondered, "Since we want to create a big scandal inside this great dragon's belly in the future, then the Black Knights, who also oppose this empire, and who is ZERO, the leader of the Black Knights, will be our friend. As for Lelouch, we can at least be certain that he is a member of the Knights, and not a low-ranking one. He is very likely the link between us and ZERO?"

“That’s right, guys. We can’t let Clark do everything on his own. We still need to take shortcuts.” Davis nodded and looked at the photograph of the oil painting. “I think that guy who’s in the mafia should be getting busy too. We can’t contact the Black Knights right now, but there are some things we can do in advance: Isn’t Nunnally Lelouch’s sister? Let’s start with her.”

……

Turning our attention back to their camp, the lieutenant colonel, who was in command, had just finished a conversation with someone in a room.

“Although it’s been so long since you’ve finally shown some willingness because of the information blockade, I can understand that. Your Nazi Germany, or rather, the ‘Greater German Reich,’ was once an adversary of the United States and the Soviet Union, so I can understand your hostility.” A soldier beside him translated into German for him. “But, Mr. Karlstadt, you must understand that the premise of every handshake between people is two words: trust.”

"At least for today, the contraband that you so confidently assured me might be on the American soldiers is nothing more than a worthless map. What reason can I use to convince myself to believe that you are truly in our best interest? At least those foul-mouthed American soldiers have helped us catch criminals and gangs several times, and they also saved many civilian lives at the Tower of Babel. Similarly, you must learn to produce results in the future, right? Alright, please go back."

……

After the middle-aged man was taken away, he was led by soldiers back to the refugee camp where the Germans were being held.

Apart from the border, the only guards in the camp were at the main gate, and coincidentally, the guards tonight were those same Russians.

As he walked through the gate, he gave the Russians a wicked grin before running back to his sleeping quarters.

"Ah, gentlemen, I'm back."

"How is it going?" Captain Schreiber asked with concern.

"Now, in my name, Heinhard Lehrlich Karlstadt, I hereby declare to you all." He looked at the people in the room, who seemed to have been waiting for this moment, "Fortunately, we have created a fairly good impression on this guest from another world. Therefore, they have a task that can serve as our test: the collapse of that building is already noteworthy enough, and now that pure and lovely lieutenant colonel needs extra manpower to keep watch 24 hours a day at the high post near the collapse area. I think this is a very good testing ground for all of you here, isn't it?"

“I just have a question, sir.” The man who questioned him was slightly overweight and had a small mustache. “What is our purpose in doing this? To establish our regime in this new world and fulfill the Führer’s dream? Or are we here to be parasites? We can’t survive independently with them around!”

“You’re wrong. You need friends in this world, and friends must have common interests,” a man next to him retorted, putting on his monocle as he did so. “This friend is like a spring in the desert for us, and we need this spring to combat the thirst of those Americans and Russians and drive them out of the German capital.”

“Oh, please stop, gentlemen,” Karlstadt interrupted their argument. “You seem to be looking way too far ahead. If we stay here, doing manual labor day after day, being oppressed day after day, we might be repeating the mistakes of those damned Jews. We need an opportunity to stand on equal footing with these aliens, or even the entire alien civilization. We are not cows waiting to be milked; at the very least, we need a voice and the right to make decisions.”

"Come, gentlemen, I believe it is time for you to stand up for the resurgence of the German nation. This first step may seem humiliating, but the Führer's path to establishing the Third Reich was far from smooth sailing, as the propaganda machine portrays it."

“Never mind everyone else, I’ll vote for the first spot.” Schreiber raised his hand first.

"Me too! Me too!" Gradually, more and more hands were raised in the room, including the two who had just been arguing.

"Great! Excellent! I... I see the swastika flag hanging up again in our tent, haha!"

"Oh, well then, may I ask the two of you who were just arguing? Could you tell me your names?"

“Ernst Günther, my instructor before the surrender of the 27th SS Volunteer Division ‘Langmark’.” It was the voice of that chubby man with the mustache.

“Me? Ha.” The bespectacled man smiled politely. “Heimler Henrik, before the fall of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, I was just a minor guard.”

"I hope you didn't steal your superior's glasses before you fled, haha." Karlstadt was pleased. "So, Schreiber, where were you before?"

"Not easy to display, ha, Captain Wolfgang Schreiber of the 36th SS Grenadier Division 'Delwang,' it's a pleasure to meet everyone here..."

Chapter 147, Section 210: Winter Fog by the Sea

With the arrival of the cold wave, Berlin has fallen into tranquility amidst winter fog, clouds, and drizzling rain.

Soviet artillery barrage? Long gone, and it never fell on this city again.

The swarms of aircraft that filled the American sky? Gone too, vanished into the gloomy firmament along with the sun.

Perhaps these few overly noisy movies have provided a brief respite here. Maybe it's fate; there will always be a day when a serendipitous opportunity will reveal what you should do.

……

"Generals, what are your thoughts? I'd like to hear them."

Elizabeth sat with her brother at the head of the conference table in the command center, while the generals sat further back—the building had never suffered fatal damage in a bombing and could be easily repaired; many facilities were already operational.

"We have made a summary, Your Highness," Duke Sasler said, leading the discussion. "Initially, after the Berlin blockade was broken, we expanded our occupation zone in the south to within 80 kilometers of here. However, since more than a week ago, when Soviet ground forces and American warplanes began their coordinated attack on us, they have created a huge salient in the area south of Berlin, directly towards us. Soldiers in the southern part of the city could even hear the Soviet tanks firing."

"These don't need to be repeated, Your Grace."

"Of course I understand, Your Highness. It's just that at first we thought the Soviet army wanted to advance deep into enemy territory and take Berlin alone. But later, we found that the Soviet troops inside the salient along the entire southern front were fighting more and more frantically, while the Soviet troops on both sides of the salient remained unmoved. It wasn't until later that we discovered that Soviet convoys and troops were constantly moving back and forth behind the front line, and then we were certain..."

"They want to repeat the tactics they used when they recaptured the Oder salient: first break out of the salient, then launch a major breakthrough from other places, and then divide, encircle, and annihilate our forces, right?"

“That’s right, Your Highness Elizabeth,” General Trosa continued, “So, following the approach taken by the Black Prince’s Legion, we proactively began the retreat of our troops before the enemy could truly launch an encirclement and annihilation operation. And as we suspected, two or three days before the retreat was completed, the Soviet army launched a massive offensive. Their advance was so rapid that the American air raids caused us considerable transportation problems, and once again, our retreating troops were encircled and annihilated.”

"loss?"

"A total of three brigades and five regiments, with fewer than a thousand survivors, including many veterans. If we add the troops that the Soviet army annihilated and routed when they broke out of the salient, as well as those who died in air raids, our casualties and missing persons in this week have exceeded 30,000."

"Ah, of course, among them..." another general added, "there are also those who weren't seriously injured, but whose brains were damaged by the bombs. Some even think enemy planes are coming when they hear the sound of engines, and they fall off their beds in fright. It's become a daily occurrence at the medical station."

“Of course I know that. These past few days I’ve been running around the rear and to various units to try and calm the morale of the troops. After all, you have more experience than I do in combat strategies when facing these new enemies.” Elizabeth tapped her fingertips nervously on the table a few times. “But the situation shouldn’t be as bad as it was at the beginning, right?”

"That's right. The only good news right now is that, due to several days of rain and strong winds, the intensity of the US airstrikes has become very low. There are no longer hundreds or thousands of large bombers flying over Berlin like at the beginning. Instead, most of them are on the front line in the south, firing sporadically at ground troops along with Soviet artillery. There have even been days when none of them have come at all."

"What about the Soviet army's breakthrough speed? Has it changed at all?"

"It was incredibly slow, you could say. Apart from leaving us with craters and ammunition belts everywhere, the Soviet army hardly launched any offensives. However, it wasn't easy for us to drive them out of the salient. It seemed like they were aiming for this situation."

"You came here specifically for this? You mean..."

“We all agree,” the Duke resumed, “that since the Soviet army in the north has been on the defensive and in retreat, this large-scale Soviet offensive that has us so terrified is likely just a distraction; they have no intention of taking Berlin. Moreover, after they reached the outskirts of Berlin, they did not encircle the city, but instead concentrated their defenses on one place, which is not in line with their usual practice of encirclement warfare.”

"Oh? This is the first time I've seen such a 'forced' method that has produced such a tangible effect." The princess shook her head with a cold smile. "However, I still trust your judgment."

"Your Highness?"

“You all know the current situation. Too many troops have been drawn from the north to pursue us, and now the Zero Return has happened in Area 11. In order to ensure the safety of the Tokyo Concession, many troops could only come later when the situation was safe. I made repeated requests and barely managed to get the 92nd Independent Brigade as our new blood. So, where should this unit go?”

"Let's go south... After all, it's too close to Berlin, which has a big impact on the morale of the troops. We need to at least give the troops some confidence."

"Tsk, another defensive mindset?" After hearing everyone's similar thoughts, the siblings exchanged a glance and shook their heads. "I'd like to know, what were your thoughts when you made this suggestion?"

"Uh, because the situation on the southern front is so bad, so..."

"Is it really that the southern front is so bad? Or do you think I think the southern front is so bad?"

"Your Highness..."

"Putting aside my previous statements, from a practical standpoint, where should this brigade go? By the way, I'd like to know if the planning for the initial large-scale airborne operation and the operation to retake the eastern part of the city were with us?"

“He’s not here, Your Highness… He’s the commander of the peacekeeping force in Area 11, and he’s currently dealing with matters concerning the Black Knights…”

“Sigh…” Elizabeth leaned back in her chair in disappointment. “So, when will there be a few more ‘weirdos’ like him in this expeditionary force?”

……

Meanwhile, in the north of the battlefield, General Kuznetsov had already entered the city of Szczecin, indicating that the retreat was nearing its end. However, this did not mean that things would be easy from now on; much of what lay ahead was not pleasant.

"Comrade General, this is a telegram from Marshal Zhukov."

"speak."

"I'm sorry, General, but due to the deteriorating weather in Western Europe, the US military is temporarily unable to send B-17 bomber formations across the English Channel to Germany to support our operations. Furthermore, the air power in the US-occupied areas has repeatedly failed to alleviate the pressure on the southern front due to a lack of sufficient resources. The entire force that launched the cover operation has maximized its combat effectiveness, and we only ask that you complete the mission in the shortest possible time."

"I saw it coming a long time ago, when the 'flying tanks' overhead were getting fewer and fewer." The general shook his head helplessly. "Time has never loosened its grip on my neck, and I don't need the Marshal to ring the bell for me a few more times."

"However, the troops on the front lines are indeed under very little pressure right now, so we should..."

"It should be time for Comrade Zhukov to finish everything, realize all the possibilities, and end the current situation that is worrying the enemy. Soon, we will be in trouble."

"Well, even so, General, they probably won't be able to muster the strength to pursue the retreating troops in the short term, at least not in large numbers."

"But if the weather doesn't clear up soon, we won't get any air cover at all. Coupled with the artillery's lack of ammunition, our front line will have to be fortified with our own flesh and blood... So, Marshal, is there anything else you're concerned about?"

"Ah, yes, it's intelligence from the West."

"Oh?" Kuznetsov's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Recently, comrades from the Jutland Peninsula sent a message: a sizable Royal Navy fleet has entered the Denmark Strait."

"British warships?" The general's heart skipped a beat. "Size?"

"A total of four destroyers and four cruisers. The destroyers appear to be all W-class, the cruisers are two light cruisers HMS Kenya and HMS Diaden, and the heavy cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS London."

"No large warships? That's interesting."

"And what's really strange is that when our comrades were gathering information, they found that the British sailors didn't seem to be trying to hide their voyage at all. It was easy to tell that they had received an important mission from the mainland or the North Sea, as if they were going to openly send their fleet over."

"So bold?"