Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Page 157

……

The snowflakes in the winter hung silently on the branches, and before they were deafened by the deafening roar, some were knocked off by the rotating turret of the 75mm tank gun.

"One, two, three, let's do it!"

As soon as the radio wave ended, an armor-piercing round and a high-explosive round each ignited the cold winter air, causing a great commotion on the land next to the transport plane.

"Fire!"

The KMF was utterly destroyed, and the high-explosive rounds were ruthless against the infantry, but the bullets that left the barrel were even more merciless.

"Suppress them!" The American soldiers in the bushes had already set up their machine guns and rifles, not to mention the two tanks with at least two light and heavy machine guns each, and the jeeps that followed along to create momentum. Less than 15 men in black didn't even have time to groan before they died.

"Go forward and check the survivors! Tanks and heavy weapons teams, stand by and monitor the village closely! Where's the mortar team? Why aren't they ready yet?"

"Here they come!" The few 60mm pipes that had just been set up in the open space next to them flew out after the captain's reprimand.

"Okay, guys, something's come out of the village." Just as the mortar shells created a few bright impacts in the village, Jonathan spotted a new enemy. "A KMF and an armored vehicle are starting to charge at us. All heavy machine guns, do as I told you before, watch whichever target my tracer belt is pointing at, and fire along with my target, understand?"

There weren't many targets. Two KMFs in the village seemed to be quietly firing from the shadows. The heavy machine gunners were just dealing with this Sunderland who was about to unleash his machine gun prowess. The infantry fighting vehicles could be left to the 75mm cannons.

"Yes! That's it!" Colorful tracer rounds leaped out merrily from the sound of the M2 heavy machine gun, clattering and splashing sparks and mud fountains as Sunderland twisted and turned. It seems that the one sitting in the doll is no ordinary person either.

"Reload! Keep going, don't stop!" Sunderland's left arm was gradually losing its effectiveness, but it was still far from being completely incapacitated. As for the infantry fighting vehicle that wanted to charge at him? Before "Peanut" and "Pig Brain" could calibrate a few more rounds, it turned into a beacon tower amidst the flaming sunflower decorations on the front of the vehicle.

“If this thing gets any closer, we’ll be in trouble.” Peanut, the train commander, popped out and yelled at Jonathan, “You’d better stop right now, we have an idea.”

"Huh?" The commander tossed out a sentence and went inside, seemingly ignoring the machine gun that the sergeant had just loaded. Suddenly, he lowered the gun barrel, fired a white phosphorus smoke grenade into the ground, and revved the engine and blasted it away!

"Are you alright, Sergeant?" Karl quickly helped him up after he tumbled off the tank, using the residual heat of the Chaffee tank's engine and the cacophony of gunfire around them to calm them down.

"Oh my god... I forgot something."

……

"Hey sergeant! What's the situation on your end?"

Looking back at Captain Axe in the village, the infantry could only use assault rifles to make do at this distance. His machine gun was equipped with a recoilless rifle, and another Sunderland beside him was equipped with a machine gun. After the remaining infantry fighting vehicle was hit, only one teammate who had rushed not far from the enemy was suddenly surrounded by a giant cotton candy.

"I...I can't see, Captain! There's smoke everywhere...Okay, I'm out...Damn, something just drove in there!"

Sunderland, who was looking at something dark, was momentarily distracted when he turned around. In that brief moment, the American soldiers in the bushes took care of his final moments at that last distance—along with two unfortunate souls who had their heads shaved by his machine gun.

"Damn it, this guy's down too."

"Hey, Captain! Look at that thing that scared him just now, isn't it that?" A thing covered in tracks popped straight out of the cotton candy and charged toward the village.

"This... could it be..." A bad thought flashed through their minds. "Quick! Focus firepower and take him down!"

The machine gun was aimed, and the recoilless rifle was leveled towards the speeding tank. Just as Captain Axe was confidently anticipating the surprise that the fired shells would bring,

"Wha, what?!"

From afar, we saw the Chaffee tank suddenly brake on its left track, tilting its front to the side and drifting recklessly across the soft snow, dodging the shell?!

"My God..." Captain Axe was completely dumbfounded, looking at the snow dust kicked up by the tank and the shells exploding behind it, "Can this tank really go this fast?"

The infantrymen who were following the KMF to find cover were also dumbfounded. They hadn't even recovered from the bizarre speeding and the tank turning around and firing a shot at them when the jungle in the distance became even more lively. The American soldiers, either following behind another Chaffee tank and jeep or crouching low in the snow, all began to head towards the village.

"Oh dear..." Seeing the enemy slowly approaching and the smoke bombs from the American mortars raining down in front of them, Captain Axe had no choice but to order everyone to retreat into the village.

……

Meanwhile, a few kilometers to the north, in Bernburg, the Britannian flag was flying.

"Sir, the advance team from Osleburn has sent word that they have encountered a sizable American ground force, and the village is about to fall!"

The officer did not speak.

"Sir, Osleben's advance team says they need reinforcements. For the safety of Bainburg, we must..."

"Fort Bern will not be unsafe because of the arrival of the American troops, Major. Tell them to retreat at full speed."

"what?"

"Please listen carefully to what's coming from the radio waves next to me. Osleyburn is no longer that important."

……

The chaos in Fort Benn spread through the radio to the village of Osleyben, and the outcome of the battle was fast approaching.

"I hope Peanuts and the others can hurry up." On the side of the street, Jonathan and his lads gathered around the jeep, listening to the heavy machine gun mounted on the vehicle just fly over the low wall and sweep towards a house across the street.

"That's right, that's exactly it!" After explaining the situation, the "Peanut" tank stopped next to him.

"Hey buddy! There's another dummy over there carrying a giant pipe, could you go take care of it?"

"No problem!" With that, the Chaffee tank drove off, circling around to a safer road on the outskirts of the village.

"Sounds like our buddy's chasing after him?"

"Chase after it? Then this rag doll is probably trying to cross the bridge to escape back and report, right?"

"We absolutely can't let him get away, can we?!"

The tank continued to accelerate on the barely smooth road, listening to the sounds of mechanical puppets moving their joints coming from the street a few buildings away.

"Okay, boss, I think we can stop him around the next bend."

"Do what you're supposed to do!"

Ahead was a fenced yard. The driver, with his foot on the pedal and his hand on the lever, gave it a sharp slam. Just like when he dodged the artillery shell, the Chaffee tank made another sharp U-turn and drifted sideways into the yard.

"Keep it up! Hurry up!"

The tracks and road wheels adjusted themselves on the soft ground, then crashed through the cowshed in the yard, carrying planks and dry grass along with them, and continued to rampage through the houses.

"He's over there!" The group quickly spotted Sunderland being chased by a hail of bullets through the streets.

"The road is too bumpy, I can't aim at it!"

"It's okay, I have a solution."

The driver then swerved sharply, bypassing a house and a few saplings, before crashing into a utility pole on the road ahead.

"Come on, let me trip you up and see?"

The telephone pole fell down like a car pole, and Sunderland, who was speeding by, was hit on the leg by it. He tumbled and fell, landing right in the hotel building.

"OK, would you like the lights off, sir?" The tank came to a stop and aimed its cannon at the wall above Sunderland. "Good night."

The cannon barrel murmured, then turned into a gray cloud above Sunderland, burying him.

Chapter 182, Section 252: Another European Winter

"Hurry up, hurry up, bring all the ammunition down."

Osleben returned to tranquility, with only wisps of black smoke rising from the village as a backdrop under the midday sun, while busy figures could be seen in the distance on the outskirts of the village.

Jonathan, along with his crew, unloaded boxes of supplies from the newly arrived trucks, along with the other squads. These supplies came from the main force in the south, one of their purposes being to provide them with supplies.

Meanwhile, another group of soldiers who had stopped with the convoy for a short rest were also lending a hand in their spare time. However, their destination was not at the moment; they were heading north.

"Jesus, why is there so little ammunition for the bazooka?" Carl, a corporal, was also helping him carry it.

"Hey, maybe .50 ammo is more likely to be on sale, huh?" Tommy was running around happily, I wonder if he had vented all his anger during the battle in the village.

"It's empty." The sergeant glanced at the clean truck cargo hold. "Alright, you guys, help get these wounded men into the truck. The rest of you, go back to the village and return to your posts!"

……

Then, at the village post office, the captain in charge of leading their large unit was with Sergeant Pat, watching him fiddle with a pile of clutter on the table in front of him.

"Hey, Sergeant Campbell, come over here. Your 3rd Platoon must have known the most about the enemy in Berlin, right?"

"To put it modestly, that's how it is." The sergeant gave an embarrassed, wry smile. "So, you call me...?"

"It seems your buddy knows way more than you, the officer. Do you even understand these Britannians?"

"Well, normally he's better at these things than anyone else in the class... Let me see, gas masks and bulletproof vests aside, radios and night vision goggles, he's better at those than the other guys in the team, um... hey Captain, I forgot your name..."

“You’re nervous? Ha, just call me Drucker.” The captain paused. “Once he finishes tuning these two radios, the job will be done, and you can take one with you.”

"Are we just leaving? It seems like I should spend more time with you to get to know each other better?"

"Alright then, I've only been in charge of your company for three days, and I haven't said much on the way here... Sergeant, I wanted to ask, what was the situation like for your company in Berlin, your captain?"

“MIA, Captain Etani Davis… Anyway, I didn’t even see his dog tag when I left Berlin.”

"Does he care how long you've been in this position?"

"...beginning before the Ardennes Forest."

"Back then he was at least a lieutenant, right? Then, sergeant, with your current qualifications and combat experience, how come you haven't even gotten the rank of sergeant first class?"

"First, you need to find an opportunity to ask Davis why he keeps refusing to agree to my requests. Second, I don't understand why I can't guarantee my career prospects even after receiving such a prestigious medal. Finally, if it really is a matter of education level, then I have nothing more to say."

"Huh? Hahahaha!" Drucker couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Well then, in that case, let me test you: Do you know what our purpose was in taking Osleben and the D Company you just met by the convoy, and their advance north to Pozkao?"

“Uh… I think I understand, Captain.”

"How?"

“I’ve always understood how to take over or hold a town, but I’ve never really paid attention to doing it and what the consequences of failure would be.”

The captain stared at him blankly for a long time, then took off his helmet and rubbed the back of his head vigorously.

"A tactical talent, huh? And a highly specialized one at that? I remember you, Pat, were the one who learned it faster than you, weren't you?" He couldn't help but scoff. "Come on, Captain, I'll give you some extra training."

……

Once inside, the captain spread out a map and began pointing along the road and river.

“Osleben, this is where we are, then Pozkaw is to the north, and then further north, across the Saale River, you can see most of Beinburg.”

"So I'm here to tell you about our purpose in occupying the line from Osleben to Pozca. First, you need to know—of course, you weren't present when I was talking earlier because of important business—what's the current situation on the German side. Britannia has already started targeting the gentlemen in the British-occupied northern territories, and similarly, the Russians are preparing to reclaim lost territories in the south."

"This raises a problem. The British are currently on the defensive. Of course, I'm not saying they can't fight, but these gentlemen simply don't have any decent offensive plans. On the Soviet side, they're also hampered by various troubles, otherwise they wouldn't have allowed us to enter the land that was formerly Soviet-occupied under your feet."

"Our objective is to move north along the Saale and Elbe rivers, compressing Britannia's forces in the southwest. Then we can coordinate with the Soviet army to capture Bernburg, and then move north to suppress Magdeburg, which is a key transportation route for Britannia's offensive into British-occupied territory. This will protect the flank of the Soviet counter-offensive and also reduce the pressure on the British from Britannia, ultimately driving them back to the east of the Elbe."

"Uh... So should we continue sweeping north, or go straight east and attack Berlin?"

"Hmm, not bad, better than I expected." The captain looked satisfied. "I thought you'd only say 'hmm'."

"Sir..."

"Alright, alright, let's talk about something else. Sergeant, you said before that Captain Davis and you didn't get along, um... when did you two join the army to fight the Nazis?"

"Both were in 1942, in North Africa."

"What the hell?!" Drucker nearly popped his buttons off with a burst of breath. "They all... they all came before me. I was there when Sicily was almost over... So I'm curious, Sergeant, in these past three years, have you only focused on mastering the brutal art of killing on the battlefield, without paying any attention to military strategy or anything like that?"

"Military strategy... I still understand those miscellaneous things..."

"Alright, never mind that... Let's just ask this: Sergeant, do you and Captain Davis have some kind of blood feud?"

"There's no blood feud, but there is a story about our background."

"life experience?"

"Before we joined the army, we both lived in Texas, in the same village, and he was our sheriff."

"Then your fate is truly... wait? Sheriff? You don't get along with anyone? Holy crap, before you enlisted, you were... what?!"

"You'd think someone like me, a qualified serial killer, who was a thief before enlisting in the army, would still be sleeping in some Chicago garbage dump with his wanted poster under his pillow, right?"

"Ahem... So you two have been locked in a love-hate relationship since before you enlisted? Never mind, Sergeant, I need to calm down first. You two should also see what dishes you can eat with the luncheon meat..."

……

Drucker went inside, and Jonathan walked with Pat down the streets of Osleburn. A gentle breeze brushed their faces, occasionally leaving a few drops of something cold.

"Hmm? Sergeant, is it snowing?"

"Huh? Oh, I think so..."

Looking up at the sky, wisps of white drifted down from the not-so-gloomy sky, but the bustling soldiers passing by were not particularly moved by it.

"Pat, what's the date today?"

"Today? January 10th."