Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Page 169

"Damn it, where's my helmet?" Lemilia looked around. "Oh well, never mind. What do we do now? I just counted, and it seems like more than ten or twenty of our two companies have fallen in one go."

"Well, don't trust your eyes yet, at least don't trust what's on the ground." Turning around, the IS-3 helmet next to him suddenly stopped with a metallic buzzing explosion. The commander, who was holding the DShk heavy machine gun on the roof, shrank back into the vehicle and cursed at the three different colored dummy figures that were packed tightly together.

"Now at least half of our tanks can't advance any further; we're still hundreds of meters from the enemy's position." Anton looked around.

"As long as it can fire, that's all that matters. Otherwise, what are your thoughts?"

"I?"

"Captain, it's very difficult for the enemy to destroy our tanks now, but we are not tanks."

“Ah, I understand, but…” Anton hesitated for a moment.

"I think right now, the comrades don't want to hear about what's possible; they just want to know what's possible."

"Okay... well, my radio is broken, I can't call the comrades in the mortars behind me."

"Damn, mine's broken too, but it's okay, I managed to get a landline phone beforehand."

"Sheva!" Anton turned around and shouted at his comrade who was lying on the ground busy winding up the wires, "Hurry up, if you don't fix the wires soon, we'll just be waiting here!"

……

"Quick, move this aside."

Soviet tanks and infantry were still unleashing their full firepower on the position, while fighter jets and KMFs were still locked in combat in the sky. Shishian and his companions had retreated to the position first, either joining the other KMFs and tanks in a delaying resistance or rescuing their comrades who had been buried in the mud by the explosions. The area in front of and behind the position was a mess, filled with the smell of electronic components and burnt flesh, accompanied by the sharp irritation of gunpowder.

"Hey! Warrant Officer!" Ipel was still returning fire from the Soviets when suddenly, shells began to fall one after another. Instead of exploding near them, they formed gray-white clouds that spread out over a hundred or two meters ahead.

"This, this is..." Xixi'an couldn't help but ponder, "Smoke screen, used for cover, is it to cover a retreat or an attack...?"

"Should we continue firing?" Juliet asked as she came over.

"No, the Russians will definitely not give up like this. The Minotaur can't move, but it will fire its last shell. Soldiers can't just pick up machine guns and start firing, but..."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a sharp shell from an IS-3 tank came hurtling through the clouds, skimming the ground and flying into the distance. Suddenly, a bright red flag and a series of figures roared out of the smoke screen.

"Oh, Your Majesty, fire! Stop them!"

……

"Follow me and charge forward, comrades! Leave no survivors!"

"Hurrah!—"

Whether it was an overly fearless mentality or years of war experience, it indiscriminately ignited the hearts of Anton, Lemilia, and all the Soviet soldiers, causing them to become inexplicably fanatical. Just like that, carrying the flag of their motherland, holding rifles and PPSh-45s, relying on the main guns of a group of IS-3 tanks firing blindly from hundreds of meters behind them, and braving the firepower of several KMFs and black tanks in front of them, they were determined to charge into the trenches.

Comrades kept shouting slogans, and people kept falling under Britannia's light and heavy fire, either becoming wounded or spilling their internal organs on the ground. Blood and the hammer and sickle flag formed a red wave that surged to the last step in front of the trenches.

The KMFs and tanks, seemingly hesitant amidst the chorus of "Ura!" (a Japanese chant), fired their projectiles with utter fearlessness. The smoke dissipated quickly, and the tanks' fire support became even more unrestrained, helping their comrades on foot to charge onto the first assault gun positioned before them.

"Die, fascists!" Anton and several comrades rushed into the trench first. Without saying a word, they pulled out their entrenching tools, pinned down a Britannian infantryman, and delivered a fatal blow to the back of his head. They ripped off his helmet, which had been smashed open along with his head, and tossed it aside. Another corporal, wielding an SVT-40 rifle with a bayonet, caught it and, like a fist, brutally beat the nearly dead bastard beneath him.

The entire position was turned into a chaotic mess by the ever-increasing number of Soviet soldiers who stormed in. They kicked down any black-clad infantrymen who dared to resist, hurled Molotov cocktails and anti-tank grenades, or quickly set up anti-tank rifles and 12.7mm heavy machine guns along the trenches. Even the innocent mud became part of the chaos, either staining their uniforms red with blood or polluting the terrifying white of the winter sky with the blood of the enemy.

"Is there anything we can do with our flamethrowers?"

"The enemy's assault guns and infantry fighting vehicles all have escape hatches at the bottom. Aim the jets at the underside of each vehicle and burn them all to death! Don't let anyone escape!"

The blazing bear transformed into a wave of fire that engulfed every tank and the steel armor of the KMF. Every vehicle trampled or seen by Soviet soldiers became a cauldron on the stove of flamethrowers. No one could escape. The only purpose of being there was to be roasted to a crisp by the burning fuel. Even those who huddled under the vehicles, hoping to crawl out and surrender when the battle ended, were the last survivors. In their final moments, they listened to the deafening roar of the battlefield and writhed in agony before passing away.

……

"Back up! Back up now!"

Shishia and her two companions formed a triangular formation and slowly retreated away from the position, firing as they went, watching in despair as more and more Soviet soldiers occupied the area. In the sky, a Soviet fighter jet, trailing flames, hurtled towards them like lightning.

"No! No!" Ipel panicked, and in that moment of hesitation, she was almost hit by the plane. "Brother!"

"Watch out!" Luckily, Juliet managed to pull her landline aside.

"What do we do now, Lieutenant Shishian!" Ipel was almost crying with fear. "What, what do we do..."

"Captain Griffin, the position is on the verge of collapse. What should we do?" Shishian continued calmly, leading the two men backward, watching those who climbed onto tanks and threw grenades and Molotov cocktails into the hatches, those who climbed onto KMFs and pried open the cockpits to brutally murder the pilots, those who rolled all over the trenches and fought hand-to-hand with every surviving Imperial soldier—these were the Soviet prisoners of war who often despised the invaders with their so-called great faith, yet on the battlefield, they were doing such irrational things…

"Stop holding out!" Angeline's voice came through the radio. "Abandon the position! By order of the higher command, abandon the position! Take anyone you can call and retreat immediately! Otherwise, you'll all die there!"

And so, after Ypel fired its last shell, Sisian and Juliet unloaded all the bullets from their magazines and hastily departed, leaving behind this land filled with ghostly fire and the souls of the dead.

Chapter 201, Section 272: Blood Canal

[Chapter Opening Remarks: Based on reader feedback, the latter half of the previous chapter seemed to have generated considerable controversy and some readers found the pacing too fast, causing discomfort. Therefore, please forgive me for being so verbose in this chapter, providing further explanation on these issues. My apologies.]

"Watch out, comrade! You're going to get run over by a tank!"

The hand-to-hand combat in the trenches continued. Lieutenant Lemilia, while wrestling with a Britannian infantryman, turned back and shouted to the soldiers who were crawling up, covered in blood. The IS-3 heavy tank arrived late, raising its front end and charging into the chaotic position, avoiding the figures of its own comrades, and once again firing its 122mm main gun at the sparse remaining black tanks in front.

Clearly, precise but limited direct fire alone was insufficient to disable every suspension system in the tank formation. The ground was littered with KMF shrapnel and the bodies of soldiers from both sides, some still ablaze, extinguished by the rolling tank tracks and becoming part of the earth. Their helmets and weapons were also crushed.

"Get out of the way!" The lieutenant mustered all his strength and kicked the guy on top of him aside. He quickly rolled to the side, and the black-uniformed man was crushed to death by the tank following closely behind the lead vehicle.

"Damn it." He picked up his PPSh submachine gun in a disheveled state, then turned and called to the more comrades who had rushed into the trenches, "Move to both sides! Move to both sides! Clear the trenches, they might still be alive!"

The chaos here was far from over. Looking over, Anton had just knocked out the enemy who was about to pull out his pistol by smashing him with the handle of his machine gun and then chopping him between the eyebrows.

"You're injured, comrade." Seeing Anton about to stand up but then kneeling down again, he quickly helped him up. "Come, sit down."

"Sheva! Bandage!" He clutched his thigh in pain. "Damn it, I didn't notice, when did I get shot? It's been so long..."

"Wait, calm down, Captain." Sheva looked at the situation. "Ah, the bullet grazed your clothes and cut a little flesh, but it's not a big deal."

"It's not a big deal, but it's the first time I've been injured in ages, blyat..."

“Alright, you can rest here, Captain.” Sheva slung his gun over his shoulder again. “I’ll go find Lieutenant Baradanov and have him temporarily relieve you.”

"Go ahead, comrade, I'll keep an eye on things."

……

Lemilia saw him off and looked around.

"I'm suddenly starting to regret it, regretting encouraging you before the charge..."

"What are you trying to persuade me to do? Hmm?" Anton gave a strained smile.

"Without tanks blocking their way, they just use the smoke screen to sneak in to a distance of one or two hundred meters and then rush into the trenches... God, do you really think the comrades are so used to the hissing sound of German fascist linen cutters that they're not afraid of these new mortal enemies?"

“I wouldn’t take any risks without being absolutely certain, comrade.” Anton sighed. “I suppose you didn’t hear me talking to the tank commander next to me when I called for the mortars earlier.”

What did you say back then?

"'Contact all the tank commanders you can reach as soon as possible. Ignore the scattered puppets retreating to the front lines. Aim at the pre-selected targets on the front lines and fire promptly when we charge.' Not only that, I also added to the mortar comrades: If you see red signal flares fired from the front lines, don't distinguish between friend and foe, fire indiscriminately..."

"I understand the first one, but the second one..."

"You probably didn't notice... but the first thing I picked up during the charge wasn't my rifle, it was my flare gun. I had already prepared for the worst-case scenario if the enemy's first round of concentrated fire from the tanks didn't work."

“Well, that’s true.” Lemilia pursed her lips. “I thought we’d die a horrible death once we emerged from the smokescreen, but we still made it, didn’t we?”

"Thank goodness... Let me tell you, we've had a lot of good luck today: First, the initial artillery preparation, in just 40 minutes, basically turned this place upside down. Look around." Anton pointed to a large pile of shell craters and two infantry fighting vehicles next to him, with obvious signs of deformation caused by artillery fire hitting their roofs.

"Secondly, when we initially advanced with the tanks, many of their firing positions had already been destroyed by the tank guns... I must say the IS-3 crews really made the right choice. And thirdly, coincidentally, it was only after the enemy's frontal firepower was crippled that the enemies flanking us engaged us. Basically, the pressure on our front was less than that on our flanks."

“Come on, let me help you with the fourth point.” Lemilia raised his hand. “Thanks to the IS-3, this armor is really outrageous. If it were a regular T-34, we probably wouldn’t even survive until Sheva brought you the phone. The KMF and assault guns would have picked off the T-34s one by one and then approached us.”

“Yes, then we’ll be the ones being passively attacked on the plains. It really feels like these Britannian guys are getting smarter and smarter…” Anton nodded. “They’ve given me all of this. I feel like the situation won’t get too bad before we lose the skies. All that’s left is to observe the enemy.”

"observe?"

"Before the smoke screen was set up, I saw that there was only one assault gun still firing on the position, and a few scattered infantrymen. Then when we started the charge, there were only two more KMFs, two machine guns, and one with a shield on the position. As soon as the IS-3 opened fire, the infantrymen were completely silenced, the KMFs ran back, and the assault gun stopped moving, even though it wasn't hit."

"Does that mean that when we started the charge, the enemy had basically offered no resistance, and the tanks' artillery fire was the final straw that broke the camel's back?"

“You should remember when we rushed into the trenches.” Anton paused. “Did you notice that many of their infantrymen weren’t in the trenches, but rather crouching in small groups, like next to vehicles or shell craters—not inside the craters themselves. There were many wounded soldiers around them, and some even picked up their guns only after we charged in. Under what circumstances do you think this situation would occur?”

"There are a lot of casualties on the position that need to be dealt with, and the manpower on the position is already stretched thin?"

"It was seeing this scene that made me drop the flare gun. Hey, over there, could you pick it up for me?"

“Excellent, Comrade Vasilyev.” Lemilia’s smile was full of satisfaction. “I am truly grateful to Motherland for giving you such a way of thinking and such eyes.”

"Thinking is less a matter of talent and more a matter of chance. As for the eyes..." He pointed meaningfully to his eyelids with two fingers, "This pair...they saw the direction of at least five Nazi snipers' shots in Stalingrad, and they also saw the last swastika flag on Mamayev Kurgan being burned. And now, they're still alive..."

"Also, I have a favor to ask of you, I can't get up right now." Anton patted his shoulder. "Go and see how many comrades we've lost on the front lines, and please apologize for me..."

Lemilia fell silent and stood up blankly—the comrades who had come from the rear were carefully collecting the remains of the soldiers on the ground in front of the position. During the charge, the two KMFs that were still firing used their machine guns to splatter the blood and twisted flesh of their comrades all the way until they emptied their magazines and then retreated to maintain a safe distance.

"Two platoons are gone like this, tsk..." The lieutenant suddenly felt a pang of regret. Although some of these dozens of comrades weren't from his or Anton's company, they were still people born of the same motherland. Moreover, among the corpses in the trenches, his comrades had either died from assault rifles or, in a moment of carelessness, hadn't dodged enemy fists, kicks, or daggers—it wasn't just one or two deaths.

The number of IS-3 tanks that had either advanced beyond the trenches or remained in front of the position to change their tracks was roughly the same as the number of infantry fighting vehicles and assault guns around them. However, the number of infantrymen who had died was debatable.

"Merits and demerits cancel each other out, huh? Comrade Anton, I'm afraid we two will have to take some responsibility this time..."

……

As they were talking, several comrades brought over a Britannian infantryman who had raised his hands in surrender; he appeared to be an officer.

"Among those who surrendered, we found him to be the highest-ranking officer, Lieutenant Comrade."

The officer stared at him coldly, but his lips twitched slightly. Was he nervous?

"Also, we found a piece of paper in his pocket. This looks like a diary?"

"Let me see?" Since he couldn't understand the English, he handed it to Anton.

"Ah, what he meant was that he was talking to his soldiers about us, saying when do we need to fight with a hundred times the spirit? Not when our tanks drive up to them, or when warplanes sweep across the position, but when we, the Soviet infantry, are yelling 'Hurrah' and charging at them amidst the hail of bullets coming from behind."

"Haha, that's a good compliment, you bastard. So, shall we take him away?"

“Go.” Lemilia glanced at Anton, who put down his diary and stared blankly at the blue sky.

"What's wrong? What's on your mind?"

Following Anton's chin gesture, Lemilia looked up at the northern sky.

"Are the Americans and the British still attacking Berlin? But why is that massive, long-range artillery piece from Britannia still causing trouble..."

“Don’t underestimate our enemy, comrade…” Anton shook his head. “I have a bad feeling. This time, our allies in the west are going to be in trouble…”

……

"Colonel Darwin? Calling Colonel Darwin? We're about to cover the retreating ground troops as they move into Wiesenberg. Where are your support personnel?"

Back on the other side of the road, leaving in a cloud of dust, Griffin, Angeli, and Lilizia led less than ten aviation KMFs in the air—his team was small to begin with, and while not many men were lost in the maneuvering against the Soviet fighters, they didn't gain much advantage either.

On the ground, Shishia and her group were in a worse situation. Only one infantry fighting vehicle and two assault guns managed to evacuate with them; the KMFs were almost entirely destroyed on the position, making it impossible for them to approach the Minotaur in an attempt to destroy them.

"We have received your message, Captain Griffin. Please guide the ground troops to continue along the current main road. Over."

“We’ve done everything we can…” Juliet said, looking somewhat dejected. “We were outnumbered and had no choice.”

Xixi'an, however, remained silent, as if lost in thought or perhaps listening intently to something over the radio.

"Ipel, is that you?"

"Mmm, mmm..." The girl's rapid sobs rose and fell.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You weren't like this before the attack."

"I'm a little scared... My brother died in the air raid, what if now, I..."

"You now, and you in the future, may always just be a corporal, that's all."

"Hey! Angelie! Don't talk like that..."

"Have you heard any of the people sitting in the assault guns and infantry fighting vehicles speak like Ipel? I think the Knights might not need to be inferior to the unknown 'special ones'."

The words were blunt, but the reasoning behind them was quite sound.

"Colonel, I have a question." Frustrated, Griffin had to change the subject. "What are our plans?"

"There are orders from the army group headquarters. Your squad, and the air force with you, are to immediately enter the city to maintain equipment and resupply energy and ammunition. Those without wings, install them immediately and go to support the skies over Berlin. As for the remaining tanks, I will take care of them."

"Good heavens, it's Berlin again. Can't we even expect a chance to rest...?"

"Relax, Captain." Darwin's voice was much calmer. "Don't forget, these ordinary little brothers of yours didn't escape; they fought their way out."

"Ok?"

"This time, when you go to intercept the bomber group, I'm sure you won't suffer the same fate as last time. Don't forget what you've been through in the past month or two, what we've been through, and what the entire army group has been through."

"Uh... what about you guys?"

"Are you worried about Wiesenberg's safety? Ha, don't worry, as long as I'm here, the Britannian flag can fly here. Are you worried that the bomber group is a tough opponent? Ha, I suppose I should be more worried about whether the Soviet army still has the ability to pry me out of the city. Reinforcements are on their way, we will stay alive here and wait for you to come back alive. Remember, alive."