Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Page 12

Several soldiers turned around and, by the light of the oil lamp, saw Tommy dragging a gleaming machine gun out from under a pile of straw!

However, before everyone could cheer, a wounded soldier who was watching the commotion started yelling!

……

The gun features a bipod, a square barrel, and six rounded rectangular ventilation holes arranged in a line.

That's right, what he dragged out with all his might was the "Hitler Chainsaw"—the MG42 machine gun—that had terrified countless Allied soldiers back then.

No wonder the wounded soldier was so panicked; it seems that some tragic war memory had been triggered in him.

……

"Throw it away! You good-for-nothing!"

"Why, boss? I just left 'Lina' in that dilapidated building. Can't I find a new partner now?"

"If you want to spend your life with this crappy machine gun, go get some more bullets yourself and carry it! Don't even think about using ours!"

……

“Alright, listen to me.” Jonathan clapped his hands, gesturing for everyone to look over. “You, you, give all the .30 bullets to those guys.”

"Huh?" The group looked at each other, clearly not understanding what the sergeant meant.

"What do you mean 'huh'? Give them all the .30 ammo, throw away your Garands, and use these German rifles instead. Don't you understand?"

"Oh oh oh..."

“You.” The sergeant then pointed to another soldier.

“I’ve given you all the ammo for my submachine gun,” the sergeant said, handing him the magazine he had been holding—his old Thompson submachine gun was at his feet, the magazine already removed.

"And you two! Take those two precious 'Storm Rifles'." Jonathan gave the final order, then looked at the two German submachine guns on the ground, picked one up—both were MP40s, not much different.

"Hey! Boss!" Tommy chuckled as he watched. "Deliberately giving away the good stuff so the other classes can show off?"

The sergeant didn't say anything, but gripped the trigger of his MP40 with his right hand, raised the gun, and faced the crowd.

“I’m asking you,” he said, extending his left hand. “Do you know where this hand should be placed?”

"Load the magazine!"

Well, it seems that such a unanimous answer was to be expected.

"Haha." He chuckled, used his left hand to pry off the folding stock of the submachine gun, and then placed that hand on the lower part of the gun, a little behind the magazine.

“Learn from this, kids.” The sergeant suddenly grinned mischievously.

"Tommy!" he called again to the lame man sitting in the shadows. "Open your eyes again, and see if there's anything else you can use!"

……

Not long after, while everyone was still resting on the ground, Tommy dug out a small iron box from behind some wall bricks.

"Boss! Look what this is!"

Everyone crowded around, opened it, and found some bandages and alcohol inside, along with a small pair of scissors and tweezers.

"Germans really do have everything..."

The crowd burst into laughter. Before the sergeant could speak, a soldier took the metal box and began bandaging a wounded soldier.

"Ugh, there's nothing to eat..." Tommy and Carl, their faces full of resentment and exhaustion, squeezed together again and each lit a cigarette.

"Ugh, don't even mention it. Even if there's food, it'll either be spoiled by now or it'll just be canned food. I'm dying for a roast turkey!..."

“Sergeant, what do you think? What would the Germans think if they knew that we were using something they left behind months ago?”

“What could they possibly think…” Jonathan chuckled. “We’re using the things left behind by the dead, we’re the winners, and they have no right to give us any opinions.”

“Hey, don’t you guys think we’re not far from the same fate as the Germans…” A soldier standing nearby stretched and vented his pessimism.

"Hmm, hiding here like a rat, Germany really is a place that breeds poverty."

“Don’t think like that, kids,” the sergeant said slowly. “Back then, the Germans were surrounded by Russians, and the Russians were surrounded by Russians.”

"As for us, we may be surrounded by Russians, but outside of them are our own people."

"Is it bandaged up?" he called to the wounded soldier beside him. "We should go."

"Hey, sir!" Bill, who was keeping watch at the door, called out quietly. "There's some noise outside!"

"Everyone! Stay quiet and where you are!" The sergeant slowly half-squatted up. "Hey you, turn off the oil lamp! You two, cigarette butts!"

……

At both ends of the subway, several sharp, cold glints of light waved like willow branches in the wind.

"Have the enemy found us?" Bill and the sergeant lay prone together, muttering to themselves anxiously.

“Bill, get your guns ready.” He turned around and saw the sergeant crawling on the ground, fumbling for his MP40. “Let’s do something exciting.”

"Are you crazy, sir! There must be at least ten or twenty of them! I... I don't want to cause trouble!"

"Damn it, let me finish! I'll count to one, and then we'll both fire at the enemy. You take care of your side, and I'll take care of mine!" The sergeant gestured back and forth in the direction of the light. "Whether you hit anyone or not, just fire! Got it?"

"When I tap you again, you come back inside with me and keep quiet, understand?"

"Oh oh oh..."

"Inside!" the sergeant whispered, poking his head into the room. "No matter what happens! Don't move without my order, understand?"

"understand……"

“Three…” Jonathan turned around, stared into Bill’s eyes, and held up three fingers.

"two……"

……

"Team B calling: We have entered the underground passage and are searching for the target soldier. There appears to be a friendly search team ahead. Requesting orders."

"Received. Please verify the other party's identity. Over."

"Everyone, take cover."

The rustling footsteps stopped abruptly as black figures disappeared into the chaos.

"Listen up!" a man in black shouted, sticking his head out. "Stop! Identify yourselves!"

boom! ——

In an instant, gunshots echoed like thunder in the narrow subway, and bullets flew lightly across bricks and sandbags, sparking tiny gray sparks among the rubble.

"Damn it! Hide! Don't show your face!" The people who were huddled behind the cover buried themselves even lower.

"That was a pretty underhanded tactic... Team, listen up, weapons ready!"

Before the hissing of the radio had subsided, the gunshots on the other end disappeared like a fleeting train.

……

"Fire!—"

The soldiers in black suddenly stood up from behind their cover, pointed their weapons forward, and in the blink of an eye, a swarm of bright-colored insects flew out of the gun barrels, drawing a golden meteor shower across the mottled ruins of the subway.

……

Two dark figures slowly rolled into the shadows, past a half-open door.

"Hey boss!" a voice called from inside. "What's going on outside! Should we turn on the lights?"

"All of you, stay put!" Jonathan roared. "Karl! You come here!"

Outside, the storm of bullets still howled among the ruins, and catastrophic lightning and thunder pounded in everyone's ears.

"You two, stay behind the door and rush out when the time is right, understand?"

After the sergeant finished speaking, he nodded to Carl and Bill, and then slowly crept out.

No one knew how long the storm had been raging. Suddenly, a shout that echoed through the tunnel pierced through the storm clouds like sunlight and fell to the ground.

The rain stopped, and the men in black crawled out from various places where they were sheltered from the rain, gradually gathering together with the figure holding a flashlight.

“Damn it…” one of the men in black spoke first. “Are you from Wilson Squadron?”

"Yes, it's us. So, what are you planning to do about this?"

"Sorry, sorry, we heard gunshots, and then one of our brothers saw a bullet fall next to him... We thought..."

"You think, you think! It's your 'thinking' that cost me several men's lives? You said you heard gunshots? There was clearly a whole bunch of bullets falling on our side! What are you still trying to deny?!"

"Sir, you can't say that! You killed several of our brothers, did we say anything? You say we opened fire first, show me the evidence! Who the hell knows which damned bastard threw a bullet at your head!"

"Say that again!" The man grabbed the soldier who was spewing insults, and the crowd immediately surrounded him, as if an inevitable dispute was about to break out.

Wait a minute, something's not right...

Hidden in the noise, something seemed to make a sound and roll past right under my nose.

I looked down, and there was a perfectly round hand grenade!

"Damn it, we need cover!"

Before the words were finished, an explosion rang out, and a bright white rose burst forth from the ground!

……

"Cough cough..."

"Is anyone hurt? Cough... Farol! Caudalie!"

"Sir..." The man in black picked up his flashlight and looked around. Apart from a few people dressed like him who were getting up from the ground, the others seemed to have "died in an accident."

"Are you okay?"

"Thank goodness... the grenade rolled over from that side. Get your weapons ready, there might be enemies..."

"Hey, Farol, who's behind you?"

"Ah!" Before the man named Farol could say anything, a gleaming dagger, in the afterglow of the flashlight, pierced his neck like an eagle's claw!

Upon closer inspection, an olive green garment was found clinging tightly to his back!

"Enemies are in sight!"

……