Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

"GO!"

The sound of the explosion still echoed in the room when two American soldiers flashed in through the doorway, raised their guns, and pulled the triggers. Bullets whistled and tore through the skin of those lying on the ground. Then, with a crisp click, the gunfire stopped abruptly, and all the noise in the room ended with the melodious tinkling of bullets hitting the ground.

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"Ceasefire!"

The orders given by Jonathan and the other soldier beside him were not clearly reflected in the eyes of a dying soldier in black.

Before the sergeant could speak, the soldier drew his pistol and left a solid red period on the man in black's head.

"Clear!"

After examining the body, the two ran upstairs.

"The house is cleared, sir!" Another soldier had been waiting for some time with his gun.

"Collect all their radios and other equipment! Everyone check their ammunition! Hey you! Put the BAR in that window!"

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BAR is short for "M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle". While the layman was still processing this English term, the sergeant turned on the radio.

"Hey! Sergeant! Can you hear me? This building on the west side of the square is done! We're moving on to those two buildings to the north right away! Keep an eye on them for us!"

"Good boy! Leave this to us!"

At that moment, at the foot of the red brick building from which the distress signal was sent, several soldiers were gathered around a group of wounded and sick soldiers who had just been carried onto stretchers.

"Okay, that's all."

"Okay, um, do you have any valuables?" Sergeant Dieter seemed to have thought of something.

Does a bazooka count?

"In that case, here are two options for you: either have the half-tracks carry your injured men back while the able-bodied ones stay and continue with us, or do you all head out now to catch the train?"

The sergeant hesitated for a moment.

"Hawkins! Steven!" Two soldiers were drawn out of the house by the shouts, one carrying a green iron pipe and the other carrying a rifle and several small bags.

"You two will now separate from us and go work with this sergeant and his men, understand?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Everyone else, follow me and take the wounded back! Quick! Get moving!"

Section 36, Chapter Twenty-Two: Multiple Firepower

A rumble of thunder echoed from the other side of the square, and a large hole was blasted in the exterior wall of the building to the north. Not far away, on a windowsill directly opposite the hole, lay an M1918 automatic rifle, its bipod already deployed—this somewhat cumbersome machine gun was often used by American soldiers as a light machine gun, a bit of a disservice to its name, "automatic rifle." The hail of bullets that rained down, while not exactly overwhelming, would easily close the gaping hole.

Sergeant Jonathan and a group of soldiers had quietly surrounded the building's exterior wall, near the breach that had been blown open.

At a command, the crisp blasts of rifles and submachine guns immediately filled the air. Amidst the swarm of bullets, a few grenades also flew out of their hands and rolled into the house. A few uneven claps of thunder then broke out, and shockwaves carrying dust, along with screams, rushed out of the hole into the room.

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"Ready!" The sergeant quickly waved his arm to the BAR gunner who was still firing. He was now standing on the left side of the entrance, while another soldier holding a gun was standing on the right side.

Suddenly, the last bullet streaked past, and the BAR's gunfire ceased abruptly.

"GO! GO! GO!"

The two men at the entrance suddenly turned and pointed their guns into the room. A burst of gunfire, far louder than a solo performance by a bar, immediately filled the space between the ceiling and the floor. Under the cover of their fire, the two soldiers who had been waiting behind the sergeant rushed in and squeezed into the small compartment on the left side of the room.

Two figures disappeared into the shadows inside the room. Then, BAR, on the windowsill in the distance, cleared his throat with a new magazine and began to roar again. The bullets, forming thousands of tiny blades, were slowly tearing everything in the room apart.

"That's it! Guys!"

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Then turn to Sergeant Dilt, who had just seen off the wounded soldiers.

"OK! Sergeant! Sergeant Campbell and the others have almost finished clearing out the scum in that building. What should we do?"

"Okay, then..."

"Bulldog One calling! Enemy situation!" The radio came from the M8 armored vehicle guarding the intersection.

"Received, Bulldog Number One! What's the situation?"

"An unspecified number of enemies are approaching on the streets to the northeast! Repeat! Enemies are approaching from the northeast!"

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On the distant street, a group of soldiers in black, carrying assault rifles, surrounded a black infantry fighting vehicle and cautiously advanced slowly forward.

At the hatch right behind the armored vehicle, a man dressed like an officer was walking alongside the wheels, surrounded by two soldiers. He had one hand lightly resting on the rear of the vehicle, and the other hand covering his ear, as if listening intently to something.

"Calling Team B! We're approaching you from the northeast street! Can you hear me?"

The radio waves remained completely silent...

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"Ahem..." Oh, finally, in the Emperor's name, there's a voice, "Calling the Lieutenant! Are you there!"

"I heard you!" The lieutenant breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his face with the hand he was using to support himself on the vehicle.

"What happened to you? How is Team D? Can you get in touch with them?"

"Ahem... Report!" The radio paused, then crackled a few times. "We're currently in that building with a red cloth on the roof. We're being pinned down by the enemy across the square!"

"Calm down, Sergeant!" The second lieutenant wiped his mouth. "Get cover first! Are you with Team D?"

"The enemy just charged in and engaged them in firefight! I can't get in touch with them right now! They're probably all done for!"

"Alright! Hang in there! We'll be attacking soon!"

Just as Lieutenant Neil hung up the radio, a piercing hiss suddenly came from the air ahead!

"Enemy attack!——"

The lieutenant peeked out and saw a fire-breathing meteor, trailing a faint tail, shooting out of the building in front of him!

Immediately before the soldiers' eyes, Meteor, like a ravenous crocodile, bit down on one of them, tearing him to shreds in the blink of an eye. Large chunks of flesh and blood, along with tattered bones and a pungent stench, cascaded down like a waterfall, covering the clothes of the surrounding men in black and the rough ground.

"Oh, damn it!"

"Everyone take cover! Crew! Prepare to lock onto the target!"

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The armored vehicle in the middle of the road shook the machine gun on its roof and slowly began to align itself with the building in the distance ahead—it was absolutely certain that the meteor had come from there.

What was the scene inside that building?

"Everyone back off! Get out of the windows!—"

Under the terrifying blades of the machine gun, Sergeant Dilt shouted to the soldiers inside the house, who were driven by flying gravel and dust to the base of a wall—where two soldiers huddled together with a rocket launcher, hurling insults at each other.

"Hawkins! How did the commander let a noob like you carry a bazooka?! Did he send you to the circus to be a clown and entertain little kids?!"

"Go to hell, Steve! Who knows how the rocket hit that son of a bitch!"

"That's fucking great! In a few days, you unlucky guy will definitely be chosen as the top sniper in the training ground!"

"OK! OK! Once I've mastered it, I'll shove bullets into your ass one by one!"

"Shut the hell up, you two good-for-nothings!" The sergeant's angry shouts finally drew the two men's attention away from each other.

"What are your plans, sir! We'll become roast steaks if we stay here!"

"Don't rush! Prepare to follow my orders!"

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"Lieutenant! The enemy fire at the window has been suppressed!"

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The roar of machine guns overhead, like shattering cones, mingled with the cacophony of assault rifles. The soldiers' light footsteps, hidden beneath this cacophony, began to slowly approach the vulnerable house from afar. A golden rain of steel drenched the exterior walls, turning every hard brick into dusty fragments.

……

The lieutenant hid behind a broken wall, and several soldiers, at his command, ran into the street, hurrying to find cover ahead.

However, before he could run a few steps, a disturbing wail suddenly descended from the sky!

A thunderclap followed immediately, and a huge, mud-colored rose bloomed unexpectedly on the street. The soldier who had just run out was struck by the giant's slap, and was thrown into the air like a rag doll before crashing heavily onto the armored vehicle, collapsing beside the wheels, and never moving again.

"This?" The crowd, sharing the same horrified and bewildered look in the lieutenant's eyes, hadn't yet recovered from the scene when the familiar wailing echoed through the street once more. A second, enormous earthen rose, accompanied by even more blood-red butterflies, obscured the street. The deafening explosion, like a solid drumstick, pounded the street with all its might, causing every black-clad soldier standing there to retract their newly summoned courage once more.

"Everyone inside! Armored vehicles! Retreat!—"

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"Trolley calling the chef! Shell hit! Repeat! Target hit!"

"The chef heard you! Thank you for the correction!"

One after another, the sound of artillery fire brought a new drumbeat to this neighborhood.

Looking south, in the direction the American soldiers had come from, a dilapidated hut huddled in an inconspicuous spot by the river. On the still-partially collapsed roof, an American soldier, also wearing an olive-green helmet and a green uniform, was lying prone, holding binoculars.

"Well done, guys! One shot, hit!"

Behind him, under the building, were several American soldiers squatting. They were in pairs, three groups in total. In the middle of each group, there was a mortar still emitting wisps of white smoke, glaring fiercely at the sky like a panting wolfhound.

"Keep firing! The guys over there want more!"

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At the other end of the street, Lieutenant Neil was still anxiously gripping the walkie-talkie. In the distance directly ahead, amidst the howling of artillery shells, a long series of pile driver-like commotions rose up.

He poked at a hole in the wall beside him and peered inside: on the side of the street in the distance, behind a pile of rubble less than two meters high, a dark green armored vehicle had appeared like a ghost. On top of the round turret, a young man was holding a machine gun that was spitting fire, and robust bullets flew out of the barrel one after another like sparrows.

Hidden in the drifting dust, the slender cannon mounted on the turret gradually emerged. The cold muzzle seemed to have noticed the lieutenant's eyes hiding in the hole, and slowly turned towards the broken wall!

"Damn it!" The lieutenant's face changed drastically. He sprang away from the wall like a madman. The cannon fire had barely started when he lunged towards the ground further inside. The instant he landed, a piercing scraping and shattering sound erupted behind him. A torrent of dust engulfed the ground and left a hole in the wall several times wider than a human head.

"Oh God..."

It wasn't that he was afraid of almost dying from the shells; if he hadn't just ordered his armored vehicles to retreat, that attack would probably have targeted and taken away their only heavy firepower support.

"Let me think about what to do..."

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"Sergeant Campbell! Can you hear me?!"

"Ahem, is there any trouble, Sergeant? The house on the west side has been cleaned!"

"I just received a message! About 600 yards to our northeast, there's a group of brothers holding out inside a church! Now, take your lads and clear a path. We'll be here once we've dealt with the situation in these buildings!"

"Are you guys okay dealing with all these people on your own, buddy?"

"Don't worry! A group of brothers will be coming to support us along our path soon! Do your job well!"

"Okay! Let's set off right away!"

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