Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Inside the train station building, the officer was nervously answering a phone call.

"Major! A large number of enemies have appeared on the north bank of the bridge! There are armored vehicles! We request permission to retreat!"

"Retreat? Shouldn't the bridge be blown up, Corporal?"

"Our explosives have malfunctioned and need immediate repair! There's not enough time, sir!"

"Damn it!" The major wiped his face with his hand. "Corporal! Listen up! Either hold the bridge for 10 minutes, or get this crap out of me and take care of it! Until then, do not abandon the position without my orders!"

"Good heavens! Do you think we're all just snot-nosed fools, sir?!"

"Calm down! How many of you are there? What kind of belongings do you have?"

"Seven men, one machine gun, two engineers, and four others who are resting here! That's thirteen men in total!"

"Tell them all to stay there! I'll get some men over here to help you right away!" The major hung up the phone, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

The flatbed carriage outside the window, still bustling with activity, seemed to be some time away from the moment the mangled doll could finally lie down properly.

Just then, two jeeps passed by his eyes, each with a US M1 75mm howitzer hanging on its back, which was to be blown up to make room for the puppet.

"Allen!" he called to a soldier, "Go quickly! Tell those guys over there not to fire the cannons yet!"

……

……

Our attention now returns to the highway bridge that was supposed to be blown up.

The other three guys who were in the same car as Jonathan had pulled over and parked the car on the side of the road.

"Hey! Dude!" Jonathan called out to the three of them, having somehow produced a large metal bucket.

"Come on, clear out those boxes and buckets over there and help me move them to the bridge."

On the right edge of the bridge's center, beside the low wall with a hole in it, a sapper sat with a rope in his hand. One end was tied to his body, while the other end emerged from his hand, leading to the bridge pier below the hole—yes, the explosives were probably on there.

"Don't panic, brothers! We'll keep you safe! I'll come and lend you a hand as soon as I'm done with this!"

"Thank you, sir!" came a voice from below.

"Alright." The sergeant placed the iron bucket he was carrying next to the engineer sitting on the bridge. "Come on, arrange these things as I told you to."

……

……

Now, there are two piles of iron barrels and wooden crates on the bridge. One pile is blocking the sappers' view, completely obscuring their bodies when viewed from the highway on the opposite bank. The other pile is to the left and slightly in front of the first one. Together, the two piles completely block out everything on the bridge.

"Oh, right! Sergeant!" an engineer seemed to have thought of something, "There are a few anti-tank mines in that bag next to the detonator, I think they might come in handy!"

"OK, I got it!" After the sergeant finished speaking, they heard the sound of a new engine. When everyone turned around, a Dodge mid-sized jeep full of people was driving up the street leading to the train station.

"Oh! Look! Look at this lineup!" Corporal Kenrose greeted the five men who got off the vehicle: a young man carrying a radio and a carbine, two men each carrying a bazooka tube and a rocket launcher backpack, and two other guys carrying M1919 machine guns, one with a tripod and the other with the gun itself.

"Good heavens! The major only called over this few people?!" The corporal angrily ripped off his military police armband and threw it on the ground. "Does he think this is a meeting in the mess hall?!"

"What's wrong, Corporal?" Jonathan and his group ran over, taking care of the men's belongings.

"Excuse me," the young man carrying a radio asked, picking up his binoculars from his chest. "Where are the enemy's coordinates?"

"Oh? The observers for the big pipes?" The corporal looked a little incredulous.

"Alright, Corporal." The sergeant seemed to have a little idea. "Tell me about the terrain around here, quickly."

Soon, everyone gathered around and watched as Corporal Ken Rose drew a sketch on the ground.

"This is the river, this is the bridge, and these two are on our side, these two buildings. These two are the buildings on the other side of the river, and this area on the right is ruins, vehicles cannot pass, and direct fire is also affected."

“Okay.” Jonathan licked his lips. “Corporal, you have a machine gun, right?”

"Yes, we found an MG42, and we have enough bullets, so we can use it."

"Okay, M, MG... MG42?!" The sergeant's eyes widened. After all, hearing the name of this machine gun, which made the Allied infantry curse, again must have sent a shiver down his spine.

"Never mind all that, what do you want us for?"

"I want this MG42 deployed in the building on the left." The sergeant drew a triangle on the block of the building on the left.

"Have your men defend this area. Keep an eye on the left flank. If they dare to enter this building across the river, crush them." As he spoke, he drew several crosses next to the buildings representing the opposite bank of the river.

"Ok!"

"Also, Bazooka! You guys go to the building on the left and wait for an opportunity to attack the enemy vehicles that are trying to force their way onto the bridge."

"Yes, sir!"

"Okay, this machine gun that just arrived." The sergeant drew a triangle on the building to the right. "I want you to set up the machine gun here and block the road. As long as the engineers haven't finished their work, absolutely no enemy infantry can be allowed onto the road!"

"No problem, sir!"

“Okay, you three in the car with me,” Jonathan said, pointing to the triangle he had just drawn on the right, to the men who had gotten out of his jeep. “Stay with them and protect the machine gun position, understand?”

"Ok!"

“Finally, you,” the sergeant said to his younger colleague carrying the radio, drawing a circle on the road across the river, “have the artillery block this road, don’t let their wheels run over the bridge.”

"understand!"

"Alright! Everyone! Move out!" Everyone scattered in a flash, but when the sergeant turned around, he found that two soldiers were still left behind.

"Huh?" The sergeant recognized them; they were the two people in the back seat of his jeep.

"And you, Sergeant? What position are you planning to take?"

"I'll go lay the mines first, then I'll stay with the sappers. With you guys, that'll make five people. We'll be too conspicuous..."

“You can leave the landmines to us; you can’t handle it all by yourself,” the soldier said, revealing the 82nd Airborne Division insignia on his sleeve. “Want to know how that German tank in the Ruhr died?”

"Alright! Go ahead. Once you've buried it, hurry back to the machine gun position on the right."

Section 45, Chapter 31: A Foolish Exchange of Fire

To the northwest of the highway bridge, a group of men in black slowly approached.

"Advance carefully, soldiers!" Captain Lancer was sitting on an assault gun, looking at the road surface, which wasn't too bad.

"Captain!" The hatch of the infantry fighting vehicle behind opened, and a soldier crawled out.

Why don't we speed up our progress?

“I can’t guarantee a safe journey, son! Besides, the lieutenant colonel’s first order to us is to ‘eliminate as many enemies as possible,’ and the second is to capture the train station across the river, isn’t that right?”

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Don't you understand this principle?"

"Ha, are you in such a hurry for military medals?" The captain sneered. "Alright, since you've said so, I'll make way for you when we need your speed."

"We're almost there, sir!"

A hundred meters away, the highway bridge with some debris piled on the road surface was already somewhat conspicuous.

……

Unbeknownst to them, two American paratroopers had already slipped behind the bridge.

"Sergeant Campbell! The enemy is here!"

"Understood." Jonathan and one engineer remained hidden behind the metal barrel.

"Is that the sound of a tank?" The sapper pressed his ear to the ground, his expression extremely tense.

"No, no, no, you misheard," the sergeant replied with a smile.

"Child, have you ever been to the countryside?"

"no, what happened?"

“Let me tell you a story,” the sergeant began to joke. “When I was a kid, I lived in the countryside, and I would often lie down by the roadside and listen to the sound of horse-drawn carriages passing by on the ground.”

"I broke that habit later, but it left me with a chronic condition." Jonathan grinned sheepishly. "Later in North Africa, I was lying on the ground like this when I heard a sound. I was going to say that German tanks were coming, but guess what I said to my superior?"

"what did you say?"

"'Report! I heard a German manure cart!' Then he came up and slapped me across the face, hahaha!"

……

"You're kidding, right? Haha! A manure cart! Hahahaha!"

"Yes! What's coming up now is a manure cart, hahaha!"

Amused by the sapper, Jonathan composed himself and looked towards a window on the building. There stood a young man holding binoculars in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other.

……

Meanwhile, a kilometer away from the train station, the two 75mm howitzers were already positioned towards the highway bridge.

The artillerymen had just finished their deployment when the radio next to the gunner started ringing.

"Observer calling artillery team! Firing mission! Enemy infantry and tank formation 100 yards south of checkpoint 6! Suppressive fire!"

"Roger! Firepower is on its way!" The gunner turned on the walkie-talkie, looked at the map, and gave the order loudly.

"All gun crews! Charge No. 2! Aim 1700°! Elevation 310°! Ready to report!"

……

At this point, the black-clad group, still moving forward, knew nothing about anything on the other side of the river.

"Do you have to be so nervous?" Two soldiers in front of the black-clad ranks were whispering to each other.

"I... I don't want to die..."

"Pshaw, we're all wearing bulletproof vests and helmets, how could we just kick the bucket like that?"

"Can you guarantee that?"

"Why wouldn't I dare? Yesterday, my bulletproof vest stopped two bullets in my chest."

……

……

……

"Wait, what did you hear?" A soldier suddenly stopped in his tracks. A double rumble of thunder came from the distant street.

……

They vaguely saw two cannonball-like objects rushing towards them like lightning!

"Artillery fire coming!—"

The roar had barely begun when two earth-colored roses, each about four meters tall, burst open like lightning, the shockwave of the explosion throwing several unlucky men on the roadside like broken benches.

In an instant, everything went into chaos. A bright light flickered in the window of a house across the bridge, bullets flew through the air amidst the roar of machine guns, and sprayed gray and blood-red water onto the road and the man in black.

……

"All infantry, listen up! Move into the building to the right front and prepare to return fire! Vehicles, retreat! Move away from artillery fire!"

Several men in black who had rushed into the building hurriedly gathered at the windows, preparing to release the safety on their assault rifles.

A soldier poked his head out, but he was clearly unlucky; a volley of bullets, accompanied by the sound of chainsaws, struck him without warning.

"what!--"

The soldier fell to the ground as the gunfire rang out, and his comrades watched in disbelief as he struggled a few times before falling still.

"Building across the river! Enemy fire!" another man shouted in alarm, threatened by a chainsaw.

Another group of infantrymen, unaware of what had happened, entered the building. As a result, another unlucky fellow was shot in the thigh and collapsed to the ground in agony, writhing in pain.

"Move inside! Move inside! Get away from the window! Go upstairs!"

……

"Oh my god..." The three of them rushed to the second-floor window first. The horrific scene brought about by the chainsaw-like gunshot was truly unexpected.

"Be careful, let me check." A young man rolled behind a hole in the wall the size of an apple and peered at the movements on the other side of the river.

“There are a few light guns in the window of the house across the street.”