Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

"Okay, let me think... let's each state our identities."

"Sergeant Roses, commander of the assault gun unit in Hama Squadron."

"What about you?"

"Infantry, Allen."

"Alright, the enemy's troops will probably be here soon. We are one of the few forces in the vicinity that still retain combat capability, so we should try our best to hold the enemy's vanguard here, and the main force will be able to pick us up soon."

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"Sergeant, go downstairs. There's an assault gun there that might need your help."

"Yes……"

"Alright, Private, now take your rifle and go upstairs to ask which squad leader needs you. Over!"

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Roses had already run downstairs. With a casual glance up, he could still see enemy planes circling high in the sky, facing a real attack from a brand new and powerful adversary. Unfortunately, he had become a brick in the way of the tide, which was nothing short of bad luck.

The assault gun the captain mentioned was hidden under a collapsed shed.

"Do you need my help?"

A head wearing a helmet popped out of the turret; it was most likely the commander of this assault gun.

"Former commander of assault gun No. 046 of the 13th Osaka Regiment, Sergeant Roses!" He introduced himself first.

"Lieutenant Xumir," the tank commander introduced himself, "Are you here to help us fill manpower gaps?"

"manpower?"

"Were you a gunner or a driver before becoming a tank commander?"

"Driver."

"That's perfect. My driver was seriously injured and unconscious. Go to the front and take his place, understand?"

"Ahem..." The sergeant reluctantly climbed onto the vehicle and caught a glimpse of a black chrysanthemum blooming on the roof armor—clearly, a high-explosive shell had landed on it.

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"The enemy is coming!"

Now, Allen and the infantrymen around him are guarding the building, watching in the distance as scattered yellow and green figures move along both sides of the street—enemy infantry rushing towards them.

"Everyone, hide and wait for my order. We'll attack when they get close."

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"All right……"

"Fire!—"

As soon as the words were finished, Allen and the soldiers simultaneously thrust their gun barrels out of the windows. With a furious roar, the building transformed into a giant windmill, hurling countless chaff bullets indiscriminately onto the street.

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Unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side. The other soldiers had made some gains, but it seemed only Allen had let his target escape. He didn't release the trigger, angrily banging the gun against the windowsill a few times, and could only change the magazine while cursing.

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What about the Soviet troops on the street? They were just a reconnaissance vanguard; the main infantry force was just arriving from behind.

"Oh dear? Looks like the comrades up ahead are in trouble!"

Lemilia was one of these infantrymen. Seeing the dust and water spraying from the bullets raining down on the ground, he immediately slowed down and gave instructions to the soldiers around him.

"Everyone spread out and surround that building! Heavy machine gun team, come with me! Malinov, quickly tell the comrades in charge of the mortars to hurry up!"

"Yes, Lieutenant!"

"Hey you! Tell the tanks behind to hurry up and get up here too!"

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Despite the buzzing of gunfire from the other end of the street, Lemilia and a group of soldiers crawled into a pile of rubble on the side of the street, where he could be safe.

With a clatter of iron wheels turning, several soldiers pulled a small cart about knee-high, following closely behind the lieutenant and sitting down on it—an SG-43 machine gun sat on the cart frame.

"See the enemy in the window across the street, comrade? Hold your gun steady! Multiply the number of people over there by a few hundred and shoot them all in the head!"

"Alright!" In an instant, the SG-43 machine gun roared like a teacup being slammed on a table, and with the whistling of the ammunition belt, it unleashed a barrage of bullets toward the enemy.

Seeing this, the lieutenant went into a house on the side of the street.

Once on the second floor, I quickly ran to the window to stand next to a soldier who had just set up a DP light machine gun. I took the binoculars from the comrade next to me and began to observe the situation on the street.

The surprise of the enemy's gunfire had long since expired. The soldiers wearing green steel helmets had adjusted their positions and began to raise their guns one by one from behind cover, firing bullets into their hands, and returning fire as appropriate against the hail of bullets coming from the opposite side.

Chapter 62, Section 100: Gradually Losing Ground

"Reload!"

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The soldiers in black inside the room hurriedly gathered around the window. They heard an unusual sound coming from the other side, and the enemy's firepower suddenly intensified.

"Machine guns?" Everyone in the room was startled. "Rocket launchers, get them ready!"

A soldier nearby quietly peeked out and almost didn't come back—a few bullets landed on the windowsill in front of him, splashing up small pebbles that bounced onto the soldier's helmet.

"Ouch..." the soldier said, scratching his head in a panic. "Bad news, soldiers, the enemy has more than one machine gun."

"where is it?"

"I saw one behind a pile of rubble on the street, and another one in the building next door."

"This……"

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Unlike the chaotic scene here, the Soviet soldiers were getting more and more spirited as the battle progressed.

"Hey! Watch your medley, comrade!"

Lemilia was huddled by a window with a soldier operating a DP light machine gun. The machine gunner had just finished firing his magazine, and as he released the magazine, he slapped the lieutenant's knee, which was crouching down.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Lieutenant."

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"Don't miss any windows, so that the assault team can continue to advance."

The lieutenant picked up his binoculars and admired the horrific scene produced by Soviet machine gun fire: the exterior walls of the enemy-occupied building were covered with dust kicked up by bullets, like a small pond catching every drop of rain falling on its surface amidst the gunpowder and thunder.

"This way we can definitely hold out until..."

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"Alright, Sergeant, the enemy tanks are coming."

"understood."

Rosyth sat in the assault gun, stepped on the pedal, and the assault gun slowly began to drive out of the shed.

"Don't rush, take your time. Once the enemy tank fires the first shot, we can take advantage of the situation."

A familiar yet unfamiliar thunderous boom came from the other end of the street, so he floored the accelerator and sped onto the street at top speed.

"Well done, get ready to fire!"

“No problem!” the gunner replied, while adjusting the muzzle to point it further away—amidst the storm of bullets on the street ahead, he could easily spot the two-and-a-half-meter-tall green fellow with its slender cannon barrel.

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A muffled roar resounded, and the entire assault gun jolted violently, ejecting the shell from its breech.

"Whoosh!" Roses sat in his seat and saw a huge, muddy-colored trumpet flower suddenly bloom on the ground in front of the tank in the periscope.

"Missing!" the gunner shouted. As the automatic ammunition feeder delivered the second shell into the cannon, it accidentally raised the gun a little too high, and the shell landed on the ground behind the tank, kicking up two green steel helmets.

"Ah! The recoil was really too strong, it even dented the ground?"

The gunner muttered something, and just as the enemy tank was about to aim at them, he quickly returned fire, and a huge mushroom cloud of smoke finally bloomed on the green steel body.

"Finish it off with another shot!"

Immediately afterwards, the fourth shot was fired, landing precisely on the tank. The resulting dust completely obscured the green figure and half the street.

"Well done."

"Alright, Sergeant, reverse the vehicle and prepare to block the road with machine guns."

"Yes Yes……"

Rossus sighed—he understood what the commander meant. The gunner was to throw out the spent shell casings that had fallen into the turret, and the high temperature of the barrel from the four shells would likely cause it to explode if the firing was not stopped immediately to cool it down.

However, as for why the assault gun's shells were all high-explosive shells, we'll have to ask Rosyth to explain this from his memories.

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The reason why the Britannian Empire's assault guns were still kept in the army was because their powerful main guns were originally designed as second-line support howitzers. The destructive power of the high-explosive shells was greater than that of all ground mobile vehicles. The KMF's six or seven-ton size simply could not carry it flexibly. Only the chassis of the tank could withstand its powerful recoil after firing.

Because of this, due to its powerful destructive force, KMF will be reduced to parts, whether it is the EU, the Chinese Federation, or the Black Knights who previously caused trouble. The crew of tanks and armored vehicles will be stunned or killed, or their parts will be rendered inoperable, rendering them incapable of fighting.

As KMFs became increasingly popular and heavily armored enemies became fewer, assault guns were gradually neglected. The original plan to equip them with armor-piercing shells was ultimately abandoned by the military due to reasons such as "excessive power" and "it's better to have one less type of shell than one more type of shell, to save trouble."

However, the reality made the assault gun crews even more anxious, because their worst fears had come true.

In the year 2017 of the Imperial Calendar, during the operation to invade the Middle East, Britannia unfortunately encountered the super-heavy vehicles possessed by the Middle Eastern Federal Army—the Bamides, which weighed more than 90 tons.

Of course, this misfortune was more in comparison to the assault guns. The assault gun crews were surprised to find that high-explosive shells could not cause any damage to the frontal armor of the Bamedes in the midst of the firefight; they could only destroy its running wheels to slow its advance. Finally, a large number of Gloucester and Sunderland tanks, using their superior mobility and the Bamedes' slow reaction time, successfully circled around to their weak points and attacked.

The establishment of District 18 was completed after this minor incident. It was originally thought that this firefight would bring a turning point to the assault gun situation, but unfortunately, the performance of the KMFs was too conspicuous, and Barmedes was regarded as a "deformed bastard son" by the military high command. The embarrassing situation of the assault guns naturally became a trivial piece of gossip.

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Rosyth released the accelerator while reversing, and shook his head helplessly as he thought about the information and history he had gathered.

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