Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

……

Meanwhile, infantryman Allen was still safe and sound in that small building, watching the Soviet heavy firepower leave them, and finally found a chance.

"Fire!—"

With a sizzling sound like a raw steak falling into a frying pan, the rocket turned a window of a building across the street into a chrysanthemum with bricks scattered everywhere.

"Next, get ready!—"

"Wait a minute..." Allen exclaimed in surprise, "What was that sound?"

"Above my head!—"

……

"Hey! Mr. Train Commander! Did you hear that?"

The words had barely left the assault gun when a thunderclap suddenly struck from the sky. Rosyth was startled and quickly looked through the periscope. Suddenly, two shells fell onto the ground in front of the tank!

"Enemy artillery?"

More shells rained down, and the sergeant felt as if he were sitting in the center of a circle made of firecrackers. The explosions, one after another, made him even more terrified.

Turn the periscope to the left front and look up, and a bunch of shells that seemed to come from nowhere started hurling at the small building where Allen and his men were stationed!

As a pile of bricks and tiles rolled down, he clearly saw several figures in black clothes tumble out of the house and fall to the ground not far from him like oil drums.

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"What should we do, sir?"

The artillery fire continued, and just then, a soldier who had landed next to the assault gun slowly stood up, brushed aside the lingering smoke and dust, and discovered that it was Allen's face.

……

"Oh no……"

Suddenly, a shell fell, and Allen's figure was swallowed up by the smoke and dust. A half-crippled, bloody body was thrown into the sky.

"Excuse me, sir." The sergeant immediately shifted the assault gun into reverse. "I have to resume my duties as the tank commander."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a shell came hurtling from the front, grazing the side of the assault gun and exploding behind it.

"Another enemy tank has arrived!"

"Cough, slow down!"

Two Sunderlanders then appeared behind the assault gun and sprayed machine gun ammunition belts toward the gun's muzzle.

……

“Let’s abandon this place, Sir Knight! We…”

At the other end of the street, where the smoke and dust had cleared, a second green tank appeared. A shell left its barrel, and Sunderland, which was parked to the left and behind the assault gun, was instantly hit by sparks.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

……

Now, Lemilia was standing beside the T-34 tank that had been hit by a high-explosive shell, watching the soldiers carry the tank driver, who was bleeding from both ears and unconscious, out of the tank.

At that moment, another T-34 tank arrived from behind, surrounded by more infantrymen, and fired another shot at the retreating black-clad enemy in the distance.

"The enemy is finished! Comrades!" Lemilia stood atop the tank. "Pursue! Use their fleeing corpses to pave the way for the tanks! Charge!"

"Hurrah!—"

Chapter 63, Section 101: The Theater Collapses, Disaster Strikes

"Calling command center! Area 35 has completely fallen! The enemy's offensive is too fierce! We simply cannot hold it!"

"Report from the 9th Alaskan Regiment! The enemy is overwhelming north of the city! We have suffered heavy losses! Requesting a retreat!"

"cough……"

Eddie Hill was still in the command center, where he had to be on high alert, issuing orders and guiding each unit that requested to evacuate, trying his best to prevent them from falling into chaos worse than a plague.

The sun had gradually climbed to the very top of the sky, approaching noon. Berlin, amidst the first, devastating surge of the red torrent and the billowing black smoke, had become a boiling pot of blood and flesh. Every soldier, every vehicle, was a grain of rice or a piece of meat in this pot of soup, being vigorously burned by the firewood of gunfire beneath.

In this situation, the German Reichstag building in the city center and the central camp in Britannia were nothing more than small dishes waiting to be scooped into a pot by the Soviet army.

……

You ask where the general went? This is probably the result of the lieutenant colonel's own actions. Because his tone was too arrogant, Mullen decided to play along and handed over command for the next few hours, while he strolled leisurely outside the Capitol.

But do you want to know why the general is going outside? Because the main portal is about to open, and the general's old subordinates are about to return.

……

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"Dr. Ron! What's wrong with you guys?! It's already midnight!"

“I’ll be right soon!”

With no signal that enemy planes were approaching, Marendo could now safely stay with his guards.

Soon, accompanied by the familiar thunder and howling wind, and dazzling light, the magnificent crystal city gate reappeared after the general shielded his eyes with his hand and then lowered it again.

The general opened his arms, ready to welcome the familiar figure who had just stepped out of the teleportation portal.

"General?" Colonel Kari's tone and expression seemed to be at odds with the general.

"Haha! You've been waiting in front of the portal for too long, haven't you!" The general's gruff voice didn't falter. "Come on, tell me, what happened at the city hall earlier?"

The colonel didn't speak, which puzzled the general, so he looked at his face and noticed that his brows were starting to furrow.

"General...we..."

"What's wrong? What happened?" Finally sensing that something was off, she started asking.

"Something's happened at the city hall..."

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Let's go back four or five hours, to the air force unit of Lieutenant Colonel Li Ens, just minutes before they were to line up to confront the Soviet aircraft. What was the situation at the City Hall parade ground?

"Oh! Look at your general's troops! How impressive! They live up to what you said earlier!"

Governor Carrares, who oversees District 11, observed the soldiers, KMFs, and tanks lined up in neat rows, as well as the trucks carrying armed helicopters, all stacked like tofu.

……

Colonel Carrie was standing beside the governor, inspecting the solemnity of the area with him—a small return gift to the governor as a gesture of gratitude for his agreement to provide General Malendo with some new funding at the banquet the previous night.

“Your Excellency is too kind,” the colonel replied with a polite remark. “Only brave soldiers can pave the way for the Empire’s expeditions, can’t they? Oh, of course, excellent generals are also needed.”

“That’s right, that’s right!” Carares put his hands on his hips and slowly puffed out his chest. “Look at how much energy Malen had before! He should have crushed all the enemies in his way by now, shouldn’t he? Hahahaha!”

"Hmm, indeed."

"Alright! It's time!" The governor waved his hand, then turned to the colonel. "I won't interfere with your departure any longer. I wish you a triumphant return!"

"As ordered!"

The colonel had just finished saluting when a soldier next to him, who was holding a communications computer, suddenly shouted.

"Your Excellency, the expeditionary force command from District 45 has been attacked by enemy air forces at the main portal landing area. The portal must be shut down immediately!"

"what!"

“Colonel,” Carares said, his expression full of skepticism, “what is your general doing?”

"I don't know, the general didn't tell me either." The colonel tried to calm himself down. "It must have been an unexpected incident. Maybe the enemy was too overwhelmed by the general's attacks, so they tried to rush directly towards the landing zone and crash into the impenetrable defensive network around them?"

"Indestructible?" The governor scoffed coldly. "If you're so confident in crushing the enemy's surprise attack, why bother about opening and closing the main portal? Hmm?"

"Answer me, Colonel?" the governor said, growing increasingly angry. "Could it be that your Maren family has suddenly had a brilliant idea and is now considering some prudent plan? Hmm?"

Kari took a calm breath.

"Your Excellency, in my humble opinion, General Marendor has always been a highly regarded Imperial general. While I would not presume to know him completely, I have never questioned his decisions. Therefore, if I may be so bold, Your Excellency would be best advised to allow me to order a temporary halt to the march, would you?"

Governor Carares fell silent, pursed his lips, and gave the colonel a cold look.

"Go!"

"Thank you, sir."

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"Alright, sir," Colonel Kari addressed his soldiers, "would you like me to stand here with you for a while?"

"Ugh, wait a minute." The governor looked up impatiently at the light still spilling out from the Gate of Camelot. "Damn it, so slow?"

"Is it because things haven't reached a point where they should be in a panic that we're taking such a leisurely pace?"

"Stop with all that flattery, Colonel." The governor wouldn't even look at him now. "You've wasted a lot of my time. If you disrupt my schedule for the day, you'll regret it."

But at that moment, two large points of light suddenly appeared in the portal.

"what?"

"It seems like something is coming from inside..."

Before the words were even finished, in an instant, right before the eyes of everyone in the parade ground, including the governor and the colonel, the two points of light transformed into two ear-piercing jets of flame and shot out like lightning.

"Be careful, sir!"

The entire city hall of the Tokyo Concession could clearly hear the thunderous boom echoing in the sky.

……

"Oh, oh damn it..."

Colonel Carrie slowly got up, brushing the pebbles that had fallen on him.

The governor, who was lying on his back not far away, was screaming in pain, his hand covering the left side of his face, which was covered in blood.

Instinctively, he quickly looked towards the direction of the main portal.

The light inside the door had completely disappeared, leaving only the electron tubes on the door frame still flashing – indicating that the main portal had closed, while the other sub-portals were still operating.

However, for some reason, two rather large craters appeared on the ground in front of the main portal.

"My eyes...my eyes!"

"Where are the medical personnel?! Quickly, bring them here! Hurry! His Excellency the Governor is injured!"

The colonel's panicked eyes were clouded by the governor's words, which were filled with pain and anger.

……

Let's turn back time to the present.

“That’s pretty much it, sir.” The colonel’s voice was filled with despair. “I later learned from the soldiers that they saw two rockets fly out of the door…”

Looking at the general's face again: his chin and lips were trembling, his eyes were staring straight at the ground, and his eyebrows were swaying like withered branches trembling in the cold wind.

"Your Excellency, I..."

I thought the general would roar angrily as usual, then loudly berate those around him, and might even throw things.

Instead, he simply raised his hands slowly, running his fingers through his hairline to cover his face while clutching his hair, and took a deep breath.

Kari naturally didn't know why things had turned out this way, but Eddie Hill had a pretty good idea—the ingenious script the general had written for high-ranking officials had been completely scribbled down by the powerful enemy in front of him, the Soviet Union.