Second Chance War - 31 MCN

Thomas waved over three soldiers, he needed two of them to help man the Pak-38 and the last one for spotting and coordinate calling. He also radioed Command and updated them about the situation, they were very pleased and gave orders for the rest of the force to keep pushing on to the castle, allied forces were halfway there already. The two men Thomas called up to crew the artillery took their positions, one was to sit in the seat and rotate the cannon, Thomas was going to fire it, and the third was going to reload it. He also gave orders for the rest of the forces, including the recent arrival of reinforcements, Command had sent them one hundred soldiers, and although it was weird because of his rank, Thomas was given command of this punitive force.

Thomas divided the forces into two, one was the advance team and the other was support. Smoke grenades and other support equipment were given to the support team which consisted of some sixty soldiers. The advance team was given frag grenades, automatic weapons, flamethrowers, and any other offensive equipment for their assault on the bunkers and the rest of the artillery guns. Consisting of sixty-five soldiers, they were to assault the bunkers under the cover of smoke and supporting fire from the support team, it wasn’t the most flawless strategy, but it should result in fewer casualties. Soon it was just Thomas and crew, they didn’t need to fear any Germans sneaking up on them because they had methodically killed every single German they came across with the exception of those that surrendered at the naval barrage.

Thomas turned to the task at hand, they had thirty-eight shells, so thirty-eight tries to zero in on the machine gun nests across the valley on the other ridge, failing that, they can always call in another naval barrage. So the distance across the valley was approximately eight hundred yards or two football fields, they needed to sight the cannon accordingly. The soldier in charge of rotation rotated the tilt of the gun and angled it upwards a few degrees to account for air resistance and bullet drop, the spotter called out the nearest MG nest, approximately eight hundred and seventy-two, the inclination was set, the cannon squealed as they rotated to the left on target. The loader rammed a shell home with a solid thunk and closed the breach, locking it so it wouldn’t blow open and eject the shell backward. They were set, Thomas hit the firing mechanism.

There was a loud boom, followed by clanging sound as the spent shell was ejected out of the side of the cannon to land on the ground still steaming from the heat of being fired and ejected. The spotter looked through the binoculars, he could see the path the shell was taking, it struck two feet to the left of the Target, that was enough as limbs and blood haze flew and filled the air along with clumps of dirt as the shell exploded. There were secondary explosions as the ammo stored next the nest was enormous, most likely so they could fire most of the day without pause. First target was down, the other nests were confused, they thought the cannons on the opposite ridge had a misfire, they didn’t want to believe they were deliberately targeted.

Thomas was given the next target, a small machine gun nest built into the ridge, better defended than the previous one they just blew up, it wouldn’t matter though, these shells will blow them up just the same. The inclination was adjusted, the cannon made a bunch of whirring and clanking sounds as it adjusted and locked into position. The new shell was rammed home and the breach was once again locked, ready to go. Thomas gave the order and pulled the firing mechanism, another thunk and loud explosion of sound, another empty shell. This time they missed and hit above the Target, luckily they were under an alcove that hadn’t been shored up. the entire thing collapsed on top of the crew and buried them alive in a whirl of mud and dust. Another crew down. Thomas frowned, he was a bit unhappy that they missed by that much, he took a look at the sighting mechanism, it was off by a few meters. He quickly adjusted it, it was off by half a meter now, it should be more accurate to measure it to yards, now they won’t be off by so much.

The haze of the battlefield and the smell of gunpowder was nauseating and choking, to all but the most battle-hardened soldiers, such as Thomas. He ignored it, but one of the cannon crew was fresh out of boot camp and he was starting to tear up and cough. Thomas handed him his canteen, water was the best thing for that recruit, and time to adapt, of course. After a few minutes, the coughing subsided and the recruit had returned to his position, though that was now the least of their worries. Their targets on the other ridge took to cover and relocated their MG nests to better, more sheltered and reinforced positions. This time they only had a choice few spots to pick off, which they did so with the utmost haste, even eliminating those few nests and making the rest take cover enabled their allies to advance forward.

Their work here was done, it was time to move on and join the rest of the company at the forward bunkers where the fighting was still fierce. Thomas hefted one of the compound explosives in his hand, they weren’t particularly heavy, it was just a five-pound block filled with chemicals that explode when introduced to fire. It also wasn’t particularly sticky, it had a very greasy feeling to his hand, but he knew it adhered to metal just fine. Thomas walked around to the front of the cannon and yelled for everyone to get back, he stuck the compound explosive just to the inside of the barrel and lit the fuse on it. He scrambled backward out of range. He turned around just in time to watch the front of the barrel explode outward in a small tongue of flame accompanied by a roar and the grinding of twisted metal. It was a glorious sight, he’ll remember this moment for a long time coming. He gathered his small crew and they marched through the trenches. Time to finish what they started.