Modern Weapons – Volume 3 Chapter 5

TLN: Started a new job today on a temp contract. I really need a perm contract by the end of it, so I’m doing a load of overtime. I’ve got training tomorrow, so expect some delays.

NOTE: Magic weapons might be mechs. You’ll see why later on. It’s either a mech or a large gun that requires a cockpit.

Also, translation quality/editing is bad at the end. I was up early for induction -_- now I’m exhausted.

_____

The Minotaur General, whom commanded an army of 50,000 soldiers in the defence of Olga, was currently glaring at the Imperial Army stationed on the mountain a short distance away from the town.

「The total strength of the enemy?」

「According to the scouts report, 80,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, 500 dragon knights, 2,000 magic weapons. The number of automata seems to be 20,000……the amount of infantry has increased by 10,000 since we last checked」

「……..I hope they don’t come too soon」

The enemy wasn’t aiming to capture the town, just take the goods…..

The General saw through the aim of the imperial army by glancing at the cooking smoke coming from their camp and preliminary information, strangely.

The Imperial army was currently lacking supplies after their routes were cut off by the special forces sent by Parabellum. Due to their sloppy disaster plan, they had no choice but to concentrate their forces on stealing supplies from the enemy.

「There is movement in the enemy headquarters!! They’ve begun to march!!」

Several tens of thousands of soldiers were beginning their march towards Olga.

Hearing his subordinates report, the general began to speak with a disgusted expression.

「Concentrate our fighting power on the east of the town!! Send a unit to report…..what!?」

The general’s words were interrupted by a messenger running towards him.

「Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived!!」

「What!? Which unit is it?」

The general had been asking for more troops for a while, so he began to brighten up slightly at the messengers words.

「Tsu…..the reinforcements are not from our army!! They’re from the parabellum army! They’ve declared their support for us!」

「…..what!? This is a battle for our territory!! We’re supposed to leave this matter to another country!?」

The lightened expression from before rapidly changed to an angry one.

Looking outside the window, the general instantly froze.

「What is that!?」

In the street. A square object was currently moving around whilst producing a harsh sound.

――――――――――――

「Hurry!! The enemy has already begun to move!! Line up quickly!」

The harsh noise was the sound of gas turbine engines, consuming per hour about 45 litres of fuel just by running the engine, even when the vehicle is stationary. They were lining up in a horizontal row to spread in front of the town of Olga. Captain Michael Wittmann was in charge of the 49 M1A2 Abrams (From the 1st armored battalion. The battalion usually consists of 50 cars, however one was left behind due to engine trouble) Each tank contained communication equipment.

『Hammerhead 1, please respond』

「1st armored battalion, hammerhead 1 here」

『The artillery team has been briefed and the shelling preparation has been completed』

「Unit arrangement will be completed in another 3 minutes」

『Understood. After unit arrangement is complete, stand by』

「Understood」

Captain Wittmann whom had finished communication with HQ, looked at the HEMTT carrying a large turret standing by in Olga.

「Captain. The enemy has begun to charge」

「I can see that Ron. Use the multi-purpose anti-tank warheads first (HEAT-MP). Then switch to the normal anti-tank warheads (HEAT) until ordered otherwise」

Captain Wittmann was viewing the advance of the imperial army from the interior of the M1A2 tank.

「Understood!! Multi-purpose anti-tank high explosive projectiles loaded!!」

「Yoshi. Ron, shall we take off now?」

「Understood, Captain」

「Prepare to charge ladies」

「Assault preparations complete!! We can go anytime!!」

Issuing orders from his tank, the Captain acted as the commander, whilst Ron acted as the loader.

「Enemies approaching! It’s dragon riders!」

「Do not panic!! They’re just supporting their allies!!」

The dragon riders were acting to support the ground troops whom were marching on Olga and not to bomb the town.

The anti-aircraft squadron began their engagement. The squadron was home to the M998 Humvee equipped with Type 87 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and Avenger systems, they were currently waiting in Olga. There was also a collection of portable surface-to-air weapons that the infantry battalion had been given, the FIM -92 Stinger and a dense barrage of heavy weapons such as the M2 heavy machine gun. The firing caused many dragon knights to fall out of the sky.

Moreover, as the dragon knights fell. They landed on top of the ground units, causing secondary damages.

Ignoring the sounds of the type 89 anti-aircraft guns and flying stinger missiles. Captain Wittmann, as well as Ron and the gunner were leisurely speaking to one another.

「I wanted air support too…..」

「It’s useless Captain. If they were here they would just be made to engage the imperial armies air targets. The artillery is providing enough support as is」

「I guess so……but we’re finally fighting the enemy….」

As the enemies formation began to falter slightly, Captain Wittmann ceased his conversation to confirm the enemies position. At the front were the magic weapons, automata and golems……droves of infantry followed on the tail end.

Is this a countermeasure? It’s difficult for the bullets to harm the golems…….it’s seems as if the enemy is learning.

After confirming the enemies position, Captain Wittmann began to think. Did the Imperial army create this lineup as a countermeasure for Parabellum? Various ideas floated in his mind as the Imperial army slowly closed the distance.

It was when the imperial army had reached a sufficient distance between the 1st armoured force battalion lead by Captain Wittmann, whom was commanding the M1A2 Abrams and the 2nd armoured force battalion lead by Captain Takeguchi Seiji, made up of type 10 tanks, forming a fire zone to the left and the right.

『Notice to all troops from HQ. Commence operation』

The instruction from HQ authorised fierce shelling on the imperial army from the artillery team situated 10km from Olga.

The artillery team was made up of TOS-1 Buratino’s, equipped with 30 barrels containing 220mm thermobaric warheads, M110 203mm self-propelled howitzer’s which were standing to the rear of Olga, 10km away. As well as the archer self propelled howitzer, loaded with flechette rounds. There was a a high density of fire from the MLRS of  and HIMARS (high mobility artillery rocket system) developed as a smaller version of the MLRS. The HIMARS were loaded with 227mm rockets equipped with a DPICM warhead (cluster bomb). Specially designed to explode in the air at a suitable height, raining metal balls at high speeds at the enemy. (TLN: Sorry too exhausted to edit this one chapter -_- I think I missed a bit out. Basically, one of the artillery guns was using flechette rounds)

The countless thermobaric 220mm rocket warheads and DPICM 227mm warheads poured down on the Imperial Army, completely devastating the automata, wiping out 20,000 of them almost instantly. 203mm shells and flechette bullets were fired towards the infantry and cavalry of the imperials at the rear of the formation, they were blown away like dead leaves. The golems and magic weapons could not hold against the bombardment and were blown away also.

After firing continuously at the advancing imperial army for 3 minutes, the target was changed. The artillery team took aim at the top of the mountain where the headquarters of an imperial army was. The attack was resumed again, exterminating the base completely.

『This is HQ to both armoured battalions. After the last impact in 30 seconds, begin charging』

「The 1st armoured battalion, hammerhead 1. Understood!!」

『2nd armoured battalion, iron foot 1. Understood!!』

And exactly 30 seconds later as the last shell landed. The battalions of M1A2’s and Type 10’s revved their engines.

「Full speed forward!!–Hmm?」

Just as the charge was about to begin. Captain Wittmann was interrupted by a communication from Captain Takeguchi.

『This is iron foot 1 to hammer head 1. We will position ourselves to the left and the right to support your attack』

「Hammer head 1. Understood. I’m thankful for the aggressive support. Did everyone hear!? Captain Takeguchi will be supporting us with the type 10’s. Don’t disgrace us!」

『『『『Understood!!』』』』

And so the type 10’s of the 2nd armoured battalion utilised it’s impetus to the full and moved to the left and right of the 1st armoured battalion. What followed was a complete slaughter of the magic weapons and remaining automata. Due to the accuracy of the tanks, the enemies numbers were steadily falling.

「Crush!! Crush!! Crush the enemies!!」

Under the support of the second armoured battalion, the first armored battalion was crushing the broken automata which had fallen due to the artillery shelling.

「Enemy magic weapon. 2,000 metres, 2 o’clock」

「Understood!! 2:00 direction, 2000 metres. Aiming complete」

「TEE–!!」

The gunner begins to settle the magic weapon within the circle after hearing Captain Wittmanns direction, after the sight was set using the fire-control system (FCS). Captain Wittmann gave a launch order, causing the gunner to pull the trigger to the main battery.

With a blast, clouds of dust were raised from the resulting shockwave as 44 calibers of multipurpose anti-tank high-explosive projectile was given off from a 120mm smooth bore gun, managing to hit the magic weapon. The shells blasted through the magic shield attached to the magic weapon, melting the cockpit and the driver.

「1 magic weapon defeated!!」

「Alright!! Next!!」

When the magic weapon was destroyed, Captain Wittmann gave a shout of joy. Other cheers could be heard from the other tanks.

『This is hammerhead 2-2. 2 magic weapons defeated!!』

『Than hammerhead 4-5 to hammer head 1 ! ! 3 magic weapons defeated ! !』

『This is hammerhead 3-1. 2 golems and 1 magic weapon destroyed!!』

「Yoshi!! Let’s give it our all!!」

『『『Understood!!』』』

It was when Captain Wittmann finished his radio exchange. A sudden shock ran through the M1A2 abrams.

「–It hurts!! What happened!?」

Captain Wittman whom had bumped his head against the ceiling due to his helmet asked.

「We were hit 3 times from a magic gun that is rapidly approaching. It’s in our front, 12:00」

「Damage!?」

「No damage!! All systems green!! It’s possible to continue battling!!」

「The magic weapon is close by!!」

Whilst Captain Wittmann was speaking, the magic weapon was rapidly approaching.

「Ladies!! Run over and kill that magic weapon!!」

「Oh!?– Understood!! Let’s go!」

The crew initially thought of using the main battery. However on Captain Wittmanns orders, they were astonished. Yet, after understanding what the captain wanted, they couldn’t help but grin and laugh as the driver pushed the accelerator to it’s fullest.

The gas turbine engine of the M1A2 Abrams raised a loud cry, as the caterpillar tracks scraped across the ground.

「「「「IKEEEEE!!!」」」」

Upon seeing the M1A2 Abrams which had accelerated to 50 kilometers per hour, the magic weapon pilots turned their backs to run away. However they could not escape and the full 62 tonnes of tank was pressed down on the weapon.

A cheer arose from the vehicle upon hearing the crunching sound of the magic weapon.

「Look!! We’ve killed two already!!」

Parabellum managed to completely wipe out the perfectly organised imperial army in just 10 minutes after that.