Simulation Game: Crisis Management-Chapter 143 - 100: Playing CQB in World War II

Chapter 143: Chapter 100: Playing CQB in World War II
Eugen immediately raised his Mauser rifle with pride, standing tall and dignified.
Gu Ji couldn’t help but mentally give a "6" for this.
In his eyes, if there’s better firepower available, it’s foolish not to seize it. In close combat, a bolt-action rifle is not in the same league as fully automatic weapons.
Ler saw this scene and said nothing, instead smiling and watching Eugen.
During the "looting" process, through the half-shattered glass on the wall, Gu Ji finally saw "himself"—a tall, fair-skinned white man with sunken cheeks, a hooked nose, and deep, hollow features, somewhat resembling Tommy Shelby from "Peaky Blinders."
But he knew well that such a look in the eyes comes from being numb to war.
"Sir, shall we move out?"
Soon, Gu Ji hung the two magazines he found on his body, holding an M1 submachine gun.
As for the Mauser 98K rifle, he didn’t discard it, slinging it across his back instead.
Ler nodded, instructing Eugen to follow behind him, while he took the rear of the squad.
Gu Ji didn’t have a map of Nanwai Island in his head, but he still relied on his SERE Survival Training knowledge to determine the general direction from the sun, which was mostly obscured by smoke in the sky.
Because Nanwai Island is a mountainous island terrain.
The farther inland they went, the higher the elevation became. Numerous white buildings in the Italian style and cobblestone roads were built along the slopes, resembling the hilly towns back home.
Passing through the white ruins, they reached the main road.
The artillery and gunfire were even more intense. As far as the eye could see, the brick road, crushed by heavy tanks, was strewn with bodies from the Hans Army, Roman Army, Fog Eagle Alliance Army, and even civilians.
Most of them had been shattered by machine gun and tank fire, dying in miserable ways, with blood and green brain matter soaking into the ground, coloring the brown earth in a garish mixture.
In the face of heavy firepower, no matter how strong an individual soldier was, they were but a thin sheet of paper.
Several disheveled Italian civilians saw Gu Ji and his group, hurriedly ducking into the crevices of the ruins, with only a pair of clear, innocent eyes peering out timidly from the darkness.
Starting from the first phase at Laird Airport, Gu Ji had experienced various bloodshed, but this was the first time he witnessed the brutality of a large-scale battlefield firsthand.
"Boom..."
As the three of them advanced along the wall.
Suddenly, a violent tremor came from the intersection square ahead.
Gu Ji quickly reached back and took cover at the edge of a bullet-riddled wall.
"It’s the Hawk Army’s Sherman Tank!"
Eugen gritted his teeth behind him.
The Sherman was the nickname for the Eagle Country’s M4 medium tank, one of the most mass-produced tanks of World War II, equipped with a 75mm gun, reliable performance, light weight, and strong power, with high maneuverability on the battlefield terrain.
But in the blink of an eye, his eyes widened.
One, two, three...
A total of three Sherman tanks surrounded from the north and east of the intersection in batches, accompanied by more than twenty Hawk Army soldiers, and their target was the Hans Army tank to the west.
It was a Tiger Heavy Tank.
The Tiger Tank weighed 56 tons, nearly equal to two Sherman tanks, and its armor and gun power both crushed the latter.
But don’t forget, the enemy had three Shermans.
With the performance of combined arms operations, it was enough to chase and pummel this "WWII Tiger King," and its speed was further hampered by its weight, making escape impossible—failure was only a matter of time.
"Sir, we should go up and help!"
Eugen urged anxiously.
But Ler didn’t respond because with just the three of them, they couldn’t even take on those twenty-odd Hawk Army soldiers, let alone the tanks. Bullets hitting armor were nothing more than a tickle to the enemy.
Yet as a commander, he couldn’t order a retreat.
In the midst of this great dilemma, Gu Ji picked up the binoculars and observed the situation in the northern street, inserting his own opinion.
"Sir, can you operate a tank?"
"Of course I can."
Ler, though a gunner, had been inside tanks for years. Even a fool would have learned by ear. "Why are you asking?"
"I found an abandoned Tiger Tank just behind the northbound road."
Gu Ji put down the binoculars, pointing forward.
Ler was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.
He quickly grabbed the binoculars, indeed spotting a Tiger Tank stalled by the roadside, "The tracks are intact, and the turret isn’t too badly damaged. It should still be operational!"
He grew more excited the more he spoke, but as his gaze drew closer again.
The Hawk Army’s Sherman Tank was right in front of him.
Eugen couldn’t help but ask.
"But the tank is behind the Hawk Army. How do we get there?"
"We’ll obviously go around."
Gu Ji pointed to the east, "Currently, the Hawk Army’s attention on the east and north is entirely focused on the west. We can take advantage of this and pass through the eastern buildings to loop around them to the north."
"What if we’re discovered by the enemy and they turn back to attack us? Why not go west and join our allies?"
Ler voiced his concern.
This reflected the difference between ordinary World War II soldiers and special operations thinking; they were accustomed to fighting on the front line, rarely engaging in flanking and rear attacks.
This was actually quite normal.
The concept of special operations was just emerging during World War II. Operations like assassination weren’t very popular back then.
"The enemy’s main target is our Tiger Tank. Joining from the front would only give them an opportunity to fire and wipe us out, while going around from the side would mean they couldn’t divert much effort to deal with us."