MG42 (5)

On the third visit, we decided to observe the artillery and engineers as well.

I remembered seeing mortars used at the company level in the army from my previous life, so I was curious about the artillery of this era and asked to see it, too.

The training ground was much more complex than before. The engineers had set up low buildings, with barbed wire and earthen cover in front of them, while the artillery had positioned field guns far behind our lines. The infantry’s role was to attack the trenches ahead.

At first, we tried attacking with only machine guns and infantry.

The machine guns fired at the loopholes and parapets in the enemy position. The infantry advanced along low ground. The soldiers playing the enemy ducked their heads when the machine-gun fire intensified, but the moment the fire shifted to the side, they reappeared.

The bigger problem was behind the buildings.

The soldiers hiding below the machine guns’ line of fire were unaffected. When the infantry came close, they threw chunks of wood representing grenades from behind cover or moved around to the flank.

I lowered my binoculars.

“We can’t hit those men behind there with the machine guns. Isn’t the artillery going to fire?”

The captain pointed toward the artillery...