OR1-EP5: Hymn of the Bridge (6)

After leaving the hilly terrain, the road became flat, and the soldiers in armored cars and trucks viewed the surrounding scenery along the way, from time to time letting out a few sighs of admiration that they didn't know if they were coming from the bottom of their hearts or not. The young people who hoped to rely on the war to achieve military success and fame subconsciously ignored the cruelty of the war, and it was only when they realized that the road ahead had been blown up that they dug back up the frustration they had buried in the bottom of their hearts. There was no doubt that the road had probably been blown up by friendly forces to prevent the rebels from attacking or fleeing from here, and now the inadvertent action of the friendly forces had caused them no end of trouble.

McNeil opened the door and jumped out of the armored vehicle to the edge of the large crater to check out the situation. He waved his hand toward the rest of his comrades who had poked their heads out from beside the car door to watch, meaning that the road was no longer passable. A dozen soldiers reluctantly stepped out of their vehicles and stood with McNeil near the large pothole, looking helplessly at the highway on the other side of it.

"We're stuck in this place." Dumiso Tutu walked to both sides of the highway cruising back and forth as he hoped to find a quick and efficient way out of here. A large number of military vehicles were still waiting behind them, and it would certainly be dangerous to have those vehicles deviate from their original direction of travel and rush haphazardly onto the unmarked so-called shortcut. After a few minutes, Colonel Duttmann gave the order for the men to use all debris to fill the pits completely before moving forward. If enemy troops appeared around them at this time, they would probably be able to take them by surprise. However, this kind of wilderness is not suitable for ambushes, and the terrain and climate are not favorable for soldiers who need to lurk for a long time. The colonel said he would not have dared to venture so far down the avenue if the Air Force had not boasted of their own complete control of the skies. In past wars, many troops had been chased by the enemy air force along the highway and lost so many men that the highway had become a veritable road of death.

The colonel left the soldiers in front of him to carry the stones, sand and trees, while he himself stood by the pits and just watched the soldiers laboring, from time to time taking his cigarette out of his coat pocket and gesticulating. Seeing this, Adalbert Herzog himself rushed into the ranks of the soldiers and joined the other common soldiers in carrying the heavy stones. Not far from him, engineers were using engineering equipment to set up makeshift bridges that would allow the convoy to pass through the area unharmed, and one by one the armored vehicles carrying the soldiers made way for the engineering vehicles to drive to the front.

"How long will it take us to reach Bulawayo?" The Colonel looked at his watch and inquired of Smilas beside him.

"Assuming we can get this place sorted out in less than an hour, our troops will probably arrive in the evening." Smilas reported with a flourish, "However, based on the intelligence passed on by friendly forces yesterday and instructions from the OP, it appears that rebels have appeared in the vicinity of Bulawayo. The population occupying the city, which we previously believed to be supporters of the rebels, now appears to be less closely connected than we thought. The General will also be impressed if we are able to persuade the municipality to revert to the South Africa."

"Exactly." The colonel was overjoyed as he said triumphantly, "I knew that these deeply righteous citizens wouldn't just go along with those bandits ... For God's sake, these rebels openly advocate pillaging in war, they don't think they're still living in the Middle Ages, do they? Apart from their spiritual motherland of Britannia, I can't think of any other country in the world where any army would be so depraved."

EU public opinion usually considers the Imperial Army of Britannia to be a mixed army of the house slaves of the nobility, an army that inevitably retains the habits of feudal times. Emperor Charles III openly advocated for the superiority of the inferior, and while he cracked down on the nobles who fought against the imperial power, he continued to promote the motivation of the soldiers in terms of war - that is to say, not only could the soldiers earn merit and thus become upper-class human, but they could also have the loot that was theirs during the war. Already fed up with the EU's frequent deprivation of their legal rights, the African Britannians quickly decided that this theory was natural, and with the fact that the military discipline of the defense forces that were their opponents wasn't exactly good, the Rhodesian Rebels simply decided to stop restraining the behavior of their soldiers.

"Major Herzog, in order to prevent the rebels from threatening our flanks, after the road repair work has been completed, your section should block any enemy troops that may be present near the lines of communication around Bulawayo." Colonel Duttmann gave an order, "Don't give them a chance to fight back."

The implication was that the soldiers were not to go into the city to rest and recuperate, but were to rush immediately to the next battle. Adalbert Herzog chose to accept the order without hesitation, it was a soldier's duty to obey orders, and besides, Colonel Duttmann was not an all-or-nothing bureaucrat, and sometimes the colonel was able to formulate plans that caught his eye. Moreover, if Bulawayo decided to go to war with the defense forces, Adalbert would be able to immediately coordinate a pincer attack with the main force.

Orders were passed down the command structure layer by layer, all the way to every common soldier. The soldiers accepted the status quo with indifference, they were rarely able to think about the meaning behind every order from their officers, and even if they thought about the causes and consequences clearly, they couldn't change the reality, not to mention the fact that sometimes the officer who gave the instruction himself didn't necessarily know if the decision was correct or not.

"Looks like we might not make it before nightfall." McNeil threw the rock into the large pit and walked back to the armored vehicle to rest.

"There's definitely more than one large crater present on this road, maybe the back stretch has been blown to pieces." Adalbert scowled, not letting his inner concern be seen, "If we get stuck here, the problem will be more than just a delay."

Ten minutes later, the engineers finally declared the road passable. McNeil climbed back into the armored vehicle with the other exhausted soldiers and leaned against the sides to nap. He had expected to be woken up soon, when he would reluctantly have to go and fill in the next big hole with his comrades. Surprisingly, by the time he opened his eyes again, the soldiers around him were full of joy as they told him that some tall buildings had appeared ahead. McNeil was sorry for this result. The air force had not completely blown up the lines of communication, and although their intentional or unintentional mercy (or perhaps negligence) had facilitated the friendly forces, if the rebels had come back the way they came, it would have been the defense forces who would have suffered.

The outskirts of Bulawayo were cordoned off by more solid fortifications, made of reinforced concrete by workers from the local building materials factories, and the soldiers were faced with a long line of defense stretching from the south side of the city to the north side, designed to keep out the would-be outlaws from invading the city. Trained guards and militia patrolled the area, and when they saw the defense forces coming from the south, they quickly informed the city of the news. Soon hundreds of militiamen gathered on the south side of the city, watching intently for these men, who in their eyes were no different from the rebels.

Heavily armed, the soldiers stood ready to fire at anything living in front of them without hesitation at the command of their officers.

"That's not a good fight." The driver muttered, "You can't attack a city like this that's fortified on a hierarchical basis without large artillery or tanks. Those old men in the air force probably won't be looking out for us specifically either ..."

"What the hell is going on in Bulawayo?" McNeil looked out of the window and saw a flag hanging from a streetlight, a tricolor in green-white-green horizontally, and he had never before seen a similar flag or emblem in Rhodesia or South Africa.

From the shouts of the soldiers ahead and the replies from across the street, the soldiers finally figured out what was going on. It turned out that the city of Bulawayo had long been under the control of businessmen, and that these African Britannian magnates ruled Bulawayo brutally, relying on bribes for elections and other means, and that factory workers generally worked more than sixteen hours a day, and that the unhappy citizens (the mainstay of which were the laborers) had, in their own way, defeated the city government, also controlled by African Britannians, soon after the African Britannians had openly instigated violent activities. The municipal government, also controlled by the African Britannians. The citizens, assisted by some of the police and Guardian Corp soldiers who had turned against them, were victorious, and the mayor and businessmen, unable to control the situation, fled the city in helicopters. The citizens quickly set up an autonomous council and supplemented it with a large amount of manpower from the civilian population into the new self-defense force.

The Colonel listened gravely as the soldiers under his command reported the news delivered by the other side, and then inquired:

"Do not say so many irrelevant things ... I just want to know, what is their attitude toward us?"

"Excluding the so-called in the spirit of equality, voluntariness ... and other principles, and with the entities constituting the Union of South African as equals ... and other such platitudes, what they are saying is that the city is not at the disposal of His Excellency the Governor-general nowadays, and that we could only deal with them by ourselves." Adalbert nailed the essence of the situation at hand in a few words.

"Hell." The Colonel was furious, he knew that he could not attack the city with the troops he had at hand, if he were the Commander-in-Chief of the Guardian Corp, he would have sent two divisions to raze the city to the ground.

Adalbert was also distressed by this, when McNeil took the opportunity to make a suggestion to him. There was no doubt that the rebels were also enemies of the citizens. Since the two sides shared a common opponent, they were in control of the situation for the time being, as long as the defense forces could convince these citizens to allow the army to be stationed in the neighborhood, and the two sides would not interfere with each other. In order to allay Adalbert's concerns, McNeil volunteered to go forward and deal with the citizens' representatives.

Michael McNeil stepped out of the array and advanced toward the line of defense controlled by the citizens. There were a dozen guns trained on him at once, and if he dared to make a move, the blood that awaited him was all over the ground. He stood roughly a dozen meters away from the barbed wire fence and raised his hands to show the other side that he was unarmed. Ten minutes later, a middle-aged man in a police uniform stepped out from behind the defense line and came before McNeil.

"Are you a representative of the Defense Force?" The middle-aged man saw McNeil's lapel pin at a glance, "I'm afraid you can't do this."

"As a matter of fact, on behalf of the Colonel, I am proposing an agreement to your city: your city will provide our army with food and supplies of weapons and ammunition, while our army will be stationed in the north to defend your city against rebels that may arrive in the area." McNeil wordily repeated Colonel Duttmann's statement, "In our opinion, the deal is a good deal."

"It should be clear to you ... why we chose to use force to expel those people."

"Though the reports have been skewed, it is through this war that His Excellency the Governor-General hopes to bring down the African Britannians who are doing wrong." Seeing that the other man was a policeman, McNeil pitched in to bring up the rest of the Governor's vision, "No one in South Africa will ever again be put in an unequal position because of their origin or the amount of wealth they have, and I don't think you want to be in a situation where you have to choose between your duty and your conscience." Here, McNeil's tone took on a hint of menace, "Of course, I don't hold you all in contempt, and I have every confidence in your resolve ... However, do you really intend to bargain with the rebels or with us on the basis of this city? I'm afraid that you don't have as much on your hands as you had envisioned."

Perhaps it was McNeil's statement that impressed the delegates, or perhaps it was the colonel's rare restraint that finally confounded the citizens, who finally agreed to Colonel Duttmann's request. The voluminous party split in two, one heading straight north, the other heading for an ambush near the railroad line. Under the watchful eyes of the militia, the party moved apprehensively through the cordon set up by the citizens and along the railroad. Normal transportation had been severely affected, the rebels had called for all African Britannians to join the war, and with most of the ground transportation lines commandeered by the rebels, most civilians who didn't want to join the war had to be trapped within the cities they were in. According to the militiamen guarding the rail lines, not long ago a rebel train tried to force its way through the blockade and ended up dead or injured when the train derailed, and after that the rebels gave up on peaceful exchanges.

"You guys are in trouble." McNeil said to the young militiaman with the gold rimmed glasses, "Listen up, even though you're also African Britannians, the rebels will not be merciful to anyone ... They will simply classify people as having a non-self component and then declare those people unwanted and must be completely eliminated. If they are not pestered by our troops, they will certainly move south to attack the city, and then you will face an unprecedented challenge ..."

The railroad is the great artery of the land, which used to carry countless supplies from southern ports to the north, feeding thousands of colonists and civilians. Before the dawn of the new century, the status of the railroads had been greatly weakened, but after the rebels lost control of the air, the railroads and highways became, as it were, their only saving grace. In this respect, the violence instigated by the African Britons was self-inflicted. Although they succeeded in expelling the officials of Governor-general Herzog in most of the cities, they ignored another important fact: the African Britannians were never less conflicted internally than externally. Thus, a combination of factors led to the bizarre scene in which the African Britannians of Bulawayo became hostile to the rebels instead. The fact that the railroad hub was not in their own hands was the end of the line for the rebels.

However, there were still some rebel transports trying to use the nearby routes to grab supplies, and the citizens, who only wanted to protect themselves, had no intention of taking the initiative. Now, they gave this task to the defense forces, which were poised to attack. The troops, commanded by Major Herzog, took up positions on the high ground to the west, overlooking the road below, which was about a few hundred meters from the nearest railroad line.

"Citizens say there have been rebel convoys passing through here recently."

"Were they transporting weapons and ammunition, or some other inconsequential rags?" Lieutenant Heinz Meyer lay down on his stomach in the grass, and when it turned out that he couldn't see the situation outside at all, he propped up his upper body and set up his machine gun in the constructed firing position. Soldiers behind them panted as they carried other equipment up this overgrown dirt slope, and just to be on the safe side, McNeil suggested setting up anti-aircraft fire points. Granted, the defense forces currently held air control, and perhaps the rebels would be able to pull back in parts of the area.

Michael McNeil, who always felt that the enemy could not be well observed or attacked from this angle, decided to take a riskier course of action. With Lt. Meyer's permission, he traveled slowly down the dirt slope, lay down a dozen meters or so from the point of fire, set his anti-material rifle aside, and continued to watch for a suitable position for an ambush. Eventually, he found a platform in the lower right that was slightly narrower, allowing for at most one person to lie down, which was more than enough for McNeil. Holding his hands on the dirt slope on the upper side, he slowly moved towards the platform, only letting go when his feet touched the sandy soil on the platform.

"That place is dangerous." Seeing this, Heinz Meyer called out to McNeil below, "Besides, the enemy will soon realize your position."

McNeil removed an inconspicuous rag from his pack and draped it over the outside of his rifle mount. From a distance, it appeared to be nothing more than a gentle dirt slope with sparse weeds, not significantly different from the surrounding area. Michael McNeil lay prone beneath the camouflage, his right eye resting near the scope, carefully observing the course of the road, which he would need to use to determine when to fire and prioritize his attack on the enemy vehicle in what position. Once he had completed his adjustments, he was as motionless as a stone statue, unresponsive to anyone calling his name.

However, if he heard any news related to retreat or advance, he would definitely return to normal immediately.

The sun gradually disappeared over the horizon, and night fell. After eight o'clock in the evening, vehicles still did not appear in the distance, and the crowd felt a little discouraged. Adalbert Herzog said that perhaps their movements had alarmed the rebels, and that next time they should be careful to avoid being detected by them. Taking this excuse of reporting to Colonel Duttmann, Major Herzog left his position and returned to the city in search of the colonel, and when he returned it was nearly twelve o'clock, and the exhausted crowd was so drowsy that they began to wonder if they had not listened to false information from others.

"Sir, they can't be fooling us, can they?"

"There's no mistaking it, the men said they always hear unusual noises outside in the early hours of the morning, and that's exactly when the rebels are going to be able to take advantage of it in order to transport their supplies." Major Herzog said this with his mouth, but it looked as if he himself did not believe the rhetoric. He sent one of his soldiers forward below to look for McNeil and tell McNeil to withdraw above and rest. McNeil replied that he would take a nap below, hoping that the battle had not yet begun when he awoke.

McNeil woke up around 4:00 a.m., when the roar of an automobile engine suddenly appeared in the distance, a noise that sounded especially harsh in the silence of the wilderness. McNeil turned on his night vision and aimed at the end of the highway, where he saw a van painted blue. From behind this van several large vans of the same type appeared one after another, and the convoy moved along the highway, probably aiming for other rebel garrisons that were fighting the defense forces nearby.

"Tell the officer that there are rebel markings on the vehicles." McNeil clearly saw the car door with the image of a large Two Lions Arching Shield, and hurriedly reported the incident to his superiors. Adalbert Herzog quickly ordered the battle to begin, and McNeil fired the first shot of the battle. The bullet pierced through the truck's engine with pinpoint accuracy, the shortcomings of the Sakuradite engine were exposed here, the first large truck was overturned in the explosion and went straight across the center of the road, blocking the advance of the cars behind it. While the enemy was still in shock and panic from the sneak attack, McNeil quickly took aim at a van at the very back of the convoy. Figuring he couldn't hit the engine, he aimed for the window and blew the driver's upper body to smithereens. By the time he was ready to fire a third shot, the escort team on board had hurriedly run from their respective vehicles and opened fire on the spots on the dirt slope that were emitting blinding bright lights.

McNeil clutched his rifle and ran, and had just left his original position when a rocket struck the dirt slope and shrapnel grazed the left side of his face. Taking advantage of the enemy's search for a point of fire, he embedded the end of his anti-material rifle into the dirt slope and padded it with his backpack under the mount, while reclining on the slope and continuing to fire at the enemy. A third round unsurprisingly detonated one of the trucks in the center, and the rebel convoy, which was completely trapped in the area, was out of reach.

The battle ended around 6:00 a.m., and it was only then that friendly troops who had come to clean up the battlefield finally let Adalbert, who had been too afraid to break out of his position, know the results of their battle. 2 of the 8 large trucks were destroyed in the explosion (and, unfortunately, the supplies burned up), and the remaining 6 were captured by the defense forces. From these trucks, the soldiers recovered asbestos and other materials necessary for military production, and reported the news to their officers with joy. Fortunately, McNeil did not hit the wagons carrying Sakuradites, otherwise the whole convoy would have gone up in smoke.

Adalbert Herzog killed about 100 rebels and captured dozens at the cost of 6 killed and 30 wounded. He believed a similar blockade could seriously disrupt the rebel supply lines and bring about an early collapse of the rebels.

TBC

Chapter Notes：

The Code Geass series is back with a new anime, and it's good news indeed.

For the citizens of Bulawayo, what may really kill them is not the change of the central government from a republic to a monarchy, but the outlawing of trade unions and farmers' associations and the prohibition.