Chapter 642: The Advancing Machine Gun Position

In a trench, two German soldiers were using an opener on their canned food. Since the fall of Tobruk and the German paratroopers’ rampage on Crete, the supply lines for the Afrika Korps had become much smoother. In addition to being able to transport a sufficient quantity of consumables like shells and bullets, the German soldiers in Africa could now also get many luxuries they wouldn’t have dared to dream of before.

They were in a trench abandoned by the British. It had once been garrisoned by 110 British soldiers, but now the Germans occupied it. Not far away, an 88mm cannon had been set up to guard against a British counter-attack. The main task of this machine gun team was to protect the flank of that 88mm gun.

An MG 42 general-purpose machine gun was mounted on a new-style tripod, a belt of ammunition hanging down its side. In this configuration, the “Akado Saw” could serve as a temporary heavy machine gun and, at a certain angle, as an anti-aircraft weapon.

Both German soldiers were old hands on the North African front. One was carefully opening his precious can, while the other poured warm water into his roasted flour and stirred it evenly. This miraculous method of preparing roasted flour was said to have come from the distant East. It didn’t taste great, but its advantage was that it was easy to carry. At the front, you could use all sorts of containers for the roasted, powdered food, and when there was no way to stop and prepare a meal, it could solve all your troubles: it could be eaten without heating, you could grab a handful at any time to stave off hunger, and when you hit the dirt in a hurry, it even provided a certain cushioning effect!

In the heat of North Africa, if you didn’t want to eat cold food, making it warm was very simple. Just place the food or your canteen on a sun-baked rock for a while, and you would have warm water or a warm meal.

“Didn’t we already conquer the British homeland? Why are they still fighting us in this godforsaken place when they’ve lost their home?” the slightly younger soldier asked, having finished mixing his roasted flour. He took a piece of fatty canned meat from the veteran, dropped it into the pasty flour, licked his fingers, and complained.

The veteran took the roasted flour from his comrade, poured the canned mixture of meat and beans into his own mess tin, stirred it a few times with a folding spoon, and then said nonchalantly, “The British can’t stand us Germans, so we always have to fight a war. One of the two countries must fall before it’s over.”

BOOM! Before they could even take a bite, the 88mm anti-aircraft gun nearby let out a deafening roar. The massive muzzle blast kicked up a lot of sand and dust, leaving the two German soldiers, who were about to eat, covered in grit.

“The British are counter-attacking!” On one side of the trench, a German signals runner, holding his helmet, ran past the machine gun position with his rifle, shouting a warning to his comrades. “They have armored car support, prepare for battle!”

“These bastard Brits! Can’t they even let a man eat a meal in peace?” The veteran scooped up a large spoonful of his lunch, stuffed it into his mouth, and put down his mess tin. He poked his head out of the trench, which was reinforced with wooden planks and sandbags. In the distance, a massive black wave of British soldiers was slowly approaching the German position.

“Well, well! Looks like three to five hundred men, a battalion of infantry. And with armored cars. They’re looking for a fight to the death!” The veteran rested his shoulder against the machine gun’s stock, pulled back the charging handle, tilted his head slightly, and put his eye to the sight.

This whole sequence took only a short time. At the German artillery position, the second shell was already flying out of the 88mm gun’s long barrel with a whistle. A terrifying rate of fire and a devastating penetration power were the two magic weapons that made the German 88mm cannon the bane of armored forces. In the vast and sparsely populated desert, the Germans who possessed this cannon were much luckier than the British soldiers opposite them with their outdated weapons.

Crack! As the enemy drew closer, a German soldier at a distant position pulled his trigger. The first shot was fired from a Mauser 98k rifle; this weapon undoubtedly had a certain advantage in range.

“Open that ammunition box at your feet, get the belt ready!” the veteran ordered the young man beside him. “The enemy is still about 900 meters away!”

The slightly younger assistant gunner bent down, opened the metal box, pulled out the neatly packed ammunition belt, and placed it in the most convenient position. Then he silently took the hand grenades from his gear and placed them next to the belt.

“Machine gun! Fire!” Not far away, the infantry platoon leader shouted the order to attack. Before the words had even faded, the veteran’s finger squeezed slightly, and the MG 42 began to roar wildly. Due to its high rate of fire, the ammunition belt hanging on the side of the gun jumped up and down with the powerful pull, while on the other side, spent casings rained down, clattering by the veteran’s feet.

It was that unique sound again, that unpleasant sound like a buzzsaw or ripping linen. But for the German soldiers, it was the most beautiful melody, the most inspiring and wonderful musical note. Because every time they heard this sound, a searing torrent of steel was flying towards the enemy’s position, a dense hail that beat the opponent down and kept their heads from rising.

For the German soldiers, this weapon was the Scourge of God, the Devil’s Scythe, a gift from the Führer. No machine gun could compare to the MG 42. This weapon could be said to be one of the most perfect machine gun designs. Eighty years later, the Germans were still using a similar machine gun, and the original MG 42 is still shining on the front lines in Africa to this day.

A dense rain of bullets swept towards the British soldiers opposite them. Tracers accurately indicated the trajectory and the target’s position. The veteran shifted his shoulder slightly sideways, and the machine gun’s curtain of fire formed a fan, cutting down more British soldiers.

Soon, men in the advancing British formation began to fall. The British also began to fire at the German position, bullets kicking up white smoke in the sand by the trench. But this white smoke seemed to be a bit far from the German machine gun position, a full ten meters away. At that moment, the 88mm cannon fired again.

The shell whistled through the air and struck a British armored car in the distance. The massive impact crushed the front of the vehicle. The armored car immediately exploded and burst into flames, and the men inside didn’t even have a chance to escape. The explosion was powerful; it could be seen clearly even from the German position hundreds of meters away.

“Oh!” A cheer went up from the German position. The huge explosion clearly helped to boost German morale, and the brilliant performance of the 88mm cannon was enough to intimidate the enemy and make this attack start strong but end weak. However, it was clear that the Germans were destined to be disappointed this time. After one of their armored cars was destroyed, the British did not retreat but instead launched an even fiercer attack.

“Medic! We’ve got a man hit!” As time passed and the distance between the two sides grew shorter, casualties began to appear on the German side. The first unlucky German soldier was hit squarely in the face, his head blown apart, beyond any hope of rescue. The second soldier to be hit was not so lucky; he was hit in the shoulder and let out a blood-curdling scream.

His comrades called for a medic for him. Two medics with white armbands bearing red crosses, holding their helmets and carrying medical kits, ran quickly towards the scene. They passed this machine gun position, and just then, one of the medics was hit by a stray bullet, which scared the assistant gunner, who was helping to load the machine gun, so much that he almost dropped the ammunition belt in his hands.

But this medic who had been hit was quite lucky. The bullet had passed through his sleeve, leaving two holes, but had not hit his arm, nor had it injured any other part of him.

“God be praised!” he said with a laugh, then continued to run forward, holding his helmet, leaving the stunned assistant gunner behind, not knowing what to say.

“That happens a lot, don’t worry about it,” the veteran said, continuing to pull the trigger and send bullets towards the distant enemy, while loudly reminding his assistant, “Don’t just stand there gawking, get a new belt! The gun’s getting a little hot, where’s the spare barrel?”

Before his voice had faded, a shell landed not far away. It was a British howitzer firing. The British had clearly prepared for this attack for a long time; they had even managed to bring up support artillery.

“It’s a large-caliber howitzer, take cover,” the platoon leader shouted, reminding his soldiers to be careful. Just as clouds of smoke from explosions rose from the German position, behind them, a German Panther tank was slowly moving forward. Following this tank were more and more German tanks.

“The attack begins!” a tank commander shouted, lowering his binoculars and giving the order through his throat microphone. “Break through the British front line, then expand the breach on both flanks! Full speed ahead!”

Just after lunch, the elite German tank units appeared in front of the Allied positions. They quickly repelled a British infantry counter-attack and then pushed into the British positions. The battle became even more brutal.

In the evening, by the wreck of a burning German Panther tank, the two German machine gunners had set up their new position. Beside them was still the same 88mm anti-aircraft gun. In the afternoon’s fighting, they had advanced 3 kilometers, but the Germans had paid a heavy price: 21 of their tanks had been destroyed.

Published: 2025-09-14T06:52:42.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-02-04T19:01:06.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c642-machine-138854438

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