"What do you say, Snow? You think you can slip?
"Yeah, I'm fine. No problem."
Me and Snow finished preparing for the mortar all the way through and practiced skiing until the Giants arrived.
I also forgot how to move my body because it's been a long time since I started, but I regain my senses while practicing.
Snow also moved his body a little and was able to slip fine.
That's just great motor nerve.
"All right, shall we leave this for skiing practice? As soon as the Titans get here, we need to be able to fire mortars."
"I get it. But can I just slip a little more? One last time, I want to make sure it feels slippery."
"That's good. But don't get obsessed with slipping because it's time for the Giants to come."
"I get it."
Snow replies and stains his body with the feeling of slipping the ski.
I glance at her like that and then inspect & confirm the mortar prepared just one more time, just in case.
On our shoulders lies the life of the city of Norte Boden and its 10,000 inhabitants.
Nervous, never too much.
So, first of all, as a welcome - what is a mortar?
Earths of previous life, World War I era.
At that time, machine guns (machine guns) were developed, and soldiers often managed to bring them into close combat by night raids or digging trenches in an attempt to approach them.
It's commonly known as "trench warfare".
As a result, it was difficult to deal effective hits with rifles and artillery because both enemy allies were caught in trenches.
So we started throwing grenades at each other with our hands.
However, gradually the distance opens with the opponent when creating the position, which is not reached even if thrown by hand.
The result was a tactic of warfare that increased the distance flown, other than throwing grenades by hand in a natural stream.
At first, a small gun grenade is launched from the tip of the rifle.
Then comes the mortar (projectile launcher), which magnifies the Small Gun Throw (Rifle Grenade).
The structure is even simpler.
The shell (barrel), pedestal (base plate), leg (bipod) with adjustment handle, that's it.
The advantages of mortars are 'highly destructive and lethal because they can contain large quantities of explosives', 'easy to carry and handle because of their simple structure', 'cheaper production costs because they do not need to be rifled' and 'more fragments are scattered and more lethal because they fall from above'.
Conversely, the disadvantages include: 'Mortars are susceptible to slow bullet speeds and transverse winds because of weapons that shoot up shells and fall at an angle close to vertical' and 'enemies are susceptible to attack by the sound of shells falling'.
There are also several types of mortars, but usually a 60-mm class mortar fires in squadrons of around five to six people, although the caliber (size) of the cannon is typical.
The observer determines the information necessary for the artillery fire, such as the distance to the target, wind direction, direction, etc.
Aim according to the information given by the aiming hand.
A loader loads a shell (ammunition) into a barrel - and fires it.
As ammunition handlers, the remaining two or three will have shells ready so that they can be shelled efficiently.
The mortar we're using this time is the M22460mm Light Mortar.
The specs are as follows:
Caliber: 60 mm
Cannon length: 110 cm
Weight: 21.1 kg
Firing speed: 20 rounds/min in a row
Up to 30 rounds/min
Range distance: min 70 m max 3490 m
It was developed by the American military as a light and powerful infantry weapon based on the experience of the Vietnam War. The caliber is 60 mm but has an attack force approaching 81 mm.
Furthermore, the "M22460mm Light Mortar" is light enough to allow even one person to shoot hand-held.
The method includes legs (bipods) (legs that support near the center of the cannon. It does not look like it is close to the leg you put on the camera) and the pedestal (base plate) is also made of a small piece of aluminum dedicated to it. Grab the barrel with your left hand with gloves attached instead of the leg (bipod) and aim.
Additionally, after setting the selector to S (Safety) and later loading the shell, release S (Safety) (changing the selector to T (Triggerfire)) and manipulate the trigger with your right hand to release the bullet towards the enemy (the normal mortar is automatically fired when the detonator touches the needle when loaded to drop the bullet from front, but M224 is selector-style).
"M22460mm Light Mortar" is also highly aggressive and can be used by itself when needed, so Mayer helped me to make it.
Since Snow is here this time, there is no need to do hand-held shooting alone.
Snow returns after practicing skiing.
He was poking stock and plates slightly away from the mortar.
Skiing is so sweaty.
"Right. It's because of the thickness, but the sweat got wet under my clothes."
"Sakuriku"
"... Mr. Snow, why are you honking your throat"
"Yes, that's good. It's just the two of us, no one's eyes in the snowfield, and you can smell it!
Snow changes the color of his eyes, and his breath comes rough.
Brae!
Too much bracing since I was a kid at all!?
"Yes, no, Snow, once you don't know what time the Giants are coming, you should wait for them..."
"Just a little, just a little fuzzy, so! Because it's just a little bit!
"How desperate are you!?
Snow ignores my scratch and is about to smell it - but the vibration stopped the move.
'Zung... Zung... Zung...' and sounds similar to thunder can also be heard together.
A horde of giants thrust for Norte Boden reveals themselves!
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Snow, ammo ready!
"Copy that!"
Snow reaches for mortar ammunition as directed.
Once again, I confirm the invading giants and adjust their aiming.
In the case of Earths of previous life, even mortars unsuitable for pinpoint attacks can be accurately shelled thanks to GPS & ballistic computing computers? But naturally there's nothing like it here, so we have to do it all ourselves.
Snow hands me ammunition.
"Yes, Lute, ammo"
"Thanks"
When I hear Snow's reply, I put about half of the ammunition I received into the barrel.
The ammunition used this time was not American, but German.
That's the type 39 jump mortar shell.
Ordinary mortars explode on the surface, but if the surface is mud or snow, they bury deep and become ineffective. As a result, a time line tube was used to explode in the air.
For soldiers in the field, however, it is not pleasing to spend time on shooting charts, troublesome calculations, etc. to set up a trust anyway on the battlefield.
It is just decided that it is preferable to load and fire ammunition.
So the German Army developed groundbreaking ammunition.
That's the type 39 jump mortar shell - Bound Bomb.
At first glance, it looks similar to a native type of ammunition, but the 39-style jump mortar shell is divided into a warhead and a bullet body (part of the torso), the warhead part coupled to the bullet body by a pin.
Short-term deferred tubes (tubes adjusted to detonate just a short time after landing) are used for the bullet body, and propellants and delay-free firing tubes (flash tubes) are used for the warhead.
At the same time as the bullet is worn, the flash tube in the warhead is activated and the propellant explodes.
The pin connecting the warhead to the bullet was destroyed and the bullet jumped into the air.
By the time the bullet reached some height, the bullet (main explosive) exploded by a short deferred tube.
You don't have to use complex time lines to get the desired aerial explosion.
Once you think about effort, it's wiser to get your hands on Bound Bomb than time trust.
"So let's go, huh? You ready for this?
"Sure! Anytime!
Listening to Snow's reply, I nodded forcefully and let go of the ammo hand.
"Fire!"
'Don!' is sounded and ammunition fires about a kilometer away towards the invading Titans.
It stretches out and explodes once on the surface, the body lifts into the air and the main explodes.
The explosion noise (gong) at the start of the operation rang.