"So much theory…" I whispered discontentedly, trying to read the next memo through the eternally fogged-up glass of my gas mask.
"Am I some kind of nerd reading all this, God-Emperor, save and preserve me," I sighed, because I should have already known all this by heart, but due to the degeneration, part of my memory was lost and now disciplinary punishment awaited me, as well as a rapid repetition of the material covered.
Although it wasn't that bad, because some things did stick in my memory and I didn't cram all of it from scratch. And yes, we were talking about cramming, you had to be able to repeat everything written word for word, and the junior commanders, already recruited from among the cadets and performing this role, had the right to wake anyone up in the middle of the night and ask for the material. And this is not a joke, this was actually done, albeit not very often. And of course, any mistake in using the lasgun called Colonel Kreiser from the darkest depths, who incinerated you with a look and made you retell the same thing ten times, after which he asked:
— WHAT'S SO COMPLICATED ABOUT IT? AM I ASKING YOU TO ASSEMBLE A TITAN? DISASSEMBLE AND ASSEMBLE A LASGUN IN A MINUTE!!! IN!!! ONE!!! MINUTE!!! DO IT!!! — the colonel's voice was constantly in my ears and came to me in nightmares.
As for training in weapon handling, a lot of attention was paid to bayonet combat. According to the Krieg doctrine, accuracy was not so important for a soldier, since massive fire was used on the move, under the cover of heavy equipment to break through the defense and fly into the enemy trench with two bayonets and an infantry shovel in the teeth. Although it was worth understanding that Krieg fulfilled all the Imperium's requests regarding training standards one hundred or two hundred percent, so accuracy was at a decent level.
One way or another, despite the stupidity, mediocrity and degeneracy, Colonel Kreiser was determined to turn each cadet first into a man, and then into a guardsman and, if the stars align, then into a hero who would be worthy of the attention of the Emperor himself. True, so far one of the soldiers has again forgotten to do what he was supposed to do. Namely, to check the lasgun's safety before disassembling it.
Yes, it was not put into combat readiness at any point, just as the battery was discharged, but it is not a soldier's business what is discharged and what is not. There is a charter and only it is followed in your free time from executing direct orders.
- STUPID SUICIDE!!! CRETINO!!! - the colonel was already shouting, who was simultaneously watching the entire company, some of which were practicing shooting, while others were memorizing how to assemble a lasgun to the point of unconsciousness.
In fact, Colonel Kreiser was different from other officers, in particular, the training was carried out by instructors with the rank of lieutenant colonel, while colonels usually showed up for inspections. But Kreiser was an exception, because like no one else he understood the importance of personal presence. On the battlefield, he always placed his headquarters at the front, and sometimes even took personal part in the fighting. So here too, he did everything that less experienced officers could not do.
And it is worth giving credit, he really understood his business perfectly and even after dozens of injuries, despite his advanced age, Kreiser could bury any of the cadets in each of the standards. Moreover, when we conducted forced marches through the radioactive wasteland, he sometimes ran alongside us, on foot. Thanks to this, the sergeant core learned what it means to be a commander.
So, during one of the training sessions, we ran twenty kilometers in full gear, after which there was an order to dig in. Probably, that day was the turning point. Hard training, the deaths of the weakest and their replacement with new fighters, mysterious supplements and just time did their job. We managed ten minutes earlier than Kreiser expected.
Puffing like a beast, I no longer smelled my own sweat, nor did I care about the stench of the planet. I was too tired and didn't understand what was happening. First I turned my head to the left, where the other cadets were standing and also fell into a stupor, then to the right, where everything was exactly the same. A perfectly flat rectangular section of the trench, the angle was exactly ninety degrees, which was quite difficult to do and therefore many did not bother with the evenness. However, every Kriegman knew that a shock wave is... a kind of wave, which is better dampened if the turn in the trench is perfectly flat.
We prepared our dugouts, the cadets with heavy weapons equipped their firing positions, even "fox" holes were dug for mortars and small-caliber artillery, which we did not have, but since there was free time, the regulations said to prepare them, because at any moment everything could become not just bad, but very bad, and then reinforcements would be sent to our area. By the way, behind me there were already two more echelons of defense, which were dug by other companies.
And at that moment, for the first time in many months, the brain of every soldier faced the fact that the order had been carried out, and a new one had not been received. This seemed impossible and caused shock, although the same regulations provided for this, as well as psychological and physical rest. Only because of low indicators, we were driven like the damned, even by Krieg standards.
We stood in our places in the trench in complete silence. No one tried to talk, because we didn't really know each other. And after the training, somehow… the desire to talk disappeared in principle. After all, small talk did not help to carry out the order, what was the point? So about a third of the cadets took out of their backpacks a memo from a guardsman, the full name of which was "Inspirational memo of the Imperial infantryman."
This primer contained everything that every guardsman needed to know. The book was simple, even a fool would understand every word, it contained everything from how to carry out guard duty to a description of enemies and their combat units. Krieg published a slightly different version, supplemented and expanded, which sometimes did not please Terra, but the compromise was that Krieg limited himself to additions and recommendations, leaving almost all of the original text.
But only a third of the soldiers got this book, which is quite significant. Many already thought the work was controversial and... somehow unnecessary? The Kriegman memorized most of the information to the point of unconscious execution, he did not need to repeat this material. Everyone also knew the prayers by heart. In addition, the memo was full of some strange propaganda that did not satisfy most of the guardsmen as a whole, and for the Krieg fanatics it also seemed... inappropriate due to insufficient fanaticism. Neither fish nor fowl.
Anyway, fifteen minutes passed rather quickly and suddenly a signal light shone in the dark sky. For a second we all looked at the sky, after which the order finally rang out.
- TAKE SHELTER!!! - the commanders yelled, after which they started firing artillery directly at us.
Our allies were practicing their marksmanship, and we were now undergoing a brutal test of our own fortifications. The ground wasn't shaking very much, but sometimes shells would fly into the trenches. Not many guns were shooting at us, the concentration of fire was also quite low, and we were hiding in dugouts. However, the chance that a shell would fly right into the passage of your dugout was never zero.
- TAKE POSITIONS!!! - As soon as the fire died down, the commanders gave new orders and we stood at the trenches, preparing to repel a potential attack.
We didn't wait for it, and in a matter of moments the training of our quartermasters began. The regimental organization of Krieg was different from other regiments. In particular, we had an extremely unusual and unique position - the quartermaster. The quartermaster replaced the combat medics that were in most regiments of the Imperial Guard. Their role was simple and extremely important to the doctrine of Krieg and the roots of the quartermasters came straight from the civil war.
The shortage of resources, including equipment and medicine, made treating soldiers a luxury. Seriously wounded soldiers did not expect to receive medical care, and the quartermaster would finish them off, after which he would try to restore their equipment. This was called an honorable field execution or "the Emperor's mercy." But if a soldier could be quickly returned to duty or if he could retreat to the rear on his own, then first aid was provided. Quartermasters were recruited from the smartest and most mentally stable. Finishing off one's own is not an easy task, and only a true believer in the Emperor and his mission can cope with such a burden.
And today we had five corpses and twenty-seven wounded. Of these twenty-seven, we had to finish off two, and the rest refused to go to the rear. Then began the night demining, where we crawled through the mud, getting closer to the imitation of enemy positions. From that side, other cadets fired at us for suppression, who did not aim to kill us, because after successful demining we immediately set up targets. They fired quite accurately, but sometimes even here a foolish bullet found a not very lucky cadet.
You could die at any moment and because of such accidents. And many died, while others finally turned into machines for whom the death of a comrade is nothing. Just as the fear of death was always with us, skulls on the uniform, eternal darkness and constant shots... we lived in hell and got used to it, such an environment became the norm and it became impossible to shake our fighting spirit. And if suddenly the officers thought that the fighting spirit was low, then the preachers came and with an inspiring speech reminded us of our duty and redemption in death.
It was a brutal nightmare, from which I tried to abstract myself. I didn't believe a word of propaganda, trying to concentrate only on the process of executing orders and not allowing ideologists to wedge themselves into my mind more than necessary. Because of this, at some point I stopped talking altogether and spent three long months in silence. But every day of these trainings turned me into a real killing machine. And these skills... they were so firmly entrenched that even degeneration would not erase them so easily. If this continues, they will almost completely become an integral part of me.
Xenos, traitors, daemons - I didn't need magic to defeat them. I didn't need powerful artefacts or cursed swords. I had a lasgun, frag grenades and an infantry shovel. These were more than enough to destroy any enemy of mankind. For victory was determined not by weapons, but by will. Will made the finger press the trigger and kill. He whose will was stronger, won. Such was the foundation of Krieg doctrine, putting morale and discipline at the forefront.
- FLASH ON THE RIGHT!!! - commanded Kreiser during the next forced march.
And our entire column immediately lay down facing left, covering the backs of their heads with their hands. Even atomic weapons were not omnipotent. Such power was frightening, but one Krieg regiment numbered two hundred thousand soldiers, who would not stand in one place. Even a surprise attack would not be able to kill everyone, and if there were five minutes to spare, the trenches would hide the soldiers from the shock wave.
Digging began again, this time lasting a long month. As soon as we had created the three necessary echelons of defense and equipped the trenches with everything necessary, the attack began in conditions of concentrated enemy fire and unimaginable strength of fortifications, as well as the lack of sufficient firepower for a crushing assault in one massive attack.
Any normal regiment would have been waiting for reinforcements, but our orders were to capture a network of tactically important heights and consolidate on them, while destroying the enemy's manpower. There was no enemy, and the goal was to hone one of the tactics. At night, listening to mortar and artillery fire from other cadets, we dug trenches towards the enemy.
Meter by meter, afraid to stick our heads out, we dug without stopping, even when radioactive rain fell or one of the cadets had his fingers torn off by another mine. And mines were everywhere, as were unexploded shells. Over five hundred years of civil war, the entire surface of Krieg became one huge minefield, which will not be cleared of even a tenth of the dangerous ammunition any time soon.
"No, I can still hold a lasgun! Let me go!" screamed another poor fellow, who was being dragged by the quartermaster and his assistant.
He had to be tied up because he wanted to continue his training and earn forgiveness for himself, his ancestors, and his family. He remembered very well how proud his father had been when he learned that his son, who had barely learned to speak, had been deemed fit to be trained in the Death Corps. As he had seen his family three more times during his nearly fifteen years of training. He was a hero to them, even if they didn't know that as a result, he had been placed in the worst cadet corps, whose future was uncertain.
But now he will probably be sent to civilian life. The fingers could be replaced with a prosthesis, but to sweat for the sake of a cadet from a corps with low efficiency... the command has already given everyone a chance, allowing them to prove their efficiency during exercises on the surface, this cadet made a mistake and made a mistake during demining. He lost his chance and will go to earn forgiveness in another way.
Meanwhile, I seemed to begin to comprehend the full power hidden in the shovel. I had two of them, one large and a personal infantry shovel. Both were good, their potential was limitless. I did not understand why less than a paragraph in the Guardsman's Handbook was devoted to it, because it gave each soldier so much that neither a lasgun, nor a heavy bolter, nor a tank, nor even a Titan could give. It was the apotheosis of technical development of all Mankind, the whole world rested on it and it was capable of everything.
So, once again, I was surprised to find that we had finished earlier than planned. I took the stove out of my duffel bag and started heating up my dry rations. Very quickly, my strange actions attracted two more cadets, who looked at me with incomprehension. The dry rations did not need to be heated up, the biomass in the tubes was suitable for consumption at any temperature, except for dangerous ones. No one boiled the water either, such purification is pointless on Krieg.
"What are you doing?" One of the cadets, unable to contain himself, came up to me and slightly lowered his head, looking at me from top to bottom through his gas mask.
"I'm warming up this liquid," I explained and shrugged.
- For what?
- After that, she's not so nasty. Why choke on her once again if we have free time and the opportunity not to do it?
The cadet froze for a moment, because he had not been taught to look for answers to questions, just like me and most of the cadets who would become regular infantry. Thinking with your own head was for the officers, quartermasters, engineers, death riders or caretakers, they were the sergeant backbone and junior commanders. And if a private suddenly started thinking with his own head even after all that had been covered... well, in fact, that was the reason for his promotion. After all, there was no hereditary aristocracy on Krieg and every active officer had worked his way up from a private, demonstrating his effectiveness and ability to think independently, if of course it was sound independent thinking.
But most of course were much simpler, although who knows, maybe this particular cadet who came up to me will personally pick up the fallen officer's power sword at the fateful hour and start commanding, realizing that either he will start doing it, or everyone will die. In general, war and actions will put everyone in their place in the hierarchy.
"What's this?" A minute later the cadet was even more surprised when I took a salt shaker out of my bag.
- Salt.
— They don't give us salt.
— I asked for it myself at the field kitchen. They gave it to me.
- And why do you need it?
Instead, I rolled my eyes, which was not visible because of the gas mask, and simply salted the heated liquid. However, the cadet himself understood everything, as well as the fact that his question was stupid.
- Here, try it.
— Radioactive level...
- It's all right here, I checked the food and you can check it yourself too if you don't believe me. This isn't the first time I've done this, it's worth it.
But the cadet continued to stand and look as if I was trying to break his will and make him betray the Emperor. This is of course an exaggeration, because for one suspicion of such a thing he would have tried to kill me on the spot, but still he was slow to break. True, in the end he sat down next to me and took out his pot and spoon.
- So how is it?
"It really is better," he agreed, after which he took out his dry rations and began to carry out the same operations as I did.
The curiosity of others also got the better of them, because if one cadet doing something strange simply attracted attention and stood out, then two cadets... it was something abnormal, an anomaly in fact. On the other hand, this was not an accident either, and Kreiser was keeping a close eye on everything, having specially made a plan taking into account the appearance of free minutes in it.
The Krieg soldiers were the best soldiers, but they also needed to know those who would fight with them. It was not about names and past, it would soon be taken away, giving only a number to those who passed the final stage of training. But it also could not be called a military cohesion, because the doctrine of Krieg, due to the harshness of its training, did not need such a thing. Every soldier, regardless of the situation, would fight and die for the Emperor, even if he was placed in a regiment consisting exclusively of traitors.
The point is rather, again, in the need to identify personnel among the personnel who already have the potential to become something more than a simple infantryman. And lists were already being compiled, because some of the sergeants would soon be removed, considering that they were not coping with their duties. Someone could even die by chance. Someone would definitely die in their first battle. Replacements are always needed, and therefore work with personnel was tirelessly carried out in every regiment of the Imperial Guard, and especially in Krieg, where soldiers had to be replaced constantly and in huge numbers.
And of course, it was worth understanding that despite everything they had gone through, every soldier would still remain a human being. And even the most seasoned Kriegman would need communication, even if this need was fifteen minutes a month, where ten words would be spoken between two interlocutors. Kreiser decided to give this minimum to the cadets, who were getting better and improving their performance according to the standards, but who at the same time began to break down much more often.
And soon it would get even worse, because the command had given Kreiser a new order, which determined the future of this cadet corps. Time was running out, only five companies from the entire corps met the required quality standard, two more companies would be formed separately from those cadets who were the best in their departments. The rest... the rest would have to earn the Emperor's forgiveness in another way.
And we are not talking, unfortunately or fortunately, about being sent back to civilian life.
More chapters on my P@treon: https://patreon.com/OOOTEN