On the morning of 31 May, the soldiers of the whole battalion had finished breakfast and happily lined up in an open space outside the city. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Officers and soldiers temporarily set up shooting ranges and other sites there.

A row of tables with national and military flags were planted, and Koval stood on the rostrum, standing straight in front of the soldiers, and said loudly in a calm and powerful voice: "In order to celebrate the establishment of the independent battalion and the victory in the battle of Mark Melgey, I announce the official start of the first sports meeting of the independent regiment. ”

Immediately the applause was thunderous, and the soldiers below cheered loudly.

The first event was a shooting event, in which the fighters went to the shooting range of rifles, submachine guns, and machine guns according to the weapons they mastered.

Koval took Majewski everywhere to watch the game.

The machine gun competition was the smallest, with a total of nine machine gun squads from three battalions, plus one from the guard platoon, for a total of ten machine gun squad soldiers.

Because of the large number of weapons captured in Makmergey, each machine gun squad was replaced with a new MG-08/15 general-purpose machine gun. 08 indicates the modification of MG08, and 15 indicates the official equipment in 1915. The internal parts of the gun are exactly the same as those of the MG08, but the receiver has been lightweighted. The MG08/15 retains the cooling water cylinder of the MG08, thus retaining the basic characteristics of the MG08's original good fire continuity - but the volume of the water cylinder is reduced from the original 4 litres to 3 litres. The MG08/15 eliminated the MG08's spade-handle swing grip and installed a rifle-style stock, pistol-style small grip and index finger trigger; The bulky sled gun carriage was also eliminated and replaced with a bipod weighing only 1.5 pounds (0.68 kg). The MG08's original delicate rear sight has also been replaced with a relatively simple but more robust component. With a side-mounted magazine (with a 100-round cartridge belt inside) and a full cooling water tank, the MG08/15 weighs about 43 pounds (19.5 kg) - a figure that is only one-third that of the MG08.

The MG08/15 was a very successful modification. The same plant can manufacture both MG08 and MG08/15 machine guns - many parts and components of both weapons can be used in common; Soldiers trained in MG08 can quickly master the use of MG08/15.

The soldiers of each machine-gun squad lay on the ground and began to shoot at a target three hundred meters away. The soldiers of the first battalion have been trained for a long time, and one by one they lie on the ground in a standardized posture, grasp the machine guns, and start to shoot three short bursts at their targets.

The soldiers of the second and third battalions shot in various positions, some sat on the ground with their feet crossed, and some knelt on the ground on one knee, and the soldiers around them couldn't help but laugh. Others improvised the position of a battalion of machine gunners to shoot.

Most of the machine gunners clenched their grips and pulled the trigger hard, firing at the distant target continuously, da-da・・・・・・

Soon, all thirty rounds were gone, and the soldiers continued to pull the trigger. Some soldiers, seeing the practice of a battalion of soldiers, also learned to shoot three rounds, but often as soon as they pulled the trigger of the machine gun, seven or eight bullets were fired.

Thirty rounds are a few seconds faster, and dozens of seconds are done slowly. Soon the machine-gun competition was over, and the supervising soldiers ran over to count the results.

Originally, there were only 100 rounds of machine gun bullet belt, but counting the machine gun squad of 150 people, it would consume 15,000 rounds of ammunition, and Koval immediately changed it to 30 rounds per person, and even then, nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition were consumed.

Koval looked at the target in the distance, the target of the soldiers of the first battalion was densely populated, and the targets of the soldiers of the second and third battalions were sparsely sprinkled with a few bullet holes.

Yes, there was no problem with the machine gun competition, Koval nodded slightly and walked to another competition area.

Rifle shooting was the most popular and the competition was the most intense.

The tournament also has a special split into preliminaries and finals.

In the preliminaries, all participating soldiers will each have 10 rounds of ammunition, and within two minutes, they will use five rounds of ammunition each in a lying position and a squatting position to shoot at a half-body target 200 meters away. Six rounds hit the target to be qualified. Eight bullets hit the target and can move on to the next round.

Koval stood in the crowd and watched the soldiers shoot, most of the soldiers of the first battalion were qualified, while most of the soldiers of the second and third battalions were unqualified, most of them could hit about three shots in their lying position, but most of them could only hit one or two shots in their kneeling position, and many of them were completely off target.

"How can their kneeling position be so much worse than their lying position?" Mayevsky asked in surprise.

"The kneeling position is a little more difficult than the lying position, and it is more difficult to maintain balance, maybe they used it more in the previous life when they were hunting." Koval guessed.

At the end of the preliminaries, the soldiers of the first battalion who remained on the field were more than those of the second battalion. The three battalions combined were even more, adding up to two hundred people.

The format of the qualifiers is similar to the first round, but only ten shots will advance to the final.

Majewski asked curiously: "Sir, why don't you just select a soldier with ten shots in the preliminaries to advance to the finals?" It also saves time and bullets. ”

Koval said lightly: "Is this a little more lively in this game!" If you directly let the soldiers of the first round of all high schools advance to the finals, how many places do you think the second and third battalions will have? I'm afraid that the vast majority of the soldiers on the field are a battalion of soldiers. Let the soldiers of the second and third battalions be out in one round, and they will inevitably have some complaints. Letting them participate in the qualifiers now is tantamount to playing again, and what more can they say if they lose again? Besides, distinguishing them from ordinary soldiers is enough to give them face. ”

The two talked here, and after more than 20 minutes, the results of the qualifying match came out, and a total of 35 soldiers hit all 10 shots and advanced to the finals. Among them, there were thirty people in the first battalion, three in the second battalion, and two in the third battalion.

Every time a name was shouted from the referee's seat, the soldiers below cheered loudly.

Locke stood in the referee's seat and loudly announced the rules of the finals: "The finalists shoot one bullet at a time, and after all the shots are completed, the results will be counted, and one or more players with the least number of rings will be eliminated until the top ten are selected." The player with the lowest total number of rings is eliminated each time until the first place is selected. Start with five shots in a lying position, then switch to a kneeling position and change positions.

Finalists, please prepare. One, two, three, go! ”

The surrounding soldiers waited quietly for the contestant to shoot.

"At the end of the first round, the highest number of rings is nine rings, the lowest number of rings is four rings, and the five players with four rings are out."

At the end of the first round, the eliminated players left with great regret.

Round after round, and by the seventh round, there were only ten players left.

The competition was at its climax, and one player was eliminated every time.

"McAer, 54 rings in total, eliminated!"

A young soldier lowered his rifle, waved at the soldiers around him, and walked down.

The soldiers behind him applauded. (To be continued.) )