Japanese Ground Self-defense Force base, Macedonia
Mikuyumi Saoko, Private Second-class tried to keep her eyes open. She was standing guard duty inside the base, but it was hard for her to keep herself alert. This was her first real duty after arriving on Macedonia as part of U.N. Peacekeeping Force. The Ground Self-defense Force was currently having hard-time finding volunteers. It was bad before but now they've gotten so desperate that they were admitting women into infantry school.
Saoko expected to do some good here. She actually expected to be on front-line duty with all the other troops in U.N. force. However, Japanese government was keeping their forces from any danger, and being a woman, Saoko was stuck doing night-watch which was just about the safest, as well as most boring, thing to do. Besides, their base was ten-minutes away from a Korean command post which had 2 company of infantry with 3 platoon of tanks and attack-helicopters protecting it. It would be most foolish for anyone to try to attack this area.
She yawned again and cursed the government who was keeping it's supposed front-line forces in the same area as allied command posts. She lowered her Type96 assault-rifle and checked her watch. 2:13, she still had about 50 more minutes before relief guard came. She looked around again, switching to her nigh-vision goggle. There were nothing but trees, rocks, a Type87 IFV, and...a movement? She brought her rifle up and shouldered it. She looked more carefully at the moving object. It sure looked like a person, but it hidden behind a bush. She thought about moving in closer to investigate, but she decided that it would be better if she simply reported it. She brought her radio out of it's casing and turned it on. She was about to call the communications center...until the explosion came.
There were two explosions. One in the command center and one in the barracks. Then the whole area erupted into gunfire, shrilling through the cool night air. Saoko turned around and ran to the nearby building while trying to figure out the situation. She panicked. This was only peacekeeping mission. No one was told to expect an attack! Suddenly, there was a feeling like someone had hit her in the stomach with a hammer. She wasn't sure what happened. She was aware that she was on the ground, but she didn't know why. Slowly, unconsciousness overcame her as she fell into darkness.
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"Raiders forward now! Protect IFV platoons with your body if you have to."
Second Lieutenant Lee shouted into the radio after he shut the tank's hatch. His K1A1 platoon was moving with 2 platoon of K200A4 IFV. He was ordered to move out minutes ago with orders to scout the Japanese base. They warned 'Possible combat situation. Advise strong caution.'
As he neared the base, he could see the flames and destroyed buildings. He splat his forces into 4teams of 2 IFV per a tank. He ordered them to scatter and scout the base. He met no resistance as he entered the base, but as soon as he rounded a building, he encountered rifle fire and machinegun fire. Before he could callout 'Weapons free', the two IFV surged forward and gunned the resistance down with their 30mm guns and heavy machineguns. Another machinegun fire erupted from the left side and he turned the Commander's sight to take a look. A three-men crew was operating a machinegun while some others were trying to retreat.
"Gunner 7O'clock. Engage with main-gun."
The gunner looked through his sight and reported. "Range 1,341m, engaging."
The big 120mm main-gun spoke as it fired a shell at the speed of Mach4. The shell was CSTR type and when reached the target area it released hundreds of sharp darts and killed both machinegun crew and the retreating enemy.
By now the mechanized infantry has exited their vehicle and was engaging enemies with skill. The enemy, whoever they were, was completely outgunned and the mechanized infantry, though being outnumbered, were overrunning the enemy. One man closed in enough to fire RPG-7 anti-tank rocket, but the rocket, with only 300mm penetration capability against RH-steel, could not penetrate the thick armor on K1A1 which could protect against penetration capability of up to 700mm RH-steel. That man was immediately gunned down by Lt. Lee's K-3 light machine-gun.
Suddenly, he watched in horror as the same kind of rocket closed in on the K200A4 Infantry Fighting Vehicle. The IFV certainly had capable protection capability, but it was in no way a tank. The rocket trailing a red exhaust, impacted the IFV, causing a great explosion. Lt. Lee turned his head in furry and looked at the direction which the rocket had came from. There were a group of men inside a building firing at his forces.
"Gunner 5O'clock! Blow it the hell up!"
There was no reply, but he knew he was doing his job because the next moment, the 120mm main gun spoke again, this time firing a HE round. The shell impacted perfectly and the building's entrance was engulfed in flames. However, the next moment, more men showed up and they were preparing to fire. Lee was just about to order another HE round fired when a rocket showed up at the corner of his eyes. The K200A4 IFV that he thought was destroyed survived the explosion and just launched a Shrike missile. The missile, trailing a guidance wire, curved upward a bit and then down toward the building. It exploded just before it hit the building, engulfing the building with flames. Lee realized this Shrike missile had explosive liquid as a warhead that exploded when it came to contact with air. The liquid/flame seeped through the openings such as windows and doors and burned anyone inside.
"Raiders report."
-2, we've had a light engagement, 3 shells used.-
-3, light resistance by rifle fire. We're dealing with it.-
-4, we're supporting a company-sized Japanese forces here. We'll continue to press until they can retreat.-
"1, we've encountered couple of heavy machine-gun fire. One of K200A4 have expended Shrike missile. I'll support you team 4."
His team of K1A1 and K200A4 raced to East corner of the camp. When they got there, he could see that the resistance was quite heavy. He immediately ordered the gunner to engage with his coaxial-machinegun while he and the loader began firing their K3 and K6 machineguns on top. The wounded Japanese company was in full retreat, and the K200A4s fired continuously to cover them.
Lt.'s command tank surged forward and fired a HE and APERS rounds into the forest. There were dozens of heat-signatures and he realized machineguns weren't all that effective because lots of guerillas, that's what he thought of them now, were amidst the friendly forces. Instead he decided to use main guns on those in forests because they had much more psychological effect.
"Bimp, 9O'clock!" The gunner announced loudly.
"What!" Then he took the periscope and turned it to face that direction. BMP-3, a Russian made IFV with it's big 100mm gun, was making it's presence known.
"Load SABOT!" The gunner roared. Lt. Lee frowned slightly but let this breech of protocol pass.
"Hold on! That might be one of U.N. units!"
"There's no friendly forces which uses Russian vehicles within 300km of this area Lieutenant.!"
Lt. Lee Jo Young's head was spinning with uncertainty at the moment. That BMP-3 could be an enemy. If that is the case, he had to destroy it before it can damage his command. Or it could be a friendly who's here to support his team. However, the next moment his question was answered for him.
"The Bimp just launched missile!" The gunner shouted.
Lee grabbed the periscope once more and watched the AT-11 missile being launched by the BMP-3.
"Kill it NOW!"
The AT-11 could kill just about anything at this range. From a IFV to even a tank. However the one problem with this missile was that it was slow. The APFSDS round from K1A1 could travel at the speed of Mach4. When the BMP-3 was killed, the missile lost its guidance and fell to the ground. However, there were more vehicles appearing through the trees. Most of them were BMP-3s but some tanks were also appearing.
"Shit! Kill the tanks. Launch smoke grenade now! Team 2 and 3 get to out flank now! Support us at the entrance! IFVs fall back."
"T-80U, range 300m!"
"Fire!"
-T-90. Right in front of us!-
-Fire Shrike!-
-Kill!-
-Left full now!-
The communication net was overflowing and was running out of control. Lt. Lee tried to control the communication, but it was impossible. Fear of death was overcoming all the training they had received.
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Private Mikuyumi slowly opened her eyes. Her entire body felt num and her brain still hasn't kicked in yet. It felt as if she has woken up from a deep sleep except....except that there was excruciating pain on her chest and reality came crashing down on her. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was smoke. There was gunfire all around her and roaring of engines and explosions from what sounded like a tank's main gun was deafening.
Her survival extinct told her to get the hell out of here, but she wasn't sure where she was. The smoke completely filled the air and she was very dizzy from the loss of blood from her chest wound. She started to limp to the direction which she thought was the armory. If anyone is still alive, they would be there trying to fend off the attackers. Through all the chaos she couldn't detect a low whining noise distinctive to gas-turbine engines. Through the screen of smoke a T-80U tank jumped out, and finding Mikuyumi, surged forward to crush her.
When she saw this, she couldn't move. She knew it was crazy standing still in front of a charging tank but her leg muscles just wouldn't follow her will.
Not so long ago, she observed a tree-snake hunting. It found a squirrel trying to find food of it's own. It was so busy looking for food, it didn't notice the snake sneaking up from behind. When it finally did, it froze. The snake was moving very slowly and it could have escaped if it moved. However the squirrel stood completely still as the snaked inched closer. When the snake was right in front of it, it opened it's mouth wide and bit into it's meal.
She watched all this with fascination. She'd heard about it but couldn't believe it could really happen. She didn't quite understand. If they would just move, they could be out of danger. Now that she was in the same situation, she finally understood. An overwhelming fear overloaded her senses. Because the creatures were completely taken over by fear, it's brain denied the truth. It denied that such things were happening to them. Therefore it felt no immediate need to respond. It was like watching a movie or watching an accident far away; fearful but helpless.
As she watched the massive 45ton tank close in on her, she turned to her last result; denying the reality consciously. She shut her eyes tightly and waited for the contact with the cold, metallic surface of the tank. She thought about what it would feel like when this man-made beast crushes her frail human body. Will there be pain? Will she feel nothing?
She waited and waited. It seemed time has slowed down for her. When the contact she waited for did not come, she squinted her eyes open. The tank that was going to be her executioner was burning in front of her with a missing turret. She heard roaring diesel engine and just realized she wasn't hearing anything before. She turned toward the noise and saw a large Korean K1A1 rushing toward her while firing yet another round from it's main gun. The tank stopped to her left side and the hatch was lifted to reveal a Korean lieutenant.
"Well what the hell are you waiting for? Get up here!" He shouted in English.
She numbly nodded her head slightly and tried to climb to the top. But her injury prevented her from doing so. The Lt. realized that she was injured and spat out words that sounded something like shi-bal. Acting swiftly, he jumped out from the tank's cupola to the ground. He lifted her to his back and put her legs around his waist to make sure she would not fall. Then he started to climb slowly to the top. Another one of Korean tank crew was already out ready to receive her. While he was climbing, she felt all the tension escaping from her. And, she lost consciousness again.
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Lee was almost at the top. The woman he was carrying wasn't all that heavy, but using one hand to secure her to his back and using another to climb proved to be difficult to say the least. When he reached the top, Kim Binho Private First-class lifted her off his back and slid her limp form through his hatch. He half-slipped and half-jumped into his own hatch and ordered the driver to fall-back. Rest of his command had already positioned themselves at the entrance along with rest of Japanese infantry and a single remaining Type87 IFV armed with Type73 anti-tank missiles. He had already called for reinforcements and decided to tie the enemy to their current position by fighting them in defensive position. He was about to fall-back when he saw this woman standing in the path of a T-80U. He blew the tank up just in time before it crushed her like a bug.
His tank raced at it's full speed to outrun the T-80s and T-90s. He knew that those tanks were actually a lot faster then his tank with it's gas-turbine engines. But with all this smoke and obstacles, he was hoping those tank commanders to be little more cautious.
He finally reached his designation and positioned himself. He had already figured out that the enemy outnumbered him. So he chose a spot where their numerical advantage could not be used effectively. He has about 500m of open space and series of buildings between him and the enemy. If they tried to attack, they would have to round the buildings one-by-one and his tanks and missiles could pick them out. If they somehow escaped the sniping ground, he planned to fire all his missiles to blanket the area and fire off smoke charges and retreat.
Suddenly he remembered about the wounded soldier and looked around the interior of the tank. She was lying still below the loader's station while Private Kim tended her wounds.
"How is she?"
"It doesn't look good Lt. The bullet wounds are not fatal, but she lost a lot of blood. I've slowed down the bleeding but if she doesn't get transfusion soon, she might not survive this."
"Try to do much as you can. But you can't get distracted from your duties."\
"Yes sir. A SABOT is already loaded. We have 11 more SABOTs left and 4 more HEAT round."
That was the main problem with K1A1s. They could only carry 32 rounds of shell compared to other MBTs(Main Battle Tank), which carries average of 45~57 rounds, that's far too little. And also since they were sent out with mixed type of ammunitions, they could only use 16 more rounds against the tanks. One thing that relieved him a little was the fact that there were at least 50 anti-tank missiles loaded in K200A4s, Type87 and in the hands of the infantry.
"T-90, range 456m. They seem cautious."
"Engage carefully. To all units. Do not waste any anti-tank rounds. We have to hold on until additional forces arrive. Save the ammo and use them only against tanks. IFVs will handle the Bimps. Raiders engage!"
The platoon of tanks fired off single APFSDS rounds each. Four tank kills resulted. The K1A1s had an excellent targeting system, and at 456m they couldn't miss. While the tanks were reloading, second wave of tanks appeared. These were engaged by cloud of missiles. Couple of them tried to fire back, but with all the smoke that jammed laser rangefinder, that proved to be quite difficult.
"T-80, range 230!"
"HEAT, shoot!"
"Another one, 2O'clock, range 348!"
"SABOT, shoot!"
"I'm reloading Lt.! Ok, done!"
"Shoot!"
The T-80 took a 'silver bullet' at point-blank range and exploded in fury. Lt. Lee searched for another tank...and found three converging on their position. He killed one with SABOT round and a Type73 missile killed another. However, the third one got one round off at Raider3. K1A1 may have a world-class armor, but it could not withstand a 125mm SABOT shell at this range. Raider3 was promptly destroyed, it's crew probably shredded to pieces by the sharp pieces of the dart-shaped shell.
"Gunner!"
"I see it Lieutenant." He replied darkly.
The gun made a slight adjustments then fired off a HEAT round. The HEAT round, standing for High Explosive Anti-Tank round, released a highly-concentrated stream of plasma energy and penetrated the T-80's round turret.
He looked at his command. Raider2 was already in retreat as it's main gun was damaged. 3 IFVs were gone and the infantry was taking casualty as well. Most of the surviving IFVs were out of missiles and the story was same for the remaining infantry. The situation was grim. He ordered to launch smokes and fired off one more round before he began moving. He watched as at least a dozen vehicles were overrunning the area where they were hiding. The haste retreat caused a lot of confusion among the friendly vehicles and whatever formation they had before was ignored.
He looked back at the enemy chasing them. He couldn't have a complete count before but now he could estimate. There were at least 40 tanks on his tail and about 60 IFVs. That made them a heavy Armored company and two mechanized company. Since they destroyed about 20 tanks and about 30 IFVs, that made the original force about the size of a mechanized-brigade.
"Shit!" The driver suddenly called out, grabbing attention of everyone in the tank. The driver turned the handle hard to the left and the K1A1 ran off the road and into a river nearby. Apparently, the Type87 in front of him slowed suddenly and he had to turn the handle hard to avoid collision. Unfortunately, the river had a muddy bottom and his tank was completely stuck.
An immobile tank is a dead tank he remembered from the book he once read. Even as he watched, four tanks found him and stopped to aim their gun. His K1A1 had no more anti-tank weapons left, so he had other options but to watch. The tanks aimed their gun slowly and surely. It looked like they wanted to enjoy their kill against the enemy who was responsible for the death of so many of their comrades. He did not close his eyes or try to run away. If he were to die, he wanted to see it coming. He pressed his face against the commander's periscope and watched.
A moment later he was grad that he did, because as he watched, all four tanks blew up creating a spectacular view for anyone who was around. He opened his hatch and looked around. There were hordes of Apache and Tiger attack helicopters in the sky. They were launching Hellfire and HOT missiles to destroy the tanks and used rockets and cannons to blanket the whole area. Far away, a group of mechanized forces were coming toward to meet the threat at full speed. The enemy was surprised and tried to retreat but a mixed company of American M1A2 tanks and German Leopard2A6 blockaded their escape route and they were completely surrounded.
Lee waved with both arms to their saviors. As the last group of enemy tanks and IFV were surrendering to the allied troops, a K88 recovery vehicle raced toward them with their huge cranes along with an ambulance. He smiled broadly. He didn't care hundreds of people were either dead or hurt. He didn't care who the enemy was. All he cared at the moment was that he was alive.