Chp. 5: Block Party
May 10, 1995
Solis Ortus
Hauptmann Egon Gräbner kept one hand on his MG3 and the other on the turret ring as his foliage-covered Leopard 1A5 went from field to pavement. The four-tank platoon accompanying his headquarters spread out across two city blocks and rolled forward to an empty car dealership near the main road. He set the tank in place on a street corner and keyed his radio.
"Schatten 6 to all Schatten 1 elements, halt and hold positions until given further orders." He commanded.
As the other tanks lurched to a halt on either side of him, a soldier hurried out of a post office next to the tank and met Gräbner as he dismounted. He wore the rank of a Hauptfeldwebel.
"Glad you made it, Herr Hauptmann. The enemy's strength grows every time their cargo planes fly over." He commented with a salute.
"Who's in charge here?" Gräbner replied.
"Myself; our Oberleutnant is badly injured. Hauptfeldwebel Emil Becher at your service."
"And your Hauptmann?"
The Sergeant's expression remained unchanged.
"He's dead."
Becher produced a map and knelt down behind the tank's left fender.
"The Oseans control the road heading northeast; right now we estimate they have a battalion trying to move into this part of Solis Ortus. Right now they also control an apricot orchard here; we believe that's some kind of headquarters. Over the past two hours they've made probing attacks along the town's edges here and here as well as here. We repelled those, but I have an increasing number of dead and wounded. My strongest positions are at this market, these two blocks of houses and I have a second line of defense placed along this street." He explained. Gräbner peeked over the fender for a second, then ducked back down.
"Is there any kind of pattern to these attacks?" He asked.
"No sir, they come at random."
"Do you have any idea where they might center an actual attack to take this neighborhood?"
"If it were me, sir, I would make a feint from the northeast, down the main road, then have one attack attempt to flank from the northwest while a second flank attack hits from the north."
"I brought my company, with six tanks detached to provide you with direct fire support. The other eight will secure the flanks and provide routes for us to retreat...as much as I hate to think about that possibility."
"Another thing, Herr Hauptmann."
"Yes?"
"They control the ski lodge here, and have been using it to direct artillery onto our positions. So far they've been careful; I think they're worried about civilian casualties."
"Will my flanks be alright?"
"That would depend on if they attack how I predict."
"What about aircraft?"
"Approximately four hours ago, they destroyed our pack howitzers with an air strike and have been harassing attempts to resupply. The air defense soldiers attached to my battalion claimed to have destroyed two aircraft, but that hasn't stopped them. Our air force seems to still be tied up with the enemy offensive to the south."
"The platoons on our flanks will need protection."
"I can split an air defense squad to help. That would give each platoon six missiles to cover them."
"Good, how soon can we expect the next attack?"
"Soon, Herr Hauptmann."
"Then no time like now to get in position. Stay on the radio and tell your men we'll set up between your first and second lines of defense."
"Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann."
Gräbner climbed back up the side of his Leopard and reattached his headset. He ordered his tanks to their positions, then commanded his driver to move them up a few blocks so they could find places to set up. From outside town, Josh listened to the sounds with growing apprehension. He raised his binoculars to scan the landscape, but couldn't see the vehicles. The southeast way into town was packed with buildings and light on roadways. Much of it was built-up shops and other such places or "rijtjeshuis", Ustian-styled terrace houses.
"Yeah, those are tanks." Alex mumbled. Lots of 'em Josh thought.
The Lieutenant looked to his right and signalled to 1st Platoon's Lieutenant Mercer. His fellow officer signalled back; they would get moving in thirty seconds.
"Just means they're easier to find and kill. Take First and Second squads and clear the left side of the street. Third'll provide covering fire then move to take the ones on the right." He replied, motioning at a row of townhouses and shops a few dozen yards ahead.
"Gotcha El-Tee."
When Mercer's guys were advancing from their positions, Alex motioned to his part of the platoon and started down a hiking trail winding towards the town. Josh hurried towards one of the M60s positioned to cover and grabbed some cover among the bushes. Alex's force reached the backyards before two Belkan soldiers burst from one of the houses and booked it across the street. Josh moved his M60s and remaining troops forward towards their objectives, weary of what they'd stirred up. He hurried down the slope and dropped down from a retaining wall into the lot behind a house. As he bolted forward, the eruption of gunfire sent him back to the ground. He stayed down for a second, then lifted his head as he realized it was coming from 1st Platoon's direction. He hurried to his feet and ran to the side of the house, up some stone stairs. As he rose up, he saw a Belkan soldier turn a corner across the street, G3 at the ready. Josh dropped back down before the man fired. Josh moved back down the stairs, then rose to fire back. He let off several shots, then ducked back down. One of the M60 teams hurried to a gate below; Josh used a grenade to give them a chance to set up.
Half a squad joined Josh on the stairs; he divided them up to take the house's two floors simultaneously. With the M60 laying down fire, he eased up to the door, then turned the knob. As he hurried forward, he heard a bullet whip by from above, but momentum carried him inside the house. Someone yelled "sniper!" from behind while he hurried through a laundry room and into a hall where three bedrooms were.
"Get a SAW set up and find that sniper! Move move!" He shouted as he rose back up.
One of the windows behind him shattered from another shot. Josh spat out a curse and turned the corner towards the stairs. He was greeted by a shout from a fellow Osean, who appeared and signalled that the bottom floor was clear. Josh turned back and hurried inside a bedroom behind him. He knelt next to a window and pulled it open as a fireteam followed him in. One of his soldiers fired off a round from his M203, then Josh rose and poked his barrel out the window and fired a few rounds. He moved to another window and opened it before peeking out and taking a shot at a Belkan soldier across the street. He raised his weapon further and spotted movement on the second floor of a department store. He called out the find to the other soldiers and took shots at a few shadows across the street. Alex's voice over the radio pulled him away from the fight.
"Baker 2 Actual this is Baker 2 Bravo, have established a small foothold across the street to your left. Be advised we've got fresh reinforcements moving down the street...and that sniper is still a threat, Possibly a second sharpshooter, but can't confirm." The Sergeant reported after being acknowledged.
"Copy 2 Bravo, be advised we've got a lot of movement in the Breuninger store across the street. Watch your right flank if you decide to move up any further."
"Rog."
Josh rose and caught a Belkan MG team trying to get across the street to the department store, only to be driven back by the sniper. Possibly the second one that Alex had found, he noted. One of his soldiers drew back as a round grazed his helmet and sent him stumbling back. Just when it seemed the marksman had zeroed in on them, it was apparent that the shot had come from the store across the street. One of Josh's M60s shifted its fire and hammered the windows one by one.
"Stay low, move back from the windows if you have to! I'm gonna find a way into the attic!" The Lieutenant barked.
He rose up to provide covering fire while the grenadier recovered and tried to ready another round for his grenade launcher. The other riflemen present took over while Josh hurried out of the room and looked to the ceiling for some kind of string or break in the wood. He found it by the bathroom and yanked down the door as quickly as he could. Josh bolted up the ladder and into a low attic. He crawled over to a window nearby and set his rifle aside so he could get closer. His view was little different from the floor below, save for a few more feet of town to look at. With some work, he could tell where his men were exactly and where Mercer's guys were. He saw an MG3 team duck into the building, then lowered his head again as another shot from that elusive marksman rang out. He eased back from the window and yanked the headset off his gear again.
"Baker 1 Actual this is Baker 2 Actual, we've got a sniper but we can't get a bead on him. Can you see anything from your position?" He radioed.
"Standby, 2 Actual!" Mercer's RTO replied.
Josh started towards the window again when one of the panes shattered.
"Fuck this!" He gasped as he crawled back towards the steps. He descended and scurried to the bedroom he'd been in before. As he reached the doorway he got a piece of good news.
"Baker 2 Actual, I've got him! Clock tower about two blocks from your position. Two blocks north!" Mercer reported. Josh acknowledged and switched who he was addressing.
"Baker 6, Baker 6 this is Baker 2 Actual, requesting fire support. Repeat, requesting fire support. Target is a clock tower in the center of town, grid coordinates to follow."
"Baker 2 Actual this is Baker 6, Baker 4 Actual is standing by for coordinates."
"Copy...stand by, 6." Josh assured as he pulled out a map.
He had to go completely off his maps on this one. Less than ideal, but how many clock towers were in this part of town? Go from the store, two blocks up He thought. There! The library! It had to be the library! Josh considered making sure, then shook his head. Now or never, man he thought. He passed the coordinates to Captain Losch and assured (lied to) him that he had eyes on the target.
"Copy, shots on the way." Baker 6 replied.
Josh hurried forward to the windows again and rose up to lay down fire as another soldier dropped to reload. He then hurried back to the door leading outside to check on the rest of his platoon's attack. As he emerged, the soft whistle of an incoming round drew his attention. He poked his head over the wall at the top of the steps, then ducked back down when someone took a shot in his direction. He raised his M16 and fired back a few times, then scurried down the stairs. Several more distant explosions drew his attention, but fire from down the street redirected it. He hurried to the M60 team, where the remaining member was huddled up out of sight. His teammate lay dead near the fence's gate.
"That weapon still working, soldier?" He asked.
"Yes sir...yes sir it still works yes sir." He stuttered.
"Alright Private, get your head back in the fight. Take a breath and get that 60 back into the fray. We NEED it, understand?"
"...Yes sir."
The man didn't sound very enthusiastic, but at least Josh didn't have to drag him kicking and screaming. The two went around the house to the opposite side where they wouldn't draw as much attention. The cough of a grenade launcher resulted in another chunk of the department store being blown off. Josh kicked in a few planks of the fence until the M60 gunner had a firing port. The soldier set the weapon up while Josh watched the upper floors. The shooting was being made up more of Osean weapons than Belkan ones now, slowly easing back down the street.
"Baker 6 this is Baker 1 Actual, be advised that hostile forces are retreating further into the town. We are pursuing." Mercer radioed.
"Copy Baker 1, break, Baker 2 gimme a SITREP on your end." Losch replied.
"Hostiles are engaged in a fighting retreat down the road immediately to our front. Moving to clear buildings and advance on the library two blocks north." Josh replied.
With a foothold firmly established, Josh fed his M16 a fresh magazine and kicked down enough of the fence to make a hole. He turned the corner of the house to call to his squad leaders as he reached the beaten street.
"First and second clear the street and advance towards the library! Four men per building! Third, clear that department store and collect casualties!" He shouted.
Josh joined Second Squad as they swept down the street. He was coming up on a bank when fire erupted from the front windows. Soldiers on the other side of the street scattered before a SAW gunner blasted back. Josh joined a pair of soldiers who'd been exiting back onto the street and had them stack up behind him near the front windows. He pulled a grenade from his gear and moved forward when the LMG had hosed the building good.
"Frag out!" He declared before tossing the explosive inside.
Following the explosion, the soldier turned the corner and bounded into the lobby with the two riflemen. As he straightened up and stopped behind a pillar, he saw a figure rise from behind a counter. He fired off half a dozen rounds, then drew back as another figure appeared from the balcony above. The two other soldiers moved forward, shooting in just about every direction. Josh poked out again and raked the counter with fire. The assailant on the top floor tossed a grenade before making a break for it. One of the soldiers called out the explosive just in time for Josh to dive behind a desk nearby. A few more men hurried in afterwards, shouting for their comrades until Josh revealed where he was. He got to his feet and motioned towards the top floor.
"He's up there somewhere, be careful!" He barked.
Two soldiers hurried past the counter and up a spiral staircase towards the top. The Belkan soldier appeared once more with his weapon raised, only to be cut down as he shouted something in his native tongue. Josh took his original entourage and hurried to the counters. He launched over them effortlessly and ran to the door to the vault. The door was slightly ajar; Josh pursed his lips, then thumbed the selector switch on his M16 to three-round burst. One of his soldiers went to the other side to cover the door. Josh waited a second, drew in a breath, then grabbed the handle. He raised his M16 with the other hand and blindly fired three bursts into the vault. He pulled his weapon back, expecting to hear someone dying or shooting back but got nothing. He pulled open the door and stopped in the doorway to find the space was empty. All there was to see were a few shot-up bags of Ustian Guilders.
"We clear, El-Tee?" The soldier behind him asked.
"Yeah...just money in here." Josh replied.
Josh exited the bank with his troops and followed them down the street to organize their next step. Mercer and 1st Platoon were still pushing Belkan troops further into town. The sniping had dropped off, but Josh wanted to see a body before he considered that fire mission a success. He stopped at a street corner ahead and motioned his platoon forward to attack the library and secure the hotel behind him. Osean troops seemed to be coming out of the woodworks, moving in nearly every direction as they gained the upper hand. First pushed for the library, Second mopped up along the street, and Third went for the hotel and a cafe on the opposite side of the intersection. Josh noted smoke was pouring from a hole in the former's roof, but he couldn't see fire. Not yet, anyways.
"Baker 2 Actual this is Baker 1 Actual, I'm gonna push my third squad to establish blocking positions. Baker 3 check your fire as you move further into town, specially around the library how copy?"
"Baker 3 Actual copies all, be advised we've encountered enemy armor on our right flank. Might be more!"
Josh had heard the rumble of tanks off and on, when the noise wasn't drowned out by shooting, but now it was growing again as the Oseans had the Belkans scrambling for new positions. From behind some newspaper boxes, he spotted Belkan troops in a neighborhood opposite the library and park. Fighting the advance on the library. As he directed more fire and got to deploying his M60 teams to help suppress, the noise of tank treads drew near. The smooth revving of a diesel engine revealed a Leopard 1 covered in foliage as it raced into view. Josh stumbled to a halt, but what really got him was that the vehicle moved with an air of impunity. It fired a single shot in the general direction of the Osean advance, but relied more heavily on its coaxial machine gun to do damage. The words and actions came to Josh like they were second nature.
"Pull back, pull back!" He shouted as he grabbed his handset.
"All Baker 2 elements pull back and find cover! Pull back, enemy armor in the square!"
A second Leopard 1 emerged at the far end of the block and fired its main gun at the troops advancing on the library. Josh kept yelling over the screams and pleas for a medic for his men to retreat until another round exploded above his head. The Lieutenant shuddered and ran for the nearest cover behind a panel truck. Seconds later the sign on the hotel behind him impacted with an unceremonious thud. The tank focused its attention on 1st Platoon, then took an AT4 to the front. The rocket scraped off the top of the turret and flew off into the distance. The first Leopard was backing up when it took a rocket to the top of the turret. It kept going back, though not without scratches. More worrying was the fact that the two tanks were buying time for their supporting infantry to dig in. Josh took cover in an alleyway behind the hotel and raised Alex on the radio.
"Baker 2 Bravo this is Baker 2 Actual, you still up and breathing?" He asked over another AT4.
"Copy Actual, still here!" Alex replied over another round from the Leopard.
"Great, 2 Bravo...take some AT and outmaneuver that tank! First and Third will cover you!"
"Be honored to, Actual."
Alex tried not to sound too sarcastic in front of his troops, but before anyone could get any ideas or questions he motioned over Sergeant Donovan.
"Sergeant, I need two of your guys carrying AT4s and a fireteam. Secure this side of the intersection with the rest and hold until ordered otherwise."
"Gotcha Sarge, good luck!" Donovan replied.
Alex poked his head around the corner at the end of the lane, then motioned a SAW gunner to take up position opposite him. He bolted away from the block of terraced homes to another block across the street. One of Donovan's fireteam leaders and a grenadier hurried across shortly after. As a rifleman hurried across, a shot rang out nearby. The Team leader tumbled to the ground in surprise; Alex turned around and looked towards the lane in the center of the block, then up at the houses past it. He ordered his grenadier to follow him while the rifleman covered their backs. Their SAW gunner laid down suppressing fire while the rest of the squad moved into a house on the left. Alex poked his head out in search of open windows, then simply started hammering each methodically when he saw too many.
"Corporal, get that 203 ready!" He barked as he drew back.
A second shot zipped by, close enough to make Alex move out of sight. The SAW gunner took up peppering the houses until two riflemen carrying AT4s could get across. Alex turned the corner again and laid down more covering fire. One of the riflemen hurried back out to grab the squad leader as he clutched his foot in pain. The grenadier turned the corner and fired his launcher at where he believed the shooter was. It bought them enough time to get the rest of the six-man band across the street. Enough time that one of the riflemen could also keep an eye out in case the shooter was still around. He put a second grenade into another house to be sure.
The grumble of treads and engine revealed the aforementioned Leopard backing up down the street. Belkan infantry fired a number of rounds down the block in the general direction of the Oseans' fire, hopefully to pin them down until the tank could get enough space to turn its turret. Instead of the main gun, it fired a long burst from its coax until the soldiers ahead of it could get to better cover. One of the M60 teams harassed them as they hurried up the street. The Leopard fired a shot from its main gun in response, taking a chunk out of the house the machine gun was in. The tank moved forward again, leaving the remaining Belkan infantry to close in on the small Osean force.
"Keep those Belkan troops suppressed, and draw that tank back here!" Alex barked.
The Sergeant sent one of the AT4 bearers towards the house Donovan had secured and took the other for his own use. With his troops pouring fire down the street, he ran across to the far corner and swapped his M4 for the rocket. Sure enough, the Leopard started backing up again to swat them away as its own infantry failed to do much. Alex turned the corner and fired the rocket at the rear quarter of the tank. The weapon smacked the vehicle in the side, near the tracks, and brought it to a halt. The second AT4 went off seconds later, striking the back of the turret. Smoke erupted from where the tank had been hit, and the commander's hatch flew open to reveal a man desperately trying to escape the machine. The vehicle's main gun remained pointed away from them, and despite the continued resistance from the Belkan mountain infantry nearby, their biggest weapon couldn't move. It was enough for him; Alex tossed aside the empty tube and brought his M4 to bear again. Josh saw the smoke from his position and keyed his radio.
"Baker 2 Actual to Baker 2 Bravo, good shot!" He called.
"Copy 2 Actual, will pass along the compliments to 2 Bravo when I get a chance." Donovan replied.
"He took the shot himself?!"
"Guess he didn't want to send someone into the open."
"...Roger that, tell him no more stunts like that or I'll make him a REMF with Battalion, how copy?"
"Baker 2-2 copies all."