Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. I'm sorry I took so long. But school has been crazy busy. On top of that, I got engaged since the last update (yay!), and wedding planning has kept me busy too. But now, I'm back with an update.
Let's get to it.
Herbet128: Thanks for mentioning that mistake. I'll fix that.
The pig: Okay, first of all, you need to chill out. I can write whatever I want, and your desire for more updates to this story does not mean I can only update this. I have series I was working on well before this story, and I will continue those, as well as write new stories. In answer to your reviews, yes, I meant that, that's not how foreign policy works. Plus, this isn't like Germany or Japan after WWII. Any territorial claims, even for America, are determined by the Free Peoples and the Valar, not by the nations of Earth. And no, that's not how the UN works. You need to brush up on how international politics works. As for why they don't send SEALs to kill Morgoth, Morgoth is still too powerful for a team of SEALs to kill him. Also to answer your auestions about my Terran Alliance series, yes, the leaders of the Alliance kept the Freedom back to protect Earth, and also to finish her fitting out and testing period. Also, don't call me names for not updating fast enough for you. You've got serious problems.
BlackWatcher1234: Glaurung is already long dead at this point.
Chapter 15- Battle of Nen Lalaith
(March 24, 2019, Vinyamar)
General Abrams leans over the conference table, examining the latest reconnaissance photos from a recently launched spy satellite. The photos he's currently looking at are of an Orc army moving south towards Tumhalad.
Since the ground campaign began in earnest with advance out of Nevrast on March 1, Abrams has hard at work coordinating the efforts of all of his ground forces. The 1st, 6th, and 10th Armies, along with the Host of Valinor, have advanced to the region of Forfalas and have almost reached the fortress of Brithombar, where a large Orc army is coming to meet them. At the same time, further south, the Marines have completed their landing on Arvernien, supported by the Wisconsin and three carriers. The Marines have driven out the few forces of Morgoth in the area and are ready to start their march north.
At the same time, the aircraft of the Allied air forces and the Arda Fleet's carriers have continued airstrikes against Morgoth's forces across Beleriand. They've pounded fortresses and strongholds, smashed up supply lines, broken bridges over rivers, and devastated large formations of dark creatures.
As Abrams continues looking over the photos, one of his intelligence chiefs comes walking in. "Sir, latest photos are in from the reconnaissance flights over Nen Lalaith," he says. He then lays the file down in front of the general.
Abrams opens the file and looks over the photos. They were taken by several Global Hawks of Morgoth's forces in the area of the forest of Nen Lalaith.
These photos have already been labelled and have notes printed on them from intelligence analysts. These notes help give Abrams a more accurate assessment of the size of the army.
Abrams looks over the photos, taking stock of the forces he can see and making his estimates with the help of the notes. As far as he can see, the army in the Nen Lalaith is comprised of about 200,000 Orcs, at least 200 trolls that he can see, and, the most worrying, a legless dragon.
Abrams is quiet for another minute, thinking about the situation. Finally, he looks up at one his aides and says, "Send a message to General Cavoli. Tell him to detach the VI Corps and send it towards Nen Lalaith."
"Copy," the Colonel says.
(March 26, 2019, Nen Lalaith)
In the hatch on top of his M1A2 Abrams tank, Sergeant Phil Stewart watches as the landscape go by. The sun is just starting to rise over the horizon as his tank and many others are trundling along at 20 mph.
Stewart is a tank commander of one of the 120 M1 tanks of the 4th Infantry Division, the division leading the VI Corps as it heads towards a confrontation with Morgoth's forces near Nen Lalaith. The 40th Infantry Division is following close behind the 4th, while the 5th Infantry Division is swinging around towards the south so they can come up from the south towards the forest.
Stewart looks down at his GPS. Based on reports transmitted to the division from General Cavoli's field HQ, he and the tanks of the 4th, divided up into 4 companies of 30 tanks each, are no more than 6 miles away from contact with Morgoth's forces.
As he's watching the terrain roll by, Stewart's radio comes to life, and the voice of the company commander, Major Callahan, calls out, "Bravo Company, we're coming up on a hill 4.5 miles dead ahead. We've been ordered to take up position on the crest of the hill to start firing on Morgoth's army."
"Copy," Stewart and a number of other tank commanders respond as Stewart drops back into the tank. One by one, the tanks of the company start to accelerate a bit to 32 miles per hour.
It takes the company about 9 minutes to reach the crest of the hill. Stewart's tanks is one of the leading tanks. As the tank comes to the top of the hill, Stewart pops his head out of the hatch again and looks down at the plain stretching out before them leading to the forest. And gathered on the field before them is at least 20,000 Orcs and a number of trolls.
A second later, Major Callahan's voice comes over the radio. "All units. Enemy, direct frontal. HEAT round. Ready, report."
"Load a HEAT round!" Stewart orders. The loader quickly loads a HEAT round into the tank's 120mm gun.
Each tank quickly reports in to Major Callahan. Once all the tanks have reported in, Major Callahan calls out, "Fire!"
With a loud bang, the gun on Stewart's tank fires, at almost the same time as the other 29 tanks in the company. Seconds later, 30 HEAT rounds land amidst the Orc army, their explosive charges going off and killing a number of Orcs immediately, and sending out shrapnel that cuts down more Orcs. A total of 168 Orcs are killed by the rounds.
Many of the Orcs start to panic as they realize that they're under attack. However, the Orc commanders quickly spot the tanks on the hill a mile and a half away. At the same time, they see two of the other tank companies coming into view as well.
"Charge!" one of the Orc commanders belows, and several thousand Orcs begin charging in the direction of the tank companies, with more and more Orcs joining the charge by the second.
Stewart, looking through his scope, quickly sees the massive portion of the army below charging towards them. He quickly gets on the radio and calls out to Major Callahan, "Major, this is Ghost 3. Those Orcs are heading straight for us. We need to advance on them and meet them head on if we want to give the Strykers and rest of the division time to close the distance."
"Hold your position and continue firing, Ghost 3," Major Callahan calls back over the radio a second before the tanks of his troop fire their main guns.
Stewart, against his better judgement, holds his position, and his tank fires again, killing several Orcs. However, as the loader reloads again and the gunner fires the gun for the third time, Stewart realizes that the Orcs are covering ground rather quickly. Stewart, knowing he has to act quickly, calls out on the radio to his troop commander, "Captain Anton, this is Ghost 3. I'm charging." He then shouts to his driver, "Full speed ahead!"
The driver guns the engine, and the tank surges forward, accelerating as it drives straight down the hill. In his tank, Captain Anton sees Stewart's tank advancing, and calls out to the rest of Ghost troop, "What are we waiting for, boys? Follow Stewart!" His driver shoves the throttles forward, and the tank accelerates down the hill, followed soon after by the other 8 tanks of the troop. As the tanks move down the hill, they continue firing their main guns.
In his tank, Major Callahan feels a sense of frustration as he sees Ghost Troop's tanks surging down the hill, followed by their Bradleys. Then, looking to his other side, he sees Halberd Troop starting to move down the hill, following Ghost Troop's example.
Callahan feels more frustrated, then a sense of calm. Looking down at the Orcs, he can already see some of the Orcs halting their charge.
"Major, shall we follow?" his driver calls out.
Callahan thinks for a moment, then says, "No. Maintain position and keep firing." He recognizes that having one tank troop up on the hill to provide more long range fire support for the two troops fighting at close range may be more effective than all three troops fighting at such close range.
At almost the same time, Stewart's tank reaches the bottom of the hill. As the tank levels off from crossing the bottom crest of the hill, the gun fires its sixth round of the battle, killing several Orcs. At the same time, Stewart pops out onto the outside of the tank to man one of the M240 machine guns on the outside of the tank.
As the tanks of Ghost Troop are about to smash through the front lines of the Orcs, Stewart pulls the trigger of his machine gun, and the weapon springs to life, hurling streams of bullets into the midst of the Orcs, shredding multiple Orcs into pieces of flesh and black blood. More Orcs are blown apart as the tanks fire another volley of HEAT rounds.
The Orcs facing Bravo Company begin to panic. Some try to rush the tanks to try and climb onto them, while others try to flee. Others try to get around behind the tanks to get out of their firing range.
However, the Orcs quickly find that it is not easy to escape from the M1 Abrams. Several tanks swivel their turrets around towards the Orcs trying to get behind them and fire, killing multiple Orcs and sending the rest scattering. At the same time, the machine gunners on the tanks hold off any approaching Orcs with a hail of bullets.
Stewart swivels his machine gun around as his tank slows down to about 10 mph. He quickly spots several Orcs charging towards his tank. Stewart swivels the machine gun in their direction and pulls the trigger, sending a stream of rounds in their direction. One Orc is shredded completely, two more are blown in half, and the fourth is decapitated.
Stewart scans his surroundings. Although some of the Orc formation has routed towards the forest for cover, much of the Orcs have started to rally to try to launch a counter attack against the tanks.
Stewart glances back towards the hill where Major Callahan's tanks are still sitting. Right then, he sees more Bradleys and the Strykers coming over the hill and starting to advance down the hill. He smiles a bit, knowing their firepower will help disrupt the Orc counterattack.
The Bradleys lead the charge, heading straight for the two tank troops engaging the Orcs below the hill. As the Bradleys near the tanks, the tanks throttle up a bit, and both the tanks and the Bradleys advance towards the Orc army at about 20 mph, with the Strykers following close behind.
The Orcs feel fear as they see the Bradleys and Strykers now joining the battle, but decide they have to attack, and charge to engage them. However, their charge is interrupted by a volley of HEAT rounds from Ghost Troop and Halberd Troop.
Then, the Bradleys start to open fire with their 25mm cannons. The cannons start hurling 25mm high explosive rounds. The rounds tear through the front ranks of the Orcs, tearing a number of Orcs apart and wounding more Orcs thanks to the shrapnel thrown out by the shells.
Despite facing dozens of tanks and almost a hundred Bradleys, the Orcs continue to charge with loud war cries. As the Orcs charge at the Americans, a pair of trolls come charging out of the midst of the army, waving massive clubs.
One of the M1s, callsign Ghost Seven, quickly centers its main gun on one of the charging trolls and fires a HEAT round. The round hits the troll in the center of the chest, detonating after almost finishing punching through the troll's chest, ripping the troll into small pieces. A second later, one of the Bradleys raises its missile launcher and fires a TOW missile at the second troll. The gunner guides the missile to its target, the missile striking the troll right in the head and blowing the troll's head apart.
The Strykers now begin to come up to join the tanks and Bradleys on the front lines and begin to add their weapons to the mix of weapons unleashing hell on the Orcs. Right at that same moment, a flight of F-15E Strike Eagles from the 4th Fighter Wing appears on the horizon. The Strike Eagles head straight for the emerging battle with the 4th Division and the Orc army.
In the cockpit of the lead Strike Eagle, the pilot calls out, "Alright, boys. We have clearance to engage at will. Let's hit towards the rear of the Orcs with the bombs and then move up with our cannons."
"Copy that," his wingman calls out.
The Strike Eagles separate into elements and start swinging around the make their attack runs. Each Strike Eagle is carrying half a dozen CBU-103 cluster bombs.
The first two Strike Eagles swing around and line up on a run against the Orcs from the west. The Orcs begin to panic as they see the two Strike Eagles bearing down on them, by now well aware what it means when these strange metal creatures appear in the sky.
The Strike Eagles head straight for the Orcs, cruising at 4,000 feet at about 300 mph. The lead pilot keeps his hands on the throttles as his WSO prepares the bombs and monitors the approach. Finally, the WSO calls out, "Let 'em go!"
"Pickle! Pickle!" the pilot calls over the radio as he presses the pickle button and drops two cluster bombs. About half a mile south of him, his wingman also drops two cluster bombs. The two Strike Eagles continue ahead, each dropping another pair of cluster bombs about 20 seconds later, followed by the last pair about 30 seconds after the second pair.
About the same time the Strike Eagles drop their last bombs, the first bombs break open and deploy their bomblets, the bomblets from each bomb scattering over an area almost the size of a football field.
After a number of seconds, the bomblets begin to land, and a series of several hundred tiny explosions rip through the Orcs, killing over 200 Orcs. As the bomblets from the other two pairs of cluster bombs land, they kill about 500 more Orcs.
The Orcs begin to scatter as the second pair of Strike Eagles come in for their attack run, some of the smarter Orcs realizing that being packed together tightly will just increase their casualties when being attacked by aircraft. The second pair of Strike Eagles drop their cluster bombs, killing about 400 Orcs with the bombs.
The Strike Eagles climb up to 7,500 feet and form up again into their flight, circling the battle site as they survey the results of their attack. Although their attack has killed over a thousand Orcs, the Orcs are now breaking up their tight formation to lessen their vulnerability to air attack.
"Alright, boys. Pick your targets and engage at will," the lead pilot calls over the radio before he wings over and dives for the ground.
The lead pilot levels off at about 500 feet and scans the ground ahead of him. He sees a phalanx of Orcs pushing towards a formation of Strykers on the edge of the American formation. He quickly lines the Orcs up in his gunsight and squeezes the trigger, firing off 215 rounds from his 20mm cannon. The rounds tear through the Orc lines, killing dozens of Orcs and wounding more.
As the lead pilot pulls up from his first strafing run, his wingman dives in to make his first run. His 20mm cannon springs to life, sending more rounds lancing through the Orc formation and killing more Orcs.
The Strike Eagles continue their attacks on the Orcs. Each Strike Eagle manages two to three strafing runs on the Orcs before their cannons are empty of ammunition. The Strike Eagles form up at 6,000 feet and head back towards their air base in Nevrast.
However, the Strike Eagles had given the 4th Infantry a major boost. The Strike Eagles' attacks had only killed about 1,500 Orcs, but the attacks had shattered the Orcs' cohesion.
Now, in his tank, Sergeant Stewart grins as the tank advances at full speed towards the Orc army, the rest of the tanks of the company and all of its Bradleys and Strykers advancing as well.
The shock of the armoured charge, combined with the shock still remaining from the air strike, shatters the cohesion of the Orc army. With little unity, the Orcs break into a rout, retreating back towards the forest, where they hope they may be able to find some cover. However, as they retreat, one of the Orc commanders decides to unleash their secret weapon to cover their escape.
As the Americans watch the Orcs retreating back towards the forest, they suddenly hear a loud roar. Everyone who can hear it turn towards the direction the sound is coming from, and mouths drop open across the battlefield.
Among the army of Orcs is a single dragon, a legless cold-drake. And now, the cold-drake has been turned loose on the Americans.
The dragon heads straight for several Bradleys. One Bradley driver panics and speeds away from the dragon. The commanders of the other two Bradleys manage to react quickly and turn their turrets to face it and quickly start firing their 25mm cannons. However, the shells simply bounce off the thick armor of the dragon. The dragon slithers up to one of the Bradleys and swings its tail down onto it, smashing right through the armor. The dragon then picks up the other Bradley in its jaws and throws it, sending the vehicle tumbling across the ground.
In his tank, Sergeant Stewart quickly overcomes his shock of seeing a dragon for the first time and calls out, "We got a dragon on the field! Fire sabot!"
The loader quickly loads a sabot round into the tank's main gun. The gunner quickly tries to center his gunsight on the dragon, and finally gets a good angle.
"Got an angle!" the gunner calls out.
"Fire!" Stewart orders. Immediately, the gunner depresses the trigger, and the depleted-uranium sabot round is discharged from the gun. However, the round misses the dragon by just two feet.
The dragon snarls and heads straight for Stewart's tank as the loader hurries to load another sabot round into the gun. However, the dragon comes to a halt as a HEAT round from Ghost 4 hits right in front of it. The dragon turns in anger, only for a volley of HEAT rounds from Ghost 2, Ghost 5, and Ghost 8 to hit. One HEAT round hits the dragon directly, while the other two hit next to it. The round fails to penetrate the dragon's scales, but the explosive force forces the dragon to stop in its tracks and temporarily dazes it.
The daze passes after a second. However, it's just long enough for the gunner in Stewart's tank to center his gunsight on the dragon. "Firing!" he calls out as he depresses the trigger. Again, the main gun discharges a sabot round. This time, the round is directly on target. The sabot round hits the dragon directly in the face. Despite the strength of a dragon's scales, the depleted uranium dart pierces the scale covering the dragon's face, the speed of the projectile and the self-sharpening characteristic of the depleted uranium is more than the scales of the dragon can withstand, and the round tears right through the dragon's head, killing it instantly.
A cheer goes up throughout the American army as the Americans watch the dragon's corpse fall to the ground, it's head now a bloody mess. From his position in his tank, Major Callahan orders his company to charge and attack.
The tanks and armored vehicles of the company charge after the Orcs, pursuing them as they continue their retreat towards the forest. Finally, as they reach the forest, the tanks and other vehicles halt their pursuit and begin to establish a perimeter around the outside of the forest.
From the top of the hill, Major Callahan smiles as he watches the forces of the 4th establishing the perimeter. The Battle of Nen Lalaith is far from over, but Callahan knows that it's off to a good start.
(March 28, 2019)
A series of explosions rocks the earth as a number of 500 pound bombs from a flight of Strike Eagles tears through a phalanx of Orcs. As the smoke and flame begin to clear, a company of American troops, accompanied by a Bradley, charge at what's left of the Orc formation. Multiple Orcs are gunned down, while a few survivors flee from the charging Americans.
The Battle of Nen Lalaith has been going on for almost 48 hours by now. The attack by the 4th Infantry Division had driven a large portion of Morgoth's army into the forest. Despite several attacks by Morgoth's forces to attack the 4th head on, the 4th had held their positions and driven back each attack with almost no casualties. Then, as Morgoth's forces had prepared a manuever to swing around and attack their flank, the 5th Infantry Division had commenced their attack from the south, causing massive casualties to Morgoth's army and driving them back into the forest.
The 4th and 5th had held their positions, supported by air strikes until the 2nd day of the battle, when the fresh 40th Infantry Division, along with elements of the 5th, advanced into the forest to attack the Orcs. Air strikes with napalm had set large swathes of the forest on fire, containing the Orcs to certain areas of the forest, where the 40th and 5th have now concentrated their attacks.
By now, most of the Orcs and other creatures of Morgoth's army have been wiped out, with the survivors numbering only in the thousands. The relentless attacks by the 40th Infantry have pushed them back to a small region in the forest, and the Orcs are now surrounded by the 40th, which is now tightening the noose on the withering Orc army. And unlike in modern warfare on Earth, the American troops have orders to take no prisoners.
On an order from a brigade commander, a full battalion of American troops charges towards a known Orc position. A number of Orcs try to charge out of the brush, but are forced back by a hail of bullets.
"Flamethrowers!" the battalion commander calls out.
During the planning for the ground campaign, the Americans realized that, given the geography in Beleriand and common tactics used by Orcs, flamethrowers would actually be a fairly effective weapon. For that reason, an updated version of the M132 Armored Flamethrower was put into production, and a new infantry flamethrower was designed for soldiers to use. There was at least one flamethrower assigned per every company of troops. This new flamethrower, the M11A, was an improved version of the old M2 flamethrower, with an extended burn time of 11 seconds. Each army and Marine division had at least a few M132s assigned as well.
Three men hurry forward with their flamethrowers, aim them at the stretch of brush that the Orcs had just retreated into, and pull the triggers, each of them firing their flamethrowers for about 2.5 seconds. The streams of flame quickly ignite the brush and some of the trees, and the Americans are rewarded with the screams of over a hundred Orcs as they start to burn alive. A fierce wing already blowing through the forest fans the flames, which slowly begin to spread, engulfing more Orcs.
Across an area of forest only about the size of a large airport, the surviving Orc army is starting to panic. There's only about 2,500 Orcs left, and they are completely surrounded, with multiple small fires surrounding them and slowly growing. The last surviving leading Orc orders the few surviving Orcs to form up into one formation and launch a charge to break through the 40th's lines.
However, unknown to them, a Global Hawk is monitoring the Orc army and relaying their situation in real time back to Fingolfin Air Force Base. Now, with that information relayed from the base to pilots in the air, a B-52 is bearing down on the Orcs.
The B-52 descends to just 6,000 feet and opens its bomb bay. The pilot holds the massive bomber as it heads straight for the Orc army. Finally, as the bombardier sees the Orcs begin to appear his bombsight, he flips the switches to begin dropping the payload.
In the space of about 30 seconds, the B-52 drops its entire payload of eighty 500 pound bombs. The bombs rain down on the Orc army, tearing through the Orcs with the explosions and shrapnel, killing all but a handful of Orcs.
As the smoke and flames from the bomb hits begin to fade, a full brigade from the 40th charges towards the Orcs' reported positions. The troops make their way past the bomb craters and burning trees, gunning down any Orc that crosses their path.
Finally, the only Orc left alive is the final commanding Orc, badly wounded by a nearby bomb explosion. As the Orc struggles to get up, he suddenly feels a boot on his chest. Looking up, he sees a young 19 year old private standing above him with his right foot planted on the Orc's chest, and his pistol aimed right at the Orc's face. The last thing the Orc sees is the barrel of the pistol before the private pulls the trigger, sending a round right through the Orc's right eye and killing it instantly.
With that shot, the Battle of Nen Lalaith, the first large scale battle between Morgoth's forces and the US Army comes to an end. The 2 day battle has been the biggest upset Morgoth has ever faced. Of his original army of just over 200,000 Orcs and other dark creatures, only about 9,000 Orcs managed to escape the battlefield during the course of the battlefield. Those that didn't escape were all slaughtered. On the other hand, the US suffered minimal casualties, with only 152 dead, 73 wounded, and just 4 vehicles destroyed.
Although the campaign has only just begun, the troops of the VI Corps briefly celebrate their victory over the forces of Morgoth. They have absolutely smashed the enemy they faced, with very few casualties. If that's an omen for the future, then this will be a very satisfying victory when they beat Morgoth for good.
And that's it for this chapter.
I hoped you liked this chapter and how I chose to write the narrative of the battle. Not all battles will be so lopsided in the favor of the Americans, but a number will be similar smashing victories.
I'll try to avoid going so long between updates, but with school and wedding planning, I'm making no guarantees. Until the next chapter is up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!