Where the Young Sleep

Chapter VI

The various officers of the regiment had been gathered there. Colonel Hands Stauffenberg stood at the forefront, wearing the same camouflage fatigues as everyone else there. "Shut up." Yelled the older but very muscular man beside him. "Thank you Sergeant Major." Colonel Stauffenberg said with a soft smile. Sergeant Major Karl Gerhardt was built like a Grenadier and in truth, he was one. Not from the 5th Konigs however. It was said that he had been transferred in from the 1st Konigs Regiment 'Liebwacht', what was widely seen as the most veteran unit that had been sent out by Konigs to the Guard. "First of all, I'm sure that everyone is very busy. So thank you for making the time to come. Second of all, I am sure many of you have heard the rumours already. The rumours I'm afraid, are true. At 0300 this morning, Dants units attacked en masse, and overran several of our forward positions. The defensive positions had held out for only a few hours, until they too were overrun. As of right now, all five of the regiments in front of us are in full retreat. Schutzen companies 1 to 4 have already been committed along with the Panzer and Jager companies. The mission of those units are to hold open the passes so that the rest of the guard regiments can retreat. I'm afraid that I have very bad news. Schutzen companies 1 to 4 as well as our Panzerjager company I'm afraid, have all taken several losses already. It is estimated that there is only the combined strength of 2 companies remaining. The Panzerjagers have been wiped out effectively. It had turned out that the enemy had gotten as far as past the lines of the Novgorod regiment and ours, and almost threatened the artillery batteries and supply sections behind us. Thankfully for us, the Grenadier company was able to cut off their infantry advance, and the Panzer company was able to stop the armoured spearhead." The Colonel paused for a moment. "However as of this moment, we have been ordered to fallback. Orders will be sent out to each company commander. Specific units will have specific missions assigned. Dismissed."

Ostler and Kassel walked outside, both officers looking at each other and sighed. "Do you think Steiner will be able to handle it?" Ostler shrugged. "If he isn't able to handle it, then we may not be able to get off planet." Kassel stopped walking and looked up at the oddly coloured sky. "Has it gotten that bad?" Ostler sighed and cracked his shoulders as he stretched. "If it hasn't, do you think the Colonel would assign a mission like this personally?"

Armin was waiting with the rest of the squad at their vehicles. The vehicle was nice and toasty inside but Armin made them wait outside. Some of the Grenadiers would look towards the inside of the vehicle longingly but every time they looked at Armin, he just stared back at them questioningly. "Well you are already all here. Good, saves me the trouble. Ok, so. This mission first of all, was assigned directly by the Colonel." Ostler handed over a map to Armin who looked through it. Their position was marked on the map already but to the south west was a town that was also marked. "The primary mission is to go secure that town. The reason for this, well, that town holds a space port. It is the only way to escape if we need to. And yes, it has gotten that bad. Sergeant, the Colonel does not expect any of the Schutzen company to come back. We're estimating right now, 50 percent losses for Jager company and Panzer company. Only 50 percent because those units are both designated as elite. This needs to be done as soon as possible. We don't have enough intel at all." Armin folded up the map and placed it inside his uniform shirt and nodded. "Then we will get going." He looked at the two officers and made the sign of the aquila before smacking the side of the Taurox, the backdoor finally opening for them as the freezing Grenadiers got onboard.

"I want to make sure that you all heard that right? We're going to be securing a spaceport and hold it because there is a high chance we will be completely overrun in this battle. With not enough reinforcements coming, then it is our only move. Have an exit." The others looked at each other and looked over at him. "Sergeant, what are we securing this spaceport from?" Armin took off his helmet and sighed. "Grenadiers always seem like they are glorious elite troops. Grenadiers in reality, we do the dirty jobs. We're securing the spaceport from the civilians. If you want glory, go to the Jager company. They're the ones with the accolades and fame. Grenadiers, we're shock troops. We are the ones that carry out missions that no one else would have the guts to try." Rinder looked at him as if he had just said something in a different language. "Secure the spaceport from civilians? Sergeant that doesn't make sense." Armin looked out the window for a moment before answering. "Because if the civilians panic and start trying to launch themselves out, they'll clog the spaceport, maybe cause damages to it. If we can secure it, then that means if it has to be used by the Guard, it'll at least be intact. Plus, you never know if the Dants might send a far reaching flanking column." He sighed again and looked over at them. "Get some sleep. Make sure you all eat something. Corporal Rinder, I have first watch. I'll wake you up after for yours." The vehicle rumbled along the frozen roads, although very few of the guardsmen really slept. For one, they realised that their replacement into a Grenadier squad was actually real. They were off to conduct a separate mission while the main unit was fighting rear guard. Many of them had heard about the specialties of the Jager and Grenadier companies. The Jager company was perhaps the only element within the regiment that operated as dismounted infantry. Long range reconnaissance, and difficult terrain were their specialty. The Grenadiers seemed in many ways the exact opposite, they always had a reputation for assaulting objectives but the new replacements never imagined that the other sorts of things that they seemed to do.

Armin took out a pack from the crates and began to take off his carapace armour. A single armoured Grenadier and the rest unarmoured was rather not effective and pointless. Instead, he would don a carapace plate. He had roughly sized the rest of the squad and walked around, dropping carapace plate armour on the other members of his squad. Sewn with a ballistic fabric, the carapace chestplates offered generally less coverage than the flak armour but better protection. The fabric was formed into a plate carrier with hard armaplas and ceramite plates in the front and the sides to protect the torso. It generally offered better mobility and was the armour of choice for the Jager company and the Grenadier company's Recon platoon. In their instances as full sets of carapace armour simply wasn't available, these were the next best thing. He strapped his own chestplate on and put on his cold weather jacket over it. The soldiers who weren't really sleeping began to take off their cold weather jackets as well, following his example and strapping the chestplate over their tunics and under their jackets.

"I've only seen the Jagers with this stuff before." Rinder said enthusiastically. Armin chuckled slightly. It was very typical of the Konig regiments, the rank and file were equipped similarly to comparable Guard regiments. No gear that was overly fancy, nor overly specialised. The only equipment they used differently was the locally manufactured Vollmer pattern las carbines. The difference was in a Konig infantry squad, the two heavy stubbers were what was seen as the main firepower. The only reason the other infantrymen were around was to protect the heavy stubbers during an attack. Of course, Guardsmen seen as more elite such as Jagers, Grenadiers and the Panzer troops, they were given pretty much anything they needed or wanted. It was a logistical requirement as they each used different weapons but at the same time, it also created a barrier between the various Guardsmen in the regiment. Not many in the regiment knew much about the Jagers or the Grenadiers aside from the different gear used.

"It will give us good protection from shots to the torso but it will let us stay mobile." Armin answered. He looked back out the armoured windows to see occasional large puffs of smoke. Rinder followed his gaze and frowned slightly. "They're definitely using heavy artillery." Some of the other guardsmen all sat up to look. They were after all formerly in the artillery arm of service. There were many unspoken thoughts. Armin didn't bother voicing the same thoughts. He had been a Grenadier for too long, and he knew the history of the unit better than most. The 5th Konig Regiment had been raised as part of the initial levy of troops after the unification of the planet. The Administratum didn't care one bit if the planet fought amongst itself. The reason for the First to Tenth Konig Regiments was part of a pact, that ensured that each state was forced to supply the regiments with reinforcements and material. It also forced the different states to work together to ensure the survival of their own citizens.

Even though the crew had been in the armoured vehicle for a while now, they were still able to see the bombardment, or rather the results of it. The bombardment hadn't stopped since they left, but that was a very typical tactic by the Dants rebels. Kastirden was very much a large manufacturing planet, not quite as built up some of the other purely manufacturing planets but it was important enough that the Guard had been deployed en masse. However, no one expected that the Dants rebels would prove to be this difficult. Due to the manufacturing capabilities of the Eastern continent, any air superiority the Navy had was matched by Dants anti-aircraft fire. They may not have that many warplanes but they had more than sufficient amounts of artillery.

"Must be the ingenius tactics of Herr Lord General Militant Klausen." One of the Grenadiers muttered. Lord General Militant Vidar Klausen was the one in charge of this battle front. So far, the Lord General Militant had proven relatively inept at managing the battle. "Don't let an officer hear you say that." Armin warned him. Discipline in the Konig regiments were generally harsh, and more often than not it was heavy handed. "That could get you shot." Another soldier muttered, this time it was Kapp the marksman who was cradling his long las. Armin looked carefully to see that it was Carstens, the volleygunner who had made the first comment. He leaned his head back and rested his helmet against the inner wall of the Taurox. Vidar Klausen was a coward. He had felt it with each of the battle plans. Each movement was cautious to ensure that the line was maintained. The whole retreat wasn't necessary, if of course the coward Lord Militant would commit his own lifeguard regiment. The 61st Kuskovite Motorised Rifle Regiment had their own compliment of tanks and carried troops in infantry fighting vehicles as a well equipped mechanized infantry regiment. However, the Lord Militant was loathe to commit what he saw as his own personal regiment to the fighting, and instead had them "maintaining security" in the rear echelon.

Carstens muttered something to himself and shook his head. Armin grimaced slightly as he looked out the window. The grenadier wasn't wrong, but whatever discontent they had, Grenadier or not, they couldn't just voice it at will.

The trip lasted another two days. Thankfully, Armin had the foresight to have extra rations put into the Taurox. Not that it was unusual for Grenadiers to fight on their own without re-supply but in this war, this was the first time that they had been deployed out of the front lines separately. When he considered the fact that all these new replacements were former Panzerjagers who were used to being right beside a Schutzen HQ, he knew that the supply they had to bring with them was something that he had to get Rinder to get used to seeing.

"Rinder, over here." They had just stopped at the outskirts of the town named Alberden. It really wasn't much of a large town, only a few buildings here and there but the only large structure was the spaceport. Of course, it was only a commercial space port so from here, goods and shipments can be sent off and received to be delivered to whichever warehouse they were addressed to. It also meant that for the Guard, it was a spaceport capable of handling large quantities of military equipment.

Rinder scurried over from where he was stretching his legs, his hellgun slung around on his back in the typical fashion of an artilleryman. "Ja Sergeant?" Armin looked him over and shook his head slightly. "Ok listen carefully, this slinging your weapon on your back thing, it has to stop. Let the others know as well. Weapons slung to the front, if you suddenly need it, you need it. Second of all, go check the supplies and start handing out extra ammunition and supplies as needed. Every Grenadier should carry 3 days of supplies on them. There should be another 5 days kept in the vehicle. It's your job to ensure that everyone has enough supplies. If any shortages come up, you come see me." Rinder nodded as he began jotting down notes in a field notebook. "Armin reached up and grabbed him by his shoulder firmly. "Listen to me Rinder, we won't have the time to train you the way it is normally done. There is 8 week Corporal course nor is there the usual 15 week Grenadier training course. If you don't remember this stuff, it will cause us problems, all of us." Rinder had a serious look on his face as he nodded, the young Guardsman seeing and feeling some of the burdens of command. "This is the way it works in a Grenadier squad. You have Hansch, Paasche, and Mair. Jorg is on his own with Max, they're with the vehicle. You always have two heavy gunners. I have the rest, but I also have Kapp with the long las and Carsten with the volleygun. Your section always stays behind mine to watch the rear and also because if something happens, my section will buy you time to set up the guns. If we come under enemy fire, you get your squad to cover first and then set up the guns to return fire. Questions?" Rinder shook his head, still jotting this down. Every member of the Konig regiments had passed Infantry training. "The key to being a Grenadier, is to master every simple faucet of being a Shutzen." Rinder nodded. "Gerson will be my voxman. He stays with my section. We have squad vox if we need to. In a Grenadier squad, the Corporal is in charge of supplies and any heavy weapons in combat. I lead the squad into combat. Learn quickly kid, it will save the life of your comrades." Armin stood up as Rinder hurriedly stuffed the notepad back into his vest pocket and ran off to the others. He could already see that the young Corporal was giving out instructions and diving up the people.

"Hey Stanger and Grossmann." He walked to the back of the vehicle hatch and smacked the armoured plating a few times. "Ja ja Sergeant hold your horses." Stanger jumped out of the cabin and jogged to the back with Grossmann, who stayed at his station to keep an eye on their surroundings. "You two both are armed ja?" The two vehicle operators both nodded. "Ok, make sure you two have enough food or supply. When we go into town, if I give you the order to, you are to fall back and head back to where the regiment has retreated to, to pass them the news if we cannot that we have failed. Also, keep an eye open on petro here." The two of them both nodded, and Armin turned around as the two of them began their maintenance routine.

The replacements had already gotten what they needed from their rucksacks and brought instead their assault packs. He could see Rinder stuffing a few more hotshot chargepacks into each Guardsmen's pack, and an additional two large chargepacks for the volleyguns. He nodded approvingly as he saw that each of the troops had already slung their hellguns forward except for the volleygunners who had it slung on their shoulders for the weight. "Sergeant, we are ready." Rinder reported. Armin looked out at the town and nodded. "Ok. First Section is with me. That's Gerson, Carstens, Outmann, Kapp and Koler. Gerson, you were the artillery radioman?" Luka Gerson nodded. Armin walked up to him and turned him around before opening up his assault pack and then taking off his own. He moved the chargepacks for the volleygun into his own pack before taking out the ration bars and stuffing them into a side pouch on his body armour. Then he stuffed the vox pack in and looped the wire around, handing him the headset as well as the earphone. "If someone calls for me, let me know. Stay close to me as well." Gerson nodded frantically. "Hansch, Paasche and Mair, you're with Rinder. You're Second Section." He gave them all a gesture and began walking forward. The vehicle was going to stay here for now, he didn't know what to expect in Alberden and he didn't want a stray rocket to be the first thing to greet them.

"Kapp, keep an eye on the horizon in front of us. Let me know if you see something." Armin ordered. The squad was now advancing towards the town carefully, with Armin in the lead. The marksman nodded, bringing up the long las to his shoulder and peering through the scope. Harald Kapp was a good marksman and understood the principles of shooting quite well. After all, before he had volunteered to serve in the Guard he had spent a rather good time poaching with his brothers in Konig. He had not seen a lot of wild life in his time here so far but now that they were out of the front lines he could see evidence of animals here and there as they walked. As they got closer to the town, at first glance it looked quite orderly. The war had not come here yet after all, but as they got closer, they could see that gunfights had indeed broken out here before. "Achtung everyone." Armin said over the squad vox as they moved in. Some people looked at them from behind windows and what not but there did not seem to be as many people as they had thought. The Taurox moved in closely behind them. In this environment where the autocannon would be absolute overkill, Grossmann had armed the heavy bolter that was mounted with the autocannon and looked through the camera sighted to the bolter instead, although the unmanned turret still swerved the entire gun mount around.

When they approached city square, Armin saw that occasional shells had landed here. There were a few craters in the roads and a dozen buildings that seemed to have been hit although no one had cleaned up the mess yet. He seemed to recall that this was one of the places where the Kastirden PDF had held more firmly when the Guard landed, and was able to hold this location. None of the battle damage seemed recent. "Sergeant, starport is up ahead." Kapp reported. Armin activated the magnification of one of his lenses in his omnishield mask that was issued to members of the Grenadier company and took a look. Sure enough, the control tower could be seen off in the distance. He reset the zoom to standard and nodded. "I don't know if is any security forces there but be careful, and don't get shot by our own side." The rest of the squad nodded as they walked through the streets, being stared at by the various people who hid in buildings and stores. They moved in a single file with spaces in between each Grenadier and approached the entrance gates of the starport. Sure enough there was an armed presence there. "Looks like Kastirden PDF Sergeant." The role of marksman came rather naturally to Kapp as he had moved off the main road a bit and crouched down to peer through the optic of his long las. "And they have seen us."

Armin could just make out the various figures at the front gate who had now seemed to huddle behind sandbagged fortifications after spotting them. He raised a hand and waved at them before ordering the others to get into cover. "Stay here, I'm going to try speaking to them." He began to walk towards them although he held his hellgun up in the air, both arms waving at the PDF at the gate as he approached.

"Let me see your hands, who are you and what are you doing here!" Called out someone from the gate. "Imperial Guard" Armin yelled back. "Hey hey stop walking don't come any closer" The same voice yelled back. Armin raised an eyebrow as he stopped. What was worse than facing veteran troops was facing completely green ones. After a few moments, another voice popped up. "Ok walk slowly and don't make any suspicious moves." Armin raised an eyebrow again and walked towards them. As he got closer, he could see that there was a huddle of PDF soldiers, dressed in the new PDF uniforms that had come out. Because of the traitor Dants still wearing the PDF brown, the Governor had sent out orders for a new uniform colour to be worn. It was a dark olive colour that they wore, although they did stick out rather in the white of the snow and ice all around them. He walked closer and saw that they were indeed young, a lot of them quite nervous. "Ok stop there and tell me who you are." He was about 10 meters from the gate at this point. The PDF member who had called out to him looked young as well, about 19 and with Sergeants stripes on his uniform. "I'm Sergeant Stein, 5th Konigs Regiment." The PDF Sergeant quickly stood up and walked up to him and said the words that made the veteran Grenadier Sergeant quite nervous. "Oh thank god, you're finally here."