Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Quick note. Part of this chapter will show units from the 2nd NATO Army, and I'll write their speaking in their language, with English translations in parentheses.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 32- Hold the Line
(November 28, 2020)
As dusk is beginning to set in over the plains of Anfauglith, the sounds of combat continue unabated. As it has for the last 5 months, combat continues to rage in Anfauglith.
The Battle of Anfauglith, also now known by the nickname of "Mother of All Battles", has slightly slowed down from its original intensity. After the first two months, in which the Allies captured above 18 percent of Anfauglith's land, General Abrams realized that the strategy of trying to press on towards Thangorodrim was not the most effective one and was costing more casualties. In late August, General Abrams ordered simply that all Allied forces were simply to dig in and hold what territory they had already captured and just let Morgoth's forces break against their defenses. The Allies had already sustained over 90,000 casualties in this battle, although most of them occurred during the month of July. With these casualties, the Allied casualty total for the war lay at about 170,000 dead and over 70,000 wounded, not including casualties sustained by the Free Peoples.
The battle has slowed down recently. Morgoth, realizing how much the Allies had dug themselves in, had changed tactics to ordering bigger, mass attacks instead of constant, general attacks. The tactic had not really worked, as it gave the Allies plenty of time to prepare for said attacks, but Morgoth so far refused to abandon the strategy.
In southern Anfauglith, just north of Dorthonion, the US Marines and the 2nd NATO Army are holding the line against Morgoth's army. Morgoth had tried to concentrate attacks in the south, thinking this was the weakest part of the Allied lines. However, the Marines and NATO troops had held out even better than expected. With the Allied armies now dug in firmly, the Marines are holding the western half of the Allied lines, with the 2nd NATO Army holding the eastern flank.
Amidst the Marine forces, the 1st Marine Division is currently struggling against a major attack by Morgoth's forces, including several dragons.
In the trenches dug deep into the desert plain, Sergeant Stan Freeman is keeping an extremely low profile in his trench. Given the terrain of Anfauglith, he's now wearing desert camouflage instead of normal camouflage.
Freeman turns his head to the side, seeing his company commander, Captain Jack Rigby, firing his carbine at Orcs moving towards the front lines.
"When are those Elves coming?!" Freeman shouts over the sounds of combat. A force of Sindar Elves, 5,000 strong, had been called up to reinforce the 1st Marine Division against this attack, but had not yet arrived.
"Command just sent out a message! Said they're a few minutes out!" Rigby shouts back.
Freeman nods, then ducks as an artillery shell lands far too short of its intended target, sending dust and rock scattering over the trench. Freeman has to pull out his canteen and wash dust out of his eyes before he pops back up to keep firing.
A phalanx of Orcs, with several wolves charging in front of them, charges at Freeman's trench. Freeman fires his carbine, killing an Orc, but the rest keep charging. Thankfully, right then, several Marines finish setting up a M240 machine gun, and they start firing. The wolves and several dozen Orcs are killed by bursts of machine gun bullets. The surviving Orcs turn tail and vanish.
However, the Orcs are back quickly, with even more in their ranks. As the Marines manning the machine gun are feeding a new ammunition belt into the weapon, several Orcs are cut down, all by arrows.
Freeman hears cheering behind him, and swivels his head to see Sindar Elves charging forward towards the forward trenches. Many position themselves in front of the trenches, keeping any Orcs away from the trenches.
A few Elves leap down into Freeman's trench. One of the Elves turns to Captain Rigby and says, in English, "Greetings, captain."
"Thanks for you showing up," Rigby says in a joking manner, which makes the Elf smile in return.
"We are here to help you. We will go wherever you need us to," the Elf says.
"Good. Keep your people right where they are now, and just keep the Orcs aware from our trenches so we can lay down fire," Rigby says. The Elf simply nods before shouting out orders in Sindarin.
As the Marines and Elves are starting to adjust to the Elves' arrival on the battlefield and working together, all of them suddenly feel something. A shift in the air. Then, they can hear thudding footsteps, and are soon able to see a light amidst the smoke covering Morgoth's lines. Then, to the horror of everyone, a Balrog looms out of the smoke, whip of flame and black flaming sword in its hands, bellowing in anger at the enemies before it.
"BALROG!" come the shouts of hundreds of Marines across the front. Within seconds, the Marines turn every single gun they have towards the Balrog and unload on the approaching demon.
The Balrog shrugs off every bullet fired at it as it roars in rage and anger, brandishing its weapons. It stalks towards the Marines, bellowing at every step.
The Elf that had spoken to Captain Rigby turns to him again. "We will fight it!" he says firmly.
"You can't do that! That's suicide!" Rigby protests.
"I have many great warriors under my command. If we combine our power, we can kill the demon," the Elf insists. He then leaps out of the trench and shouts, "Warriors, with me!" He draws his sword and charges at the Balrog. More Sindar Elves charge after him brandishing their weapons.
"Cease fire!" Rigby and other officers shout, and the Marines stop firing their weapons, allowing the Sindar to charge the Balrog in safety.
That is, until they reach the Balrog. The Balrog lunges into the battle, slashing with its sword and cleaving three Sindar warriors apart.
The other Sindar attack the Balrog with the greatest strength they can muster. Their brilliant swords gleam in the fading light as the Sindar press their attack on the Balrog. However, it quickly becomes clear that these Sindar, despite their great strength, are not strong enough to take on the Balrog on their own.
Captain Rigby grabs his radio and all but screams into it, "This is Captain Rigby! We need all aircraft and tanks in the vicinity to our position immediately! We have a Balrog on scene!"
"Copy that! Routing all possible assets in your direction," a controller responds over the radio.
As they wait for reinforcements, all the Marines can do is watch as the Sindar are fighting the Balrog. The fight is quickly turning against the Elves, and the Marines can hardly fire at the Balrog for fear of hitting the Elves.
Within just a few minutes, most of the Sindar Elves are lying dead around the Balrog. Only the captain of the Elves and two of his greatest warriors are still alive. All three are wounded, but are continuing to fight on.
As the Marines watch, the three surviving Elves do their best to try and bring down the Balrog. As they watch, one of them manages to drive its sword into the belly of the Balrog as another cuts the Balrog's right leg. However, the Balrog simply roars in anger, only slightly wounded and lashes out. It quickly kills the Elf who cut its leg, then another by wrapping it in its whip and increases the power of the flames, burning it alive.
Only the captain of the Elves is still alive. Despite all of his comrades lying dead around him and bearing a small wound himself, the Elf continues to attack the Balrog. He blocks a series of fierce slashes from the Balrog, managing to land a hit on the Balrog's arm, slightly wounding the Balrog. However, the Balrog finally manages to get the Elf off his balance by lashing its whip towards his feet, hitting his left feet and causes the Elf to stumble slightly from the lash and the heat. Before the Elf can recover himself, the Balrog cleaves open the Elf's head with its black sword.
The Marines feel their hearts fill with dread as the Balrog roars in victory, having killed almost two dozen Elves almost without taking a scratch. That dread only increases when the Balrog turns its attention on the Marines. The Balrog steps forward and attacks the forward most trench. The Balrog slashes its sword down, killing all six Marines in the trench in seconds. The Balrog begins rampaging through the forward trenches, killing more and more Marines.
Then, out of nowhere, several missiles slam into the Balrog and explode, knocking it to the ground. Then, an A-10 streaks a few hundred feet overhead, having fired the Mavericks that hit the Balrog. Then, two AH-64 Apaches fly in and unload their entire payload of rockets onto the downed Balrog while also firing their cannons.
As the Apaches stop firing, the Balrog, though still lying on its back, lashes its whip out. The whip catches tail of one of the Apaches, taking it off. The Apache spins down and crashes seconds later.
Behind the Marine lines, some of the Marines hear a rumbling. Looking behind them, they see two dozen M1 tanks moving towards the Balrog, having come from all parts of the division's lines. The lead tank levels its main gun at the Balrog and fires as the Balrog tries to get to its feet. The HEAT round hits a second later, slightly wounding the Balrog and knocking it down again.
The battalion commander shouts over the radio, "Pound that motherf*****! Light it up!"
All of the tanks open fire with HEAT and sabot rounds, and artillery pieces in range fire as well. At the same time, two more A-10s arrive on the scene and dive to the attack. The A-10s each fire 4 Mavericks before pulling up, then looping around and strafing with their 30mm cannons.
Artillery and tanks rounds, missiles, and machine gun and cannon rounds tear into the Balrog. The Balrog is quickly enveloped in smoke, but the Marines and the aircraft that have arrived on the scene continue pounding the Balrog with everything they have. The Balrog keeps trying to get to its feet, only to be knocked down by another missile or artillery shell. Eventually, its growing wounds keep it from getting up again as the Marines keep pounding it with every weapon they have.
For almost 3 straight minutes, the Marines pour fire from every weapon they have. After the tanks have expended their full load of ammunition for their main guns, they move closer and just fire their machine guns. By now, there's a dozen aircraft in the area, attacking the Balrog repeatedly.
Finally, over 3 minutes after the first A-10 hit the Balrog with Mavericks, the battalion commander calls for a ceasefire. Everyone stops firing and just waits for the smoke to clear, but still keeping weapons trained on the spot. Even the Orcs facing the Marines have stopped in place, somewhat surprised at the level of firepower the Marines just brought to bear against the Balrog.
Finally, the smoke clears, revealing the Balrog lying on the ground. The Balrog's fires have died out, and the broken and shattered body of the Balrog lies where it fell, battered by the hits. The Balrog had taken over 60 hits from the tanks, 25 hits from artillery pieces, 27 hits from air to ground missiles and bombs, and over a thousand machine gun bullets and cannon rounds. Despite its great power, even a Balrog couldn't take that much punishment.
The Marines begin to cheer louder than they ever have, elated with their victory. Despite the losses they just took, they had successfully killed a Balrog, one of the most powerful of Morgoth's servants. Only one other Balrog had ever been killed by American forces, with it taking almost the entire 4th Infantry Division during the Battle of Hithlum.
On the other side, the Orcs flee from the Marines, terrified at seeing a Balrog having been killed. For a brief time, it will relieve the pressure on the division, allowing them to reinforce their lines before the attack resumes. This is a huge victory, and the Marines know it.
(November 29)
Far to the east of the 1st Marine Division, the 2nd NATO Army is holding its positions against fierce attacks by Morgoth's armies. It's been a day since the Marines killed one of Morgoth's Balrogs, and Morgoth has seemed to shift more of his efforts towards the NATO troops.
Holding the eastern flank of the NATO lines are the forces of the Polish Army, including the 11th Armored Cavalry Division and 9th Armored Cavalry Brigade, numbering 19,000 soldiers and about 220 Leopard 2, T-72, and PT-91 tanks. The Poles have dug in their forces as deep as possible and have been holding their positions against fierce enemy attacks.
Near the eastern part of the Polish lines, a young Polish lieutenant, Tomasz Mika, is looking through his commanders sight in his T-72 tank. He's one of the tank commanders of the 34th Armored Cavalry Brigade of the 11th Division. His tank, along with the other T-72s of the 34th Brigade, are all dug into holes dug in the desert ground. Almost the entire tank is hidden from the enemy, but with the main gun free to move to target enemies.
At the moment, Morgoth's forces are somewhat quiet while massing for a major attack. The Poles have used this brief pause to get the tanks and other armored vehicles of the division restocked with ammunition, as well as the artillery behind the lines.
"Czy wróg nadal utrzymuje swoje pozycje, poruczniku?" his gunner asks. (Is the enemy still holding their positions, Lieutenant?)
"TAk. Nie ma jeszcze śladu ruchu," Lieutenant Mika responds. (Yes. No sign of movement yet.)
Almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth, Mika sees movement through his sight. Focusing his attention on his scope, he sees Morgoth's army surging out of their trenches, with several dragons rushing over their lines towards the Polish lines.
"Przychodzący! Wrogowie w ruchu! Cele, bezpośredni front! Załaduj pocisk przeciwczołgowy i strzelaj!" Mika shouts (Incoming! Enemies on the move! Targets, direct front! Load anti tank round and fire!).
The gunner quickly gets a HEAT round loaded into the gun. The gunner then rotates the turret slightly before pulling the trigger, discharging the round. The round hits a troll charging at the Polish lines, killing it instantly.
The tanks quickly fire on the charging trolls and dragons, while lighter armored vehicles and artillery begin a general bombardment of the charging Orcs and wolves.
About half of the T-72s focus their fire on the charging dragons. Although their guns are not as powerful as those on the M1 or some other Allied tanks, they are still very dangerous to the dragons. One dragon is hit by a HEAT round from a T-72 and stopped in its tracks. Two more HEAT rounds hit the dragon, causing it to collapse from its wounds. A fourth 125mm round finishes off the dragon.
Mika's tank quickly reloads with another HEAT round. Mika, looking through his sight, sees a cold drake without legs slithering towards his position. Mika calls out, "Smok na łożysku 3-5-5! Jedna runda CIEPŁA!" (Dragon on bearing 3-5-5. One round HEAT!)
The gunner quickly loads a HEAT round and aims the main gun at the incoming cold drake before firing the gun. The round hits the dragon in the face right under its left eye, sending shrapnel into the eye. The dragon bellows in agony, dying in a few seconds.
Despite the dragons and trolls mostly being held off by tank and artillery fire, a number of Orcs and wolves make it through the storm of fire and charge at the Polish lines. However, the Poles have infantry protecting the approach to the tanks and artillery. As the Orcs and wolves close in, the Polish infantry open fire with rifles and machine guns, pouring fire into Morgoth's ranks. The Orcs try to press on, but are soon forced to double back.
In his tank, Lieutenant Mika smirks as he watches the Orcs and other dark creatures pull back out of range. Once more, the Poles have repulsed another attack. If they can keep this, in the following months, Morgoth will eventually exhaust his armies against the walls of the Allied defenses, leaving the path to Angband open.
And, I'll end the chapter there. Hope you liked this one.
I figured it was time to show some troops from other nations fighting. I just chose the Polish randomly from my list of other countries involved. They won't be the only country I'll highlight in this story.
Next chapter will include the start of the attack by the winged dragons. Hope you guys are excited for it. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!