Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 37- Victory Amidst Chaos
(July 8, 2021)
A series of explosions rock the ground as dozens of tank and artillery shells impact the Orcs facing the Canadians, killing well over a hundred. At the same time, several troops armed with American built flamethrowers add flames from their weapons, incinerating several dozen Orcs.
The battle for the fate of Nevrast has been raging for over 36 hours. The forward lines had managed to hold their lines for almost 16 hours before several dragons, though none of them winged, attacked the front lines. The Canadians lost hundreds of troops and a third of their tanks. With this level of loss, the Canadians at the front lines were pulled back to the main line. The main line had dug in even deeper, and were now trying their best to hold against repeated Orc attacks after almost two days of fighting. Several more dragons had attacked the Canadians, killing many more troops and destroying several more tanks. The Canadians are still fighting with everything they have , but General Boivin is getting very concerned. By his best estimates, the troops have somewhere between 20 to 30 hours before they are overrun unless Morgoth pulls out some other trick.
Boivin has been in near constant communication General Abrams, continuously updating him on the progress of the battle. However, so far, Abrams has not promised when reinforcements are coming, only that they are coming. However, Boivin is very concerned that things are going to go downhill for his troops very soon.
Out on the frontlines, Captain Bergeron is switching out the magazine in his assault rifle. Yards from him, one of the division's remaining Leopard 2 tanks fires its main gun, killing almost a dozen Orcs.
Bergeron pops his head out of the trench, only to duck back down as a hail of arrows comes flying at the trench. One soldier can't react in time and takes an arrow to the eye, dying immediately.
Bergeron curses under his breath before popping his head out of the trench. He then pokes his head above the rim of the trench, only to see two Orcs that has gotten past the hail of fire from the Canadian troops and jumps into the trench.
The Orcs turn to face Bergeron, swords drawn. However, Bergeron sees an empty ammunition box to his left. Bergeron immediately grabs the box and throws it into the face of one of the Orcs, gunning the Orc down in the confusion.
The other Orc charges Bergeron. However, Bergeron raises his weapon, blocking the sword strike. Bergeron gabs the Orc's hand and twist the sword out of its hand before tackling the Orc to the ground. Bergeron pins the Orc to the ground and throws several punches, hitting the Orc in the face several times and breaking its nose before drawing his combat knife and driving the knife into the Orc's throat.
Bergeron, shaking a bit from the adrenaline, quickly gets off of the dead Orc and reclaims his fallen assault rifle. Bergeron quickly inspects the rifle for damage, and sees no damage that will impact it's ability to operate. Bergeron quickly returns to his previous fighting position. He sees two more Orcs charging at the trench. Bergeron fires his assault rifle, killing both of them.
Right then, one of his sergeants rushs up to Bergeron. "Captain! I just got a message over the radio. Artillery is running out of ammunition and we're having trouble getting restocks up. We might lose artillery for a brief time pretty soon!"
A stream of curse words erupts from Bergeron's mouth as he hears this. If they lose artillery, it's gonna make it far more difficult to hold off the Orcs. If that happens, it's likely that the fighting is going to move to close quarters combat in the trenches.
After a moment, Bergeron says, "We can't slow up. Tell the troops that no matter what happens with the artillery, they fight like they are now!"
The sergeant nods. Then, as they peak their heads out of the trenches, without warning, a massive explosion erupts amidst a phalanx of Orcs, killing most of them. In the next two second, eight more explosions erupt amidst the Orcs, killing dozens.
Bergeron and the sergeant are confused. These explosions are far more than anything their artillery is capable of. And they hadn't heard any aircraft. A check of the sky confirms there are no aircraft in the sky.
Then, Bergeron gets a thought. He actually climbs out of the trench, then turns towards the sea and holds up his binoculars. Immediately, he sees a cluster of warships resting just offshore. And right in their midst is the battleship Wisconsin, smoke still hanging off its side in front of its main guns.
"The American Navy is here! And they brought their battleship!" Bergeron shouts. Cheers begin to ripple through the Canadian lines as this news passes from soldier and soldier.
On board the Wisconsin, the entire crew is at battlestations, working harder than they ever have since the ship was recommissioned. In the main gun turrets, young crewmen are racing to get the guns reloaded as fast as they can. In the turrets, the young sailors ram the new shells into the guns before clearing the loading ramp and letting the first three bags of powder be rolled into place. After ramming these first three bags into the guns, they repeat the process with a second trio of bags. At each gun, a sailor attaches a primer to the final powder bag. Sailors pull back the loading ramps before the breaches are closed. As each gun communicates that it's ready to fire, the controllers in the gun plot retrain the guns. As all 9 guns are declared ready, the gunners pull the triggers, and all 9 of the Wisconsin's 16 inch guns fire. In seconds, the 9 high explosive 1,900 pound shells impact in the midst of the Orcs, killing well over a hundred Orcs. At the same time, the Wisconsin and her escorts of cruisers and destroyers are also firing their 5 inch guns.
As the shells from the warships are pounding Morgoth's army, the Canadians realize the incredible advantage the arrival of the warships and their firepower has given them.
In his trench, Captain Bergeron grins as he watches the explosions from the naval shells hitting amidst the Orcs. "We need to take advantage of this! Hit 'em with everything we've got!" Bergeron orders.
The Canadians open up with everything they've got. Every weapon they have left opens up on the Orcs, cutting down hundreds and facing the Orcs to double back a bit.
Even as the Wisconsin and her escorts are continuing their bombardment of targets ashore and the Canadians increase the firepower they're putting out, the next wave of reinforcements have arrived. Late the previous day, Allied forces that had gathered in southern Utah had moved through the portal into Nevrast. The 63rd Infantry Division, had headed east to reinforce the Dutch troops protecting the east of Nevrast. Meanwhile, as the 10th Armored Division was about to begin moving north to reinforce the Canadians, advance units from America's allies have already headed north. In the lead were the British and Ukrainian troops, many of them moving north in light vehicles.
The battle for Nevrast is turning back in the Allies favor.
(Hours later)
As the sun is beginning to set over Nevrast, the combat has not slowed down, nor has the movement of the reinforcements to the front lines. The 10th Armored Division has almost reached the 2nd Canadian Division to reinforce them. However, more Allied troops are still arriving to reinforce the Canadians.
Just south-west of the battle site, a squad of Ukrainian troops is heading towards the site of the battle as fast as they can go over the uneven ground. Given the scarcity of vehicles for Allied troops, the US government had requisitioned a large number of commercial and civilian vehicles to transporting troops. For that reason, this squad of Ukrainians is moving to the battle site in a pair of Ford F-150 pickup trucks donated by a Ford car dealership.
The two drivers are completely focused on the task of driving, the F-150s moving at over 50 miles per hour over the uneven ground, the drivers trying to avoid damaging the trucks too much. The rest of the Ukrainian troops, sitting in the cab or in the bed of the truck, are gripping their assault rifles tightly, ready to leap out and jump into the fight as soon as they reach the battlefield.
The Ukrainians are quickly in the middle of the Canadian lines. The drivers continue driving until they reach the front lines, at which point they slam on the brakes. The trucks skid to a stop, and as soon as they stop, the troops leap out of the trucks, racing towards a shallow trench with Canadian troops crouched in it as the two Ukrainians driving the F-150s gun the engines and speed away from the battle to go pick up more troops.
The Ukrainian troops leap down into the trench, and one of them, a Lieutenant who speaks English, says to the Canadian officer in the trench, "Lieutenant Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian Ground Forces."
"Good to have you hear, Shevchenko. Orders are simple. Shoot anything out there that's not human," the Canadian lieutenant says.
Shevchenko grins. "My favorite kind of order: nice and simple," he says before he and his men settle into the trench and fire their assault rifles at the approaching Orcs.
The Ukrainians are not the only reinforcements the Canadians have received. Over 5,000 British, Ukrainian, and Czech troops have arrived at the front lines since reinforcements first started arriving.
As the Canadians and their reinforcements are firing at everything in range of the trenches, and the warships off the coast continue their bombardment, the leading elements of the 10th Armored Division is now just 2 miles from the front lines.
The 10th Armored Division was the only armored division reactivated since the start of the war not to be deployed to Arda. The 10th was taking the 1st Armored Division's place as the Army's primary armored force to be deployed on Earth. For that reason, unlike some of the other armored divisions which were equipped with older model M1s, the 10th Armored was equipped with all modern M1A2 Abrams models. The division is comprised of 30,000 men and almost 400 tanks.
In one of the leading tanks of the 10th Armored, Captain Alfonso Diaz, is standing with his head out of the turret, watching as the battle comes into view. Prior to the war, Diaz had been a lieutenant in the 1st Armored Division. He had been transferred to the 10th Armored after its reactivation in order to make sure the 10th Armored had experienced officers in their ranks to help train the new recruits to the division.
Diaz drops down into the tanks as they get within a mile of the front lines. "Alright, boys, ready up. About time for fighting!" he says with a grin.
The 100 tanks of Diaz' brigade form into a formation designed to carry them through the Canadian lines to avoid running over any troops. Diaz' brigade will be leading the charge.
Diaz' tank quickly reaches the front lines. The tanks of the brigade move through the lines of the 2nd Canadian Division and their NATO reinforcements. As the Canadians see the tanks of the 10th moving through their ranks, their artillery ceases fire.
Finally, all 100 tanks of Diaz' brigade are on the other side of the Canadian lines. Forming into a rolling wedge, the tanks rev their engines and head straight for Morgoth's army. At the same moment, at sea, the warships see the charging tanks and shift their fire miles to the north to avoid any fratricide. By now, the Wisconsin has fired about half of the ordnance in her magazines. However, in order to give the 10th the best chance at a break through, Captain Gerosa orders the gun crews to speed things up. The Wisconsin speeds up her rate of fire, each gun firing every 25 seconds.
As the Wisconsin's firing increased, the tanks of the brigade open fire, sending HEAT rounds into the Orcs as they crash through the enemy lines. At the same time, the remaining tanks of the 10th are moving through the Canadian lines and forming up to begin the charge.
The arrival of the 10th Armored Division proves to be a huge relief to the Canadians. With the hundreds of tanks and 30,000 fresh troops, the battle has turned massively in the Allies favor.
(Midnight)
Deep within Nevrast's territory, in his headquarters, Brigadier General Boivin is all but slumped over the conference table. The last few days have been the most stressful of his life, but at last, the stress is easing.
The battle for Nevrast is all but over. The arrival of the 10th Armored Division and NATO reinforcements and the US warships had proved to be the turning point they needed.
By now, the 10th Armored division, supported by the British troops that had reinforced the Canadians, had fully relieved the Canadian troops and were pushing the Orcs back towards Hithlum. The Wisconsin had received a replenishment to her magazines at sea and was continuing up the Firth, continuing to bombard the Orcs as they fled from the 10th Armored. Wisconsin had by now fired over 1,200 rounds her main guns, and still had a few hundred rounds left.
Although the battle had been won, it had been tough on Boivin's men. Of the 15,000 troops at the start of the battle, 4,619 were dead, 201 missing, and another 2,032 were wounded. Almost half of the division in total.
However, despite the casualties the division had sustained, Boivin could not be more proud of his men. The 2nd Canadian Division had exhibited some of the greatest acts of bravery and fiercest fighting of the war. Their resistance had saved Nevrast and left hope for the Allied war effort. Already 3 men had been nominated for the Victoria Cross, and it was expected many more would come in.
Although the battle had been one, the Allies are still not out of the woods yet. The winged dragons are still causing chaos across Beleriand, and with more of Morgoth's armies pouring forth from Angband, it won't be much longer before the dragons launch their final assault in conjunction with the armies of Morgoth on the ground to finally finish off the Allies.
The war is far from over.
And, I'll end the chapter there.
I hope you liked this chapter. Next one will be up in the next few days. Until it is up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!
