Courage under fire
The story of the famous Ferdelance Brigade of the Osean Army
"The price of freedom:
Your every drop of courage,
Ounce of pain, pint of blood,
Paid in advance"
Moment of truthEverybody turned to the radio and listened, hoping to catch a bit of good news.
"Movement! We got movement in the ridgeline! The belkans are making a push! Armored vehicles are going south…"
Well, so much for hearing good news.
Lance went back to the map. According to it there was large gaping hole in there lines, about 5 to 8 km apart, ten at the max. And now the belkans are trying to drive the wedge even further.
"Where is the 4th armored now?"
"We formed a line on the edge of the salient. We have dug-in but we are not sure if we can hold them off. We have sustained too many casualties.
"Take me to the line" he ordered.
Dan led him to four parked M1s, and 2 officers standing in attention.. One saw the pair moving towards them and saluted, then the other followed. After he returned one of them asked him.
"Are you our new commander?"
"Yes" he answered simply.
"Then we are your officers."
The crew introduced themselves; Neil was the commander of the 2nd tank battalion and Mac of the 3rd.
They preferred being called by their nicknames in the heat of battle, for ease of communicating.
They boarded their vehicles and the tanks went to the front line. On the way over he saw the same scene when he first went here aboard the humvee. Dan used the time to explain the situation further.
After the prolonged defense of the city of Rutherford the commander of the Osean 3rd army retreated and were since chased by the Belkan panzer army. They stopped here and were told to establish a defensive line and halt the Belkan advance until reinforcements arrive. But it doesn't look good, the 4th Osean armored brigade had already sustained heavy losses and were exhausted.
Yesterday the Belkan forces crashed against their line and broke through the center. In the confusion the 4th armored got separated and was now on the left side of the salient that the Belkans had created.
He contemplated the situation till they reached the line.
The armored brigade was holding the right flank of the salient, a Yuke Division holding the center and the other various units. They were cut off from their mother unit like many others, divided by land the belkans had occupied.
The 4th Osean armored brigade is composed of 3 tank battalions, a scout element, and an air defense troop. They were organized for the purpose of providing an armored spearhead for the main force behind them. With the succeeding battles they were now reduced to a defensive force, not even that much.
The tanks were placed roughly meters apart and were dug in and camouflaged.
He used the vehicle intercom to broadcast a message to his new command.
"This is Colonel Lance and I'm taking command as of today. I don't know you and you don't know me but we will forget about that for now because the enemy is out there and is planning to attack. Just trust me and we will get through this."
"Sir yes sir!" came the halfhearted replies.
Now they waited.
It wasn't long, because the enemy was right in front of them. The sound of the enemy's engines could be heard and everybody started to get tense.
One by one the long bodies of the Belkan SDKFZ. 234 "Puma" appeared on the defending tanks line of sight.
He waited till they got close then uttered the first word of his new command
"FIRE!"
The HEAT rounds tore apart the recon tracks with devastating effect, especially the ones that took more than one hit.
The second volley further reduced the recon force to two vehicles, and they quickly retreated under the cover of smoke and desperate and inaccurate fire from their 50 mm cannons, which only dented the tough armor of the M1 battle tank even if it hit.
Cheering could be heard through the intercom, but it didn't last long. Multiple booms in the distance and a keen whistle signified one thing. Artillery.
Shells landed all around them, plinking shrapnel against their armor and blasting dirt up like fountains. Through the confines of each of the tanks the crews dreaded the myriad sounds that the 150-mm shells were creating. The shelling steadily increased and tanks started to take hits.
One hit a turret right-on, punching through the weaker top armor and instantly killing the crew. Another one hit an engine compartment and started a fire. The crew could do nothing, not even get out lest be slaughtered under the incessant barrage.
Half his tanks were damaged now, and Lance had to do something. His men were dying. Their cries he could hear through the intercom system.
"Move forward!" He shouted over the deafening racket.
"What?! Are you crazy?! We'll die out there!" Neil replied without the slightest inkling of what the hell his new superior was thinking.
"We're dying right here now MOVE!"
His command tank lurched forward under the steel rain.
"Is he crazy?!" Neil asked again.
"We're crazy enough not to follow him under this shitstorm! Now lets go!" Mac shouted.
The three battalion commanders relayed the insane order to their troops but it wasn't needed. The tank crews' heared the debate through their radios and seeing their courageous-or suicidal- new commander, they were convinced enough.
The M1s fired up their gas turbine engines and dashed out of the kill zones the artillery barrage created. Soon the artillery fire died down, the majority of the shells falling behind them. Now the next question was how far they were moving forward.
The Belkan commander scanned the area with his binoculars. To the west he could see smoke and dust plumes, the effects of suppression fire his recon screen called in after meeting the enemies defense line. He was tasked of keeping the gap they opened open, and one of the things given to him was a full mobile artillery battery, aside from the light mechanized battalion he was commanding now.
He saw another dust cloud, one much closer. He realized that the cloud was close enough that the binocs were not helping him and he looked with his naked eye and saw an ever-nearing wall of dust.
Suddenly the base of the cloud exploded with the sound of thunder. All around him vehicles erupted into massive fireballs and men dove for cover, seeking shelter from the unexpected attack.
He looked at where the fire came from and saw a row of Osean M1s. Before a question could form in his mind the enemy launched another volley and a new set of vehicles exploded. He ran to his own tank, a command Leopard 1, and quickly asked for cover fire.
"They're here! Switch fire to our position now!"
The battery of self-propelled cannons, "Hummels" quickly adjusted their 150 mm to answer the call of their comrade.
The Osean battalions quickly found themselves in a turkey shoot; they found a Belkan force totally by surprise (they were also surprised).
Some of the were beginning to shoot back, and some were doing the smarter of move of running away. Lance spotted one of the Leopard tanks and relayed its position to his gunner.
"Fire!" A HEAT round zoomed away from his tank and buried itself at the enemy tank, the command tank for that matter, seeing the 4 antennas after the shell did its job of reducing it into smoldering mass of metal.
150 mm shells started falling around them again, and deciding not to endure that hell again, kept going forward and chased the fleeing enemy.
They chased the Belkans for a good distance, all the while a dribble of artillery fire falling around them as the battery struggled to keep up with their moving prey. They traded fire on the move, the Osean battalions chasing the belkans westward like a pack of dogs pursuing a mailman's behind.
Some enemy vehicles exploded in front of Lance for no obvious reason. None of his tanks fired any shots. Then the Belkans hesitated, as if not knowing whether to move forward or back. He was puzzled by this but insisted to keep moving forward. They pushed past the burning hulks and swung the turret to look around.
Suddenly his tank stopped. All of his tanks stopped. He swung the turret back and when he got there he looked down the 150 mm barrel of an M1 Main Battle tank.