Courage under fire
The story of the famous Ferdelance Brigade of the Osean Army
"Great things are done more through
Courage than through wisdom"
Not a step backMissile-laden AH-64 D Longbow Apaches raced to the shifting lines. To whomever they were tasked to annihilate, they shall receive no mercy for it doesn't come on the tips of its 8 Hellfire AT missiles nor its 38 Hydra rockets, not even from the 1200 rounds of armor-piercing bullets it carries.
They approached the confronting forces. The weapons operators primed their arsenals and rested their itchy fingers on the triggers. In the running tank fight they chose their targets.
With a press of a button the Apaches released a barrage of unguided rockets and targeted gunfire from its 30-mm chain gun. It was the last thing a lot of people saw, a magnificent and lethal display of destruction.
Lance and all the allied forces were the lucky ones, being able to appreciate the deadly fireworks show since they were not on the receiving end of the barrage. His intercom came alive with the voice of their savior.
"This is Super-six-one to the 4th armored brigade! We got your backs!"
Everywhere else Apache fire teams provided the ground forces in flight with a curtain of tank-busting firepower.
The attack chopper squadron then let loosed their aptly-named Hellfire missiles, and Lance saw first hand its metal-melting force as the nearest Belkan tanks chasing him evaporated into thick black smoke.
Lance switched back the radio frequency. "This is the 4th armored brigade commander, call sign King Cobra, HQ, next time advice if inbound are hostile or friendly!" He practically shouted.
A fresh salvo of SSMs landed on their position, damaging the withdrawing Osean brigade.
"4th armored brigade, you are under fire from surface-to-surface missiles."
"Thanks for the heads up command!" he said sarcastically.
They continued their retreat, one that was the least bit organized. The 24th mechanized division was being separated to the left. The center forces, the 4th armored and the Yuke 31st tank were being driven back faster than the others, and the Mountain Home infantry were holding their ground but are slowly being overrun.
General Talbot was having a hard time organizing them back, and Lance could extract that much from the frantic exchange happening through the intercom. The Super-six Apache squadron helped a little bit, keeping up their suppression fire, allowing some of them to expedite their retreat.
What concerned him was that of their Yuke ally, the 31st tank brigade on his immediate left, their commanders voice dominating the intercom.
"We are being overrun! We're taking heavy losses! HQ please advise!" Lance could do nothing, concerned more to help a co-tanker in need than from the threat to his left flank.
He felt powerless, unable to do anything, or can he?
The General's sweat dropped on the map. The situation was deteriorating. If he couldn't reorganize his forces they could be facing a hell of a rout. The circumstances are forcing his hand and making his decisions for him.
"Sir, look!" One of his aides interrupted his thinking.
"Elements of the 4th armored are breaking off and heading east."
"What the!" Who said this wasn't Talbot but his second in command, a Colonel Clark.
In the map some of the blue dots labeled 4th B can clearly be seen making a 90-degree turn and heading to the west. The Colonel snatched the STU from the communications officer.
"4th armored brigade, what are you doing!"
What followed the brigade commander's response was a heated exchange before the enigmatic field officer cut the communication line.
"Put him back through!"
"We cant sir, he's ignoring us." The comm. officer said.
He turned to the General. "Sir he is refusing a direct Order! I want him relieved of command and a court martial--" The General silenced him with his hand. He studied the map again, and took the STU from the comm. officer.
Dmitri fired another shot. His brigade, the Yuktobanian 31st tank was racing backwards with a Belkan tank force hot on their tail. Even on the move both sides' shots were deadly accurate because of their mutual fire-on-the-move capability. Also both were in even terms with the Yuktobanian T-80 MBT and the Leos of the Belkans, but in war the day always belongs to the aggressor.
Dmitri trained his something-mm cannons on a Leopard 2. He was just about to press the trigger when his target suddenly exploded, sending the turret sky high under a pillar of fire.
He was stunned, and who wouldn't be, after seeing Osean M1s block his line of sight and engage the very enemy he was running from. His intercom came to life.
"This is the Osean 4th armored brigade to the Yuktobanian 31st tank brigade, we are coming to your rescue!"
With a laugh of disbelief he replied. "The hell an Osean upstages a Yuktobanian in battle!" He switched to his command's frequency. "Comrades! We will not be beaten by Belkans or Oseans! Engage them!" They stopped, reversed their gears and surged forward, cannons blazing.
Lance kept moving forward though, leaving his 2nd battalion in battle with their Yuke ally against the Belkans. He kept the 1st with him, having left the 3rd in their previous position. He still fumed from that Colonel he spoke with in HQ, surely a stuck-up order-barking moron who never seen the battlefield.
He continued on, pushing left in the attempt to make contact with the 24th. As far as he knows they have been separated, and that means a lot of Belkans between them.
"Sir are you sure this is wise? I mean, were not exactly following what Colonel Clark ordered us." Dan asked him.
"To hell with him and HQ! They don't know what's happening out here."
His gunner spotted a thermal silhouette in the distance, and they stopped to check. It was a Belkan Leopard tank all right, and he was about to fire the trigger when more showed up.
"Ok, choose your targets and fire on my mark." Lance told his men.
"Negative on that King Cobra, we'll handle this." A voice from the radio said.
Before he could ask who dared to question his order a dozen missiles sliced through the air and turned the enemy formation into a fiery scrap yard with an explosion rivaling that of an erupting volcano.
"This is Super-six-one to King Cobra. We'll blast you a path through. General Talbot sends you the best of luck."
With a smile he ordered his men forward under the almighty protection of the Apache squadron.
Mac sent another SABOT round the enemies' way and watched its effect on the Belkan Leo. He was rather enjoying it already, the repetitive action become like a game of shoot-that-Belkan. He was about to repeat the process again on an armored vehicle until his radio frequencies opened.
"Allied units in sector B-3, hold your fire. This is the Mountain Home infantry division; we are falling back to your position under the orders of General Talbot. Request assistance."
"Good old General Talbot!" He said, "Mountain Home, this is the 3rd tank battalion of the 4th armored brigade, call sign Black Mamba, we'll cover you."
Cut off, the Osean commander of the 24th mechanized division valiantly fights on, matching his enemy's determination to destroy him with the determination to survive.
The scene that was about to happen has been already executed many times today, yet it never fails to inject a sense of heroicness to the observer.
The division commander watched as the tanks he was about to destroy himself exploded. One of his men told him the explanation. "Sir look! To your right!"
A line of Osean M1s appeared and with a grand entrance blew away the audience with a well-aimed salvo. Above them AH-64D Longbows literally plowed the ground with a combination of chain gunfire and Hydra rockets.
"Osean 24th mechanized division, this is King Cobra. Disengage enemy contact and proceed to sector A-2. We'll keep the road open for you."
But just as the first vehicles were starting to move a shoulder-fired Sam lanced from nowhere and hit one of the attack choppers.
"Super-six-two is down! Repeat, Super-six-two is down!" Another missile, and another downed bird.
"Super-six-one, get out of here! We can handle it from here." Lance said.
"We'll hunt those bastards--"
"Negative Super-six-one, we have inbound bogeys, confirmed fighters heading your way." HQ said, cutting the airman's remark.
"Roger command. Super-six bugging out."
The skies above them were replaced by the contrails coming from Belkan SU-27s, leveling the aerial balance of power.
Lance felt as if he was a shepherd, guiding his sheep, the 24th mech, back to their pens.
Something caught his attention, two puffs of smoke high in the air. A few seconds later simultaneous detonations from a hundred bomblets destroyed the leading vehicles.
"This is HQ, we have ground attack planes inbound, two squadrons of Tornados heading your way."
How could they be killing them at such a long-range? Lance got it on the second set of bursts and bomblet detonations. Stand Off Dispensers.
They menacingly approached, not for the sake of terrorizing the allies but because they were just really slow.
From his tank Lance saw a pair headed their way, and wondered how many of his sheep will remain standing...