Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. I'm sorry updates are coming less frequently, my schoolwork load is getting more extensive, so I'm not able to write as often.
I hope you all like this chapter. Let's get to it.
Chapter 11- Battle of Buenos Aires
(January , 1992)
"Clankers up ahead!"
Clones, Argentineans, and Chileans fire their blasters into the ranks of approaching droids. The droids fall, but more continue to come up in their stead. Return fire forces the defending troops back.
The Battle of Buenos Aires has been raging for 8 hours. The droid landing forces had deposited 210,000 droids, along with about 1,800 AATs, Persuaders, spider droids, and Hailfires, about 20 miles west of Buenos Aires.
However, their attack had not been as easy as it may have normally been. In the last few months leading up to the invasion, most of the South American countries had signed a pact promising mutual assistance in the event of Separatist attacks. They had also devised plans that they hoped would increase their chances of surviving attacks. They had made the determination, based on Republic reports, that attacks in the more mountainous countries were less likely. They guessed that Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina were the likely sites for a Separatist attack. Most South American countries had sent troops to those countries. Many troops had been concentrated around the major cities.
The result was that Buenos Aires had a garrison of 50,000 troops from Argentina, Chile, and Peru, in addition to 6,000 clones. Yoda had also travelled to Buenos Aires in order to assist against attacks in South America.
So far, the battle was not going very well. The Separatists had launched extensive airstrikes with Vulture droids and Hyena bombers, which had caused heavy damage to the city, and heavy casualties to the defending army. In return, the defending armies had not managed to conduct many airstrikes against the droids.
At the moment, almost a quarter of the city of Buenos Aires is in the hands of the droids, and the defending army is down to just 32,000 combat ready Terran troops and 3,200 clones. At the same time, they've destroyed only about 62,000 droids, and only a few hundred heavy Separatist units.
In the streets, the troops are fighting a battle of attrition. Many of them have begun to suspect that they cannot survive without reinforcements, but are determined to make the droids fight hard for every inch of ground.
In one particular street, a small group of Argentinean and Chilean troops are hunkering down to avoid droid fire. The impromptu leader, an Argentinean lieutenant, looks around at the men and says, "They're getting closer! We need to slow them down! Now! Are you ready?" The men all nod.
Suddenly, they hear the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Turning their heads, they see Yoda leaping down the street from droid to droid, cutting them down one by one.
"After the general, everyone!" the Argentinean lieutenant orders. The men around him bellow war cries before leaping up and charging after him, determined to aid Yoda.
Yoda smiles a bit to himself as blue blaster bolts fly around him, cutting down more droids. In moments, the Terran troops are beside him, firing their blasters into the ranks of the droids, and taking some down by hand.
A pair of UH-1 helicopters fly overhead, firing their guns down into the droids. The guns shred a number of droids before a Vulture droid swoops down and shoots them both. A shoulder launcher SAM fired by an Argentinean soldier further back along the street then brings down the Vulture droid.
A pair of Argentinian A-4 Skyhawk attack fighters streak overhead, each dropping four Rockeye cluster bombs on the droid lines, destroying almost a thousand droids. Return fire comes up towards them, and lucky bolt hits one of the Skyhawks on the right wing, blowing the wing off and causing the Skyhawk to spin down in flames, crashing into an AAT. The remaining Skyhawk retreats.
"Come!" Yoda cries out as he leaps ahead, cutting down droid after droid. The troops behind him cry out in defiance and follow their general into battle.
About a mile away, Lieutenant Mofaz from the ASAT team is leading a battalion of Argentinean troops as they are trying to hold back a massive section of the droid lines. Some Peruvian troops are hurrying to reinforce them, but things are not looking very good.
Lieutenant Mofaz leaps out of his hiding place, cutting down a pair of B2 droids with his lightsaber before having to duck back to avoid getting blasted. Several Argentineans armed with grenade launchers fire their weapons, destroying multiple droids and providing a brief respite. However, the droids are still coming, and the defences are beginning to crumble. Vulture droids have destroyed much of the Argentinean Air Force, and the Uruguayan Air Force is getting decimated. The Brazilians have yet to mobilize their Air Force, as they've been having to defend against some air attacks against some of their cities. The Republic's LAATs stationed in South America have all been destroyed. There is little air support left for the Argentineans.
In the main military command center in Buenos Aires, the Argentineans top commanders are getting very nervous. The defenses around Buenos Aires are barely holding on, and its clear by now that there aren't going to be any troops coming in to reinforce the Argentineans capitol soon enough. Things aren't looking good.
What the Argentineans don't realize is that a serious asset is ready to join the fight. About 120 miles off the coast of Buenos Aires, and about 50 feet under the surface, is a small force of 4 US submarines: the USS Chicago, the USS Annapolis, the USS Tucson, and the USS Florida. The latter of these four, the Florida, is a dedicated guided missile submarine. Between the four submarines, they carry a total of 190 Tomahawk cruise missiles, a number of which are equipped with special cluster munition warheads instead of a single warhead.
Now, just under the surface, the four submarines are opening their launch tubes, and preparing to launch. On the Florida, the sub's captain, Captain Rhyder, is monitoring the situation of the Battle of Buenos Aires thanks to US recon satellites.
"Status of the missiles?" he asks his officers.
"Sir. Missiles have been targeted. We are ready to launch," one of the officers responds.
"Alright. Send word to the other three. Commence launch," Captain Rhyder says.
The word is communicated to the other three subs. About a minute later, the first of the Tomahawks surges out of its launch tube on the Florida.
The four subs all begin launching their missiles. In a matter of minutes, 139 Tomahawks are in the air and cruising towards Separatist positions around Buenos Aires. Of those 139, 50 are equipped with cluster munitions warheads.
Cruising at about 550 miles per hour, the Tomahawks take about 11 minutes to travel the 120 miles to Buenos Aires. The droid units are completely unaware of this new attack.
The first Tomahawk, about 5 seconds ahead of the next one, streaks over Argentinean lines in the western part of the city. Some of the soldiers look up and see the missile streak overhead. Many of them feel very confused, recognizing that it's not a missile used by any South American country.
The first Tomahawk, equipped with a single 1,000 pound warhead, dives down onto the droid lines, only a few hundred feet from an Argentinean position. The massive warhead detonates, destroying a spider droid and about 50 battle droids.
Within a few minutes, then rest of the droid units are thrown into chaos as more Tomahawks begin to dive down from the sky. Those armed with cluster munition warheads split open, releasing their bomblets, before climbing up and stalling, causing the missile to crash back to Earth and adding its fuel to the inferno engulfing the droid units.
In a matter of minutes, the American missile attack has thrown the droid lines into chaos. The 144 Tomahawks have destroyed about 11,000 battle droids and about 120 AATs, Persuaders, and spider droids. More than that, the missiles have blasted a rift in the droid lines.
From his position, Lieutenant Mofaz sees the breach in the droid lines. He raises his lightsaber and bellows, "Forward, men!" The men behind him charge forward.
Caught off guard, the droids are unable to respond in time. The defenders press their attack against the breach in the droid lines, and sunder it completely. Defenders begin to curve around and attack the now two separate droid armies from behind.
Infuriated, an alien commander of the droids uses tracking technology to deduce where the missiles came from. Determined to prevent another missile attack, he orders all remaining Vulture droids and Hyenas, numbering about 59, to head in that direction to find the source of the missiles.
As the Vultures and Hyenas streak out over the ocean, they are scanning for the source of the missiles. Unfortunately for them, the four submarines have dived to a depth of 600 feet, expecting this attack. However, a different American force is waiting to receive them.
The subs were not the only naval units the Americans had dispatched to South America. On the surface, not far from the spot where the submarines launched their missiles, is the guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf, accompanied by the destroyers USS Kidd and USS Kinkaid, and the frigate USS Gallery. As the Vultures and Hyenas head east, they detect the four ships and immediately start their attack runs.
However, unknown to the droids, the four ships have over 200 surface to air missiles. As the Vultures and Hyenas approach, on the Leyte Gulf, the ship's CIC is busy preparing the ship's missiles.
In the CIC, the captain gives the order, "Open fire!" Seconds later, the first SAM streaks up into the air.
The four surface ships quickly become partially enveloped in smoke as they average one missile launched every two seconds. Between the four ships, they soon have 112 SM-1 and SM-2 surface to air missiles airborne.
The first missile, an SM-2 fired by the Leyte Gulf, finds its target, a Hyena, when the droid force is still 20 miles from the four American ships. The large warhead detonates, ripping the Hyena to pieces.
The remaining missiles streak up towards their targets. Now aware of the danger, the remaining Vultures and Hyenas try evasive maneuvers. However, the SAMs coming towards them are designed with proximity fuse warheads designed to be capable of intercepting incoming anti-ship missiles. Anything within 50 feet can trigger the warheads, as the Vultures and Hyenas begin to find out. Multiple Vultures and Hyenas think they're about to escape an incoming missile, only for the warhead to detonate and destroy them.
Within a matter of about 3 minutes, all of the Hyenas and Vultures heading towards the American ships have been shot down. On board the Leyte Gulf, the ship's captain reviews over the missile performance and issues orders to prepare for the 4 submarines and the Leyte Gulf to launch the remaining Tomahawks they have.
In Buenos Aires, the Argentinean commanders are feeling very confident. Radar stations on the coast detected the Hyenas and Vultures being shot down. Not only that, but thanks to the breach in their lines, the number of droids destroyed is climbing rapidly.
On the front lines, Lieutenant Mofaz is smiling as he cleaves another battle droid in half. Things are starting to look up for the defenders.
Suddenly, he hears a familiar noise. The sound of jet engines. He looks up, and beams to see a flight of four AMX ground attack fighters diving towards the droid lines. Behind them are more AMXs, F-5 Tigers, F-16s, and Mirage Vs. The Brazilian and Venezuelan Air Forces have finally arrived to provide air support.
The AMXs dive down and release 500 lb bombs, which quickly destroy half a dozen AATs, two Persuaders, and dozens of battle droids. The fighters pull up out of their dives, only for a pair of Venezuelan Mirages to dive down and make a strafing run, destroying even more droids.
The tide of battle is quickly turning against the Separatists. With no more Vultures to try and keep the sky in Separatist hands, and most of the Separatist anti-aircraft weapons destroyed, the dozens of Brazilian and Venezuelan aircraft that have arrived now have free range to operate, and rain fire down on the droid units. Not only that, but the American subs and the Leyte Gulf fire more Tomahawks, which destroy more heavy droid units and several hundred more droids.
Further south along the droid lines, Yoda led another counterattack, with disastrous consequences for the droids. Yoda attacked a number of AATs, cutting open their hatches and using the Force to throw the droids out. Argentinean troops then commandeered the AATs and began firing at the heavy droid units, destroying swathes of them who were caught off guard by AATs suddenly turning on them.
Finally, almost 24 hours after the Battle of Buenos Aires began, the alien commander orders the remaining Separatist forces to retreat. The remaining C-9979s take aboard what droids are left, then head to return to the fleet.
The Battle of Buenos Aires had ended in a victory for the defenders. The defenders have destroyed over 160,000 droids, and almost all of the heavy droid units. However, the victory had come at tremendous cost. Of the 50,000 Terran defenders and 6,000 clones who had been defending Buenos Aires at the start of the battle, almost 28,000 Terran troops and about 4,500 clones are now either dead or wounded, and the outer limits of Buenos Aires had suffered heavy damage. It would take some time for the Argentinean capitol to recover from the massive battle. But, despite the fierce struggle, and the near loss had it not been for the intervention of the American ships and the Brazilian and Venezuelan Air Forces, Buenos Aires was still in Terran hands, and the Separatists had been dealt another massive defeat.
And, I'll end there.
I know this was a little rushed, but I hope it was still a pretty good chapter.
Sorry it took so long to get this up. I'm getting very busy with school. And this week, I have a midterm and three papers, so I probably won't update any of my stories again until next week. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned.