Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter for you. Hope you like this one.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 16- Battle of Volgograd
A proton bomb falls only a hundred yards away. The explosion sends fragments flying down the street. At his position, Captain Stasevich of the ASAT team ducks to avoid shrapnel.
As he gets back up, Stasevich looks down the street and sees ranks of B1 battle droids marching into the street. His face hardens, and a second later, the green blade of his lightsaber springs to life.
"Charge!" he bellows, and he charges down the street, firing a blaster pistol with his free hand as he holds his lightsaber tight in the other. Behind him, 50 Soviet troops charge with him, bellowing war cries as they fire into the ranks of the battle droids.
Stasevich reaches the battle droids and lunges into them, cutting one down with his lightsaber. He then twirls and cuts down two more with a single stroke before continuing his rage, cutting down any battle droid in range. His men are right behind him, firing into the ranks of the battle droids, and continuing their fire as some of their number are hit by blaster bolts. At the same time, across Volgrograd, other similar sized units fight back against the droids with everything they've got.
The Battle of Volgograd has already lasted an entire day. A total of 280,000 battle droids and 2,700 heavy droid units had landed about 40 miles from Volgograd.
The droid armies had conducted recon flights of the territory, as they had at their other landing sites. They had quickly discovered that Volgograd was heavily defended, with 100,000 Soviet troops and 5,000 tanks and artillery pieces defending the city. In order to soften up the city, the Separatists had launched a massive attack by 200 Vulture droids and 400 Hyena bombers against the city.
Unfortunately, a large portion of the Soviet Air Force's interceptors had been destroyed before the landings had even begun. Much of the task of trying to defend Volgograd against the massive air strike fell to surface to air missile sites. However, a number were destroyed while trying to engage the incoming droid fighters and bombers.
The Soviet SAM sites were able to bring down about 60 Vultures and 50 Hyenas. However, many of them were destroyed by attacking Vultures while the remaining Vultures and Hyenas attacked the city. Many Hyenas attempted bombing attack specifically against Soviet troop positions, but a number just carried out indiscriminate bombing attacks against random spots in the city. Vultures also conducted strafing attacks with their laser cannons and firing torpedoes.
The result had seen almost a quarter of the Soviet troops killed or wounded, a third of their tanks and artillery destroyed, and almost 30,000 civilians killed or wounded, and heavy damage to Volgograd itself. Further air strikes had caused far less casualties to the defending army, but had also caused about 40,000 more casualties among the civilians, and had destroyed or extensively damaged about a quarter of the city.
The ground battle had started about 4 hours after the first airstrikes. At first, the Soviet troops had resisted well, and prevented any advance by the droids into the city. This was in part due to close air support strikes from the Soviet Air Force. However, a few hours after the start of the ground battle, the Separatists had launched air strikes on the closer Soviet airfields, destroying a large number of the aircraft the had been providing close air support for the Soviets.
With much less close air support, the Soviets now found themselves at even more of a disadvantage. The strikes against the airfields also destroyed most of the fighters that had been working to keep droid fighters and bombers away from the Soviet ground forces. With those fighters greatly depleted, the Soviet troops again found themselves under attack by droid fighters and bombers.
Now, 20 hours after the ground battle began, the Soviets are in a dire situation. Despite bringing the droid army down to about 210,000 battle droids and 2,000 heavy droid units, only 54,000 troops are still able to fight, and only about 1,500 tanks and artillery pieces are still intact. Worse than that, the Separatists have landed 80,000 more droids and 500 heavy droid units. Reinforcements are on their way, but the situation in Volgograd is dire. Soviet commanders are beginning to fear this could end up turning into a repeat of the Battle of Stalingrad fought in this city almost 50 years prior.
However, Soviet top brass in Moscow is determined to hold Volgograd. Extensive reinforcements in the form of the armies that had been protecting Moscow and Leningrad are now on their way south to help Volgograd. However, they're still hours away, and Volgograd could be in shambles by the time they arrive.
However, the Soviet top brass does have another ace up their sleeve. One air base that had escaped the attention of the Separatists was Engels Air Force Base. And right now, on the flight line at Engels, the heart of the Soviet Air Force's bomber fleet was preparing for battle.
Engels was usually already home to a large contingent of bombers. However, in preparation for the impending invasion, even more bombers had been concentrated at Engels. Now, a total of 50 Tu-95s, 40 Tu-22Ms, 20 Tu-16s, and 12 Tu-22s. A total of 122 bombers.
Within minutes of Stasevich's charge, the order arrives at Engels to launch. The bombers make their way to the runway, beginning a procession of bombers taking off. The Tu-95s are the first in the air, followed by the Tu-22Ms. Then come the Tu-22s, then the Tu-16s, and the M-4s last of all.
The bombers form up into two separate formations. The Tu-95s and Tu-22Ms form up together at 15,000 feet, while the Tu-16s, Tu-22s, and M-4s form up at 10,000 feet. Then, as one, all 122 bombers turn towards their targets.
Within a matter of minutes, the Tu-95s and Tu-22Ms receive coordinates for their main targets. In their bomb bays, the cruise missiles they're carrying are updated with their coordinates.
Only 10 minutes after leaving base, the order for the bombers to begin launching their missiles comes. The Tu-95s and Tu-22Ms begin launching their missiles, one after another. A total of 578 cruise missiles are in the air within four minutes. Once their missiles are in the air, the Tu-95s and Tu-22Ms turn around and head back to Engels.
Within minutes, the first of the missiles begin finding their targets. Some of the missiles fall into spots with few droids, and some don't claim any droids at all. However, between the 578 missiles, they destroy almost 45,000 battle droids and about 600 heavy droid units.
The droid armies are now severely depleted by this strike. And it's not done. The Tu-16s and Tu-22s continue on to their targets.
Unfortunately, they are still some Vulture droids over Volgograd. The Soviet pilots realize this when a Vulture droid swoops down and blasts a Tu-16 out of the sky.
The Tu-22s, given that they are supersonic capable, go full throttle, leaving the Tu-16s and the Vultures behind them. The Tu-16s weave their way through the Vultures as their tail gunners try to fight them off.
The Tu-22s soon reach Volgograd. Lining up on the main bulk of the army outside the city, the bombers drop their loads of 24 1,000 pound bombs. The bombs add to the devastation of the missiles, destroying about 10,000 battle droids.
As the Tu-22s retreat, they pass the Tu-16s, still being attacked by the Vulture droids. The Tu-22s distract the Vultures, who focus on them just long enough to allow the 7 surviving Tu-16s to make their attack runs. The Tu-16s each release sixteen 1,000 pound bombs, destroying 5,000 more battle droids. One more Tu-16 is shot down before they are able to escape.
By the time the bombers return to base, they've struck a crippling blow to the Separatists. Despite the loss of 14 Tu-16s and 3 Tu-22s to Vulture droids, they destroyed 60,000 battle droids and about 800 heavy droid units.
However, the retreating bombers also give the Separatist another target. A number of Hyenas and Vultures follow the Tu-16s and Tu-22s back to Engels, catching most of the bombers on the ground. SAM batteries engage them as they approach, but several are able to attack, destroying an additional 33 bombers on the ground.
However, the attack against Engels also draws the Separatist air units away from Volgograd temporarily. And, in the brief reprieve it gives them, 100 Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters that had been held in reserve until now make their way to the front lines.
When the Hinds arrive over the droid front lines, chaos begins to rain down on them. The droids fire away at the Hinds with their blasters, but the thick armor of the Hinds withstands the blaster fire.
Shrugging off the blaster fire, the Hinds start opening fire on the droids with their 23mm cannons, shredding droid after droid. Whenever they get within range of an AAT or a Persuader, they fire off rockets or anti-tank missiles, destroying every tank they come across.
Slowly, some of the Hinds begin to fall from the sky, shot out of the sky by tanks, and some by Hailfires. However, the Hinds continue to wreak havoc on the droids.
Then, the Vulture droids return from attacking Engels, and things get a lot worse for the Hinds. Being much slower than the Vultures, they're sitting ducks for the droid fighters, and the Vultures start shooting the Hinds out of the sky with ease. Some of the Hinds are carrying air to air missiles, and fire back, but it's not long before they have to retreat. However, they dealt another massive blow to the Separatist, destroying about 9,000 battle droids and 400 droid tanks.
More than that, the Hinds were able to blast rifts in the droid lines. And with the massive casualties sustained by the droids at the hand of the Soviet bombers, the droids are unable to adequately fill those rifts in their lines.
Down on the ground, Stasevich smirks as he sees the result of the Hinds' attacks. He raises his lightsaber and bellows, "Attack!" Several hundred men on the street yell their assent and charge behind him.
Stasevich tears into the approaching droids, cutting down a droid, and sometimes two or three, with every stroke of his lightsaber. Behind him, the other Soviet soldiers fire into the ranks of the battle droids, trying to ignore the blaster bolts flying all around them.
Across the northern and eastern parts of the city, the remaining Soviet soldiers, along with every tank and artillery piece left in the city, stage a counter attack with everything they've got. The Soviets manage to keep the droids at bay, and slowly force them back, starting to regain some of the ground the droids have taken.
A Neimoidian captain on a Lucrehulk class battleship in orbit realizes that the droids have been halted in their advance and are starting to be driven back.
Worse than that, sensors have picked up activity to the north of Volgograd. The reinforcements from Leningrad and Moscow, numbering 175,000 men and 8,500 tanks are approaching, and some advance units have already started engaging.
Analyzing the losses the Separatist armies have already taken, and the forces still in Volgograd, the Neimoidian captain realizes that once the Soviet reinforcements arrive, the Soviets will actually outnumber the remaining droid forces. Realizing that, the Neimoidian decides to pull his remaining forces out of Volgograd.
C-9979s come down to take the remaining droids back to the fleet. Some newly arrived Soviet fighters try to stop the evacuation, however Vulture droids from the Separatist fleet manage to keep them at bay long enough for the evacuation to finish. Over 160,000 droids are able to be evacuated. However, about 36,000 droids and about 200 heavy droid units are left behind. These droids are quickly sandwiched between the defending army in Volgograd and the reinforcements from the north, and are obliterated.
The Battle of Volgograd is over. It was devastating for the Soviets. They lost almost 80,000 men and thousands of tanks, as well as several hundred aircraft, including 50 of their prized bombers. Not only that, but a little over a quarter of Volgograd had been destroyed or badly damaged, with almost 200,000 civilians killed or wounded. Almost every Soviet air base within air range of Volgograd had been hit, and worst of all, some of the Soviet oil stores in the Caucasus region had been hit.
The Battle of Volgograd would prove a devastating blow to the Soviets and their economy. However, it once again showed off Soviet resolve to win, and proved another important victory in the Terran campaign.
And, I'll end there.
So, there you have the Battle of Volgograd. Obviously, it went much better than the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII, but still didn't go the best for the Soviets.
There are two more battles left before the end of the Terran campaign. I'll try and have the next chapter, covering the Battle of New York, up tomorrow. Until then, leave a review, stay tuned, and have a Merry Christmas!