Chp. 7: A Firm Foundation

November 27th, 2015

Emmerian Line of Departure, South of Misko

Bombs, missiles, and shells continued to fall on both sides of the river as Gerard led his tanks out of the forest. The scene was ugly as they emerged onto open ground. A dozen AMX-10RCs and VABs sat motionless and ablaze between the treeline and the river, many with the smoldering bodies of their crews still present. Jacques pulled his scarf tighter over his nose; the stench of death was not something a person could get used to. The Leclercs exited the smoke screen they'd been given as the bridge grew nearer. The skies were still clear of enemy aircraft for now, but the ground was crawling with Estovakians. Almost immediately, a position across the river opened up with machine guns and RPGs. Jacques dropped into the turret and pointed his thermal viewer towards the far bank.

"Steel 6 to all elements, be advised that the Eruseans are pushing a small force across the bridge to meet us. Watch your shots." Gerard spoke up.

"Steel 6-3 copies all. What about those RPGs across the river?" Jacques replied.

"If the units crossing can't, Rhino will engage any footmobiles and firing positions once we're past the LOD." Charrier interjected.

Jacques switched back to the intercom just in time for Camille to pick out a target. He slaved his viewer to the gunner's sights and saw the shape of a T-64BV leaving the road to the bridge.

"Engage!" He ordered.

"Engaging!" Camille replied.

The gun's breech rocked back as the Estovakian tank fired at them. Taskin jerked the tank to the left, then back to the right as the T-64's shot went wild. Kobra ATGMs, Jacques guessed. Camille was already looking for another target as Jacques zoomed out to get an idea of the force facing them. He estimated it was at two platoons and growing as the Estovakians sped from the choke point and into a proper formation. Taskin moved back towards Gerard's tank as they joined one of the Emmerian platoons. A second force of Leclercs had emerged from the woods straddling the highway, firing round after round into the enemy formation. Jacques gave his gunner free reign while he searched for targets. The Estovakians were very quickly being boxed in, and there were too many Emmerians for them to go through in time. Jacques noted a series of flashes near the road and tensed. His battle management system told him that the targets had been other Leclercs. He spotted two T-64s in the process of reloading as they closed to within 200 meters apart.

"Commander has a target! Two tanks, forward quadrant at 195 Meters!" He reported. He switched to the radio while Camillie brought the turret around.

"Steel 6, two tanks to my front!"

Gerard activated the gun override from his station and put the gun's barrel on the closest of the two.

"Engaging!" He barked.

One of the Estovakian tanks landed a shot in their path, maybe one or two meters short of the tank. Gerard braced himself until he was certain they were safe. He ordered his formation to slow down as they began to link up with the other tanks. His formation very carefully moved to run parallel to them as they went for the sides of the bridge's entrance. The Estovakians who'd exited onto open ground surged forward to try and push through, but it was a futile effort. The Leclercs came to a near-halt as two pairs of Tiger attack helicopters popped up from behind to soften the defenses. Some of the Stovies had gotten smart and stayed on the bridge, but the helicopters could still easily hit them. Enemy AA on the other side shooed them away, but by now the Emmerian tanks were moving into position. Jacques and Gerard, along with Debay and Gabriel, set up on the left side of the bridge among some trees. Gerard dared to open his hatch and stick his head out. Just enough to see Misko with his own eyes. He set his binoculars in the gap between hatch and cupola. The Estovakians had the high ground, but said high ground was only so by a meter or two.

"Steel 6 is in position, engaging enemy forces across the river. Will advance once Rhino has linked up and assessed the crossing." He radioed.

"Steel 6 be advised, scout helicopters have spotted Stovie Hinds moving into firing positions across the river. They're about 3 kilometers away." Brigade Headquarters replied.

"Copy that, any air support available to back up our AA?"

"Negative Steel 6, air support is focused on the center advance right now. Stovies are focusing their forces there."

Gerard acknowledged while 25th Infantry's assault force emerged from the woods. Louis drew in a deep breath as they rolled through the slackening Estovakian artillery towards the highway and the bridge beyond. One of the rounds landed between two trees, causing one to fall towards his vehicle. Louis simply tightened his grip on the control stick for his thermals and kept scanning. Charrier had them pick up the pace as the Hinds switched from attacking the tanks to going after them. His gunner, Caporal Bazin, brought the IFV's 25mm cannon to bear.

"All Rhino 2 vehicles, you are cleared to engage enemy aircraft once they're in range." Louis ordered.

He kept searching for other threats while two Hinds cleared the last terrain before the river. Despite the arsenal waiting for them, two of the shark-mouthed helicopters came in fast and low over the fields. Bazin started letting off bursts to try and dissuade the helicopters. They focused on the platoon ahead with a barrage of rockets and pulled away, escaping with little more than a few scrapes. The other two focused on the AA in the woods, which only served to bring Louis discomfort. He felt like he was being taunted as the two gunships pulled away. They fired a few bursts from their chin-mounted guns, as if only to placate him. Bazin met them as they nosed up and headed back for friendly lines, just as a Mistral anti-aircraft missile met the lead Hind's tail. The first pair slowed and swung around to retaliate, supported by more of the Estovakian fortifications below.

"Rhino, keep moving! We'll cover you!" Gerard ordered.

The Commandant ordered his gunner to index a guided round even as the air defense troops were ready to keep the Mi-35s at bay. They'd already lost five Leclercs in the assault, and he wanted to get as many across as he could. Jacques and Debay worked on fortified positions as a second wave of VABs dropped into the cold waters and chugged across. The Estovakians grip on the far shore had waned, and they contented themselves to throwing small arms and sporadic mortar fire at the Emmerians. An RPG here or there, but it seemed like they'd realized the Emmerians were actively hunting anti-tank teams.

"Steel 6 this is Fox 6, we've reached the far side and are positioned in some woods east of the bridge. Be advised that we have spotted a second enemy force moving towards the bridge. More T-64s screen for a company of ZSDs." One of the Legion units on the far side spoke up.

"Copy that Fox 6; any sign of those Hinds?" Gerard replied.

"They're regrouping over town."

"Understood, hold your position and we'll get to you as soon as we can. Break, Lion 6 this is Steel 6, are those Tigers still on station and able to get a look at the far side of the bridge?"

"Standby, Steel."

The IFVs had linked up with them by now, and Charrier wasted no time in employing his troops.

"Rhino 1 and Rhino 2, proceed with mission. Rhino 3, stick with me and help provide overwatch." He instructed.

"Rhino 2 copies." Louis replied.

"Rhino 1 copies." Fellow Sous-Lieutenant Sophie Zagre chimed in.

As Charrier and 3rd Platoon deployed on a couple of berms behind the tanks, Louis took his platoon to the edge of the bridge and deployed smoke. On his orders, Morel and his wingman deployed on the flanks while Louis and his wingman, Sergent Pingeot, deployed their troops just shy of the bridge. Louis took in a deep breath and started forward. Bazin raised the cannon's barrel as the sound of helicopters approached once again. Louis hit the switch to launch smoke and turned his thermal viewer to their front.

"Rhino 2 be advised, those Hinds are banking towards your position! They're coming right down the river." Gerard warned.

Louis relayed the information to Bazin, who swung his cannon to the left and started firing. The Hinds fired a few rockets in various directions, then let off a long burst from their cannons. One got close enough that the young gunner was able to punch a few holes in its left engine. The scare was enough to force the Hind to peel off, and the dismounted infantry fired at the helicopters in the hopes of landing a lucky shot. As his IFV advanced, it brought a great deal of unwanted attention. Louis ordered the vehicle back and scanned in the direction of the shooting.

"Rhino 6, I'm taking heavy fire when I crest the ramp. I think I know where a few of those positions are. What's the status of our mortars?" He radioed.

"Mortars are waiting for targets. Pass along coordinates." Charrier replied, sounding eager to go with the plan.

Louis had Dayot meticulously position their VBCI so Bazin could see over the sides of the bridge and engage threats. His infantry deployed along the walkways to help spot targets for the light artillery. For a moment, Louis's nagging anxiety waned. They had a foothold on the bridge and the tanks had pushed back the Estovakian frontline. For now he could assess the situation. He turned his viewer towards the destroyed T-64s ahead. Like a breath, the Estovakians were exhaled forward once more. He ordered Dayot to move the vehicle back as they drew increasingly heavy fire, beckoning Pingeot to follow. They deployed more smoke to cover the infantry as he ordered them back. Louis steadied himself, even as an anti-tank missile clipped the bridge, and keyed his radio.

"Steel 6 and Rhino 6, be advised that two of the destroyed tanks have blocked the way ahead. I'm dismounting to inspect it for myself because my vehicles draw too much fire. Rhino 2-2, keep me covered." He reported.

He ordered the same thing from Bazin and exchanged helmets before he dismounted. He grabbed his FAMAS and made his way back into the troop compartment. He went between the IFVs, then sprinted towards the dismounts as they continued to search for targets to engage.

"Friendly coming in!" He barked.

The man he was greeted by was the hulking Caporal Errard.

"Lieutenant? Why are you outside of your vehicle?" He asked in a voice rather soft for his size.

"The Capitaine needs to know if we can cross, but the vehicles are drawing too much attention. Can you spare Meron and Valuy for a few minutes?" He replied.

The man nodded and whistled before calling over Louis's radioman and the Caporal's sharpshooter. Louis simply motioned for Meron to cover him and Valuy as they moved to some better cover behind one of the T-64s. Meron moved back to the walkway and leveled his FR F2 at the far shore.

"Towards that destroyed tank, Valuy. Move!" Louis ordered.

"Moving!" The radioman replied.

Louis fired a few errant shots from his FAMAS to keep any attention on himself while Meron worked over a few targets with more precision. As soon as Valuy had reached cover, he shouted for the Lieutenant, who in turn barked to Meron.

"Meron, go!"

"Moving!"

The two infantrymen huddled behind the destroyed tank for a second, then beckoned their commander over as they took turns engaging the Estovakians. He bolted forward with a silent scream, almost daring the Estovakians to actually aim this time. The feeling that he was being toyed with was harder to feed this time, though. Natural instincts, the innate desire to survive, drowned out any existential groveling. Louis didn't need very long to confirm what he'd already guessed, but now he had a better idea of how things were. He pulled the handset from Valuy's ER-95 and checked the frequency before making his call.

"Rhino 6 this is Rhino 2-1. Come in Rhino 6."

"Report, Rhino 2-1." Charrier said from his position.

"Can confirm that two wrecks are positioned in a manner blocking the way forward. I repeat my recommendation: we require engineers to move these wrecks out of the way."

"Rhino 2-1 this is Steel 6, can you hold position on the bridge? I'm moving up with another tank to assist.." Gerard spoke up.

The commandant saw a wonderful opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Among the threats across the river were a pair of ZSUs keeping helicopter support at bay.

"Ah copy that, Steel 6. What do you have in mind?"

"Just hold position as long as possible, break, Steel 6-3, shift position with 6-4 to the left side of the bridge and provide cover."

Jacques acknowledged quickly and Gerard pulled back to hand over his space to the Lieutenant. A fresh Estovakian attack surged forth in the form of artillery. Massive geysers erupted from the water, signaling the Stovies had brought in their heaviest guns. Louis hunkered down and waited for the tanks to arrive, trying to force any comparisons to that day in Otara out of his mind. He peeked over the top of the smoldering hull at the far end of the bridge as he heard the sound of engines. He was shocked to see a T-64 cresting the far onramp. It was barely in sight when something whipped by behind at inhuman speed. The tank lurched to a stop, then it was hit again. He looked back as Gerard's Leclerc rolled towards them, swinging its gun to the left. A guided round screamed out of the barrel, bound for one of the anti-aircraft guns on the far side. Its wingman came to a halt a few meters back and fired two rounds in rapid succession at other ZSUs.

"Rhino 2-1, I need one of your men to help me secure a tow cable around one of those wrecks. We need to move fast!" Gerard barked.

"C-Copy, copy! I'll do it!" Louis replied as he grabbed the handset from Valuy.

Gerard emerged from his cupola and fired off several bursts at the far end of the bridge. His gunner engaged another T-64 that peeked his turret up to see what was happening, but missed as the tank retreated. As soon as they'd stopped, he went down the side of the tank and around to the back. Louis ran over as the tank deployed smoke and felt his way to the back, where Gerard was taking the aforementioned cable from its mount.

"Carry that end, Lieutenant! When we get to the front of the tank, hook it to one of the rungs on the front of the hull! Be quick about it; the tank's smoke grenades last about 90 seconds." He instructed.

"Yes sir!"

The two carried the cable forward as a fresh barrage of artillery fell around the bridge. Despite the powerful rounds, it appeared that the Stovie gunners were simply dropping shells at random. It became background noise as Louis knelt down in front of the tank and started pushing away the snow and muck that had built up on the tank. In the meantime, Gerard carefully threaded the opposite end through one of the attachment points on the destroyed T-64. He was forced to lay flatter and flatter against the tank as errant rounds got too close. His gunner kept up the fire against targets that Gerard wasn't particularly interested in. Instead he had to make sure he could get a secure holding on the weakened metal.

"Lieutenant, do you have your end secured?" He asked.

"Working on it, sir! Had to clear some snow!" Louis replied.

Louis swallowed a groan as the tank's cannon fired once again, wishing he'd kept his vehicle crewman's hacked away at the remaining snow a few times with the cable's end loop until it slid into place. He gave it a pull to make sure it was secure and hurried out of the way of the tank.

"Ready to go, sir!" He shouted.

"Good, cover me and call your troops back!" Gerard replied.

The senior man took off the pavement until he hit a patch of black ice. The commandant took that as a sign to crawl and stay down. He made it back to his tank and climbed back to his machine gun as his driver put the tank in reverse. The T-64 groaned, then slowly started to drag along the pavement after a few pulls. Gerard ducked down and watched as the attachment point on the Yuktobanian-built machine strained, but held. Louis and his two soldiers joined the rest of the dismounts as the Tigers from earlier made another run against a platoon of T-84s on the far shore. Both deployed flares and pulled away, only for one to explode. Louis looked up with a hunch on what had happened and saw an Estovakian Su-25 circling. He looked back and saw a second jet coming in.

"Pull back, pull back!" He shouted.

The soldiers took off running as the second Frogfoot nosed down, then broke off as the Emmerians fired on it. Gerard swung his NF1 at the jet and held the trigger back for several seconds. He moved the machine gun to follow the tank, which let him catch a glimpse of a third aircraft coming in due north. He reluctantly dropped into the turret and closed the hatch as an Su-22 Fitter kicked off the second attack. Instead of aiming for him, the fighter-bomber dropped a pair of incendiary bombs on the trees further back. Its wingman hit the Emmerian line from the west, leaving a massive wake of fire behind.

"Driver, how're we looking?" Gerard called, trying to stay focused.

"Slow and steady, sir. Slow and steady!" The young man replied.

"Good…Bronze and Silver this is Steel 6, we're moving that wreck outta the way. Standby to send a platoon each across the bridge with me."

"Copy that Steel 6, I'm sending Bronze 2 to assist!" Rousseau replied.

"Silver 6 is sending along Silver 1 to cross." 2nd Troop's commander chimed in.

"Copy that. Driver, full reverse!"

The purr of the Leclerc's engine rose to its highest as the tank made one final effort to pull the T-64 out of the way. The Sukhoi products pounced on the advance from the woods again, this time with barrages of rockets. Gerard nearly stopped breathing when he heard one of the rockets pass by. It was safe to say he imagined it'd gone by a few meters above the turret. His ears tuned to the radio as he heard someone announcing that friendly aircraft were inbound to help. He guessed it was brigade HQ, but his attention was focused elsewhere. Louis watched as the wreck was dragged as far to the side as possible, almost directly in front of the other one. He took Valuy's handset; there was no time to get it perfectly.

"Steel 6, Steel 6 you've made enough of a clearing! Get disconnected from that tank and advance before those Frogfoots come around again!" Louis radioed.

"Copy! Cover me!"

Gerard took the crew's FAMAS with him this time as he emerged from his cupola again and descended back onto the pavement. His reinforcements took the chance to get moving and charged onto the bridge, weaving past Louis's position and through the gap. Gerard took full advantage of that as the other tanks fired off rounds from their cannons and machine guns as they raced past. He yanked the cable from his tank and tossed it aside before mounting up to follow the others into battle on the far side. The Frogfoots made another run,striking the lead tanks with a missile each. Gerard sunk into his turret and kept his mind focused on what lay ahead. The far end of the bridge had many more wrecks, including several VABs and 10RCs, but the Estovakians were nowhere to be seen. He popped out into the open air to look for friendly troops, aware that one of the Su-25s was trying to come around fast. He glanced at it as the plane exploded mid-turn and sneered.

"Greed gets you nowhere, Stovie…Lion 6, Steel has crossed the bridge. Pushing on to objective Merlot at this time." He radioed.

"Copy that Steel 6; excellent work." Brigade HQ replied.

Gerard switched his attention to his command and organized his tanks into a proper formation to move on to their next objective: a vineyard a kilometer to the north. Charrier's command was close behind so they could secure the bridgehead itself. By the time he was on the other side, Louis was greeted by the sight of several Foreign Legionnaires. He ordered his vehicle to stop on the side of the road.

"Rhino 6, we've made contact with a number of wounded friendlies on the far side of the bridge. Orders?" He asked.

"Understood. Battalion is sending ambulances to follow. Pass that along to the friendlies and continue as ordered." Charrier replied.

There was a natural urge to request permission to carry some across himself, but Louis swallowed the objection. They needed to keep advancing; there was much work to be done.