Chp. 12: Divide and Conquer
November 27, 2015
Ten Kilometers North of Misko
Captain Ratko Ivashka endured the biting cold; to him it was much better than being sealed up inside his ZSD-90. The column of IFVs maintained a steady pace down the freeway, approaching the unknown. The Emmerians had broken out of their bridgeheads and it hadn't been pinned down exactly how far they'd gotten. The best estimate was that they still had a few kilometers before they were outside firmly-controlled Estovakian territory. Ivashka was wary of that assessment; the last friendly unit they'd passed had been seven kilometers back. He kept his AKSU leveled at the woods to the left while his gunner covered the opposite direction with their turret. There was little of interest in the woods on either side of the roadway, but he kept searching as they approached a pass leading into the river's valley.
"Rubin 1 to Liod 1, we're approaching the pass. We'll rush out into the open and secure a perimeter." He radioed.
"Copy that Rubin, Liod will proceed to establish an overwatch east of the freeway." 3rd Company's commander replied.
"Apau 1, increase speed!"
The leading platoon zoomed off, spreading across the southbound lanes. Ivashka ordered his driver to increase speed and reluctantly lowered himself back into the vehicle. His gunner raised their cannon to watch the tops of the hillsides, but it was an unsettlingly quiet push into more open terrain. His platoons spread out even more, slipping through the gaps between groves of trees. The Captain slowly rose from his cupola as they settled between a few pines and raised his binoculars to his eyes. Fires from the latest assault on Misko flickered in the distance. Otherwise the world around him was quiet. He negotiated his map book out into the open and gave his watch a glance. He looked west; the bulk of the regiment's tanks were supposed to be exiting the woods over there now. If they were on schedule, then they'd distract the Emmerians' armor and he could relieve those at Misko.
"Apau 1, report." He radioed sternly.
"Apau 1 has established positions as planned, we've got possible movement approximately 1500 meters south. Individuals on foot, possibly." The Lieutenant replied.
Their vehicles lacked infrared, so Ivashka had to take the man's word. He lowered his NVGs and craned his neck, but it was hard to see where his first platoon was.
"Understood, keep a watch on that sector. Kvarc, proceed down the freeway with caution. Apau may have spotted hostiles on foot observing the freeway. Could be scouts." He radioed.
The man ordered his driver to creep out a little more into the open. He lowered his goggles again, but still couldn't see anything. He even looked towards the platoon as it sat along a tree-covered hill. Another hill sat opposite of them, thicker with trees and standing above all but the pass. He let out a reluctant sigh and keyed his radio again.
"Apau, you'll move to the rear of our advance, Keep an eye out for those individuals." He instructed.
"Understood…request permission to deploy two of my vehicles to sweep the hill." The Lieutenant replied.
"Negative, we have a schedule to keep. Our allies in Misko need help."
The man acknowledged and held his platoon in position while Ivashka joined his second platoon in the return to the freeway. As they passed into some more open terrain, the vehicle at the very front of the advance erupted into a fireball. Simultaneously, three more did the same. On instinct, Ivashka looked up and pulled down his NVGs in search of aircraft. There was nothing; he looked down as the ZSDs around him deployed smoke and veered off the highway. Ivashka squeezed his throat mic and ordered the same. His gunner brought their cannon to bear and fired bursts in the direction he thought the fire was coming from. Ivashka ordered him to stop; they weren't sure if they were being attacked by aircraft or forces on the ground.
His driver forced the vehicle over the guardrail and Ivashka noticed his executive officer's vehicle take a hit to its front. Certain that they were being shot at by other vehicles, he allowed his gunner to open fire to their front. Neither he nor his crew saw the round that hit them just shy of the driver's compartment. As the company collapsed, over a dozen LeClercs emerged from the thick woods, bowling over trees. Gerard kept as neutral a face as he could as the Emmerians moved in to mop up. From his perspective, it'd been a slaughter. It was the best outcome, he decided. They'd have to hold here until morning, at least, and he'd need to keep as much of his force operational for as long as possible.
"Steel 6 to Silver 6, take half of your squadron and hold our original position. Bronze, straddle the road. Steel will take up overwatch on the right flank. Scouting elements will start deploying mines. I want an OP up in ten minutes or less." He quickly ordered.
He pounced on that momentum and began going between his digital maps and his physical ones. Part of 5th Armored had been separated from the main effort to plug up the pass and force the Stovies to go around, into areas that bigger forces were waiting in. As he poured over his options, his driver moved them to their designated position atop another hill. He emerged from the turret and watched as a pair of VBLs nestled themselves into the foliage on either side of the road.
"Steel 6 this is Steel 4, Prince 1 reports they're two minutes out and closing. They want to know if they're cleared to drop." One of his scouts spoke up.
"They're cleared to drop their bombs." Gerard snapped impatiently.
His tank came to a stop on a hill as two Mirage 2000s descended from the clouds. The fighters made a single pass, each of them dropping a pair of unguided bombs. Gerard watched a pair of missiles arc upwards to stop them. As soon as they'd appeared, they were back above the gathering shroud. The Commandant looked at the pass as the explosion began a chain reaction. A flurry of white powder erupted from the top of the pass and out the front entrance as a small avalanche blocked the road. The plan was for it to hold up the Stovies until the morning, and to buy them more breathing room. It all indicated to him that this was a "high risk, low reward" kind of plan. He reluctantly watched the western horizon, and put all the faith he could comfortably put into the rest of the attack to keep them out of the fire. He could even spare some for the infantry trying to take Misko…
Louis didn't realize he was holding his breath as he crawled towards the fence between the remains of a shed and a house. He put all his focus into making sure he wasn't too loud when he drew in a mouthful of air, then continued to his destination. Small arms barked back and forth to his right as another company was busy flanking the small neighborhood. A pair of RCRs rolled down the street a house over, helping keep the pressure up in as many places as possible. He could just barely hear Estovakian voices shouting on the other side of the fence. He scooted to a hole where a stray round had punched a hole about the size of a soccer ball through. He glanced into the next yard and saw a figure duck out of sight behind a window. The voices turned to shouts before an RPG went screaming out of a large hole in the roof.
He looked back and motioned over a machine gunner. The lanky infantryman, Trooper Gigot, crawled over as fast as he could to the hole and placed his Minimi through it. With more hand motions, the Lieutenant set up a pair of grenadiers to back up the gunner and gathered his assault element near another, larger hole. They waited just long enough for their support to get into position before rushing through. Louis leveled his FAMAS at the nearest window as he ran. He spotted a figure emerging and fired off a burst at it before dropping to the ground. Gigoit responded by stitching a line of rounds across the rubble. The rest of Louis's assault element hit the ground and joined in until they were certain that the threat was gone.
"Forward, forward! Clear that house!" He barked as he pushed himself to his feet again.
Each step seemed to propel him forwards faster and faster. He fired another burst as a second figure appeared, followed by one on the roof. One of his riflemen got that one. He came to a stop and dropped down next to the door. The others lined up behind him as he pulled out a grenade and yanked the pin off. One-one thousand, two-one-thousand, three one-thousand…
"Fire in the hole." He grunted.
There was a brief scream before the explosion filled his ears. He ran in, ready for anything. One of the infantrymen with him came in after, looking where his commander wasn't. Louis flinched as the young man fired several shots upwards; he raised his weapon in time to see an Estovakian soldier roll down the rubble from the second floor. He raised his weapon, but no one else was up there. He motioned for the trooper to go up and check, then followed him up when it was clear. Louis took a knee and balanced one of the tubes of his binoculars in front of his NVGs. Before him lay one of several intersections the Estovakians had turned into concentrated fields of fire. The near-constant bombardment of the town had given them even more places to hole up and deploy heavier weapons. Command wanted the 25th Infantry to push as far in as it could, then dig in and push again. Valuy came trotting up and held out the radio handset.
"It's the Capitaine, sir." He added.
"This is Rhino 2 Actual." Louis replied into the mouthpiece.
"Rhino 2, report." Charrier radioed.
"Rhino 2 has taken the Stovie OP…ah, it appears they just figured that out, too. Stand by."
Louis ducked down so he wasn't as exposed while an enemy PKM chewed up the roof above him. He put the headset to his ear again and cleared his throat.
"Rhino 2-1, can you move into position to engage that machine gun?" He asked.
"Yes sir, moving forward." Bazin replied.
Dayot brought the VBCI forward from the next block and Pingeot rolled onto the lawn at the corner. The two deployed smoke as they started to draw fire. It was enough that Louis could raise his head to try and direct the IFVs' fire.
"Rhinos 2-1 and 2-2, adjust your fire further to the left. The second strongpoint is to the right, at about two o'clock." He instructed.
Meron had arrived and settled into a corner nearby where he had some cover. The platoon's vehicles advanced at a slow pace, bringing the second half of their assigned infantry with them. Louis watched as the first house was torn apart, piece-by-piece, then keyed the radio.
"Rhinos 2-3 and 2-4, have your dismounts move to the southwest corner of the intersection and support those RCRs that are on our flank. Rhino 1 will support our advance north."
"Rhino 2-3 copies."
"Rhino 2-4 copies."
"Errand!" Louis barked over his shoulder.
The big Caporal practically leapt between floors; Louis left him to keep an overwatch on the intersection while he led the next move across the street.
"Lieutenant!"
He stopped as he started to slide down the rubble pile and looked back at the man. He started his way down past the officer, only stopping to explain himself.
"I must insist that I lead the attack across. This position affords you a better place to coordinate us."
Louis looked up and saw that Valuy hadn't even moved. Louis scurried back up, grunting out his agreement as he went. He sat down in the same spot, then adjusted so he was behind a few of the sandbags the Estovakians had set up. Valuy got down and started taking off his radio pack.
"He told me to stay put, sir." He explained sheepishly.
"It doesn't matter, Valuy." Louis replied, taking the handset.
Errand galloped around to the side of the house that was still standing, beckoning his fellow infantry to follow him. Gigot ended up right behind him as they pushed open the gate to the front yard.
"Rhino 2-2 Bravo this is Rhino 2, be advised that we've spotted Estovakian infantry advancing towards the houses across the street. Meron reports they have two, possibly three mortar teams with them. Check your fire on the right; Rhino 1 is just about parallel with us. They'll move across the street on the far side and help establish a proper skirmish line." Louis radioed.
"Copy, do they know where we are?" Errand grunted.
"Yes."
Errand went to the corner of the house and held as Zarge's platoon entered the fight. Two of her VBCIs lurched to a stop, cannons and machine guns blasting the entire north side of the street. The platoon's dismounts ran along the icy sidewalk towards Errand, ducking behind whatever cover they could. He squeezed off burst after burst, switching with a trooper named Beaumont when he needed to reload. He pulled an HG 85 from its pouch and directed his grenadiers to try and keep the mortar teams from setting up. Zangre moved her vehicle to provide extra cover.
"Gigot, suppressing fire! Beaumont, with me." The giant of a man grunted.
The machine gunner trotted up with a fresh drum in his Minimi and squeezed off bursts at regular intervals. The two infantrymen hustled to the long burned-out hulk of a BTR, where they could meet the incoming reinforcements. Zangre's VBCI stopped and her dismounts hopped off the back ramp. Errand motioned over the Caporal from the vehicle.
"We need more marksmen high up! The Stovies are setting up mortars." He yelled.
The man simply nodded and barked at the nearest sharpshooter. Two more of Zangre's VBCIs stopped on lawns across the street and deployed smoke. Errand popped out while Gigot had to feed his Minimi another drum. Louis watched from above as he flipped down his FAMAS's bipod. Valuy became the middleman with Zangre.
"Rhino 6 says the mortars have repositioned and are standing by for new coordinates."
"Are we far enough from those teams? One of my marksmen is trying to keep them pinned down, but he can't get many good shots."
"Keep your men on the south side of the street."
Louis wasn't convinced; he looked to Meron.
"Meron, do you have a visual on those mortar teams?" He asked.
"Two of them ducked into a house a few blocks up, sir, but they haven't emerged." The soldier replied.
Louis hurried over to the man and asked him to point them out. He relayed their position to Valuy with Meron's estimate of their distance. They were just shy of danger close.
"Do you think you can keep them pinned down, Meron?" Louis asked.
"I can try, sir…I think we should call in those mortars." The soldier replied.
"...Valuy, raise Rhino 6 and let's get them some coordinates."
Louis hurried back over as a fresh barrage of fire chewed up the roof around them. He blindly fired back until the Stovies backed off. He took the handset from Valuy as the mortar landed in the next rows of houses.
"Rhino 1, I suggest we get moving." He breathed.
"I agree, Rhino 2. We'll stick to the right flank." Zangre agreed.
"Rhinos 2-1 and 2-2, move forward! We're crossing this street." He radioed.
The IFVs acknowledged and moved further forward as the infantry pounced on the weakened Estovakian lines. It became a running battle as the Stovie line collapsed and started flowing back at an almost panicked pace. The vehicles took the lead and crossed the intersection, focused on one of the larger and more troublesome houses. Louis and his command filtered down into the advance and stopped behind a pile of rubble that had once been a garage. The road forked, with a house between the two paths belching tracers in every direction. Rhino 2-2 went left and Rhino 2-1 went right, raking it with fire. Meron set up his FR F2 again and started working over the open windows on the offending house. Another structure on the left focused everything it had on Rhino 2-2. Two RPGs, one after the other, erupted from a home on both sides of the intersection. Louis directed Meron to get them before one clipped Rhino 2-2. It failed to explode until it was flying off. Pingeot's gunner fired a long burst in response. Louis brought around his FAMAS and walked his shots towards one of the houses. Another RPG struck the VBCI in one of its wheels. That also meant it exploded near the driver's compartment. Louis worked the trigger of his rifle with one hand and the handset with the other.
"Rhino 2-2, pull back. Rhinos 2-1 and 2-2, pull back!" He demanded.
A third RPG punched through the side of the machine. It rolled back a handful of meters, then stopped. Louis saw the commander's hatch crack open but nothing more. Acrid smoke seeped out while he tried to raise the vehicle. It was already obvious what their fate was, though. Louis nearly threw the handset, but instead just gripped it until his knuckles hurt.
"Fuck!" He hissed.
The Lieutenant let out a breath and decided to raise his second-in-command, Chef Marechal Pomeroy.
"Rhino 2-3, move up to assist Rhino 2-1. Rhino 2-4, have your dismounts meet me near Rhino 2-2. Keep up the pressure with Rhino 1." He instructed.
"Understood, sir." The man replied quickly.
"Meron, keep us covered." He added over his shoulder.
He ordered Valuy to stay put and call for an ambulance. Louis hurried over the pile before his radioman could reply. He ran out across the yard and vaulted over the bowed fence leading to a house his infantry had taken. He heard Errand yelling at him, but ignored the man. As he emerged into the street with a fresh magazine, Pomeroy's vehicle passed by, hammering away at the Estovakians ahead. Louis kept pace beside the vehicle, searching for signs of life ahead as they crossed the intersection. He walked like he was an action hero in a movie: rifle at his hip with him firing bursts one handed. He worked and behaved as if daring another Estovakian to shoot him. The truth was, part of him was hoping for it. As soon as he was close enough to the vehicle, he broke away and walked over. Rounds zipped by, scraping at the VBCI and the pavement, but never coming close to him.
"Come on, you idiots, shoot straight for once." He grumbled as he grabbed the handle for the ramp's door.
3rd and 4th Squads entered the fray on his left and Zangre's platoon hooked down a street off to the far right. Louis worked the handle, sometimes a centimeter at a time, while the next brutal round of street fighting reached a crescendo. His infantry ducked for cover or squished themselves into the small holes made by artillery as he wrenched the door open. Pingeot looked at the sudden burst of light; he'd been trying to help the driver.
"I need a medic up here!" Louis yelled over his shoulder.
Another RPG flashed by, off target but close enough to get peoples' attention. One of the infantrymen tossed a smoke grenade past the vehicle and hurried over to help. Louis peeked around the corner of the vehicle and decided it would be best to lay down some covering fire. Another machine gunner dropped to the ground and started laying down suppressing fire. Louis fed his FAMAS another magazine. Another RPG flashed by; Louis felt his patience slipping faster and faster. He waited until it exploded somewhere to the right, then tried to see if he could spot the smoke trail from the weapon. He caught a flash from the house across from Valuy's position and raised his rifle to engage it.
"RPG team at my two o'clock!" He yelled several times.
The machine gunner switched his attention to the house. Louis called for another radio operator to direct the IFVs' cannons onto the offending structure. One soldier with an AT4 hurried over and was shouldering the weapon when he tumbled to the ground. The Minimi gunner called his name and shifted his fire, only for a bullet to ricochet off his helmet. He was disoriented long enough for another bullet to hit him in the lower back. Louis pulled out another smoke grenade and tossed it towards the shooting. He yelled again for a radioman to contact the IFVs as he stepped forward to help the two troopers. It was at that time that the Estovakians decided to shift their fire elsewhere, then retreat. Louis didn't realize it until he was able to pick up the fallen infantryman to take him to cover. A medic ran up and helped him lower the man back onto the pavement.
"Sir."
He looked to see a radioman holding out his handset.
"Rhino 6, sir." He explained.
Louis accepted the device and hit the transmit button.
"Rhino 2 is advancing up the street, but one of the houses is still putting up heavy resistance." He breathed out.
The Captain started to say something, but stopped himself. Louis imagined he was not the happiest that he'd run off without his radioman. His mind was elsewhere, though; focused on how the shooting had stopped after he'd stepped out.
"Rhino 3 should be linking up with you any second. They brought two more RCRs to help flush out the remaining Stovies. What's your status?" Charrier replied.
Louis looked back at several bodies lying on the ground; some were Stovies and some were Emmerian.
"One vehicle down, two of its crew dead. Additional casualties, number unknown."
"Understood, Rhino 3 will take over leading the advance. Take and hold the fork until relieved. After that you'll be on rear guard."
"Yes sir."
He gave the handset back and glanced ahead as the remaining VBCIs chewed up the Stovie strongpoints. Beyond that, he could see the last few blocks to "Historic Misko". Naturally, most of the shooting was aimed at the IFVs; Louis got to watch like he was at a sporting event. His eyes went skywards as a scowl crossed his face. What kind of joke are you playing?! His conscience demanded.