by Harold Coyle
Once the T-72s were destroyed, Bannon wanted 31 to suppress the infantry while 55 took out the BTRs. Not that a BTR was dangerous. With only a 14.5mm gun in its turret, it could not hurt an M-l. But the destruction of the tanks, the methodical destruction of the BTRs, and a steady stream of lead pinning them to the ground in the darkness and confusion of a night attack would have a severe psychological impact on the individual Russian soldier. Bannon hoped that it would discourage him from rushing forward to become a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Polgar came up on the net and reported that he could hear the tanks coming down the trail.
He was ready and waiting. Polgar's transmission was followed immediately by Uleski, who announced that there were about one hundred dismounted soldiers advancing toward him in a column formation. The Russians were going all out this time. They wanted to hold the Team's attention in the front, pin those people they had discovered in the woods with a secondary attack, and sneak up behind. Team Yankee was in check.
It was the infantry that was first in action. The lead tank hit one of the antitank mines. The detonation was followed by a wild volley of small-arms fire from the accompanying Soviet infantry. They simply dropped down wherever they were and opened fire in whatever direction their rifles were pointed. Polgar managed to keep his men in check and quiet. He wanted to suck the Russians in.
When it became apparent that the lead tank was crippled, unable to move forward, and blocking the advance of the second tank, the Russian leading the infantry rose, gave a series of commands, and led his men forward in the attack. As the Russians advanced in a line straddling the trail, they fired from the hip and yelled in order to psych themselves up.
Their firing was wild and of more danger to themselves than to Polgarfs infantry. The firing by the Russians served only to keep Polgar aware of the progress of their advance.
The line of Russians came on. When they reached the line of deserted foxholes, the Russians began to throw grenades in the foxholes and increase their rate of fire. As it became obvious that there was no one there, the Russian officers began to shout orders and attempt to regain control of their men. It was while the Russians were milling about in an effort to reorganize and reorient for their next move that Polgar hit them. As before, the infantry set off several Claymore antipersonnel mines followed by machine-gun and automatic-rifle fire. As the Russians were in a line parallel to the new infantry position, rather than perpendicular as the first group of Russians had been in their column formation, the effects of the volley were far more devastating. Most of the officers went down fast. The Russian soldiers dropped down and began to exchange fire with the infantry. The disabled tank attempted to support from where it was by firing its main gun, but it did little good.
There began a deadly game of hide and seek. The Russians, lacking night vision devices, waited until an American infantryman fired. When he fired his first few shots, the Russian would orient his weapon to the general location that he had seen the muzzle flash. If the American did not move before he fired again, the Russian would take final aim and fire a burst. Doing this, however, exposed the Russians to the same risks and results. So the infantry battle bogged down into a fire fight with sporadic and violent exchanges of gunfire followed by brief pauses as both sides tried to fix new targets, followed again by a new exchange of gunfire as someone found a mark and fired.
Just as the infantry fight reached this standoff, a volley of Soviet artillery hit the trail junction in the center of the wood lot. Obviously, they wanted to isolate each element of the Team to keep it from shifting forces to reinforce an endangered sector. In this manner, if one of Team Yankee's elements beat back one of the three attacks, Bannon would not be able to use the people thus freed to help defend against one of the other two Soviet attacks. The Soviet battalion commander who had come up with this plan was good. He knew his business and was playing all of his pieces well.
As if the impacting artillery was a signal, the infantry advancing on 55 and 31 began to pick up their pace to a trot. As they were not masked, Bannon ordered the crews of 55 and 31 to unmask and prepare to fire when the T-72s were at 700 meters. He issued the fire command and watched as the gunner laid on the T-72. It was becoming quite large, taking up most of the sight. Hitting it would not be the problem. Killing it was his concern. The gunner hit his laser range finder button with his thumb. The range return digits in the bottom of Bannon's extension showed 750 meters. They sat and watched the tank advance. It rumbled along, straining to hold back behind the line of infantry. The gunner ranged again. 720 meters. Almost there. The tank continued to advance. A large inanimate object whose sole purpose was to kill Americans. Team Yankee. Bannon. The gunner ranged again. 690 meters! "FIRE!"
"ON THE WAAY!"
The flash, the recoil, and the blast broke the silence. Target! But the Russian kept coming, turning his gun toward 55. "TARGET! REENGAGE-FIRE!"
"UP! "
"ON THE WAY!"
Again the flash, the recoil, and the blast announced the firing of a main gun round. Again 55 hit the T-72. Still it kept coming. Not only coming, but returning fire. The 55 shuddered in almost the same instant that the T-72 fired.
The loader looked and yelled, "WHAT'S THAT?"
"NEVER MIND." 55 had been hit. "ARE YOU UP?"
"UPS"
"FIRE!"
"ON THE WAY!"
The 55's efforts were finally rewarded. The third round found its mark. The tank commander's hatch on the T-72 was blown open. A fireball rose above the battlefield and was followed by a sheet of flame. The T-72 was dead. The range showing at the bottom of extension was 610 meters. Bannon stuck his head out of the hatch to see what 31 was up to. Its T-72 was also burning. Steady streams of tracers from 31's COAX, loader's machine gun, and caliber .50 were raking the line of Soviet infantry. Already most of them had gone to ground, either dead or trying to keep from becoming that way. Two of the BTRs were starting to fire at 31. Bannon decided to take them out first. Grabbing the override, he slued the turret to the left.
"GUNNER-HEAT-TWO BTRS-LEFT BTR!"
"UPS"
"IDENTIFIED! "
"FIRE!"
The first HEAT round found its mark just below the small turret on the BTR. The impact and the internal explosions caused the BTR to swerve to the left and out of the battle. Both the gunner and Bannon yelled target at the same instant. Without waiting, the gunner laid his sights on the next BTR and yelled "IDENTIFIED!" Once the loader gave an up, Bannon gave the command to fire, and another BTR was dispatched.
Garger surveyed the scene before him. This was becoming all too easy. Both 55 and 31 sat there as if they were on a gunnery range firing at cardboard and plywood targets instead of real people and vehicles.
All three of his machine guns were firing, each one covering a different area. The flames from the burning T-72 provided more than enough light for him and his gunner to fire without the use of night vision devices. A move on the part of the Russians was rewarded by a hail of machine-gun fire. When he couldn't see any movement, he fired at the forms he saw lying on the ground. No doubt he was hacking away at men who Nwere already dead.
When he became bored with that, he personally turned the caliber .50 on a BTR. It was something new and would be challenging. At Knox he had been taught that a caliber .50 could take out a BTR. Here was the perfect opportunity to learn if that was true.
As Bannon was preparing to engage his next target, he noticed that 31 was engaging a BTR with the caliber .50. The rounds were hitting but causing little damage. As a way of reminding Garger to get back to concentrating on pinning the infantry, he turned 55's main gun on the BTR that the lieutenant was trying to destroy with his fifty. One HEAT round was all it took.
Newman informed Bannon that 55 was out of HEAT and down to nine SABOT rounds. As he didn't want to waste those on BTRs, he ordered the loader to load a SABOT round but not to arm the gun. Then he ordered 31 to switch roles with 55. Garger was to work on the l
ast of the BTRs, and 55 would pin the infantry. Garger's reply betrayed his joy. As 31 had, 55 divided its fire into sectors. The gunner engaged the troops to the front and right. The loader manned his machine gun and fired at the troops to the left. When his crew began to fire, Bannon called Uleski and Polgar for an update.
The infantry was still engaged in a standoff fire fight; Just as a Russian officer or NCO would get some of their troops moving, a volley of fire from the infantry would drive them to ground.
The Russian leaders would have to start all over again. Polgar decided to break the deadlock. He sent his Dragon gunner on a wide sweep around the flank to destroy the two Russian tanks. Two other men, each carrying an extra Dragon round, also went to provide cover to the gunner. One of them was Kelp, who volunteered when he heard Polgar giving the order to the Dragon gunner.
The three-man team dropped back a short distance while the rest of the infantry line increased their fire to cover the move. The Dragon gunner, a specialist 4 named Sanders, led the other two as they circled around the fire fight, using the sound and the gun flashes to guide on. When the lead Soviet tank fired, Sanders would reorient himself on his objective and continue. They were going to go for the second tank first because it was still fully capable and therefore more dangerous. The crippled tank could be dispatched at their leisure.
They closed in on the second tank from behind. It was apparently wedged in between some trees and unable to move forward or backwards. Sanders watched for a moment and then moved to a spot where the trees and branches would not interfere with his wireguided missile. He carefully set up his weapon as if he was on a shooting range. When he had the thermal tracker sighted in on the rear of the Soviet-tank, he let the missile fly. The missile was launched with a flash and whoosh followed by the igniting of the Dragon's rocket and the pop-pop-pop of the small guidance jets. The impact lit up the surrounding area and immediately ignited fires in the tank's engine compartment. One Soviet tank was down with another to go.
As he was maneuvering against the crippled tank, a lone figure stood up in front of Sanders at a distance of five meters and fired his AK into his chest. Kelp leveled his submachine gun and in turn cut down the lone figure. Both Kelp and the other infantryman, a private as young as Kelp by the name of McCauley, stood there frozen as they waited to see if any other Russians would pop up. Once they were satisfied that the Russian had been alone, the two knelt beside Sanders' body.
In the darkness Kelp felt for his pulse, first on his wrist, then in his neck. There was none.
"He's dead."
"How do you know?" asked McCauley.
"I know. He's dead." At nineteen, Kelp was fast becoming an expert on death. "Do you know how to work that thing?"
"Yeah. We had a class on it once. I think I can do it. But I ain't sure how we're going to get around to the other tank. There may be more Russians." "You just get that thing and follow ole Kelp here. I'll get you to the Russians' back door."
With that, the two privates set out in the dark hunting for the second tank.
The sound of the infantry's fire fight followed by the artillery barrage and then the firing of 55 and 31 began to unnerve Uleski. It wasn't easy to stand there in the dark, listening to the sounds of a battle immediately to the rear while watching a hundred trained soldiers, whose sole intent was to kill you, calmly advance on your position. Not that Uleski had any doubt about the outcome. Unless there were tanks in the far tree line, the infantry would be no match for the tanks and PCs. Uleski was simply getting impatient. He wanted, as did everyone else, to get on with it. Now. The nausea and fear that had crippled him during the first battle were not present this time.
Instead, a hatred was welling up in him. As he watched the advance, he pounded the fist of his good hand against the roof of the PC. The image of the dead and wounded men scattered about 55 after the second attack on the first day flashed through his mind, flaming his hatred into an open rage. Quietly, the easygoing, fun-loving XO began softly to repeat,
"Come on, you mothers, come on and die."
The column of Russian infantry began to deploy into platoon columns. Their advance was at a nice steady walk. They were in no hurry to join the chaos in the woods on which they were advancing. It seemed to Uleski as he watched that this group of Russians would be just as happy if they arrived in time to help with the body count and not a minute sooner. There was definitely a lack of gung-ho spirit here.
Uleski had his PC turned sideways in a depression near the tree line. One of the infantrymen who had been on the OP and the PC driver were standing up, hanging out of the cargo hatch, their M 16s resting on the side of the PC. The PC commander had the caliber .50 over the side, locked and loaded. Several boxes of additional ammunition were opened and ready at an arm's distance. A loaded M 16 lay on the roof of the PC next to Uleskifs good arm. When the time came, he had every intention of joining the killing. The other PC with the second man from the OP was also ready, in position to the left of Uleski. The two tanks were deployed to the right of the PCs, ready to engage the infantry or any tanks that popped out and surprised them.
When the Russians were about three hundred meters from the PCs, Uleski gave the order to fire. Eight machine guns and four M 16s cut loose, unleashing a hail of tracers and lead that peppered the deploying Russians. For a moment they stood there transfixed, unable to comprehend what was happening to them. Uleski watched through his night vision goggles as some of the Russians first ran one way, then the other, before going to ground for cover.
Officers would try to rally their men and drive them on, only to be cut down as the machine guns from the tanks and PCs raked the area with steady, measured bursts of fire. Uleski decided that this was a green unit and tonight was its baptism by fire. A smile came across his face. Quietly, he said to himself as he picked up the M16, "So be it. You shall be baptized in blood." Robert Uleski, good-natured Ski, had become a cold and hard man.
As with the infantry fire fight, once the Russians went to ground, an impasse seemed to settle in. The Russians stayed where they were while the PCs and tanks were unable to finish the prone figures off. Uleski was too impatient for this. After emptying the magazine of the M 16, he decided to break the deadlock. He ordered the two tanks to move out and make a sweep of the area where the Russians were pinned. Hebrock protested that there could be tanks or antitank guided missile teams in the woods across the way. But Uleski would not hear of it. He wanted the Russians swept away and swept away now. Besides, if there had been tanks or antitank guided missiles in support of the attack, they would have fired by now.
Hebrock and the 22 tank cranked up and moved out. Swinging out wide and then turning north, the two tanks slowly began to advance side by side. They sprayed their machine guns to their front as if they were spraying for insects. The fury of their first fire and the irresistible advance of the steel monsters was too much for some of the Russians. They got up and began to withdraw, some without their weapons. The PCs watched, waiting for such targets.
When the Russians got up, the riflemen and machine gunners cut them down. When the tanks reached the end of the area where the Russians had gone to ground, they swung around and went back through the area again, searching out those who had survived the first run. Most of those who were still alive played dead. They would wait till later to make good their escape.
With no more targets, Uleski ordered the tanks to their alternate positions. He also moved the two PCs. Once his repositioning was finished, and quiet returned to his sector, he reported the status of his element to Bannon.
Potecknov was not at all pleased with the progress, or more correctly, the lack of progress that his companies were making. From the village he watched the destruction of the tanks and BTRs followed by the methodical massacre of his troops. Although he could see his officers attempting to get the men up and moving, it was to no avail. The officers were cut down, and the men, seeing that, decided that it was unwise to expose themselves.
Uleski's report found 55 and 31 in the same type of stalemate that he had been in before the counterattack by 24 and 22. Bannon had monitored that action and pondered doing the same thing. Tanks 55 and 31 had destroyed six BTRs in addition to the two tanks. Two BTRs and some of the infantry in the second line had managed to pull back into the village.
The surviving first-line infantry were on the ground and dispersed. Those near the burning vehicles attempted to crawl away from the light and heat created by the fires. Sometimes their efforts were rewarded by a burst of fire from either 55 or 31.
Earlier in the fight a few stout-hearted souls had attempted to engage 55 and 31 with RPGs.
Quick reaction ended these efforts.
While there was no longer any return fire from the line of pinned Russian infantry, Bannon knew there were many of them who were still alive. If they stayed out there or withdrew to the village, they would be of no immediate concern. But if some of their officers were able to rally a few men and slip around to the rear, 55 and 31 would be in danger.
The shifting of the heavy artillery barrage from the trail junction to the tree line, where 55 and 31 were located, decided the next move. Rather than sit there and be pounded, 55 and 31 were going to attack.
