by James Rosone
BAM!....Boom!
All three rockets struck their targets, and the tanks immediately began to explode as their ammunition started to cook off.
Red and green tracers and thousands of bullets were flying through the air, crisscrossing back and forth between the Marines, IDF and Chinese as the infantry continued to advance. Slowly and steadily, the Chinese soldiers pushed forward until the two groups were within fifty meters of each other, throwing grenades and shooting each other up close and personal. While the Marines and IDF soldiers were heavily engaged with the Chinese soldiers to their immediate front, a massive human wave of soldiers was forming further behind the Chinese lines.
The whistling of artillery could be heard as the Chinese began to land additional high explosive rounds amongst their own soldiers in an attempt to kill more Marines and Israeli soldiers. Their horde rushed forward. Somehow the Marines and Israelis had managed to recover from this latest round of attack; they started killing off the remaining Chinese soldiers in front of them. Before another minute had gone by though, they looked up to see a massive swarm of new soldiers screaming at the top of their lungs, headed right for them.
Thornton immediately got on the radio. “This is Gunny Thornton. We need artillery and mortar support now! Engage in predetermined pattern Bravo.” He shouted to the Company’s artillery LNO.
Hitting the button on his BH, he switched over to address his men, “Engage them from maximum range, and be prepared for hand-to-hand combat if necessary.”
Just as the Chinese got to within 200 meters of the Marines position, dozens of artillery and mortar rounds started to land all around the Chinese soldiers, decimating their ranks. Bodies were being flung around like rag dolls as 155mm artillery rounds and 81mm mortar rounds continued to rain down on the Chinese. As the fighters got closer to the Marine positions, it quickly became apparent they were really going to have to fight them hand-to-hand.
During the equipment refit several weeks ago, the Marines had been issued World War I style trench knives, which amounted to brass knuckles with a six-inch blade for close quarters fighting. The trench knives were strapped to the left or right boot of the Marine, depending on which hand was dominant. Some Marines even carried one on each boot. As the Chinese neared their positions with their bayonets fixed, the Marines parried their lunges and reached for their trench knives. The fighting quickly devolved into primal bloody combat as the Israelis and the Marines grappled for their very lives.
After nearly three hours of fighting and ten minutes of hand-to-hand conflict, the Chinese fell back to their old positions under the cover of a short artillery barrage. Up until now, the PLA had not fought against a well-trained and determined enemy. They were starting to find out just how tough the Americans and Israelis really were as thousands of their fellow countrymen lay dead, wounded and torn apart all across the ground between their positions and the Americans.
By the time the battle was over, Gunny Thornton could see he was down another nine Marines killed and nineteen injured. Of the nineteen wounded, twelve had to be moved back to the aid stations and would not be returning. His platoon had just gone from fifty-two Marines to twenty-four. He reported his losses to headquarters and requested additional reinforcements or a replacement platoon be sent forward. The Israelis still had close to a hundred able bodied soldiers, though they had taken close to ninety casualties as well.
Gunny Thornton’s platoon was ordered to fall back to battalion headquarters with the rest of the company. Another platoon was moving in to their position. One of the three remaining officers in the company had been killed, while another had been wounded, leaving the newest officer (a second lieutenant who had only been with the company for five days) in charge.
*******
As Thornton was sitting with his platoon cleaning their weapons after the morning fight, he saw a major walking towards him. Then he noticed the man was his old lieutenant, Jack Lee. “Sir, it’s good to see you. Congratulations on the promotion. A major now, eh?” Gunny Thornton said with a warm smile and a handshake. No one dared salute an officer near the frontlines, it identified them as someone important and made them a target for snipers.
“It’s good to see you to Joe; I’m glad you’ve made it through all of this. Our company has taken so many losses since we arrived here last month,” Major Lee replied.
“It has been rough, but we are still here. What brings you over to my platoon?” asked Thornton.
“Well, I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?” asked Major Lee.
“Ah. Give me the good news. I’ve had plenty of bad news lately.”
Smiling, Major Lee said, “Congratulations, you’ve been given a battlefield commission. You’ve officially been promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
With a look of surprise, and eyes wide as saucers he managed to stammer, “What? I was just promoted to Gunnery Sergeant.”
Knowing Thornton might not be happy with a commission, Lee went on to explain the decision. “The Marines have taken some terrible losses, and you know that as well as anyone else. We’ve also lost a lot of Marine officers. Your company is a case in point. You should have five officers in your company; instead you only had three, and all were replacements. Now you are down to one, and he’s a brand new guy fresh out of officer training school. You are a damn good Marine Thornton. When asked who I would promote to officer out of your company, you were top of my list. That is why you are being promoted to 1st Lieutenant. You will be taking over command of the company. I’m also promoting two more senior NCOs in the company as well. We need more officers and NCOs…right now we are short on both,” Major Lee said. There was just a hint of sternness in his voice, enough to convey that he did not have a choice in the matter.
Joe could see that Major Lee might just be a little annoyed at him for not being more excited about this promotion. He had probably stuck his neck out to get him moved up the ranks, and now it might appear that he was wrong. Joe moved to correct the direction of the conversation. “Thank you for the promotion sir. I did not mean to come across as ungrateful; I was just a bit surprised.”
Major Lee was relieved Thornton was not going to make a bigger issue out of this and continued, “It will be an adjustment, but I am confident you will rise to the challenge and lead your company. You will need to make sure you attend the daily command briefings or send someone in your place. I’m transferring a senior first sergeant to your company to help you out with the administrative part. He knows you’ve just been promoted, so you do not need to explain anything to him. I also wanted to let you know that you have been awarded three medals: A Silver Star for combat action during the battle for Be’er Sheva, a Bronze Star for action during the capture of the Suez Canal, and the Purple Heart for that shrapnel you got in your arm during the battle for Be’er Sheva. We will try to hold a ceremony for everyone being awarded medals in the near future.”
“Wow, thank you Sir, I am not sure what to say to that, other than I was just doing my job, and so were my Marines,” 1st lieutenant Thornton replied.
“A lot of Marines did their duty, and a lot of them are going to be recognized for it. Before I leave I have one more piece of bad information I need to give you. Our battalion is being moved to the rear to be reinforced. Once we have received our replacements, we will be shifting positions and moving north as an anti-tank unit to support the armor as they fight the Russians.”
“Well, it’s not as bad as I thought--fighting Russians or fighting Chinese does not really matter. Either one can kill you just the same,” Thornton said, resigned to their fate.
With the business of promoting Thornton done, Major Lee moved on to find the other two NCOs he was turning into officers as well. The Marines had lost close to 5,548 personnel and another 12,321 were too injured to fight since the start of the war in Israel. Senior NCOs and officers were in short supply, which was why battlefield promotions were being awarded quickly as new replacements continued to arr
ive. Lieutenants who showed promise and initiative were being promoted to take over companies, or in Jack Lee’s case, his battalion.
The Coming Freeze
30 January 2041
Poznan, Poland
General Schoen’s Headquarters
General Schoen’s 10th Panzer Division had held the Russians for over a month. They had conducted attack and counterattack operations against the Russian 3rd Shock Army and successfully slowed the Russians down, but not stopped them. The 13th Panzer Division had been mauled pretty badly in the south of Poland, and was being consolidated into the 10th under General Schoen. The German and Polish Armies had lost control of Warsaw and Krakow, along with two divisions of German light infantry in the process.
The Polish had lost most of their army near Bialystok when the 3rd Shock Army was able to break through the German 4th Infantry Division and had surrounded 82,000 Polish and 32,000 German soldiers. They held out for five days of heavy fighting before surrendering to the Russians, collapsing the Polish northern defensive positions. The Russians were now less than 20 miles from the German border, with only the 13th Panzer Division left between them and Germany. The American Fifth Army was still consolidating east of Berlin to go on the offense, but had detached the 12th Armored Division to reinforce General Schoen. The 12th Armored Division was the one American division that was made up solely of the new Pershing tanks. These tanks were beasts and more than capable of engaging a numerically superior force and defeating it. The division was also augmented with an artillery brigade, which consisted of the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled 155mm artillery, and the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), which could fire twelve rockets in less than 40 seconds. One M270 vehicle could saturate one-square mile with high-explosive cluster munitions or anti-tank bomblets or mines. With one battalion of MLRSs and two battalions of M109A6 Paladins, the division had a serious punch to it.
With the addition of the American 12th Armored Division, General Schoen had been able to stop the Russian advance for the moment. Then the winter storms blew in with a flurry and shut down all military operations.
*****
Over the past decade, the global climate had changed due to the Indian-Pakistan nuclear war; the conflict had blown an immense amount of dust particulars into the atmosphere. This caused global temperatures to drop three full degrees, and increased both the North and South polar caps. It had changed the weather enough that it had caused once fertile lands to have shorter growing seasons and others to have longer growing seasons with the shifts in the jet stream.
During the Indian-Pakistan war, there were over 150 nuclear weapons used, each ranging in the 10 kiloton to 30 kiloton range (most were ground burst detonations, which sent far more dirt particles into the air than a traditional air burst). When New York and Baltimore were nuked, they were each hit by 50 kiloton warheads; both were ground bursts, throwing tremendous amounts of dust into the atmosphere. The United States had responded by hitting North Africa and the Middle East with over 130 nuclear warheads in the range of 100 kilotons to 300 kilotons (all of which were air bursts, since the President had wanted to minimize damage to the environment). Fortunately, the neutron bombs did not leave any fallout beyond their initial lethal radiation, considering these were significantly larger nuclear weapons.
The increased fallout from the American bombs had thrown an enormous amount of particulates into the upper atmosphere. The results were even worse where they had been used over desert and more arid land. This soon began to wreak havoc on the environment, and actually dropped the global temperature another five degrees Fahrenheit. Where it used to be in the upper nineties in Florida during the summer, it was now in the upper eighties. This drop in temperature and change in the jet stream (in addition to the immense amount of moisture that was thrown into the atmosphere from the New York bomb as it detonated in the harbor) had caused dozens of blizzards across the Northern hemisphere.
In February and March of ‘41, numerous whiteout epic snowstorms struck the battlefields of Europe, forcing (in many cases) the battles to grind to a halt. Most of the Allied and even Axis equipment could operate in a blizzard, but the logistics of trying to coordinate large scale armies through blinding snow that was accumulating at speeds making it nearly impossible for supply vehicles to move, forced the warring parties to hunker down and wait out the weather. Fortunately, the meteorological conditions were giving the Allies the time they needed to continue moving additional armored forces and equipment to southern France and England.
The Sixth and Seventh Armies were still forming and using the blizzards to their full advantage. It would still be near the end of summer before these two armies were at 100%, but they could be used significantly sooner if need be. Alaska and the Pacific Northwest were also getting hammered with snow. This was slowing down the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to build the intricate defensive network they needed to repel any potential invasion by China or Russia.
Spetsnaz
Three Months Later
26 March 2041
Boeing Aircraft Plant Kansas City, Kansas
Vice Presidential Speech
Vice President Michael Kern had been on a public speaking tour across the US, rallying support for the war and encouraging the American people. Kern had known Henry Stein for nearly twenty years before they ran for public office together. Kern had been a partner at a law firm that worked with President Stein’s corporation as it evolved and grew over the years. Henry had made most of his money in real estate and urban development, turning blighted neighborhoods into family friendly locations with lots of parks and green spaces. He had also become quite adept at investing, and started a private equity (PE) company that was separate from his real estate business. As one business grew, so too did the other, until Stein’s PE company reached $4.8 Billion in holdings. He timed the market right during the economic collapse in the 2020s, and while everyone was selling their stocks off, his PE company went on a buying spree, and so did his real estate company. When the economy did turn around, he had netted his investors a whopping 428% return in two years.
President Stein had picked Kern to be his VP because he wanted someone with a business law background. One of the first priorities and responsibilities given to VP Kern was to streamline the government rules and regulations governing the economy. Over-regulation had stifled economic growth and made it harder for businesses to remain profitable; it was a jobs killer that needed to be corrected. Kern was a charismatic man, an exceptional public speaker, and had an ability to connect with people, even in a large crowd. With the war moving into its fifth month, the President wanted his VP out among the people, growing the Freedom Party’s reputation and cultivating a positive environment despite the war and the high casualties.
VP Kern had been making a televised speech at the newly expanded Boeing aircraft plant in Kansas City, KA. Boeing had added 4,600 new high paying manufacturing jobs to the city, and had plans to double that number by the end of the following year. With the horrific aircraft losses occurring in the Middle East and Europe, the demand for F22s, JF35s, and the entire suite of fighter and bomber drones was enormous. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman could not handle the demand either; both companies had begun expanding their own manufacturing capabilities. This particular Boeing plant was going to be responsible for producing the latest Boeing fighter drones. The government had recognized that drones were faster and cheaper to produce, so they had placed an order for 16,000 units to be delivered as soon as possible.
*******
While VP Kern was making his televised speech, a team of eight Spetsnaz soldiers began to set their ambush site for the VPs motorcade. The VP was traveling with the Secretary of Transportation, so being able to kill them both was a bonus. The night before the motorcade was to travel this particular route to the airport, one of the Spetsnaz members had attached several blocks of C4 plastic explosives to the manhole covers along the VPs route. The explosion would destroy the lead v
ehicle and blow a hole in the road, making it impossible to pass. Then a second detonation 50 yards behind the first would occur, completely trapping the motorcade.
Once the motorcade was trapped, the plan was for several members to engage the vehicles with RPG7s and two heavy machine guns. If all went according to plan, the attack should take no longer than three to five minutes, tops. This particular Spetsnaz team had been designated to conduct political assassinations. They had already managed to kill a US Senator and one Supreme Court Judge. They were nearly captured during their last mission and had barely escaped. They spent the last five weeks laying low at a country farm in Missouri, until their handler contacted them and gave them the details for the VPs trip to the Boeing plant. They had exactly three days to move to the target location, identify how they would attack Kern and figure out how they were going to get away.
It was a tough assignment--one they were not sure they would survive. Then again, the opportunity to assassinate the Vice President was too big of an opportunity to not take the chance. That was after all, the height of their glory and their legacy, to hit the most influential target possible. After surveying the routes to and from the airport, they determined that the Secret Service would most likely use the frontage road along the interstate on their way to the airport; the interstate had had one lane closed for construction. Too many dangers could be hidden in a construction site for the Secret Service to take a chance driving along it, they would opt for the frontage road.
This smaller parallel route was flanked with some small industrial buildings and a forest preserve on the opposite side. This window provided them with the best position from which to launch an attack, hopefully allowing them to escape via the heavily wooded area. With the attack mapped out, now they just had to wait.
*******
“That was a great speech Mr. Vice President,” said one of his aides as he took the VP’s jacket from him before entering the SUV for the airport.
