by Rosone,James
The battle was violent and quick, with the majority of Russian vehicles being completely destroyed. The Americans captured 63 prisoners, most of them wounded. All told, McQueen and the QRF had lost four Pershings, six IFVs and twenty-one soldiers killed, with another nineteen wounded. It had been a tough skirmish and they had really flattened this little area of the city in the process, but at the end of the day, they had secured their objective and removed a potential threat to their rear area and supply lines.
Grid Attack
31 October 2041
Ft. Meade, Maryland
Neven Jackson had found a way into the Chinese exoskeleton operating system and placed a zero-day malware protocol in place to disable them at the worst possible time, during an invasion when many thousands of soldiers would be wearing them. Now he had been given the task of supporting the NATO counter-attack in Germany against the Russians.
Neven was a gifted hacker, something of a prodigy. He also got bored quickly if he was not challenged, so his superiors had dreamed up a new experiment for him. He was to hack into the Russian air defense system and bring it down. He had two days and an unlimited supply of energy drinks and M&Ms to accomplish this task. In just five hours, he had found his way in. It was complicated at first, but once he found out who built the system, he looked around until he found a supplier to the air defense company who did not have a very good IT security structure but still had access to the systems. He had hit pay dirt with this one. Not only did the supplier have access to the defense contractor, it had nearly unfettered access. This was almost too easy.
He quickly navigated through the various security systems, ensuring that he was covering his tracks with each successive move, deleting logs and digital footprints as he weaved his way through the net. After spending nearly an hour looking through the various programs and projects with a Russian linguist sitting next to him, they found the specific program they were looking for. With a few clicks of his mouse, he was in. Neven alerted his supervisors, “Hey, I’m in. What do you want me to do now?”
His boss had thought this project was going to be nearly impossible, but somehow Neven had managed to break through the system in less than six hours. Now they had to coordinate with a few others and determine what in the air defense system they wanted to attack and when. It would do no good to take the system down if the Air Force and Navy were not ready to exploit the vulnerability.
The intelligence at hand revealed that the Russian air defense system for the country was broken down into various sectors, so they were able to develop a more precise cyber-attack. The goal was not to take down the entire Russian air defense; this would cause the Russian government to go into a panic, and potentially escalate the war from a conventional one to nuclear warfare, which they wanted to avoid. Instead, they would take down the air defense zones covering Germany, and then place backdoor access and zero-day malware in every other air defense zone across Russia. When the time was right, they could shut down an air corridor for aircraft or cruise missiles to fly through, undeterred. However, that attack would have to wait.
On the morning of the NATO offensive, Russian air defense operators all across Germany suddenly saw their computer screens go blank and then turn back on to show massive air armadas flying in from across the North Sea and Denmark, and then across Southern Europe. Just as the operators were scrambling all available aircraft to those locations, their screens flickered again and the images were suddenly replaced with a photo of David Hasselhoff, shirtless, laying on the ground with a bunch of puppies. The Russian operators did not know what to think or do.
The cyber-attack against the air defense grid had worked marvelously; it took the Russians nearly sixteen hours to get their backup system up and running. In that timeframe, the NATO air forces had mauled the Russian armored units all across Germany, destroying numerous enemy air bases and shooting down hundreds of enemy aircraft. The air campaign had been a huge success, making it possible for Field Marshal Schoen’s Army Group and the 2nd AD to punch a massive hole through the Russian lines and secure a new line that stretched all the way to Leipzig. This forced the 1st Shock Army to have to fall back to the Potsdam area, sacrificing months’ worth of gains they had previously made.
Fighting Retreat
November 2041
Alaska
By the end of October, the Chinese had managed to land nearly two million soldiers in Alaska. Prior to the full onset of winter, the Chinese had made one final hard push to capture the Susitna defensive line and the mountain ranges at Cooper Landing. During the ten-day battle that ensued, the Chinese were able to break through the Susitna line and drive the Americans back to the outskirts of Anchorage. With their northern flank collapsing, General Black was forced to withdraw his forces at Cooper Landing in order to avoid having them being surrounded and cut off. He ordered a full retreat of the American Second Army, falling back to the eastern most part of Alaska and the State of Yukon.
Despite a valiant effort by the 5th Marine Division, they were ordered to withdraw with the rest of the Second Army so that they did not get cut off. The Russians had been nowhere near capturing Fairbanks, but with the loss of Anchorage, it would not be long before the Chinese were able to roll up and cut off the Marines from being able to retreat. Being a Marine himself, General Black was not about to leave behind an entire Marine division.
*******
General Black had pulled the Second Army back to Glacier View, about 40 miles east of Anchorage. He had also pulled the 5th Marine Division to Cartwell to act as a blocking force while the 12th Infantry Division moved to Fairbanks. They were hoping to keep the Russians busy while the engineers continued to destroy Route 2 and implode several of the mountain passes, making it much more difficult for the Russians to transport their army or supplies. Since the 12th was the one division that was fully equipped with the Raptor combat suits and the new Wolverine IFVs, it would be incumbent on them to buy the engineers the time they needed to complete their work and then conduct a fighting retreat down to Cartwell in order to link up with the Marines.
Lieutenant Allen did not feel comfortable at all with their new assignment. Their division was essentially being thrown out there as a glorified speed bump against a Russian army that outnumbered them by nearly 28:1. The Russians had shifted their focus from Europe to Alaska, which meant more troops and resources had arrived in Alaska over the last few months. As the Marines pulled out, the Russians slowly moved in.
Lieutenant Allen’s platoon had been given a hilltop a couple of miles away from the Fairbanks Airport to defend. Below them was the road junction between Route 2 and Route 3, a key throughway for moving around the interior of Alaska. Their platoon would be one of the first sections to be hit when the Russians showed up. As the remaining Marines moved through their lines, they passed along as much information as they could about the Russians they would be facing. They learned that several of the Russian units were using their own exoskeleton suits.
Allen immediately ordered his platoon to begin digging in, setting up prepositioned artillery plots, claymore anti-personnel mines and plenty of ammunition. Fortunately, an engineering platoon joined them and immediately began to construct a number of artillery bunkers. Intelligence said they probably had a couple of days, maybe a week at most before they could expect to see Russian units starting to show up in force. The engineers dug out several “hull down” positions for the Wolverines to settle into so they would have some protection from the inevitable artillery while still being able to provide accurate ground and air defense support.
Within a day, Russian drones, fighters and helicopters were spotted flying within the air defense zone; with their fifteen-mile range, the Wolverines put their railguns to work to create a virtual shield in the sky. The Russian aircraft retreated; they returned in short bursts to launch standoff missiles and cruise missiles to attack the American positions. Fortunately, the Wolverines were easily able to shoot the projectiles down as they flew.<
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Five days into their defensive operation, Allen’s platoon encountered their first Russian soldiers. The spotters determined that this was a small platoon, no more than forty fighters; they must have been there as a sort of probing force, scouting out the area. That small of a group barely put up any fight to Allen’s crew in their exoskeleton suits; however, it was only a matter of time before more soldiers arrived.
SFC Jenkins approached the back of the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) to see if he could find Lieutenant Allen. Jenkins thought the LT was a good guy--a lot younger than he was, but so were most soldiers in the army these days. At least the LT had seen plenty of combat, so Jenkins was pretty confident that he knew what he was doing when he gave orders. Unlike most of the new lieutenants who had just graduated ROTC or were being rushed through officer training school, at least the mavericks (the guys who received battlefield promotions) knew what they were doing.
As Jenkins turned the corner around a cluster of computer consoles, he spotted LT Allen talking to his CO. He walked over towards him to get his attention. “Excuse me Lieutenant, our scouts have spotted a large unit of soldiers heading towards our position. The First Sergeant said to come get you.” As he spoke, SFC Jenkins pulled out a fresh cigarette.
Every time LT Allen faced a battle, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his body; his heart started beating faster, his hands became sweaty, and it felt like butterflies were flitting through his stomach. He wasn’t a coward, but he had a healthy respect for the seriousness of the situation. He tried to conceal these reactions; as he turned back to Captain Shiller, he was as cool as a cucumber. “It looks like I better get back before the fireworks start, Sir. Is there anything else I should know before I head off?”
Captain Shiller shook his head. “Just remember, we have very limited air support. Rely mostly on your artillery. I’ve been assured that if we really need air support, there are some Razorbacks in the area that we can call in. However, they are limited in number, and they are supporting the entire front. It will really depend on what you are facing as to how quickly and how much support may arrive. Good luck, and hopefully I’ll see you at the next commander’s call tomorrow, if they don’t hit us too hard today.”
The Captain turned and began to bark orders to the soldiers nearby to get ready for the pending attack.
As Allen and the SFC Jenkins walked quickly back to their platoon positions, Allen asked, “Where is the First Sergeant now?”
“He’s at bunker one; he was making sure everyone had eaten when the report came in from the scouts.” Jenkins read through some information on his tablet before continuing, “They have spotted about a brigade-sized element heading our way. It looks to be about one armor battalion and two light infantry battalions. One of the infantry battalions appears to have the exoskeleton suits—that’s going to hurt. At least the others are just regular infantry.” SFC Jenkins continued puffing away on his cigarette as they walked, snuffing it out with his boot as they got closer to the frontlines. He realized that there was no reason to give up his position to a sniper by walking around with a lit up cigarette. Besides, he would have to be suiting up with his helmet shortly.
“Are these tanks something we should worry about, or can the Wolverines handle them?” asked Allen. He wondered if they were going to need that air support already.
“They appear to be T14 Armatas--not the T38s or T41s--so we should be fine once they start to show up,” Jenkins said confidently.
The T14 Armata was a formidable tank. It first came on to the scene back in the 2010s, but it had gone through several generation upgrades through the years. However, despite using reactive armor, it still could not stop a 20mm projectile traveling at Mach 10, which made it vulnerable to American attack.
As the two of them approached bunker one, they could see the First Sergeant talking on the radio to the scouts. Off in the distance, they could hear the low rumble of the enemy tanks as they approached through the valley.
When they got a little closer, they could hear what the First Sergeant was saying. “Copy that. Sending artillery to Tango 5 and Tango 7. Standby.” Then he picked up a different radio handset and began to relay the information to the Fire Support Team LNO. Within a couple of minutes, they could hear the distant sound of three artillery guns firing; seconds later, they could hear the whistle of the rounds as they flew over their heads headed towards the pre-determined targets.
Off in the distance, they could hear the explosions as the artillery rounds began to land on the other side of the valley. They could see several glowing fireballs rise high into the sky, indicating direct hits on tanks, fuel tankers or ammo carriers.
The radio crackled to life, the scouts came over the wire, “Gun bunnies, direct hit! Fire again, same trajectory.”
The First Sergeant picked up the radio set again and called the FIST, “Last rounds were direct hit. Fire for effect. Intermix the rounds with WP and airburst rounds.” This call to fire for effect meant that the entire battalion of eighteen guns would fire between three and five rounds each to blanket the area.
Within seconds, they could hear what sounded like a freight train flying over their heads heading towards the enemy positions. They could hear the concussions as the rounds began to impact on the other side of the valley. Shortly after the barrage was launched, a second set of whistling could be heard; the Russian artillery guns began their counter-battery fire, trying to hit the American guns that had just savaged their armored counter parts. The battle for Fairbanks had started in earnest.
A few minutes later, the lead enemy vehicles could be seen coming around the bend. They were no more than five miles away, and began to fan out into the valley heading towards their position. Artillery smoke rounds began to land all through the valley, blanketing it in a thick canvas of grey clouds that hung heavy to the ground, covering the advance of the enemy armored vehicles, tanks and infantry. Inside the Wolverine IFVs, the gunners quickly switched to their thermal imaging so that they could track the Russian tanks and IFVs heading towards their position. They quickly began to engage the enemy ranks.
Russian anti-tank missile teams began to fire off dozens of missiles in an attempt to take out the Wolverines. Fortunately, most of the Wolverines were in a hull down position, leaving only their turret exposed. As the missiles approached the Wolverines, the anti-tank missiles sprang into action, creating a veritable wall of protection approximately 1,000 feet away from the American lines.
Lieutenant Allen shouted at his soldiers, “Put on your helmets, and close up your suits, now! It’s time to show the world why the 32nd INF was the best in the world.”
In short order, hundreds of Russian soldiers were within five hundred yards of their position, desperately trying to close the gap to get in range of their own weapons. Wave after wave of Russian infantry charged across the valley with the support of their tanks and IFVs. Artillery cover was continuous, keeping the Wolverines so busy defending their positions that they barely had time to launch into offensive mode.
The first hour of the battle was pure murder; the Russian infantry had no chance of getting close enough to the American positions to utilize their weapons before they were being systematically picked off. The HUD system in the Raptor suit, along with the M5 AIR, enabled the Americans to identify and kill the enemy at ranges as far as 600 meters; this was well beyond the range of the Russian infantry. It was not until the Russians began to blanket the area with so much artillery fire that even the Wolverines couldn’t keep up with shooting down all the incoming rounds down that things began to change.
Within a couple of hours, several of Allen’s Wolverines had been taken out by artillery or one of the many waves of anti-tank missiles. Steadily, the Russian artillery and anti-tank missile waves were finally starting to work their way through the Wolverine anti-missile screen and score a lot more direct hits against Allen’s defensive positions. Several of his bunkers were destroyed; dozens of soldiers were starting
to get wounded as artillery rounds continued to land amongst their positions. Unless they received some serious help soon, they would be forced to withdraw back to another defensive position, ceding to the Russians a key piece of ground leading into Fairbanks.
Just as the situation was starting to look dim for Lieutenant Allen’s platoon, three Razorback helicopters swooped in low over the ridgeline to their left flank, and fired off a barrage of anti-personnel rockets and hellfire anti-tank missiles before ducking back below the ridgeline and moving off towards Ladd Army Airfield near Ft. Wainwright. This overwhelming barrage of missiles devastated the Russian advance, and forced them to retreat and regroup.
Lt. Allen seized on this opportunity to evacuate his wounded men and women from the front and reorganize their positions before the Russians came back. They needed to hold their position a little longer if possible.
Twenty-four hours after the first major attack against their lines, the rest of the Russian army began to arrive outside of Fairbanks. There was an increase in air activity, and a steady hammering of artillery against their positions. Allen knew this was going to be a tough battle ahead, and was determined to make the Russians pay for every inch of America they tried to take.
Through the display on his HUD, Allen received word that the engineers at the next position were almost done with their work. This meant that they could fall back soon and join the rest of the Marines in a fighting retreat out of the area to the next defensive position at Mt. McKinley. They just had to hold for two more days.
The Russians started their final assault against Lieutenant Allen’s position shortly after dawn. A massive artillery barrage vibrated the very fabric of the sky as it rushed towards the Americans. Then, wave after wave of light drone tanks and infantry, many of them using their own exoskeleton suits, swarmed towards Allen’s position. The infantrymen in the exo suits moved quickly, and needed to be the first ones taken out.
