by Mark Rounds
There were several clearings along each of the approach routes that would be suitable for a unit to stop and send out a patrol, depending on how cautious the enemy commander was.
She thought for a moment and then pointed to a clearing not too far back from the beginning of the ravine.
"We will set up our ambush there," she announced.
"Sergeant, why don't we cover that ravine instead?" asked one of her troopers. "The cover looks good and it seems to be the only route down to the road."
Patiently, using a tone of voice mothers use with recalcitrant children, Stoltz explained.
"Trooper, they can see that as well as you can,” she said. “They will stop behind the ravine and send in a couple of fools to see if they get shot. If we hold our fire, the odds are about fifty fifty that they will spot us. If they do, that means we get drawn into a fire fight where they have a firepower edge. We would accomplish our mission but at a much higher cost.
“To get off with limited casualties, we have to hit them when they don't expect it and at an angle that is hard to defend from. So, we will set up at the rear of that clearing and let them pass. Their attention will be focused toward the ravine, so they will probably pass us in a rush. They will set up their defense to cover their point team. For the most part, they will be looking away from us.
“But enough talk. Break down the two vehicle mounted MG-34's and carry them with us. Don't forget to bring a few mines and other toys."
Stoltz had her squad plus the driver and gunner from the halftrack follow her up the hill. She dropped off a couple troopers in the ravine to plant a few vehicle and anti-personnel mines in the ravine in case they got outflanked.
She hustled the rest of the squad up the hill and got them in place at the back of the clearing. She spent considerable time camouflaging her unit until they were almost invisible.
Betraying some nerves, Stoltz instructed those troopers who weren't serving machine guns to throw grenades at any other vehicles. The panzer faust team was told to concentrate on any armor that appeared. She also told the entire force to hold their fire until the grenades exploded to retain the maximum shock effect.
Finally, Stoltz sat with the troopers who were going to be throwing the grenades and told them she would fillet them if they so much as twitched before she gave the word. For emphasis she brandished a Bowie knife that was half a meter long. From the look in their eyes, you could see that they believed her.
Shortly, the two troopers who had been setting out the mines rejoined her little command. As soon as they were settled in, they began the waiting.
#
"That first action looked very good, Your Excellency," said Commodore Hong.
"A good start," said Taol's father as he permitted himself a sip of whiskey. "But that first rush was a calculated risk on both sides. It could have gone either way. They are now maneuvering for position. The actions of the next few minutes will decide the outcome of the game."
"I see,” said Commodore Hong scrutinizing the new positions, “It still seems strange to call a violent conflict between strangers a 'Game'."
"I know what you mean,” said Bernard thoughtfully, “Still, down through the ages people have referred to politics as a 'game'. The lives of far more people were settled in that type of conflict, than in these holocasts."
"True, it still doesn't set well with me."
"Me either," said Bernard.
#
Stoltz and her squad had been waiting for about ten minutes when the enemy probe came into to view. There were three vehicles visible. In the lead was a jeep mounting an M-2 fifty caliber machine gun and carrying a couple of Krasni troopers.
This was the first time most of them had seen the enemy. All of the Reaction Force was surprised at the Krasni's blocky, muscular stature. Even Stoltz doubted that even she could take one on in hand to hand combat.
The jeep pulled up to the edge of the ravine about twenty meters away and halted. There was some hurried discussion on the radio and then one of the Krasni stood up and moved back to the heavy machine gun. He then trained the weapon down the ravine with the ease of someone intimately familiar with his weapon.
The rest of the force soon broke out of the woods. It consisted of a halftrack and a Hellcat Tank destroyer. As Stoltz had predicted, they rushed past the cadet's concealed position with hardly a look. They pulled up even with the jeep and after a short discussion in Russian, a couple of troopers tumbled out of the halftrack. As they began heading down the ravine, Stoltz nodded and threw the first grenade.
The grenades landed almost simultaneously. Stoltz's grenade dropped neatly into the cargo compartment of the halftrack filled with enemy infantry. The armored walls of the vehicle contained the blast so that the only vent for the explosive energy of the grenade was straight up. Appendages that had recently belonged to Krasni infantry flew in several directions.
The other two grenades dropped near the same vehicle. The explosions blended together into one great roar and destroyed the track on one side of the vehicle.
Before the dust cleared the panzer faust team fired at the rear of the Krasni tank destroyer, ten meters away. The armor on the Hellcat was light from all aspects and most of what it did have was concentrated on the front of the vehicle. The HEAT warhead of the panzer faust penetrated through the engine compartment and into what would have been fuel storage, had this vehicle been powered by an internal combustion engine.
To make the battles more realistic, the Referees had planted explosives in vulnerable areas on the vehicle to simulate real vulnerabilities and to make vehicle hits more spectacular. The blast was truly impressive, although most of it went up and out. Two of the crewman from the demolished tank destroyer rolled over the side and were off into the brush.
As soon as the explosions stopped, the cadet's three MG-34's began to chew up what remained. Survivors and crew from the half-track were cut down where they stood.
The jeep took off down the ravine but was barely out of sight when it struck one of the mines thoughtfully planted by the troopers of the Reaction Force.
It was suddenly quiet. There was no motion in the ambush area. Stoltz sent two troopers to inspect the vehicles and two more in check the jeep. The rest of the force covered the scouting troops and waited.
After a few minutes they received the all clear. Stoltz led her troopers down the hill to her halftrack. She permitted herself a brief smile. She would have much good news to report to her commander.
#
Taol started positioning the troops as soon as his vehicle reached the top. One anti-tank gun along with an armored car and a couple of squads of infantry was moved to the south flank to watch the tank destroyer down on the flats. Taol positioned the Legion’s main defenses facing the direction of the Krasni approach. He also set one squad off toward the north flank of the hill to dig some defenses and watch for any flanking movements on that side of the hill.
He was still thrashing around with positioning when he heard explosions and machine gun fire at their rear. He dashed back to his command track and called on the radio for Stoltz. The only answer was static. Taol fervently hoped that they were merely busy or away from the radio and not casualties.
Then his attention was ripped away from the firing behind the hill. The TD to the south had begun to get the range. High explosive shells were landing within the defender’s perimeter. It would only be a matter of time before they hit something vital. Another explosion ripped through the perimeter. This was followed by a couple of secondary explosions.
"Colonel," said McIntyre's voice from the radio speaker. "That Krasni TD has hit one of the armored cars. Permission to return fire?"
"Open up if you are under cover,” said Taol. “It will take several shots to get on target. I don't want to lose an AT gun too."
McIntyre’s answer was the flash of the Pak 40 75mm going off followed a split second later by the sound of the blast. Taol switched frequencies a called Jeffy.
"Sar Major, can you see what happened to that disabled armored car?” said Taol, “What about the crew?"
"The round went in through the gun mantle and completely destroyed the 20mm and the coaxial machine gun. The gunner was hauled out by the rest of the crew. I couldn't tell if he was moving or not. Ortiz has drafted the rest of them into the infantry and has them busy digging in."
"Right," said Taol. "I'll bring my command track up to make a pickup on the gunner."
"NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE," said Jeffy urgently. "Do not expose yourself to fire. Send Harm and another vehicle from the headquarters section."
"Switch to the command net Sergeant Major Jefferson." said Taol, who was not about to have his orders countermanded over the air.
"Look Jeffy,” said Taol as soon as they were both on the command net, “did my father put you up to this?"
"Negative,” said Jeffy. “You are literally the only one here who everyone would follow. If you got pasted, the squabble between your brand new officers and the career NCO's would lose us the game. Please, send someone else."
There was a pleading tone in his voice that Taol couldn't ignore even though didn't want to appear to be a coward, but Jeffy was right.
"Very well," said Taol sullenly, not trusting himself to speak further. "Harm will go."
"Harm,” said Taol, “send a track down to pick up that wounded gunner."
"Right," replied Harm enthusiastically. "I am on my way."
Chapter XII
Igor Donyev had been moving silently for several minutes when, in a ravine several hundred meters ahead, a violent, one sided firefight broke out. Several explosions were followed by fire from at least two machine guns. Then there was silence.
Igor began moving silently in the direction of the fighting. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a group of people moving through the brush with no thought for sound discipline.
He quickly took cover in some low lying brush and waited for the source of the noise to pass. As they broke from cover, he recognized the distinctive silhouette of Krasni troopers. There were four of them. They were carrying one of their number who was clearly unconscious. He wanted to speak out to see if he could help, but in their agitated state, they might just shoot him before he had a chance to be recognized.
Igor let them pass and then began to follow them silently. After several hundred meters they stopped to rest. It was clear that they were exhausted from carrying their wounded compatriot. It spoke well for them that they had not left the wounded man behind.
As they bent down to minister to his wounds, Igor figured it was as good a time as any to speak up. He took great care in sneaking silently up to a nearby fallen tree. "If I were a cadet, you would be mine," he said quietly in Russian.
Instantly, a forty five automatic and two submachine guns appeared. The three conscious troopers were obviously jumpy, for their weapons were being trained rapidly in many directions. They were looking in every direction at once trying to see everything. As a consequence, they saw nothing.
"Don't fire, you fools," said Igor shaking his head. "Who else can speak Russian these days?"
Igor raised a hand and waved.
"We see you comrade," said a corporal who was obviously in charge. "Advance and be recognized."
Igor stood up. He kept his hand well away from his shoulder holster.
"I know you," said the corporal. "You are Sergeant Donyev, one of the vehicle commanders in tank destroyers."
"And you are Boris Nuntov," said Igor. "You are a section leader with the infantry. And this must be what is left of your section."
"These two," said Nuntov indicating the recumbent trooper and the man holding the forty five, "are vehicle crewmen from Hlawek's Hellcat. Ivan here, is the only one left from my section."
There was a distracted look in Nuntov's eyes as he looked back in the direction they had come. Boris had been one of the first timers who had been smart enough and mean enough to get a section without having seen action. He was holding this little group together by sheer force of will, but it did not look like he could manage much longer. Igor had to get his mind back on a disciplined track or he would forget he was a mercenary and hide until this was over.
"Very good corporal," said Igor in his most formal parade ground Russian. "Report on your last action."
"I was an infantry section leader in Lieutenant Svedlov's patrol,” said Boris as he blinked a couple of times. It was as if he were coming out of a deep sleep. His eyes began to lose their distracted quality as he began to formulate a formal action report. “Table of Organization and Equipment for the patrol consisted of one recon section with jeep, one M-3 half-track with two sections of infantry, one M-18 Hellcat with crew, twenty troopers in all.
“Our line of advance took us to a small valley with very abrupt sides and good cover at the top. Lieutenant Svedlov called a halt and asked for a couple of infantry troopers to volunteer to scout the valley. My squad leader selected Ivan and myself. We had hardly moved off when several explosions came from the direction of the column.
“We took cover as best we could and began sneaking back to support the unit. By the time we could see anything, heavy automatic weapons fire from concealed positions had raked our infantry and both armored vehicles were in flames. We were not able to return fire before the entire patrol was destroyed. The recon section attempted to break out by heading down the valley, but they hit a vehicle mine. There were no survivors.
“Ivan and I spotted Hlawek's crewman attempting to remove his wounded comrade from the battle area. We assisted, making our way toward our rally point. This is when we apparently passed your position. This is our briefed rally point. If anyone else made it out alive they will come here.
“I estimate that we were ambushed by at least a platoon of hidden, well dug in infantry."
Igor could see Nuntov's military bearing return. He was already standing taller and speaking with more authority. Igor was pleased with the backbone Boris displayed. The rest of the patrol seemed to remember what they were about as well. Now was the time to get going.
"Good report corporal," said Igor. "I plan to continue harassing actions against the enemy. With luck, we can still make an active contribution to victory. We will move out as soon as you have finished aiding that wounded trooper."
"Sergeant, he doesn't appear to be too badly hurt,” said Ivan. “Just a couple of shell fragments in his legs, concussion, and shock. Should we try a stim tab?"
Igor considered this. A stim tab administered to a seriously injured individual could cause heart failure. This was one of the deaths the regens had good luck with. The fact that the trooper was a Krasni was also in their favor. All of the Krasni had constitutions of iron.
"Go ahead Ivan," replied Igor. "We can move faster if he is awake."
Ivan applied tab to the trooper’s arm directly through his uniform. He stirred and then opened his eyes.
"Do you think you can move, trooper?" asked a concerned Igor. His dying would undermine the morale of the rest of the troopers.
"I think so Sergeant," he said as he tried to focus his eyes.
"Good, let's get you up," replied Igor.
After a couple of false starts, they got him upright. They discovered that he could move fairly quickly, if supported by another trooper. After waiting a couple of minutes to ensure there were no more ambulatory survivors, Igor's new unit moved out.
#
Taol didn't have time to let Jeffy's caution gall him for, as soon as he had finished speaking with Harm, Sergeant Stoltz came over the common frequency.
"Colonel, this is Stoltz. How do you read, over," came loud and clear from the speaker. Images of "12 O'clock High" flashed through Taol’s brain.
“I’m going to have to talk to her about the movies she watched,” thought Taol sarcastically. “This unit could only stand so much CORN.”
"This is Ubner. Report," said Taol into the microphone.
"Colonel, we have engaged an ene
my armored recon unit,” said Stolz. “We have destroyed a TD and two other vehicles. The enemy body count is at seventeen. A few disorganized infantrymen escaped to the east but they should be no problem. No casualties on our side."
“This was good news!” thought Taol excitedly, “We can concentrate our efforts on holding the hill since no one else could get around us without being seen.”
"Well done, Sergeant!" said Taol at last. "Gather up your unit and get up the hill. Be careful not to expose yourself to our south slope. There is an enemy TD out there that has our range."
"Roger, Wilco and Out,"
She was off the air before Taol could harass her about her radio discipline. It was just as well, for a high explosive round from the same TD Taol had just warned Stoltz about landed within three meters of his command track. As soon as he stop rattling around the inside of the track, Taol got on the radio.
"McIntyre, haven't you potted that TD yet?" ask Taol rather irritatedly into the radio.
"Quit joggling my elbow sir," he replied rather heatedly. "These long-range shots are tough in a spinning habitat."
“He’s right, of course,” thought Taol with chagrin, “I was just shook up.”
"Sorry, Sergeant,” replied Taol sheepishly. “Carry on,"
His answer was the blast of the Pak 75mm. Taol got out his field glasses and tried to find the enemy TD. With some effort, he finally caught sight of the target over a thousand meters away. Nearby was a partially camouflaged halftrack. The infantry was obviously deployed in a defensive position, but they were not visible at this range.
