by M C Drake
Commander Orton's tanks opened fire, they concentrated on the closet tank and they focused on its tracks.
“immobilize them, take out as many as you can.”
The Main battle tanks fire high explosives at the enemy tanks tracks, it worked as the first Maus was halted but it continued to fire. Its plasma round struck a Sherman's tank head on and the vastly outmatched medium tank just disappeared in a cloud of flames.
Ortan ordered the Sherman's to fall back to beside the White House; they were to be the very last line of defense, along with a huge line of machine guns and infantry that waited on the great building’s steps.
Rounds impacted all along the side of the Capitol building now, it was in a terrible state as more and more parts of it collapsed in on itself. The heavy rain fell in through the missing spots in of the roof and soaked everything inside.
“Fire.” Roared Orton as his tanks kept up a steady stream of rounds, they were holding the enemy back as best as the could but Orton knew their time was limited.
The tank directly next to Orton was hit dead on and the gun dropped towards the floor, smoke billowed out of the open commander's hatch but nobody tried to escape.
A group of infantrymen still held a corner of the Capitol building but they were getting overrun by the sheer volume of enemy soldiers that were trying to storm the building for the fourth time in the last hour.
The Browning machine guns were nearly out of ammunition but the men kept firing, another wave of Aryan soldiers was forced back. Grenades were thrown but the American men managed to throw them back to their owners.
The explosions rang out accompanied by brilliant flashes of blue. Aryan infantry lay dead and dying where they fell. But this did not stop the attack if anything the Aryan's looked like they were relishing the challenge and poured even more firepower into the mix.
Rounds of plasma impacted along the wall next to sergeant Dawkins and his dwindling platoon. They ducked for cover again and hugged the floor uncomfortably, they were laying on a carpet of empty bullet casings.
Ortan could see what was unfolding and managed to get a signal to three Patton's to go and support the ailing infantry. The tank commander had to resort to using flashlights to signal orders to his units.
The Patton's turned around and charged head-on at the attacking infantry, they fired their machine guns as they went. The guns continued to fire as they got closer and they started taking plasma fire themselves.
The tanks fired into the advancing infantry, the first round tore straight through a soldier’s body armor and he fell to the floor, the round exploded sending dirt, concrete and body parts across the area.
The tanks did not stop, they were planning to mow down the Aryans as they crossed the open street but the first tank took a plasma round into the rear which set it ablaze; the Patton burned for a second and then went up in a huge ball of flames.
The second Patton turned its turret to see where the round had come from but as it did, the medium tank took a direct plasma hit through its weak side armor. It did not explode but the crew was badly injured or killed.
Finally, the assailant was revealed as a hidden Panther tank who had it gun muzzle positioned in the window of a semi-destroyed office block. The Patton returned fire but the rounds exploded harmlessly into the brickwork.
Me 262's appeared in a long line from the East and zoomed in towards the White House. The Vulcan anti aircraft Gatling guns opened fire with all they had. The greatest concentration of these guns was around the President's home.
The rounds spat into the air and the ME 262's in the front of the formation were taken out, the nose of the jets were shredded to pieces and they crash landed on the churned up White House lawn.
The remaining fighters split in all directions; they maneuvered through the rounds and then released their plasma, the rounds hit their mark along the line of infantry trying to hide in the freshly dug trenches. The heat washed over a group of them and their cries split the night.
“Medic.” the shout went out but nobody came as they were too afraid to leave their hiding places.
Another wave of fighters came in and one after another plasma smashed into the White House lawn and the grass burned for a while until the heavy rain put it back out again.
The American infantry that was defending the White House was mainly made out of the 101st infantry division but volunteers made up the majority of its numbers. They could not believe the horror around them and many started to shake and shiver.
Another huge explosion rocked the area as a roadblock was vaporized, through it a large armored group of Tiger I tanks appeared. Their guns firing as they plowed through. They were quick and through sheer numbers, they managed to overwhelm the M60A1 tanks that had been holding the East corner.
"Shit," Orton said he knew he could not spare any more tanks to plug the gap. He sighed heavily and then signaled to the Sherman's. He had just given them the green light to attack.
The Sherman's began firing on the Tiger's but at that range, the rounds just bounced off. The American medium tanks did not fall back though and they kept up their fire.
The lead Tiger aimed its gun and fired the plasma round spat forward and impacted straight into the turret of a Sherman. The turret was sheared clean off and the commander was thrown a hundred yards from his vehicle.
The Sherman's decided their only chance was to close the distance, they charged forward all at once with their guns blazing; even the two Browning machine guns were rattling off everything they had but it was futile.
The Tiger's fired again, this time in unison. Twenty rounds of plasma raced towards the charging Sherman's, the rounds detonated and set off a chain reaction, as a larger wave of heat swept through the first line. When the wave cleared the only thing that remained was burning, charred wrecks.
The Capitol building had been stormed at the Western entrance, now American soldiers did not fight for their city or their commanders but they fought for their lives in the intense room to room combat. The Americans held one room while the next room was held by the Aryan forces.
The fighting inside did not take long as the US infantry was running low on ammunition, they had no rounds for the .50 caliber machine guns but they carried on with the infective M16's. Some of the officers had pistols and as they heard the screams of their comrades in the rooms down the hall; they took the easy way out.
Sergeant Daniels and the last three of his remaining men were still fighting bitterly on the Eastern corner. They were down to three magazines each for their M16's. They were letting the enemy get right on top of them before firing which meant about one in five rounds pierced the body armor.
Another few bursts signaled the end for Daniels as his M16 was empty but he still had grenades.
“I don't know about you boys but I think we should show them how to cook Washington style?”
The other two men grinned and chucked their spent rifles to the floor. Each man pulled the pins on two grenades and then just lay there.
The Aryan forces appeared over the rubble and swept their guns over the area. The three men were ordered to stand up slowly with their hands skyward but they just stayed down and smiled. The Aryan's opened fire, one round into each man.
Daniel's coughed up a small trickle of blood as he could feel his chest burning. The Aryans moved into the crater just as the six grenades exploded. Shrapnel and body parts were launched in all directions.
Just after 01:00 hours the Capital building fell into enemy hands. All across the great park, smaller fights were taking place. The Washington monument was hit and completely obliterated as a group of Sherman's fought next to it.
Despair
The ME 262's peeled off from their attacks runs, the lawn of the White House looked more like the surface of the moon as a mass of craters scared the earth. Commander Orton and his tanks had been whittled down to about an eighth of their original number but they fought on.
The area was now full with
Maus tanks, they fired repeatedly into the remaining armored units in the area. Their powerful guns sliced through them with ease.
Commander Orton watched as the last of his platoon went up in a ball of flames, his tank was now the only M60A1 left in action. He was down to five high explosive rounds and was out of options.
His driver looked back to him, “What do you want us to do Sir?”
“Show them that our spirit will never be broken.” Orton smiled.
The driver revved up the engine and the M60 tore forward, it fired three rounds in quick succession on the move. Two hit their marks and a Panther was taken out of action.
Three Tiger I's aimed at Orton's tank and fired all at once. The rounds exploded close to his tank and intense heat washed over its armor. Orton and his crew kept coming.
The M60 fired its last two rounds and managed to take the tracks off of a Tiger I, Orton smiled as he yelled, “Ram it!”
The Tiger fired and the round smashed straight into the turret of the M60, Orton was hit and a shard of mental pierced through the top of his kneecap. Pain shot through his leg but he did not care.
The M60 smashed into the Tiger head on the force broke both of the tank's tracks on the impact side. Orton and his crew could do nothing as their tank was surrounded by three hungry tigers. The tanks opened fire and heat rushed over the American crew.
The Aryan forces could now sense blood; their tanks swarmed towards the White House like a group of great white sharks that had realized their prey was weak from blood loss.
Most of the gunners on the lawn tried to make a run for it when the armored behemoths came straight at them. The tanks fired at the fleeing infantry, most of them disappeared in plumes of violet light.
Others did remain and fight but the rounds had no effect on the super heavy tanks who just ignored the infantry as they rolled on through them. They Aryan fortress tanks instead fired on the White House itself.
Breaches were opened up through the front and rear main entrances as well as in the walls themselves. Agnew, Westmoreland and the men in black could feel the vibrations for the first time. Agnew slumped in his chair as another explosion rocked the foundations of the building.
Tiger I's mopped up what the Maus chose to ignore, they hosed down the area with the plasma machine guns mounted to their turrets. A young boy who had been drafted into the infantry hid beneath the bodies of his fallen platoon. He waited until a Tiger had passed him then he sprang to his feet and aimed the anti tank launcher. He fired and the round hit the side of the Tiger. The tank stopped and smoke poured from the wound.
The boy, who must have been no older than fourteen tried to reload his launcher but he was cut down by fire from the supporting infantry. The trenches along the lawn were quickly overrun and now the main building itself was the target for the approaching infantry.
Several of the Panther tanks had switched to smoke rounds and fired at the freshly made breaches in the exterior of the iconic building. The smoke detonated on target and quickly spread confusion and panic among the volunteers.
The Aryans fired into the melee and their rounds cut down anyone who was unfortunate enough to be standing around the gap, trying to get a shot. The smoke did not hinder the Aryans, who were using thermal technology to locate their targets.
The units trying to hold the breaches had no chance as they were overwhelmed by the sheer weight of plasma fire. The rounds were accurate as well, the Americans had no way to see where the fire was coming from and just returned fire in all directions.
Ten minutes later the Aryan forces felt confident enough to charge at the building. Under the cover of smoke, they advanced quickly across the devastated grass. They forced their way through the opening under heavy machine gun fire.
The Americans knew this was their last stand and even the volunteers stood and fought. They had nowhere to run anyway.
Four browning machine guns concentrated their fire on a cluster of enemy infantry who had just fought their way through the opening. The rounds sliced through the armor with ease, the whole group were dead in seconds.
The Marines who had tucked themselves away on the main staircase continued to fire and gradually the stream of enemy soldiers began to stop. The Marines gave each other a high five and then continued to watch for any movement below.
As the fighting grew more desperate along the West Wing, the Aryan soldiers threw smoke grenades down the hall and then waited for a few seconds before firing on the American positions.
One room after another was cleared in this style.
Four men from the 191st Calvary division were crawling through a maze of smoke-filled corridors as they tried to fall back. They heard footsteps from the other side of a door, they waited on the floor until the door eased open; they fired.
Screams of anguish came from the other side of the barely open door and that was when all hell broke loose as the machine gun started firing in a long panicked burst. The battle cry from the operator came in English and the Calvary men knew they had made a mistake.
The men shouted as loud as they could to warn the men on the other side of the door that they were friendlies but they could not make themselves heard over the noise of the machine gun. The men stayed on the floor, the Sergeant pulled a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin and then launched it through the door.
The Sergeant said a prayer as the grenade went off and the machine gun fell silent. The Calvary men went to inspect the damage. Four women lay dead at their positions.
“Shit.” was all the men could get out as they bowed their heads. They did not have time to reflect on the disaster though as they came under heavy fire from burning plasma rounds.
The Aryan forces worked their way systematically through the White House, clearing one room after another. They enjoyed their extermination work and they were good at it. They burst through a large wooden door and were met by a group of young men.
The Americans did not fire upon the enemies as their rifles were empty but the man closest to the door ran at the Aryan stood in front of him and swung his rifle at his head. The Aryan blocked the blow with his wrist and the forcefully ripped the rifle from the man’s hands.
The other men in the room charged at the Aryan but he was too strong and repelled all of his attackers, he turned to the man who had attacked him with the rifle and grabbed him by the throat; he lifted him clean of his feet and threw him across the room.
"Nobody is that strong!" Was all one of the young men could get out before the Aryan snapped his neck. The soldier then pulled out his pistol and proceeded to shot the remaining American's where they were led.
Another desperate twenty minutes went by before the sound of fighting grew distant and then almost completely died down altogether.
Westmoreland turned to Agnew, “You know what that means!'
Agnew simply nodded.
Westmoreland gritted his teeth as he pulled his pistol from its holster. “Ok men this is it, hold them off as long as you can. They shoot you whether you surrender or not, so you might as well go down fighting.”
The room stayed silent but the soldiers all raised their weapons.
The large metal door at the end of the corridor crumpled inwards and then disintegrated as the plasma missiles tore through it. That was the cue for the American's to open fire with everything they had left.
Several anti tank launchers had been commandeered for the defense and the rockets shot down the corridor and had exploded violently when they reached the far end. The fireball took out a few of the Aryan's but there were many more to take their place.
The Aryan’s chucked grenades down the corridor but they were not close enough to kill the American's yet. The flash of the explosion did manage to temporarily blind a few of the defenders.
The Aryan forces continued to take heavy losses as they forced their way through the narrow corridor. They fired at the American's and the rounds burnt through the chest of a young Private; he let out a gurgled scream
as he desperately tried to force his organs back where they had come from but they did not seem to fit.
It was a vain attempt as the next round went straight into his temple and burnt through his skull. The rifleman in charge banged his fists on the metal door and it was pulled closed. The Rifleman knew he was now locked out, he turned to face his foes.
The Aryan soldiers fired their weapons at the single remaining man, he had dropped his M16 and fired his pistol at the tall enemy; the small caliber rounds just bounced off their body armor. The rifleman dropped the pistol, rolled to avoid the volley of plasma and as he got up he pulled a pin from the grenade in his left hand.
The rifleman never got to throw the grenade though as the next burst of superheated rounds burnt holes in his torso and his arm, the grenade dropped at his feet and went off. The walls were coated in a sickly claret.
A barely audible knock on the door slightly amused Westmoreland, “What? Do they think we are just going to let them in?”
His laughter was short lived as the roof above caved in and debris fell all over the men sheltering inside. Westmoreland sprinted and pushed Agnew to the floor. A large piece of concrete fell onto the General’s leg and he was pinned down.
He shouted for help from the men in black but he did not get a response, he looked to where they were stood not two minutes earlier but he could not see them.
"Where are you?" He shouted in agony but there was no reply, the men in black had just vanished into thin air. "Where have those yellow-bellied bastards gone!"
Spiro Agnew gingerly got to his feet but as he did he immediately froze as four Aryan soldiers stood in front of him with their weapons raised. The secret service men who were there to guard Agnew sprang to their feet but they were immediately killed.
"What are you waiting for, kill us," Westmoreland said.
