Minutes later they were out of the range of the invaders and Jones turned his attention to their destination. Up ahead they could hear the thunderous echo of the tank guns of the French Armoured Division. Machine guns rattled off in the distance as the battle raged on. He could make out the continuous trail of civilian vehicles pouring out of the easterly flyover heading for Morlaix. All Jones could think was that it wasn’t far enough.
Their column was rolling towards an absolute war zone, and the Captain knew exactly how on edge his troops were at that moment. They were one of the best trained fighting forces in the world, but the prospect of going from one defeat into a second battle in the same day was morale crushing. Sadly, he knew that there was no choice. Troops would be amassing in Rennes, but it would take time, for now, they were it.
Dust and smoke poured from locations across the old coastal city as they rolled into the urban outskirts. All around them were civilians desperately trying to load their vehicles and leave. Many asked for help, but the only help they could provide was to fight the invading enemy. The call came out on the radio for A and B Companies to halt at the southern inner city district and take up positions.
Jones’ company followed on with Major Chandra to the city centre and the western district where the fighting raged on. The inner city was completely abandoned, few vehicles remained and no people in sight. People’s possessions and businesses’ stock were scattered across the roads. The population had run in fear of their lives, which was the sad reality of their situation. The convoy came to a halt and the Captain stepped out of the vehicle looking around the desolate city, before issuing his orders.
“Company dismount, take up defensive positions around the convoy. Command section with me.”
Lieutenant Green now commanded the Captain’s platoon. Every man in their force was trained and instructed on how to fulfil the tasks of those above them, should the need ever arise. No one had ever expected such a responsibility to fall upon them. Jones continued forwards along the line of the convoy with the few men of his command section at his side.
Up ahead they could see a number of light armoured vehicles parked up at a crossroads. The French Lieutenant Colonel Girard, leader of the 2 ^ nd Armoured Division was looking at a map projection of the city that was set up on the bonnet of one of their scout vehicles. Beside him was Major Chandra. They were in a heated discussion, but Jones could not merely stand by and watch.
“Ah, Captain, step up please. Colonel Girard, this is Captain Jones, recently promoted to Company Commander.”
“Captain. Let us get back to the battle. I brought a little under two hundred and fifty tanks to Brest. Now I command only one hundred and eighty. Our infantry battalions are having difficulty holding back the enemy, we cannot hold out for much longer.”
“What do you suggest, Colonel?” Chandra asked.
“What is the situation of the rest of the British Division?”
“My battalion is at about sixty percent strength. The armoured units we had have mostly been driven back or destroyed. We haven’t got the heavy armour of your division. Many of the units have retreated to Landerneau, we are simply unable to hold the lines.”
“Colonel, there are still a lot of civilians leaving the city via the main roads, we can neither travel on those routes, nor leave them to the mercy of our enemy,” Jones added.
The French Colonel gasped as he looked down the length of the western street. Their main battle tanks could be seen fighting at the end of it.
“Then we fight on, as long as we can, we have no choice,” said Girard.
Jones nodded in agreement. They knew that they were condemning many of their soldiers to death, but it was their duty to defend the citizens and lands with their lives.
“Have the troops you have in Landerneau set up on the main road to Morlaix and Rennes. They’ll be needed as a barrier defence to the enemy and to defend our route back.”
“You think they’ll need to use our roads?” asked Chandra.
“From what we have seen so far, yes. They have aircraft, but if they are using sea and land craft to transport troops, then they’ll need solid roads to cover distance quickly,” said Jones.
“How long can we hold out here in Brest?”
“Your guess is good as mine, Major, we’ll do what we can. Have your battalion set up on the southern perimeter of the city centre as a defensive line against anything coming up from the beaches. If any more of your division roll in, send them to me. Good luck, Major.”
Chandra nodded and saluted as she turned to leave. They both knew that they were being asked to set up against the very invading troops that had just driven them from the beaches, but at least this time they had the cover of the terrain, and the French armour at their backs.
“Where is the rest of the division, Major?” Jones asked her.
“Mostly as I told the Colonel. At least some of our troops got cut off down south and are retreating further inland, but they are mostly scattered to the wind. It appears we have about a brigade strength in Landerneau, driven back quickly from the positions north of the city, as well as just south of our original position.”
“Sounds like it’s chaos.”
“It is, Captain, we’ve never had to deal with anything like this. Command structure is in tatters, many of the key officers of the division are dead or wounded. Brigadier Dupont appears completely out of touch with the situation on the ground. All that we know for certain is that we have at least a sizeable force in this city, and we will do our best to defend it.”
“If we stay much longer, there’ll be no way out for any of us!”
“I am aware of that, Captain. As the only known forces to still hold coastal ground, we are giving the EUA time to gather forces and for the civilians to evacuate east. These are our only priorities at this time.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Oh, and another thing. The situation is strictly between us, I won’t have the morale of our troops pulled down any further, understood?”
“Sir.”
“Captain, we’ve got a job to do, go to it!”
Jones nodded and continued on towards his company. They were spread out in the street, taking cover near the buildings. He could see the worry in their faces and the lack of faith in their equipment. The prospect of an enemy so superior in firepower, armour and strength had never even been considered a possibility for the men of the division. He could see that one of the platoon trucks had been allocated as a med station for wounded only.
Of the one hundred and fifty men in his company, only two thirds were still standing. Many of those had suffered glancing hits or concussion from near misses. He was left with a physically and mentally crippled body of soldiers. He knew without a doubt that what they needed more than anything else was to get out of the hostile zone and re-group. None of them had ever seen serious combat, they needed time to recover and re-gain some confidence.
It was even clearer to Captain Jones that they needed one thing more than anything else, bigger guns. They outnumbered the alien invaders in every fight, but didn’t have the individual firepower to bring them down.
“Let’s get this street closed down, I want dragon’s teeth on a thirty metre stretch and ABDs up now!”
The platoons leapt into action. The last fight had given them no more than a few moments to prepare, but now they could bring new hardware to the table. The men pulled out boxes from the side and under trays of the trucks. They threw them down on the roads up ahead. The devices automatically created dug out trenches with earthwork barriers and tank traps.
The technology had cost a fortune to develop and the devices they used were equally as expensive. Never in their military’s history had they had need for their usage. A platoon would take half a day to dig a trench and ground up earthworks, but these could do it in less than an hour. Better still, they could do so on any surface. Drawing anything from ground, from earth to concrete, they could create highly defensive positions in an astonishing time.