“Target!” shouted Jones.
Before they could even take aim the men on the floors below them had opened fire. The two enemy tanks which first came into sight were hit with a hail of crossfire from troops occupying both the river edge and the buildings behind. The tanks erupted into flames, but only came to a halt for a few seconds as the next vehicles shunted them aside and continued onwards. Mechs appeared at their flanks and were already laying down fire.
High explosive shells landed among the tightly compacted formations of the enemy and they were blown apart, many plunging into the river either side of the bridge. They could see a number of the armoured infantry scattering into the buildings opposite them.
“Keep an eye on those windows!” Taylor ordered.
He caught sight of the first Mech in a window just inside a tall old building. Firing instantly with his high explosive grenades the old windows shattered and the wall blasted through. Further Mechs poured into the hole in the cover of the building.
The gunfire was so voluminous that not a trooper among them could distinguish the sound of individual weapons firing. Light pulses smashed into the re-enforced building taking chunks out of its armour. A lucky shot burst through the firing slot down the line from Jones and took the head of one of his men clean off. He stopped for just a second staring at the scene before turning back and fighting on.
The windows through the building the other side of the river lit up as the enemy took up more positions and began laying down fire on their bunker. Taylor ducked down to reload his launcher as Jones kept up the fight. Gunfire poured from all floors of their structure. They could hear mass footsteps on the stairways leading up to their floor and those below. Taylor locked his launcher shut and held it in readiness.
Taylor was suddenly elated by the sight of EUA forces bursting into the room.
“Colonel Chandra!”
An officer barked in a course Scottish accent.
She gestured over to Taylor as the Major stood up and went to greet the troops. The battle raged in the background as Mitch shook hands with the man.
“Major Douglas at your service, we’re here to help.”
“Major Taylor, I have taken command of the 2 ^ nd Inter-allied. The enemy have taken up positions in the buildings along the river and their tanks continue to try and get through on the bridges.”
“Let’s see if we can give you a hand, Major.”
Douglas lifted his rifle and walked straight to the firing positions with Taylor and a number of his men. They opened up with a volley of fire from every weapon in their arsenal. Explosions erupted all along the building but they quickly recoiled at the deafening sound of a tank exploding on the bridge.
Quickly recovering they concentrated their fire on the lower building sections and the troops in the floors below quickly followed suit. Glass and brickwork smashed across the road in front of the building as it was hammered by rockets, grenades and machinegun fire. They could just hear the aged creak of the building as its foundations began to crumble. They watched in awe as the lower floor gave way and the five storeys above it came tumbling down, crushing the Mechs defending it.
Cheers rang out among the combined troops of the bunker and the infantry lines outside in the trenches. Taylor rushed along the line to look out at the gun ports looking down their side of the bridge. Medics were dragging away dozens of wounded from the trenches and many more lay dead. Looking up the river he could see that similar battles raged on every bridge as far as he could see.
The gun batteries of the enemy opened up once more, pounding the buildings behind them and the friendly artillery positions behind those. The bunker rocked on its foundations as several huge impacts struck the floor below them. Screams of the wounded echoed up the stairwells.
“Keep firing!” shouted Taylor.
He rushed to the frontal positions to see that fresh enemy troops were already marching over the dusty rubble that covered their comrades. As the dust settled over the ruins he could make out the countless tanks and Mechs approaching in the distance. He gasped at the sight of it before quickly lifting the launcher to his shoulder and firing a full load into the advancing troops. Kwori dashed up the stairs to reach the Major who turned to reload his weapon.
“Sir! We’ve got twenty dead on the next floor down, another fifteen below that, we’re getting fucking killed here!”
“That’s our job soldier!”
“We have to retreat, Sir!”
Taylor released his grip on the weapon and slapped the man across the face.
“Get yourself together, Private, and man the fuck up!”
The marine looked sheepish. They were all exhausted and astonished at the chaos and bloodshed all around them, but there was no choice but to fight on.
“Is Captain Friday still alive?” shouted Taylor.
“Yes, Sir!”
“Get back to him, you take up your weapon and you fight marine! No retreat!”
The Major loaded the last of a full load into his launcher and turned back to the fight to see artillery shells smashing the enemy positions, but as many flying overhead in their direction. Buildings either side of the river were being reduced to rubble. The bunker they defended was only still standing due to its excessively robust construction.
Enemy tanks drew into view that appeared much like Jones had seen previously on the beaches south of Brest, though they had vastly larger turrets and guns. They continued firing as they saw the gun of the nearest tank elevate to their height and fire. The wall just ten metres from Jones’ position smashed inwards, punching a hole as tall as a man. The three soldiers there were thrown across the floor in a mangled mess. Taylor looked at the fearsome vehicles approaching.
“Take out those tanks!” he shouted.
The Aardvark launchers began to fire but it wasn’t soon enough. A second shell smashed into the floor below, rocking the bunker and almost taking Mitch off his feet.
“Everything you’ve got on those tanks right now!” he barked.
He ran to the edge and opened fire with his launcher, firing repeatedly at the nearest tank. Over twenty-five grenades struck it and eleven Aardvark rockets before the turret was pierced and knocked out of its mountings, rendering it useless. Before they could target the next tank another two massive energy pulses smashed into their building. One of the shots smashed out a large section of their defensive wall and went through the roof, causing rubble to collapse and kill one soldier.
The troops immediately ran to the firing lines and continued to rain down fire on the remaining two tanks. Mech fire piled through the gaping holes in their structure but all fire was concentrated on the vehicles below. Seconds later the second tank erupted into flames. They turned their attentions to the third but it fired at their top floor. The blast expanded a previous hole and sent Taylor and Douglas sprawling across the floor.
“Take it out!” shouted Jones.
Taylor heard the immense explosion from the floor where he had been thrown. He got back up to see that Major Douglas’ armour was smouldering from a broad chest wound. He shook his head in despair at the death all around him. He got up on one knee and looked around to see that there were more than twenty dead on his floor alone. Looking up to the defences he could see that Jones still fought on alongside a mixture of troops from all three units.
He staggered to his feet and up to the ammunition crates. Flicking open the launcher he loaded it once more and packed his webbing with as many spare rounds as he could get. Despite still carrying the rifle on his back, he knew what little it could do against this enemy. A light caught his attention from the corner of his eye as the battle raged on, it was the hard line comms. Stumbling over to it as he sealed the ammunition pockets on his vest, he picked up the handset.