The general then moved over to a chair and took a seat, signaling for everyone else to do likewise. When the rustling ceased, he resumed speaking. “The most recent intelligence passed to us by the Americans says the Chinese have mobilized a massive militia force several kilometers away. That force is going to move and attack our positions in the next hour, along with a battalion of T-99 tanks and two battalions of motorized regular army infantry. This is it — the big attack that they think will break through our positions and drive us back to the ports.
“What I can tell you is that even as we speak, Allied warplanes are on their way to bomb the hell out of them before they even get to us. However, when they do arrive, they’re going to come at us with a fervor like nothing we’ve seen before. The PLA has been spreading lies to their people, telling them that the Allies are systematically killing their women and children in the occupied parts of the cities. Even though nothing could be further from the truth, this deception is motivating tens of thousands of people to grab a rifle, shovel, or knife to come at us and try to kill us.
“An hour ago, the British 12th Armored Infantry Brigade began to move to our position. Even now, their tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are filtering into the city and our lines to help us hold our positions. When the enemy does attack, they will help us beat back their advances. Once the PLA has spent themselves on our lines, we will go on the offensive. General Bennet has given our brigade and the British 12th the task of fighting our way to a captured Chinese airfield 180 kilometers inland. Right now, a 9,000 man British and French airborne force is holding ground there. They are surrounded and deep behind enemy lines…we will break through the enemy positions here and relieve them.
“Once we’ve broken through the enemy lines here, the British 20th Armored Infantry Brigade will link up with us, along with the German 21st Panzer Brigade. To support our efforts, the American 42nd Infantry Division will secure the ground behind us and act as a reserve force in case we need them.” The general paused for a second, letting the information sink in. It was unusual for the general to share this level of detail with a platoon of grunts, but Sergeant Dayan reasoned that seeing the big picture would help them all to fight harder.
“You guys can do this,” General Barak continued. “You’ve got one of the best company commanders in the brigade and probably the smartest, toughest staff sergeant in the airborne to lead you. I’m counting on you all, and so is our country and the rest of the world. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get moving. It was a pleasure being able to talk with you all.” He stood, as did all the other soldiers out of respect. Then the general’s two escorts led him to the door that would take him down the stairs and out of their building.
The soldiers stood there, momentarily frozen, a bit in shock that their commanding general would stop by and have such an open and frank discussion with them.
Finally, Staff Sergeant Dayan spoke up. “OK, enough lollygagging,” he announced. “We have work to do. Finish eating and getting your ammo sorted. I want these window positions ready for the next assault. Get those extra Claymores set up in front of those barricades we have downstairs, and make sure first platoon has enough hand grenades. It’s our job up here to make sure those guys down there don’t get overrun. Understood?”
His gruff orders sent the platoon back into their battle rhythm. Nearly an hour went by as the soldiers listened to outgoing artillery and mortar fire head toward the enemy. The constant sound of explosions and dull thudding became intermixed with the sounds helicopters and warplanes flying overhead. It was very difficult to attack an enemy army inside a city. Many of the Chinese soldiers simply moved into the buildings or moved along the edges of them, making it very hard to spot them, and even harder for artillery fire to hit them. Most of the artillery ended up slamming into the roofs or sides of apartment buildings. While the projectiles certainly caused a lot of damage, they were also indiscriminate in who they killed; more often than not, the artillery also led to a lot of civilians being killed or injured.
“Here they come!” shouted a voice over the radio. Dayan’s men had a couple of snipers placed on the upper floors of the office building they were in; it was their job was to find the officers or men who appeared to be the leaders of the army or militia forces and take them out.
Staff Sergeant Dayan walked over to the window and leaned up against the side of the wall. He peered out, spotting the lines of enemy soldiers moving along the edges of the building two or three blocks away. Traveling in the center of the road, was something of grave concern — a T-99 battle tank was steadily making its way toward their barricade. The metal tracks creaked and cracked against the road. The deep rumbling of its diesel engine was the unmistakable roar of a main battle tank. Suddenly, the tank stopped, swiveled its turret to face the barricade and fired.
Boom. Bang!
The explosion blew apart a car the Israelis had parked in the center of the road. Then the turret turned slightly and fired again.
BOOM, BANG!
The next vehicle in the barricade was obliterated, sending flame and shrapnel in all directions.
“Someone take that tank out before he blows our entire defense apart!” shouted their captain into the radio.
Pop…swoosh…BANG.
A missile flew out of the fifth-floor window above them, streaking like man-made lightning toward the T-99. It slammed into the roof of the turret, the thinnest part of the tank’s armor, and the shape charge blew its deadly contents directly into the crew compartment. The internal ammunition cooked off, and in fractions of a second, the turret of the tank blasted toward the sky.
Then several loud whistles sounded, which sent a shiver down the spines of every soldier defending the line. A mighty roar of hundreds, maybe even thousands of people could be heard as the street in front of them filled with people, all screaming at the top of their lungs as they charged, fire and hatred burning in their eyes as they sought to close the distance.
Ratatat, ratatat.
The light and heavy machine guns of the Israeli positions opened up on the crowd, cutting down the first several ranks of attackers like a scythe. Yet for every soldier that fell to the ground, another took their place as they continued to charge forward.
Sergeant Dayan looked down the sight of his rifle and continued to pull the trigger time and time again at the mass of humanity that was charging toward them. In less than a couple of minutes, the enemy had made it to the remains of the vehicle barricade, which was now burning. When they reached that position, the soldiers of First and Third Platoon who were on the ground level detonated their Claymores.
When the mines went off, it was as if some giant invisible hand just flattened the first four or five rows of enemy soldiers. In that brief second, the mob halted their advance, but then more whistles could be heard, and they resumed their charge. More enemy soldiers from further behind them surged forward.
“My God, how can they keep coming like this?” thought Sergeant Dayan. Truthfully, the way the Chinese kept attacking in the face of all of certain death was impressive to him, despite the speech he’d given not too many minutes ago.
“Keep shooting, men!” he shouted. “We have to keep them from overrunning our guys on the ground floor!” Looking down the line to check on his guys, he saw the ground was becoming completely covered in empty shell casings from their rifles.
One by one though, his guys were starting to get hit. The façade of the front of their building was becoming riddled with bullets. It was statistically only a matter of time until some of the incoming enemy rounds found the soft flesh of his men and either killed or wounded them. When one of his soldiers hit the ground, a medic would run up to him, grab him by the back handle of his body armor and pull him away from the wall, deeper into the building, so he could begin providing first aid.