BOOM!
Dust, air, and flame rapidly blew out the gun slit. Then a few cries of pain and agony groaned out, indicating the fragmentation grenade had found its mark. Price dropped his now-empty magazine, placing it in his drop bag, and pulled another out of the front pouch of his vest. Once he loaded the fresh thirty-round magazine, he slapped the bolt shut, loading the next round. Then he flicked the selector switch from semiauto to full-auto. Sergeant Price placed the barrel of his M4A1 into the gun slit and proceeded to empty his thirty-round magazine into the compartment. Pulling back against the wall, he dropped the empty magazine and slammed a fresh one in place.
“Damn good assault, Sergeant Price,” he heard from behind him. He glanced back to see Lieutenant Rafael Martinez, his platoon leader. More men were stacking up against the bunker wall his fireteam had formed up on.
Price nodded in acknowledgment, then turned to his squad, signaling with his hands that they were going to breach the bunker. Once they had finished stacking against the wall next to the bunker entrance, one of his soldiers pulled the door open slightly, throwing a grenade in and slamming the door shut. A second later, the grenade went off, and the private opened the door again, allowing the team to rush in and begin clearing the first room.
That first area of the bunker complex turned out to be the gun room, so they scarfed up some additional weapons before moving to the next entrance. Before they moved down the hallway and deeper into the complex, they threw a hand grenade down the hall and waited for the explosion. They rushed through the entrance, weapons at the ready, and found the next room. The other members of their platoon weren’t far behind Sergeant Price’s team. Together they would clear the complex much more quickly. Ten minutes went by. Aside from two enemy soldiers who had surrendered, they didn’t meet any further resistance.
Walking out of the fortified positions, the men of Second Platoon moved to the edges of the bunkers and climbed up the grass-covered sides to gain a better view of what lay around them. As he looked back toward the runway, Price could see the burning wreck of at least one C-17. Further out, he spotted a gravy train of aircraft lining up for their approach.
“These guys must be bringing in our light armored vehicles and other heavy equipment,” Price reasoned.
Parachutes were still descending over the runway with each pass of one of the cargo planes. Swarms of soldiers on the ground were busy unwrapping a pair of JLTV vehicles, which looked to be equipped with M2 .50-caliber heavy machine guns.
“OK, enough lollygagging,” Lieutenant Martinez announced. “We need to push the perimeter out. You guys see that string of roads and cutbacks leading up that ridge? We need to secure it. Battalion wants us to set up a position on top of the crest before nightfall, so we need to hoof it if we’re going to make it up there by then.” Martinez gestured toward an incredibly tall and intimidating ridgeline, part of the Dulan Forest. Various parts of the ridge provided exceptional overwatch of the air base, which would be very helpful since it was unknown if the area was still occupied by enemy forces lying in ambush, or if it was truly empty.
The soldiers grumbled a bit but eventually threw their packs on after the short break and fanned out as they made their way into the tree line that led to the outer perimeter road. As the platoon made their way up the forested ridgeline, they heard an increase in gunfire maybe a couple of kilometers to their right. Clearly, one of the other platoons was in the thick of it. More gunfire was still sounding off in the distance to their left, where the main city was located. That beach was being hit by an Australian infantry unit, so it wasn’t Price’s concern, so long as the Aussies did their job and secured the city. The airborne had the air base and the Dulan Forest to secure. It was rough terrain and would be a challenge, but it was a challenge the sky soldiers thrived on.
The last two weeks had been filled with terror and anxiety. The Americans had been dropping bombs all over the place, hitting God only knew what. From time to time, a bomb or missile would land near the bunker complex Sergeant Lei Wei had been calling home for the past two months. It especially irritated him when he was trying to write a letter home to his family. His unit would be ordered to man their weapons and be ready to repel a possible enemy invasion. Each time their officers told them this might be it, the time when the Americans would finally land their vaunted Marines on the beach to steal the rightful territory of Formosa from China’s bosom.
Lei felt proud of himself, and he knew his parents and elders back in the village were extremely proud of him as well. After his herculean efforts and bravery during the invasion of Formosa, he had been awarded the Order of Heroic Exemplar by the lone political officer who had survived that day of days. Once Formosa had been captured, Lei had been specially flown to Beijing, along with nearly fifty other soldiers who were being awarded the medal. They were presented their award by President Xi himself at a formal ceremony. For his part, Lei’s exploits that day were widely publicized in his home village and region as an example of what a young man, a lowly farmer, could achieve and do for his country. The Communist Party had promoted Lei from a militia member to the rank of sergeant in the 40th Motorized Infantry Brigade, which was traditionally stationed in the province he was from.
That particular brigade happened to be a jungle warfare brigade, and they had been placed in charge of a large swath of the eastern shore of Formosa. They would be the frontline force against a naval invasion. Lei felt immensely proud at being promoted into this unit, though he was not exactly thrilled with the tough odds they would be facing against any Allied force that sought to liberate Formosa.
For nearly eight months, everyone had thought the Americans would leave Formosa alone and focus their efforts elsewhere. Then rumors had spread about a massive military defeat in northern China that had cost the lives of over a hundred thousand soldiers. The more recent gossip was that the PLA forces were being defeated in the Philippines. Sergeant Lei recognized that if the Americans had recaptured the Philippines, then it was likely just a matter of time before they tried to steal Formosa.
One of the privates broke Lei out of his reflections. “Sergeant Lei,” he said, “do you think the Americans are going to invade soon?”
A few of the other soldiers perked up as they heard the question, waiting to hear what their sergeant would say. Putting his pen down, Lei looked up and saw the scared expression on the young man’s face. Lei replied, “The Americans will come. I don’t know if it will be today, tomorrow, or next month…” Just then, a series of explosions blasted in a not-too-distant area. He continued, “… but rest assured, the Americans will come, and when they do, we will throw them back into the sea from which they came.”
The soldiers in the sleeping quarters of their bunker complex nodded in agreement. Before the men could ask any more questions or ponder what he had said further, the general quarters alarm sounded, alerting them that they were to man their battle stations. Getting up from his cot, Lei cinched his boots back on, then pulled on his body armor and reached for his QBZ-95 rifle. The men quickly filed out of the sleeping quarters section of the complex and made their way to the gun positions their squad had been assigned to.
Walking through the maze of tunnels in the complex, Lei could hear and feel the bombs hitting the earthen fortifications above them and around the nearby area.