Colonel Aaron wasted no time. “Looks like division was right, order the tanks into their fighting positions now!”
Turning back to LTC Lewis, he directed, “I want you to get to the alternate Command Post and be ready to take over in case my CP is taken out, OK?”
“Yes Sir! We’ll be ready, and I’ll continue to monitor the armor units moving towards us. If we spot anything unusual, we’ll let you know.” Then LTC Lewis turned and began to run towards the vehicle that would take him to the alternate CP. The brigade ran two active CPs-in case one was destroyed, the other could pick things up and continue the fight without a loss in leadership continuity. This was something that had worked extremely well in Israel, where CPs and military leadership were constantly being killed. The casualty rate among officers and senior NCOs had been horrific, resulting in a lot of battlefield promotions, much like had occurred during World War II. This strategic decision to have an alternate means of running operations had proven to be a key factor in defeating the IR, so all throughout Europe, all the major battle headquarters were enacting this approach.
Staff Sergeant Marshal was the tank commander (TC) for Alpha Twelve, one of four Pershing tanks in second platoon, Alpha Company. SSG Marshal had just received word to move forward to their firing positions and be ready to engage the Russian MBTs that should be to their front. As they moved their tanks into the berm, PFC Tanner (who was manning the tanks’ targeting computer) said in an excited voice, “Enemy tanks identified! Four-miles to our front.”
Typically, when a tank unit establishes a defensive position, engineers will carve an embankment out of the terrain for the tanks to pull in to. This type of position keeps the majority of the tank protected, and only exposes the turret. This way, a tank can fire between two to four shots at one location and then back out of that spot and move to the next berm, repeating the process for as long as the battle lasts. This keeps the tank from becoming a stationary target and turning into a bullseye for artillery and air strikes.
SSG Marshal began to issue orders to the rest of his crew. “Prepare to engage!” he directed
Within seconds, the platoon commander (PC) called in on the coms, “Engage the enemy tanks now!”
At this point, the Russian tanks were advancing quickly across the countryside, trying to close the distance between their lines and the American positions in order to get within range of their own guns. The Pershings, with their railgun, had an enormous reach advantage over their Russian counter-parts. In flat and open terrain, the Pershing could hit targets as far away as twenty miles.
“Target identified! Russian T14 MBT,” yelled PFC Turner.
“Fire!” shouted SSG Marshal.
A low winding sound could be heard as the railgun charged and then-BOOM! The projectile was launched from the barrel at Mach 10, creating an immediate sonic boom. Soon, dozens of sonic booms could be heard as the rest of the platoon began to engage the Russians.
“Target identified. T15 IFV,” said PFC Turner. His voice sounded calmer now that they had engaged and destroyed half a dozen tanks.
“Fire!” Marshal ordered. “Gunner, fire at will. I’m going topside to get the machine gun ready to support our infantry.
The Russians fired dozens of their new artillery smoke rounds at the American lines. These projectiles had a special chemical in them that greatly reduced thermal images within the smoke. The Russians and Americans had recently developed similar weapons as a means of defeating each other’s thermal scopes. Alpha Company had destroyed nearly 67 T14s before the Russians started to plaster the American tank lines with smoke canisters. The smoke was starting to have a serious effect on the Pershings… their rate of fire began to drop significantly. Russian T15 IFVs rushed forward with the tanks to get their infantry units as close to the American lines as possible; they were hoping to engage the Pershings with their anti-tank missiles. As the battle moved away from a long-distance shooting match between the tanks and anti-tank missiles, the Russians began to get close enough for their IFVs to start engaging the American infantrymen a hundred yards or so in front of the Pershings.
As the smoke finally started to clear, SSG Marshal saw several T15 IFVs heading directly towards the infantrymen positioned in front of his tank. He quickly sent a message to Tanner to have him focus on the closer IFVs and then go after the tanks once the immediate threat was taken care of. Just as Marshal finished sending his message, he saw an anti-tank missile leave its launcher, heading right for him. He quickly ducked into the turret, just as the projectile hit their armor. The missile didn’t penetrate the armor, but the impact shook everyone up inside the tank. Turner recovered quickly, and destroyed all three IFVs before their tank was hit by another enemy tank round. This time, the projectile bounced off the armor.
“Driver, back us out of here and go to the next fighting position now!” yelled Marshal. He did not want to become a sitting duck. Just as their tank pulled out of its position, several artillery rounds hit the berm. Had they stayed there even ten seconds longer, they would have been utterly destroyed.
They continued on in their fight, firing several times and then weaving along to their next location. As they pulled into their fourth firing position of the day, a T14 fired a Sabot round, hitting their left track. The impact destroyed the track wheel and crushed the track itself. They were now stuck, half in and half out of their new firing position.
“Guys, we’re trapped! Turner, keep firing and take out those IFVs; we need to support the infantry. Driver, I want you out of the vehicle to get on the machine gun turret, so we can start providing cover to the infantry,” Marshal said as he lifted the commander’s hatch to start using the M2 .50 mounted on the turret. With the vehicle out of commission, there was no reason to have the driver sit in the tank with nothing to do.
SSG Marshal saw dozens of Russian infantry moving closer to the American lines. They were firing feverishly at the Americans, trying to keep their heads down while others advanced. Marshal turned the M2 towards the largest group of soldiers he saw, which were about 300 yards away, and immediately began to engage them, sending two to five second bursts from the M2. The .50 caliber slugs punched right through the trees and other objects the Russian infantry were using for cover. Just as Marshal turned to say something to his driver (who had crawled up to join him using the machine gun located above the gunner’s hatch), his head exploded and his body went limp, falling back into the tank. He had been hit by a Russian sniper.
Sergeant Trellis and Private First Class Ye were forward observers for a self-propelled artillery battalion that was assigned to support the 66th AR. They were operating in Alpha Troop area, where they could provide artillery support to both Alpha and Bravo Troop.
“Here they come,” said PFC Ye as he spat a stream of tobacco on the ground near his boot. He never took his eyes off the enemy tanks heading towards them.
“I see them. Let’s call in the first set of rounds and get those tankers to button up. No need to make their life any easier,” Sergeant Trellis responded as he reached over to grab the radio handset.
Speaking into the handset, Trellis advised, “This is Ghost 2, we have eyes on enemy tanks… count is roughly sixty… request one round high explosive (HE) at grid…”