Despite a valiant effort by the 5th Marine Division, they were ordered to withdraw with the rest of the Second Army so that they did not get cut off. The Russians had been nowhere near capturing Fairbanks, but with the loss of Anchorage, it would not be long before the Chinese were able to roll up and cut off the Marines from being able to retreat. Being a Marine himself, General Black was not about to leave behind an entire Marine division.
General Black had pulled the Second Army back to Glacier View, about 40 miles east of Anchorage. He had also pulled the 5th Marine Division to Cartwell to act as a blocking force while the 12th Infantry Division moved to Fairbanks. They were hoping to keep the Russians busy while the engineers continued to destroy Route 2 and implode several of the mountain passes, making it much more difficult for the Russians to transport their army or supplies. Since the 12th was the one division that was fully equipped with the Raptor combat suits and the new Wolverine IFVs, it would be incumbent on them to buy the engineers the time they needed to complete their work and then conduct a fighting retreat down to Cartwell in order to link up with the Marines.
Lieutenant Allen did not feel comfortable at all with their new assignment. Their division was essentially being thrown out there as a glorified speed bump against a Russian army that outnumbered them by nearly 28:1. The Russians had shifted their focus from Europe to Alaska, which meant more troops and resources had arrived in Alaska over the last few months. As the Marines pulled out, the Russians slowly moved in.
Lieutenant Allen’s platoon had been given a hilltop a couple of miles away from the Fairbanks Airport to defend. Below them was the road junction between Route 2 and Route 3, a key throughway for moving around the interior of Alaska. Their platoon would be one of the first sections to be hit when the Russians showed up. As the remaining Marines moved through their lines, they passed along as much information as they could about the Russians they would be facing. They learned that several of the Russian units were using their own exoskeleton suits.
Allen immediately ordered his platoon to begin digging in, setting up prepositioned artillery plots, claymore anti-personnel mines and plenty of ammunition. Fortunately, an engineering platoon joined them and immediately began to construct a number of artillery bunkers. Intelligence said they probably had a couple of days, maybe a week at most before they could expect to see Russian units starting to show up in force. The engineers dug out several “hull down” positions for the Wolverines to settle into so they would have some protection from the inevitable artillery while still being able to provide accurate ground and air defense support.
Within a day, Russian drones, fighters and helicopters were spotted flying within the air defense zone; with their fifteen-mile range, the Wolverines put their railguns to work to create a virtual shield in the sky. The Russian aircraft retreated; they returned in short bursts to launch standoff missiles and cruise missiles to attack the American positions. Fortunately, the Wolverines were easily able to shoot the projectiles down as they flew.
Five days into their defensive operation, Allen’s platoon encountered their first Russian soldiers. The spotters determined that this was a small platoon, no more than forty fighters; they must have been there as a sort of probing force, scouting out the area. That small of a group barely put up any fight to Allen’s crew in their exoskeleton suits; however, it was only a matter of time before more soldiers arrived.
SFC Jenkins approached the back of the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) to see if he could find Lieutenant Allen. Jenkins thought the LT was a good guy-a lot younger than he was, but so were most soldiers in the army these days. At least the LT had seen plenty of combat, so Jenkins was pretty confident that he knew what he was doing when he gave orders. Unlike most of the new lieutenants who had just graduated ROTC or were being rushed through officer training school, at least the mavericks (the guys who received battlefield promotions) knew what they were doing.
As Jenkins turned the corner around a cluster of computer consoles, he spotted LT Allen talking to his CO. He walked over towards him to get his attention. “Excuse me Lieutenant, our scouts have spotted a large unit of soldiers heading towards our position. The First Sergeant said to come get you.” As he spoke, SFC Jenkins pulled out a fresh cigarette.
Every time LT Allen faced a battle, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his body; his heart started beating faster, his hands became sweaty, and it felt like butterflies were flitting through his stomach. He wasn’t a coward, but he had a healthy respect for the seriousness of the situation. He tried to conceal these reactions; as he turned back to Captain Shiller, he was as cool as a cucumber. “It looks like I better get back before the fireworks start, Sir. Is there anything else I should know before I head off?”
Captain Shiller shook his head. “Just remember, we have very limited air support. Rely mostly on your artillery. I’ve been assured that if we really need air support, there are some Razorbacks in the area that we can call in. However, they are limited in number, and they are supporting the entire front. It will really depend on what you are facing as to how quickly and how much support may arrive. Good luck, and hopefully I’ll see you at the next commander’s call tomorrow, if they don’t hit us too hard today.”
The Captain turned and began to bark orders to the soldiers nearby to get ready for the pending attack.
As Allen and the SFC Jenkins walked quickly back to their platoon positions, Allen asked, “Where is the First Sergeant now?”
“He’s at bunker one; he was making sure everyone had eaten when the report came in from the scouts.” Jenkins read through some information on his tablet before continuing, “They have spotted about a brigade-sized element heading our way. It looks to be about one armor battalion and two light infantry battalions. One of the infantry battalions appears to have the exoskeleton suits — that’s going to hurt. At least the others are just regular infantry.” SFC Jenkins continued puffing away on his cigarette as they walked, snuffing it out with his boot as they got closer to the frontlines. He realized that there was no reason to give up his position to a sniper by walking around with a lit up cigarette. Besides, he would have to be suiting up with his helmet shortly.
“Are these tanks something we should worry about, or can the Wolverines handle them?” asked Allen. He wondered if they were going to need that air support already.
“They appear to be T14 Armatas-not the T38s or T41s-so we should be fine once they start to show up,” Jenkins said confidently.
The T14 Armata was a formidable tank. It first came on to the scene back in the 2010s, but it had gone through several generation upgrades through the years. However, despite using reactive armor, it still could not stop a 20mm projectile traveling at Mach 10, which made it vulnerable to American attack.
As the two of them approached bunker one, they could see the First Sergeant talking on the radio to the scouts. Off in the distance, they could hear the low rumble of the enemy tanks as they approached through the valley.