When they got a little closer, they could hear what the First Sergeant was saying. “Copy that. Sending artillery to Tango 5 and Tango 7. Standby.” Then he picked up a different radio handset and began to relay the information to the Fire Support Team LNO. Within a couple of minutes, they could hear the distant sound of three artillery guns firing; seconds later, they could hear the whistle of the rounds as they flew over their heads headed towards the pre-determined targets.
Off in the distance, they could hear the explosions as the artillery rounds began to land on the other side of the valley. They could see several glowing fireballs rise high into the sky, indicating direct hits on tanks, fuel tankers or ammo carriers.
The radio crackled to life, the scouts came over the wire, “Gun bunnies, direct hit! Fire again, same trajectory.”
The First Sergeant picked up the radio set again and called the FIST, “Last rounds were direct hit. Fire for effect. Intermix the rounds with WP and airburst rounds.” This call to fire for effect meant that the entire battalion of eighteen guns would fire between three and five rounds each to blanket the area.
Within seconds, they could hear what sounded like a freight train flying over their heads heading towards the enemy positions. They could hear the concussions as the rounds began to impact on the other side of the valley. Shortly after the barrage was launched, a second set of whistling could be heard; the Russian artillery guns began their counter-battery fire, trying to hit the American guns that had just savaged their armored counter parts. The battle for Fairbanks had started in earnest.
A few minutes later, the lead enemy vehicles could be seen coming around the bend. They were no more than five miles away, and began to fan out into the valley heading towards their position. Artillery smoke rounds began to land all through the valley, blanketing it in a thick canvas of grey clouds that hung heavy to the ground, covering the advance of the enemy armored vehicles, tanks and infantry. Inside the Wolverine IFVs, the gunners quickly switched to their thermal imaging so that they could track the Russian tanks and IFVs heading towards their position. They quickly began to engage the enemy ranks.
Russian anti-tank missile teams began to fire off dozens of missiles in an attempt to take out the Wolverines. Fortunately, most of the Wolverines were in a hull down position, leaving only their turret exposed. As the missiles approached the Wolverines, the anti-tank missiles sprang into action, creating a veritable wall of protection approximately 1,000 feet away from the American lines.
Lieutenant Allen shouted at his soldiers, “Put on your helmets, and close up your suits, now! It’s time to show the world why the 32nd INF was the best in the world.”
In short order, hundreds of Russian soldiers were within five hundred yards of their position, desperately trying to close the gap to get in range of their own weapons. Wave after wave of Russian infantry charged across the valley with the support of their tanks and IFVs. Artillery cover was continuous, keeping the Wolverines so busy defending their positions that they barely had time to launch into offensive mode.
The first hour of the battle was pure murder; the Russian infantry had no chance of getting close enough to the American positions to utilize their weapons before they were being systematically picked off. The HUD system in the Raptor suit, along with the M5 AIR, enabled the Americans to identify and kill the enemy at ranges as far as 600 meters; this was well beyond the range of the Russian infantry. It was not until the Russians began to blanket the area with so much artillery fire that even the Wolverines couldn’t keep up with shooting down all the incoming rounds down that things began to change.
Within a couple of hours, several of Allen’s Wolverines had been taken out by artillery or one of the many waves of anti-tank missiles. Steadily, the Russian artillery and anti-tank missile waves were finally starting to work their way through the Wolverine anti-missile screen and score a lot more direct hits against Allen’s defensive positions. Several of his bunkers were destroyed; dozens of soldiers were starting to get wounded as artillery rounds continued to land amongst their positions. Unless they received some serious help soon, they would be forced to withdraw back to another defensive position, ceding to the Russians a key piece of ground leading into Fairbanks.
Just as the situation was starting to look dim for Lieutenant Allen’s platoon, three Razorback helicopters swooped in low over the ridgeline to their left flank, and fired off a barrage of anti-personnel rockets and hellfire anti-tank missiles before ducking back below the ridgeline and moving off towards Ladd Army Airfield near Ft. Wainwright. This overwhelming barrage of missiles devastated the Russian advance, and forced them to retreat and regroup.
Lt. Allen seized on this opportunity to evacuate his wounded men and women from the front and reorganize their positions before the Russians came back. They needed to hold their position a little longer if possible.
Twenty-four hours after the first major attack against their lines, the rest of the Russian army began to arrive outside of Fairbanks. There was an increase in air activity, and a steady hammering of artillery against their positions. Allen knew this was going to be a tough battle ahead, and was determined to make the Russians pay for every inch of America they tried to take.
Through the display on his HUD, Allen received word that the engineers at the next position were almost done with their work. This meant that they could fall back soon and join the rest of the Marines in a fighting retreat out of the area to the next defensive position at Mt. McKinley. They just had to hold for two more days.
The Russians started their final assault against Lieutenant Allen’s position shortly after dawn. A massive artillery barrage vibrated the very fabric of the sky as it rushed towards the Americans. Then, wave after wave of light drone tanks and infantry, many of them using their own exoskeleton suits, swarmed towards Allen’s position. The infantrymen in the exo suits moved quickly, and needed to be the first ones taken out.
Allen used his HUD to alert his platoon sergeant. “Sergeant Jenkins, have the men focus on taking out the infantry in the exo suits. They are advancing fast!”
LT Allen began targeting an enemy soldier himself with his rifle. He spotted a Russian about 600 meters away, moving quickly and methodically; he was running from one area of cover to another, firing a few shots at Allen’s line as he ran. Paul used his sights to hone in on him; he squeezed the trigger, sending a .25mm projectile towards the man at Mach 5 speeds. The Russian was hit in the chest and flew several feet backwards off of his feet; soon he was lying dead on the ground being trampled over as dozens of his comrades moved past his limp body.
Seeing that even more soldiers in exoskeleton suits were rushing his position than anticipated, Allen’s heart began to race again. He used his HUD coms to call to the platoon TOC, “Requesting additional artillery support to our front positions. Have the Razorbacks on standby. We’ve got hundreds of exoskeletons headed our way, and I am starting to see waves of Russian tanks forming up.”
Checking his platoon’s status in his HUD, Paul could see that he had five soldiers injured and one soldier dead. The Russians were still getting closer, despite them picking off guys at maximum range.
As more artillery rounds began to land amongst their lines, the number of wounded and killed soldiers began to tick up. The Russians had now closed the distance to less than 200 meters away, and were still coming strong. Several of the light drone tanks began to speed ahead of the infantry, hoping to slash through Allen’s lines and cause further problems for his fighters. As they drew within 75 meters of the American positions, several of Allen’s soldiers lifted up their AT6s and fired off their anti-tank rockets. In seconds, four of the thirteen light drone tanks attacking their positions were destroyed, while the remainder continued to advance. As the drones moved to within 25 meters of their position, several additional infantrymen produced more AT6s and fired another volley of rockets at them, destroying another five more of the nine drone tanks. The remaining four drones blew through his lines and made their way for targets further behind Allen’s position. He quickly radioed in the threat to the company TOC and battalion, and returned his focus to the steady advance of the Russian infantry.