“Continue to move forward and be alert. See if you can find a defensive position for the battalion to hunker down in,” Thornton said to his scout leader.
Thornton’s company was the lead element for the battalion of Pershing tanks they were escorting. His infantry battalion had been filtered into an armored brigade that was moving to engage the Russian armored units. Their mission was to provide infantry support to the Pershings and act as scouts to find the enemy and identify ambush positions.
The scouts continued to move along the edge of the ridgeline until they spotted half a dozen Russian tanks and dozens of infantry vehicles moving forward. They were currently engaging a dozen or so Israeli tanks that had just passed through ten minutes earlier. The scout leader found a good position, just shy of the top of the ridge, that would give them a clear field of fire without silhouetting them against the top of the ridgeline and making them easy targets for Russian tanks. The scout leader radioed in the position, and the battalion, led by Thornton’s company, began to move into their new defensive position and set their trap.
Less than an hour after the battalion set up their positions and kill zones, a column of Russian infantry vehicles supported by some additional tanks made their way towards the Israeli positions, which took them right across Thornton’s kill zone. They held their fire until the enemy vehicles had moved to the end of their kill zone.
“Open Fire!” ordered Thornton.
The entire battalion opened fire as soon as Thornton’s company did… the fight was over within five minutes. Multiple enemy infantry vehicles and tanks were destroyed before they could be pulled back. The Russians managed to destroy several Marine tanks, including three Pershings, when a pair of MiG40s arrived on scene above their positions. The Russians called in artillery and rockets to pound the battalion positions and hold them in place while another Russian armored battalion maneuvered around the ridge to get behind the Marines. The Israelis, seeing the tank battle taking place not far from their positions, also joined in and began sniping Russian tanks and IFVs as they tried to maneuver around the Marines.
The Marines anticipated a Russian move like this, and had a pair of Razorbacks on standby in case it did. Minutes later, both Razorbacks arrived on scene and began to engage the Russian tank battalion. In just a few minutes, they had destroyed nine enemy tanks and seven infantry fighting vehicles. Unfortunately, several MiG40s were also in the area and swooped down from their high altitude perch to launch a pair of air-to-air missiles, destroying one of the Razorbacks and badly damaging the second. A half dozen surface-to-air missiles jumped after the low flying MiGs, destroying one while the other managed to get away.
After three attempts by the Russians to capture the Marine positions, the battalion fell back to another position that the scouts had found for them. They immediately did their best to disengage and fall back to their next ambush location and repeat the process. They would duplicate this progression four more times before they were relieved and told to fall back deeper into Israel. Their primary objective was to engage and then disengage the Russians, sapping them of their strength and constantly starting and stopping their offensive. As this played out, various IDF and other American armor units continued to maneuver around the Russian flanks, hitting them repeatedly and whittling their numbers down while rotating fresh Allied units in to the fight.
Blood Bath at Megiddo
The Russian offensive was going better than they had anticipated. The arrival of two additional squadrons of MiG40s had made a tremendous difference. They continued to loiter high above the battlefield, and as laser or railgun defensive systems were identified by Spetsnaz units or scouts, the MiGs would engage them with guided munitions, exterminating them. Soon after they were destroyed, attack drones or helicopters would move into the area and attack the Allied armor and infantry positions. It was a somewhat slow process, but it was proving to be very effective.
The Russians had advanced into Israel, and were fighting for control of Acre on the Mediterranean and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. Their goal was to capture the critical port facility of Haifa, and then the critical road junction at Nazareth. This would put them in a good position to drive down deeper into Israel and potentially capture Tel Aviv.
The Chinese, by contrast, had not broken through the Allied defensive line in the south at all, though they were tying down a lot of Allied Forces, which otherwise would have been thrown against the Russians. It was for this reason General Lodz was not furious with his Chinese counterparts for not proving to be better fighters. As long as they continued to hold dozens of Israeli and American divisions in place, then they couldn’t be used against his own forces.
“Where do we stand with the battle right now?” asked General Lodz of the senior IR general on his staff.
“We are close to a break through right now. The problem is, we are grinding through your Russian armor units. I believe it is time to throw in my IR troops and save your reserve forces to follow in behind them,” the IR generals replied, eager to get the Muslim army involved again.
“Hmm… go ahead and send in eight divisions from your force to hit Acre. I want that city captured and our forces in Haifa by the end of tomorrow. I also want your forces to secure Megiddo as well. It’s a critical road junction that we need to control. Is that understood?”
“Yes, General. It will be done,” replied the general, immediately turning to issue orders to the officers near him.
In the following days, 160,000 additional IR infantry joined the 260,000 Russians attacking Acre, and broke through the Allied positions. The Allies quickly fell back again, this time close to Hadera to establish their next defensive line. Additional Israeli troops and militia units moved into the area to help the American Army and Marines try and stop the 420,000 troops bearing down on Tel Aviv. The battle around Megiddo and Haifa were turning into a real bloodbath on all sides as more and more troops, tanks, artillery and air support were being poured into the battles.
Casualties once again began to rise with each new offensive; in nearly four days of heavy fighting, the Americans had suffered 13,458 soldiers killed and three times that number wounded. Israel was once again turning into a meat grinder as the number of Americans killed since the start of the war in Israel now exceeded 100,000 KIAs with five times that many wounded.
Redirect
The President was starting to get worried. The new Russian offensive in Israel had dislodged the Israeli and American positions in the north of Israel, and now they were bearing down on Tel Aviv. The Americans had suffered another 68,000 casualties between those wounded and killed, the Israelis 92,000. The arrival of additional MiG40s in Israel was proving to be disastrous for the Allies. They were losing laser and railgun defensive systems, opening the Allied armored units up to Russian and IR air attacks.
In spite of the battlefield losses, the US economy was finally starting to produce the tools of war in the quantities needed now that they were focusing on one theater of operations and not spread across all three. The Americans were producing 400 Pershing battle tanks a month, and in those numbers, they would have enough to field the entire Army and Marines with them in eighteen months. The vehicle chassis was also being used in two new armored vehicles, an armored personnel carrier that could transport twelve infantrymen into battle, and a light drone tank and anti-personnel fighting vehicle (APFV), or Wolverine as it was now officially being called. The Wolverine was the newest drone vehicle to enter military service and could fight and function alone or in hunter killer groups, much like the animal it was named after. It had a medium railgun that could take out other enemy tanks and multiple smaller railguns ideal for attacking enemy infantry. The vehicle was still six months away from first delivery, but would be a game changer when it does arrive.