The Colonel nodded as his staff followed Thornton to the terminal. As they entered the corridor, the Colonel could see a number of dead Russian soldiers and spent shell casings from a mountain of gun fire. Clearly, this area had been fought over. Within ten minutes of landing, the Colonel was in charge and directing operations.
Several Air Force personnel joined the Marine Headquarters group, and began to direct several C17s as they began their final approach. The planes were taxiing to offload light drone tanks and munitions for the Razorbacks on one of the taxi ways, and then preparing to take off again and head back to Cypress to pick up the next load.
Once the light drone tanks were offloaded, they began to head towards the base perimeter, and linked up with a platoon from Bravo Company who was going to accompany them to their next objective. It was important to get the light tanks into the fight as soon as possible and get this area of the city and airport secured as quickly as could be. A lot of aircraft and equipment was about to start moving through this airport.
After the flight crews for the Razorbacks established their own air operations, several of them took off heading towards the city to provide additional close air support to the Marines, moving their way through it. There was continuous artillery and heavy machine gun fire emanating from the city center and the east side of the city as the Marines continued to move inland from the various beaches they had invaded from. The Russians were forcing the Marines to fight house-to-house and were turning the city into a meat grinder.
A fourth wave of Razorbacks landed, and offloaded a full battalion of fresh Marines along with a battery of 155mm Howitzers, which immediately began to provide fire support as soon as they were set up. The additional Marines relieved Bravo Company just as Major Lee and the Battalion Headquarters arrived at the airport. It was now time for the battalion to consolidate and await their next assignment.
The sky above Chtaura was abuzz with aircraft activity. Hundreds of drones and manned fighter aircraft were engaged in combat with dozens of MiG40s in an effort to provide cover and protection for the 60+ C17s carrying paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne (they were preparing to jump). Private First Class (PFC) John Mitchell stood up in the C17, getting ready to jump with the rest of his company, when the aircraft suddenly veered to one side and then descended quickly. The jump master yelled, “Everyone to get ready to jump!”
Then the pilot came on over the PA, and announced, “There are enemy MiGs in the area. Repeat, enemy MiGs are in the area. Everyone is to jump immediately!”
The jump light went from red to green, and then the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne began to jump out of the plane, one after the other, as they passed the jump master at the door.
As PFC Mitchell began to fall, his parachute opened quickly and he dropped his pack below his feet to dangle until he landed. As the company was descending to the airport below, he saw hundreds of parachutes all around him. The C17 his company had just jumped out of took a direct missile hit from a MiG, and blew the left wing clean off. The aircraft caught fire, and began to spiral to the ground before crashing into the hills below, creating a huge fireball. It did not look like anyone from inside the aircraft was able to make it out before it exploded.
While PFC Mitchell descended steadily toward the ground, he grabbed his rifle and began to take aim at the Russians on the ground, who were now only a few thousand feet away. Several Russian soldiers began to aim their heavy machines up towards the paratroopers and began to open fire. Suddenly, the sky was filled with green tracers crisscrossing back and forth across the sky.
PFC Mitchell took aim at a cluster of soldiers manning one of the machine guns while he continued to float down to below 500 feet, and opened fire. He quickly dispatched the soldiers he had targeted at the helm of the machine gun, only to be cut apart by different machine gun crew. His lifeless body continued to drift to the ground, until it landed in a heap.
The fighting was intense during the first four hours of the battle for Chtaura. The Russians fought hard and gallantly, but were outnumbered by the airborne troopers. The M5 AIR and HUD system that the Americans used was perhaps the most superior combat rifle system ever developed. It provided the American soldier with the tactical advantage and gave him a rough average of 5:1 kill ratio. The Americans quickly captured the Russian supply depots and blew them up. They immediately began to establish multiple defensive positions along the major supply routes, highways, and air corridors that the Russian planes and drones were using, making it hard for the Reds to keep their forces in the surrounding areas supplied. They had established their blocking force, preventing Russian reinforcements in Damascus from being able to assist their brothers-in-arms in Beirut.
By the end of the first 36 hours, the Americans had secured an 18-mile-long defensive line from Beirut, Lebanon to Zahlah, Syria. This effectively cut the Russians off from their entire supply line system and blocked any reinforcements they may have been able to receive from Turkey and the Black Sea. As the Americans began to dig in to their new defensive positions, the Russians were left with some hard choices. They already had nearly 300,000 troops in Israel, along with 500,000 Islamic Republic forces. What should they do? If they stayed, they risked being surrounded; if they fell back to Damascus where their reserve force was, they would lose all of the hard fought ground they had gained so far.
With the successful invasion and airborne assault, General Gardner ordered an additional 90,000 soldiers from his reserves to be sent to Beirut, and an all-out offensive against the entire enemy line. The Israelis launched a massive assault from the Jordan Valley, and began to push the IR back towards Amman. The Americans had been equipping the IDF with the same M5 AIR and HUD system that the American soldiers were using, giving them the same tactical advantage that the American soldiers currently enjoyed.
The Chinese were caught off guard by the initial counterattack from the American and Israeli forces. They rushed their reserves forward, believing this was just another defensive ploy by the Allied forces. Unbeknownst to the Chinese, the Americans had cut the Russian supply depots and supply lines off from their main force. They were also unaware that the Israelis were attacking through the Jordan Valley with nearly 600,000 soldiers. However, the Israelis had no intentions of attacking Amman directly. Their goal was to cut deep behind the Chinese lines, and then swing south and behind the Chinese forces, surrounding them while they were fully engaged with the Israeli and American forces to their front. At that point, the Chinese would be forced to either surrender or be wiped out. The grand objective was to either capture or destroy the Chinese army, along with the Russians. Once that was accomplished, they could drive the IR out of Jordan and push towards Riyadh, Baghdad, and Kuwait City. So far, General Gardner’s plan was working.
The conflict in Mexico was not often mentioned in the media or widely talked about by the average person on the street. With the wars in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe raging on, the people generally did not have the attention span to think about another potential problem. However, some Islamic Republic Special Forces units were still operating in Mexico, and they were doing a good job of creating chaos whenever possible. By in large, the country’s conflict had tapered off; more and more people in Mexico were finding work, and many were being drafted into the American army. The government had already drafted 1.6 million Mexican young men and women, ranging in age from 18 to 38, into the U.S. military. Most of these draftees were being deployed to the conflict in the Middle East and Europe, with less than 200,000 of them being deployed Stateside.