“The building is now empty apart from ourselves, sir.”
“You do not approve Stefan… I let the staff and guests stay whilst we were free of the need to use radios. They were in no danger then but they are now. Eventually NATO will stop shelling the antennae farms when they work out where we really are and we will have to leave, in the meanwhile they will do their level best to reduce this place to brick dust. Do you really think that the presence of civilians above our heads would stop them?”
“They were rich and pampered sir.”
“Stefan, rich and pampered people need armies to fight their wars for them, if you go killing them off you will put us all out of work… now come here” he instructed, pointing to the wall map. “NATO are at the airport perimeter, so as was predicted, the Germans managed to forestall their withdrawal and so I have sent the signal to begin the next phase.” He turned to his artillery rep, who had his headset and microphone glued to his head.
“Colonel, what are your ammunition stats?”
The colonel did not have to refer to anything in front of him.
“Five hundred rounds per tube were delivered, that is half of what was planned for. We do not have enough for counter battery fire, but at the present rate of expenditure we will run out in less than twenty-four hours’. This damned NATO jamming is making it difficult for me to keep track, but that is my estimate sir. There was no resupply last night and if they do not get through again tonight then I hope our comrades in the north hurry the hell up, sir.”
Alontov tapped the map, his finger was beating a tattoo over the airports western edge.
“As you are aware, the attack by NATO at dawn rolled over the battalion at the autobahn junction before word could reach us here. They are now at the airport perimeter. We can survive without the airport; the air force can drop their palettes over the park, but the airport sits beside a principal supply route and the road into the north of this city. They can have the south, once the bridges across the canals are blown… but I need a maximum effort from your guns Colonel. I am taking half of the brigade from this city, all the armour we have, and I am going to push those enemy forces back and retake our old positions at the junction, and I need artillery to do that.”
The artillery rep nodded before turning back to what he was doing before and began giving preparatory orders.
“Colonel Ostrovich.” The brigade commander for the city's forces smiled at him from the corner of the room his staff was using.
“I know general, you are stealing half of my command and lending me the division… whilst you go and pretend to be eighteen again.”
“Correct my friend, the enemy effort has just about spent itself at the airport. They will be digging in and waiting for fresh troops, probably the other British mechanised brigade, which will be here tomorrow. We must ensure they commit that brigade, because once it is they will not be able to use it to reinforce the NATO line before Berlin, where the 2nd Shock Army and our Belorussian comrades will be heading quite soon.”
The brigade commander crossed the room and shook Alontov’s hand.
“9th Battalion is already mounted up as mobile reserve, I will take two 7th Battalion companies away from patrolling the streets and send them, plus their mortars to join you in thirty minutes… .take care Serge, we aren’t bullet proof young lieutenants chasing mountain tribesmen anymore!” he added with a note of caution.
Serge clapped him on the shoulder before striding to the door, where one of his men held out weapons and equipment for him to don.
Contrary to the colonel generals beliefs, 3 (UK) Mechanised had not dug in to consolidate the ground they had taken. Whilst the Russian commander was still speaking, 2LI had hacked a six hundred metre wide gap in the airports perimeter defences, which the Guards and US Airborne exploited by racing through to seize part of the cargo handling and warehouse area.
Nikoli Bordenko and a section of his men sprinted between buildings and drew fire from the bonded warehouse. Nikoli cursed as a tiny splinter of sharp concrete struck him below the left cheekbone and drew blood. The man beside him made a sound a like a punctured football being kicked, and dropped lifeless to the tarmac. The fallen man’s body tripped the soldier behind, who regained his feet and dived the last few feet to the safety of the buildings sold wall. The high velocity rounds passed them with high-pitched cracking sounds, or scarred and pitted the concrete and tarmac around them, kicking up shards of stone. The ricochets made humming sounds as the misshapen bullets spun away with a whine, the sounds of their passing diminishing with distance.
Now that the Russian paratroopers were no longer in view of the warehouse, the firing slackened off but did not die out completely.
The soldier who had stumbled was swearing as he examined the damage, a round had sliced open the back of his camouflaged trousers leaving a six-inch vertical rent. His left buttock was reddened around a long, shallow gash in the soft flesh, and he pulled apart the edges of the ripped cloth to view the injury.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Nikoli reached over and tugged at the underwear that was also exposed. The small, American flag and happy face design on the boxer shorts drew laughter from the rest of the soldiers. “Sergeant, I told you not to go into that wrecked gift shop yesterday, looting is a serious offence… and the Fashion Police around here would seem to have a licence to kill!” he told the injured man with a grin.
“Well fuck-you-very-much for your concern sir, but someone just gave me an instant third buttock!”
“Look on the positive side, sarge… ” another paratrooper added.
“It is an extra vent for all that bullshit you’re full of.”
“Just for that you sodding gobby Georgian, you can find us a way into this building… preferably without me getting shot at again!”
To a civilian, it may have seemed callous that they were laughing and joking just moments after a messmate had died. However, the laughter was partly nervous release and the dead man was not forgotten, because they would grieve for him silently once the adrenaline had settled and the fighting was done.
Three hundred metres away in the bonded warehouse, Colin Probert was handing out captured AKM-74 assault rifles and ammunition to his men.
“Use these until the ammunition runs out, save your own until then. Remember… single, aimed shots only, if anyone goes Audie Murphy on me he’ll catch my boot up his arse!” They had used a lot of ammunition and most of their grenades taking the place and needed to take advantage of whatever supplies were at hand. The enemy would counter-attack, probably sooner rather than later so bricks were being removed in the walls to allow them to engage the enemy and eliminate the number of blind spots about the place. Just removing bricks is not enough, a high velocity round will go straight through brickwork, with the exception of the SA-80s ammunition of course, and they needed to add some protection around the loops in the walls.
The Light Infantry’s breakthrough had been unexpected, and there had been a scramble to get men aboard AFVs and through the breach. Only four Warriors had reached the buildings before heavy mortar and artillery fire had isolated them here. They had lost five men dead and six wounded clearing out the Russians who had been here and in the building site behind, which left six US 82nd troopers including their RSM, and twenty-one Guardsmen to hold on until the cavalry arrived.