“Any questions before I move on to the meat and veg of the orders?”
“Why are we moving into the assault now? Why not spare the guys and gals any more casualties and starve them out?” The RAF representative had a valid point. The war had inflicted heavy losses on all the armed services.
“A good point and a reasonable one. The answer is that civilians in the occupied areas, and our own comrades in barbed wire stockades, are facing the prospect of starvation, and as the purpose of an army in a democracy is to protect the people, that is what we are doing.”
There were no more questions.
“Ground.” The map that now appeared had the Fleet Air Arm Base, HMAS Albatross, at the lower left corner and the coastal town of Gerringong at the top right. Since its capture by the Chinese the airfield had been a major thorn in the side of the NATO forces in the mountains, forests and hills.
Pat described the area the brigade would be operating in, in generalised form, and the objective in greater detail.
“Any questions so far?”
There were none.
“Situation; enemy forces…since the enemy first landed their 9th Tank Regiment and 14th Infantry have been digging in and firming up around the town of Nowra, which the gentlemen from the Irish Guards will be well familiar with as I having been tasking them with recceing the approaches for the last fortnight.”
An overlay showed the results of the reconnaissance patrols with enemy positions, strengths, weapons and field defences such as minefields and wire. The fighting patrols that had also been recently sent to snatch prisoners had added to their knowledge of what they were facing.
“This is everything, is it Liam?”
“Yes sir, down to the last tin can strung on their wire…as of 0500hrs yesterday.” The Irish Guards CO stated with absolute certainty.
“Sure about that?”
“Yes sir.” Lt Col Faloon nodded emphatically.
“Good, because in thirty six hours’ time when the brigade attacks, it will be one up, two back, and the Irish Guards are the ‘up’.”
“I am overwhelmed at your generosity, and I am certain that your name will on the very lips of my men as they cross the FEBA, although not necessarily in flattering terms, sir.”
Pat let the laughter fade.
“The good news is that there are no chemical or biological weapons available to the Chinese 3rd Army and this has been confirmed by two sources, the prisoners of war providing the enemy with their forced labour, and SASR CTRs. The only reason the magazines weren’t blown by the SASR operatives was the proximity of POWs and civilians.” Pat looked them all in the eye. “We thought the same was true of the Red Army at the Vormundberg though, and look how that turned out. So the boys and girls continue to carry the necessary at all times, regardless of the intelligence to the contrary.” Pointing to the sea Pat Reed added a rider. “The navy claims that there are no, repeat no, operational submarines still operating in these waters. It is too far from home and the support vessels are allegedly on the bottom, so they say there is no chance of further missile attacks.”
They were all watching him and waiting for the ‘But’.
“Better safe than sorry, so pass the word that section commanders are to inspect their men and enforce the carrying of full NBC…okay? Any questions?”
He moved on to the next item.
“Situation; friendly forces, the 2nd Guards Mech’ will be on our tail until we have taken our objective, and will pass through with a change of axis to the east, collecting half the Life Guards armoured reconnaissance squadrons and Dougal Willis’s Hussars, and they will advance to contact the eight miles to Shoalhaven on the coast, with the river on their right.” Pat tapped the airfield to the south of the town. “The Aussie and Kiwi SAS squadrons have been working out of the forests of the Yawal valley to the west, and in best Long Range Desert Group fashion they will raid the airfield and attempt to destroy all the aircraft there before withdrawing back into the forest.” Pat waved for the next screen which had the town of Gloucester to the north and the Bega Valley to the south. Virtually all of the occupied coastal plain that was currently in Chinese hands.
“While we are engaged with our own bit of business the ANZACs will be showing us whinging Poms how it is done when they take Bega, the southern extent of Chinese occupation, and begin to drive north, with the help of other whinging Poms of 8th(UK) Infantry Brigade and the Royal Tank Regiment of course.” He next pointed to the top of the map.
“Meanwhile, the US 5th Corps consisting the 5th Mechanised Division, 10th Mountain Division and the ladies and gentlemen of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, will attack south east out of the Hunter Valley and take the city of Newcastle before turning south.”
Pat returned to their own area of responsibility.
“We are cutting the Chinese 1st Corps up into edible pieces, and we, the Guards, will dig in and act as the anvil to the ANZACs hammer before we drive north, collecting the Highland Division on the way, but the ultimate goal is to squeeze the Chinese 3rd Army until the only place they have left to go to is Sydney, or surrender.”
It took a further hour to provide the COs’ with the details they required for their own units before Pat closed the proceedings.
“Gentlemen, we went to war with just the bare essentials and we carry the scars to prove it. It has been a long road but the end is in sight, and as we now have the kit to finish the job and go home, let us do just that, and let us do it well.”
The long and seemingly never ending journey in pitch darkness, the bumpy road and the tedious, constant stopping and starting, all without any explanation as to the cause, was now over. The Unimogs pulled into trees beside the colourfully name Jews Creek and the troops dismounted quietly. The infantry barely had time to stretch out the knots and massage away buttocks numbed by purely functional seating before they were hustled away to the start line by guides equipped with PNGs.
Inevitably Baz had men who had managed to get lost in the relatively short distance from the vehicles to the invisible line the guides indicated was the FEBA, the forward edge of the battle area. No one was ready as the time of departure approached and from the CO on downwards the good leaders exuded calm as they sorted things out, whilst the bad ones assumed that the harder they kicked something the quicker it would fix itself.
They were on radio silence, the sets switched on but they kept a listening watch only, unless in contact of course. The order to move was conveyed by runner and it got a little lost. D Company’s OC realised A Company were no long in front of them, so it was a little like starting a twenty year old Ford Escort on a cold morning, they got moving but not without pushing, shoving and a few muffled curses. Bergans made all the more heavy with the addition of 81mm mortar rounds and a thousand rounds of mixed link brought groans as the men used their personal weapons as props to assist themselves off their knees and into the advance to contact with China’s best.
A Company of The Wessex Regiment was the spearhead with B and C to the left and right, the tip of an infantry arrow advancing with the Princes Highway as the axis of advance. D Company was in reserve, to the rear but following A Company so that the view of the four rifle companies from above was one of a diamond shape. Behind D came battalion headquarters and Support Company, its machine gun and mortar platoons in two halves that leapfrogged one another, setting up gimpy and mortar lines to provide supporting fire if called upon to do so, before packing up and hurrying forwards to deploy once again. 3RGJ was to the left rear of the Wessex and the Light Infantry to its right. Behind 8 (UK) Infantry Brigade came the ANZACs of the RAR, Royal New South Wales Regiment and the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. The infantry moved in almost complete silence but on the flanks were the Leopard 1s and newer M1A1 replacements of the Australian 1st Armoured Regiment, and the UK’s Challenger 2s of the Royal Tank Regiment. To the front of this slowly perambulating triangle ranged the ASLAVs of the Light Horse, and a flight of Apaches from 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps.