When Ellerbee acknowledged, Kozak didn't bother to wonder why his radio transmission was so weak even though his tank was only thirty meters away. Instead, Kozak yelled to her crew, "Okay, gang. Show time. We're going over to 2nd Platoon."
Wolf, expecting that order, was going to make a comment, but didn't. Somehow, the gravity of the moment and the sudden welling of tension that one feels before entering battle made humor and glib remarks seem inappropriate. So Wolf, like the rest of C60's crew, remained silent as they responded to Kozak's orders and prepared to engage the enemy. Pulling back away from their position under Kozak's direction, Tish maneuvered C60 through the woods and down to where 2nd Platoon's dismounted infantry waited.
CHAPTER 5
When the first wave of Ukrainian BMP infantry fighting vehicles broke from their cover and began to rush down to the riverbank, Lieutenant Marc Gross and his 2nd Platoon were ready. From his position with the dismounted element of his platoon just inside the wood line along the river, the moonlight and shadows made the Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles look more like crocodiles slipping into the water than fighting machines. He would wait, he decided, until they were in the water before he gave the order to fire.
Word that the attack had commenced caught C60 still halfway between Ellerbee's and Gross's position. Doing the best she could to steady herself in the open hatch of her Bradley as it bucked and bumped down the forest trail to the river's edge, Kozak began to issue orders to her company. After acknowledging Gross's initial report, she ordered her executive officer, First Lieutenant Patrick Goldak, to pass that report on to battalion. When Goldak acknowledged, Kozak called her fire support officer, Second Lieutenant Eugene Fong. She instructed him to request that the final protective fires plotted in front of 2nd Platoon, together with another mission into an area where they suspected the enemy tanks would be supporting the crossing, be fired immediately. When he gave her a "Roger. Out," Kozak called Ellerbee. Knowing that the bulk of his platoon could not engage the enemy vehicles from where he was, she ordered him to flex his platoon to the right, into 2nd Platoon's area as planned. Ellerbee, unlike the others, did not immediately respond. Repeating her orders to Ellerbee, Kozak finally got a response from Ellerbee's platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Rourk. Although she had no idea why Ellerbee had not responded himself, Kozak let the matter drop. As a final check, Kozak radioed Lieutenant Ahern to make sure that there was not an attack developing to the front of 1st Platoon. Ahern confirmed Kozak's assumption, reporting that enemy tank fire was continuing but that he saw no sign of an assault developing where he was.
Finished with her orders, Kozak looked about her to ensure that Tish was still headed in the right direction, then called back to Gross requesting an update on his engagement. His response was quick and short.
"CHARLIE SIX, THIS IS TWO SIX. WE HAVE TWO ZERO PLUS BMPS IN THE WATER. WE ARE ENGAGING NOW. OVER." As if on cue, Kozak heard a series of muffled bangs over the roar of C60's engine as Gross's platoon fired their first volley of anti-tank rockets and TOW wire-guided anti-tank missiles.
Though they had anticipated some return fire during their assault, the rocket and missile fire startled most of the commanders of the assaulting BMP infantry fighting vehicles. Here and there, a BMP swerved a little to the right or left or slowed down slightly as the drivers also reacted to being taken under fire. Recovering their own composure, the commanders of the erring vehicles issued sharp reprimands to their drivers before turning to search for the source of the enemy fires.
As his BMP infantry fighting vehicle approached the river, the Ukrainian commander of the assaulting battalion was momentarily taken aback by the volume of enemy fire that had lit up the northern riverbank. He had been told by his brigade commander that they were being opposed by a single armored cavalry platoon equipped with tanks. The telltale signatures of rockets and anti-tank missiles coming from the wood line and high ground beyond told him different. Grabbing his radio hand mike, he called to inform his brigade commander of the true situation and request immediate artillery support. There was, however, no response to his calls. Neither his brigade commander nor his operations officer answered. Giving up, he tried to call the artillery support officer at brigade. That effort too met with failure. In frustration, he turned to his own artillery support officer and ordered him to contact the supporting artillery battalion and tell them to shift their fires to his front. Having anticipated that order, the artillery officer looked up at his commander and reported that he was having no luck at contacting the artillery battalion or its firing batteries.
In frustration, the battalion commander cursed, turning back to see how the two companies of his first assault echelon were doing. His eyes were greeted by the vision of burning vehicles, some still in the river, sinking or lazily turning around and around as they drifted downstream, out of control. Most of the first assault wave, however, had already reached the far shore and were beginning to pull themselves out of the water. With nothing further to be gained from staying where he was, the battalion commander ordered his driver to move out and join the second assault echelon, consisting of one company of infantry fighting vehicles, which were just beginning to emerge from their hide positions and head down to the river. With a little luck and some pushing, they could still succeed.
When the enemy infantry fighting vehicles reached the north bank of the river, they broke into two groups. One group moved straight for the woods where Gross and his dismounts were. A second group of eight vehicles to the left charged into a gap in the woods that led to the high ground where Gross's platoon sergeant was located with the platoon's Bradleys. Unable to control both fights, Gross concentrated on the group entering the woods while leaving his platoon sergeant to deal with the others running through the gap.
Though the dismounted infantry with Gross had managed to stop two of the assaulting BMP infantry fighting vehicles while they were in the river with their first volley of anti-tank fire and three more BMPs at the riverbank as they were pulling themselves out of the river, that still left seven Ukrainian BMP infantry fighting vehicles bearing down on the dismounted infantry of 2nd Platoon. Within seconds of reaching the riverbank, those seven BMPs were up, out, and right into the middle of the platoon's position. From firing ports along the sides and in the rear of the BMP infantry fighting vehicles, the Ukrainian infantry squads inside the BMPs opened fire as the BMPs entered the woods where the American positions were. Together with the fire from the mounted infantry, a 30mm cannon, and a 7.62mm machine gun mounted in its turret, each BMP laid down fire that began to have a telling effect on 2nd Platoon.
While the Ukrainian fire was wild and blind, its sheer volume, along with the chaos created when the BMPs themselves came tearing through their positions, was more than enough to break up 2nd Platoon's ability to offer organized resistance. For several terrifying seconds each of the dismounted infantrymen with Gross, as well as Gross himself, was on his own. The noise and confusion created by the appearance of the large steel fighting vehicles crashing through the woods only inches away, while spewing fire from every direction, was terrifying. For several critical seconds, each man and woman had to decide for himself whether to stay put, doing nothing while the Ukrainian BMPs passed, fight the BMPs as best they could, or flee.