Counterattack

by Scott H Washburn

  “And you just told me we have done so,” interrupted Roosevelt.

  “And as you just pointed out, sir, nothing is absolutely secure,” countered Wood. “If we try to launch an offensive prematurely we risk disaster. Look at what just happened to the Russians: they had a fairly strong line along the Volga River but then tried to attack eastward. The Martians crushed their attack and then followed up with a counteroffensive of their own, and now the Volga’s been breached and the Russians are in real trouble. They may lose Moscow before the winter. We can’t risk the same thing happening here.”

  “No, no, of course not. But we can’t just sit here forever! The people are demanding action. We’ve got five million refugees who want to go home.”

  “My staff is making plans, sir.”

  “I’d like to see them!”

  “I’ll arrange a presentation. But in brief, nothing will happen until we are certain the Mississippi Line is really secure - and frankly, sir, I’m hoping we can prove that by repulsing some serious Martian attacks and wear them down a bit. Once we are confident of our defense, then we can begin our own offensive.

  “The whole key is the railroads, of course. The only way to supply our armies across the river is by rail, and as we found out last year to our loss, the railroads are just too damn vulnerable to fast moving Martian raiding forces. This means that any advance we make is going to have to be slow. We will have to push out from our fortified cities, like St. Louis and Memphis, rebuild the railroads for a dozen miles, and then build a heavily fortified outpost to defend the line. Push another dozen miles and do it again.”

  “Like an old fashioned siege with parallels and communication trenches,” grumbled Roosevelt. “Those took a lot of time.”

  “Yes, sir, exactly like that, I’m afraid. But at the moment we have no choice. The Martian fortresses are too strong to be taken by a sudden rush and as far as we can tell, they aren’t dependent on lines of supply like we are. Any attempt to bypass them will just leave our own forces in danger of being cut off and destroyed. No, our strategy will be to slowly approach their fortresses, protecting our own supply lines as we go, and then bring overwhelming force to bear to destroy them. I’m sorry, sir, but this is going to take time.”

  Roosevelt frowned and tapped his fingers on his desk. “Yes, yes, I can see that,” he said after a moment. “But when can we start? Can I at least tell those governors that we’ll be starting soon?”

  “Not before next spring at the soonest, I’m afraid.” And maybe not even then depending on what the Martians do. “And of course we need to wait until the next batch of enemy cylinders arrive, which are due in January.” Yes, as incredible as it seemed, the dispatch of another wave of cylinders from Mars had now become almost routine. A hundred or so had been launched the previous month. Everyone was assuming they would be like the previous one: reinforcements for the existing Martian forces and not a landing in some new area. But they needed to be sure.

  “So the spring, then,” said the President. “Well, they won’t be happy, but they’ll have to accept it, I suppose. Hopefully we can make some real progress before the fall, do you think?”

  Before the election you mean. Yes, that was the other thing weighing on the President’s mind. There would be an election next year and there was some serious opposition to Roosevelt running for a fourth term—even from within the Republican Party. The Democrats were putting together their most serious threat in twenty years, and if the war continued as it was, there was a real danger that Roosevelt would not be reelected. Wood shuddered at the thought of trying to work with a President Nelson Miles! Well, I probably won’t have to—he’s sure to fire me right off.

  Wood got up from his chair. “I have to be going, sir. Good luck with those governors.”

  “Thank you. And good luck to you with Funston. He’s not the sort to take no for an answer!”

  “Yes, sir, that I know!” Wood left the office, and slipped out a side door of the White House. He’d seen Governors Stubbs and Carroll waiting for their turn with Roosevelt when he’d come in and he didn’t want to give them a crack at him. He walked across the street to the newly renamed War & Navy Building. It used to be the State, War, & Navy Building, but the vastly increased demands of the war effort had required more and more space until there just wasn’t enough room for all three departments, even in that massive building. Wood had hoped to move the War Department to some location more remote from the center of Washington, but Roosevelt had insisted that the military departments be kept close by and Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, had agreed, so the State Department’s facilities were being moved to a new building under construction a block south. Wood appreciated the extra space for his operations, but they were still too close to Capitol Hill - and be it said, the White House - for comfort.

  He trotted up the steps to his office and stopped short when he saw that Funston was already in the outer office. Damn, he wasn’t due for another half hour! But it was too late to sneak away for a few moment’s relaxation. Funston saw him and Wood had no choice but to go in and greet him. “Good to see you, Freddy! How was your trip?”

  “Not too bad, Leonard, not too bad. More than the usual delays on the trains, though. Good God, but there’s a lot of military traffic on the roads! Mile after mile of tanks and guns. Why in hell can’t some of that be sent my way?”

  Wood grimaced. Funston wasn’t wasting any time! Well, in his place Wood wouldn’t either. “Come into my office and we’ll discuss it. I guess you’ve met my aide, Semancik, here?”

  “Yes, and this is Captain Willard Lang, my aide. He’s been with me since Albuquerque.” They shook hands and then went into Wood’s private office. Semancik served them all coffee and then withdrew.

  “So, General, what’s your situation?” asked Wood.

  “I brought a detailed report, but in plain words, my situation stinks. You’ve given me an absolutely impossible task, General!”

  “I know I have, but you’re the best I’ve got, Freddy.”

  “Don’t try to butter me up, Leonard! I learned all about impossible situations when I was a volunteer with the Cuban insurrectionists in ‘97. But we had it easy compared to this!” Funston was a round-faced, slightly portly man in his late forties with a full beard and a tendency to get red in the face when excited or angry. His face was pretty red right now. “I’ve got nine divisions of regulars and seven more of Texas Volunteers, and you expect me to defend a line two thousand miles long! You’ve got sixty divisions on the Mississippi to defend a line barely half that length!”

  “And you know perfectly well why that is, General,” said Wood softly.

  “Because Texas doesn’t matter to the stuffed shirts and millionaires back east!”

  “I think it would be more fair to say that the east matters more, not that Texas doesn’t matter at all.”

  “Fair?! Fair! When the Martians punch through my lines like they were tissue paper - and they will! - what am I supposed to tell my men and the civilians I’m defending? ‘Yes, I know it’s not fair, but Washington won’t let me defend you’!”

  “Freddy, calm down. I don’t have to tell you the score. If we lose the east, it’s the whole shooting match. I have to protect the cities and the factories. There’s no choice, damn it!” Anger crept into his voice. Not at Funston, but at the whole situation.

  Funston seemed surprise by Wood’s outburst and got control of himself. His aide, Captain Lang, stepped into the silence. “We’re well aware of the situation, sir. But unless you look at Texas as just a forlorn hope, we are going to need more equipment. Men we’ve got, but they can’t fight Martians with nothing but rifles. If we can’t be better supplied perhaps we should face facts and pull everyone back across the Mississippi rather than risk sacrificing them all.”

  Even Funston looked shocked at the suggestion. Abandon Texas? From a strictly military point of view it did make sense. Eliminate that enormous salient, bring the whole 2nd Army into t
he main defense line; yes, it would make sense.

  But there was no way they could do that.

  They’d lost other states, way too many, but they’d lost them after fighting for them. They’d lost a hundred thousand men fighting for those states. But give up the biggest one without a fight? And also give up the last rail connection with the west coast? No, Roosevelt would never agree and the country would go berserk. Funston knew it and he suspected that this Captain Lang knew it, too. The whippersnapper was just baiting him!

  “We are sending you equipment,” growled Wood.

  “But not enough,” countered Funston. “My regulars don’t have half the artillery and tanks as your troops on the Mississippi, and the volunteers have got virtually nothing heavier than a machine gun. As Lang says, with all the refugees, we could field twice the number of volunteer organizations, but we don’t even have rifles and machine guns for them!”

  Wood nodded. It was true, and he felt guilty about making that promise to Roosevelt about diverting some tanks to the Canadians. And it was also true that Funston’s defenses were hopelessly weak against a serious Martian attack. The only really strong part of his line was from Little Rock along the Arkansas River, down to where it joined the Mississippi. And except for Little Rock itself, even that wasn’t terribly strong. Which was why he had the 4th Army defending the lower Mississippi line all the way from Memphis down to the Gulf, even though technically Funston’s forces were blocking any Martian attack there. Theoretically, he could add 4th Army to Funston’s defense, and push them forward, beyond the river. But if – when - Funston’s line was breached, then there would be nothing to hold the Mississippi further south. No, he couldn’t do it.

  But he had to do something. He couldn’t hang Funston - and Texas - out to dry.

  “All right, Freddy, All right. I’ve got two new regular divisions, just completing their organization. I was going to send them to 1st Army, but I’ll give them to you, instead.”

  “That would be wonderful, Leonard. But it’s still not enough.”

  Wood held up his hand. “I’ll also divert some tanks and artillery your way. There are a dozen train loads heading out to California, but things are still so quiet out there, I’ll send them to you instead.”

  “That’s good. I’ll tell you I’ve been damn tempted to grab those trains passing west! Hard to see all that equipment and not get any of it.”

  “So far you’ve gotten two or three times as much as we’ve sent to the west coast. We can’t totally ignore them, you know.”

  “They don’t need as much with all those mountains protecting them. Most of my line is stark naked.”

  “I’m also going to give you another gift. You’ve probably heard that we’re starting production of a small rocket launcher for use by the infantry…”

  “I’ve heard. When can we get some?”

  “I’ll send you the first thousand that come out of the factories, the very first, Freddy. You have top priority.”

  “That’s good, but what we really need is the ability to produce weapons right there in Texas. Can’t anything be done?”

  Wood shook his head. “Texas doesn’t have the infrastructure for that sort of thing. We can’t just pack up and send you a tank factory, Freddy. Well, we could, but it wouldn’t do you any good because there are no steel mills or foundries or any of the stuff that you’d need to supply a tank factory. Texas has cattle and cotton and not a whole lot else.”

  “They’ve got oil.”

  “Yes, some. And I know there’s the potential for a whole lot more, but you can’t build tanks out of oil. It would take years to create the sort of industrial base you’d need. No, we can build the factories here in the east faster and easier and ship the tanks to you. It just makes sense.” Funston snorted and frowned, but didn’t argue that point.

  “Well, if that’s the best you can do…”

  “Right now, it is. But, let me tell about our future plans. The President wants an offensive as soon as possible and…”

  “I bet he does! Everyone does!”

  “Yes. And we are drawing up plans for some very deliberate advances starting next spring. We will move along a few routes, heavily fortifying them as we go to protect our lines of communication. I’m going to urge that one of the routes start out along the Arkansas River. As we advance, we will take over the defense of that part of your line. Your forces can then be redeployed to reinforce other areas. That two thousand mile line of yours will shrink and shrink.”

  Funston considered that and then nodded. “That would help. But if the Martians strike us hard somewhere else, we will be in trouble.”

  “I know, I know. But we’ll have to deal with that when it happens. Sorry, Freddy.” Wood got up to signal the meeting was over. The visitors stood, and Wood shook hands with Funston.

  “Thank you for your time, General,” said Funston.

  “Good luck, Freddy.”

  * * * * *

  Cycle 597, 844.8, Holdfast 32-4

  “The successful launch of the next wave of reinforcements will allow us to resume offensive operations on all fronts. I shall summarize what we have decided to do during the next cycle.”

  Qetjnegartis observed the image of Coordinator Glangatnar, administrator of the Colonial Conclave, in the communications chamber of the holdfast. This same image was being broadcast to all the other clan commanders on the target world, as well as their chief subordinates.

  “Continents Five and Six have been entirely subjugated and will receive no additional reinforcements. Clans in those regions will consolidate and concentrate their efforts on production and resource gathering.”

  Qetjnegartis reflected that the clans on Continent Five, the south polar continent, had managed to stave off starvation by the unorthodox method of harvesting warm-blooded creatures which lived in the surrounding seas. But that method was so inefficient and labor intensive, that no great increase in their population was proving possible. Little labor was available for resource gathering, and what resources that were there, were buried beneath telequels of ice. Continent Five would remain a minor area of operations.

  “Continent Six,” continued Glangatnar, “is located close to a number of large islands; consideration will be given to developing methods for crossing the oceans to reach those islands. However, this is not a top priority.

  “The central regions of Continent Two have been secured, although due to the very dense plant growths in those regions, much of the area remains unexplored, although there is no evidence of large prey-creature concentrations and hence, no need for immediate operations. Prey-creatures still control the southern and northern areas and these must be eradicated. The southern area is the most lightly defended and this should be conquered first. Then all forces can be shifted north to take care of the other areas.

  “Continent Four is also mostly subdued. Only two fortified regions remain in prey-creature control. However, these are very heavily defended and have the support of powerful sea vessels. Care must be taken in any attack against them. Also, it has been determined that an even more heavily fortified region has been constructed on the narrow isthmus connecting Continent Four to Continent Three. We do not know why this has been done. There is no evidence of any major habitations in that area. We speculate that it has been built specifically to prevent the union of our forces on the two continents. A similar zone is known to exist at the connection between Continents One and Two. Therefore we have decided that this region must be eliminated. The clans on both continents have been directed to cooperate in this endeavor.”

  Qetjnegartis considered this. Clan Bajantus had not been called upon to join in this operation and it was grateful for that. It would be the responsibility of the clans to the south to carry this out. It did not believe that this fortified zone of the prey-creatures was critical enough to justify such a major operation, but as long as its clan would not have to supply forces it did not really matter.

  “Continent One
is still a major center of operations The central northern portions have been subdued, except for small groups lurking in out of the way places. But the southern regions are protected by the highest mountains on the planet and so far no attempt to penetrate them have been successful. To the east and southeast are very densely populated regions, and even though their weapons are mostly crude, their vast numbers have slowed our progress. To the west lies a major prey-creature power. We have enjoyed several major successes there recently, but much work remains to be done. It is known that to the west of them lie major habitations and cities with significant power output. We can expect resistance to increase the farther west we go. Operations will be pressed on all of those fronts as much as possible. Half of the new transport capsules are being sent to Continent One.

  “On Continent Three a major offensive shall take place,” said Glangatnar. “It is here and in regions of Continent One that the most significant resistance has been met. The prey-creatures there have shown the most resilience and ability to adapt. They must be crushed before they adapt further. Clans Bajantus, Mavnaltak, Novmandus and Uxmatrais will all strike eastward and southward. They will each be allotted ten transport in this new wave. Clan Zeejvlapna will provide whatever support it can. Major water barriers exist, but these must be crossed and the populated regions beyond laid waste.”

  All right, this is what concerned Qetjnegartis. Definite orders to attack, which must be obeyed. And ten capsules! A hundred new clan members! This was good news indeed! It would probably take a tenth of a cycle to get the newcomers organized, but after that a major offensive could be launched.

  “One final item,” said Glangatnar. “Included with the wave of incoming capsules is an experimental device. Rather than land on this world, it will attempt to go into a stable orbit and become an artificial moon. The capsule will have no crew, but will contain observation equipment which will allow it to provide accurate maps of unoccupied regions and even supply us with intelligence about the movements of the prey-creatures. If the device is successful in achieving orbit, you will be instructed how to receive the information it gathers.”