Chapter Ten
During the week that followed, the Mosh managed to secure the mountains and then landed a third army in the northern part of the Skeleton desert. That army pushed through the mountains and advanced toward Cherry Fork. Galen sat in his Lion command tank on the back slope of a low hill and watched his screen, the image from his sensor mast providing a broad view of the battlefield despite the darkness.
Forward elements sent more feeds and reports. Limited amounts, transmissions kept to a bare minimum to avoid detection. Galen stared and watched as the sun rose behind him. Daylight brought the Mosh. He received reports all up and down the line of Mosh vehicles, tanks in battalion sized formations. Some light recon vehicles, some armored personnel carriers, and trucks following behind. Trucks loaded with infantry, followed by trucks loaded with supplies.
Then the Mosh stopped. Galen looked at the reports, called Tad. “Jasmine Three, what are they doing?”
Tad called back, “They’re held up. They stopped and they are eating. Having snacks, taking naps. Their infantry has dismounted and come forward to move with their tanks but so far, they’re just taking a break.”
Galen said, “We have a real opportunity. No one fires until I give the order.”
“Roger. I got the Fire Support Officer here with me and her plan is wicked. I suggest you defer the fire command to her?”
“Let me see it.” Galen received and reviewed the fire plan. Each and every weapon of the task force was assigned a unique primary and secondary target. The first shot was assigned to him, a blast from his particle cannon to destroy what was obviously the Mosh division’s command tank. A big, super-heavy vehicle stacked with comms gear, five hundred meters back but centered on the line of Mosh medium tanks. Galen said, “Looks good.”
The FSO said, “We’re timed off your shot.”
“Thank you.” Galen leaned back in his seat and looked over the reports again. Three Mosh armored brigades with three infantry brigades in support. They were just sitting in open ground, a klick and a half to the west of Cherry Fork. Galen had all five of his tank battalions on line, facing west from concealed positions. He also had a battalion of assault guns ready to provide indirect fire, a battery of self-propelled medium artillery and the five Ajax tanks parked behind a low hill to the rear. All along the line were Marines, dismounted and positioned to support the tanks of the Brigade. Galen had his mechanized infantry battalion positioned to hold open a route of retreat, or escape, or withdrawal. Withdrawal, most likely. The Mosh division in the kill zone had two more divisions behind it, still held up on mountain roads.
Galen watched, waited. The Mosh rested for another hour and then began moving forward at a walking pace. “Forward, driver. Gunner, target.”
Trooper Bier pulled forward and stopped on top of the hill. Corporal Wine fired. He had an oblique view of the Mosh command tank, twenty three hundred meters away. He chose to hit its glacis plate, aimed for its thickest armor. Showing off. The particle cannon’s shot bored right through and out the other side of its target, stabbed into the slightly higher ground beyond and left a fiery backdrop for the Mosh command tank. It burst, all but its lower hull and road wheels vaporized.
Bier backed up a hundred meters and turned right and prepared to climb up on another low hill. Galen said, “Halt.” It would be another forty five seconds at least before the particle cannon was ready to fire again. Takes a while to spin up that much energy.
All along the line, tank and missile fire erupted. Some small arms too, Marines raked the approaching Mosh with grazing fire. Then artillery arced in to splash in the general vicinity of Mosh units. Normally, Mosh point defense lasers could knock out most incoming artillery but there was so much happening at once, they were overwhelmed. The loss of command and control, the lack of coordination…the Mosh kept on with their last order given, to advance.
And they did, right into the buzz saw that was the Jasmine Panzer Brigade defensive line. Oblivious, the Mosh still advanced. Interceptors approached from the north and struck at the lead elements of the Mosh divisions still in the mountains, to stop them from coming forward to provide support. Galen saw one of the Interceptors hit in the ass by Mosh ground fire, shot straight up after hitting its target. The Interceptor spun wildly and burst into a white ball, its atmospheric thruster propellant exploding. But the other twenty three Interceptors got away, went west and circled low to the ground, awaiting orders.
A text came, addressed to all Brigade and Marine units, “Weapons free.”
“Forward, driver. Gunner, take your pick.”
Bier pulled up on the hilltop and Wine chose a light command car near the left flank. It was speeding along the back of the advancing Mosh line, a hard target to hit. Bier fired into the ground fifty metes in front of the light vehicle. The particle cannon made a gash in the ground ten meters deep, and the gash ended in a crater of hot gas, a ball of fire. The light vehicle drove right into the ball of hot gas, vaporized inside it. Gone. Galen said, “Nice shot.”
Bier backed up. Wine said, “Sir, capacitors nearly depleted. It’ll be half an hour before we can shoot again.”
Galen said, “Roger. Bier, take us over to Mech’s location.”
Galen then keyed comms to call Tad, “I think they’ve had enough. We can withdraw at your discretion.”
“Roger, Six. Three out.”
The Mosh division in the kill zone had come to a stop. No longer combat effective, the smaller groups of survivors organized and began a slow withdrawal back toward the mountains. All of their vehicles were destroyed. Wounded Mosh warriors were carried by their comrades. Galen looked at reports and saw an estimate of eighty percent losses for the Mosh.
His task force began withdrawing around the south end of Cherry Fork. Then the space shield of Cherry Fork began taking hits. The Mosh brought its space force in close enough to get effective shots. That also meant they were close enough to take defensive fire from Mandarin cities farther to the east.
Bier parked the Lion tank on the side of the road near the Mech battalions’ checkpoint. Galen popped his hatch and stood and watched his units roll by in convoy. The Interceptors made a strafing run on the kill zone, picked off a few retreating Mosh, turned east and went back to their base. Galen looked at his auxiliary status screen and saw that the Mosh had brought nearly three hundred war ships forward to bombard Cherry Fork. They were losing ships to ground fire from nearby cities, but the Mosh commander thought it worth the price, acceptable losses. The space shield of Cherry Fork collapsed and the Mosh space ships began turning the city into rubble. They also blasted the ground around it, the areas where Galen’s task force had been just minutes before.
Galen knew the bombardment would have to stop soon, the Mosh were losing a ship every three minutes. He looked toward the city and saw that it was now little more than a smoking ruin of rubble and ash, surrounded by cratered and broken ground. The bombardment stopped and the Mosh war ships withdrew. The Mosh ships could now deploy to more forward positions, with Cherry Fork’s space guns destroyed. They began firing up what had been the defensive line of Galen’s task force. A wasted effort; the task force had already withdrawn.
Eighteen kilometers to the southeast of the ruined city, the task force took up defensive positions along a low ridge. It gave them a new kill zone, everything between them and the city. The Ajax tanks maneuvered slowly and parked eight kilometers beyond the ridge and took on a full load of ammo. The task force TOC and ALOC were located near them. Last out of the old area of operations was the Mechanized infantry battalion. Galen convoyed with them and then split off to park near the entry point of the TOC perimeter, facing out.
Galen told his crew, “Fifty percent security. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He then dismounted and walked over to see Tad, helped the TOC crew set up the canvas extension.
Tad said, “Hey, boss,” and handed Galen a tent stake.
“Hey yourself. That was a fine combat operation.” Gal
en slid the stake through a grommet.
“We did all right. Lost about four percent. Not bad.” Tad tapped the stake with a hammer.
Galen said, “Now what?”
Tad handed Galen another stake, pointed at a troop. The troop was holding a rope that came off the left rear corner of the canvas. Galen slid the stake through the loop at the end of the rope and pulled, touched the stake to the ground.
Tad tapped the stake. “We stand down. Mandarin wants to send regulars to defend the rubble, but they’ll have to let it cool for a couple of days.”
Galen stood and said, “Sounds about right. It’ll take the Mosh about two weeks to pick their way through Cherry Fork. That rubble makes excellent defensive terrain and the cratered ground around the city will slow their armor. We’ll wait here and shoot up the Mosh when they try to move east, after they take Cherry Fork.”
Tad said, “Sounds good. You know, our kill ratio today was well over eighty to one. That’s epic.”
Galen puffed his chest and stroked an imaginary beard. “It is good, to fight the Mosh.”
Tad said, “We got lucky. The Mosh are learning.”
“By the way, what happened to those three Mandarin armored divisions that were supposed to attack the Mosh in the Skeleton desert?”
Tad said, “High Command took too long trying to decide where to commit them. They ended up pulling them back and they organized them into a reinforced armored corps. Now they sit near the capitol of the Western Province, awaiting orders.”
“That’s funny. I’ll see you at your after-action brief.” Galen saw that the chuck wagon was parked nearby, ready to serve chow. He walked back to his tank, took his place in the cupola and sent his crew to eat.
Chapter Eleven
“It’s raining again.” Tad entered the TOC extension and brushed water off the sleeves of his rain jacket with his bare hands. “Chow was cold. I skipped supper.”
Galen stood, put his chow residue in the trash bag by the vestibule. “Good for us. That Mandarin armored division is here to relive us.” Galen pointed at a Mandarin general, a two-star, seated at the table facing the situation screen. Three more Mandarin officers, a Colonel and two Majors, stood to his left. They peered at the screen. “A quick handoff brief, a passage of lines and then we’ll be on our way.”
Tad removed his rain jacket and hung it on the back of his chair. A layer of sawdust covered the dirt floor of the TOC extension, the ground beneath a bit spongy. Tad faced the general and rendered a proper hand salute, “Sir, at your convenience.”
The general stood and returned the salute, nodded. “The sooner the better. It will be dark in an hour.” The general sat.
Galen grabbed some fold-up chairs from inside the track and set them up, gestured for the other Mandarin officers to take their seats. They sat. Tad said, “Allow me to direct your attention to the screen.”
Galen moved to the display control and switched to a theatre overlay.
Tad said, “During the past two weeks, the Mosh have managed to capture more than two thirds of Cherry Fork. Mandarin regular infantry units have done a fine job of defense, but to control losses, have been trading ground for Mosh casualties. Your Third Infantry Corps has reached its breaking point and has to be relived. Eighth Infantry Corps is in position to re-take the city, with your support.”
The general said, “Today is the day.”
Tad said, “To the south, the Mosh have halted forward movement and have concentrated their offensive operations on attacking Cherry Fork. I think their aim is to pull Mandarin into a slow, grinding battle of attrition, forcing Mandarin to send all its reserve forces to fight over this city. On a tactical level, the Mosh seem foolish to keep attacking here. But on a strategic level it makes sense to bleed you dry. The only way to counter that strategy is through conservation of forces, make them lose more than they expected while minimizing your own losses. So far so good, but the Mosh are learning.”
The General said, “I understand.”
The Mandarin Colonel stood, pointed at the screen. Galen zoomed the map in on the area around Cherry Fork. The Mandarin Colonel said, “Our corps artillery will begin a general bombardment of the area west of the city, and then our air defense assets will lock down the airspace above Cherry Fork. Our first armored brigade will then advance along a westerly axis along the southern edge of the city while our second armored brigade circles wide around the north. Our heavy tank and assault gun companies will push directly into town, accompanying the 97th infantry division. We’re counting on you to provide supporting fires from your current positions, and while that is happening, our third tank brigade and armored infantry battalion will move up directly behind your positions. As soon as we’ve encircled the town and crushed meaningful resistance, our units will relieve yours. From there, your responsibilities in this operation are complete.”
Galen stood, waved for Tad to take his place at the display controller. Galen said, “Gentlemen, it looks like a good plan.”
The General stood, Galen saluted, the General returned the salute, and the Mandarin officers left the TOC extension.
Tad said, “I’m not too sure about this.”
Galen said, “The Mosh are tired of butting their heads up against us. They’ll be glad to see us go. I doubt they’ll do anything fancy until we leave. Besides, we’ll have the Interceptors circling nearby to cover our withdrawal.”
“You didn’t tell the Mandarins that.”
“None of their business.” Galen stood and went outside. The rain was torrential, like someone was holding a garden hose directly above his head. But it was warm rain, just warm enough to make a person sweat if they wore a rain jacket. Many troops didn’t, chose to just get wet. Galen was one of them. He climbed up on his command tank and lifted the hatch and dropped down in quickly and closed the hatch. The climate control vents circulated warm, dry air over him and gave him a bit of a chill. Soon his uniform would be dry enough so that he could put on his combat suit. He’d have to step out on the turret to do that, decided to wait until the rain slacked up.
The artillery of two Mandarin infantry corps fired. First they fired an assortment of chaff and metallic flake rounds, to interfere with Mosh sensors. Then they fired volleys of point target rounds, along with dual purpose and high explosives. And smoke, good old fashioned smoke rounds. Plus countermeasure warheads, to make Mosh sensors and detectors unreliable. The countermeasure rounds may have been unnecessary. The most effective exchanges of the past two weeks had been mostly dumb bombs or direct fire weapons, as each side quickly learned how to defeat more sophisticated weaponry with countermeasures. The bombardment lasted half an hour and then began again after a ten minute pause. The second bombardment was less intense, with fewer known targets. There were also larger no-fire areas, caused by the forward movement of Mandarin armor.
The exhausted artillery of Third Infantry Corps had withdrawn during the lull, the artillery units of the Eighth Infantry Corps taking their old positions. The first tank brigade made its way beyond the southern edge of Cherry Fork and met only light resistance. It turned north and made a line, the tanks parking in the hundreds of available bomb craters. The artillery masked them in a dense cloud of smoke and metal flake. The second tank brigade circled wide around the north of the ruined city, a barrage of artillery leading them along. They moved far enough to link up with their first tank brigade and also went to ground.
Some Mosh armor came from the mountains and tried to cross the twenty five kilometers of open ground to reach the city, but the tanks of the Jasmine Panzer Brigade picked off their lead elements. They retreated.
The 97th infantry division pushed into the city to the right of the exhausted Mandarin defenders and cleared the outer edge of the city first, taking full advantage of the fire support offered by the first and second tank brigades. They worked their way around, block by block, to leave only a single city block in the middle of the city for the Mosh. Then they asked the Mosh to surren
der, received an adamant refusal, and then let their supporting assault guns blast through the city block. Then an engineering company came through and buried any openings, bulldozed rubble into them, and even poured concrete into the storm drains. They fought all through the night and into the next day and took thirty percent casualties. There were two Mandarin infantry companies that were completely wiped out. But compared to the one hundred percent losses suffered by the Mosh in the city, it seemed like a bargain.
Near sunset, the Mandarin third tank brigade pulled forward to occupy the positions of the Jasmine Panzer Brigade. Galen waited near the egress point and watched as the various convoys of his units left the area. First there came a long line of wheeled vehicles, nearly six hundred cargo trucks, a consolidated Brigade TRAINS. All the expendable cargo and supplies had been off-loaded and left for the Mandarins earlier, to make room on the trucks to carry Capellan Marines. The trucks strained under the load, their cargo beds stuffed to capacity with Marines in medium battle armor, standing room only.
He saw that his unit was near its breaking point. Diodes and capacitors and magnetic rails and electronic modules worn out, loose track tension, some vehicles short-tracked to remain mobile despite the loss of an idler or road wheel. The first armored convoy was the Hellcat tank battalion, nearly a third of its tanks pulled by another, tow bars connecting them. The end of that convoy had an armored recovery vehicle towing two tanks, one right behind the other.
The Stallion tanks were not faring much better. There was one tank missing its turret but it was still drivable, being used to provide power to another tank through an electrical cable connected between them. The drivers were cautions. And a wheeled wrecker, it pulled two flak panzers behind it. All the tanks and assorted vehicles bristled with Capellan Marines hitching rides on top. It was slow going, withdrawing in such a state. No more than forty kilometers an hour, and slower at other times. Just as well, that was the top speed of the Ajax tanks anyway. The Ajax were 95 ton monsters, lumbering dinosaurs without their lifters installed. Galen was grateful for the paved roads. Cross-country travel was not an option for that mess, even if it had not been raining.
The War for Profit Series Omnibus Page 91