Chapter 7
Tank Pressure Cooker
19 June 2041
Brandenburg, Germany
The 2nd Armored Division (2AD), also known as the “hell on wheels” division (they were given the nickname by General Patton himself back in World War II); it was one of many WWII divisions being reactivated to form the American 5th and 6th Armies in Europe. 2AD was one of only two divisions equipped solely with the venerable Pershing Main Battle Tanks (MBT)s in Europe. They had not seen combat as their sister division, 12AD, had at the German border. Their last battalion of tanks came in a week ago; they were finally ordered to move forward, just as the Russians began their massive bombardment of the frontlines. Anticipation hung in the air.
Within the 2AD, Colonel Mica Aaron, was the 66th armor regiment commander-- the second highest ranking officer in the division, next to the commanding general. He was a career officer, and a graduate of the Army’s prestigious West Point. Colonel Aaron had been a brigade commander during the invasion of Mexico, and was in line to get his General’s Star in the near future. When the Army reactivated the 2AD, he had been selected to be the brigade commander for one of just five Pershing brigades in Europe. Being single, he was able to devote his entire life to the Army and his trade, armored warfare. When it came to tank combat strategies, he was the best in the Army.
Intelligence indicated the Russians were going to start a robust summer offensive within the next couple of days, so the 66th AR was being deployed near Brandenburg to stop a potential Russian armored thrust. Since Berlin had been turned into a ‘free city’ to avoid having it torn to pieces in a house-to-house fight, it was now just a big obstacle in the way of both sides’ armored groups as they maneuvered to attack each other without getting caught in the city. Colonel Aaron had 192 Pershings, 260 infantry fighting vehicles, and other armored support vehicles in his brigade (such as the armored ambulances, ammunition carriers, fuel tankers, etc.). His unit was facing at least two Russian armored divisions that had between 600 and 900 T14 and T38 MBTs (along with their support vehicles)…that meant nearly 4:1 odds against them.
Lieutenant Colonel George Lewis was the 66th AR’s executive officer (XO); during the invasion of Mexico he had served as a battalion commander for Colonel Aaron…now he was being groomed to take over as brigade commander as soon as his promotion to Colonel came through. As LTC Lewis walked towards the Command vehicle, he could hear the artillery in the distance start to slacken. After nearly three days of being bombarded, the brigade was starting to get antsy waiting for the eventual tank battle that was shaping up to be one of history’s most epic tank conflicts.
The IFV that was acting as the Command vehicle was crammed with computer screens, radios, and soldiers, all attentively watching events around the brigade unfold. LTC Lewis spotted Colonel Aaron and signaled for him to exit the vehicle so he could pass along the information he had just received from Division HQ.
Colonel Aaron cut straight to the chase, “LTC Lewis, anything of interest from division?”
“Sir, the drones and signals intelligence are reporting a massive troop and armor movement by the Russians. It is believed that once the artillery bombardment stops, the Russians will begin to advance,” LTC Lewis said.
Looking back into the Command vehicle, Colonel Aaron asked one of his Captains, “Are the drones showing any armored movements towards our position yet?”
Zooming out with the drone camera that the Captain was controlling, he quickly looked for signs of new enemy activity. “Sir, I am starting to see at least one brigade sized armor element moving forward. Behind that unit are a number of others lining up. It looks as if they are getting ready to launch their offensive.” The Captain was clearly a bit nervous as he spoke, drumming his fingers faster and faster as he continued.
Colonel Aaron wasted no time. “Looks like division was right, order the tanks into their fighting positions now!”
Turning back to LTC Lewis, he directed, “I want you to get to the alternate Command Post and be ready to take over in case my CP is taken out, OK?”
“Yes Sir! We’ll be ready, and I’ll continue to monitor the armor units moving towards us. If we spot anything unusual, we’ll let you know.” Then LTC Lewis turned and began to run towards the vehicle that would take him to the alternate CP. The brigade ran two active CPs--in case one was destroyed, the other could pick things up and continue the fight without a loss in leadership continuity. This was something that had worked extremely well in Israel, where CPs and military leadership were constantly being killed. The casualty rate among officers and senior NCOs had been horrific, resulting in a lot of battlefield promotions, much like had occurred during World War II. This strategic decision to have an alternate means of running operations had proven to be a key factor in defeating the IR, so all throughout Europe, all the major battle headquarters were enacting this approach.
*******
Staff Sergeant Marshal was the tank commander (TC) for Alpha Twelve, one of four Pershing tanks in second platoon, Alpha Company. SSG Marshal had just received word to move forward to their firing positions and be ready to engage the Russian MBTs that should be to their front. As they moved their tanks into the berm, PFC Tanner (who was manning the tanks’ targeting computer) said in an excited voice, “Enemy tanks identified! Four-miles to our front.”
Typically, when a tank unit establishes a defensive position, engineers will carve an embankment out of the terrain for the tanks to pull in to. This type of position keeps the majority of the tank protected, and only exposes the turret. This way, a tank can fire between two to four shots at one location and then back out of that spot and move to the next berm, repeating the process for as long as the battle lasts. This keeps the tank from becoming a stationary target and turning into a bullseye for artillery and air strikes.
SSG Marshal began to issue orders to the rest of his crew. “Prepare to engage!” he directed
Within seconds, the platoon commander (PC) called in on the coms, “Engage the enemy tanks now!”
At this point, the Russian tanks were advancing quickly across the countryside, trying to close the distance between their lines and the American positions in order to get within range of their own guns. The Pershings, with their railgun, had an enormous reach advantage over their Russian counter-parts. In flat and open terrain, the Pershing could hit targets as far away as twenty miles.
“Target identified! Russian T14 MBT,” yelled PFC Turner.
“Fire!” shouted SSG Marshal.
A low winding sound could be heard as the railgun charged and then--BOOM! The projectile was launched from the barrel at Mach 10, creating an immediate sonic boom. Soon, dozens of sonic booms could be heard as the rest of the platoon began to engage the Russians.
“Target identified. T15 IFV,” said PFC Turner. His voice sounded calmer now that they had engaged and destroyed half a dozen tanks.
“Fire!” Marshal ordered. “Gunner, fire at will. I’m going topside to get the machine gun ready to support our infantry.
The Russians fired dozens of their new artillery smoke rounds at the American lines. These projectiles had a special chemical in them that greatly reduced thermal images within the smoke. The Russians and Americans had recently developed similar weapons as a means of defeating each other’s thermal scopes. Alpha Company had destroyed nearly 67 T14s before the Russians started to plaster the American tank lines with smoke canisters. The smoke was starting to have a serious effect on the Pershings…their rate of fire began to drop significantly. Russian T15 IFVs rushed forward with the tanks to get their infantry units as close to the American lines as possible; they were hoping to engage the Pershings with their anti-tank missiles. As the battle moved away from a long-distance shooting match between the tanks and anti-tank missiles, the Russians began to get close enough for their IFVs to start engaging the American infantrymen a hundred yards or so in front of the Pershings.
As the smoke finally started to clear, SSG Marshal saw several T15 IFVs heading directly towards the infantrymen positioned in front of his tank. He quickly sent a message to Tanner to have him focus on the closer IFVs and then go after the tanks once the immediate threat was taken care of. Just as Marshal finished sending his message, he saw an anti-tank missile leave its launcher, heading right for him. He quickly ducked into the turret, just as the projectile hit their armor. The missile didn’t penetrate the armor, but the impact shook everyone up inside the tank. Turner recovered quickly, and destroyed all three IFVs before their tank was hit by another enemy tank round. This time, the projectile bounced off the armor.
“Driver, back us out of here and go to the next fighting position now!” yelled Marshal. He did not want to become a sitting duck. Just as their tank pulled out of its position, several artillery rounds hit the berm. Had they stayed there even ten seconds longer, they would have been utterly destroyed.
They continued on in their fight, firing several times and then weaving along to their next location. As they pulled into their fourth firing position of the day, a T14 fired a Sabot round, hitting their left track. The impact destroyed the track wheel and crushed the track itself. They were now stuck, half in and half out of their new firing position.
“Guys, we’re trapped! Turner, keep firing and take out those IFVs; we need to support the infantry. Driver, I want you out of the vehicle to get on the machine gun turret, so we can start providing cover to the infantry,” Marshal said as he lifted the commander’s hatch to start using the M2 .50 mounted on the turret. With the vehicle out of commission, there was no reason to have the driver sit in the tank with nothing to do.
SSG Marshal saw dozens of Russian infantry moving closer to the American lines. They were firing feverishly at the Americans, trying to keep their heads down while others advanced. Marshal turned the M2 towards the largest group of soldiers he saw, which were about 300 yards away, and immediately began to engage them, sending two to five second bursts from the M2. The .50 caliber slugs punched right through the trees and other objects the Russian infantry were using for cover. Just as Marshal turned to say something to his driver (who had crawled up to join him using the machine gun located above the gunner’s hatch), his head exploded and his body went limp, falling back into the tank. He had been hit by a Russian sniper.
*******
Sergeant Trellis and Private First Class Ye were forward observers for a self-propelled artillery battalion that was assigned to support the 66th AR. They were operating in Alpha Troop area, where they could provide artillery support to both Alpha and Bravo Troop.
“Here they come,” said PFC Ye as he spat a stream of tobacco on the ground near his boot. He never took his eyes off the enemy tanks heading towards them.
“I see them. Let’s call in the first set of rounds and get those tankers to button up. No need to make their life any easier,” Sergeant Trellis responded as he reached over to grab the radio handset.
Speaking into the handset, Trellis advised, “This is Ghost 2, we have eyes on enemy tanks…count is roughly sixty…request one round high explosive (HE) at grid…”
“This is Reaper 6. We copy. One round HE…grid….” acknowledged the voice from the Fire Direction Control (FDC) vehicle, which coordinated all of the fire missions for the battalion.
“Shot out…” confirmed the FDC a minute later. This meant that the round was on its way.
“Splash,” said the FDC, thirty seconds later. The artillery round was now less than five seconds away from impact.
“Splash out,” replied Sergeant Trellis, watching the area where the round should impact.
BOOM! The round landed exactly where they wanted, a couple hundred yards in front of the enemy advance.
“Round right on target. Fire for effect. WP, three rounds out,” said Trellis, calling in the next round of artillery fire. White phosphorus (WP) rounds were designed to ignite in an airburst about a hundred feet above their intended target; they would force the enemy tank commanders to duck back inside their tanks and button them up, in order to avoid getting burned by the WP in the air. The effect of this attack would be that the enemy commanders would not be able to see and identify targets as easily.
“Reaper 6, targets hit. Adjust fire. Drop 500 meters, adjust 200 meters to the right…fire three rounds HE ground impact out,” said Trellis. This new artillery strike he was calling in was closer to the Bravo Troops’ position.
“Sergeant Trellis, we need to move. That’s three firing missions in this position,” advised PFC Ye. He quickly moved to the driver’s side door and opened it, climbing in.
“You are right. Let’s ditch this taco stand before the Russians throw a few rounds our direction,” Trellis responded as he quickly moved around to the passenger seat. Just as he was closing the door, they heard a loud whistling noise, and before either of them could react, three artillery rounds exploded near their vehicle, shredding it with shrapnel and instantly killing the two of them.
*******
LTC Lewis watched on the monitor as the Russians continued to advance. He was surprised to see them continue to rush forward despite the horrific losses they were taking. Nearly an entire tank battalion had been wiped out in the first five minutes of the engagement, and a second and then third tank battalion took their place. The Russians were trying to overwhelm the American tanks by rushing as many of their own tanks and IFVs as possible.
Suddenly, the radio in LTC Lewis’s helmet came alive, and he saw an image of Colonel Aaron. “Lewis, it looks like the Russians are about to break through Alpha Troop’s position. I’m calling in additional artillery and I’m going to see if we can’t get a few Razorbacks as well. I need you to guide Delta Troop into Alpha’s position and plug that hole,” Colonel Aaron ordered.
“Roger that Sir. We just sent a couple of drones to Alpha’s position, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” Lewis responded, signaling for one of the staff officers to send a message to Delta Troop to tell them to move forward. In the meantime, they revved up their own tank to join the fray.
Colonel Aaron had held one of his tank company’s back as a mobile reserve force in order to plug up any holes in their defensive line. Now it was time to call in an artillery strike. Colonel Aaron signaled for his FIST officer (Fire Support Team). The FIST officer’s job was to coordinate artillery missions for the Regiment from his own artillery battalion along with the Forward Observers assigned to the various Troops. After losing several forward observers, the FIST Liaison Officer (LNO) immediately called in an Arrowhead strike.
Essentially the Arrowheads were “smart” munitions, meaning they could be fired in the general vicinity of the enemy, and as the round would complete its arc heading back towards the objective, it would begin to identify specific targets. In milliseconds, the round would distinguish between a tank and an IFV, and would automatically target the tank unless it were programmed to do otherwise. It would even calculate which of the surrounding tanks had the least amount of armor and move to attack that tank first. As the round neared the target, it would detonate the first shape charge, which would hit the top of the turret or engine compartment. This first charge was meant to activate the tank’s reactive armor, leaving a hole where it once was; then the second shape charge would fire into the newly created gap in the reactive armor and punch right through the turret into the crew compartment. This entire process would happen within milliseconds, with devastating effectiveness.
As soon as the artillery battalion fired off a three-round barrage, they quickly began to move to their next firing position. Russian counter-battery fire started to land where they had just been. Knowing that the Americans may have moved quickly, the Russians began to saturate the area with artillery fire, finding one of the self-propelled artillery vehicles and destroying it and two other support vehicles. The constant counter-battery fire from the Russians was making it incredibly difficult for the American artillerymen to support the tanks and infantry who were fighting tooth and nail on the frontlines.
After eight hours of fighting near Brandenburg, the Americans had to withdraw and cross the Elbe River, where they would make their next stand. Colonel Aaron’s brigade had started the battle with 192 Pershings; so far they had lost 49. However, his brigade had destroyed 492 T14s and 590 T15 IFVs. They had effectively destroyed two entire Russian brigades while sustaining a casualty rate of 25%.
*******
The UK’s 16th Air Assault Brigade (AAB) was Britain’s rapid response unit, much like the American 82nd Airborne Division. The 16th AAB was rushed to the Elbe River once it became clear that the Americans were going to have to retreat across it. They had been held in reserve in case this situation became a reality, and now it had. Their objective was to provide maneuver and fire support to the armored and mechanized infantry units as they moved across the various bridges and pontoon bridges before the engineers dropped them.
Sergeant Michael Stonebridge was a sniper with the reconnaissance section of the Pathfinder group. His spotter, Corporal Brent Scott, had been assigned an over watch position several hundred meters behind one of the bridgeheads. Their objective was to take out enemy infantry as they approached the area, or call in what they were seeing to their higher headquarters.
They positioned themselves under their ghillie suits (special sniper suits designed to camouflage these soldiers with the grass in the surrounding area, to the point that they would be virtually invisible while still). They began to deploy their spotting scope and their L115A3 sniper rifle. The L115 fired a .338 cartridge and had an effective range of 2,000 meters. For their operation, they had a 25x scope with a suppressor to help reduce the muzzle flash of their rifle when it was fired.
As they laid prone in their fighting position, they could hear the rumble of the battle move closer and closer to their position until they spotted the first sign of the American units retreating. At first, it was a collection of ambulances carrying the wounded; then came a battalion of self-propelled artillery, who quickly fired off a barrage of rounds once they crossed the river before scurrying behind the 16th AAB’s position. Then came several battalions’ worth of light and mechanized infantry; the soldiers looked exhausted and beat up, but determined to continue fighting. They immediately took up defensive positions all along the shoreline and began to prepare for the next assault. The final group to cross the bridges were the heavy armor units. Nearly four dozen Pershing MBTs made it across the river before the remaining Pershings still on the enemy side of the bank began to return fire and engage the advancing Russian units. Slowly and steadily, they all made it across the river before the engineers blew the bridges apart just as Russian Infantry Fighting Vehicles and other armored vehicles appeared at the outskirts of the city.
Sergeant Stonebridge immediately began to search for targets; his spotter found several soldiers positioning an anti-tank missile system on the roof of a building several blocks away from the bridge. It was a long shot, maybe 1,900 meters. He carefully took aim, adjusted for wind, moisture and every other aspect one does when preparing to fire a shot from maximum range. Their target was not the soldiers themselves, but rather the equipment they were setting up. A soldier could be replaced if killed--a critical piece of equipment could not. Stonebridge found what he was looking for, the laser guidance box on the missile system. He closed his other eye, let out a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. In the flash of a second, he saw the bullet hit the guidance box, exploding it into pieces. The Russian soldier who had been looking through it also died immediately.
As more and more Russian vehicles and soldiers poured into the area, the snipers found themselves in a target-rich environment. They quickly fell into a routine, firing four or five shots from one position before moving to another one and then repeating the process.
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