Jousting
“ALL YANKEES BE ADVISED-ENEMY COUNTER ATTACK FORCE APPROACHING FROM THE EAST-SIZE UNKNOWN-ALL TANKS FORM UP ON THE EAST SIE OF THE BASE-I WANT THE MECH PLATOON AND THE ITVS TO DIG IN AND DEFEND THE BASE ITSELF-ACKNOWLEDGE-OVER”
“WILCO-THIS IS YANKEE 1-1-DO WE HAVE ANY ESTIMATE AT ALL ON THE ENEMY FORCE-OVER?”
“ACTUAL TO 1-1-THERE’S A LOT OF THEM-HURRY ON GET INTO LINE FORMATION OUTSIDE THE BASE-OVER AND OUT”
Little by little, all the tanks gathered in a line outside the base where the plains continued onwards. The large dust clouds, as well as the sound of several motors, came closer and closer. Clearly, the bad guys were not about to let go of their foothold in the country so easily.
At the base, the Mech platoon quickly dug some temporary cover for the infantry and vehicles. The ITVs and PCs were dug into hull down positions while the infantry dug a line of foxholes. If any armor got close to them, they would have to rely on their Dragon ATGMs; and if it got down to the wire, their 66 millimeter M72 LAWs.
It was about an hour before the enemy formation finally came into full view. It was basically a mass of several tanks, of all different types, along with BMPs that carried infantry for taking back the base. Support elements, such as the ZSUs, wisely stayed back. And there were dozens of them, possibly around one hundred vehicles in all.
The feeling surfaced yet again inside Uleski. This time, however, it also made him frustrated. He wanted to be done with this so the feeling would stop bothering him. He wanted the feeling itself gone and never returning.
“YANKEE ACTUAL-CAPTAIN, YOU THINK WE’LL BE ABLE TO STOP ALL THESE GUYS-OVER?”
“DON’T WORRY, U-WE HAVE THE ADVANTAGE IN TRAINING AND TECH-WE JUST HAVE TO USE THEM RIGHT”
“WHAT’S THE PLAN SIR?”
“I’M THINKING WE SHOULD ACT AGRESSIVLEY-MOVE OUT AND MEET THEM”
“YOU SURE THAT’S A GOOD IDEA? THE BASE WILL BE LEFT TO JUST THE MECH PLATOON”
“IF WE ATTACK THEM FAR OUT AND KILL ENOUGH OF THEM BEFORE THEY GET TO THE BASE, THE REST MIGHT TURN TAIL AND RUN-AT THE VERY LEAST THEY’LL HAVE TO STOP THE ATTACK ON THE BASE TO DEAL WITH US”
“COPY THAT"
“ALL TANKS-LINE FORMTATION-PREPARE TO COUNTER-CHARGE-DON’T STOP TO SHOOT, JUST KEEP MOVING TILL YOU REACH THEIR LINES-COMMENCE CHARGE ON MY MARK”
The tankers sat and waited as the enemy came closer and closer.
“MARK!”
At Bannon’s shouting of the order, all of the tanks shot forward. They all gradually came up to full speed and picked out individual targets. The team kicked up its own dust cloud as it moved forward towards the enemy.
Polgar just watched as the tanks moved forward. He was worried that he would, again, be left out. And this time, he was genuinely worried about the others, as it seemed almost suicidal to attack such a large force.
The enemy tanks were confused by the move at first. Some slowed down, thinking they should go on the defensive, while others continued on, and throwing the formation into chaos. Still, they knew their enemy was coming and immediately opened fire, their rounds falling pitifully into the dirt, being far out of range.
The enemy’s reaction only furthered Bannon’s idea that they were not trained to handle tank-to-tank warfare. Choosing targets wasn’t difficult, as they were so clustered together. It was like firing into a swarm of birds flying around in one area, they were bound to hit something.
“FIRE-FIRE SABOT”
All of the rounds found a target. Even if the tanker’s original targets missed, it would hit another track behind it. One would really have to try hard to miss.
By the time of the second salvo, the enemy had moved to a range for some of their weapons, as well. Their firing was much more uncoordinated, with each unit taking individual shots that guaranteed a continuous wave of shells. Again, they continued to bounce or explode with little effect, though it became more telling as the range decreased.
“GUNNER-ENGAGE AT WILL UNLESS I PICK SOMETHING OUT”
“AYE, SIR!”
Bannon watched as 66 continued to lob out rounds. The enemy formation was confused, but they continued to move forward. Both combatants were charging at each other like medieval knights in a tournament.
Eventually, the range fell to a very close level, and then, the lines of both meshed through each other and blurred. The team’s tanks ran were engulfed by the wave of incoming hostiles. It quickly turned into a free-for-all, with each track doing its individual work.
Bannon spotted two T-72s coming head on at 66. The gun fired and killed the left one first; the reply from the surviving tank didn’t tell much. The two tanks passed each other and took aim at each other’s rears. 66’s shot hit the engine, starting a massive fire. Once again, the T-72’s shot failed, but it caused quite the rattling.
Each of the M1s focused on killing as many Russage tanks as quick as they could. All the while, each was being smothered by hits. The crews tried their very best.
With such a high volume of fire at such a close range, damage was inevitable at this point. One tank had rushed out too far and, after coming under what seemed like a machine gun of HE shells, stopped and just sat there for a while. 4-2s fire control computer was damaged from the rattling, and a few lucky, or unlucky, hits knocked a tread off of Blackfoot’s tank, though it’s turret was operating and continued to fire away.
“YANKEE ACTUAL TO YANKEE FIVE-BE ADVISED-”
Bannon stopped as he was jarred from another large explosion that rocked the tank’s inside.
“Damn,” he swore before picking up the radio again. “BE ADVISED-WE CAN’T STOP ALL THE ENEMIES-PREPARE TO RECEIVE HOSTILES-HOW COPY-OVER”
“GOOD COPY, ACTUAL-WE’RE READY FOR THEM”
A large force of ten tanks, two T-55s and eight T-72s, along with twelve BMP-2s came as a group towards the base. Polgar would finally get his desire to fight. The Mech platoon would now have to show its effectiveness.
The ITVs fired first, firing their long range TOW missiles at the tanks. Both hit T-62s on their turrets and both turrets, in turn, exploded skyward. It didn’t slow the rest of the group down by much.
The ITVs fired a second time, this time killing only one of the T-55s. They were followed by the infantry launched Dragon missiles, which reached out and killed two more T-72s.
The enemy formation began firing in the base’s direction, though the platoon was dug in well for protection. Still, one round found one of the dug in M113s. Its aluminum hull crumpled from the hit and began to burn brightly.
Another salvo of missiles claimed three more T-72s. Polgar then ordered the missiles to focus on the BTRs. He wanted to kill as many of the enemy infantry as he could while they were still sitting in their vehicles.
Still, the BTRs released their infantry at different intervals. Some got out as soon as the first missiles had been fired; others insisted they be driven right up to the front line. Regardless, all of them came under fire from the small arms of infantry dug sitting in their foxholes. M249s chattering dragged on for long intervals, M16s fired individually; grenadiers fired their grenades at clusters of soldiers.
The next four missiles all found BTRs. The last two tanks rolled up close to the front, trying to find targets. The old T-55 was hit in the engine and the turret by LAWs and was abandoned immediately. The T-72 was immobilized by one LAW, and then fired its main gun in the operator’s direction, killing him before succumbing to a barrage of LAW rockets.
The remaining BTRs met a similar fate, bit by bit, along with their infantry. When everything settled down, Plogar took a look at the devastation his platoon had created, and couldn’t help but get a sense of pride. He also noticed the battle in the distance was easing off.
Bannon did notice that several of the enemy tanks were beginning to turn tail. Still, he ordered Folk to focus on enemy units still engaging them; though, that number was quickly reduced to none. The team’s tanks regrouped a bit and continued to fire until the Russagians were out of sight entirely.
“YANKEE ACTUAL TO ALL YANKEES-REPORT”
“YANKEE ONE”
“TWO”
“THREE”
“FOUR”
“YANKEE FIVE STILL IN PLACE”
“SEVEN”
“EVERYONE RETURN TO THE BASE-DON’T BOTHER PURSIUING, WE’RE TOO WORN OUT-AND HAVE THE M88 COME AND PICK UP BLACK AND HIS TANK-OVER AND OUT”
Luna hadn’t expected the humans to come back. It astonished her that they were able to stop the seemingly invincible invaders, attacking their home base right after seemed vain. To her happy surprise, they found most of the team was fine when they arrived at the base.
“I was rather concerned when I saw all the burning machines,” she explained to Bannon. “But then I saw that strange, new flag flying, and I rightly guessed it was yours.”
“Yep, that’s ours, and those burning tanks out there was also our work,” Bannon replied. “Still, this was tougher than our last fight.”
“I can see that,” Celestia observed, looking out over the field where the counterattack had taken place. “You certainly had many more to deal with this time.”
“Well, it’s more than that,” Bannon explained. “We…actually lost some people this go round.”
First there was the PC and its crew, who took an unlucky shell hit. One of the tanks had been smothered with hits and a few more unlucky ones started an uncontrollable engine fire; luckily, it spread slowly, so the crew made their escape before the tank was engulfed. Along with those, two of the Mech platoon’s infantrymen were dead, and a third was slightly wounded by a grazing bullet.
Though they had never got to know the ones who died, the group felt even more saddened. The prospect of these visitors fighting their fight was stunning, now that they were dying; it made them feel somewhat guilty. Between the two burning American vehicles and the line of covered bodies, they were shaken to the core.
“I’m sorry this happened,” Twilight stuttered. “I mean, we never really wanted it to…a-and we never meant for you all to be here-”
“You guys don’t feel bad,” Bannon cut in. “This is what our job is, and it comes with certain…hazards. But, we expect these kinds of things to happen. It’s unavoidable.”
“Surely, it can’t be taken that easy,” Rarity replied.
“Well, no. I always told myself that I’d have to get used to people dying, of seeing bodies of my men, writing letters back home to their families. I kept trying to prepare for it when the time came; but, now that it’s here, I still feel…down. But, like I said, it’s what we do, and if we still have work to do, then we have to grieve later and focus on what’s at hand.”
“Hopefully, you won’t have to,” Celestia replied. “Now that they’ve been kicked out of Equestria, maybe they will surrender peacefully.”
“Well, the South didn’t exactly surrender after Gettysburg,” Bannon thought.
“Do you think that’s possible, captain?”
“It’s highly unlikely that they will. It’s probably best if we stick around and see what happens.”
“Well, during that time, we will do our best to provide you with what you need.”
“That may be a problem; I don’t think you can for some of our needs. We’re running low on fuel and ammo, and I doubt you know how to manufacture that.”
“Well, no. But, I can open a portal to your world where you could get some more.”
“Alright, that’ll do. It’s going to be hell trying to explain this to Reynolds.”
Celestia’s horn lit up for a few seconds and then flashed a bright light. There was a large, purple circle that was large enough to drive any kind of vehicle through. Peering through it, Bannon could make out the German countryside.
“Captain!” Folk called back from the tank. “Sir, I’m picking up the battalion commander on the radio!”
Bannon jogged back to 66 and jumped in, grabbing the radio quickly.
“BANNON-CAPTAIN BANNON-COME IN YANKEE SIX!”
“COLONEL SAWYER, SIR -I READ YOU FIVE-BY-FIVE!”
“BANNON-JUST WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR TEAM-HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THERE’S A WAR GOING ON!?”
“YES SIR, WE NOTICED”
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I detect an enormous butthurt of a murrican schoolchild.
- A passing-by russian officer.
Translated by Sabban
3225261
Really has nothing to do with Russians only the name.
3242858
Where was that?
This is going to be fun.
3243509
Indeed
Should be "a"
I've been having to correct you less and less, you must be getting better or perhaps I'm slipping. Hmm.
Ah well, more tanks and pone pone!
3243893
Hm...Na, you're slipping.
Thanks anyways.
3251006
And i'm actually planning a Rainbow Six crossover. It's more with the book than the game, though.
3297303
As Pat from Two Best Friends once said:
"Russia, we love you. But, if you want to stop being treated so evil, stop doing everything so evil."
3297303 Yea, Stalin actually messed up the USSR aka CCCP
I won't be giving you a 'thumbs down', but I do have a few issues with this story.
- Sorry to say, you don't do Harold Coyle's book, which you have taken this from, sufficient justice.
- Your narrative jumps from scene to scene.
a) They do multiple successive runs through the forest with hardly anything happening in between.
b) First a raging forest fire, and then suddenly on their next entry to the forest it's already burned out and no longer an issue.
c) How did they jump immediately from taking the enemy base into repelling a massive enemy counter attack? How much time passed between the two events? Surely the enemy did not collect their forces from wherever they were distributed in the space of an hour or two. Surely there was some time between the two events. Surely they set out scouts to detect and warn them of the impending attack.
- If your story is mostly about going from attack to attack, then it really loses it's MLP charm.
- If the Princesses did not bring them to Equestria, then how do they know how to connect them back up to Earth again?
And yes, I do realize that this story was probably abandoned. Two years since the last update is a really long time.
Bullshit. At that range most of the defending platoon would have lost their vehicles. Firing at side armor, the shots would shear right through. At that range, tank turrets would be going up. As well, the M1 has an internal ammo store. A hit there will kill everyone inside and cause the tank hatches to pop or some shit. Five 105mm shells are no joke. As well, ammunition loss would be a problem. The M1 Abrams blowout panels, while they save the crew, deplete all ammunition in the tank immediately to 4-5 rounds.