Want to support CHYOA?
Disable your Ad Blocker! Thanks :)

Chapter 16 by Nevermore Nevermore

Practice, practice, practice.

More training and leadership

New equipment came in: new combat radios, new sniper rifles, extra rounds of NATO-ammunition, and more AT-missiles. Each with an actual trainer to teach us how to handle them. It was practice day all around. The new Accuracy International AS50 sniper rifles had longer range, but were meant for shooting troop carriers. We would keep the current ones for shooting people and be given one of the newer ones to each platoon-section. Then I ordered Tim and Didier to start practicing with it, especially training from higher altitudes to lower targets. I understood this was very difficult to get it right.

Apart from shooting we were given lessons in demolition. Placing charges under bridges, trying to hide them well, then blowing them up. No shortage of potential training targets, as we started blowing up a lot of bridges over the Regen river. I ordered my entire section to train in demolition, it was not as difficult as it seemed at first. It gave them a boost in confidence, knowing they could blow something up by themselves. We felt sometimes like teenagers on a rampage of vandalism through the city. The training officer directed us and praised us it was work well done.

Further reorganization came in the form of promotions. Our small platoons were actually only sections. I was never a platoon leader, only a section leader. But at the battle at the Regen, I was briefly given command over five sections. Leadership formalized my role into platoon leader over those sections. The army and their need for formal structures was an appetite that could not be quenched. My refusal or not, they promoted me to lieutenant and sat back satisfied as they velcroid the blue field with two stars upon my shoulders. Not that it mattered in the slightest. I still felt like a noob soldier, hoping they would listen to me if I somehow had a good idea. Some idiot even offered me up for a medal, which I flatly refused. If leadership wanted to thank me, that they did so in the form of support for my platoon, and taking my advice under serious consideration. And if the soldiers wanted to thank me for my foolish actions, they should figure it out by themselves, preferably by being more dedicated to their work.

I had a meeting with my section leaders, each promoted to sergeant. Some were happy about it, but mostly, as I hoped, completely indifferent. I told them to continue their work and if they needed help how to set up better defenses, they could always pass between sections during the day. Best not during the night as there was always the risk of being shot by an overzealous sentry. I would give them free reign as much as I could in executing the orders, but warned them I would not tolerate nonconsensual misconduct with their troops. Everyone of the platoon would be given the message to report such behavior back to me.

That said, I brought in some extra coffee pads, which they gladly accepted, and sent them on their way.

A few days passed and we were given word the Russian brought in reinforcements in their second wave. They already passed Regen and were rapidly advancing. Rapid, but weary of traps. They were more careful now, not as confident as they were before. The closer they came to the Danube, the slower they progressed, sending out advanced recon teams to assess the situations, safest travel routes to get to Regensburg. They kept following the Danube for some reason, were they hoping to cross it? Our special forces reported they had brought pontoons with them this time, but likely not enough to cross the wide Danube, but certainly enough to cross smaller rivers.

Glad we were well hidden and far enough from the city center, at one day they came in with fighter jets and carpet bombed the entire city of Regensburg. As it was fully evacuated we didn’t care about it. We expected it to happen, even more so, we wanted it so, as it would give us more free sight to the incoming troops and tanks.

But first they had to get to Regensburg. From Regen they moved west until they got on to the E3 highway in Niederwinkling. Relatively unharmed, apart from the occasional strafing jets of our own allies they followed it until they saw the bridge over the Danube thoroughly destroyed. They got off the E3 and continued on a lesser road in Wörth an der Donau leading to Kruckenberg.

It was from that point on their problems really started. The Russians made sure their columns were split along the way, to avoid mass destruction. The leading column was ‘allowed’ to pass Kruckenberg to Bach an der Donau. They even were ‘allowed’ to pass Bach an der Donau right up to the point of the road next to a small mountain, just before they would reach Sulzbach Abdonau. While the second column had passed Bach an der Donau, and the third column had just passed Kruckenberg.

Have you ever seen an artillery bombardment on TV? It must have been something like that, but a lot more intensified. The Germans set up their artillery batteries well into range, south of the Danube about twenty kilometers inland, in the few forests they had there. Extremely well hidden, prepared and fortified, the mere five Panzerhaubitze 2000’s could in burst mode shoot three rounds in nine seconds, so in this case fifteen rounds in less than ten seconds. Or with reload, ten rounds per minute. They navigated their targeting using a scout and GPS. The tanks had no chance at all, they were pummeled beyond recognition. The troop carriers were even worse off, simply bursting into thousand pieces, metal and meat combined in intense fire. Half of the first column was wiped out in a few minutes. The other half decided wisely to get off the road and tried desperately to turn back to the previous village. To no avail, as the second battery group opened fire at the second column, stopping them mid-track and again half of the column was destroyed as the other half desperately tried to flee inwards through the forests near Bach an der Donau, appearing on the other side of the hill trying to get west again. The last column was struck by the same disaster, half of it was destroyed, and they too decided to drive north, pass the forest and go west on the narrow forest roads between two hills.

The first remaining half tried desperately push the wrecks of the second column out of the way, but it was expected they would try that, and just before they started pushing slowly against the wrecks, a second salvo of the heavy artillery pounded them all into oblivion.

Even from that distance we could hear the firing and impacts of the dual SMArt 155mm artillery rounds. The remaining fleeing columns were separated in forested valleys beyond the hillside at their previous route, hoping to reconnect. Thus the new first column slowed down, the second one went faster. Sadly for them, their maneuvers were foreseen, even implemented. German soldiers were amassed at both sides of the valley and rained hell on them using their own MILAN AT-guns. One by one the Russian tanks and then the troop carriers in the first column disappeared in a hail of fire, too many missiles were fired upon the Russian T-90’s which were soon out of effective counter measures. To top it off, the US marines fired their mortars again using fragmentation rounds, to be sure maximum damage was done to any surviving Russian soldier. The Germans retreated eastwards to their secondary locations, and the outcome for the incoming half of the third column was settled very much the same way.

We had reason to celebrate, that was true, but we knew these waves were just the first and smaller ones compared to the big waves of incoming Russian tanks and troops. But at least it gave us more time to train, prepare and yes... more stress relief.

Stress relief.

Want to support CHYOA?
Disable your Ad Blocker! Thanks :)