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Hueys and Hand Grenades pt. 2

February 21, 1964

Now Gunnery Sargent Boeker was inspecting his squad of marines. He looked them over, checking bayonets for rust and making sure the wargame gear was put on correctly. After going through he checked their packs to make sure they were put on correctly. He then reported to the officer of the platoon. He went to attention and saluted

"Sir, all Present or accounted for." The officer nodded.

"Very well. Okay boys. We will be following the tanks through the woods, make sure you guys stay off the roads. If possible the tanks will go through as well. 25 soldiers from the 2nd platoon will be accompanying us on our assault. Watch the trees and watch the ground. Let's go get em boys."

Boeker took his squad to the staging zone, passing the Hueys as they did. Most of the force would be in them. When he arrived, the tanks were the ones that kicked things off. They began to roll out, followed by the Marines who then spread out into the trees to cover the tanks.

(More coming)
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Inside the tank, Tank Commander Gordon Denver stood looking out of the tank at the expansive road in front of him. He was in the middle of the formation, on comms with the flanking M60s that were a few miles away. He also was talking to the three MBT-70s that were in formation with him. They lumbered along the road, using the trees where they could as they advanced to the village.

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"Fuel: check. Radio: check...." Ensign Pullver said to him and his pilot during pre flight check. In the back two M60 gunners and 12 soldiers were stored in the fuselage.

"Alright, all check. Let's get going." Commander Gile said.

Pullvers pilot and himself were Naval pilots for Hueys, but were sent for basic training for Commander Gile and his new co. File had lost his co pilot in Pollonia during an evacuation mission, and the service then gave him Pullver. Gile slowly began to rev up the engines. The whining got louder and higher in pitch, and the chopping of the blades cut at an even faster rate. Soon enough, the hulk of the helicopter was lifted into the air as it slowly climbed to a reasonable altitude before pitching forward with all the other helicopters, all packed full with troops. They all were flying to the village, a few hours after the foot infantry had left to try and keep timing coinciding For the attack.

Teams of Minoska forces had set themselves up in key positions a decent distance from the road as to hide their presence for when the war games begin, whilst being able to keep an eye out for when the Tanabon forces set out. This was mostly for the most forward teams who had set themselves up in position more suited for observation instead of being for combat. Sitting in their positions, one of them on observation whilst the other was checking their equipment to respond with suppressive fire if they were attacked. They were on high alert as they expected the Tanabon forces to begin their advance into the war games area at any moment, which these teams would need to observe before reporting on their numbers an armament whilst remaining unseen as to retreat back to join up with other teams if the situation would require them to do so. That was the role which the handful of forward teams had been tasked with.

Further back along the side of the road and on the bends more Minoska teams had taken up positions, concealing themselves as they awaited information from the forward teams. If they received none they were to assume that the forward teams had been taken out and where to wait in their positions and attack the Tanabon formations. These teams had set up traps in the forests and on the load before the war games had begun, creating explosive traps and pit falls with explosives in them to slow down and damage the Tanabon advance whilst these teams harassed them and fell back and repeat.

As the war games begun, the forward teams were of full alert, constantly scanning the area before them as they awaited the appearance of the Tanabon forces. The sun was shining through the forest and casting shadows over the road and shrouding the forward teams in its dark embrace. These teams had expected the Tanabon forces to send reconnaissance forces but instead they were alerted to the roaring sound of engines. The teams immediately planned to fall back deeper into the forest as soon as they could see the Tanabon forces come round the corner and radio in their estimated numbers so the rest of the teams along the route would be aware.

As the forward teams waited and waited the sound of the engines only grew louder and louder. Anxiously they clutched their weapons, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Then slowly around the corner came the Tanabon formation the source of the sound was revealed to the team, it was a tank! As the formation continued to come around the corner the team was able to count their numbers of vehicles and reported them in to the other teams. Advancing beside the tanks was soldiers on foot, their numbers were hard to make out exactly and a few more could be made out in the forests either side. This was radioed in with the estimated numbers they could make out and then they began to pull back into the forest.

Whilst they were pulling back to meet up with the rest of the teams in this area of the war games they heard on their radio that another Tanabon column consisting of 6 tanks and 10 infantry was advancing from another route however there weren’t enough teams along that route to deal with the column so about 2 troops would be doing hit and run on the 10 soldiers defending the tanks until they would reach traps that would take out the tracks, they were to take out officers and if possible tank crew.

Radioing in to the teams further along the main route they planned to set up an ambush where the explosive fall pits are to hit the infantry as the tank gets detract and at the same time open fire on the screening infantry and retreat down routes that have traps to hit any forces that would pursue them and then reconvene later and harass them again and again until they reach the village where the teams will route round and join the defending forces.

later on when set up

They were ready, 8 people on either side had set themselves about 50 feet back from the road to limit the effectiveness of the Tanabon tanks. 2 people had set themselves up a decent distance forward to inform the others of the approach which they would then stalk and harass once the ambush was launched.
As the roar of the tanks grew louder the ambushers prepared themselves for combat, spacing themselves out to fire from several angles. Then they heard the sound of twigs snapping and leaves rustling, they then realised that the screening infantry was spread out decently far into the forest. Using bird calls they informed the others of who they would be targeting, their priority was officers but anyone would do. Silently they waited as the screen of soldiers began to pass about 30 feet in front of their position. Taking aim on their selected targets they had to fight their urge to fire, but they had to wait, to fire now would give away the element of surprise. Then the noise came, the sound of the explosives in a pitfall going off and they knew it was time. Almost immediately the forest came alight with gun fire as the ambushers fired at their targets before spraying at the rest of the screen, ready to fall back as soon as the Tanabon resistance turned on them. The 2 forward soldiers began to fire from behind the formation as they attempted to cause panic and confusion amongst the Tanabon ranks.

Bette and his squad moved through the trees. Slowly at first, then continuing their slow pace, while finally ending with an equally slow pace. Man, this sucked!
The ESL infantry had to take this painfully slow approach due the presence of hidden soldiers and booby traps. Seriously, its 20XX, who still uses booby traps? Apparently OpFor since Private Tuber stepped on a tripwire and got hoisted up 30 feet in the air from a rope! It took the squad 20 minutes to cut him down. Now everyone had to proceed at a glacially slow pace. And that meant that they were behind schedule!
“Man, this gives me the heeby-jeebies!” Bette said aloud. Unlike @East Supple Lund, which was incredibly flat and devoid of trees, this forest was full of them! (Shocking, right?) Bette hadn’t even seen a tree before till he was 12 years old, when his parents took him and his little sister to the zoo. They scared him them, and they still scared him now!
It was dark and creepy and Bette coulda sworn he had heard the same bird call like 5 times already.
“Oh put a sock in it, will ya Bette?” Corporal Edderson said. “You minds playing tricks on you dude, you need to-“
SNAP!
The Corporal had stepped on another tripwire. Except this time a giant net descended downward, falling on top of him and several other East Supple Lundians unlucky enough to be around him. A string of curses and yells immediately followed.
“You idiot! WATCH WHERE YOUR GOIN’!” Bette signed again and he and some other soldiers began to cut at the rope. Yep, this was gonna take forever.

The day had started off well for the Minoska teams in the forests of Area Bravo, the sunny weather had been fighting through the layers of branches and had now broken through to reveal some areas of the paths which ESL forces would have to cross during their advance if they stayed off of the main road, which lead through the forest up to the town of Erford. In the forests, concealed amongst the thick vegetation, small teams of Minoska soldiers had been lying in wait, ready to harass and stalk any troops that were unfortunate enough to be spotted by them.

The sound of nature all around these teams and the view which their positions presented them was one to be envied with the relaxation it brought them before they needed to act on the role they had been given to perform during the war games. They operated together, one of them was always on watch whilst the other sat back and relaxed, and these teams worked well with one another, and they would even use a variety of signals and calls to coordinate with the other teams in the area to inform them of sightings and if they require assistance.

Things seemed peaceful for team Jango as they sat around before the war games had begun, watching a bend in the road from their well-hidden position in the forest. They were expecting an ESL formation to come round the corner which they would need to report in and wait for an opportunity to open fire on their officers before they would pull back deeper into the forest and harass them further along the road. However as they waited, unloading and reloading their magazines out of boredom and checking their weaponry when they were not on lookout, they eventually saw a squad of men, wearing a different uniform to the Minoskans and in greater numbers than a team in the forest, run across the bend and into the forest.

Team Jango immediately upon seeing this made a distinct bird call to inform the other teams of this. They used their radio to communicate with team Junior, which was deeper in the forest behind them as to cover team Jango’s retreat if they needed to fall back, telling them to move up and take over their position which they were now leaving. They started moving to relocate to a new position that would give them an advantageous view on which to observe the squad before taking it out. Their movements slowed as they heard several of the bird calls they had just given to inform them of the nearby presence of enemy squads. Crouched down, they moved through the vegetation, using the bushes and trees and the shadows they had made to hide their presence as they got closer to a spot they knew would give them vision over the path that they knew the ESL troops must of taken based on where they entered the forest from. This spot was on a slightly raised hill, with thick vegetation surrounding it and the trees above casting dark shadows which would hide the reflection from their weapons when the light would shine upon them. Looking from their new position team Jango realised that they would need to relocate yet again. Before them the only enemy which they could see was a man dangling by his foot from a rope, obviously having fallen for one of the traps placed in the forest, the shouting from the troops below and the soldier who was hanging would drown out the slight noise from Jango’s movement as they assessed the situation. However they decided this wouldn’t be a target worth revealing themselves over so they left their position to move towards another which was further along the path which had better vision over the next trap along this squads route. Crouching down as they slowly moved in a leap frog manner, one would move and be looking out so the other one could move past them to be further along in case the ESL squad were quick to get their member down and carry on.

Ducking underneath the low branches of several trees and arrived behind a fallen tree surrounded by green shrubbery, one of the team placed himself onto his chest and crawled behind the fallen tree. Slowly and silently they sat up to peer over without revealing themselves, they could see a spot where a net trap they had set up before the war games began had been placed, and he laid his rifle flat on the ground before them, ready to be used when the squad appeared. His teammate continued to move slightly further down to another position to be able to fire on the ESL squad from several directions to cause as much confusion and damage as possible. Team Jango waited and waited and waited for what felt like half an hour, they heard several of the bird noises that informed them of the presence of more squads in the area to they knew more ambushes would be taking place on them, they were about to move on, thinking that the ESL squad had turned around when they heard them. Both of the team slowly brought up their rifles to rest them so they could take steady aim and they swung round onto their front.

Watching the ESL squad advance along the path a smile of a hunter knowing they had their prey trapped stretched across the teams face as they knew they would set off the tripwire. Controlling his breath as he lined up his shot, from over the fallen tree, on the man he was confident was the leader as he looked at him with the look of a killer in his eye. His teammate was going to fire on one of the other members in the squad immediately after. After a few seconds a loud snap was heard and large net fell down upon the squad, trapping several of them in it. Almost immediately as the rest rushed to their aid in an attempt to free them from the net the team hidden in the forest adjusted their aim to their different targets and then “Pop….pop” as both fired upon the squad.
Throughout the area similar ambushes where occurring upon the ESL forward forces, some squads were not so fortunate and had also encountered explosive traps that had a devastating impact upon them.

Deer Force 1

The plane was directly over the grounds that belonged to Area Charlie. Soldiers lined up for the jump. Tiredness was on the face of Ark Ramirez. He glared at the ground. The little latch opened up from the door of the plane. Soldiers grabbed their parachutes, and lined up. The breeze rushed onto the plane. Tired and hungry, Ark looked down.

This reminded him of Salisbury-Buckanham. Tired, hungry, and ready for work. The laziness would get you killed. Ark could remember seeing Tyler die in the fields.

Flashback, Ark's POV

I was tired. I could automatically see the end of my life. The barracks were hard as ice, and the fields were ruthless. The Tapegs would not let you get sleep and they would not let you give up on work.

The next thing I know, I hear the guards yelling. "Boy, if you don't work, you will die!" I saw the guards yell one more thing before I heard a gunshot go off. Tyler fell dead. I saw a girl walk over to him. "Odelin, it's not your fault. Don't cry," she said comforting him. Then, reality hit. You can't give up here. The Alerianische Partei Eines Größeren Staates or the Tapegs wouldn't let you. You can't stop your work. I got back to work immediately.

Deer Force 1

I was pushed. I fell out of the plane with a look of shock on my face. I learned what to do when this happens. You need to put your arms out and legs out. Feet pointed. I closed my eyes slightly.
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"Could this be the last thing I see?" I asked myself. Then, I remember what someone at Salisbury told me. "This won't be the last thing you see." I remember he told me that. "Thank you, Carson." I told myself. I had memories, but none good. I never had a good memory at Salisbury. I smiled at the thought. I couldn't help but think of what I would see.

What I would do. My mind is racing. Pain is rising. The air pressure is great. I am going to land and I am going to automatically wait for everyone. I will wait for the orders before charging. I smiled at the thought. These soldiers will be the Tapeg. I will get my revenge. The thought made me tingle, and I am ready for war.

The Minoska forces had been setting up the last of the traps out in area Charlie that would explode and take out squads of Deerfenland soldiers, these squads where then to move back to the positions constructed just outside the urban areas to for an extra defensive line which the traps would force the attacking forces towards where machine gun positions and troops, that have been lying the last of the traps, would hold them off and inflict large amounts of damage whilst snipers further back would take out officers to cause as much chaos and confusion as they could amongst the Deerfenland ranks.

The buildings out across the valley were manned by Minoska squads who were looking out to give warning and information to the rest of the defenders. These positions couldn’t be ignored as their position allowed them to fire onto attacking forces from a well-protected area and having to be taken as to not hit an attacking force in the rear if ignored. The area outside of these buildings had been booby trapped whilst the guns from the teams inside pointed outward, ready for the battle to come.

It was one of these positions which saw the first paratroopers jump out from the aircraft. Immediately the officer was calling his troops to take aim and fire upon the vulnerable paratroopers as they descended down towards the ground of area Charlie. With the sound of gunfire the officer called on his radio to all the troops in the area to bring it to their attention of the threat they now faced. “They will be like pigs to the slaughter of our guns” the officer yelled once his orders had been relayed to encourage his troops. All over area Charlie, the Minoska forces were looking for the deployed Deerfenland paratroopers so they could take aim and open fire upon them. Machine guns roared, snipers fired to take them out in the air and squads of infantry open fire, trying to be as precise as possible to reduce the Deerfenland numbers by as much as possible before they could return fire!

In the urban village around the key bridge, most of the IFVs, tanks and a few infantry who had previously been positioned on the east side of the bridge were on the move, their engines roaring like a lion as they moved out of the village to have more room to manoeuvre to move around and take out Deerfenland troops before they could organise in enough numbers to properly assault the fortified village. The rest of the village had the entrances trapped ,with tripwires and flag traps where by moving the flag from its position would set of a grenade, and then positioned IFVs or tanks across the streets to cut them off from attackers whilst the remaining infantry on the streets, apart from a few who were protecting the machine guns and anti-tank positions which had been set up with a good view to fire from, moved into the building on the side of the streets to harass and force the Deerfenland troops to participate in a costly house to house warfare whilst being fired upon by infantry in other houses and the vehicles.

As the Minoska forces were firing upon the descending Deerfenland paratroopers their damage was being recorded by several officers who were also predicting the path of their descent before they radioed to the rest of the troops “Heavy damage inflicted upon the paratroopers, they seem to be descending into the booby trapped area, prepare yourselves”