forcon
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Post by forcon on Sept 17, 2019 14:06:09 GMT
It's a cold night in November and not all of my boys are going to survive this
Bangs and flashes, bangs and flashes.
I dismount the alleged protection offered by the Warrior's steel confines. Two of the Warriors are aflame fifty metres across the field. No need for night vision equipment; the darkness is illuminated by parachute flares, raging fires, and tracer rounds. Behind us, the Challenger 2s of the Queen's Royal Hussars are engaging the few BTRs and trucks parked along the Russian's defensive line.
The three rifle sections of my platoon dismount their vehicles as I do: my headquarters section follows me out of the rear door of my own Warrior. A tidal wave of tracers streams towards us from Ivan's positions. Mortars land all around us. I dive into the cold, wet ground, sheltering behind a few clumps of grass.
It's a cold night in November and not all of my boys are going to survive this.
I barely even register that I'm raising my rifle, taking aim, and letting loose a few bursts of suppressing fire. "Pepperpot!" I shout, trying to keep the trembling out of my voice. "Two Section, move!"
Bangs and flashes, bangs and flashes.
"Come on boys! Up and at em!" Shouts Sergeant Moffat. At thirty-six, he is seventeen years older than me and yet still my subordinate. Be it fear of the Sergeant's wrath or fear of fucking up, the eight lads of Two Section are on their feet. I see someone go down. I think it's McAdams. The others keep moving as the medic crawls his way towards the wounded man.
Two Section stops in unison and takes to the ground, laying down fire. "Three Section, move!"
Seven figures - there should be eight, so somebody has gone down - stand up and begin running, overtaking Two Section. Now it's my turn.
"One Section, on me, move!" We're up just as Three Section ceases its movement and begins laying down covering fire. Sergeant Moffat goes down during the charge. I end up using the corpse of one of my men as cover. The process repeats itself three times: move, fire, move, fire.
I shout, "fix bayonets!"
We reach their entrenchments. Twenty metres shy of the first layer of dugouts, I pull the pin and throw a grenade at the nearest machinegun nest. It falls silent. I'm on my feet, my platoon, or what's left of it, behind me.
We're in.
A shellshocked Russian soldier staggers out of the machinegun nest. His hands are empty but a pistol is holstered at his waist. I shoot him four times and he falls. I can hear more gunfire as we clear the trenches.
Another soldier, his rifle hanging limply from one arm, greets me as I turn a corner. We make eye contact for a brief moment.
"Drop your rifle! Drop your fucking rifle!" Be it out of fear or defiance, he refuses to comply. I lunge forwards and my bayonet sinks into his abdomen. I pull it out with a sickening crunch and smash the butt of my rifle into his face. Bones crack.
Again, I thrust in the bayonet. Only now do I realise he didn't put that fucking rifle down because he doesn't speak English. Too late now. His life ebbs away very quickly and in the moment I neglect to take stock of the look of sadness - not fear, but sadness - in his eyes. We didn't start this.
-Second Lieutenant Jack Renton, 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, 28th November 2019
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Sept 17, 2019 14:55:23 GMT
It's a cold night in November and not all of my boys are going to survive this
Bangs and flashes, bangs and flashes.
I dismount the alleged protection offered by the Warrior's steel confines. Two of the Warriors are aflame fifty metres across the field. No need for night vision equipment; the darkness is illuminated by parachute flares, raging fires, and tracer rounds. Behind us, the Challenger 2s of the Queen's Royal Hussars are engaging the few BTRs and trucks parked along the Russian's defensive line.
The three rifle sections of my platoon dismount their vehicles as I do: my headquarters section follows me out of the rear door of my own Warrior. A tidal wave of tracers streams towards us from Ivan's positions. Mortars land all around us. I dive into the cold, wet ground, sheltering behind a few clumps of grass.
It's a cold night in November and not all of my boys are going to survive this.
I barely even register that I'm raising my rifle, taking aim, and letting loose a few bursts of suppressing fire. "Pepperpot!" I shout, trying to keep the trembling out of my voice. "Two Section, move!"
Bangs and flashes, bangs and flashes.
"Come on boys! Up and at em!" Shouts Sergeant Moffat. At thirty-six, he is seventeen years older than me and yet still my subordinate. Be it fear of the Sergeant's wrath or fear of fucking up, the eight lads of Two Section are on their feet. I see someone go down. I think it's McAdams. The others keep moving as the medic crawls his way towards the wounded man.
Two Section stops in unison and takes to the ground, laying down fire. "Three Section, move!"
Seven figures - there should be eight, so somebody has gone down - stand up and begin running, overtaking Two Section. Now it's my turn.
"One Section, on me, move!" We're up just as Three Section ceases its movement and begins laying down covering fire. Sergeant Moffat goes down during the charge. I end up using the corpse of one of my men as cover. The process repeats itself three times: move, fire, move, fire.
I shout, "fix bayonets!"
We reach their entrenchments. Twenty metres shy of the first layer of dugouts, I pull the pin and throw a grenade at the nearest machinegun nest. It falls silent. I'm on my feet, my platoon, or what's left of it, behind me.
We're in.
A shellshocked Russian soldier staggers out of the machinegun nest. His hands are empty but a pistol is holstered at his waist. I shoot him four times and he falls. I can hear more gunfire as we clear the trenches.
Another soldier, his rifle hanging limply from one arm, greets me as I turn a corner. We make eye contact for a brief moment.
"Drop your rifle! Drop your fucking rifle!" Be it out of fear or defiance, he refuses to comply. I lunge forwards and my bayonet sinks into his abdomen. I pull it out with a sickening crunch and smash the butt of my rifle into his face. Bones crack.
Again, I thrust in the bayonet. Only now do I realise he didn't put that fucking rifle down because he doesn't speak English. Too late now. His life ebbs away very quickly and in the moment I neglect to take stock of the look of sadness - not fear, but sadness - in his eyes. We didn't start this.
-Second Lieutenant Jack Renton, 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, 28th November 2019 Nice idea but it would be good if you call the thread Forcon Snippets ore something as it shows it your thread. |
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Oct 25, 2019 13:43:42 GMT
December 14
The initiation of the North Korean assault was no less shocking than it would have been despite the fact that US and South Korean forces had had almost three weeks to prepare for the inevitable. An artillery bombardment on a scale unseen even on the battlefields of Eastern Europe began in earnest shortly before one in the morning on December 14th. The Korean People’s Army poured everything it had into the opening bombardment, raining high explosive death down upon Allied lines all along the DMZ. Everything from ancient World War II-era Katyusha rocket systems to more modern SCUD missiles was fired at South Korea in an attack which stretched from coast-to-coast. Seoul, the capital city of the Republic of Korea, while within range of many of the NKPA’s guns, was left largely untouched by the main bulk of the bombardment, although the international airport and the South Korean defence ministry were both hit by more accurate short-range ballistic missiles. The failure of the North Korean gunners to shift their focus onto Seoul was welcomed by the South Korean government, which had feared the near total destruction of their capital city at the hands of their northern opponents. Nevertheless, this meant that US and South Korean troops received the bulk of the enemy’s attention. Long before dawn broke, the sky to the east was illuminated by thousands of rockets and missiles descending onto hastily-dug defences at the border, while American soldiers cowered in their foxholes beneath the bombardment. The deployment of significant air assets was delayed by a series of commando strikes on major Allied airbases across South Korea and in Japan. The latter would have dramatic effects on the war further down the line, but for now the tactical consequences of the commando strikes proved to be in the North Korean’s favour. Further damage was wrought upon Osan Air Base by well-aimed SCUD missiles, despite the fact that several of them were shot down by dedicated air defences.
Despite the best efforts at counterbattery fire by American and South Korean artillerymen, the bombardment went on for two full hours. While casualties had not been so severe as to render any Allied units combat-ineffective, the defenders had been left badly shaken by the sheer ferocity and magnitude of the shelling. Before long, the enemy arrived to capitalize on the psychological effect of the salvo. Tanks, armoured vehicles and swarms upon swarms of dismounted infantrymen charged crossed the border under the cover of a secondary, albeit less effective, artillery strike. American and South Korean artillery units were preoccupied in engaging their northern counterparts, while the fighters of the Combined Forces Command were busy fending off the attacks of the antiquated but determined North Korean People’s Air Force. Western news teams, in South Korea in great numbers, reported that flashes and explosions were lighting up the night sky. Within Seoul itself, hundreds of thousands of people were attempting to flee the inevitable North Korean advance. Efforts of military police to direct traffic met near total failure as the roads became clogged both with military traffic heading northwards and civilians fleeing southwards. A near-total breakdown of civil order occurred throughout much of the city as civilians began looting or attempting to flee, with violence occurring as far south as Pusan. The authorities struggled to maintain order, with their difficulties compounded by numerous commando attacks across the country by North Korean Special Forces. While many of these strikes were unsuccessful, they sewed panic into the heart of South Korean society. Where the commandos did succeed was in knocking out power to Incheon and Daegu, two cities that were hundreds of miles away from the main North Korean advance. Additional efforts were made to harass South Korean reservist units as they mobilised to the south in preparation for battle. While casualties were fairly minimal due to the alertness of the security forces, the commando attacks caused much panic and soon false reports of North Korean troops began appearing all around South Korea.
Elements of the NKPA’s 820th Armored Corps crossed the border north of the Imjin River, supported by infantrymen with the IV Corps. Border forces, mainly light infantry units of the South Korean Army, were rapidly overrun or driven back from the border as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles appeared on the horizon. It was in this region that the British Army’s Gloucestershire Regiment had made a valiant stand against the invading army from the north in 1953, during the First Korean War. This time, however, the defence came from American troops with the 4th Marine Regiment, supported by M1A1 tanks from Camp Pendleton, California. Crewed by highly-trained Marines, the Abrams tanks were able to knock out no less than 43 T-62s for only two losses of their own as the North Korean 105th Armoured Division attempted to cross the river and seize Paju. The city of some 400,000 people was not to be ceded without a fight. Marine riflemen fought from dugouts and buildings flattened by artillery, expertly destroying numerous North Korean vehicles with guided missiles and slowing the enemy advance with small-arms fire. Despite inflicting tremendous casualties on the North Korean advance, however, the US Marines found themselves hopelessly outnumbered and forced to fall back across the banks of the Imjin under heavy enemy fire. With the bulk of the 4th Marine Regiment across the river, the American commander ordered that the bridges be demolished to prevent their use by the enemy. This did little good, however, as North Korean bridging units began assembling temporary crossings despite continued efforts of American artillery units to prevent them from doing so. Just as all hope seemed lost, A-10s of the US Air Force’ 51st Fighter Wing arrived on the scene and obliterated two of the North Korean’s three bridgeheads across the Imjin, preventing the 820th Corps from crossing the river in force. Throughout the day, North Korean infantrymen made numerous attempts to capture the southern banks of the river, using small assault boats to cross the raging currents. Each of these efforts was repulsed by the 4th Marine Regiment, and by the end of the day the North Korean’s had made little progress beyond the river.
Further east, the NKPA’s II Corps made another significant armoured assault over the DMZ. Yeoncheon was captured after a brief skirmish between North Korean forces and the shattered South Korean 9th Infantry Division, which subsequently began withdrawing towards the Imjin. The river, at its thinnest in central Korea, would provide no real defence against the enemy’s mechanised advance, but a secondary line of defensive positions manned by the better-equipped 30th Mechanized Infantry Division, ROK Army, lay just over the river, allowing the 9th Infantry Division to safely withdraw despite an attempt by the II Corps to pursue it. South Korean tanks and infantrymen with ATGMs effectively halted the II Corps’ attempts to outflank the South Korean defences in the centre of the country. Additional units of the South Korean I Corps soon began moving northwards, having previously been positioned to defend the approaches to the capital in depth, arriving to reinforce the 9th and 30th Infantry Division’s shortly before midday. By now, US and South Korean airpower was beginning to arrive in much greater numbers, while the outdated North Korean Air Force had already been driven from the skies in the southern portion of the peninsula by F-15s and F-16s from the air forces of both the United States and the Republic of Korea.
However, the situation for the Allies was at its worst near Cheorwon, where it briefly looked as though the North Korean’s would achieve a breakthrough. The South Korean Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment, 6th Infantry Division, found itself cut off and destroyed by the NKPA V Corps. Despite a valiant defensive effort, the South Korean troops had been dug into defensive positions and lacked tanks and armoured vehicles, meaning that their withdrawal was nigh on impossible when under such a heavy enemy attack. When the 6th Infantry Division initiated a tactical withdrawal from Cheorwon, the 19th Regiment was left behind in the chaos and later overrun. Further west, between Cheorwon and the better-defended settlement of Yeoncheon, the 28th Infantry Division, ROK Army, almost suffered the very same fate. North Korean tanks charged towards the defenders in great numbers across the countryside, overpowering several infantry battalions and pushing rapidly up Highway 3. Here, a determined counterattack by the Stryker fighting vehicles of the US Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, supported by the South Korean 1st Armored Brigade, hit the eastern flank of the North Korean V Corps’ 45th Infantry Division, shattering the enemy’s lines and forcing them to withdraw to avoid encirclement.
The immediate aftermath of the assault showed that North Korean forces were effectively banging their heads against a brick wall. The technological advantage of US and South Korean forces was simply too great for the NKPA to match, even with continued support from Russia. In the skies above the Korean Peninsula, the US Air Force and the Republic of Korea Air Force had certainly got the better of the day’s fighting. When the tally was counted, the results surprised even the most optimistic of Allied commanders. Some 57 North Korean warplanes had been downed for only two American and five South Korean aircraft. Taking advantage of the successes in the air, USAF and US Navy strike aircraft sortied from Japan throughout the day and initiated strikes against the North Korean mainland, targeting artillery batteries, radar sites, bridges, and airfields. The cutting of the main supply routes across the DMZ was the primary objective of this aerial offensive, and despite some losses to surface-to-air missiles, the results were promising. Nearly an entire squadron of the North Korean People’s Air Force’s irreplaceable MiG-29s was destroyed by American F-22s for no losses of their own, while those North Korean aircraft that did brave the skies over South Korea to attempt air raids of their own were hastily blown out of the sky.
By evening, F/A-18s of the US Navy, flying from the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan in the Sea of Japan, began striking North Korean forces as the carrier strike group began moving from its original tasking of bottling up the Russian Pacific Fleet up in the Sea of Okhotsk and towards a more offensive strategy. Unfortunately, however, this meant that Russia’s Pacific Fleet was now free to attempt to breakout from the bottleneck and attack US forces from the rear. US Navy fighters returning from the first airstrikes against North Korean forces found themselves suddenly rearmed with anti-shipping weapons as Russian cruisers, destroyers, and frigates suddenly began heading westwards towards the Tsushima Strait, the site of the great naval battle between Russian and Japanese naval forces in 1905. Unlike the historical naval battle, however, in this skirmish the Russians got off the first shots; long-range anti-shipping missiles fired from the launchers of the cruiser Marshal Ustinov slammed into the hull of the USS Chosin, sinking the cruiser and marking the first victim of the Battle of the Sea of Japan. Not to be caught napping, however, the American fleet was quick to counterattack with airstrikes against the Russian Navy, sinking the Marshal Ustinov and the destroyers Admiral Ushakov, Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Panteleyev. The US Navy lost the destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill in a further missile attack before the Russian commander ordered his forces to withdraw northwards past Sakhalin and back into the Sea of Okhotsk to avoid total destruction; this decision would later see him court-martialled and imprisoned for his failures. Further out in the Pacific, a Russian submarine launched a cruise missile attack against the island of Guam. The American overseas territory was littered with military facilities, although the primary target was Anderson Air Force Base. The attack saw a trio of taxiing C-17s destroyed, killing 136 airmen and soldiers who had just arrived on the island. It was little consolation that the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Warramunga promptly tracked and sank the Russian submarine, the Samara, in the hours following the attack.
The political ramifications of the outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula were perhaps even more significant than the military ones. While it was far from unexpected, the Americans now found themselves fighting a two-front war, stretching their logistical capabilities to the max. Adding to that, the People’s Republic of China maintained a large border with Korea and while intervention on Pyongyang’s part by the People’s Liberation Army seemed unlikely, it was not unprecedented and thus the Pentagon had to take the threat into account. Throughout the first day of fighting and beyond, frantic diplomatic efforts by the State Department were initiated to bring China away from Moscow’s orbit. While the Chinese Ambassador to Washington assured the State Department that no PLA intervention would take place against US or South Korean forces, this was not unconditional. Furthermore, China flatly denied the movement of fuel and ammunition supplies across the North Korean border when confronted with satellite imagery proving otherwise. Beijing wasn’t foolish enough to expect a North Korean victory, but pressure from Russia saw a limited hand of friendship extended to North Korea with the expectation that it would keep Russian forces in the fight for much longer and possibly allow for a Russian victory in Europe as NATO casualties became too heavy and political pressure caused the Western governments to cave to Russia’s demands. For the United States, this meant the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the Pacific, along with further ground forces, and the indefinite halting of the air campaign against the Russian Far East as attention in the region was instead focused on the Korean War.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Oct 26, 2019 10:50:32 GMT
forcon
Bloody intense fighting and a bit surprised that despite both Russian and Chinese support the N Koreans are stalled so quickly. However firepower and good coordination and control can often counter sheer numbers.
Sounds like things aren't going that well in Europe however with a fair chunk of NATO surrendering or at least coming to terms with the Russians.
One small quibble. Inchon is actually very close to Seoul so its not hundreds of miles from the NK attack. Possibly you were thinking of somewhere further south.
Is this from the same war your previous snippet came from?
Steve
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forcon
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Post by forcon on Oct 27, 2019 18:07:27 GMT
forcon
Bloody intense fighting and a bit surprised that despite both Russian and Chinese support the N Koreans are stalled so quickly. However firepower and good coordination and control can often counter sheer numbers.
Sounds like things aren't going that well in Europe however with a fair chunk of NATO surrendering or at least coming to terms with the Russians.
One small quibble. Inchon is actually very close to Seoul so its not hundreds of miles from the NK attack. Possibly you were thinking of somewhere further south.
Is this from the same war your previous snippet came from?
Steve
Thank you. Bloody and intense is what I was going for. The North Koreans are very numerous, which is where their strength lies, but they lack the firepower and technology to go much further than they have. With the US and ROK forces dug-in, they aren't getting across the Imjin in strength. I was wrong about Incheon, I meant Pusan. Thanks for spotting it, I'll edit that. Not exactly the same story, but a very similar one, where I can reuse characters. Really all that needs changing is the dates. |
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