“I see the Germans, 5,000 yards to our front LT,” declared Sergeant Smokes as he began to scan the area for enemy tanks. As they approached the German lines, they made contact with them on the radio.
“We are coming up from behind you, and we will pass through your lines as you advance to engage the enemy,” Lieutenant Dukes explained.
The German commander sent them a warning. “You are about to encounter the new T-14 Armatas,” he cautioned.
Lieutenant Duke’s troop came parallel with the German unit, just as a pair of A-10s swooped in and released several cluster bombs on the enemy positions.
“I’ve got enemy tanks, 3,000 yards to our front!” yelled Smokey as he began to call out targets.
Keying his mic for the rest of the troop, Lieutenant Dukes announced, “Listen up Alpha. We have enemy tanks to our front. The Germans are reporting T-14s in the area, so stay frosty. Our A-10s just lit them up, and a pair of Dutch F-16s are about to make a run at them. Once we see their bombs hit, I want everyone to charge forward. Call out your targets and I’ll see you all on the other side of Hill 785.”
Hill 785 was their primary target; if they could capture that hill line, it would give them a commanding view of the surrounding area. As JD sat in his tank, looking through his view finder, he saw the F-16s come screaming in, releasing a series of 500lbs. bombs across the hill. He took a deep breath, and then he saw what he was looking for-several secondary explosions lit up the horizon, letting him know that a few important vehicles had been hit.
“Let’s move, Alpha! Engage!” yelled Dukes as he ordered his driver to charge the enemy position. “Smokey, find us some targets to kill and take ‘em out!”
“T-90 at 2,800 yards! Load HEAT!” yelled Smokey to their gunner, cuing up the high-explosive anti-tank rounds.
“HEAT up!” responded Specialist Jones as he slammed the breach shut and stepped aside, bracing for the recoil of the gun.
BOOM! The cannon fired the HEAT round, which flew across the open ground and slammed into the front armor of the T-90, punching a hole right into the crew compartment. A second later, the turret blew right off the chassis of the tank, flipping end over end in the air. It was a spectacular sight.
Suddenly, they heard a loud THWAP! As a Russian tank round slapped into their frontal armor. The hit jarred everyone in the tank, but they continued to race across the open field towards Hill 785. Several explosions erupted nearby from enemy artillery rounds as the Russians started to bombard the field they were racing across.
“T-90, 2,400 yards at our three o’clock. Load HEAT!” yelled Smokey as he found another tank for them to attack.
Specialist Jones hit the lever to open the ammunition compartment, and proceeded to grab another HEAT round out of the stores, slamming it into the breach. “HEAT up!” he yelled back as he secured everything.
“Turn right!” screamed Lieutenant Dukes to his driver, overriding everyone else in the tank. Specialist Miller turned the tank sharply, just as a Russian T-14 fired a round at them. It barely missed them and plowed into the ground not far from where they had just been.
“Loader, switch to Sabot! Target that T-14!” yelled Dukes as he switched their target to the more dangerous tank. As his gunner moved to engage the T-14, they saw several additional T-14s emerge from a small copse of trees near Hill 785.
BOOM! Their tank fired their Sabot round at the Armata, just as the enemy tank fired another round at them. Their Sabot flew flat and true, slamming into the T-14’s rear engine compartment, exploding the rear half of the tank. The Armata quickly ground to a halt, although the turret turned and began to track another one of his tankers. As the round from JD’s tank hit the Armata, the enemy round hit the right side of his tank, throwing them sideways a bit and destroying several of their tank wheels. Their track quickly blew apart as their tank came to a halt, smoking badly.
“We’re hit! Blow the smokescreen and grab your weapons. We need to bail out before we get hit again!” ordered Lieutenant Dukes, hoping with everything in him that they could get out of the vehicle and somehow make a run for it back to the German positions.
JD quickly grabbed his short barrel M4 as he lifted his commander’s hatch open and began to climb out. The gunner’s hatch flipped open a second later as Smokey started to get out of the tank as well. His driver was already halfway out of the vehicle when a second tank round hit their front armor, exploding and throwing shrapnel everywhere. The blast ripped his driver, Specialist Miller, nearly in half as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
The detonation threw JD several feet into the air and off the back of the tank, into the grassy field his tank had just driven through. He laid flat on the ground for a second struggling to breathe. He had gotten the wind knocked out of him by the impact and he suddenly felt panicked as he fought to get air into his lungs. After he eventually managed to take a couple of deep breaths, he began to check his body for injuries. Aside from some bruised ribs and a few cuts, he could still move his arms and legs. He slowly rolled over and looked around him for the rest of his crew.
Not far from him, Sergeant Smokes was lying on the ground, slumped on his side. JD crawled over to him. He was unconscious but looked to be ok. He shook him, trying to wake him up. Smokey jolted his eyes open. “My God-what happened?” he asked in a panic.
Just then, another explosion detonated near them, throwing additional dirt into the air and showering them with grass and pebbles. JD heard a moan, and then someone called for help. As the dust particles settled a little, Lt. Dukes wiped his face and could make out Specialist Jones, his loader; he had been thrown from the tank and was maybe twenty feet away from him and Smokey. He ran over to Jones, and quickly saw that his loader’s left hand had been ripped off and his left leg was in bad shape.
JD immediately grabbed Jones’ first aid kit and tied a tourniquet on his left forearm, just below the elbow; he hoped that he had tied it tight enough to stop the bleeding. Then he began to apply a pressure dressing on Jones’ leg wound. As he worked, bullets continued to zip all around him, striking the dirt and shrubs nearby.
“Smokey, Jones is hurt bad,” JD yelled to his gunner. “I’m going to carry him out of here, but I need you to help give me some covering fire. Miller’s dead so don’t try to find him. I saw him go down-he isn’t coming back.”
Smokey just nodded and began to fire his weapon in the direction of the Russians.
JD reached down and threw Jones over his shoulder as he grabbed his M4 and began to run back towards the German positions. Smokey provided some cover fire for him with his M4, and waved to the Germans who were roughly 1,000 yards away to help them.
Several German soldiers jumped out of their positions and ran towards the Americans, firing their rifles at the Russian soldiers (who were now sending a lot of lead in their direction). One of the German Marder infantry fighting vehicles turned its turret towards the Russian lines and began to spray 25mm cannon fire into the Russian positions to help keep their heads down.
Just as JD had made it to the German positions, a round clipped his right leg and he went down hard. He tried to get up with Jones still on his shoulder, but his leg gave out from the pain. One of the German soldiers quickly grabbed Jones and began to carry him further behind their lines to the medics, who were already working on several wounded soldiers. Another German grabbed JD and pulled his right arm over his shoulder and began to help carry him to the makeshift aid station. Meanwhile, the soldiers and infantry fighting vehicles continued to fight back against what was quickly becoming a Russian counterattack. Anti-tank missiles could be seen streaking from their lines, slamming into several of the Russian tanks and armored vehicles, slowing their advance.