About a hundred meters to the north, Chazov could see the effects of the gas. A squad from Sudro's platoon had been very near to one of the first nerve gas rockets that exploded. Many of them didn't have suits, but they probably wouldn't have done them much good anyway. The concentrations were so high that their exposed skin absorbed fatal doses. The nerve agent acted as an extreme nerve stimulant, causing convulsions and difficulty breathing. Most of the squad had fallen on the ground, where contamination by the aerosol was even worse. Some soldiers threw off their gas masks in panic, and inhalation of the nerve agent brought death even quicker. The screams, twitching, and convulsions scared the surviving soldiers. Even the units in suits were near panic when they arrived back at the BMPs.
A few soldiers without suits had gotten back to the BMPs before the main group. They had quickly climbed into two of the BMPs, where the overpressure and filtration system could protect them. Lieutenant Khalkin was at the fore of the main group and had seen this. Now he was in a quandary. Since the soldiers with OP-1 suits had walked through areas contaminated by the nerve agent, there was probably agent on their boots and on the protective suits. If these exposed troops entered the BMPs, they would contaminate the unprotected soldiers. Khalkin blocked the entrance to one of the BMPs and tried to direct the contaminated troops to those BMPs without unprotected soldiers inside. The voice emitter on his gas mask made it very difficult for him to communicate with the troops. There was some pushing and shoving. The soldiers were in a near panic and, with their suits on, could barely hear Khalkin. Enemy artillery soon settled the matter.
The nerve gas attack was followed by a conventional artillery barrage. It wasn't particularly heavy, only a few dozen rounds in the battalion sector. But the enemy artillerymen had chosen the worst (or best) possible moment to strike. With most of the Soviet infantry still out of the BMPs, the battalion was hit by a barrage of antipersonnel ICMs. Dozens of small explosions began going off all around.
The fireworks caused by the burst of the ICMs finally broke the last vestiges of control that Chazov had over his men. Those who survived the ICM attack packed into the BMPs, the unprotected soldiers be damned! There was a mad scramble to get in as fast as possible. Chazov managed to climb onto the roof of his BMP-2 command vehicle and enter through the turret hatch.
Once inside, many of the men began to calm down. But there was a hellish scene inside two of the BMPs. BMP 412 had four soldiers of the 3d Platoon inside without OP-1 suits. When seven soldiers with suits came charging in during the artillery barrage, these four soldiers were pushed into the left tunnel leading to the driver's station. The nerve agent on the suits and in the outside air began to affect the unprotected soldiers. The vehicle had a medical kit with atropine injectors as nerve agent antidotes, but the troops were in such a panic that no one thought to use it. Two of the soldiers began to vomit and suffer convulsions. They were forcibly shoved away from the back compartment, where the protected troops were sitting. After a few minutes, one of the sergeants remembered the atropine kits and injected the contaminated soldiers. They were unconscious but still alive. A measure of calm was finally restored. In BMP 417 the driver and gunner were without suits, and they suffered much the same fate as the four soldiers in BMP 412.
Chazov's command vehicle, BMP 410, was crowded, but everyone had suits. He began making radio calls to the neighboring BMPs to check their status. The gas masks used by officers and radiomen have small voice devices to permit them to issue commands and to use radio equipment. But the sound quality is lousy. Of the ten BMPs, two were unresponsive. Through the periscope, Chazov could see that their rear doors were open. They were probably contaminated. They were near the impact point of some of the nerve gas rockets, and their crews had probably been killed by gas before they could get their suits on. Once the artillery fire stopped, Chazov sent two sergeants from the command vehicle to check them out. The eight other vehicles were in varying states. The two nearest BMP-2s were fairly intact, with nineteen troops between them. Three more vehicles had only six men each. BMPs 412 and 417 had a total of twenty-two soldiers, of whom six were contaminated. This added up to sixty-six of the one hundred twenty men who had started the attack. At least two squads, about twenty men, had been killed outright by the gas. About twenty-five more had been wounded in the subsequent artillery barrage. Left in the open with nerve gas on the ground and in the air, they soon became comatose. The other men were missing and presumed dead. Chazov tried to get the BMPs to send out parties to help the wounded, but the troops were in no mood to budge from the security of their armored vehicles. And Chazov was in no mood to threaten them. As the sun came up, the insides of the vehicles started to bake. The suits became unbearably warm, and it became tiring to move.
Chazov was unable to raise the other battalions on his radio. The frequencies were being jammed, or the sets were inoperable. He used the telescopic sight of the woodpecker autocannon to try to find out about neighboring units. There was no evidence of any Soviet vehicles to his immediate right except for some burning tanks and BMPs. There were several BMPs to his left, but little sign of action. Fortunately, the German's Milan missiles were out of range. Sergeant Vrobel volunteered to walk over to the neighboring company. Chazov told him to take it easy and walk slowly. There was no sense getting heat stress.
Chazov realized that his unit wasn't fit for further action. The vehicles would have to be pulled back soon and decontaminated. The troops inside would eventually be overcome by the heat, even just sitting and waiting. They might become uncontrollable and do stupid things like try to take off their masks to cool down. It was imperative to reach regimental or divisional command and find out what provisions were being made for decontamination.
Chazov tried raising regimental HQ on the radio, but there was too much jamming. He finally managed to get through on one of the alternate nets. The radioman on the other end told him to keep his unit in place and await further orders. Chazov asked about provisions for decontamination. They were cut off by another burst of jamming before he got a reply. He started to think about sending one of the vehicles back to HQ for further information. Before he could decide, the Germans started getting active.
It was a sight Chazov dreaded. From over the town he saw the glint of helicopter rotors. It wasn't clear if it was just a scout helicopter or an attack helicopter. He let the gunner get back into his seat, and moved over to the commander's seat in the turret. His gunner took the helicopter in aim but it was a bit too far to engage. From the corner of his eye Chazov caught the bright flash of a missile tracing flare. A HOT antitank missile, fired by an unseen second helicopter, hit BMP 412. It exploded against the turret, causing a gaping hole. Secondary explosions started from burning 30mm autocannon ammunition. The fire licked up against three stowed Konkurs missiles, which blew up, igniting the fuel tank in the back. In seconds, the whole vehicle was engulfed in flames. No one could have survived. These damn BMPs burned like torches!