“Will do,” Lawson yelled. “Give the Russians hell.”
With a thumbs up and a grin, 66 rolled onto the bridge as Lawson waved. The military was strange like that. In the middle of the night you run into a major problem that requires you to put your faith in someone you never met before and probably would never see again. But that person knocks himself out to do his job and helps you get on with yours. Lawson and his engineers had done their job and done it well. Now it was Team Yankee’s turn to continue on and be about theirs.
Crossing one at a time was a slow process. Uleski kept the pace down until he was sure the entire Team had cleared the bridge. He then began to pick up speed slowly until he reached, then slightly exceeded, the former march speed. It was now 0330 hours Zulu and the sky in the east was becoming light.
Further back in the column, once the Team had resumed its march, Bannon checked his map and made a few quick calculations. Team Yankee was forty-five minutes behind schedule. According to the battalion’s order, it was supposed to be crossing the line of departure in another thirty minutes. Even if they were to exceed the published road march speed and run flat out in an effort to make up for lost time, Bannon knew there was no way they would hit the LD as 0400. Besides, he reminded himself as he often had to when working with the infantry, the tanks could not travel at their top speed. Besides eating up copious amounts of fuel, something the M-1 tank was very good at, the personnel carriers attached to the Team would not have been able to keep up. Since crossing the LD on time without the infantry or the FIST was a non-starter, he kept the Team together and moving at the speed prescribed in the battalion order.
What concerned Bannon more than being late, however, was the failure of Charlie Company to close up at the bridge. Even as the Team was leaving the bridge site, he couldn’t resist the urge to take one more look back across the river in the gathering light, searching for a glimpse of anyone else in the battalion. But there was no sign of Charlie Company, Delta Company, the battalion CP, or trains. Charlie Company was thirty-five minutes behind schedule for some reason. Perhaps the battalion had been informed of the problem at the bridge and had sent Charlie Company along another route. If that were the case, Charlie Company could very well be in front of Team Yankee. Of course, there was always the possibility Charlie Company was lost or was being held up in a massive traffic jam in one of the small villages. All that Bannon did know for certain was that Team Bravo was in front of Team Yankee. With that as a given, all he could do was to carry on as ordered. Hopefully when they closed up on Team Bravo someone would be there who knew what was going on.
By 0520 Team Yankee was only three kilometers south of Kernsbach at the point where they were to turn off the road and begin to deploy. But rather than make that turn, the tanks to his front began to deploy into another herringbone formation on alternating sides of the road. Twisting about, Bannon signaled the FIST track following 66 to pull off even as he was instructing Ortelli to drive up to the head of the column.
Not surprisingly, Bannon found Major Jordan’s PC sitting on the side of the road next to Alpha 55. To prevent a cluster of parked vehicles, Bannon pulled off on the opposite side of the road. At this point they were only six kilometers from the line of departure that was, unless things had radically changed while they had been on the move, still the forward edge of the battlefield.
Bannon found Jordan standing next to Uleski, looking unhappy and impatient to be on his way. The S-3 began talking while Bannon was still making his way across the road toward him. “There has been a change in plans. You’re to pull your Team into an assembly area over there in the forest and await the word to move into the attack,” he called out while motioning to the northeast where a road coming out of Kernsbach disappeared into a forest between two hills. “The battalion column became separated last night. I’m going on back along the line of march and see if I can find the rest of our people.”
“Any idea how long it’s going to be before we move into the attack?” Bannon asked, not at all sure if he really wanted the answer.
“Before anyone goes forward, we need to get this jug fuck unscrewed. For now, the attack is on hold. Any other questions?”
“Yeah, who’s here and where are they?”
“Team Bravo is exactly where it’s supposed to be. Team Charlie, Task Force 2nd of the 93rd Mech is in the tree line just west of Kernsbach. The Scout Platoon from 2nd of the 93rd is in that wood lot just to the north. If you need to, contact them by radio. I gotta be rolling. Good luck.”
Without waiting for further questions, Major Jordan climbed up onto his personnel carrier and took off down the road to the south as fast as his PC could roll. Bannon turned to Uleski, “Bob, go get the platoon leaders and double time them up here ASAP.”
Uleski nodded “On the way.”
While the XO was gathering up the platoon leaders, Bannon laid his map out on the front slope of 55 and took a moment to study the area where the Team was to go. He quickly decided to put the two tank platoons on the west, one on each side of the road where they would have good fields of fire. The Mech Platoon would go through the woods to the east side and straddle the road. His main concern was to get the Team under cover and deployed.
As soon as the platoon leaders were gathered around the map, he gave them his orders. “There has been a delay in the attack.” As one, the faces of the platoon leaders lit up as if the governor had just given them a last-minute reprieve. Before any of them had a chance to ask why, Bannon continued. “We are going to move into an assembly area to the northeast. 2nd Platoon, you deploy here to the north of the road and orient to the west.”
Leaning over, McAlester glanced at where Bannon was pointing at on his map. When he was sure he had the spot fixed in his head, he nodded and stepped back.
“3rd Platoon, you deploy here and orient to the northwest.” Just as McAlister had, Garger looked at Bannon’s map and nodded once he was sure of where he was to go.
“From those positions you should be able to cover the ground to your front with crossing fires. Be advised, there are friendly scouts and a friendly company team here and here. So don’t shoot unless you’re sure they’re Russians.”
Next Bannon turned to the Mech Platoon leader. “Lieutenant Harding, you will deploy your platoon here on either side of the road. The XO will deploy with you. Once we’re under cover, check out your tanks and tracks, boresight your main guns, and feed your people. As there is no way of telling how long we’ll be here, treat this as you would any defensive position. If there are no questions, let’s roll.”
Garger stopped Bannon as he was about to pick up his map. “I don’t have a question, but I think you ought to be advised that 33 fell out about ten klicks down the road.” Uleski and Bannon stopped midstride and stared at Garger as he continued. “Sergeant Pierson stopped to see if he could help. O’Dell told him he suddenly lost all power. They tried to restart 33, but the engine kept aborting. I have the grid location of where 33 is.”
Bannon stifled a grunt. “Give it to the XO when we get into the assembly area. Right now all that matters is getting off this road before some Russian jet jockey makes us all grease spots.” With that, the group scattered and remounted.
Moving through the Staat Forest was easy. It was a typical German forest made up of straight, well-spaced trees all lined up in neat rows and crisscrossed with logging trails that were not on Bannon’s map. The forest floor itself was clear of clutter as if it had just been raked. As the tanks jockeyed into positions, the forest and the hills on either side trapped the noise and caused echoes. When all were shut down, Bannon could distinctly hear the conversations of other crews as they dismounted, stretching and yawning before checking the tracks of their tanks for lose end connectors and center guide. On 66 Kelp and Ortelli tended to that while Folk and Bannon ran a check the fire control. When they were finished with that, the two of them boresighted the main gun.