As before, the infantry set off several Claymore antipersonnel mines, followed by machine-gun and automatic-rifle fire. With the Russians haphazardly arrayed in a line parallel to the new infantry position rather than perpendicular as the first group of Russians had been, the effects of the fire Polgar’s men were hitting them with was far more devastating, killing many of the officers. Again, individual soldiers scattered, dropping to the ground, or sought cover before engaging in a desultory exchange of small arms fire with Polgar’s infantry. The disabled tank, unable to maneuver, did its best to provide support from where it was by firing its main gun.
There then began a deadly game of hide and seek. The Russians, lacking night vision devices, waited until an American infantryman fired. When he fired his first few shots, the Russian would orient his weapon to the general location that he had seen the muzzle flash. If the American did not move before he fired again, the Russian would take aim and fire a burst. Doing this, however, exposed the Russians to the same risks and results. In this way, the infantry battle bogged down into a series of sporadic and violent exchanges of gunfire punctuated by brief pauses as both sides tried to find and fix new targets. This was followed by a fresh eruption of small arms fire as someone found a mark and opened up.
Just as the infantry fight reached this standoff, a volley of Soviet artillery hit the trail junction in the center of the wood lot. Its purpose, Bannon guessed, was to isolate each element of the Team and keep it from shifting to reinforce an endangered sector.
Upon hearing the impact of their artillery, the infantry advancing on 55 and 31 began to pick up their pace. As they were not masked, Bannon ordered the crews of 55 and 31 to unmask and prepare to fire when the T-72s were at 700 meters. He then quietly issued his own fire command, watching through his extension as Sgt. Gwent, his gunner laid on the T-72 to the right. When he saw how large it was in the sight, he grinned. Hitting it would not be the problem. Killing it was the concern.
The first time Gwent hit his laser range finder button with his thumb, the range return digits in the bottom of Bannon’s extension showed 750 meters. In silence the two of them watched as the T-72 continued to rumbled along, straining to hold back behind the line of infantry. The next time Gwent ranged to it, the display read 720 meters. “Almost there,” Bannon muttered.
The tank, growing larger and more menacing by the second, continued to advance. It had but a single purpose, to kill Americans.
Gwent ranged again. 690 meters!
“FIRE!”
“ON THE WAAY!”
The flash, the recoil, and the sharp report of 55’s main gun broke the silence. Target! But the Russian kept coming, turning his gun toward 55. “TARGET! REENGAGE — FIRE!”
“UP!”
“ON THE WAY!”
Again the flash, the recoil, and the blast announced the firing of a main gun round. Again 55 hit the T-72. Not only did it keep coming, it was returning fire. 55 shuddered in almost the same instant that the T-72 fired. 55 had been hit.
Startled, Newman, the loader, looked over at Bannon. “WHAT’S THAT?”
“NEVER MIND. ARE YOU UP?”
“UP!”
“FIRE!”
“ON THE WAY!”
This time 55’s efforts were rewarded. The third round found its mark. In a quick, blinding flash, the commander’s hatch of the T-72 was blown open, emitting a blinding sheet of flame that lit up the battlefield. This was followed by a series of internal explosions that caused the T-72 to shudder. The T-72 was dead. The range showing at the bottom of extension was 610 meters.
Relieved, Bannon stuck his head out of the hatch to see what 31 was up to. Its T-72 was also burning. Steady streams of tracers from 31’s COAX, loader’s machinegun and caliber .50 were raking the line of Soviet infantry. Already most of them had gone to ground, either dead or trying to keep from becoming that way. When he saw two of the BTRs open fire on 31, Bannon decided to take them out first. Grabbing the override, he slued the turret to the left.
“GUNNER, HEAT, TWO BTRS, LEFT BTR!”
“UP!”
“IDENTIFIED!”
“FIRE!”
The first HEAT round found its mark just below the small turret on the BTR. The impact and the internal explosions caused the BTR to swerve to the left and out of the battle. Both the gunner and Bannon yelled target at the same instant. Without waiting, Gwent laid his sights on the next BTR and gave a quick, “IDENTIFIED!”
Once Newman had replied with an “UP,” Bannon gave the command to fire, dispatching a second BTR in less than a minute.
Over on 31, Garger paused to survey the scene before him as he was reloading his .50. This, he thought to himself, was becoming all too easy. Both 55 and 31 were just sitting there as if they were on a gunnery range firing at cardboard and plywood targets instead of real people and vehicles. Both his gunner and his loader were firing their machineguns, each covering a different area. The flames from the burning T-72s and BTRs were lighting up the entire area between 31 and the village of Arnsdorf, allowing the loader and gunner to fire without needing to use night vision devices.
The sight of a small group of Russians inching their way forward, moving from cover to cover, caused Garger to slew his cupola around toward them and open fire on them with the .50. When they went to ground, he took to systematically beating the hedges and brush they’d ducked behind with ten to fifteen round bursts of fire. While he imagined some of them were already dead, he continued to hack away at them, doing his best to make sure those who weren’t joined those who were. Like his commanding officer, he was in no mood to take any chances.
It took the sound of heavy caliber rounds pinging off the front sloop of his tank to draw Garger’s attention away from what was left of the Russian infantry he’d been shredding and over to the BTR that was firing on 31 with it KPV heavy machinegun. The first thought that popped in the young officer’s mind was not the sort of thing most people would have imagined. Rather than fear or anger, Garger saw the opportunity to take on the armored personnel carrier as something of a challenge. At Knox he had been taught that a caliber .50 could take out a BTR. Here, he thought, was the perfect opportunity to find out if that was true.
As Bannon was preparing to engage his next target, he noticed that 31 was engaging a BTR with the caliber .50. It was clear from what he was seeing that though the rounds were hitting the BTR, they were causing little, if any serious damage. As a way of reminding Garger to get back to concentrating on pinning the infantry, he turned 55’s main gun on the BTR that the lieutenant was engaging. One HEAT round was all it took.
In the wake of this, Newman informed Bannon 55 was out of HEAT and down to nine SABOT rounds. Since he didn’t want to waste any of them on BTRs, he ordered the loader to load a SABOT round, but not to arm the gun. Then he ordered 31 to switch roles with 55. Garger was to work on the last of the BTRs while 55 would fire on the infantry. Garger’s reply betrayed his joy. As 31 had, Bannon assigned his gunner and loader a different sector to concentrate their fire on. The gunner engaged the troops to the front and right. The loader, manning his machinegun, fired at any troops he could spot to the left. When he was satisfied they understood his orders and were complying, Bannon called Uleski and Polgar for an update.
This request for a SITREP found caught the infantry in a standoff. The exchange of fire ebbed and flowed. Every time a Russian officer or NCO managed get some of their troops up and moving, a volley of fire from Polgar’s infantry would drive them back to ground. Hiding behind whatever cover they could find, the pinned Russians would return fire as those officers and NCOs who were still able to went about doing all they could to get them back on their feet and advancing.