Just as the Russian succeeded in prying Kelp’s hand off his mouth, he went stiff and let go of Kelp’s hand. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as McCauley jab his bayonet into the Russian’s stomach a second, then a third time. When he felt Russian go limp, Kelp released the grip he had on him. Gripping McCauley’s arm, he stopped the frenzied infantryman from stabbing the Russian a fifth time. After looking at each other, two privates resumed their back-to-back position behind the tree as the last of the Russians went by without ever taking note of the small battle that had occurred in the dark.
Colonel Potecknov lay on the trail, unable to move. If there was pain, he didn’t feel it. What he could feel was the cold, which he thought odd, given that it had been a warm summer evening when his attack had begun. That he was bleeding to death never occurred to him. In his last minutes, his thoughts were not on death or fear of the unknown fate that awaited him. Rather, he was puzzled and bewildered. His battalion should have succeeded. He had done everything right. The plan had been a good one. What had gone wrong? Why hadn’t it worked? The Russian colonel sought answers for these questions until darkness swept over him.
Alpha 55 was just entering the village square when Bannon received Polgar’s report that the Russians had broken contact and had withdrawn to the north. The run through the village so far had been quick and dirty. After the BTR Alpha 55 had run into had been destroyed, everyone and everything scattered up alleys or into houses. In the town square there were several trucks and two BTRs with soldiers scrambling to board them in an effort to flee.
When 55 rolled into the square, the trucks began to pull away with troops hanging half in, half out. One of the BTR drivers panicked and backed up over a group of soldiers that had run behind it for cover. A truck driver watching 55 and not paying attention to where he was going ran over an officer waving him down before crashing through a store window at the edge of the square. All this confusion was created just by 55’s appearance. When 31 pulled up next to 55, and both tanks began to fire with main guns and machineguns, the situation really went to hell.
Satisfied that all the Russians were gone, Kelp and McCauley began to cautiously make their way back. After what they had gone through, the last thing Kelp wanted was to get blown away by his own side. As he moved forward, he stepped onto a piece of metal. Looking down, he was overpowered by a sudden surge of fear. In the faint light from the burning tanks, Kelp saw that he was standing on one of the antitank mines they had put out earlier. He knew he was dead.
But nothing happened. Ever so slowly it dawned upon him that he was not heavy enough to set off the mine. Even so, when he was finally able to mustered the courage to remove his foot, he did so with the greatest of care. Sweat rolled down his face as he stood there, breathlessly fighting to catch his breath and calm down before moving on. There were too many ways to get killed out here, he told himself. He wanted his tank back. This infantry shit was for the birds.
When he thought that they were close enough to the infantry positions, Kelp called out to let the infantry platoon sergeant know they were coming back. Polgar, unfamiliar with Kelp’s voice, ordered them to advance and be recognized. When they were in the open, Polgar gave them the challenge. Only after Kelp gave the proper password were the two tank killers welcomed back into the fold.
Once the tanks were clear of the village, Bannon ordered 31 to move up to the right of 55. As they were starting to swing south to return to their positions, they ran into the Russian infantry that had just broken contact with Polgar. Only then did it occur to Bannon the Russians who had been attacking Polgar’s positions had not heard of the run through the village by 55 and 31. Thinking they were their own tanks, the Russians simply stood aside to let them pass. Only when the tanks cut loose with machineguns did they realize their mistake, shattering the last semblance of order as the Russians scattered to the four winds. The battle for Hill 214 was over, for now. Checkmate.
In silence, Alpha 55 and 31 followed the tree line as they moved back toward their original position. The only sound, other than the whine of engines and squeak of tracks being pulled around each tank’s drive sprocket, was Bannon’s voice as he radioed Uleski and Polgar. Satisfied there would be a pause before the next Soviet attack came, he ordered them to pull their people back to the trail junction and form a coil. Polgar and his men would cover the north, Uleski and his element would cover the east and south, and 55 and 31 face out west. When everyone was in, they were to meet him at the trail junction.
Bannon was the last to arrive. Uleski, Polgar, Jefferson, and Hebrock greeted Garger and him with nothing more than a nod. With not so much as a word of greeting, he simply asked, “Ok, what do we have?”
Uleski had suffered only one wounded, a PC driver who had been hit in the shoulder. Though the man had lost a lot of blood, he was in stable condition. Both the PCs and the 2nd Platoon tanks had ample ammo on hand. Polgar’s dismounted element had suffered two killed, including the Dragon gunner, and four wounded, two of them seriously. Although his people had been running low on ammunition, now that they were with the PCs, the dismounts who had been with him could replenishing their ammo pouches from ammunition stored on the PCs. The only casualty between 55 and 31 had been 31’s loader. He had been hit in the face by a bullet during the run through the village. Though he was in a lot of pain and was missing several teeth, he would survive. For the price of two dead and six wounded, Team Yankee had held.
But the Team had reached the end of its rope. Even as they stood there, Bannon could tell that the stress and strain of this last fight had used up every man’s final reserve of energy. They had done their best and done well. But they had nothing more to give. Besides the exhaustion, the tanks were down to a grand total of thirty-one main gun rounds and four thousand rounds for the COAX and loader’s machinegun. Even if the men could hold up under another attack, which was impossible, the ammunition couldn’t.
Bannon informed the Team’s leadership that at 0330 they would leave Hill 214 and move south in order to reenter friendly lines. There was no need to explain. There were no protests or speeches. Everyone understood the situation and knew there was nothing more to be gained here. Now the Team’s mission was to save what was left for another day.
To prepare for the move, the wounded were loaded onto the PCs, three in each. Folk, who could drive a PC, took the place of the wounded PC driver. Kelp took the place of the wounded loader on 31. Uleski would command one of the PCs and half of the infantry while Polgar took the other PC and the other half of the infantry. The tank crews redistributed the ammunition between the tanks. When all was ready, the Team settled in to wait until 0330 and move out.
Deep inside, Bannon wanted to believe that at the last minute the battalion would come forward and link up. He was going to give them another hour and a half. If they didn’t arrive by then, he was going to save as much of Team Yankee as he could.
CHAPTER 8
R AND R
The damned fly kept bothering him. It wasn’t the buzzing so much. Bannon could block that out. It was the fact that the bastard kept landing on the cut on the side of his face and irritating it. He’d no sooner shoo it away with a halfhearted wave of his hand then it would come back and land. How could he get any sleep with that damned fly bothering him. Sleep.
“SLEEP! MY GOD, I’VE FALLEN ASLEEP!” The thought stunned Bannon. Shooting upright and opening his eyes, he greeted by the sight of a bright, morning sun. Instinctively his right arm shot up to check the time on his watch. 0548. The Team had missed its move-out time by over two hours! Even worse, the opportunity to slip away under the cover of darkness was gone.