In the darkness Kelp felt for his pulse, first on his wrist, then in his neck. There was none.
"He's dead."
"How do you know?" asked McCauley.
"I know. He's dead." At nineteen, Kelp was fast becoming an expert on death. "Do you know how to work that thing?"
"Yeah. We had a class on it once. I think I can do it. But I ain't sure how we're going to get around to the other tank. There may be more Russians." "You just get that thing and follow ole Kelp here. I'll get you to the Russians' back door."
With that, the two privates set out in the dark hunting for the second tank.
The sound of the infantry's fire fight followed by the artillery barrage and then the firing of 55 and 31 began to unnerve Uleski. It wasn't easy to stand there in the dark, listening to the sounds of a battle immediately to the rear while watching a hundred trained soldiers, whose sole intent was to kill you, calmly advance on your position. Not that Uleski had any doubt about the outcome. Unless there were tanks in the far tree line, the infantry would be no match for the tanks and PCs. Uleski was simply getting impatient. He wanted, as did everyone else, to get on with it. Now. The nausea and fear that had crippled him during the first battle were not present this time.
Instead, a hatred was welling up in him. As he watched the advance, he pounded the fist of his good hand against the roof of the PC. The image of the dead and wounded men scattered about 55 after the second attack on the first day flashed through his mind, flaming his hatred into an open rage. Quietly, the easygoing, fun-loving XO began softly to repeat,
"Come on, you mothers, come on and die."
The column of Russian infantry began to deploy into platoon columns. Their advance was at a nice steady walk. They were in no hurry to join the chaos in the woods on which they were advancing. It seemed to Uleski as he watched that this group of Russians would be just as happy if they arrived in time to help with the body count and not a minute sooner. There was definitely a lack of gung-ho spirit here.
Uleski had his PC turned sideways in a depression near the tree line. One of the infantrymen who had been on the OP and the PC driver were standing up, hanging out of the cargo hatch, their M 16s resting on the side of the PC. The PC commander had the caliber .50 over the side, locked and loaded. Several boxes of additional ammunition were opened and ready at an arm's distance. A loaded M 16 lay on the roof of the PC next to Uleskifs good arm. When the time came, he had every intention of joining the killing. The other PC with the second man from the OP was also ready, in position to the left of Uleski. The two tanks were deployed to the right of the PCs, ready to engage the infantry or any tanks that popped out and surprised them.
When the Russians were about three hundred meters from the PCs, Uleski gave the order to fire. Eight machine guns and four M 16s cut loose, unleashing a hail of tracers and lead that peppered the deploying Russians. For a moment they stood there transfixed, unable to comprehend what was happening to them. Uleski watched through his night vision goggles as some of the Russians first ran one way, then the other, before going to ground for cover.
Officers would try to rally their men and drive them on, only to be cut down as the machine guns from the tanks and PCs raked the area with steady, measured bursts of fire. Uleski decided that this was a green unit and tonight was its baptism by fire. A smile came across his face. Quietly, he said to himself as he picked up the M16, "So be it. You shall be baptized in blood." Robert Uleski, good-natured Ski, had become a cold and hard man.
As with the infantry fire fight, once the Russians went to ground, an impasse seemed to settle in. The Russians stayed where they were while the PCs and tanks were unable to finish the prone figures off. Uleski was too impatient for this. After emptying the magazine of the M 16, he decided to break the deadlock. He ordered the two tanks to move out and make a sweep of the area where the Russians were pinned. Hebrock protested that there could be tanks or antitank guided missile teams in the woods across the way. But Uleski would not hear of it. He wanted the Russians swept away and swept away now. Besides, if there had been tanks or antitank guided missiles in support of the attack, they would have fired by now.
Hebrock and the 22 tank cranked up and moved out. Swinging out wide and then turning north, the two tanks slowly began to advance side by side. They sprayed their machine guns to their front as if they were spraying for insects. The fury of their first fire and the irresistible advance of the steel monsters was too much for some of the Russians. They got up and began to withdraw, some without their weapons. The PCs watched, waiting for such targets.
When the Russians got up, the riflemen and machine gunners cut them down. When the tanks reached the end of the area where the Russians had gone to ground, they swung around and went back through the area again, searching out those who had survived the first run. Most of those who were still alive played dead. They would wait till later to make good their escape.
With no more targets, Uleski ordered the tanks to their alternate positions. He also moved the two PCs. Once his repositioning was finished, and quiet returned to his sector, he reported the status of his element to Bannon.
Potecknov was not at all pleased with the progress, or more correctly, the lack of progress that his companies were making. From the village he watched the destruction of the tanks and BTRs followed by the methodical massacre of his troops. Although he could see his officers attempting to get the men up and moving, it was to no avail. The officers were cut down, and the men, seeing that, decided that it was unwise to expose themselves.
Contact with the company on the far side of the hill had been lost after an initial and incomplete report had stated that they were in contact. Only the company commander in the woods reported progress. Potecknov could hear the report of the T-72's cannon and see an occasional flash. He decided that the attack from the north through the woods offered the best chance of success. Turning to his deputy, he ordered him to stay there with the political officer and try to reorganize the unit to their front. He would go around to the north and push the attack through the woods. Without further ado, Potecknov ran down the stairs and into the street to his vehicle. He was determined to win, regardless of the cost.
Uleski's report found 55 and 31 in the same type of stalemate that he had been in before the counterattack by 24 and 22. Bannon had monitored that action and pondered doing the same thing. Tanks 55 and 31 had destroyed six BTRs in addition to the two tanks. Two BTRs and some of the infantry in the second line had managed to pull back into the village.
The surviving first-line infantry were on the ground and dispersed. Those near the burning vehicles attempted to crawl away from the light and heat created by the fires. Sometimes their efforts were rewarded by a burst of fire from either 55 or 31.
Earlier in the fight a few stout-hearted souls had attempted to engage 55 and 31 with RPGs.
Quick reaction ended these efforts.
While there was no longer any return fire from the line of pinned Russian infantry, Bannon knew there were many of them who were still alive. If they stayed out there or withdrew to the village, they would be of no immediate concern. But if some of their officers were able to rally a few men and slip around to the rear, 55 and 31 would be in danger.
The shifting of the heavy artillery barrage from the trail junction to the tree line, where 55 and 31 were located, decided the next move. Rather than sit there and be pounded, 55 and 31 were going to attack.
"MIKE 77-THIS IS ROMEO 25-OVER."