Several minutes later the first Ariete main battle tanks hove into view.
The Soviet battalion commander listened to the reports of their appearance from the Zeus. He had been hoping for the entire force to continue its dash to TP32 as it had initially in reaching the hill fort in time to spoil his attack there.
“Driver, what is our fuel state?”
The answer cancelled any idea he may have entertained concerning the possibility of seeking out the Italian main body with an aggressive move back east to TP33, and surprising them with a meeting engagement.
Only three tanks had appeared which left him with the age old problem of guessing whether this was a lone unit or just the first of a larger force.
“All vehicles, advance to the tree line and engage the enemy.”
The commander of the lead Ariete saw the heat sources appear in his thermal sight above them and to the right; seizing the commander’s override he slewed the turret around to face the threat.
“GUNNER!.. SABOT!..TANK..”
The enemy fired as the Ariete MBTs appeared in their sights. The lead Italian was hit three times and simply blew up. The second Ariete also received an immediate killing hit and the commanders and loaders turret hatches blew open. Like a pair of chimneys the hatches spewed smoke from the burning propellant of its own bag charges as the tank continued down the incline with its dead crew. The third Ariete had just jinked onto a new leg, the zig zag course throwing off the three gunners who had targeted it. One non-penetrating hit and two near misses had its driver suddenly reverse at an angle across the three lanes of the autobahn. It fired a sabot in reply, discharging both smoke and chaff grenades at the same time. Striking the crash barrier at speed it disappeared from view down the embankment where only swift action by its driver prevented its overturning on the steep slope.
There were no other NATO vehicles left to shoot and the T-72 to the left of the battalion commanders was pouring smoke from the turret as its crew bailed out.
He had both complete surprise and a better than three to one advantage over the Italians, so the two-for-one result was a poor one.
The second Ariete had reached the bottom of the incline and come to a halt. The fire in its turret reached the stacked HESH rounds in the lowest storage bins and explosions began tearing it apart from within.
They pulled back, retracing their route to the nearest fire break, arriving as 155mm rounds, called in by the survivor of the ambush, began landing on the edge of the lorry park. The next fall of shot landed on the right edge of the ambush position, the next in its centre and the last salvo struck the left side of the position. Expert fire control and gunnery, the Soviet commander wondered if these troops were chosen at random or were they some crack unit. He detached his last three IFVs to assist in the seizing of the autobahn over the Mitterland Kanal, and headed north with his tanks, intending to turn west again and await the remaining Arietes arrival at the bridge.
He would hit them from the rear as they counter-attacked and then he would see how good they really were.
The commander of the 13 tank did not like built up areas, it allowed a dismounted enemy to get in close, it provided countless ambush sites, and of course it robbed his M1 of its manoeuvrability.
The M1 and the Pumas avoided the shapes upon the car parks surface. Like scattered dolls, tossed away by a petulant child, the dead of D Company, 1 Wessex, lay where they had been cut down.
The giant furniture store burned out of control, flames leaping high despite the rain.
The 13 Tank and the Pumas had the benefit of eyes-on intelligence from 14 Platoon’s LAW80 team on the elevated Autobahn 391.
Apparently far less concerned by the threat of the 94mm anti-tank rocket than they were by the Italian 155mm battery, the five remaining T-72s and T-90s were moving frequently but staying relatively close by to the autobahns.
The Italian commanders plan to draw out the vehicles to defend against his detached troop upon the autobahn had seemed a bust until three of the Soviet tanks went north along the tow path before dashing east beside Autobahn 2 under cover of smoke. This left the 13 tank merely outnumbered two to one, but whoever the guy was commanding the defence had a plan, apparently.
“TANK ACTION, RIGHT!”
A vibration on the road bed had caused some hopeful glances to the west, but the cause was not the arrival of 4 Corps but the next Soviet bid at taking the junction and bridge.
The pair of T-72s on the south side opened fire with high explosive fragmentation rounds, 12.7mm and 7.62mm machine guns.
Having climbed the embankment on to Autobahn 2 east of the airfield where they had RV’d with the IFVs. The Soviets did not wish to hanging about. Safety from the 155mm guns relied upon closing quickly with the defenders. However, the BTR’s attempt to climb the steep embankment met with little success. Three T-90s sat on Autobahn 2; the BTR blocked the way for the tracked BMPs, its eight wheels unable to gain traction on the muddy slope.
Close to the bridge, the time had come to deal with the remaining pair of T-72s there.
Baz Cotter used the periscope for the GPMG’s C2 sight to arrange the four crouching LAW80 operators out of view behind the crash barrier of Autobahn 2 and describe the target as he prepared a shermouli.
Each of the 94mm men had one of the weapons on their shoulders and a second weapon ready beside them.
“Okay, I can only see one of them, number two is out of sight in the loading bay of one of those little factor units. But, there is the one Nev already had a pop at and it is about one hundred metres straight ahead, and it is at a slight angle in the street.” He lowered the device. “The good news is the turret isn’t facing this way, the bad news is you can’t see the missing ERA blocks where Nev hit because a wall is in the way, so aim for the right side of the turret, and obviously try and hit the same place.”
“This had better bleedin’ work or some arms dealer’s customer services are getting a snotty letter from my solicitor.” Nev said.
“Get ready Nev…” Baz rose up and aimed the shermouli at the tank, intending to put the flare beside the tank where they could see it without illuminating the entire junction.
He fired, and straight away it became obvious he had not thought it through that well. The thing did not simply hit the side of the tank and lie there obediently providing a source of light, it was rocket propelled and as long as the rocket was active it was not lying still for anyone. It ricocheted from the tank, to the road, to the wall, across the road and bounced off the wall there also before skidding along the road to fetch up beside the gutter.