Ablaze Ch.6: Battle of Senchen (3)
July 1, Y874 - Corysia - Senchen - Afternoon
The entire road is packed, but local military police are able to keep a lane open for the trucks. Still, there are occasional problems caused between them and the civilians attempting to flee the war that has abruptly arrived at their homes. A few of the Parosanan carrier aircraft spot the group of trucks. They radio it to their carrier, and two jets are redirected. Over time, the column of trucks starts to near the outskirts of Senchen. Faine gazes at the city center in the distance, smoke and dust emitting from the constant fighting. Like the smoke, the Senchen Business Center acts as a beacon standing tall in the skyline. The nearby fields and houses zip past the vehicles. He sighs, the wolf shutting his eyelids and resting his eyes. In the distance, a Type 56t-SPAAG anti-aircraft gun opens fire. The quad 20mm cannons are firing so rapidly that it fuses into one combined sound. Faine opens his eyes, and nervously looks around, as does every soldier and civilian in the local area. Even though the SPAAG is quite far away, the wolf can still hear it quite clearly. He spots a storm of tracers flying up into the sky.
"Incoming!" someone shouts. Why didn't he think of that sooner? Any nearby aircraft can easily spot the long convoy of trucks on the open road.
The civilians scatter, attempting to find some form of cover. The paratroopers on the trucks fall to the floor, minimizing their chances of shrapnel injury.
Just before the fur shouts his warning, automatic cannon rounds shower the trucks a distance behind Faine. Only a few seconds later, one of the inbound fighters is shredded by SPAAGs. The other, flying at low altitude, passes over the trucks and releases its payload. Faine hears the deafening blast, and feels the shockwave and dirt thrown up from the explosion. He looks up, and sees the destruction caused. The bombs landed just six or seven trucks back, completely destroying two and damaging another three. Furs, both combatants and non-combatants, scream from their injuries. The charred remains of the destroyed trucks burn, releasing dirty black smoke into the air. Burnt flesh and fur defiles the air.
Meanwhile, the last jet doesn't make it too far. It is quickly nailed by other anti-aircraft guns before it can escape.
"All units report in!" the radio shouts. Faine snaps back to reality.
"Report!" his squad leader shouts. "Any injuries or casualties?"
"Negative!" Faine, and everyone else in the truck, responds in a chorus. The squad leader pulls out his radio and informs the platoon leader.
"Damaged trucks stay put, operational ones keep moving!" the radio responds.
Even when the trucks reach the Battalion HQ there are still civilians stuck in the city. The trucks struggle to squeeze down the constricted city streets. Eventually they make it, again with the help of the local military police. Everyone dismounts, but the trucks stay put. The paratrooper command teams, battalion and company level, rush into the damaged shop housing the 1st Marine Battalion's HQ. Papers lay strewn on the ground, and bits of dirt and debris are scattered everywhere.
"Who's the commanding officer here?" the battalion commander shouts, who is first into the building.
"About time!" a fox, holding his bloody arm, spits back. "Up those stairs, he's waiting!"
The soldier motions toward the staircase with his muzzle. The paratroopers run in that direction and head up the staircase. At the top is a marine waiting impatiently.
"This way!" the wolf shouts. The soldier leads them down a hall lined with offices. They enter one of the rooms, and inside is the Marine Battalion CO with the rest of his command team. They are busy examining a map placed on a desk in the center of the room.
"Finally here!" the officer growls. "The situation is fucked up! Reserves don't even fucking exist, and I even had to replace frontline units with the local militia! 2nd Battalion is working with mine, trying to hold onto the financial district." The wolf uses his paw to trace over the southern and eastern edge of the Parosanan held sections of the city. "But recently the Parosanans are trying to push west. They could be attempting to flank us, but they might also be aiming for the port." He points at the location of the port, a bit to the west of Parosana's advances.
"They can already deploy reinforcements and even fucking wheeled mediums from their beachhead, but that port will increase their reinforcement rate substantially. Plus, they can get MBTs on land from there if they want. 3rd Battalion is all there is stopping Parosana from advancing west, and they won't hold out for long. The paratrooper battalion HQ will stay here and set up in a nearby area. How many companies do you have?"
"Four," the paratrooper battalion commander responds.
"First I want your A Company to the financial district."
The wolf points at several streets in the financial district.
"The Parosanans are using medium armor to lead their advance down the streets. The axis of attack is around Vanden Road. A Company, get to this bank here. 2nd Battalion has their headquarters dug in there. Obey their orders, watch out for armor, and get moving."
A Company's commanding and executive officers leave the room to regroup with those under their command. The company then leaves for the front.
After almost twenty minutes of traveling behind lines, passing by fleeing, wounded, and dead civilians and soldiers alike, they reach Vanden Road. Constant automatic fire is heard in the near distance as the trucks turn onto the large eight-lane street.
"Is this A Company, over?" the company radiofur's radio suddenly blurts out.
"Affirmative, this is Alpha Company, 1/1 Paratroops," A Company commanding officer replies, grabbing the handset.
"This is 2nd Marine Battalion commanding officer. The Paros just broke through Alpha and Bravo Company at Vanden Road, and I need two platoons immediately to stop their advance, out!"
The trucks continue to drive for about a hundred meters before they arrive at their final destination. They stop next to the bank, where the 2nd Marine Battalion HQ is located. The troops dismount, and the trucks drive off.
"1st and 2nd platoon down the street!" the CO shouts into the radio.
Faine flicks the safety off on his Type 55 assault rifle. The wolf feels surprisingly calm as he and the other paratroopers run down Vanden Road, past an intersection. Sounds of automatic fire grow heavier and ever closer. A few marines are running back in the direction of the bank while carrying wounded comrades in their arms. Others sprint back to the fighting, some holding boxes of ammunition in their paws.
"Where's your company CO?" 2nd Platoon's leader shouts to one of the passing marines, carrying two boxes of 6.5mm rifle magazines.
"Fucking dead!" the soldier spits before running off.
The two platoons follow the soldier up the street, one on either side. They stay close to the buildings on the either side, but keep a small in between distance to avoid ricochets. They soon see a barricade of rubble and sandbags spanning across the whole street, occupied by marines.
"Second squad, into the buildings!" Faine's platoon leader shouts.
Part of the platoon moves into the building next to the barrier. Faine, along with the rest of his squad, runs forward, keeping their heads down as bullets fly overhead, and takes cover behind the barricade.
"Where's the enemy?" he asks a marine beside him.
"Behind anything that provides cover!" the wolf shouts.
Faine peeks over the top of the barricade. The road ahead is strewn with a few destroyed vehicles, civilian and military alike. He can see several enemy soldiers leaning out of cover. A Parosanan soldier fires a short burst, almost hitting Faine as he ducks back behind the blockade. The wolf pops up again, shouldering his Type 55. Faine lines up his sights with one of the enemy soldiers and taps the trigger a few times before dropping behind cover again. He pops up again, firing a few rounds at whatever moved beyond the barricade. The fighting continues for about another minutes, but soon it becomes apparent the Parosanans no longer have their momentum.
"Vehicle!" someone shouts.
Faine, now crouching at the side of a gap in the blockade, pokes his muzzle around the edge. Sure enough, a wheeled-medium is approaching their position from further up the street. He ducks behind the barricade.
"APC!" Faine shouts. "Get off the street!"
An unbuttoned crew member is on the approaching armored personnel carrier, behind the machine gun. He aims the pintle-mounted HMG at the Corysian soldiers, and presses the trigger. The heavy 11.4mm rounds slam into the sandbags, destroying the barricade. Both the marines and paratroopers scramble into the nearby structures, but not everyone makes it. The heavy machine gun lays down fire, trapping two paratroopers behind a quickly-disappearing wall of sandbags. Faine recognizes one of the soldiers as Ridley another wolf who's part of his team, and the other as a member of the another squad. He looks back at the soldiers inside the building, probably someone's residence, and finds that Vance has made it, along with Alpha Team's support gunner.
"Suppressive fire!" Faine shouts to them, ejecting his nearly empty magazine.
The wolf puts the magazine away in his vest, while withdrawing another and sliding it into his rifle. Vance stands beside a window. The support gunner crouches at the doorway, shouldering his Type 55-SAW, while Faine stands. The three lean out of cover and open fire. Faine aims at the machine gun on the APC, firing several long bursts from his assault rifle and emptying the magazine. He retreats back into the building, reloading his weapon. Vance also empties his rifle's magazine at the enemy outside. The support gunner continues to fire long bursts in quick succession, thanks to the 100 round drum magazine. The paratroopers stuck behind the sandbags use the opportunity to escape, sprinting for the doorway. The other soldier makes it, but Ridley doesn't. He is caught by the APC's machine gun. Faine watches in horror as the wolf is cut up by the high-caliber rounds. His broken body falls onto the ground staining the area red. Faine swears as he turns away.
"Where is our anti-armor!" he shouts.
"Upstairs! Come on!" his squad leader replies.
Heavy gunfire resonates throughout the building as the occupants do their best to slow the advancing Parosanans. Faine runs up the staircase two steps at a time. The situation on the second floor isn't any better. Several paratroopers are stuck behind the wall, around the window. They are unable to effectively return fire with the volume on incoming rounds. The wolf sees the squad's anti-armor specialist hiding behind a wall along with several other soldiers. The window has shattered, leaving a gaping hole and inviting bullets from the Parosanan soldiers on the road below.
"There's too much incoming fire, I can't get a shot!" the paratrooper shouts.
"Give me the MURLD! Faine, hit it from downstairs, we'll keep them focused up here!" the squad leader shouts. The anti-armor specialist hands over a multipurpose unguided rocket launcher, disposable: a MURLD.
The tubular weapon fires an 81mm shaped-charge, or HEAT, unguided rocket. The entire weapon can be thrown away after use. It may not destroy MBTs, but it can definitely take out that damned APC hosing the troops on either side of the road with bullets. The sergeant gives the lethal weapon to Faine.
"Don't fucking miss," the sergeant growls.
Faine slings his rifle and accepts the multipurpose weapon. He runs back to the stairs, and almost jumps down all the steps. The wolf notices a few bloody bodies on the ground as he crosses the room. Faine stops at the doorway leading back out to the street. Unfortunately for Faine, the MURLD has to be fired outside the safety of the structure in his situation. Firing the MURLD inside a small room like the one his is in right now would be dangerous due to backblast. The wolf pulls out the safety pin at the rear of the tube-shaped weapon, disengages the second safety by pushing down a small lever at the front, and flips open the shoulder stop and rear sight.
"Cover me!" he shouts. "Three, two, one!"
The other soldiers lay down suppressing fire right before Faine steps out the doorway. The wolf crouches and shoulders the AT weapon. The Parosanans see him, and fire back. Somewhat to Faine's surprise, a second APC has joined the fight, following a distance behind the first one. He presses the forward safety and the trigger button at the same time, firing the MURLD, knowing that there will still be a second armored fighting vehicle even if his weapon hits its target. It takes less than a moment for the rocket to reach the Parosanan APC, and explode against it.
The wolf drops the fiberglass tube. He turns around rapidly, and retreat back into the building. But just as he begins his turn, a powerful blow strikes him in the chest. It quickly occurs to him that he has been shot. The blow forces his breath out of his lungs. The wolf falls, and hits the ground with his rucksack. He groans in pain, blood flowing out of his wound. As the wolf gazes upwards, he notices jets still fighting up in the sky. It seems like the air battle will last a while longer. The wolf also notices that he is next to the body of Ridley, his team's rifleman. He swears, looking away from the maimed body of the fellow paratrooper, a fur who is in the same team as he is.
Instead, Faine turns his muzzle to the doorway he exited from. He can see his support gunner and Vance, unsure if they should quickly drag Faine inside with the high chance of themselves getting shot. The two wolves stare back at him, eyes filled with concern. Vance shouts to Faine, something about him staying alive. It doesn't seem to matter much to the wolf, who faces his muzzle back to the sky, and rests the back of his helmet on the asphalt.
Seconds pass by, and Faine hears the blast of a tank gun. The wolf looks around, puzzled as to where the sound originated from. Did the Parosanans bring in main battle tanks? When he looks down the street, towards the way they came from, he sees a Corysian Type 41 tracked assault gun in the distance, easily distinguishable with its unique turret. It's left over from the Last War, but it can still take out a MBT with recent upgrades. The wolf spots a few soldiers right behind the assault gun, often leaning out and taking a shot. Faine lies on the ground for a few more moments as blood continues to leave his system. Then, he feels something pulling at his boots. He looks down towards his hindpaws and sees Vance pulling him through the doorway. Faine closes his eyes. He's going to make it.
July 3, Y874 - Corysia - Senchen Outskirts - Morning
Fuchs stands, arms crossed, just outside his command bunker. He looks out at the damaged city of Senchen. The red fox's fluffy tail sways with smug satisfaction as he surveys the world in front of him. Dirty, dusty smoke rose from the city, similar to the sight he saw just two days ago as he arrived to his new forward operating base. Of course, a major Corysian port city, on the same side as the fox, on fire and crumbling before him is not what Spaer is content with. It's the air war still raging up above the city. Due to his orders, and with the uncomfortably close mass of hostile air power, Spaer established the Senchen Outskirts Restricted Air Zone, or SORAZ. Nearly every unauthorized aircraft that flew into the restricted airspace has been promptly shot down by 7th Armored Division's air defense regiment, much to Fuchs's delight. Numerous ground-based radar systems constantly shifted positions and scanned for enemy aircraft. Accompanying the eyes and ears are the arms, paws, and jaws: Type 56t-SPAAGs and SAMs, utilizing the multipurpose Type 56t-U tracked carrier platform.
What the fox found enjoyable is that the Corysian National Air Force, CNAF, has already devised tactics utilizing the SORAZ. In a rather amusing strike, CNAF fighters flew in low and fast over the SORAZ and ambushed the Parosanan aircraft with their missiles and cannons. In less than twenty minutes, the Corysian fighters quickly flew back to safety over the SORAZ. For the Parosanans, the option of striking back was thus rendered impractical without unacceptable casualties.
But not every aircraft is shot down. Especially when the SORAZ was first being set up, many Parosanan aircrafts were able to penetrate the defenses and strike targets while suffering relatively little damage. The multiple craters and wrecked vehicles here and there are proof of that. Now, with the SORAZ in working order, any Parosanan air mission inside the restricted zone is subject to heavy losses.
As for the urban fighting, the armored detachment is actually surviving well. There have been a few losses due to enemy air and anti-armor elements, but the progress gained is nothing short of substantial. In a little more than a day of fighting, the enemy offensive has been halted, and lost ground reclaimed. The main reason such progress has been made is probably that the Parosanans are yet to bring tanks onto the beachhead, or proper anti-armor for that matter. The vast majority of reported vehicles are APCs or the occasional IFV. Spaer had decided to send in some of his division's aging Type 41 assault gun, adequate for the job. After all, is there a need for thick-armored but heavy and relatively sluggish MBTs in the confines of urban warfare? Of course not! The lighter, low-profile, and adequately but slightly thin armored assault gun (actually from the Last War Era but upgraded) can do everything the job requires. The assault gun is also older, and cheaper, and expendable!
Spaer's executive officer runs up to him from inside the command bunker, interrupting his thoughts. The wolf appears both tired and nervous. This can't be good.
"S-Sir, can you spare a minute or two?" his XO pants. Spaer turns around to face him.
"Proceed."
"Sir, the Parosanans managed to break through our lines in the western. The port is essentially lost."
Tanks. Tanks and reinforcements. Now Parosana can pour reinforcements into Senchen with the help of an actual port, especially one of that size. Parosana can also bring in their tanks with ease, advanced tanks that can eliminate a Type 41 without trouble.
"My apologies sir, but the inland long-range radar systems also report of a probable fleet approaching from Parosana. Size is indefinite, but it has to be big."
Ships. That means naval bombardment. That means possible, actually, confirmed aircraft carriers. That means more aircraft. That means aerial bombardment. That means a combined effort to un-can the air-defense shield. That means more almost-irreplaceable CNAF losses.
Spaer is unsure of what to do. Of course he needs to act, but for the first time since hearing about the initial invasion fleet, he again feels that Senchen will suffer only one fate: destruction and occupation, resulting in the collapse of Corysia itself.
"What's the status on A and B Company, 27th Brigade?" Spaer asks, referring to his armored units closest to the breakthrough. He briskly walks past his XO and back into the bunker.
"B Company is disorganized from the breakthrough, closest platoons are 2nd and 3rd, but both are at half-strength. 1st platoon has minimal loss, but is slightly further from the battle. A Company is relatively untouched, but has even more distance between them and the fight."
Spaer thought about that while he went down the stairs two steps at a time.
"I'm going to stretch my tanks too thin to be effective. Contact the Senchen Corps HQ and see if they can get more infantry divisions here."
"Sir, Senchen Corps is now under the command of 1st Senchen Army. They already contacted us, and several infantry divisions from the north are being redeployed to Senchen."
The National Corysian Army decided to establish an army in order to defend Senchen. That is a relief. Hopefully Commander-in-Chief Northern Theatre will be able to keep the front from collapsing.
"But they also want the armored detachment to be strengthened to a regiment."
"A regiment? An entire regiment?"
"Yes."
Spaer sighs. So be it. There's no other option anyways. The order is given, and he has to carry it out.
"Thank you for the updates, XO. I appreciate your efforts."
Spaer almost stumbles, realizing what just escaped his maw. Damn, that was embarrassing. His executive officer, for a moment, stares back at him in shock. It's residual from Spaer's civilian life, definitely bad for his military career, but he's a damned kit anyways.
"Uh... y-you're welcome, sir."
Spaer quickly pushes the event into a corner of his mind and focuses on the current task. He will need to send more armor into the city. On the other paw, a whole army is dedicated to Senchen now. The red fox mentally selects the formations he will send into the city. Maybe the situation will improve, just maybe.