in Palm Springs on Interstate 10. If the massed armor could break though there, they would find LA nearly defenseless, as those forces had headed south to stave off the Chinese on Interstates 5 and 15. If LA fell now, that would irrevocably trap Army Group SoCal and possibly net the enemy nearly eight hundred thousand American troops.
General Alan explained why the fortifications at Calexico had fallen, showing them with the holo-vid. Like everyone else at the conference table, Anna knew the U.S. could not afford such losses this early in the war. It could mean having to retreat from California altogether.
Anna, President Sims and the others watched a Chinese wave assault. The Chinese attacked the fortifications like a horde of ants,. A steel curtain of enemy shells advanced ahead of the Chinese hordes. Missiles came down on the battered fortification in what must have been thunderous salvoes. Then Chinese died as American machine-gun strongpoints began firing. Mines blew up in a portion of the defenses. Still the Chinese came, hunched like turtles with their rucksacks and in their body armor.
“Look,” the President said, pointing. “What’s happening over there?”
General Alan—Chairman of the Joint Chiefs—nodded at his aide. She adjusted the holo-video. Where the President pointed, it now zoomed larger.
Anna watched in sick fascination. Heavily-armored Chinese—in some kind of exoskeleton-enhanced body armor—fired integral machine guns. The gun was part of the battle-suit. They shot down their own soldiers who had turned and fled from the exploding minefield. A few of those unlucky Chinese fired at their tormenters. One exoskeleton-enhanced soldier staggered backward from the slam of bullets. Once he righted himself, he continued to gun down the “cowardly” offenders.
“Those are Chinese officers killing their own men,” the President said. “Is that correct?”
No one spoke until Anna felt compelled to say, “Yes, Mr. President. If you’ll notice the insignia of the heavily- armored Chinese—the lightning bolt—those are East Lightning officers.”
“Yes?” the President asked. “Is that significant?”
“The soldiers marching over the minefield must belong to a penal battalion,” Anna said. “They are controlled by East Lightning political commissars. Some of the soldiers…it looks as if they’re trying to run away and that is not allowed.”
“Incredible,” the President said. “Why not capture and discipline them, using the soldiers again?”
Anna could have told him that the Chinese had more political offenders than they knew what to do with. In fact, they had too many males in general. Shooting them down like this was much easier and served as a bitter lesson to the others.”
After another few moments, the President nodded to the major.
She adjusted the controls and the holo-vid resumed as before. Despite staggering enemy losses, the wave assault reached the Americans, swamping the defenders. Enemy armor now began to reinforce the attack.
General Alan spoke up. “Word of these wave assaults has spread among our troops. I have seen more than one report of badly shaken morale.”
The President’s features hardened. “This is an opportunity for us to bloody the Chinese. Surely our soldiers can see that.”
“Maybe,” General Alan said. “Mostly, they’re terrified of finding themselves surrounded by the Chinese. There are already reports of enemy atrocities. The Chinese are letting some of their soldiers butcher prisoners.”
President Sims rubbed his chin angrily. “We need to spread those reports far and wide to ensure our soldiers fight to the death and don’t surrender.”
Alan nodded.
“Continue with the battle report,” the President said.
The largest enemy breakthrough had occurred at San Ysidro, one of the cornerstones of the SoCal Defenses. Chinese mechanized infantry had thrust through, battling remorselessly, using wave assaults when they had to. They were in Carlsbad now. Another branch was headed up Interstate 15 along the Escondido, Temecula route to LA.
“As we feared, sir,” General Alan said, interrupting the major’s report. “The Chinese launched another hover assault last night. They swung through the ocean and hit Camp Pendleton from the west early this morning. They have landed infantry hovers, unloaded troops and have already gained footholds there.”
The President ran his fingers through his hair as the general continued to talk.
The casualties had been brutal these past four days. With the amount of actual fighting—due to endless round-the-clock assaults—and the vast expenditure of munitions, these four days would have been like eight or even twelve days of the hottest World War II battles. Because of that, the entire southern front was buckling under the fierce Chinese assault.
Anna listened to General Alan wax eloquent about the battle. In his opinion, the Chinese kept attacking the trapped formations so they couldn’t regroup and push north to LA. It was costly in Chinese lives, but it was ruthlessly brilliant if victory were the sole objective.
“If you’ll notice this, sir,” General Alan said, as he motioned to the major.
She brought up fresh images on the holo-vid.
“Tri-turreted tanks,” the President said.
Anna grew concerned. This was the real reason for the meeting. On the holo-vid were masses of the triple- turreted tanks. They were big, one-hundred ton vehicles. They churned dust, creating billowing clouds. Behind them followed smaller, conventional tanks and missile-carriers and then fleets of trucks and fuel carriers.
“The Chinese have broken through in the east, sir,” General Alan said. “They appear to be heading for the Salton Sea, which lies in the Coachella Valley. I would guess their objective is Palm Springs.”
“We have to stop them before that,” Sims said.
“Agreed, Mr. President,” General Alan said. “We wish to unleash the last of the strategic reserve in Central California and rush it to Palm Springs. We have to stop those tanks or risk losing LA. Without LA, it will be over for Army Group SoCal.”
“How big is this tank attack?” the President asked.
General Alan looked down at his hands before he said, “It looks to be several corps’ worth, sir, making it a Tank Army. There are literally thousands of enemy tanks rushing Palm Springs.”
The President shook his head. “They’ll annihilate our reserve armor.”
“We have to slow them down before they get through to Palm Springs. We have to give the trapped Army Group time to break out to the north and head to LA. If the Chinese take LA and trap the forces south of the city, it means we simply won’t have enough soldiers to hold the rest of the state.”
“We shouldn’t have massed so many troops on the border,” Sims said.
“I agree with you, Mr. President. But if you’ll recall, for political reasons, you had no other choice.”
Sims nodded slowly. “Are there further suggestions on how to stop this Tank Army?”
Like many of the others, Anna looked down as the President glanced at her. She noticed beads of condensation on the nearest water-pitcher. One of those beads slid down onto the table, entering the pool of moisture there.
Like a drowning man, Sims picked up his glass of water, although he didn’t drink. With a thud that startled Anna, the President slammed the glass back onto the table, causing water to splash up over the rim and drench his hand. “Yes!” he said. “Release the last of the strategic reserves in Central California.”
In response to the President, General Alan tapped his computer screen.
“Sir,” Anna asked, “what about the experimental tanks? Couldn’t you send those to Palm Springs?”
The President brightened and asked General Alan, “Where are they?”
“They’re also in the Central Valley, Mr. President.”
“Why there?”
“Well, first, they’re hard to move,” General Alan said. “Most bridges can’t support them. Secondly, we wanted to keep them secret until we’d perfected the tanks. Maybe California isn’t the right place for them.”
The President’s scowl worsened.
“And finally, sir,” General Alan said, speaking faster as the President opened his mouth. “We believe the Chinese are planning an amphibious assault. There are reports of an invasion armada somewhere in the Pacific. The San Francisco area makes the most sense. It’s what I would do given Chinese numbers and capabilities.”
