crew doesn't know exactly where we are yet, so keep low. The 1st Platoon should be taking it out soon. Stay on the radio. I'll be with the 3rd Platoon in the center. You got any questions?'
As soon as Cerro shook his head in response, the XO got up and ran along the edge of the runway toward the 3rd Platoon, followed by two radiomen.
Cerro watched for a moment, then turned to Arnold. 'OK, Sergeant Arnold, we ready to go?'
Arnold answered, 'Affirmative,' and was beginning to move out of the ditch when Cerro stopped him.
'Before we move out,' Cerro asked, 'could you tell me exactly where the hell we are and where we're going
The long column of Soviet tanks was easy for the Iranians to track. The dust cloud it produced hung in the still early-morning air like a sail.
In a few moments the lead tanks of its advance guard company would be within the kill zone of the Iranian tanks. The tanks of the Soviet combat patrol had been allowed to pass and were already three kilometers farther south. The Soviets suspected nothing. The surprise would be complete.
The Iranian company commander had ordered his tanks not to fire until instructed to do so. The forty-odd M-60A 1 and Centurion tanks that made up the composite battalion was the last major force that stood between godless
Communists and the holy city of Qom. The Iranian company commander put his binoculars down and looked at the line of tanks tucked into the wadi to his right. Not only were they obsolete in comparison with the Soviet T- 80s they were about to face, half of them were missing some part or another of their fire-control system. Years of hard use and lack of repair parts had taken their toll. It would be an uneven contest, despite the element of surprise and the sun to their backs.
Defeat of the first Soviet column would only mean that another, larger force would come forward. Once the Iranian tanks of the battalion were gone, there would be no more. Winning or losing, however, did not matter to the company commander. He and his men would die in a just cause in the name of Allah. His only regret was that they were fighting the Lesser Satan. How much better it would have been were it Americans who were about to die.
The company commander turned toward the advancing Soviets. They continued to come on fast, comfortable in the knowledge that their combat patrol was out front and had thus far been unmolested. Now only seconds separated them from death, a just and deserved death.
At a range of five hundred meters, the Iranians opened fire. At such a short distance there is little need for sophisticated fire controls.
Nor does special armor protect as well. The Iranians' fire discipline and accuracy were shockingly good. The first volley carried away half of the lead Soviet company. The impact of armor-piercing rounds on the T-80s was followed by catastrophic explosions as on-board ammo detonated and tore the Soviet tanks apart. Those tanks that survived the initial volley shared the others' fate within ten seconds without having been able to take any effective countermeasures.
The commander of the second Soviet company, finding himself in the open, had only a split second to decide whether to attack or to fire smoke and turn away, covering his withdrawal with the tanks' own smoke generators.
Instinctively he attacked, ordering an action left. This maneuver, executed with speed and precision, turned the Soviet tanks onto a collision course with the unseen assailant. The gunners and the tank commanders searched for targets but were blinded by the sun now peeking over the horizon. The Iranians brought all their firepower to bear on the desperate charge, with telling effect. Though it cost the Iranians two tanks lost to return fire, the entire second Soviet tank company was smashed. In a space of two minutes, twenty Soviet tanks and the sixty men who manned them were gone.
The 3rd Battalion had been moving all night without letup, resulting in dulled senses and slow reactions. Only the sharp crack of tank cannons in the distance and the near-panicked radio reports of an armored counterattack roused Major Vorishnov from his trancelike state. The battalion commander ordered the battalion to swing left off the road and deploy into columns of companies. Rather than head straight down the road and become involved in the kill zone where the 1st Battalion was, they were going to move east, then turn south, seeking the flank of the Iranians.
The 2nd Battalion, which was following the 3rd, would do likewise, but they would go a little farther east before turning south. In this way, if the 3rd Battalion did not find the flank or the rear of the Iranian position, the 2nd Battalion would.
Vorishnov followed closely behind the battalion commander's tank, all the while listening to reports, orders and calls for artillery fire as the regimental staff strove to organize the 68th Tank Regiment's attack. All was going well until the 2nd Battalion reported that it had run into a mine field and was being hit by tank and artillery fire.
Vorishnov stood upright in the BTR-60 with his head protruding out of the hatch. To the east he could see black pillars of smoke rising from tanks that had been hit and destroyed.
In a flash Vorishnov realized that the Iranians had anticipated just such a maneuver and had laid a second trap for the follow-on force. Now the 3rd Battalion was also moving into one. Vorishnov yelled into the radio handset to his commander that they were rolling into a trap. The battalion commander, thinking the same thing, ordered the battalion to move onto line and assume hasty defensive positions. He then switched to the regimental radio and told the regimental commander what was happening and what the 3rd Battalion was doing. The regimental commander, angry at first, ordered the 3rd Battalion to continue the attack, then quickly countermanded that order as the 2nd Battalion's situation became clearer. The wisdom of not pushing his only uncommitted battalion headlong into another fire sack suddenly dawned upon him, to Vorishnov's relief.
This reprieve, however, was only momentary. Seeing the tanks of the 3rd Battalion go to ground, the Iranian tankers facing them began to engage them in a long-range gunnery duel. At ranges of fifteen hundred to two thousand meters, the contest was uneven, with the Soviets having the upper hand. The Iranian tanks had 105mm. main guns, and mechanical range finders, and were not protected by special armor, while the Soviet T-80s had 125mm. smooth-bore guns, laser range finders, and special armor. As an Iranian tank fired, Soviet platoon leaders, under the direction of their company commanders, would direct the fire of all their tanks against that single Iranian tank. The platoon would fire until the targeted Iranian tank began to burn. When finished with one target, the platoon leader would search for the telltale blast and dust produced by the firing of another Iranian tank's main gun and repeat the process.
While this methodical destruction was going on, those Soviet tanks with mine rollers and plows moved forward. When the battalion commander sensed a slackening of Iranian fire, he ordered the lead company to advance behind them while the remaining two companies continued the long-range gunnery battle. Slowly the mine-clearing tanks moved forward, with two other tanks close behind. Every time a mine was run over, the thunderous explosion shook the roller or plow tank and caused it to slow or stop momentarily.
Once the crew had sufficiently collected their wits, the tank would move forward again until it hit the next mine.
The Soviets' effort to breach the mine field caused the Iranians to redouble their own efforts against the mine rollers and plows. Hits were scored, but for the most part without effect. The T-80s' special armor easily absorbed the 105mm. rounds and allowed the rollers and the plows to continue their job. The only result of the Iranians' efforts was to give away their positions to the over watching Soviet tanks. By the time the mine field was breached, the Iranian positions were silent. On order the 3rd Battalion moved through the mine field and formed into battle line as it moved against the Iranian positions. The black pillars of smoke from the burning diesel and rubber of destroyed Iranian tanks served to keep the attackers oriented on their objective.
Vorishnov looked at his watch. In less than thirty minutes the regiment had gone from the brink of defeat to a smashing victory, a victory made possible by the 3rd Battalion. With a little luck, they would go through the Iranian position and be able to continue on to Tehran.
The flash of impacting artillery followed by the crashing of the explosion reminded Second Lieutenant Cerro of a thunderstorm. In the distance, it had been mildly interesting to watch; as he and his men climbed closer, excitement built up. Cerro wondered how effective the artillery was. Sergeant Arnold didn't think the 105 howitzers
