engage them with both tank platoons and the ITVs simultaneously. The 2nd Platoon would engage the lead element, the 3rd Platoon would hit the enemy still on the opposite slope, and the ITVs would engage supporting vehicles on the far hill. He wanted the artillery to impact along the crest of the opposite hill at the same time the Team began to fire. First, DPICM, an artillery shell that scattered many small armordefeating bomblets, would be fired in order to take out as many Soviet PCs and self-propelled guns as possible. Then the artillery would fire high explosives, HE, and smoke rounds, laying down a smoke screen to blind any Soviet antitank system or artillery observers that might take up position there to engage the Team. That would leave the Team free to slug it out with only a portion of their force isolated from the rest. The FSO assured Bannon the artillery could handle the mission. All he needed was the word. A sudden detonation in the village followed by the hasty retreat of alone PC out of the village back to the Team's positions reminded Bannon that the first sergeant hadn't been told to blow the bridge in the town and withdraw. In the scramble to sort out the artillery fire plan he had forgotten the first sergeant. Fortunately, either Harrert had monitored the battalion net, figured out what was going on, and taken the initiative, or Uleski had ordered him out after hearing that the scouts would not be returning on the planned route. Either way, it worked out, and the first sergeant was headed back.
'ROMEO 25-THIS IS MIKE 77-SPOT REPORT-5 T-72 TANKS MOVING WEST-GRID 190852-CONTINUING TO OBSERVE-OVER.'
Bannon snapped his head to the left. There was no need to use a map. There was only one place where the Russians would be, and that was on the hill 2200 meters away. All the training, planning, and preparations were over. Team Yankee was about to learn if the Team's seventy-nine men and twenty-five million dollars worth of equipment could do what they were supposed to do: close with and destroy the enemy by fire, maneuver, and shock effect.
The five T-72 tanks began their descent into the valley in a line with about 100 meters between tanks. One of them had a mine roller attached to the front of its hull. He would have to be taken out in the first volley. As soon as the tanks started down, a line of Soviet armored personnel carriers, BMP-2s, appeared on the crest of the hill and followed the tanks down. There were fifteen of these personnel carriers deployed in a rough line about one hundred meters behind the tanks. The tanks and the BMPs moved down the opposite slope at a steady and somewhat restrained pace, as if they really didn't want to go into the valley, or they didn't want to get too far ahead of follow-on elements.
A third group of follow-on vehicles appeared. These were a gaggle of dissimilar armored vehicles. As they reached the crest of the hill, they paused for a moment. Just before they started their descent, the tanks and the BMPs in front made a sharp oblique to the left and headed for the north side of the village. With one BMP, a T-72, a BTR-60, followed by an MTU bridge tank and a ZSU 23-4 antiaircraft gun, this could only be the battalion command group.
The scene before Team Yankee was too good to be true. For some unknown reason the Team had not been hit by artillery yet. The Soviets were rolling forward as if they were on maneuvers, not attack. Their change in direction offered most of the Team flank shots. And the actions by the command group had telegraphed who they were. If luck held for another minute or two, it would be all over for this motorized rifle battalion.
'ROMEO 83-THIS IS ROMEO 25-DO YOU SEE THAT LAST GAGGLE COMING DOWN THE HILLOVER.'
' 25-THIS IS 83-ROGER-OVER.'
'83-THIS IS 25-THAT IS THE COMMAND GROUP-I WANT YOU AND THE TWO TRACKS YOU HAVE UP THERE TO TAKE THEM OUT-THE BMP AND TANK FIRST-OVER.'
'THIS IS 83-WILCO.'
Uleski considered this last order before he relayed instructions to the ITVs. He paused for a moment and watched the advancing Soviets. The 55 was silent except for the hum of the engine. Uleski could feel the tension build up in himself and his crew. In the past, he had always been able to crack a joke or say something funny to lighten the pressures of a tense moment. But he couldn't, not this time. It suddenly dawned upon him that this was real. The tanks and BMPs were manned with real Soviets and they were coming his way.
Despite the heat of the day, Uleski felt a cold shiver run down his spine. His stomach began to knot up and he felt as if he were going to throw up. It was real, all real. In a minute, maybe two, all hell was going to break loose and he was right in the middle of it. Uleskifs head, flooded with disjointed thoughts, began to spin, with one thought coming back over and over, 'Oh God, please make this go away.'
When Bannon had finished with Uleski, he switched to the battalion net and instructed the FSO to fire the prearranged artillery barrage. When the FSO acknowledged the request, Bannon went back to the Team net, 'ALL BRAVO 3 ROMEO ELEMENTS-UPON IMPACT OF FRIENDLY ARTILLERY, YOU WILL COMMENCE FIRINGMAINTAIN FIRE DISTRIBUTION AND GOOD SHOOTING-ROMEO 25 OUT.'
This last message neither upset nor unnerved Garger. Without bothering to acknowledge the commander's orders, Garger switched to the platoon net and issued his own. The clear, sunny day, with the sun to the 3rd Platoon's back, made it all too easy. All the BMPs were exposed to the entire platoon. Garger ordered Pierso and Pierso's wingman, the 33 tank, to engage the right half of the BMPs. Garger instructed his own wingman, Blackfoot, to begin to engage the far left BMP and then work his way toward the center of the line. He would begin in the center and work his way to the left. In this way, the platoon would avoid killing the same BMP.
With nothing to do but wait for the artillery, Garger leaned back and considered the scene before him. This was easier than the Armor School at Fort Knox. It couldn't be that simple.
There had to be a catch. The Soviets were coming at them as if the Team wasn't there.
Garger tried hard to think if there was something he had missed, an order to be given.
Something. But there wasn't. All seemed to be in order. All was ready. 'What the hell,' he thought. 'Might as well relax and enjoy the moment.'
In the Mech Platoon's positions Sergeant First Class Polgar grasped the hand grips of his M2 machine gun as he watched the Soviets. He was amazed. When he was a young private, Polgar had been in Vietnam two months before he had seen his first VC, and they had been dead VC. In the first day of this war, he was looking at all the Soviets he cared to see. He looked to his left and then to his right at his PCs. The four M-113s with him weren't going to do a hell of a lot if the tanks in the Team fell flat on their ass. As the Soviets drew near, Polgar tracked the Soviets with his M2 and thought, 'Those dumb-ass tankers better be as good as they think they are, or this is going to be a damned short war.'
The Team was charged and ready. Bannon could feel it. Now, he prepared to fight his own tank crew.
He grabbed the TC's override and traversed the turret to his intended victim, yelling out the fire command without switching on the intercom, 'GUNNER-SABOT-TANK WITH MINE ROLLER.'
'IDENTIFIED.' Folk had the target in his sight.
'UP.' Kelp had armed the main gun and was clear of the path of recoil. Bannon knelt down on top of his seat, perched above the gunner and loader, watching through the extension as Folk tracked the T-72. They waited. The enemy continued to advance. And they waited. The line of tanks was now
beginning to reach the valley floor. And they waited. The sweat was rolling down Bannon's face and he was beginning to lose nerve. And they waited. 'SPLASH-OVER.' The FSO's call on the battalion net heralded the impact of the artillery. Across the valley, the crest of the far hill erupted as hundreds of small bomblets impacted and went off. On target! 'FIRE!'
'ON THE WAAAAAY!'
The image of the T-72 disappeared before Bannon's eye in a flash and cloud of smoke as Folk fired. The tank rocked back as the gun recoiled and spit out the spent shell casing.
Kelp hit the ammo door switch with his knee, causing it to slide open with a bang. He hauled out the next round, loaded the gun, and armed it before the dust and obscuration cleared.
When it did, the T-72 with the mine roller was stopped, broadside to 66, and burning furiously.
'TARGET-CEASE FIRE.' They had drawn their first blood. 'STAND BY GUNNER.' Bannon popped his head up to get an overall picture of what was going on. Just as he did, the 33 tank fired a HEAT-T round at a BMP. He watched the tracer streak towards the target and impact with a bright orange flash and black ball of smoke. The BMP lurched forward another few meters then stopped, quivered, and began to burn. Bannon scanned the valley floor and opposite slope watching that scene repeated again and again. When the first round missed a BMP, the BMP would turn away from the impact. This maneuver, however, only added a few more seconds to its life because the second round usually found its mark. He watched as two BMPs, scrambling to avoid being hit, rammed each other and stopped. This calamity only made it easier for Team Yankee's gunners, and both BMPs died within
