pull it off. But if Bannon could do it, they would have a fighting chance. With all the positive enthusiasm he could generate, given the mission, he began issuing new orders.
'Gather around and listen up, gents, while I tell you how we're going to skin this cat. The situation and the conditions for the first part of the operation, the attack on LOG, are still the same. If anything, we have improved the odds. We've had a break, boresighted the guns, checked the tracks, had breakfast, and got a chance to recon the area some. Team Bravo is in position and ready. So we will go as we had planned. Lieutenant Harding, you will start the move by bringing your platoon up the road. As before, your platoon will be in the middle with my tank hanging onto your far right track. The two tank platoons will start their move when the Mech Platoon comes up even to them.. Both tank platoons will move out in an echelon formation. Second Platoon, you'll refuse your right. Third Platoon, you'll refuse your left. When we get out in the open between those two tree lines, the whole Team will pivot on 2nd Platoon, move through the gap and head for Objective LOG. As we move on LOG, I want to give the village of Lemm a wide berth, just in case the Russians are in there. So don't crowd the 2nd Platoon. '
'Lieutenant Unger, I want you to contact your guns and have them locked, loaded, and ready to fire on LOG the instant we receive fire. All you should have to do is yell shoot. Don't wait for me or anyone else to tell you, just do it.
'Lieutenant U, as 3rd Platoon is short a tank, I want you to team up with Pierson and play wingman. That way you won't be so obvious hanging out there all by yourself in the center.
'Once we're on LOG, we'll size up the situation before we roll on to Objective LINK. If no one comes up to cover our move, 3rd Platoon will take up positions on the far side of LOG and overwatch the move of 2nd Platoon followed by the Mech Platoon. We will move up onto LINK as planned, 3rd Platoon coming up on order. I'll be between the Mech and 2nd Platoon. Do you have any questions?'
The platoon leaders looked at him, they looked at each other, then looked back to their commander, and shook their heads negatively. 'All right then, Lieutenant Harding, I want you to start your move in twenty-five minutes. 1 have exactly 0835 hours. Let's roll.' The platoon leaders saluted and went their separate ways. The XO and first sergeant stayed. Uleski was the first to speak.
'Are we going to be able to pull this off?'
'Well, Bob, like I said, as far as the first part of the attack, if anything, we're in better shape.
It's the second part that's shaky. It's my intention to take my time going from LOG to LINK. The longer we take, the better the chances are that the rest of the battalion will close up. If we're hit hard getting onto LOG, I'm going to hold at LOG until the battalion commander either moves up Team Bravo to support or D company comes up. I think that's the only way we can play it.
'Agreed. But once we're out in the open, the other people may not like us taking one of their hills and try to take it back. Those Russians get very possessive of land once they take it.'
'Yeah, well, that's why I said we are going to have to play it by ear when we get on top of LOG. I don't intend to jump out beyond LOG on our own unless I'm sure we can do so and talk about it tonight. And if you take over, I expect you to do the same. Use your discretion. Clear?'
'Clear, boss. Got any more good news?'
'No, none that I can think of. If I do, you'll be the first to know.'
With that Uleski turned and headed for 55. Bannon then turned to Harrert.
'First Sergeant, there are some people over there in those woods from the Scout Platoon of the 2nd of the 93rd Mech. Take your track, the bandaid, and the 88 over there and let them know what we're about to do. I doubt if anyone else has coordinated with them. If there are mines or some kind of danger that they know about, get on the radio and call me ASAP. Stay there until we get up on LOG, then close up on us on LOG if you can.'
'I don't have the 88 with me right now. I left it with 33. But I'll take the bandaid and get moving unless you have something else.'
'No, that about covers it all. See you on LOG.'
Bannon's positive attitude and confident spiel did little to relieve the doubts and foreboding he had about the upcoming attack. He didn't know if he had sold anyone. He certainly hadn't sold himself. There were twenty-two minutes to go before the Mech Platoon began to move. Time to mount up and wait. As he did so, the crew of 66 watched him. They had heard the orders and didn't look very convinced.
Bannon thought that the old saying, 'You can't fool all the people,' was true.
Now that the issue had been decided, and the wheels had been set in motion, Bannon was anxious to get on with it. There was still the gnawing fear that they were about to stick their collective neck out and lose their head. It wasn't going to be a peacetime training exercise.
There wouldn't be the after-action critique to discuss who did well and who didn't. This was really it. The graves registration people, either Russian or U.S., would be the ones sorting out the winners from the losers this time. Still, there was also the possibility that the Team just might pull this off. He had to think positively. Be positive. They had to go out there and make things happen. Like the roll-call sergeant on 'Hill Street Blues' would say, 'Let's do it to them, before they do it to us.'
The Mech Platoon began to come even with the rest of the Team. As they broke out of the tree line, they began to deploy into a wedge formation. When their last track was in the open, Bannon gave Ortelli the order to move and joined the formation to the right and a little behind the far right personnel carrier. Unger and his track did likewise behind 66. The 2nd Platoon then began to deploy, each track always a little to the right and a little farther behind the track in front. When the entire Team was deployed, it formed a large wedge that measured 700 to 800 meters at the base and had a depth of 500 meters. In this formation they could deal with any threat that appeared to the front or to either flank. When they began to pivot on 2nd Platoon and turn north, Bannon saw the first sergeant's track and the bandaid waiting in the tree line behind the scout platoon position. Harrert stood just out from the tree line alone and watched the Team deploy and turn. The first sergeant, whom he had known for several years, was reliable, steady, and a damned good tanker. He was a good man to have near in a tight spot. Bannon wondered for a moment what he was thinking of as he watched his company roll into the attack. Given the chance, Harrert would have traded places with anyone in the
Team. His company was going into the attack, and he was staying behind. He turned to walk away, went a few paces, stopped, glanced over his shoulder one more time, then disappeared into the tree line.
The young Soviet lieutenant played with the remains of his breakfast. It wasn't fit to eat, he thought, so he might as well get some other pleasure from it. The men of his small unit sat around finishing their meals or simply enjoying the chance to rest. The entire company, or more correctly, what was left of the company, had spent all night preparing fighting positions on the small hill overlooking a town named Lemm. Since there had been no engineer support available, all the work had been done by hand. On the first day of the war, the company had been with the first attack echelon. Heavy losses, including all of its officers except for the lieutenant, resulted in the company being pulled out on the second day. But instead of going into reserve, they had been sent to establish an outpost on the regiment's flank. The lieutenant didn't much care for the mission. With the exception of three tanks in Lemm, they were all alone. He looked at the collection of tired soldiers he had and decided if a fight did come, it wouldn't last long. Letting his mind wander, he thought that things could have been worse; the regiment could have sent a political officer with him.
As the Team passed between the two tree lines and crested a small hill, the terrain beyond opened up before it. The hill that was Objective LOG was directly in front about four kilometers away. The German countryside was lush and green on this August morning, just like any ordinary August morning. There wasn't anything to indicate the fact of a world war.
The very idea that this quiet and beautiful landscape was a battlefield seemed absurd.
But it was a battlefield. As the Team moved out from its last cover, all eyes for kilometers around were turning on it.
The Scout Platoon to the left, and Team Bravo on the right, watched Team Yankee as it rolled forward. The Team was ready for battle. Guns were oriented to cover their assigned sectors and all but the track commanders were buttoned up and ready for action. Team Bravo and the scouts watched in morbid curiosity, waiting to see what would happen next and thankful that they weren't the ones out in the open.
The other people, the Soviets, also watched. Their reaction was different. They began their scramble to meet the American movement. Reports were flashed to their commanders.
Gunners threw down their mess tins and slid into position. Loaders and ammo bearers prepared to load the next round. A new battlefield was about to mar the muchcontested Germany countryside. Team Yankee had two
