battalion commander came on the net and ordered two companies to reinforce Team Yankee at the bridge. The S-3 would continue to drive to the river and conduct the crossing farther to the west as planned. The colonel shifted the main effort to the bridge to prepare for the passage of the 25th Armored Division.
As dawn began to break, Team Yankee found itself momentarily alone and out on a limb again. But there was no sign of fear or apprehension. The men went about preparing for an enemy attack that they expected but would never receive. Unknown to them, far beyond the outpost line established by the scouts, men were making decisions and issuing orders that would start the final and potentially most deadly phase of the war.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Day After
When the battalion commander arrived, he began to expand the bridgehead. Team Yankee elements that were still south of the river were sent north and ordered to move forward and establish a defensive position on high ground four kilometers northeast of the bridge. B company was sent to establish a position four kilometers north of the bridge. The scouts were sent out farther but had the same mission. Team Charlie was kept south of the river to protect the bridgehead from attack there and to mop up Soviet stragglers still running around.
The only action of the day occurred when a company of Soviet tanks came down the road from the north. The scouts let them pass, reporting their location and allowing B company to prepare for them. It was obvious that the Soviets either didn't know the bridge had fallen or thought that the battalion's positions were farther south. Whatever the reason, B company made short work of them.
By 0700 hours, the lead element of the 25th Armored Division was crossing the river. From their positions, the men in Team Yankee could watch the endless line of vehicles and troops stream north. Once the 25th had passed through B company, B company and Team Yankee were ordered to move to new positions farther east, expanding the bridgehead. Team Charlie did likewise on the south side of the river. By noon the entire battalion, minus Team Charlie, was across the river, reconsolidated and again ordered to move farther to the east.
It was during this last move that word came down from battalion for all the commanders to gather at the battalion CP. When Bannon arrived, he was greeted with a stone-cold silence by the officers who were already there. They were standing around the rear of the command track listening into a conversation the colonel was having on the radio. Bannon stopped and thought to himself, 'Great, some dumb son of a bitch has come up with another nightmare of an operation.'
Coming up closer, he could only catch bits and pieces of the conversation. When the colonel finished, he put down the mike, stood there a moment. Turning to the S-3, he merely said,
'Well, I guess we're fighting a new war now. '
Bannon turned to Frank Wilson, the commander of Team Charlie, 'New war? What's the Old Man talking about? Did someone pop a nuke?' Frank looked at Bannon, closed his eyes, and nodded his head in the affirmative. They had crossed the nuclear threshold.
Colonel Hall came out of the track followed by Major Shell and stopped in the middle of the officers gathered. 'As some of you heard, the Soviets have initiated nuclear warfare. This morning they launched an attack with a single weapon against a British city, destroying it and causing severe damage to the surrounding area. The United States and Great Britain together retaliated by striking a Soviet city with several weapons. Although there have been no further exchanges, we are to assume that the Soviets will continue to use nuclear weapons, including tactical devices.' He paused for a moment to let this news sink in before he continued, 'As a result, the battalion will increase the distance between the company positions. Team Yankee will be pulled out of the line and held back as a reserve. The S-3 will provide you with details. I expect you to take all measures necessary to protect your force without losing sight of our mission.'
Major Shell pulled out his map board and pointed out where each company and team was to go. Team Yankee was to pull back into reserve positions. To reduce their vulnerability and present a less lucrative target, the platoons were spread out over a wide area. After some additional instructions, the commanders and staff dispersed and went about adjusting their units and assets to deal with the new threat.
News of the use of nuclear weapons put a pall on all activities and conversations. Up to now, the war had been manageable on a personal level. The Team had been in some very tight spots but had come out in relatively good shape. The men had met the Russians face-to-face and found that they could be defeated. They had confidence in the Team's weapons, its leaders, and the Team itself. They had been sure that they would win. The initiation of nuclear war, however, was different. Not only was there nothing that the Team could do to stop it, a nuclear war threatened the United States. Their families and friends four thousand miles away were now in as much danger as they were.
It was this fear of the unknown and the feeling of hopeless despair that became Bannon's greatest challenge. As soon as the Team was in its new positions, he went to each of the platoons and gathered the men around, going over what had happened and what it meant.
He explained the possible results and what they had to do. For the most part, however, he tried hard to be upbeat in his discussions and point out that they were not entirely helpless.
The Team still had a job to do and could still influence the outcome of the war.
By evening he didn't know whether or not his efforts had had any effect. Everyone was in a quiet, reflective mood, the men talking to each other only when necessary. For the most part, each man passed the night alone with his own thoughts and fears.
Bannon too was overcome with a feeling of despair and fear. As a soldier, it was his job to know about the effects of nuclear weapons. He knew national policy and the size of the nuclear arsenals that each side had. For the first time in many days his thoughts kept turning to his family. Nightmare images crept into his mind and destroyed his ability to reason and think. The stress of the last few days, exhaustion, and now the fears brought on by the thought of an all-out nuclear war were too much for him to handle. With no one to talk to or share his feelings with, he sought escape through sleep. Like a child faced with a situation beyond his control, he withdrew from the horrors of the real world and drifted into a fitful sleep.
Stand-to the following morning reminded Bannon of the first day. It was as if the Team had gone full circle and was starting anew. In a sense, this was true. Only the distant rumble of an occasional artillery round broke the stillness of the morning. As he greeted the men during his rounds, they responded in a perfunctory manner. Uncertainty and dread underlined everything they did. The lieutenants looked to Bannon, seeking guidance or inspiration or something. They found nothing. He could see this and their disappointment when he could not give them what they needed. Even a hot breakfast, the first cooked meal served in days, did little to raise morale. Something had to be done or he feared they would all go crazy.
After the morning meal was over, Bannon called the platoon leaders in for a meeting. He decided that it would be no use trying to play the cheerleader. Instead, he took the business as usual approach. When the leaders were assembled, he went down a list of protective measures that should have already been put into effect. Such things as every man, including the tank crews, digging foxholes, turning off all but one radio in every platoon, covering all optics when not in use, camouflaging everything, and more. In addition, he warned that the platoons needed to tend to their routine maintenance and personal hygiene.
The platoon leaders at first looked at him with puzzled stares. Since the start of the war they had become loose in some of the areas he wanted to tighten up. He simply returned their stares and told them that each platoon was to inform him when they thought they were ready for inspection. At the conclusion of the meeting he turned them over to the XO and went to battalion to see if there was any news on the progress of the 25th Armored or intelligence updates.
The news at battalion was good. First, there had been no further use of nuclear weapons since the first exchange. It appeared that the Soviets had decided to try to intimidate the Europeans by taking out one of their cities with a nuclear device. Birmingham in England had been chosen for this exercise in terror. The prompt retaliation by both Britain and the U.S. against the city of Minsk was enough to demonstrate the resolve and unity of NATO.
The cherished Soviet notion that the U.S. would not risk a nuclear attack on herself to save Europe had been disproved. Just as they had understood the purpose of the Soviet attack, the Soviets understood the meaning of
