Dixon, seated in front of the operations and intel maps between Cerro and his intelligence officer, leaned way back in the folding chair he was seated in until the front legs of the chair left the ground and his back began to arch forward. Reaching behind him blindly with his right hand, he opened it and waited for the phone. Behind him, the operations duty officer got up, leaned over the table he was at, and placed the phone receiver in Dixon's outstretched hand. As soon as Dixon had a firm grasp on it, the duty officer grabbed the phone line and began to feed more toward Dixon in anticipation of Dixon's returning back forward. Even this effort, however, did not help as Dixon, already talking on the phone, dragged the receiver across the duty officer's table, creating an avalanche of pens, pencils, notebooks, clipboards, coffee cups, and scraps of paper onto the ground. While Dixon was oblivious to this, Cerro shot the duty officer a dirty look while Command Sergeant Major Duncan grabbed the operations sergeant by the arm and quietly reprimanded him for failing to keep the duty desk neat and clear of unnecessary trash and clutter.
'Dixon.'
The corps G-3's voice betrayed how tired and harried he was. 'Scott, we have to pull the Apaches from you. Things aren't going well for the rangers, and they may need the attack helicopter support.'
Dixon grunted. 'Yes, sir. I understand that, sir. But that, sir, puts my flank guards in a tight spot. I expect that reserve brigade from Uzlovaya to plow into our southern flank any minute. I've only got one company down there. Taking away the Apaches leaves me little choice but to pull more forces from the drive on Mukacevo to cover my flanks.'
The corps G-3 wasn't moved by Dixon's argument. Not that Dixon expected him to be. 'I know, but you need to remember, you're only a supporting attack. The corps commander never expected you to make it to Mukacevo.'
'Yeah, I know. We're the red cape and it's our job to keep the bull busy while the rangers cut off his nuts. Well, tell Big Al that he had better hurry before we lose ours.'
The corps G-3 laughed. 'You know what Big Al will say to that.'
Dixon laughed too. 'Yeah, I know. He'll look at you and say, 'What's Dixon worried about? He doesn't know what to do with 'em anyway.' '
Turning serious, the G-3 asked Dixon how his brigade was doing. 'We're in good shape. No surprises, no problems yet that we didn't anticipate. Other than the fact that the Youkes are reacting faster than we had thought they would and my battalion commanders are moving into the Ukraine with everything that their units own plus, we're doing quite well. Loss of the Apaches may slow us down later, but for now, no problems.'
The corps G-3, satisfied with Dixon's assessment, promised him that he would return control of the Apaches as soon as they were finished supporting the extraction of the ranger company. Failing that, the G-3 promised Dixon that the Air Force would have some A- 10s on station at dawn to sweep the road and high ground ahead of his brigade.
Finished, Dixon held the phone over his head, waiting for the operations duty officer to take it, while he turned to Cerro. 'Well, you heard?'
Cerro nodded. 'We lose the Apaches. Okay, no problem. Do we shift another company down to the Latorica?'
Dixon, relieved of the phone, folded his arms and looked at the map for a moment as he thought. 'No, not yet. Hal, contact the 2nd of the 35th Armor. Tell them I want a string on one of their companies, tank heavy. Their mission, if I need it, will be to move south to reinforce or relieve Kozak at the Latorica.'
'Do we want to shift priority of fires to Kozak's company?'
Dixon thought about that, then shook his head. 'No, not yet. But I do want you to have one of the OH-58 Delta scouts move south and keep an eye on things down there.' Dixon turned to Cerro and pointed his finger at him. 'Be prepared to shift priority of fires if things get really tight down there, but don't do so without my permission. With the Apaches gone and the A-10s unavailable until dawn, we may need the artillery to blow through any roadblocks further down the line. Our main effort still remains keeping the pressure up on Mukacevo and drawing the Ukrainians' heavy forces away from the rangers. The best way we can do that is to keep moving. Kozak will have to do the best she can with what she has.'
Turning toward the map, Cerro looked at the blue map symbol that represented Kozak's company. Sitting at a point just north of the Latorica River, where the road to Chop crossed it, the small blue company marker was threatened by an ominously large red marker that represented a Ukrainian tank brigade. The intelligence duty officer, having posted the Ukrainian brigade symbol, had drawn a large red arrow pointing from it right at the center of the symbol that represented Kozak's company. Cerro mused as he continued to look at the map, 'Well, young Captain Kozak has her work cut out for her.'
Dixon said nothing at first. Instead he stood up and stretched, his hands reaching the canvas roof of the forward command post's tent extension. 'Hal, I got the feeling that before this thing is over, we'll all have our hands full.' Dropping his arms, he put his hands on his hips and looked about his command post, then back to Cerro. 'Get on the horn and let 3rd of the 3rd Infantry know the Apaches are going away.'
Turning to Command Sergeant Major Duncan, Dixon informed him that he and Colonel Vorishnov were going forward in his tank.
Without another word, he walked out and let his staff go about issuing the orders and instructions necessary to deal with the brigade's new situation.
CHAPTER 4
The attack on Kozak's position north of the Latorica River was slow to develop, reflecting the Ukrainian brigade commander's surprise that American forces were already deployed so close to Chop, his uncertainty of the precise location and composition of those forces, and his standing orders. While the loss of his entire advanced guard detachment of three tanks before they could provide him with any detailed information was regrettable, at least the initial garbled report of their platoon leader gave him something to work with. The report that they were being hit by long-range tank fire, and subsequent reports from a recon unit that arrived moments later, confirmed that the engagement had taken place two thousand meters south of the bridge. Based on the information he had at hand, he assumed he was facing a flank screen by an armored cavalry unit. That would account for the speed with which the Americans had arrived at their positions and the presence of tanks. A deliberate attack, he decided, rather than a hasty one, would therefore be more effective, since a series of progressively larger hasty attacks would only allow the Americans to grind up his combat power a little at a time. One full-blooded and coordinated attack, with all the combat power he could bring to bear, would not only scatter the screening force, it would leave his forces in the proper formations for further attacks north toward Uzhgorod.
There was, of course, the problem of crossing the river. Destruction of the highway bridges complicated his mission. As the Ukrainian brigade assembled west of Chop, its commander and his staff pondered their options at the junction where Highway 17 turned north toward the Latorica. As throngs of frightened refugees struggled to get around, past, or through the tanks and personnel carriers of the brigade, the brigade commander realized that only two real choices existed. He could either move his forces to the east and cross at another site or conduct an assault crossing north of Chop.
His choice of options, however, was limited due to his literal translation of his standing orders. If, those orders stated, an attack originated from Slovakia, he was to deploy his brigade from their garrison at Uzlovaya to Chop. From there, he was to cross the Latorica via the highway and railroad bridge, which the orders assumed would be intact. Once assembled on the north side of the Latorica, the Ukrainian brigade was to attack north along Highway 17, into the flank of the invading force, using Uzhgorod as their objective. Unable to contact the commander of the Ruthenia Military District, the Ukrainian brigade commander felt he had little choice but to carry out his standing orders to the letter. Other units throughout Ruthenia depended upon the success of his operations. Besides, as one of his staff officers commented during their discussions, the number of refugees was multiplying by the hour. Using vehicles of every description, they were clogging the roads throughout the area, as well as the streets of Chop. It was, the staff officer pointed out, at best questionable if they could turn the brigade around and countermarch it back through Chop to a crossing site east. Seeing that his brigade was already 70 percent
