Ukrainian commander would then have time to dismount and organize his own command before going back into the woods to clear out the enemy. That, however, didn't seem like a good idea, since there had been reports of enemy tanks in the area. They, he thought, might be on the high ground, ready to engage his company as soon as it emerged from the woods. To stop there would only make the job of the enemy tanks easier. The final option available to him, as the Ukrainian commander saw it, was to forget about the Americans in the woods by the river line and just keep advancing toward the high ground. There, in the woods overlooking the bridge and open areas near the riverbank, he could deploy his company and cover the engineers as they put their bridge across the damaged highway bridge. Once that bridge was in place, the two tank battalions of the brigade would be able to cross over and join him. Then they could deal with the enemy tanks. That, he decided, would be the most advantageous decision for his company and the entire brigade.
The impact of the conditions under which the Ukrainian commander had to make this decision played no small part in his choice. In the small, cramped confines of his own BMP's turret, he could see precious little of the outside world, a forested world that was as black as the ace of spades and illuminated at random only by an occasional flash of gunfire or an explosion. The grinding of his BMP's engine, mixed with the chatter of the machine gun and the thunk-thunk-thunk of the 30mm cannon in the same turret he sat in, mingled with the firing of other BMPs outside. Added to this was an occasional bing-bing-bing as bullets, both enemy and friendly, ricocheted off the outside of his BMP. Under such conditions, coupled with his temporary loss of control over his company and the tension and stress of combat, it was a wonder that the Ukrainian company commander was able to think at all. But he could and did. Without any hesitation, he ordered his remaining vehicles to continue to advance through the woods and up to the high ground beyond. The follow-on company, he decided, could deal with the mess in the woods. He wanted to get out into the open where he could fight his company.
After skirting the edge of the tree line where Gross and his dismounts were located, Kozak was about to order Tish to make a left and head into the woods when Wolf yelled that he had acquired two BMPs to their front. Dropping down, Kozak put her eye to her sight. In the center of her sight, at a range of less than four hundred meters, Kozak saw the distinctive image of two BMPs moving across their front through the gap toward the high ground. 'GREAT! WE MADE IT.' Excited, Kozak began to issue her fire command. 'DRIVER, STOP. GUNNER?ARMOR PIERCING?BMPS?RIGHT BMP FIRST?'
But before she could give the order to fire, something moved in front of their sights and blocked their view of their intended targets, causing Wolf to yell, 'WHAT THE??'
Popping her head out of her hatch, Kozak was greeted by the image of three BMPs in a line emerging from the woods she had intended to go into. The nearest BMP, perpendicular to their line of fire, at less than ten meters, was blocking their line of sight. Kozak screeched, not bothering to key the intercom, 'BMPS! BMPS! FIRE! NOW!'
Realizing what was happening, Wolf jerked the trigger, sending a volley of 25mm armor-piercing and high- explosive rounds into the flank of the Ukrainian company commander's BMP. At that range, none missed.
With her head still up, Kozak was blinded by the impact of her own Bradley's rounds on the side of the BMP. The sound of the firing of the 25mm cannon and the impact of those rounds was mixed with the wild screams of the men and the explosion of stored ammunition inside the BMP Wolf was riddling. In a second, Kozak regained her senses. 'CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE.' Wanting to put some distance between her and the BMP they had just destroyed, so that they could maneuver around and engage the other two BMPs beyond it that continued to move forward, Kozak yelled to Tish, 'DRIVER! BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP!'
Responding to her commands, Tish jerked the Bradley into gear and started moving the vehicle backwards. They had not moved more than five meters when a stream of tracers emerged from the woods to their left and streaked across the front of Kozak's Bradley. Startled, Kozak looked over, just in time to see the nose and barrel of a BMP come out of the woods, almost ramming into the front left fender of Kozak's own Bradley.
'WOOF! BMP! LEFT, FIRE! FIRE! NOOOOW!'
While Tish was still backing up, Wolf traversed the turret, firing blindly as he did so, hoping to hit the enemy vehicle that Kozak was screaming about. When the image of the BMP's turret came into his sight, Wolf adjusted his fire and began to pump round after round into the turret of the enemy vehicle. As before, there was little chance to miss, and the effects on the enemy BMP were immediate and telling. When he was satisfied that the turret was wrecked, Wolf let up on the trigger, lowered his gun, and then raked the length of the BMP where the infantry squad sat with another volley.
As she watched to both her flank and front, Kozak ordered Tish to turn on the smoke generator, hoping that the veil of smoke would buy her some time to sort out what was going on.
As they broke out of the tree line, Rourk's gunner saw Kozak's Bradley, still backing up, and the BMPs to its front. Even as he yelled to Rourk, the gunner laid his sight on the first undamaged BMP he saw. Rourk didn't need the aid of a night vision sight to make out the forms of enemy BMPs and Kozak's Bradley. Without hesitation, Rourk yelled down to his gunner, 'Get the first BMP, to the right of the burning BMP, now.'
Used to Rourk's informal fire commands, the gunner gave the crew warning that he was about to fire by yelling, 'ON THE WAY.' With the aiming dot of his sight reticle laid on the center of mass of the enemy BMP, now moving around the burning hulk of the first BMP that Kozak had engaged, the gunner hit the laser range finder button, watched for a return, and then fired. At a range of less than two hundred meters, the hypervelocity, armor- piercing, fin-stabilized round ripped through the BMP and went screaming out the other side almost without pause. Seeing the effect of his first round, Rourk ordered the loader to switch to HEAT, high-explosive anti-tank rounds, before ordering his gunner to traverse right and engage the next BMP.
His wing man, however, pulling up next to Rourk's tank, got that one first. Like Rourk's, A33's gunner fired the armor-piercing round that was in the chamber. Though it was a waste of a good armor-piercing round, it was much quicker to empty the chamber by launching the round through the tube than having the loader try to unload it. And besides, in combat no one argued with a kill, even if the wrong ammunition was used.
Glancing back to see who had delivered her from the jaws of death, Kozak saw the two M-1A1 tanks to her rear. Directing Tish, she ordered her to stop making smoke and to continue to back the Bradley up until they moved in between Rourk's tank and a third M-1A1 that had come out of the woods. All the while, Wolf continued to search for more targets, and Rourk's three tanks continued to engage the last of the BMPs that had overrun Gross's position.
The engineers manning the roadblock peered out of the window of the farmhouse into the darkness as they listened to the sounds of the battle down by the river drift through the woods toward them. After the sudden and terrifying exposure to enemy artillery fire just short of their position, followed by the noise of battle that seemed to be coming closer and closer toward them, every noise, every motion, real and imagined, caused the engineers to jump. Left out there on their own, with no idea of what was happening, the engineer squad leader and his seven soldiers struggled to control their fears as they maintained their vigilance. Outside in a nearby field, the bellowing of a cow injured by the artillery barrage served to remind the engineers that this was for real, that there was a real enemy out there intent on killing them. Across the room, huddled in the corner of the farmhouse, the owner of the house, his wife, and two young children watched the engineers. At that moment in the darkness of the room, listening to the sounds of an approaching battle, it would have been difficult to tell who was more frightened.
'Sarge, Sarge. To the front. Something's coming up the road.' The warning, shouted by the gunner manning an M-60 machine gun, didn't need to be repeated. While his people aimed every weapon they had down the road, the squad leader wondered how long he should wait before challenging the approaching intruder.
Having no idea where the engineer roadblock was, but knowing that this was no time to screw around, Shildon kept running for all he was worth. Huffing and puffing, he made it up the last incline, picking up speed as he continued to pump his legs. Absorbed by his own exertions and unable to hear very much due to the pounding of his feet on the pavement and his labored breathing, Shildon didn't hear the halfhearted challenge given while he was still fifty meters from the farmhouse.
The realization that the intruder running at them had increased his speed, rather than stopping when he was challenged, left the engineer squad leader little choice. Without a second thought, he lifted his rifle to his shoulder and passed the word to open fire.
For a moment there was a pause in the action, a pause that allowed Kozak to catch her breath. It took her several seconds to calm down enough to look around and assess her situation. To her right sat Rourk's tank. Beyond that she could see another M-1A1 tank. To her left, just a few meters away, was a third tank. That she didn't see a fourth tank didn't occur to her. What did occur to her was that the tanks had arrived just in time,
