Yesterda's War 8 - Untimely Warriors, page 31
The other team of Militia commandos received similar instructions and had been equipped similarly. After this point, each team went in their own direction based on the intelligence that they had gathered and the conditions on the ground.
The two teams already had predetermined evacuation points that they would go to if necessary. Otherwise, they were on their own. Fortunately, they were also well-trained in the use of foreign weapons so that they could replenish their weapons and ammunition by taking it from their opponents.
Chapter Forty:
1st Derby Militia Combat Team
2km West of Jerimani, New Guinea
March 4, 1999
The 1st Derby Militia Combat Team had been in almost continuous movement westward for nearly two days, stopping only briefly to refuel, grab a quick meal, and switch out drivers, before continuing their headlong drive. They were pushing as quickly as possible to confront the Indonesian invasion force in the hope of disrupting the invaders before they had an opportunity to dig in.
Small groups of airmobile infantry had gone ahead of the Combat Team in tilt-wing transports to reinforce the handful of security forces that were already based at the western edge of New Guinea at the time of the invasion. But they could only bring relatively light weapons with them. Also, increasing numbers of Indonesian Air Force fighters flying over the invasion area soon drove off almost all flights of reinforcements there.
Captain Conway and his scouts were pushing ahead of the rest of the Combat Team when he received an alarming radio report from one of his scout vehicles.
“Scout Six, this is Scout One-Four. We have contact with enemy armored vehicles, four kilometers ahead of your current position.”
The crew of the scout car quickly gave an eight-digit grid coordinate where they had spotted the enemy unit. But the description was all the more alarming.”
“Scout One-Four, please say again the description of the enemy vehicles.” Captain Conway requested.
The scouts confirmed their initial reporting as they were already on the move to avoid a direct confrontation.
Captain Conway immediately went to the Combat Team’s command frequency to contact both the Combat Team’s small intelligence section and Major David Myer’s, the Combat Team’s overall commander whose command vehicle had joined the rest of the team a few hours earlier after being delayed in transit.
Major Myer quickly radioed back.
“This is Reaper Six, what have your scouts found, Scout Six?”
“Reaper Six, they have reported that there is an Indonesian armored force moving east towards us. According to my men, it appears to be at least two companies of armored personnel carriers and a company of Russian-made tanks of very recent manufacture. These tanks may be armed with 100 or 122-millimeter main guns.
Can we call up one of our recon drones to take a look and see if they can confirm what my scouts have reported, Sir?”
“Let me give Port Moresby a quick call and see if we can whistle up some support. They’ve been a little hesitant to commit our drones for fear that they might get shot down. They’ve still been focused on securing the airspace around Port Moresby, but we’ve now got a mixed bag of Goshawks, Kestrels, and Dragonfly IIIs there plus some Archer gunships.
I’ll push to get you that drone support as quickly as possible along with either some Archer support or some fixed-wing assets. Just give me a few minutes, Archie.”
“Roger that, Reaper Six. Just don’t take too long about it. This is the first that I have heard of the Indonesians having any bloody Russian medium tanks, much less modern tank designs.”
Major Myer then got back onto the Team’s command frequency to contact his tank destroyer platoon leader.
“Talon Six, This is Reaper Six.”
As soon as Major Myer got a hold of Captain Taylor, he ordered him to move up his tank destroyers to the head of the column and to take up ambush positions.
At the same time, Captain Conway was ordering all of his scouts to get off of the main road to find whatever cover they could find. He didn’t them to be pinned down and smashed by those enemy tanks.
Captain Conway’s four-wheeled lightly-armored scout cars were armed with the standard remote weapons station. But in the case of these vehicles, the two machine guns were supplemented with a launcher for an anti-tank guided missile launcher with a single missile container-launcher.
The road had been recently cut through a heavily forested area though. That would limit the places where large armored vehicles could hide. It also would make it very difficult for the scouts to engage with their missiles at the longer ranges where they worked best.
Less than ten minutes later, a torrent of automatic weapons fire erupted from the advancing Indonesian vehicles, followed by a furious reply as the scout cars raked the enemy vehicles with their machine guns.
Captain Conway found one of the Indonesian armored personnel carriers beginning to enter the sights of his vehicle’s 6cm automatic cannon.
“Light him up.” Archie immediately ordered his gunner.
A three-round burst of armor-piercing shells ripped through the eight-wheeled APC’s light armor, destroying the vehicle’s engine and setting it on fire. Indonesian infantry poured out of the back of the vehicle and were immediately engaged by machine gun fire as they sought to find cover.
Archie heard the deep boom from a heavy gun firing in front of him, followed immediately by a fiery explosion. Archie gritted his teeth as he saw a large column of smoke begin to rise from where one of his scout cars had been located.
Captain Taylor’s tank destroyers rushed forward, firing their massive smoothbore cannons at the first enemy tank that they saw, piercing it right through the front of its turret. The Indonesian tank’s ammunition stores ignited a second later, shattering the tank and hurling the heavy turret several meters in the air before landing upside down.
It was a daring move on the part of the Militia tank destroyers since they traded off heavy armor protection for their high mobility. A hit from one of the enemy tank guns would have utterly destroyed a Militia tank destroyer.
Captain Conway and his four agile tracked scout vehicles pushed up at the same time, finding openings in the forest on either side of the road and using them to flank the Indonesian tanks. Once there, the little vehicles were able to punch through the thinner side and rear armor of the big Indonesian tanks as well as holing any of the enemy armored personnel carriers that chanced within the scout vehicles’ sights.
Indonesian infantry poured out of their vehicles, especially those that had been hit, and tried to find some cover from the automatic weapons fire that the Militia troops continued to fire upon the invaders’ column.
The ground around the Indonesian force began to erupt as the Combat Team’s self-propelled howitzers began to rain 45-kilogram high-explosive shells down upon the invaders. Indonesian tanks were hit, one after the other, either by rocket-propelled anti-tank grenades or by high-velocity rounds fired by Militia armored vehicles.
The battle raged for fifteen or twenty minutes with the air filled with sounds of gunfire, explosions, high-revving vehicle motors, and soldiers screaming, either at each other or in pain after being wounded.
Major Myer then received a call over the radio from Port Moresby.
“We have an armed drone coming in from the north. You will need to have your artillery cease fire so that the drone can move in.”
Major Myer was also given the necessary frequencies and codes so that he could receive the video feed from the drone. His fire support officer was standing next to Major Myer with a portable video terminal that was now showing imagery from the drone. The drone had eight laser-guided antitank missiles under its wings that the Team’s FSO put to immediate use as he designated the still operational Indonesian tanks first.
One by one, the invaders’ tanks were hit and either disabled or destroyed. The drone’s remaining missiles were used to do the same to the surviving armored personnel carriers.
Once this was complete, the firing quickly died down. Without the support of the heavy armor, Indonesian soldiers began to throw down their weapons and walk out into the middle of the road with their hands over their heads.
Captain Conway’s scouts rounded up the growing number of prisoners and began to check them for any hidden weapons before leading them to a nearby clearing.
Archie took the opportunity to walk up to one of the knocked-out Indonesian tanks and closely examine it.
The burning tank was in many ways, a classic Russian tank design. It matched the pattern of the latest generation of Russian tank with the wide, low-slung hull, steeply-sloped front glacis plate, and its five large road wheels on each side in the classic Christie configuration.
However, this tank had a large, almost boxy turret, unlike the low, circular turrets that had been the norm for recent Russian tank design. The front of the turret was heavily angled with a long-barreled 122mm main gun tipped with a large muzzle brake. The sides of the turret were also sloped, though not nearly as acutely as the front. The rear of the turret had a large, boxy overhanging bustle, however.
After looking over the still-burning enemy tank, Archie was finally able to walk up to the wreckage of the armored scout car that had been smashed by the Indonesian tank’s cannon. The markings on the vehicle indicated that it was commanded by Sergeant Jonathan Norman, one of his scout squad leaders.
Sergeant Norman was an engineer with Cavill Automotive. Archie also knew Sergeant Norman’s wife and three children. Archie almost threw up when he saw the burning, broken remains of the vehicle’s crew. Archie saw two other bodies also in the vehicle. There was no sign yet of the vehicle’s fourth crewman though.
Militia medics rushed up to treat the wounded from both sides. Archie walked up to find out information on the situation regarding Militia casualties. There didn’t appear to be any other Militia vehicles lost besides the one scout car, though one of the tracked scout vehicles and one of the tank destroyers were lightly damaged.
Captain Conway was standing there off of the side of the road, giving instructions to soldiers as they moved back and forth and periodically talking to his remaining scouts over a portable radio when the Combat Team’s commander rode up in a light tactical truck, got out, and walked up.
“I guess that we won this first fight. What are our casualties, Captain?” Major Myer asked as he looked out towards where the main part of the battle occurred.
“We’ve lost ten killed and forty-three wounded, Sir. I also lost one of my light scout vehicles as well.” Archie grimly reported.
“Do you have any idea about enemy losses, Archie?” Major Myer then asked.
The two officers looked over as a squad of Militia infantry was escorting a column of Indonesian POW’s walking with their hands over their heads towards a temporary assembly area.
“I’m not entirely sure yet. From what I have seen, we have captured at least four hundred POW’s. We’ve disabled or destroyed all fourteen enemy tanks here. We’ve also captured five armored personnel carriers and either destroyed or disabled another three dozen or so more.” Archie explained.
While he was proud of what his soldiers had accomplished, the death and destruction of the battle was a very sobering experience.
“Have you seen any enemy artillery yet?”
“No, Sir. I haven’t. There were some light and medium-caliber mortars with the enemy infantry here. But they never really had the chance to employ them against us before we captured the weapons and their ammunition.”
“Thank God for small favors. It could have been a lot worse if your scouts hadn’t spotted the enemy force in time though.”
“That’s true. It would have been one hell of a bloody mess for our mates if the buggers had been able to get a couple of kilometers closer or if they had spotted us first.”
“I’ll contact Port Moresby and have our people there push up replacements along with additional ammunition as quickly as possible. We need to get back on the advance as quickly as possible still.”
“We are going to need persistent drone or manned aerial coverage if we are going to be able to successfully continue to advance and neutral their beachhead. My scouts are very good. But I’ve already lost an eighth of my scout vehicles and several of my mates. I won’t have any of them left before we reach the enemy.
Plus, the Indonesians have got to be digging in right now. We have to be hitting them from the air as much as possible to slow them down and attrite them as much as possible at the same time.”
“Colonel Andersen has told me that the Australian military is working very quickly to get more troops and aircraft up here. They believe that they have sufficient air defense assets at Port Moresby now to be able to push forward both tactical air defense systems and some of our own aerial assets.” Major Myer explained.
“I hope so. I really don’t want to see any more of my friends lying there dead after having been blown to pieces or burned to cinders.”
Chapter Forty-One:
Presidential Palace
Jakarta, Indonesia
March 4, 1999
While the first major clash on the ground between the Indonesian invasion force and the Australians was occurring, President Munaf was receiving some very disturbing news about activities within his own country. His Minister of Defence Jabar Wijaya came unannounced to the President’s office.
“Minister Wijaya, why are you here? I hope it is to tell me of our success in invading and reclaiming New Guinea.”
“Sir, our invasion force is continuing to push east towards Port Moresby. While the enemy’s resistance is stiffening and the Australian Navy is finally beginning to deploy out of their bases, these were to be expected. The Australian forces that are hitting our lead forces and slowing down our advance are being transported through Port Moresby.
But there are other very disturbing events that I must also inform you about. We have received reports of several of our military convoys having been hit by unknown forces. The convoys were very badly hit and have also suffered heavy casualties. There have also been attacks on two of our oil fields as well as one of our air bases.”
“What happened at the air base? They must be bandits since the enemy could not have possibly placed soldiers into our nation without us detecting them.”
“We are not entirely sure that these are bandits. Their actions and targeting are very focused as if they were committed by people with commando training. More than a dozen aircraft were hit by projectiles that appeared to be from a heavy machine gun, but there were no reports of automatic weapons fire in the area. The aircraft were hit in the cockpit area or their engines.”
“How badly damaged were they?”
“All of the aircraft that were hit in their engines will require the replacement of the damaged engines, Sir. We do not have nearly enough spare engines to replace them all. Our maintenance personnel are attempting to take serviceable engines from the worst damaged aircraft to replace some of those damaged engines, but that will take time.
The aircraft that have had their radars or other important electronic systems damaged will have to have those repaired or replaced. Like with engines, we have only a limited number of replacement electronic components for this equipment.
Essentially, we bought the weapons and aircraft. But we did not spend much of our funding to repair them. Our view was that the war would be over before we would need to worry about fixing anything.
But the worse consequence of these attacks is that several of the aircraft also caught fire are were not only completely destroyed, but also damaged adjacent aircraft at the same time.”
“Can we continue our operations without these damaged and destroyed aircraft?”
“Yes, but the aircraft that were targeted were among some of our most valuable models. It is significantly impacting our ability to sustain our operations. If we lose any more of these aircraft, whether in direct combat operations, losses due to malfunctions, or by more of these attacks at their airbases, our ability to counter the Australians will be severely degraded.
My recommendation is that we divert some of our troops from the invasion ports for a short while and have these soldiers hunt down these enemy agents and saboteurs.”
“This is a matter that our internal security forces need to handle. We cannot afford to divert any of our invasion troops away from their primary mission of reclaiming all of New Guinea for our people.”
“Very well, Sir. I will pass your instructions to our internal security forces to redouble our efforts to find and eliminate these enemy agents and saboteurs.”
“We need to get our missiles ready to fire upon the selected targets. Our patrons are becoming anxious that we are not acting sufficiently to cripple Cavill Industries.”
“Our missiles are being moved into position and will be ready to fire upon their targets in less than twenty-four hours. I would recommend that we allocate more of our missiles against Port Moresby to cut off Australia’s ability to reinforce their troops in New Guinea.”
“No, we must maintain the existing targeting priorities. You will just have to ensure that you’re selecting the most important targets to hit at Port Moresby for the missiles that you already have allocated for there.
As the Indonesian President discussed the employment of his ballistic missile force, somewhere in the Timor Sea, the ISS ship Heron prepared to launch a special missile strike of its own that would seriously compromise the defense of the skies over Indonesia and its invasion fleet.
“Let’s get those trucks up on the flight deck and secured as quickly as possible.” Captain Julia Frost ordered. The dark hair of the tall, slender officer was blowing in the breeze as she stood on the modified container ship’s bridge, nervously looking over the frantic activities on the flight deck.
This was the first combat operation for Julia as the commander of one of the armed ISS Cormorant-class ships. But she had been working for Cavill Shipping as well as being a member of the Derby Militia for twenty years before this time. Julia had certainly proven her competence well before being given command of Heron though.
