Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5), page 22
Truth be told he had thought about it several times, but it wasn’t in his nature to surrender and he had made a commitment to General Magnus’s cause. Once they saw it was clear they returned to the vehicle and headed out. The plan was to follow the same route out that they did in, dodging the checkpoints and patrols, hoping that the checkpoints were somewhat stationary and they didn’t move them often. Not to mention it was still very early in the morning and again they hoped that the patrols might not notice them.
Pulling out onto the street it was dark and quiet because no lights any place, and they were moving at a fairly brisk pace, heading north along the coast first. The Corporal and PFC were pushing the SSG to keep on heading north, past their original route, “This isn’t a sightseeing tour!” The SSG told them. “We need to get back and brief the General ASAP. I swear if you keep bitching about it I’ll shoot you.”
They were following the same route they had come in; however, there was now a glitch in the plan, because there was a Marine checkpoint on the road ahead that hadn’t been there before. The SSG was driving, and upon seeing the new checkpoint, he slowed. “Shit,” The SSG simply said.
This caused the two other soldiers to look at what he was seeing. “What do we do?” the Corporal asked.
“I want both of you to sit there and shut the fuck up. I swear if you say anything, I’ll kill you,” the SSG said sharply.
The two soldiers looked at him, and the PFC responded, “Right,” while staring at the SSG knowing he was full of shit.
They didn’t stop, but rolled up to the checkpoint slowly. The Marines stepped out, standing about ten feet from the vehicle while looking into it. The Marine closest to them walked over and opened the door to the driver’s side Humvee, “What are you guys up to?” He asked.
“We’re lost,” the SSG said. “Trying to find our way back to the 82nd.”
The Marine laughed. “You doggy boys are always getting lost.”
The SSG just stared at the Marine. “Do you know where they are?”
The Marine saw the soldier he was speaking to was a Staff Sergeant. He knew that he could still get his ass chewed out for insubordination. “Yes Staff Sergeant.” The Marine responded with respect. “If you follow this road for five miles, make a left on Rosecrans, follow that down two more miles, and their HQ CP should be on your left. Assuming they haven’t jumped to a new site.”
“Thank you Corporal.” The Staff Sergeant responded, then grabbed the door and pulled it shut and maneuvered the Humvee around the barricade. The two other Marines sat there in silence, stunned that the ruse had actually worked. Once a few miles down the road they all broke out in laughter.
Chapter Fifty-One
General Magnus sat in his CP by himself; he had asked his staff to leave after the meeting he had with the Staff Sergeant and two other Marines that had returned from the coast. This was the first time he had second guessed whether or not they would be successful. He knew there was no present way they could fight an aircraft carrier, even one, and a battleship. He knew that he had to stay out of flight and gun range of the two ships.
A runner arrived from Third Brigade with a message from its commander that wasn’t good news. A large enemy force from the west had hit them hard in the flank; it was a miracle that the flank hadn’t collapsed. However, he had to shift forces to cover the hole in the line the enemy had created, before they could exploit it. This left his line thinner in other areas and it was only a matter of time before enemy forces would break through. The runner even told General Magnus it was entirely possible it had happened while he was gone.
General Magnus asked if they knew the identity of the enemy forces, and the runner merely replied, “Marines.”
Damn, General Magnus thought, he knew they had to have come from the ships off the coast, but how many? With Third and Second Brigade out of the way, it was wide open for the enemy to drive into his own flank. Third Brigade had almost twenty-five hundred men and women, but the General knew they were under attack by the 184th Infantry Regiment and were barely holding their own against them. Then to throw the Marines at them, he knew it was a lost battle.
For now the fighting toward his front was primarily an exchange of artillery, both sides attempting to prep the battlefield. The problem was that General Magnus only had so many shells to fire at the enemy, and his batteries would only be able to support any effort for the next twenty-four hours. After that, it was up to the infantry. At the same briefing he ordered his infantry units to continue to probe the enemy flanks, to keep trying to find a hole in the line. The field commanders highly doubted the General’s ability to deal with the reality of the current situation.
To the east General Magnus still wasn’t fully aware of the ramifications of what was coming his way. The Marines led by Colonel Bit would drive hard into the Fourth Brigade flank at about 0600 the following morning. Up to this point Fourth Brigade was far too involved with the 28th Infantry Division that the 28th ID had stopped them and the Fifth Brigade with the help of the 184th Infantry Regiment dead in their tracks. It even seemed to both Brigade commanders that the two units were toying with them and they could over-run them anytime they wanted.
The 28th and 184th had dug in deep and there was no way they were going to root them out with artillery. If they wanted them out of the way, they were going to have to fight their way through them. Man-to-man they weren’t sure they were going to be able to that, but if ordered, and they were sure they were going to be, they would do their best. For now, and the rest of the night, there was a wonderful fireworks show going down. Artillery batteries on each side were trading round-for-round, and as long as they weren’t the target, they were content to sit in their foxholes and watch.
Around 0324 that morning, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, Fourth Brigade began to take fire on their left flank. Previously it had been quiet out there; it was one of the places they felt safe. That had changed within the matter of minutes, starting with small arms fire, than what sounded like a Ma-deuce opened up. Reports were coming into Fourth Brigade’s CP that they were taking casualties; an unknown enemy was probing the lines on their far eastern flank. It wasn’t a lot of fire they were taking, but it was a different location every fifteen or twenty minutes. It was clear that whoever it was they were looking for a weakness in the line.
By 0432 it had all stopped; the units on Fourth Brigades flank reported that it was all quiet now. Fourth Brigade’s commander and command staff believed scouting units from the 28th ID were trying to make their way around. They all falsely believed that their lines were strong on the flank and the enemy units gave up and returned back to their units. At 0500 the artillery barrages that had been going on all night long stopped and it was quiet. Men on both sides wondered what happened next, but there was nothing. Commanders on both sides expected soldiers to come screaming and charging through their lines any minute, but there was nothing.
At 0605 Fourth Brigades flanks came under heavy enemy fire, but it was nothing like they had ever seen before. There were enemy vehicles that looked a lot like Marine LAC-25s firing their 25 mike mikes though their lines. Even odder were what looked like Marine AAVs moving in, firing their machine guns, dropping their rear ramps and depositing their contents. It was surreal to the soldiers of the Fourth Brigade. Where in the hell did the Marines come from? How did they get here?
There was an incredible amount of firepower being directed to the soldiers from the Marines. By 0700 the Marines had control over the Fourth Brigades flank. They cleared up out north and south. Hundreds of soldiers from the Fourth Brigade surrendered. What surprised the Fourth Brigade commanders was that once the Marines contained the eastern flank, they didn’t press the attack. They halted and set up camp. If the Marines felt comfortable enough to stop and well…relax, for many of the soldiers and their officers, it was a sign that there were worse things to come.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Major General Boney stood hunched over the sand table in his CP. They had mapped out all of the Army of the Potomac’s positions toward their front. From captured soldiers they knew it was the Fourth and Fifth Brigades. They also knew they were facing off close to five thousand men and women, so the 28th ID and 184th Infantry Regiment were significantly outnumbered. However, General Boney knew that he had a total of three thousand Marines, divided in half, to his east and west. The Marines were their equalizer, and they were heading his way in support of their effort.
The General also knew that they had far more firepower and a way to resupply when needed. Their intelligence told him that General Magnus had artillery, armored Humvees with machine guns, which was largely the extent of what they had—no armor, no aircraft, but a lot of infantry. For now, 11th ACR was wreaking havoc throughout the Army of the Potomac’s lines. They would punch a hole in a spot, break through and that attack the rear echelon, and before they could mount an effective counter attack, they were gone. This had to be frustrating to General Magnus; he really couldn’t counter with armor as he had none.
Up to now it had been primarily a war of trading artillery rounds, tit-for-tat, with no real damage being done to either side. Those guns had gone quiet on both sides. More intelligence from the soldiers captured was that the Army of the Potomac had no more artillery shells and had no way of resupplying. General Boney didn’t see the point in continuing the bombardment; he still felt that the men and women he was fighting were United States Service men and women, brethren. He felt it wasn’t entirely their fault that their commander was a lunatic.
While General Boney leaned over studying the sand table, his radios kicked alive, his RTOs quickly started taking notes, and the General could hear the reports as well. Apparently, there were several hundred Marines making their way through their lines right now. They had two one-star Generals with them, one Marine Brigadier General Lane and another Army Brigadier General Clayton. The Army Brigadier sounded familiar to him, but the Marine Officer he had never heard of. General Boney quickly moved to his desk and shuffled through his various reports. He knew he had read the name someplace. He found it. It was actually a message FLASH – YOUR EYES ONLY – he had received a few days ago.
The Chairman and Joint Chiefs were furious with the Brigadier General Clayton; he had left the Capital under orders of the President of the United States to find the Marines near Baltimore and convince them to move east to help the 28th ID. God Bless General Clayton, General Boney thought, because they could use all the help they could get. He remembered now why he set the message aside; the message noted that the President, the Commander of all United States Armed Forces issued the orders. The last that General Boney had heard the President still outranked the Joint Chiefs, and as far as he was concerned, it was all sour grapes by the Joint Chiefs. They were upset that the President usurped their authority, which he had every legal right to do.
As he was reviewing the reports a Humvee pulled up to his CP. Oddly enough, it was the two Brigadier Generals that he was only moments ago reading about. The two one-stars exited the Humvee and reported to Major General Boney, “Your reputation precedes you General Clayton; the Joint Chiefs want your head on a silver platter.”
“Is that so, sir?” General Clayton replied. General Clayton handed over a copy of his orders from the President. “I read the Constitution; the President is the commander and I follow his orders not theirs.”
“Whoa! General I’m actually on your side. Technically I don’t come under their command, I’m a guard unit out of Pennsylvania, so my commander is the Governor of that State. I’ve yet to hear from him so I’m acting on what I happen to believe the best interests of my state.”
Both General Lane and General Clayton hadn’t even considered that. They had assumed the 28th ID had been federalized, but it was true now that they were thinking about it, they hadn’t been. “Why don’t you two grab some coffee and show and let’s sit down and talk about how we can get that bastard General Magnus,” General Boney said.
General Lane and Clayton hadn’t eaten anything in over twelve hours, and they were starving; fortunately the 28th ID had a full mess facility located with the General’s CP. The mess hall was a GP Large tent, and it was almost empty. Food was available to the troops twenty-four hours a day. That’s the way General Boney liked it, wanted it and that’s all that mattered. By the time the 28th ID made it to Fredericks, they realized they were down to about two months’ worth of food. After they arrived and were able to make contact with the Pentagon, they were resupplied and because the Army of the Potomac hadn’t been able to effectively attack their rear echelon and convoys, they had regular resupplies, mostly T-Rats.
They ate a quiet meal, neither man talking much, but sitting there thinking. “Ready to head back?” General Lane asked.
“Roger that, let’s do it.”
The two men stood, exited the mess hall and walked back to the CP. John Clayton looked toward the sky as they walked back. It was a clear night, and the stars and moon were clearly visible. “It’s a beautiful night.” John stated as they walked back.
Entering the CP they found General Boney’s staff busy. They were updating the sand table and maps with the most recent intelligence. “Great! There you are, let’s get to work.” General Boney was enthusiastic.
General Boney directed the two officers to the maps hanging from the boards that surrounded the sand table. “We’ve updated the maps with new intelligence while you were eating. We know that we are facing Fourth and Fifth Brigades of the Army of the Potomac, close to five thousand men and women. We know that the artillery fire over the past day really did little to affect their war fighting abilities. We know that these are infantry, all of them are National Guard, with some volunteers, probably prior service, that they picked up on the way.”
General Boney pointed out on the maps the locations and spoke to them as Generals Lane and Clayton watched and listened. “The 28th and 184th has forty-five hundred combat soldiers facing them off. With your Marines General Lane it makes it pretty much even.”
General Lane laughed off the comparison of his Marines to the National Guard Soldiers. “I’ll put up my 900 Marines against a couple thousand poorly trained National Guard folks any day of the year.”
Both General Boney and Clayton looked hard a General Lane, then it occurred to General Lane that he had just insulted a Major General in the United States Army. “I’m sorry sir, I meant no disrespect. I’ve heard great things about the 28th.” General Lane was trying to backtrack his earlier remark.
“Nice save General,” General Boney shook his head, staring at General Lane. “Regardless of how you feel about the situation where do you see your Marines fitting in?”
General Lane stared at the map. “My Marines are here, and as far as I can tell right now we have a clear shot and his rear echelon and we could clear it out, if your Intel is correct.”
“I don’t want you going too far,” General Clayton said. “I’ve got a surprise coming for General Magnus.”
“Do you care to elaborate General?” General Boney asked, intrigued by the remark.
“No sir, not at this time.”
“Hmmmm…..” Was the only reply General Boney had? He wasn’t used to being usurped by a one star. “General Lane I like your plan, it’s simple and to the point. If you can break through it would also draw their attention and resources from a main attack to their front.”
“Exactly what I was thinking too sir. We make a lot of noise, which we Marines are very good at. We drive through the lines, rampage in their rear long enough for them to pull resources off their lines.”
Major General Boney was beaming, “It’s a plan than, so let’s get the others in here and get this plan in gear.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Brigadier General Lane returned to his own Command Post, called his staff in and prepared the battle plan. They had already been probing the lines to their west and had a very good idea where the weaknesses were. The operation would involve all of his combat Marines, and would kick off at 0230 the following morning. For the next twelve hours they planned and briefed the commanders. Once the commanders had been briefed, they returned to their men and women and briefed them.
This went on for the rest of the night. The following morning and throughout the day the Marines ate and slept. After that, their NCOs ran thought final preparations with everyone down to the last man and woman in their Platoons and Squads. They were prepared as they could be. Final briefings and status were collected at 0100 and everyone was moved to their respective jumping off points. It was going to be a long day for everyone involved.
At 0230 the Marine artillery batteries began firing round after round into specific points along the line. The point of the artillery was to keep the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac heads down on either flank. This would allow the main thrust to focus on driving a wedge right down the middle and open up a hole. Ten minutes after the artillery barrage started, Marine machine guns opened up on the soldiers throughout the line of the main attack. The soldiers, not to be outdone, returned machine gun fire accurately actually surprising the Marines, who were a bit overconfident.
The Marines began to move slowly taking ground a few feet at a time. By 0400 they hadn’t moved more than two hundred feet and both sides were taking casualties. It was becoming evident that it was going to be a slugfest. The Marines were great at small unit tactics, but what they were unaware that right in front of them was a National Guard Ranger Company. They were giving as well as they got. The Rangers were outgunned four-to-one and had placed various minefields in front of their positions, which the Marines didn’t know about.
