Moonless
- CO: Fer
|- Medic: Tigershark
I wrote
Moonless, so I know what has to be done. In practice, that doesn't mean a thing.
Phase one is straightforward: whilst ST1 scopes out the princple AO and marks targets, the rest of the platoon must ambush and eliminate a column of unsuspecting enemy infantry. We had rockets and satchels, but I knew we had to keep our RPG-7s for later; so it was to be an IED-led affair, with weight-of-fire to finish the job. I duly tasked Alpha, Bravo and Charlie with laying satchels before taking up (hidden) positions on the northern ridge; Delta and MMG occupied the southern ridge and were to act as primary lookouts. All other elements hid safely to the far north, partially as a reserve force, and partially because I didn't want elements like MAT1 taking casualties early on.
Enacting the ambush meant doing something TangoWrangler, a Folk comrade who played with us a while ago, taught me: have one side of the valley open up first, drawing the full attention of any survivors on the road, and only after a pause let your elements on the other side engage. That way, they're shooting the survivors in the back (and at a shallower angle if the survivors are mounting the opposite slope, seeking out the first of your elements to open fire). And although our execution was not this exactly, we made short work of the column for (almost) no losses on our own side. It was good teamwork.
Next, I formed Alpha, Bravo and Charlie fireteams into a 'squad wedge', aimed at the town in the princple AO but hidden safely behind a hill. I planned to fire this triangle of angry comrades at the town like a warhead, with MAT1 riding inside the formation; my plan being to get them into the cover of the town and fight outwards, rather than have them engage from the open terrain. However, somebody had to cover, so ST1 was joined on the hill by Delta, MMG, DC and CO elements. When the arrowhead of Alpha/Bravo/Charlie/MAT1 was halfway to target (the nearest buildings), the supporting elements on the hill opened up: killing technical gunners and infantry alike.
This is the point where, in a 1970s movie, we'd freeze the frame and zoom in (clumsily) on the truck-mounted ZSU at the T-junction. Because it wasn't at the T-junction; it was moving southwards along the road and hurling laser-beams of bright green death towards our positions high on the hill. I'm not sure if we took any casualties from that fire, but when Charlie's second RPG turned the angry AAA-unit into a fireball I was very grateful. Noticing the truck-mounted ZSU to the north-west, I asked ST1 to re-position and take it out; it was a fatal mistake (but, sadly, for our sniper): zeroing with shots invited a return pulse of accurate fire from the distant AAA-unit, and soon comrade spotter Bodge had to recover the bloodied SVD.
In the town below, our elements were amongst the buildings, shooting their way towards the centre. Casualties were taken, and I noted the loss of FTL comrade commisar Mort. My own medic, comrade Tigershark, was injured with me on the slope; I went to heal him, wondering why the report of our SVD sounded so similar to that of a Lee-Enfield.
The enemy squad had flanked us, appearing above us on the slope and close enough to make each shot count. In moments, all supporting elements were down, and I began to hear the first of those anxious calls over TeamSpeak, as FTLs in the town repeatedly tried to raise me for orders.
I hope some of the surviving comrades will take a moment to write-up the rest of this mission, but I want to give a particular shout-out to comrade SvDvorak, who gamely stepped up to lead the remaining men. This is not a forgiving mission, with enemies repeatedly coming from many sides (even those you might have thought cleared). Comrade SvDvorak re-grouped, re-tasked the fireteams, and methodically ticked off the remaining targets to complete the mission. That's only the second time I've seen it done, and the only time without the Hind for support. Excellent job, all.
