The Red Tide: A WW3 Tactical RP(IC, Closed)

[Australian Antarctica]

Fabron wandered out from the HQ building, wincing as a cold gust of wind hit him. Growing up in southern France he was used to nice warm Springs, not these bitter cold hellish springs that they had here. He pulled down his stocking cap and walked the perimeter of the FOB, nodding at the artillery crews that were constantly shelling the incoming soviets and at the Pilots who were readying their helicopters. Finally he stopped at the northern end, where 7 deep rows of barbed wire was set and Hammer Platoon was stationed, both to stop any Soviets who managed to get through. The Major walked to Cooper's tank and knocked on the hatch.

The pounding on the hatch caused Cooper to look up from the map he was using to track the battle. In the gunner's position Phelp's looked up from the game of blackjack he and Fletcher were playing to pass the time. Cooper set the map down and opened the hatch before rising up so his shoulders and helmeted head were visible as he looked for the man who knocked on his hatch. His eyes met the form of Major Fabron who he gave a curt nod to before he spoke.

"Major?"

Fabron nodded "Lieutenant Cooper, I came over to check up on you and your men. You have a good defensive line dug in, nice work. I also came to ask if you could give me a ride to the front. I need to see the battle firsthand" He stopped for a moment, choosing whether to be honest or not "Truthfully, I just need some action. Sitting at that desk all day is killing me"

[The United Federation of Terrans]

The pounding on the hatch caused Cooper to look up from the map he was using to track the battle. In the gunner's position Phelp's looked up from the game of blackjack he and Fletcher were playing to pass the time. Cooper set the map down and opened the hatch before rising up so his shoulders and helmeted head were visible as he looked for the man who knocked on his hatch. His eyes met the form of Major Fabron who he gave a curt nod to before he spoke.

"Major?"

Fabron nodded "Lieutenant Cooper, I came over to check up on you and your men. You have a good defensive line dug in, nice work. I also came to ask if you could give me a ride to the front. I need to see the battle firsthand" He stopped for a moment, choosing whether to be honest or not "Truthfully, I just need some action. Sitting at that desk all day is killing me"

"Of course sir." Cooper nodded as he ducked back briefly into the tank to undo the loader's hatch. "You can stand there sir, just be careful with your feet wouldn't want to make Fletcher any uglier."

Cooper in the meantime fully extended himself out of the hatch so he could use the .50 as he keyed the tank's intercom. "Prepare to roll out. Fletcher give the major our spare bucket and lead HEAT. Cole we're moving to the front."

The tank crew moved with efficiency as Phelp's swept the cards into a small sack and stored that sack in a container so there would be no loose objects as Fletcher removed the loaded arrow headed Sabot round and replaced it with a cone headed HEAT round. The turbines came to life with a throaty roar that was a welcome and familiar sound to the tank crew; meanwhile in the tank Fletcher retrieved a spare helmet and handed it from below up to the Major so he could listen to the communication's of the crew.

"Driver, Forward"

[Australian Antarctica]

Fabron nodded "Lieutenant Cooper, I came over to check up on you and your men. You have a good defensive line dug in, nice work. I also came to ask if you could give me a ride to the front. I need to see the battle firsthand" He stopped for a moment, choosing whether to be honest or not "Truthfully, I just need some action. Sitting at that desk all day is killing me"

"Of course sir." Cooper nodded as he ducked back briefly into the tank to undo the loader's hatch. "You can stand there sir, just be careful with your feet wouldn't want to make Fletcher any uglier."

Cooper in the meantime fully extended himself out of the hatch so he could use the .50 as he keyed the tank's intercom. "Prepare to roll out. Fletcher give the major our spare bucket and lead HEAT. Cole we're moving to the front."

The tank crew moved with efficiency as Phelp's swept the cards into a small sack and stored that sack in a container so there would be no loose objects as Fletcher removed the loaded arrow headed Sabot round and replaced it with a cone headed HEAT round. The turbines came to life with a throaty roar that was a welcome and familiar sound to the tank crew; meanwhile in the tank Fletcher retrieved a spare helmet and handed it from below up to the Major so he could listen to the communication's of the crew.

"Driver, Forward"

Fabron threw on the helmet and crawled into the hatch, eyes locked on the street below. Ahead smoke rose in at least a dozen places, probably where the first Russian tanks had been hit. They turned right and stopped about a mile short of the front line, pulling into an abandoned parking garage for cover. Fabron turned to the Lieutenant "Well, Lieutenant, this is your tank. What do you think we should do? Move to the roof and see if we can hit them from above or join Badger in their fighting?"

[The United Federation of Terrans]

"Of course sir." Cooper nodded as he ducked back briefly into the tank to undo the loader's hatch. "You can stand there sir, just be careful with your feet wouldn't want to make Fletcher any uglier."

Cooper in the meantime fully extended himself out of the hatch so he could use the .50 as he keyed the tank's intercom. "Prepare to roll out. Fletcher give the major our spare bucket and lead HEAT. Cole we're moving to the front."

The tank crew moved with efficiency as Phelp's swept the cards into a small sack and stored that sack in a container so there would be no loose objects as Fletcher removed the loaded arrow headed Sabot round and replaced it with a cone headed HEAT round. The turbines came to life with a throaty roar that was a welcome and familiar sound to the tank crew; meanwhile in the tank Fletcher retrieved a spare helmet and handed it from below up to the Major so he could listen to the communication's of the crew.

"Driver, Forward"

Fabron threw on the helmet and crawled into the hatch, eyes locked on the street below. Ahead smoke rose in at least a dozen places, probably where the first Russian tanks had been hit. They turned right and stopped about a mile short of the front line, pulling into an abandoned parking garage for cover. Fabron turned to the Lieutenant "Well, Lieutenant, this is your tank. What do you think we should do? Move to the roof and see if we can hit them from above or join Badger in their fighting?"

"Prep for action" Cooper said into his mic as he retreated into his seat and closed the hatch behind him. "Secure you hatch sir; Oh you might need this too."

Cooper held out a plug to the tank's radio to the major. The plug would allow the major to use the radio to direct the battle from the safety of the tank while freeing Cooper to focus on the here and now.

"Driver, get us into this fight." The tank growled before it surged out of the garage and onto the road before it ground to a halt next to a rocket team and a Badger platoon tank. "Gunner, traverse left; BMP, 1100 meters"

"Spotted"

"Fire" The tank shook as the HEAT round left the barrel and traveled down range to slam into the frontal armor of an approaching BMP. The BMP ground to a halt as it's onboard ammunition detonated outwards in a secondary explosion that sent shrapnel into a nearby section of infantry; the infantry twisted under the metal hailstorm before collapsing to the ground. "Target down! Command Tank! Right, 860 meters"

"Load Sabot!" Phelps called as he shifted the turret to center on the Russian tank which was identifiable by the antennae mounted on the rear of the turret.

"LOADED!" The loader shouted as he spun to access the ammunition locker to prepare the next round.

"Shot out!" The round impacted on the right side of the T-72's prow in a shower of sparks. The tank suddenly stopped as the round penetrated the frontal armor and into the crew compartment where the shockwave of the round blew the crew apart before it tore into the ammunition locker and detonated the munitions within.

"Tank down!!" Phelps announced with enthusiasm.

"Driver pull us back, three hundred meters let's shift to a different part of the line." Cooper ordered as he observed the battlefield through the electronic sights his position allowed. The officer trusted this tankers to keep them alive so he turned away from the optics to key his radio to a set frequency. "Hammer Actual calling any and all air assets on this station. Multiple hostile tracks and dismounts north of defensive line. Requesting immediate air support at......"

[Military Democracy of Birtonia]

SSG Michael Picante
3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, 4th Combined Arms Company
NATO Expeditionary Force

It had been a few days since the platoon had destroyed the Soviet ZSU's and made their way to Helsinki. Much of the past days had been dedicated to tactical destruction of supply routes, forcing the Russians to stay on their toes and enter the city where the NATO forces wanted them to. In addition to that fortification of their defensive lines was a must, long strands of concertina wire and other barricades were erected. The platoon just finished reinforcing the trench they were standing in just yesterday, it provided good cover and had plenty of sandbags stacked around it. Michael even had the platoon create grenade sumps ever ten meters in the trench. Within the platoons section there were two dedicated machine gun nests dug out for the two M60's the platoon was authorized. Michael was sitting on a box of MRE's next to the radio when he heard some traffic but was unable to identify it.

That's when he heard yelling further down the line and peeked over the top of the trench to observe the line. On the horizon dozens of enemy vehicles were visible, BMP's and a smattering of enemy tanks, with dismounted infantry mixed in with them. He yelled, mustering his men to the line, many of them were eating but dropped their food in favor of their rifles and equipment and rushed to the trench. Every weapon was trained on the advancing Russian force.

"Steady...." He ordered his men, looking to the left and right.

The first tanks began lobbing SABOT and HEAT shells towards the enemy armor, and Michael heard the platoons 60mm mortars firing somewhere behind his lines.

"Machine guns! Your up first, wait for the infantry to get in range then open fire!" He ordered the two 60 guns at either end of his lines.

Going down the line he grabbed three men and brought them to the munitions storage right behind the trench. He gave them the captured RPG's, these soldiers were instructed to fire on the closest BMP's and save the US rockets for tanks that got too close. As they moved back towards the trench, the machine guns opened up, for first platoon the battle was on.

Michael ran to his RTO and grabbed the hand mic from him.

"This is red six, I have a close air support request, break!" He yelled over the chattering of machine guns.

"Troops in contact! Heavy enemy infantry and armor! Need rockets and gun runs, friendlies marked with smoke, how copy over!" He finished just as an RPG flew out and struck a BMP dead on. It's rear doors flung open and flaming Soviet soldiers began running out screaming in Russian.

[Tayner]

More T-72s were advancing out of the two lane street, onto a small field. Formerly a natural park, it now was a battle zone. Frank yelled. "Smith, full reverse, take us back and around that parking structure, we'll hit 'em from the side."

The driver responded. "Aye, back and around the parkin' garage." The M1 Abrams moved around the garage, and remained in cover.

"Take us across the street into that alley so we can flank 'em, get the turret pointing at 9 o clock. Dick, load a regular shell, Adam, hit the first pice of Russian scrap you see when we're moving." The men did as they were told, and when they were ready, Frank have the order. "Driver, full speed ahead." The tank moved across the street, and there were multiple targets.

Adam chose a T-72 by a small pond in the park, about 750 meters away, with the back pointed at them. He fired the cannon, and the Russian tank exploded. "Direct hit, another one bites the dust." He reported, and the tank reached the alley way. A Russian tank probably caught onto the tactic and was waiting for them to come out the other side, so they waited.

"All Badgers, this is Badger actuall, SITREP now." He radioed to his fellow tanks. He didn't want to turn the corner to meet the barrels of a dozen Russian tanks. "Smith, prepare to turn the corner and high tale back to that bus depot, Adam, hit anything that moves, Dick, load normal rounds." He said to his soldiers. "Now we wait for the rest of Badger to tell us what's happening."

[Dubrovka]

Staff Sergeant Micheal Dewalt
2nd Squad,1st Platoon, 4th Combined Arms Company
NATO Expeditionary Force
"Keep digging guys, we need to get these foxholes dug before the Ruskies arrive" Micheal said in a slow, almost defeated tone. His men were digging foxholes like the rest of 1st Platoon, preparing for the inevitable Russian assault on their position in Helsinki. It had been 3 days since the men of 1st platoon took out the ZSUs and fallen back into the city. THe man that had gotten hit refused to be medivaced and was instead treated by one of the staff doctors. They told him he would be able to hold walk fine again within a week, but they still wanted to medivac him. He refused and stayed, like any other man of 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon would do. Micheal found it honorable for the man to want to stay with his squad, understanding the brotherhood and comradery of the men you have been under fire with.

When the 4th Combined Arms Company left the airfield to dig in at Helsinki, the FOB and been stripped clean of any supplies and razed to the ground to prevent the Russians from using it. Now they were at a defensive line south of the city center, about 2 kilometers from the docks. As the tanks built defensive barriers, the troops dug foxholes and built machine gun positions. They would need all the protection they would get, since this battle was bound to be the 4th versus a Russian Motorized Battalion. So they kept digging, digging, and more digging until all was built. Then, all they could do was get in their sandbag surronded holes and wait, wait for the oncoming Russian horde.

--2 Hours Later--
The men had heard it for roughly an hour, the grinding of treads and the distant booming of combat on the Finnish Line to the north. The Russians were already in the city, approching the docks in their BMP-1s and T-72s. Some of the infantry came on foot, obviously dismounted farther back. 2nd sqaud was ready, with all weapons facing down an area where the Russians were sure to advance from. To the right of 2nd squad was 3rd squad, and to the left was 1st. They were all set up as where the Heavy weapons were on the far left, far right, and middle, with rifle teams in between. Farther down the line sat the Tanks from Hammer and Badger platoon, a mix of M1A1 Abrams, Leapord 2s, and M60A1 Pattons. Soon, Russian voices could be heard screaming orders, and the sound of diesel engines and grinding tracks became louder and louder. Finally, the men of 1st platoon heard the tanks fire their guns, 105mm rounds rocketing out and exploding near the enemy. Micheal screamed "Men, do not shoot at the armor, it will only give away our position, wait until we hear dismounted troops approching, then give them hell".

Micheal ducked down in his hole and grabbed the radio handset. He switched it to channel two and reported "This is Bayonet 1-2 to all units. Enemy forces are now approching the docks, prepare for contact, I repeat, prepare for contact. Looks like a Soviet Motorized Battalion like we thought, small amounts of Tanks and APCs supported by Infantry. Bayonet 1 will hold the line under support from Badger and Hammer platoons. Hopefully, if were lucky enough, we can hold back the Soviets long enough so our ships and aircraft can pound the area. Make a stand boys, give them hell. Bayonet 1-2 over and out". He put the handset back in his holder and peeked his head out of his hole to inspect his men. They were all doing as told, he couldn't see one of their heads. Suddenly, Micheal heard the distinct "Thud...Thud...Thud" of Soviet 60mm mortors. His men were already in their holes, nothing more he could do. He simply got down, clutched his freezing rifle close and prayed.

--10 Minutes Later--

Rounds fell for sometime, 10 minutes felt like hours, but his squad made it through unscathed. When the shelling finally let up, he heard again the grinding of tracks, but he also heard the cracking of AK-74 assault rifles. He peeked over and saw more than a hundred soviet troops following 8 tanks and APCs. He yelled from his foxhole "They are approching men, when those tanks get in distance I want all rifleman to fire their LAWs into those fuckers, aim for the treads and stop them in their tracks! Ready... OPEN FIRE!". All of his men popped out of their holes and started pouring on aimed 5.56 fire on the enemy from their M16s, and steady automatic fire from their hard hitting M60s. Micheal stood up and aimed down the sights and flipped the safety off and sqeezed off a round. The rifle barley recoiled and he saw a soviet soldier buck from the bullet, which hit him in the shoulder. The soldier fell and began screaming before being carried away by one of the other men. This would be the start of a bloody war for Staff Sergeant Micheal Dewalt and his squad.

[Ubaria]

16th May, 1982 - Helsinki, Finland - Forward Operations Base

It had been a painstaking few hours of waiting and preparing for the inevitable soviet attack to befall the city, the whole base was buzzing with activity as crewmen and soldiers alike prepared to bunker down for what could be a long and bloody fight. Thomas had spent most of the day meticulously going over the Huey's systems, making sure everything was all as it should be for the battle ahead, and even five hours later he was still going over the basic startup procedure to familiarize himself, mainly because he was trying to distract his mind and forget that he was about to be heading into a warzone, another Vietnam. Everytime he looked up, he expected Hueys to be lifting off and landing around him, delivering wounded soldiers or picking up fresh reinforcements. Looking over to his right hand, Thomas noticed that it was quivering uncontrollably, and not from the cold.

"You think we'll be getting some action soon?" A loud and obnoxious Preston broke Thomas from his little trance, quickly he clasped his shaking hand and pressed it under his armpit.

"Don't know. Whenever the front line decides they need us i suppose" Thomas replied with a shrug, trying to make himself look as laid back as he could, without being cocky about it.

"All this standing around is ge-" Preston was cut off as the Huey's on board radio chirped into life.

"Hammer Actual calling any and all air assets on this station. Multiple hostile tracks and dismounts north of defensive line. Requesting immediate air support at......" The radio was instantly occupied by a separate voice.

"This is red six, I have a close air support request, break!" Thomas made the hand motion to Preston, an order to find the other two and then entered the helicopter.

"Troops in contact! Heavy enemy infantry and armor! Need rockets and gun runs, friendlies marked with smoke, how copy over!"

Two requests for close fire support in less than a minute, things must have started heating up.

"Good Copy Red Six, Crossbow is inbound in five mikes" Thomas responded as he pulled on the headset. Preston returned with both Micheal and Desmond in tow, all clutching vital equipment.

"Hurry the fuck up. We've got CAS to run" Thomas shouted as he started up the Hueys engine, the loud whine of the rotors faded in as the craft rumbled into life.

Slowly, as collective increased the helicopter rose up from its pad and ascended into the air, as the craft cleared the rooftops the evidence of a battle occurring was apparent. Smoke rose up from outside the city and dust was visible from approaching Soviet vehicles, Thomas glanced at his map which was in a clear leg pocket for indication on Red Six's location, as well as Hammer Platoon. They were holed up at the first defensive line, a relatively thin bottleneck just before the main city itself, the best route of attack would be sweeping from one of either sides, as a opposed to a head on approach.

"Red Six this is Crossbow, we'll be approaching from the west. Approximate bearing two-six-eight. How copy?"

[Military Democracy of Birtonia]

Staff Sergeant Michael Picante
3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, 4th Combined Arms Company
NATO Expeditionary Force

As Michael stood in the trench again to let loose another volley of bullets towards his Russian aggressors, he heard explosions down the line. Looking from the sight of his M16, he saw several mortar strikes hitting second squad pretty damn hard. He cursed and fired until he bolt locked to the rear.

*click*

Time for a mag change, he dumped the empty mag and grabbed a fresh one from his gear. It slid into place and he hit the bolt release, it flew forward and locked the next round in with a metallic clunk.

"Sar'nt air supports on the way! Five mikes!" Exclaimed his radioman.

He ducked down as enemy machine gun fire raked the ground in front of the trench, sending clods of dirty flying in all directions. The good news was that the mortars had stopped firing at his friends, he looked over and, to him they seemed mostly intact. That's when a bullet flew into his radio operators helmet, ricocheted off and dug itself into the trench.

"Your one lucky sumbitch" exclaimed Michael.

The sound of approaching helicopter blades was a welcome addition to the crescendo of battle that assaulted Michaels ears at this moment. He then heard the pilot call in his attack vector.

"Roger crossbow, we copy all. You have the green light to engage, I say again, green light to engage" replied Michael, holding the hand mic tightly.

[Ubaria]

"Roger crossbow, we copy all. You have the green light to engage, I say again, green light to engage"

"Hear that gentlemen? O' Hearne prep that 40 mike mike and tear up any russian son'va-bitch unlucky enough to be out in the open. Two-Forty Bravos pick off stragglers as we pass. We'll make those Reds regret ever stepping foot into this country." Thomas rallied his fellow crewmen as he gently pushed the cyclic stick, as to bring the helicopter into a slow right hand bank to put them on their west to east attack path, the plan was simply to hit as hard as they could and as quick as they could, so the Russians couldn't re-compose and fire back at them. O' Hearne, the Co-pilot adjusted the mounted display on the interior of the cockpit and ensured it was calibrated to the direction of the forward gun, in this case it was ready.

The battlefield soon loomed into view, dirt was being flung this way and that and vast wafts of smoke drifted in all directions. A quick observation ensured that they wouldn't be firing on friendly targets and only the Russians which were pushing up in a disorganized fashion, though still grouped together enough for the Grenade Launcher to do its job effectively. Thomas nodded to his co-pilot.

"Weapons Hot"

For the next few seconds the sounds of hollow thudding reverberated the cockpit, the nose mounted GL flung out explosive shells directly downwards into the advancing Russians, exploding with a bright yellow flash as each one impacted the ground. The left side mounted M240 clacked when it eventually opened up too, spitting hot lead in a steady stream towards the advancing forces, hopefully suppressing, if not killing a few in the process. The helicopter was passing too quickly to stop and observe the damage done however and the whole run was finished in around 10 seconds. Thomas swung the Helicopter into a tight right hand bank and slowed up.

"Weapons run complete. Effect on target?" Thomas radioed through to Red-Six.

[Military Democracy of Birtonia]

Staff Sergeant Michael Picante
3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, 4th Combined Arms Company
NATO Expeditionary Force

Literally seconds after clearing the helicopters for their attack run did they appear on the horizon. The sun shone proudly off of their guns and rockets as they approached the battle. A few of the men stopped firing once they saw the friendly birds flying towards the enemies ranks.

Missiles, grenades and bullets galore began streaming from almost every surface of the helicopter. They struck at enemy armor, APC's, Infantry, it didn't matter, whatever was in their line of sight was now fair game. However due to the massive amount of hostiles the bird could only do a short run, she leveled off and banked away from the fight. Michael got a call on the radio asking for target status.

"Well you got em, but there's a whole lot more, if you got another run in you it be much appreciated over" he replied back to the pilot overhead.

Michael sat down in the frozen trench, back against half-snow, half-dirt walls. Bullets still flew over head, albeit at a slower pace now. The tanks traded High explosive salvoes at each other over their heads, the intense sound of 120mm shells flying over the heads of the men of third squad. He stood again, facing the enemy after a short respite from the fighting. One unlucky Russian sod had gotten himself tangled in the concertina wire. Michael promptly put three rounds into the man.