Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5) (25 page)

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 184
th
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 28
th
Infantry Division that the 28
th
ID had stopped them and the Fifth Brigade with the help of the 184
th
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 28
th
and 184
th
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, 3
rd
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 28
th
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.

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 28
th
ID and 184
th
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, 11
th
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 28
th
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 28
th
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 28
th
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 28
th
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 28
th
and 184
th
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 28
th
.” 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.”