Captain Fennek had briefed them early, explaining how he wanted troops to quickly take the outskirts of Havlock and hold it until 1st and 2nd platoons pushed in to take the town.
It was down to his platoon to take those outskirts.
They were also accompanied by two extra soldiers, Corporal Clark, a drone operator who would hopefully provide Intel and recon on Havlock. And Sergent Drake, a sniper who had his own, yet unknown, mission in the area.
The vehicle started to slow down and the intercom crackled to life with the commanders voice,
"Bottleneck on the road up ahead, we are slowing and moving through causiously"
Hildermann looked through the view port close to him, they were moving through a lightly wooded area with a lot of ground foliage. He didn't like it.
Keying platoon net "Heads on a swivel, I don't like the look of this"
He checked his P36 assault carbine was loaded and took another look out of the view port, for a split second he thought he saw someone's head poking above the foliage but his attention was drawn to the puff of smoke and rocket trail coming from a close knot of trees . . .
New Vehicle
M18 'Bulldog' APC
APC armour, Tracked, Turret, HMG, Carries 8.
The Mission
A moderate priority mission to get through the area and reach Havlock.
Forces
Insurgents
All have no body armour
5 man team: Irregular
-platoon leader, integrated commander
-SAW
x4 8 man team: Irregular
-squad leader
-SAW
-buzzbomb
supporting squad: hardened fighters
8 man team
-squad leader
-SAW
Army
4 man Command team.
-lieutenant Hilderman: integrated commander, platoon leader.
-master sergent Korwen: platoon NCO, x2 smoke grenades
-soldier: squad automatic
4 man inf. Team
-Sergent Young: squad leader, x2 smoke grenades
-2 soldiers: squad automatic
6 man inf. Team
-Sergent Rush: squad leader, x2 smoke grenades
-2 soldiers: squad automatic
5 man inf. Team
-Corporal Ash: squad leader, x2 smoke grenades
-2 soldiers: squad automatic
Medic Niles: self motivated, medic
Corporal Clark: self motivated, drone operator.
Sergent Drake: self motivated, sniper.
x4 M18 bulldog APC's
The Battle
The insurgents set up in ambush positions along the road, the army APC column would arrive on one table edge and have to escape the opposite edge.
The Convoy
1st APC: Squad Rush
2nd APC: CnC team + Medic Niles
3rd APC: Squad Ash + Drone operator
4th APC: Squad Young + sniper
The four APC's moved along the road in column formation, their crew scanning the area. The situation was changed when a rocket slammed into the lead APC knocking it out.
The second APC opened up with its HMG spraying the trees the rocket had come from, that was short lived as a second rocket position fired, this one blowing the APC to pieces.
Squads start to dismount in an effort to fight back as a third APC is knock at out, small arms fire is exchanged.
Squad Rush being close to the front start to fall back and one is picked off, enemy fire intensifies.
What remains of the platoon throw out smoke and withdraw from the area.
Aftermath
Well . . . a short game and a bloody one.
The Ambush worked, very well.
The first APC was wrecked, killing all crew and two members of squad Rush who then looses a third during their retreat.
The second APC was a catastrophic hit killing everyone except the Medic.
The 3rd APC (APC 4) was wretched and all crew were killed along with two members of Squad Young.
With the platoon mauled and it's entire command element killed they were withdrawn from the front lines.
Commander Kale stood on the hill watching the road below, smoke drifted across the scene obscuring much and sporadic gunfire signalled the end of a fight.
He turned to one of his bodyguards,
"Bring up the truck, we are reporting back to Havlock"
This would hinder the armies plans and he knew they would have to act fast to take advantage of the situation.
The Smoke had built up nicely and Sergent Drake slipped out from under the APC, and keeping low headed for the tree line, he half expected a shot to hit him but none came.
He reached the trees and didn't stop until he was 50 meters into the woods.
Shouldering his Westfield S40A2 self loading rifle he scanned the area through its scope, no sign of pursuit.
He took a moment to fix his bearings and position before stealthily heading off.
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