Episode 94

ODA 1211, A Co, 2nd Btn, 1st Special Forces Group

Captain Peters took his time examining his team’s preparations. While they couldn’t hold out against a full-on armored column, he liked their chances against a couple of platoons of DPRK infantry. While Green Berets are mostly focused on counterinsurgency, they were in the end highly trained infantry. This wasn’t the first time that Peters had been pressed into duty that wasn’t strictly speaking Green Beret work.

“Smith! You done with the charges over there?”

“Yeah, cap. All set.”

The position they held was perfect for an ambush. The road ran up a narrow valley before crossing over the bridge and then back down the valley again. Anyone trying to approach their position from the north would have to come up a relatively narrow road under fire from his team who were in prepared positions. Short of an artillery barrage or armored column, the DPRK wasn’t going to make it across that bridge. Their southern flank was relatively exposed but leading helicopter elements from the advancing column were already starting to patrol the road behind them. The Americans had largely eliminated the DPRK air force so the likelihood of an airstrike was pretty low. Even helicopters had become scarce as the USA remorselessly applied their advantage in air power and technology.

His radio chirped for his attention. “Captain, we have company to the north.”

“Size and disposition?”

“Looks like short company. Mostly jeeps and a few trucks.” While the DPRK didn’t actually operate any Jeeps, any small 4×4 that carried troops was likely to be called a Jeep by a US soldier.

“OK, everyone eyes front. Billy, you’re on.”

“Gotcha cap.”

Somehow, the team’s medic had gotten his hands on a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle. Despite what many people thought, it wasn’t a traditional sniper rifle at all. Rather, it is an anti-material weapon. Specifically, it did an excellent job of taking down vehicles. Peters heard the meaty thwack of a .50 caliber round going downrange. A few seconds later, he fired again. He was able to get four rounds off before the troops in the vehicles reacted.

Once they realized that they were under attack, the DPRK troops reacted with admirable alacrity, scattering to either side of the road. Billy was able to disable the first three vehicles in the column by putting rounds into their engines. They quickly figured out that the vehicles were not going to shelter them from the sniper and began advancing to the bridge, moving from cover to cover.

“OK. Open up.”

The team was still carrying mostly Russian weapons, but that wasn’t really a problem. They couldn’t build advanced aircraft, but their guns worked just fine. At the sound of the Russian RPK, the Koreans dropped wherever they were and sought cover. The long range didn’t deter them from firing wildly up the canyon.

“RPG!”

Peters ducked down as the rocket-propelled grenade sailed over this head. The noise of the battle was starting to make it hard to pick out individual sounds, but the explosion of the RPG was hard to miss. He emptied one magazine and switched to another. He had a few grenades but really hoped not to use them. He didn’t want them to get that close.

A random bullet ping’d off the rock by his head, reminding him to keep down as much as possible.

“Smith! They in the kill zone yet?”

“Five seconds!”

“Don’t wait on me, blow it when they get into position.”

A few seconds later, the first DPRK soldier reached the bridge, only to find out that Peter’s SECOND squad machine gun had been placed there in a makeshift bunker. He didn’t take a second step onto the bridge.

The explosion of the claymores placed along the road north of the bridge cut through the sounds of combat like a hot knife through butter.

“Cease fire!!”

The blast had decimated the remaining Korean soldiers.

Smith duckwalked over to Peter’s position. “You think they’ll be back?”

“Oh yeah. No way this wasn’t noticed.”

“How long until we have backup?”

“Two hours.”

The Koreans returned in one hour.

“CAP! We got a problem!”

Peters pulled out his binoculars and examined the road to the North. What looked like a troop of T-62 tanks were coming around the bend in the road accompanied by dismounted infantry. While not the most modern tank in the world, it was more than sufficient to take out Peter’s entire team. The Koreans had also installed more modern armor to make them more survivable.

“Get those Javelins up here!” The team had two anti-tank missiles with them. The weapons were extremely bulky, which limited the number that a small team could carry. “See if you can hit the lead unit and block the road. HIGGINS!! We’re gonna need some help here!”

The men carrying the anti-tank weapons adjusted their position. “Lead tank first.” It took a few seconds for the infrared seeker in the Javelin to cool down enough to work. Normally that wasn’t much time. In this case, it felt like an hour to Peters. “Come on! Get that fucking tank!”

The weapon launched with a quick rush of acceleration, paused for a moment and then lit off its motor. This “soft launch” feature was designed to protect troops from being injured by rocket backwash. Once the main motor lit off, the rocket accelerated at an astounding rate. The “BOOM” of the explosion took a second to arrive after they saw it.

“Second tank!” Again, the Javelin did it’s job. Two of the six tanks were now disabled.

But not blocking the road. “Fuck! They’re moving again.”

The tanks finally figured out where the enemy fire was coming from an started to rotate their main guns towards the Green Berets. “INCOMING!! DOWN! GET DOWN!!”

“Higgins! Get us some air support!”

“Working on it.”

“Work faster!”

The sound of a jet engine caught Peters completely by surprise. He had been hoping for some Apache gunships. Higgins called out “Friendlies inbound!” Probably the most redundant status update he had ever heard.

Peters looked up just in time to see an A-10 screaming down the canyon at eye level. As the attack plane banked to follow the canyon, it seemed like the wing missed the top of the bridge by inches. Peters could clearly see the pilot’s head turning as he eyeballed his targets. The roar of the engines was deafening as it went by. A few seconds later, missiles dropped from the wings and streaked towards the tanks riding tails of fire. This guy is good. The A-10 took out two tanks in the first pass.

A few seconds later, his wingman followed. Perhaps a few feet higher. Again, the Maverick missiles streaked out and two more tanks were down. The Koreans hadn’t been idle, they had realized the threat quickly and were prepared for the second plane. A small contrail streaked up towards the quickly departing aircraft, striking it in the right engine.

The troops were willing the plane to make it. “Come on, dude! Pull it out!”

Peters could tell that the pilot was fighting to save the plane. A-10’s were tough, but the missile must have done too much damage. After a few seconds, the pilot ejected. Peters didn’t envy him dropping down into a canyon full of rocks and boulders. God help that poor bastard.

Smith was next to Peters again. “I think they pissed off the leader.” He pointed as the A-10 came around for a second pass.

BRRRRRRRRTTT!!

The mighty GAU-8 Avenger was so large, the A-10 was literally built around it. While not very useful against the frontal armor of even the ancient T-62, it would shred pretty much anything else on the battlefield including and up to thin-skinned armored personnel carriers. The noise in the confined canyon overwhelmed even the roar of the jet engines. As the A-10 passed over the enemy position, two large canisters detached from the wings.

“Oh shit! Cluster bomb!”

Once again, the team hit the dirt as a series of explosions ripped through the valley.