Firestorm: Red Thunder

Hind Down
It was 7:00AM and Kapitan Dubovich was having a moment’s peace with his cup of lukewarm coffee after the briefing he just received from regiment. During the night, the Hind carrying the battalion commander went down somewhere in no man’s land. He recalled the briefing not too fondly as the words of the XO repeated in his head, “You have one short company for this job. That is all I can spare. Find the Hind, confirm the status of the battalion commander and bring him back. Intelligence indicates that there is an understrength American tank company out there, but this should not be a problem. Oh, and good luck, Kapitan.” Major Kerensky waved him off with his hand turning to other seemingly more important matters with the attending paperwork.
Dubovich looks at his watch and throws out the remaining coffee onto the ground. He calls Lt. Dottski and briefs him on the mission. Dottski looks at him with sunken eyes as Dubovich could tell how exhausted he is. “Let’s go!” as Dubovich climbs onto his tank.

****On the US side of the lines…******
Lt. Colonel Attwood briefs Sergeant Tran on his new mission.
“Sergeant Tran, you will act as temporary company commander while Lt. Eastman is sorting out the mess that is Charlie Company. I know you don’t have much, but sometime during the night a Hind helicopter went down somewhere in No Man’s land. The boys at S-2 are interested in anything you can find on that wreck that is salvageable. That does include live Russians sergeant. Think you can handle that?” Sergeant Tran could not respond as Attwood summarily dismissed him. Tran leaves Attwood’s tent and looks toward the dawn breaking over the forests of West Germany. He buried his head in his hands as he realized that Sergeant Anker was too new at taking over the platoon and Sergeant Nelson…well, he did not have much of a choice despite his screwup in the last fight. He went to wake them up.

Russian objective: Seize control of the objective, in this case, the downed Hind helicopter or destroy any US forces in the sector.
American Objective: Seize control of the objective, in this case, the downed Hind helicopter or destroy any Russian forces in the sector.

Russian OOB:
HQ 1 X T-72 5pts
Company 4 X T-72 17 pts
Total 22 points

US OOB:
HQ 1X M1 8pts
1st platoon 2 X M1 16 points
Total 24 points

Turn 1
Sergeant Tran had one thought in his mind, ”Scramble!” as he races past Nelson’s platoon which seemed a little slow to start things.

Dubovich and Dottski were on the same wavelength as their tanks rushed forward at the same time! They were in full view of their quarry, the Hind. For the glory of Russia!

Turn two
Tran pushes his driver nicknamed ,”Speed Racer,” from some old TV cartoon to move the Abrams faster onto the hill near the Hind. Sergeant Nelson orders his driver to move at full speed, but the gears kept grinding. Eventually, Nelson’s platoon got to the Hind in an attempt to secure it… wait… T-72s 12o’clock! “Gunner! Load up! Fire!” Meanwhile Tran spots the T-72 column and proceeds to do what he is paid to do… take them out! Tran was a gunner before he became a tank commander and he taught his gunner well as a T-72 belches smoke and fire. Other T-72s were hit and stood there for a moment as if stunned. The problem was that not one of them were retreating.

Russian Turn two : Dottski clicks in his mike, “Comerades! Mother Russia is looking upon us! This is our moment! Forward!” Instantly the replies came over the com of “ZA RODINU!!”
Dubovich was shaken for a moment at the shock of losing one of his tanks. Nevertheless, he ordered his driver to move forward so they could close in the range on the Yankee imperialists.
Tran and his crew heard a loud ,”KLANG!” but nothing else. Breathing a sigh of relief they continued to do their job.
Sergeant Nelson’s ears were ringing when the round hit is tank. The headaches we are going to have tonight he thought to himself as his gunner was aiming for the center T-72.

The unnamed platoon mate of Nelson’s platoon knew that their awesome recent paint job just got ruined thanks to the penetrating round from the T-72 but it did not explode inside the tank. The crew breathed a sigh of relief and swore the Russians would pay for this insult.

US Turn three
Tran licked on his mike, “Everybody OK?” Affirmatives were the only response Tran was interested in as he ordered Speed Racer to gun the engine for a flanking move on the hillside. The gears of the tank complained, but the Abrams did move grudgingly. Nelson must have been a mind reader because his platoon also proceeded to do a flanking maneuver on the T-72s.
In a symphony of total destruction the Abrams fires simultaneously on the flanks of the T-72s. The symphony was the “Nutcracker” as the left and right flanks of the T-72s were shot at the same time.
Dottski was confused, where are the American tanks. His answer came two seconds later as he did not even have time to think of that transfer that was going to come any day now…
Dubovich could not believe it! How could the Yankees outflank us like this on BOTH sides? What am I going to put on my report? It is bad enough the political officer despises me, but what am I going to tell the major? He gave the order to withdraw as he contemplated what would he say to defend himself at the inquiry that will be held in the very near future.