Gryoznian Troubles

[Globexanter]

One of the greatest disadvantages of possessing a huge territory was by far the amount of borders to secure and control. Part of this huge challenge was always facilitated by the fact that the biggest neighbor, Central Ruska, had often been on neutral or friendly terms with their distant Globexanterian cousins. This left one major hurdle in the country's security: the vast Southern border. From the Westernmost point to the Eastern coastline the Southern border was a distant measuring around nine thousand kilometers, all of which required constant protection from exterior threats. This need was highlighted by the large amount of weaponry and even humans being trafficked across these borders into poorer regions during the instability caused by the Globexanterian Revolution, which eventually lead to the creation of the Globexanterian Border Guards (or GBG, for short).
Most of the Southern border found protection in control trace strips, large areas cleared of vegetation, defending by a large ditch and raised hillock on one side and an area a few meters wide made out of sand or dirt and formed into several lines, easily showing footsteps when stood upon. This engineering protection still required manpower, creating multiple GBG bases situated all around Southern Globexanter. This also permitted the creation of thousands upon thousands of small border posts, usually manned by a few guards on weekly rotations, as well as mobile posts randomly set up by armored vehicles. Each post, be it temporary or not, comes equipped with the necessary equipment to create a technological barrier close to the border with movement sensors, various cameras, and sometimes even flares connected to tripwires. On the border with Gryoznia, most of the posts were situated on the Globexanterian hills positioned near the border with the neighboring country. On a clear day, the guards possessed a wide view extending into Groyznian territory, clearly illuminating the valleys and foothills of the Vyaz mountain range extending through the country.


However, the panoramic view of the fields in the valley below was of no interest to Timokha Alexandrovitch as he yawned slowly, leaning against the back of his small trench. He pulled himself forward, rubbing his eyes as he began to peer through the enhanced binoculars attached to a bipod by the side of a large Kord machine gun, the menacing barrel pointing lazily up to the sky. Life on the border post SW105, apart from the often strong winds, was rather easy for the four guards stationed there for the week long rotation. The post, composed of two trenches facing South westerly and South easterly respectively, was tasked with the protection of a few kilometers of easily accessible land, making it a prime objective for any smugglers. Directly South of them, nearly on the summit of the Globexanterian hill, was a small base with two dozen guards and a few armored vehicles. It was from this base that the mobile units were dispatched from, as well as the armed Mi-8 gunship.
Half of the unit's manpower came from conscripts, such as Timokha, with various amounts of time left on their civil service. For the young private, a long year still remained at the isolated post, but at least he could be sure to avoid combat duties. The young man leaned back, taking in the sun as he closed his eyes, occupying himself by listening to the wind rustling through the camouflage net covering the command post. If it wasn't for the few objects around him, he could nearly imagine himself being on holiday in some southern resort...

"Lazy bugger." muttered Sergeant-Major Savchenko, giving the Private a sharp kick in between the shoulder blades with his boot as he stood behind the trench. The guard groaned, falling forwards as he struggled to get up. "Comrade Sergeant-Major, I did not hear you arriving-" mumbled Timokha, straightening himself as he turned to the senior NCO. "No, that's because you were too busy sleeping. From all you knew I could've been some bearded bastard with a knife coming to slit your throat. Do you want your comrades to have to go and rescue you, only to find your mutilated body in a ditch with your privates shoved into your mouth?" retorted Savchenko, lowing himself into the trench as he moved to the binoculars.
"The answer your lips are looking for is 'Of course not, Comrade Sergeant Major!'. I bet you haven't even noticed that the Groyznian patrol hasn't gone past yet!" continued the NCO, pushing the Private towards the binoculars as he went along.
For the past few years, the Globexanterian and Groyznian border forces had been working on a joint operation aiming at reducing the amount of smuggling ongoing between the two countries, especially regarding the sale of weaponry and food to anti-government groups on either sides of the border. As a part of the deal, the Groyznian state would provide a more regular series of patrols on their side of the border. In return, the GBG would cease the often deadly incursions into Groyznian soil in order to attempt to halt the illegal border crossings. Surprisingly enough for the Globexanterian Government, the neighboring country took up the offer and began to provide regular patrols, providing a motivation for the Politburo to provide a funds to help increase the patrol work. As part of the deal, the two border forces would provide communications when passing each other. For post SW105, this was due to be sent via radio at 15:10, coinciding with the passing of the Gryoznian unit on the other side of the border.
"Per-perhaps we didn't see them? We might've missed the radio message." answered the Private, swooping the binoculars as he tried to observe the usual patrol route. "It's not a possibility. We've contacted the Gryoznian base and they're reporting the same issue. Post SW104 reported that they were able to contact the unit and got a response at their designated time of 14:10, but now nobody can seem to get a word out of them."
"How many men were in the patrol, Comrade Sergeant Major?" asked Timokha, having found no movement or sign of life through the lenses.
"Something around twenty or thirty depending on the week. Anyway, they're going to sent out a helicopter to see if they can find anything, perhaps even some kind of a convoy. Keep your eyes open, disappearing border guards are never a good thing. If you see anything out of the norm, get on your d**ned radio immediately. From what we're being told, HQ is thinking of increasing the danger level on the line, so we should be getting some reinforcements. Be careful." answered the Sergeant Major, lifting himself out of the trench as he went back to the command post.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, the green Gryoznian helicopter flew slowly South of the border, sticking close above the route usually followed by the patrol unit. Finding nothing on it's initial run, the helicopter began another run, slowly observing and double checking the whole route. As the night began to fall, the negative report continued to come in from the Groyznian helicopter as it returned to it's base. After deliberation, the Groyznian Border Forces deemed venturing into the thick dark forest in the middle of the night an unwise solution to their problem, meaning that a search unit would have to wait for dawn before being sent out. As promised, amidst the reports being sent back to headquarters, reinforcements in Sherpa vehicles began to arrive at various outposts, soon supplemented by the random sounds and lights produced by the passing BPM-97s by the border, stepping up their efforts in order to compensate for the lack of action of the opposite side. While the night drew on, it soon became clear that intervention by the Globexanterian forces would be called upon by Carcassonne if the Gryoznian side was incapable of finding it's lost patrol.

[Central Ruska]

Eight silhouettes gently swayed in the wind, slowly rocking back and forth as a ninth one joined them, more hastily thrown up as the darkness began to descend on the small forest clearing. The cries of a man echoed through the forest, his tone thick with suffering, yet all he could do was disturb the other silhouettes Hanging besides him. But, soon enough, his silhouette stopped just like the others. In total, nine men from the branches of an old oak tree. The others laid scattered around, either dead or dying, it didn’t matter anymore, what had happened was done, it was finished.

What had originally started out as a quiet day for that part of the border had quickly descended into chaos. What was intended as a simple observation exercise, had had a drastic change in course, when a failure to notice a small detachment of the Gryoznian Border Forces had led to the slaughter of the squad, caught off guard by those lurking in the woods. Too many of those in the group, this was their first taste of blood, and now it covered their hands, and to think, little over six months ago, the nationalist movement known as The Gryoznian Nationalist Party was almost nothing but a ragtag group of ultra nationalists. That was before they were thrusted forward into the public spotlight with the death of the then Prime Minister, Damir Ivanović had altered the political structure of the country, bringing in his less popular successor, Ilija Markov.

It was a matter of weeks before Markov had began to reverse the policies of Ivanović, bringing the country closer to her northern neighbours, the communist Globexanter. Those north of the Capital enjoyed this, however, the poorer agricultural based south panicked, fear that the economic powerhouses north would economically ruin the country. This proved to be the catalyst that sparked the rise of the GNP and their more vocal leader, Viktor Branković. Initially, they’d been fairly quiet, mainly sticking to backrooms of community centres. However, as the government continued to step towards co-operation with the north, membership skyrocketed, pushing them away from the quiet backrooms to open and public demonstrations and forums, it was also here that the more violent side began to show.

Only a few months after the death of Damir Ivanović, the party had already become entangled in local politics, accidentally inciting a small riot during one of their public rallies in which Branković condemned the current leadership, citing that they were doomed to fail once they had turned to the Reds north of the border. The crowds quickly scattered when the first responders arrived at the scene, followed shortly by the local militia. Branković and several other high leadership members were arrested on the scene, all barely escaping sentencing on one condition, the dissolving of the party.

On the surface, that’s exactly what they did. They tore down the posters and threw away the banners, however, it only pushed them further underground, once again back to the dark backrooms of pubs and community centres. Where they planned more intricate meetings and events, upping operations to levels of near political terrorism. With this rise in ambition came the callous disregard for secrecy. In the early weeks of March, 2022, the group once again began to creep into the local spotlight, this time with the attraction of several high value individuals, including Colonel General Ivan Dragojević.

Now with a small irregular military backing, the group was allowed to go almost unchecked in the area surrounding the small farming town of Šorkovo. What had once started out as mainly used for protection at their rallies, the Rezervne Snage Dobrovoljaca, or RSD forces had continually evolved into darker and darker roles. The turning point of their operations came on the 2nd of May, when the RSD had pushed the the party back into the public spotlight. In the early days of May, the RSD was organising one of the biggest raid of the year, a convoy of military equipment, weapons and ammunition was passing just 30 miles south of Šorkovo.

In the early hours of the morning of the 2nd of May, the RSD under the command of Colonel General Dragojević attempted an ambush on the convoy as it passed through a heavily forested section of route. As the trucks and their escorts came to a halt at the determined site, halted by a single tractor blocking the road, the RSD sprung up from the surrounding woods, and fired upon the trucks. It was this critical error in communication that resulted in a near massacre of the ambushing RSD. As most of the troops attacked the trucks and their crews, very few engaged the two escort UAZ-467, which sported 12.7 mm machine guns crudely welded on them. Those who could disengaged, pulling back into the forest as the convoy attempted to speed away. Despite their catastrophic failure, they had successfully eliminated one of the 4 truck crews before they had chance to disappear down the road. Claiming it for a greater cause.

Out of 40 men, only 14 had returned. Severely under armed and under trained, the RSD staggered home. Those who survived tended to their wounds and planned for the future, including the relocation of their main base of operations. With such a bold operation, the government forces would be hounding after them. They’d still hold a position in Šorkovo, however, the main leadership of the party and militia would be pulled out to a newer position, just 10 miles north of the small town, to just a small farm. As the word began to spread about the increasing militaristic operations of the party, calls came from the public to prove the threat from the communist in the north, and that’s exactly what they did.

5 minutes after the border incident

“Jebati,” Colonel General Dragojević cursed. He stood over the 18 bodies of the squad, all arranged in a neat little line, the foliage beneath them soaked in their blood. Over the three months since their first ambush, they’d come to learn some of the key basics in guerrilla warfare, including its key principle, surprise. Dragojević watched as the bodies were moved around, those still breathing were hung from an old oak tree, extinguishing what remained of their lives. Those who were already dead, were dragged beneath the same tree, their bodies carelessly tossed aside. It was a shame, these men didn’t need to die. It was merely coincidental that they had to come into contact with the RSD, what was planned to be a simple reconisance mission turned bloody within minutes of them being there. A photographer took several photos of the bodies, Dragojević thought that he’d come in to be of use before this was all over. Get a leak out to the media, spin their own version of the story, blame it all on the communists.

“Hey, Hey! You two,” he called out. “Put those shovels away, we leave them here like this, leave the message for those who find these poor bastards. We need to leave, blend in again. We’ll let the government deal with this, they’ll pin this on someone other than us, we don’t operate in these parts of the wood. It’d be a push to blame some southerners like us.” He continued, pausing briefly before he returned to the vehicles.

[person67]

6:12 A.M on the northern Gryoznian border

A large map was laid out and spilled over the sides of the small table. It was still dark outside as the sun had not crested over the horizon and so they had the dim bulb flickering overhead in the back of the truck the operation to recover patrol C8A6 was being organized out of. They didn't have any other large buildings nearby because the poor roads and thich forest made this a difficult place to build permanent structures. Around the table and in the back of the truck stood 3 men as they all stared down at a large area circled on the map. "They could be anywhere in that area?" Major Timofey Sasha asked.
The circled area on the map was a rectangle which took up almost 7 squares along the x axis while it was about 1 and a half squares up the y axis. Most of the ground was identified as forest and only 2 small roads/ gravel tracks went through the area. This was about as empty a place as you could find.
"Yeah there were 4.2 miles between the point of last radio contact and the post where the GBG said they should have made the next radio contact. They could have moved anywhere in that area on their patrol route and it still possible they aren't even in that area if they deserted which is quite possible." replied Captain Vitalay Milan.
"Tomi, any luck in figuring out how we lost those 18 men." the Major asked.
"Nothing, We do poor background checks on the border guards and so know basically nothing about them. It is a region of forest with no roads and our helicopters revealed nothing but we are going to have them do an overhead flight again just to see if anything has changed." replied Captain Tomislav Ratko.
"Right, so we moved in 30 men in the past 12 hours when we made the request for reinforcements and they are all here now. 1 group will go out and will have 2 standard identification dogs and one cadaver dog in case things have gone badly but we don't know. They're setting off from the east and are going to march west and are expected to come out of the forest after three hours because we are giving them a while to comb the woods and if we find nothing we will expand the search area." Timofey explained.
"Are we expecting hostile then or not?" asked Vitalay.
"No, I mean there are groups who might do this but I don't think any of them would operate around here would they. The men probably deserted or all fell in a hole. The search parties will have standard weapons and they have been told to avoid dying." Timofey answered.
Tomislav swung open the trucks back door which was facing to the east. "Yeah, the sun has just come up. If the time is 6:13 now shall we order them to start combing their assigned routes at 6:23?" he asked.
The other 2 men looked out into the woods and orange sky. "Sounds good."

***************
8:17 A.M woods on northern Gryoznian border
They had been combing through the woods near for almost 2 hours and the sun was finally coming up to a point where the briefest crack of light could be seen. Up until this point they had been forced to use flash lights because the tree trucks and overhead canopy were obscuring any sunlight. Sargent Arseni Feodisy thanked which ever officer who purchased his commission couldn't think that might be an issue. He stumbled again on another root in the ground as he had the past 100 times and kept going as the branches brushed against his sides. "Ok girls the sun is creeping through turn you torches off and stop wasting batteries. If any of you fall over you will only sprain an ankle." he shouted to them.
"Sir, one of these dogs is tugging at it's lead does that mean I found something?" some Private asked.
"No every time you walk to slowly and the dog walks at a reasonable pace and gets annoyed and so tugs on it's lead does not mean something has been found." the Sargent barked.
"Are you sure sir because it has it's nose to the ground and everything?" the same Private asked.
While the rest of the search party kept moving forwards and went over and found the man with cadaver dog. Bloody first year conscripts always asking him questions. He had used these dogs twice before during his term of service and he was expected to know what was happening. The dog did seem to be following something.
"Ok, halt the dog appears to have caught a scent of dead bodies so either some dead smuggler or migrant has been found or the patrol is dead. Right, Private lead the way the rest of you fall in behind him." he ordered.
They all after a few minutes of falling over and trying to figure out which Private he meant. He would have used his name but the guy had started his conscription like a month ago and he has 30 people in this group and he just honestly couldn't remember if he was Vlad or a Sergi.
They followed the trail of the dog for about 300m at a slight angle to the route they had been travelling in. So if they hadn't had the dog they might have missed the body or bodies. They finally came to a place which he knew must have a few bodies because he could smell it as he broke the bushes. It was a horrid smell but he knew it was dead bodies. He looked down and saw a nice row of them.
"We found them. Ok Coporal Yegenvy and Private Juro come over here and the rest of you spread out without getting lost and see if you can find whatever killed these guys. Like bloody stains or bullets or something I don't know just look." he told them.
He counted the bodies one by one and found 18 of them. All the patrol were accounted for. They were sporting some bullet holes which he probably should inspect better and so he crouched down next to one of the body and closed his nostrils up. The bullets hole in this man's chest wasn't to big so probably some low calibre he couldn't really tell the range but he guessed quite close. "Yeg, anything other than the obvious that they are all dead and have been moved.?" he asked the patrols second in command.
"Nah, The investigators can come in and explain what happened." The Corporal replied.
Juro knew why he was here and already had the radio ready and was tuning it before the Sargent waved at the man to hand the radio over. He radioed the nearby mobile command post or the truck with the three lead officers in it.
"We found them, all dead in a nice line. I got my men wandering around now searching for blood and body parts." the Sargent radioed.
"That's great news we will move some gurneys in and transport the bodies out and send in some guys to get a good picture. Just hold still and don't end up like those guys." an officer replied over the radio.

[Deleted]

Major Georgi Federov mentally ran through the last lines of his speech. As the commander of the Gryzonian Protection Front, he decided it was time to take advantage of the political turmoil of Gryzonia. He can't afford to botch this speech, his movement depends on it. His intern came in "Sir, it's time." He stood up and walked towards the door "thank you Alec" he said sincerely. He stepped out onto his second floor balcony, overlooking Main Street in his hometown of Peka. GPF co founders Lukas Zhukov and Petar Bogdan were already outside waiting for him. He noticed the entire town was in attendance. Federov knew that, since he was the winner of the mayoral elections twice, he could likely sway his town for the cause.

"Citizens of Peka, I thank you for your attendance. These times we live in are difficult, and they're about to get harder. Our mines and our farms are no longer producing for us and our country, our production is being bought out by foreign interests, whose only intentions are to look out for their own people. Food is being produced ten miles from here, and getting shipped 5,000 miles away. Why should we produce goods if they aren't even for the benefit of our nation? Why should we be filling foreigners' bellies when we can't even fill ours? Our Party, the Gryzonian Protection Front, vows to take back and protect the resources of our nation for OUR use only! I come to you today to ask for your service. We have formed a militia, the Peka Odbrane Jedinice, to defend our local resources and take back resources in our neighboring regions. I encourage every able bodied male of Peka to enlist. You will not only be serving Peka, you will be serving our nation and its wonderful people. With your help, Gryzonia will be a strong, wealthy nation!"

The crowd was ecstatic. The Gryzonian flag was being waved by at least two thirds of the attendees. A recruitment booth was below the balcony, and almost all of the town's males were frantically lining up, wanting to do their patriotic duty.

"That sure went well", Bogdan said to Federov. "Indeed it did, with enlistment going as rapidly as it is, I'm positive that we can start operations in a short notice." The Major was confident. Being the valedictorian of Gryzonia's leading military school of strategic command he knew people in high places. He had some NCO friends who he was sure could whip these men into fighting shape. Many of them were veterans themselves, so that made his work even easier. "I have to make a phone call," the Major said

[pozlacenslavia]

8:00 AM, Somewhere outside Bładograd, 2 days after the border incident

A man stood outside of a tent, swaying and snapping in the wind with all of the other tents. This man looked like all of the other men rushing around him, wearing drab olive green jumpsuits and fetching caps. This man, however, was not like the other men, and he had one defining feature to prove it- a dragon tattooed on his neck. This man was Marshal Filip Dravec, Commander of the Southern and Western Fronts, in the service of the SRP. It was quite a lofty title to give a man, given that he only commanded about 100 "motley crew," as he affectionately called them. He was standing in front of the command tent, smoking a cigar and frowning in frustration at a paper in his hands. The paper in question was a news report from the GNP, stating that the other day's ambush on the border guards was caused by the communists. "Good God,"  he finally growled into the foggy morning air. "We never did that. We would've done it with more class. Not this 'hanging in the woods with obvious bodies' bullsh-" "Sir, the other men are ready for the march to Šukovar." A private said suddenly, strolling up to him. "Good, Comrade Private. Let's go," Filip replied curtly, squashing the report under his boot in the mud.

**********

12 Noon, Šukovar

Filip was pleased. His recruiting method had worked- create chaos in the town, make it look like it was the enemy's fault, and then "magically arrive" to solve their problems. It seemed foolproof, and it had worked in Šukovar. First, some of his men dressed in street clothes. Next, they roamed around the market stalls and generally caused mayhem and havoc. Then, the other soldiers in uniform marched down the main thoroughfare, AK-74s at the ready. They would "fight," driving off the plainclothes actors, then Filip would deliver a rousing speech. He was surprised how well it had worked here. He managed to get half the town's men signed up, and a few women too. He even got the crowd chanting "Viva la Revolution! Viva la Šukovar!" He was smiling in his temporary command tent with his trusted aide, General Marko Goleb. This was a rare thing, since when you are running a war on what seems to be the losing side, you don't have time to smile. Filip remembered this fact when he heard the pop of gunfire off in the forest south of the town...

[person67]

4:00 pm battalion headquarters for the 4th border battalion.

Colonel Stepan Polzin had written several drafts but finally decided on one which he had on A3 piece of paper he was holding up in front of him while the microphone sat on the table. 

"This is Colonel Stepan Polzin commander of 4th border battalion. To the loyal citizens of Sukovar and all loyal citizens within 8 miles of the town. Your town has been occupied by force by enemy communist forces. They have taken control of the town and have committed treason. The Gryoznian government will not stand for treachery and will reclaim the town. We outnumber this rabble of bandits and expect all loyal citizens to get 5 miles away from the town in the next 6 hours. Take only personal belongings and anyone who appears to be armed will be fired upon. If stopped by government forces cooperate fully as Sukovar and everything around it is an active war zone and disobeying government orders risks being killed or wounded in the crossfire. Understand that the the those holding the town will be defeated with absolute certainty. The only option is to evacuate immediately and avoid being caught in the crossfire. You have 6 hours to evacuate." he said. 

They would hear the message, how many would heed was another matter.

**************


9:30: am 3 kilometres of Sukovar.

Colonel Stepan Polzin was sitting at a small testle table ,in the middle of a small and narrow poorly paved gravel road, which had an oversized map laid over the top. Opposite to him sat Majors Vukovic, Stefanovic and Gregori. He was surrounded by a headquarters platoon and 1 companies worth of trucks. On the map his position was marked out with an orange marker while another 4 different positions were marked out with 3 in green surrounding the town's roads and one in blue on a hill which had a commanding view of the town

"Major Llari reports he has surrounded the town totally and nothing can get out as you can see all roads are covered by a rifle platoon. Are all your units in position. "

"Yes, sir"

"Yes, sir"

"Yes, sir"

Each of the men under his ad hoc command replied. Normally Gregori who was commander of a tank company would have been elsewhere but he had insisted that he been given armour support if he was to attack a town. 
"Good, the units proceed to attack at Y hour." the Colonel said.

[pozlacenslavia]

5:30 AM, Šukovar

Filip was anxious. He knew his military could have a slight chance against a small task force of the Government, but not the huge amount of troops he was told were coming by his "totally trustworthy" scouts. He then drew up an escape plan, having sabotaged a local's Zastava Koral "Yugo" and stamped a hammer and sickle on it. It was just before dawn in the town, and Filip and 7 guards would wait around the car, guns loaded and ready to run.

***

General Marko waited in town. He had been visiting the local rich man's study and reading about fighting in the past, where entire towns had been leveled, but the defenders still won by making every house ruins a battlefield. Marko slammed shut his latest volume. He knew what he had to do. "Comrades!" He shouted. "I know what we will do. We hold this town to the last man- For Communism!" The soldiers let out a cheer, and then ran to their positions on the edge of the town, somewhere that they thought wasn't an obvious defensive position to the enemy. Others packed down old tractors, sandbags, and sharp farming utensils into barricades along the entrance roads. They all sat, facing their death with courage. Well, except Filip, who was chewing his nails in pure terror as he sat in the driver's seat of the Yugo-mobile.

[Deleted]

Federov looked upon his new force, 400 strong, with pride. They stood professionally in rows with their AK-47s slung on their shoulders. Several technicals were parked behind them, with DSHKs pointed to the sky. The men were organized into 8 units of 50, each lead by a CO.

"Fellow patriots, the time has come to take what is ours!" The men burst into a chant of "oorahs," "The chaos unfolding in our country has provided us with an opportunity that we must take advantage of. The town of Sombor has a tractor factory, which we can use to make vehicles, and there are valuable coal mines just outside the east side of the town. Taking this town will prove our might and provide us with resources to aid us in our gains. Unit 1 backed up by two technicals, will carry out this offensive. Units 2 and 3 will provide assistance if requested, they will be on standby. Ready your things, because you leave at dawn. Good luck."
Their morale was strong, it was finally time for them to prove their worth and they wouldn't fail. The men were in a frenzy, some were loading magazines, some filled bags with RPG warheads, and others cleaned their guns. Dawn was almost here.

[person67]

10:00 am inside a BTR-70 advancing on Sukovar

The only remotely good thing about being shot at was that he couldn't be inside one of these bloody APC's though that was hardly true since the armour on these things wasn't great. He was grateful to have a T-72 in front of the BTR-70 protecting it from a bloke with a molotiv cocktail and if anyone ran around the side to get a shot at it there was someone manning the turret. He hated how cramped they were, how stale the air was and how they were either freezing, boiling or both. It was safer than running across open ground while being sprayed by machine gun fire but he wouldn't call this joy riding.

"Sir, we are going to start offloading now as we have reached our drop off point. Permission to exit Sir?" some conscript Private asked him.

"Granted, lets go." Lieutenant Borislav Osip shouted back over the din of the engines.

The BTR-70 had a very nice feature that it had side doors so the vehicle could keep moving while offloading troops. Yet of course some first year moron was always at risk of getting dragged under the wheels and hurting himself which was very annoying because losing soldiers before you even got out of the vehicle looked stupid. Borislav let 3 men jump out first and make a dash for cover first before he joined them to hear the characteristic cracking of a Kalashnikov. He ignored it like a faint popping noise, he couldn't afford to get pinned down and he was certain that those shooters didn't have a line of sight because if they did, someone would have been hit by now.

After hurling himself clear of the vehicle and making a quick mad dash to get behind cover of some house. So there were men with guns in the town, well that was nice intelligence to know. He had to advance down this street which cut right through the centre of the town and went straight to both the central marketplace and put him within a short distance of the town hall. Of course going down this one street would be difficult. E

"3rd Platoon, Are we all offloaded and on one side of the road or the other." he said into the radio.

He should have a platoon with him and a platoon with Lieutenant Savely who was on opposite side of the road behind another house. The overall assault had 2 infantry companies and another tank company,  He heard back quickly enough.

"Yeah I got my lot with no casualties as of yet." Savely replied.

That man had a grim humour even in the middle of a firefight. "Ok, you lay down suppressing fire we push forwards." he replied over the radio.

"Understood."

Within a few seconds he heard his covering fire with a barrage of rounds going into roughly where the enemy were firing from. He threw a smoke grenade down the street and gave it a second to actually disperse before shouting "Go" and moved out from behind the cover of the house so he was standing behind a wall separating the front garden from the road and vaulted it and charged across the front garden to get to the next wall separating the 2 terrace houses before again vaulting that and going to the next wall where he took cover. He should have had 2 men next to him but he only had one.

"Shit, Private Yuri, are you ok?" he shouted.

"No, my chest hurts." Yuri wailed in pain.

If he was still conscious and coherent he would be fine. The next load of his men came over the wall and proceeded to hide in the front porch and blow the door in. Once the door had been suitably demolished, 4 men rushed in and went to search it. They were big boys they could handle a bloody house without getting hurt.

***********

Inside the house 10:02

"Hallway clear" Coporal Kliment shouted as he went out of one firefight into a potential ambush. The hallway was empty but there was an upstairs and 2 doors on the left hand side of the hallway and one at the end. There could be enemy fighters anywhere. He pushed up the hall way until he reached the first door.

"All in." shouted the solider at the back to say all 4 men were inside and they could proceed to search.

Private Raol kicked the door which wasn't locked so swung right open and the man then pushed himself in scuttling quickly against the wall swinging his rifle around the room while another one of his comrades came in behind him. Once the room was secure Kliment entered. It was a living room, one chair in the left hand corner of the room, a recently used fireplace in the centre of the right wall and a stack of shelves next to it.

"Clear." he shouted.

So they searched every room upstairs and downstairs much in a similar fashion until the whole house was clear before moving onto the next one.

*******************
10:19 out on the main street.

Borislav had lost 2 men pushing up the street house by house and another clearing a sniper out of a house. They had gained a measly 25 metres. The enemy had a barricade made of rubble which had a couple of men behind it probably between 3 or 5 he thought. While rudimentary it was providing good cover and had good fields of fire and his men had wasted to long trying to take it. He had to just get rid of that thing if he was going to keep going, it had to be safe to move a tank in now, he could be 75 metres away from the target and make the shot. "Private Vladmir, get Wolf 4 to come out of hiding and take out that damn barricade." he shouted to his signaller. 

A T-72 drove into view a minute later as it drove back from where the tank company had been sitting into view of his troops on the ground. "Suppress, that barricade, now." he bellowed to his troops and his troops let off a barrage of fire from behind walls and out of windows towards the barricade and just above desperately trying to keep the enemy inside from moving while the T-72 lined up for it's shot and then fired a single HEF round straight at the barricade.

[person67]

10:20 on a hill overlooking Sukovar

Sargent Yaramov had nasty cramp. He had been lying under this camo net for about 6 hours and it was quite uncomfortable. 'There won't be any combat what so ever totally safe.' he had been told by his CO, the rest of his company were also just sitting there around the town but they didn't have to lie prone under a camo net for 6 hours by themselves and a stupid conscript. He hadn't seen much so far or at least nothing worth calling in an airstrike for

"Sir, we got something." Private Adavonski said.

How many times was this kid going to bother him.

"What is it?" Yaramov asked.

"A car, and 8 men standing around it"

Sargeant Yaramov grabbed the binoculars out of the kid's hands and put them up to his eyes. Bloody hell there were 7 men standing around a car and a another bloke in it. What the hell were they doing? Was that a hammer and sickle strapped to the side of the car. Probably not. He took the radio from beside his leg and switched it on. "This is Fox 1, I have identified a potential enemy position or command post in the centre of the town. Requestinf air support to eliminate it and am turning on laser guidance to direct attack towards it." he said into the radio on the same channel as that of the Su-25's circling above.

He took the laser guider lined up the sight and pointed it right at the car before turning the laser on.

[Globexanter]

10:20 above Sukovar, slightly to the North.

Two teams of Su-25s were circling above the occupied Gryoznian town, one flying significantly higher than the other in order to provide an overhead protective presence. Two aircraft were therefore on direct stand-by and tuned into the ground regiment's radio channels while another two spent their time relaying information back to their base and ensuring a level of security for the two attacking jets: if the ones attacking the enemy units ran out of ammunition of required backup, they would swoop down and pick up the task.
Captain Savchenko carefully listened to the NCO assigned as FAC, silently cursing the lack of information being sent to the pilots. The command unit based back home had provided little information regarding the operation other than the fact that the aircraft were there to provide CAS support above a town being retaken by government forces.

"Fox one this is Vasily Pavel three. Understood on the target, will engage on a north bound route with corrected air bombs, maintain laser contact. Vasily Pavel four is going to engage targets of opertunity, keep your heads down, over and out." answered the pilot, quickly passing onto a side channel maintaned by the four aircraft as to organise the attack.

Slowly moving themselves into a combat formation, the two lower Su-25s began by separating themselves from the town, drawing distance between them as to be able to correctly use the laser guidance and TV-guided munitions. Once a correct distance had been established, alongside the required altitude for the proper deployment of the bomb, the lead jet released a single KAB-500-LS laser guided bomb while his wingman dropped two KAB-500-OD TV-guided fire and forget bomb, aiming one at the rough area where the motor vehicle was and the other at a concentration of enemy troops near the center of the town, seemingly in some form of marketplace.

"Fox one, have dropped a total of three munitions. Wait one for three detonations. Expect two on laser taget and one on marketplace, over." sent the Captain, moving about the infrared camera on his screen as to attempt to get a view at the targets below.

The three large 500 kilogram bombs slowly tumbled towards their respective targets, their guidance systems slowly correcting their paths as to land within the required distance from the indicated position, the little ailerons moving as to permit this. While the main bomb aimed at the car was a HE, the two others were thermobaric variants, purposely deployed for the operation due to the effect that would be caused by their detonation in a street or an area surrounded by buildings. The initial shockwave would be bad enough for those caught in the radius of the bomb, but the main selling point of the weapon would be the following vacuum created by the fuel-oxidizer mix. Although the pressure wave would cause some damage, the real issues would arise from the ruptured lungs, burns and toxic clouds released by the burning of the highly potent fuels used in the bomb. Another reason for the use of the air-fuel bombs was the expected morale hit to the untrained rebels below, the intelligence units having reported that most of those defending the town had little to no combat experience. The main hope was therefore that, in seeing a large number of their comrades killed or severely wounded without any warning would push the enemy to the breaking point.