Firestorm: Stripes

General Ivansky wanted to try and relieve pressure off of Brandenburg. If he could do that he could stop the NATO advance into Berlin. He was in a hurry, and he ordered his division to mount up and move out by nightfall.
As soon as night fell, his men moved out, hoping the darkness would cover their movements. Heading up Route 7, Ivansky was targeting an intersection just west of Westenholz. Having this intersection would secure the route into Hanover proper and spur the move into Brandenburg. This was an objective he needed to take.

He ordered Col. Schmirnov to move ahead of the division and scout the area. He arrived outside of Westenholz just after day break and began to move his forward detachment moved to the intersection and found British dismounted infantry guarding it. Ivansky knew he had to hurry to claim the intersection.
Schmirnov came under fire from the British troops in the woods near the intersection. In the distance he could see Chieftain tanks that were in the town moving toward his position. He ordered his infantry to try and flank the infantry by going through the northern most woods and come from the town. His T-64’s were in position covering the road that leads into town.
“American’s, direct front, 1000 meters.” Schmirnov’s tanks could see just enough to ID three American Abrams coming down the road. Shortly thereafter, they came under fire from them. At this point he lost only one tank, but lost part of his scout platoon. He needed help or he was not going to hold.

“We are here, where do you want us?’ Col. Poniatowski had just arrived with his battalion of T-72’s. “Target the enemy tanks, now!!” Poniatowski ordered his tanks to move to intercept the incoming tanks. His first company came into range and fired. Poniatowski could see dirt fly up, his tanks had fired extremely short. His second tank company moved to support his infantry moving toward the wheat fields. Suddenly, he hears several loud explosions then seeing turrets flying, his first company was reduced to burning hulks. The Americans had exacted their revenge for scratching the paint on their tanks. He was bogged down. He needed to push, and push hard. Poniatowski’s infantry company had met British infantry in the wheat field. They made contact and called in artillery. It was extremely effective. Moving forward under the hail of their own gunfire, they rushed the British positions before they could recover, forcing them to cede the field, leaving only sergeant and a Milan team. Poniatowski’s push had begun, now he had to keep it going.

Schimirnov’s men had been stalled as well. His infantry was unable to flank the enemy position, due to a minefield American artillery had laid. They dug in and called for artillery support, and continued to whittle the British down. They could not move to take the objective without help. Schmirnov ordered his tanks to move near the now controlled wheat field to try and help out Poniatowski. The American tanks came over the hill and fired on them. All rounds from the first volley plinked off the tougher tanks.

Meanwhile, Poniatowski made a bold, yet psychotic maneuver. With American Abrams closing in from the southeast field and newly arrived ITV’s moving under the cover of the burning hulks. He ordered his remaining tank company to make a mad dash through the woods that separated the two wheat fields. The move shocked the enemy, and the company was able to catch the enemy tanks from the flank. Only a few got far enough through the woods to fire. They did destroy two enemy tanks. Poniatowski’s aide started to tell him the odds of the plan working, “Don’t tell me the odds,” he interrupted. Many battles are won on a single odd move, Poniatowski was hoping this was the one. As this was happening, the infantry had arrived and moved behind his tanks.

The southern part of the field was becoming a traffic jam and Ivansky knew this was a bad idea. He needed his men to push and push hard for the intersection if his division stood a chance at survival. Just then his air arrived, braving the enemy AAA. Seeing this, Ivansky ordered a smoke screen to conceal enemy mobile SAM’s. Somehow the enemy triple-A managed to down on of the Frogfoots and one Hind. With all that firepower, they were unable to make a blow to the enemy, only killing one Chieftain.
Schmirnov was still holding his position, but it wasn’t going to hold forever. His T-64’s were able to shake of a lot of fire, but eventually succumb to enemy Maverick and TOW missiles from enemy aircraft. His position was falling fast and help had been stalled.
Seeing that his advance had been stalled and his armor all but gone, Ivansky ordered his men to withdraw back down Route 7 to where they had come from. It was a troublesome loss for him, but he and his men had fought gallantly and he knew Moscow would see it that way too. He and his men lived to fight another day.