Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

Chapter 6.5: Ambush

" Report!"

" Brigadier General, sir," A Ustian Captain hastily salutes the staunch General in front of him. " the Belkans, they crossed Reno! The logistics groups are under heavy enemy fires from all angles!" He spoke with unprecedented panic.

" Ridiculous! How the fuck did they cross the river that fast! It's a whole army!" The Ustian general slammed his fist on a parked tank right next to him. While it's true that the Belka ambushers are many, they really don't have the number to be classified as an army. The 404th is just a single division and the ambush force doesn't even account for half of the Division itself.

It goes to say that Ustio intelligent gathering isn't that great. You gotta wonder as to why, in the original world where Yuki was supposed to be dead, Ustio almost breaks Belka.

" Relay my order: ' I want the 47th and the 104th Company to head back and relieve our logi!'"

The Captain frantically heads out to deliver the order. The Ustian General watches before turning around in the direction of his logistics groups.

" How the hell did those rats know where our logi is?" He has a bad premonition. According to his calculation, the enemy should have taken more time to send a sizeable force to effectively stop his advance. Yet somehow they already have enough strength to mount an ambush on his supply chain. With their logistics in shambled, it will be hard to mount a proper defense line once he reaches the river bank.

" Hey," He waves for a radioman. " I want to-" The General, standing in the open, doesn't have the chance to finish his word as his head was punctured.

Brain matters splashed onto the tank and the unlucky radioman as the General's body slumped to the ground. With his eyes open wide and his mouth still trying to speak the unfinished words, his killer doubts the General even registered that he died.

As for the radioman, he scampers on the ground, frightened like a deer in a headlight. It took him a few seconds to scream, shouting that the General is dead. And with that, the surrounding soldiers finally spring into action as they were still in disbelief. Panicking, they fired their weapons into the surrounding shrubberies and trees, hoping to somehow get a lucky shot at the sniper.

Unknowing to them, the sniper isn't in the woods. Heck, she isn't even on the ground in the first place.

" Confirmed kill. Nice shot, Sergeant." Floating in the air, an Angel overlooking the chaos below with binoculars commented.

Next to her, flapping a pair of greyish wings, a Fallen Angel responds.

" Well, it would have been impossible without your help. It was you who concealed us with magic. After all, flying this high in broad daylight is, without a doubt, a death sentence."

The Fallen Angel turns around and smirks. " Speaking of which, will I have a reward from you for a job well done?" She licks her lips.

Sighing, the Angel knocks on the head of her friend. " While the notion is entertaining for you, our job wasn't supposed to be a kill job. When we get back to Command, what awaits you might not be the reward you want but an earful of berating from the brass."

" Tsk... you're no fun." The Fallen Angel rubs her head before realigns her rifle to look for more targets.

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" ... If you survive the debrief then I will consider rewarding you, personally." Noticing that her girlfriend is pouting, the Angel relented. " For now, you can have your fun while I report the situation to Command."

While they're only Forward Observers who shouldn't be actively engaging an enemy force. The enemies below are free-game per the mission directives. It should be fine for them to bag an HVT or two for themselves, right?

" Yay!" Having more motivation than before, the Fallen Angel performs her job more seriously as she relays intelligence back to her partner. The Angel takes note of it then sends the intel back to their Commanding Officer via a communication spell. She flinches a few times when the Fallen Angel opens fire on any Ustian officers that are unlucky enough to be in the open.

" At least our duo isn't the only one to take potshots at the enemy." The Angel mutters. She knows that some of her colleagues are also hunting down radiomen and officers after seeing their handiwork. Causing a severe disruption in the Ustian command chain.

As the situation persist, Ustian reinforcement arrived too late to save their logistics. Everything is in shamble and they now find themselves scatters without cohesion, making them even easier to be hit by an ambush.

Without further order from the enemy Brigadier General, the soldiers below don't know what to do aside from either digging in or running away. Though running away will have the Ustians run straight into the group that ambushed their logistics, while staying still will have the Belkan Army picking them off one by one. They can try to regroup but it will just be delaying the inevitable. The Ironblood Division is out for the kill.

Of the force dispatched out of White Rock, only a few high-ranking officers are left in it. They're fortunate to be hiding behind covers or inside a tank. Though they're cursing their enemy's grandmothers when reports keep coming in about troops being ambushed left, right, and center.

It's as if the Belkans appeared out of thin air, caught them off-guard, then proceed to fuck their mother and they cannot respond. Many colorful curses were thrown out while the Ustians tried to salvage the situation.

Truly, the Ustians never thought that the Ironblood Division will set up shut a perfect ambush on their home turf. If only they knew what kind of opponent they were facing, had they known then they might have taken the matter more seriously.

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A soldier runs silently in the middle of the forest, he jumps over a log before sliding down inside a camouflaged trench. Next to him are some of his squadmates.

Another soldier approaches him, handing over a canteen. " Lieutenant, how many?"

Takin a swig of the canteen, the Lieutenant curses. " Goddamn it Irish, this is the shittiest coffee I've ever tasted."

" Well then go make your own coffee, old man!" Irish, a Corporal quipped back. " I have much better things to do than brewing your bitter mud drink."

The rest of the soldiers roll their eyes at their usual bickering.

After drinking another mouthful. the Lieutenant tells his men to ready up. " A tank and an armored car, escorted by two squads of infantry."

Training their weapons at the dirt road, some one hundred meters away from them. The Belkans await the blue vests that are synonymous with the Ustian Army.

" We don't have a Pak but our position has two Panzer Busters. I'm counting on you guys to knock out their armors." The Lieutenant says. Everyone here had attended the briefing so they know what to do. They also know that if they let the enemy run away with their assets, the Ustians may come back and kill their comrades in the future.

" I can hear them approaching. Wait for them to come closer!" In between the rustling of trees, the rumbling engine sounds are very hard to miss. The soldiers wait with bated breaths and soon enough, the first to appear is blue color AMC.35 light tank. Not far behind is an AMD.35 armored car, flanked by twenty infantries. Judging from the hasty steps, disheveled clothing, and the pale faces of the Ustian soldiers. It's safe to say they making a retreat from an active battle zone.

" Be patient lads, let the vehicles clear the shrubberies."

The Lieutenant is in charge of a platoon of infantries. Though he only has half of them stationed here, numbering up to 23 men and women, while the rest are posted elsewhere. To make sure things go smoothly, he really needs the Panzer Busters to have a sure kill shot.

" Hold... Hold... Hold..." As the tank and the armored car make a right turn, they unknowingly show their vulnerable sides to the Belkans. " NOW! ENGAGE THE ENEMY!"

The Panzer Busters fire first, followed by the Mg-34s and Kar98ks. Unsurprisingly, the first to go down is the screening infantries on the Ustian Sides. Mere seconds afterward, two large explosions shocked the stunned Ustians.

A HEAT grenade from the Busters impacted, penetrated, and exploded the ammo rack inside the unlucky light tank. Its turret and cannon gush out flaming breaths before completely exploding and sending the turret sky high.

The second grenade, however, missed. Due to a wrong calculation on the speed of the armored car, the grenade landed in front of the vehicle. Destroying half the body of an unlucky Ustian while knocking off the wheel of the AMD. With its weapons still operational, the AMD swings its gun to bear and suppresses the Belkan position.

" Fuck! Incoming!" A 25mm shell impacted the trench, kicking up dirt and grime in the process.

" Covering fire!" The Lieutenant ordered the MG crews to retaliate. " Aim for the turret!"

Although 8mm Mauser, with the proper round, can penetrate up to 13mm of armor. The armored car is rated against anything short of a .50 caliber rounds. Nonetheless, with the incessant suppressive fire from the MG-34s, they're bound to hit critical components like the gunner optic. Buying the Panzer Busters enough time to reload.

" We're done!" A Buster team finishes loading their launcher, deploying their weapon behind a rock, they fire the weapon.

With the adrenaline high, they swear they can see the grenade travel damn slow this time. Thankfully, it hit the center mass of the AMD, completely knocking the vehicle over with a loud bang.

" Nice shot!" A soldier cheered.

" Fuck yeah, here we go! That's our second kills today!" The Buster crew that secured the kill, loads a HE grenade while wondering what will be their kill tally at the end of the day.

" Now that menace is taken care of. Get the rest lads!" The Lieutenant commanded.

Now with such an advantage in firepower, subduing the surviving Ustians is an easy job for this platoon of his.

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" Chief! One of our Northern positions is under heavy fire from enemy armored. They're requesting our help." The loader/radio operator of a Panzer II reported.

The 27th Recon Platoon, consisting of two Panzer IIs and two 221 Scout cars, is entrusted with the task of a quick-response force. Their job is to use their speed to quickly fill in any gap that appears in the encirclement or act as a relief force if one of the Belkan positions fails to hold. So far, they have been doing great in bailing out three positions that were overwhelmed.

" Our ammo condition?" The Chief, a Lieutenant, questioned. With his remaining eye, he scans the tactical map as he listens to the report from his loader.

" Our tank still has six magazines of mixed ammo and three HVAP magazines. Tank 2 reported they have two HVAP magazines with half of their standard complement. Scout 1 reported four magazines of HVAP with less than half of their standard ammo. Scout 2 said they are still waiting to use their MG-34."

" Tell the platoon to start moving. Tank 2, take point while Scout 1 serves as the rearguard." The Lieutenant ordered. Out of habit, he touches the eyepatch covering his left eye. " Do we have a report on the enemy compliment?"

" An infantry company with a few armored vehicles, sir."

Nodding at the words, the Lieutenant says. " I guess Scout 2 finally has the chance to use their machine gun."

While the Panzer IIs and Scout 1, a 221 armored car, in his platoon have both a 20mm autocannon and a machine gun. Scout 2 is a bit unlucky as they only have an MG-34 machine gun to combat enemy infantries. Earlier engagements featured a bit too much Ustian armored vehicles for Scout 2 to participate in the action. But now they can let out their pent-up frustration on the unfortunate Ustian foot soldiers.

Instructing his loader on what to report to High Command, the one-eyed Lieutenant take hold of the autocannon. As they are approaching the battle zone, he reminds the rest of the platoon to keep their heads on the swivel. Knowing that they will be hitting the Ustians from their flank, he lays out some instructions for the platoon to follow.

It doesn't take long until they come upon an unsuspecting squad of Ustians. Seeing that they are pulling an anti-tank gun, Tank 2 that is in front spares no mercy and uses the autocannon. Taken by complete surprise, the Ustian anti-tank squad is wiped out in a series of small explosions.

Seeing that his subordinate encountered the enemy, the Lieutenant has the platoon spread out into two. The tanks will circle around the backside of the enemy troop, distracting and taking out any armors that show their vulnerable side. While the scout cars will dash toward the friendly position, reinforcing their line and at the same time, getting rid of anything that has gotten near their allies.

All elements of the platoon have received the go-ahead for a gun-blazing entrance so they never let off their trigger fingers. The commotion of their arrival caused the Ustians to dive into a state of disarray as they already have a hard enough of a time as it is. They had been on the run when they encountered the Belkan roadblock and now, being shot at from behind, have made a few of them desperate.

A few squads of infantries perform a charge at the roadblock, as they're driven mad by fear, the Ustian soldiers let out a lot of pressure on the Belkans stationed there. Thankfully, the scout cars arrive in time to suppress the opposition. Making their way to the friendly squads, the scout cars soon take cover behind some camouflaged fortifications. With the cars coming to a stop, their autocannon and machine guns make quick work of any approaching infantries.

Though, the attack is still far from over. Slowly lumbering towards the Belkans is a stupidly-shaped tank, an FCM.36 support tank. The cone-shaped tank, while slow, has an impressive frontal armor scheme for its time that is 40mm of sloped armor. Staying at the range of some 250 to 400 meters away, taking that thing out with HVAP is gonna be damn challenging. The FCM.36 can just use its cannon to bombard their location and they can do nothing about it.

" Shiet! Hey, Chief! Where the fuck are you!? We got big fish here!" Scout 2 commander shouts on the radio. He watches as the white shells from Scout 1 harmlessly bounced off the FCM. " We didn't even scratch their paint job!"

Seeing that unloading their HVAP magazine on the tank itself is futile, Scout 1 switches to shooting the thing at the tracks. The well-placed shots knocked out the exposed track links on the FCM.36. But unlike the cowardly previous crews that waved the white flag when their tanks were disabled, this crew sticks to their guns and retaliates at Scout 1.

The 37mm shell from the FCM impacts the wooden structure that Scout 1 is hiding behind and over-penetrates it, the somewhat deformed shell then proceeds to hit Scout 1 in the engine block. The round setting Scout 1 on fire, effectively disabled it for the rest of this operation. Fortunately, the commander of Scout 2 sees his friends managed to bail out of the car just in time before the whole thing caught fire and the ammo started cooking off.

" We are coming toward you, hang tight!" The Chief answered, he too, also intruded upon two more FCM.36s. The things were pained to knock out of action while he and the other tank needed to pay attention to any additional anti-tank equipment.

It was a good thing they decided to have the tanks flank behind the enemy, however. As the Lieutenant managed to cut down a majority of the infantries with this maneuver. He now only needs to deal with the last bit of resistance surrounding the detracked FCM.

" Better get a move on sir, or that thing gonna blasts us to Heaven!" Scout 2 commander urged. He now wishes he packed a Pak 37 on the car before this mission. Witnessing the enemy support tank keeps peppering their position while being unable to do anything is frustrating. The best he can do is engage the Ustian infantry while hoping the tank won't rear its turret to aim at him.

After a few minutes of confrontation that surprisingly have little to no losses on both sides ( The Belkans dug in deep enough for the non-explosive shells from the FMC to do any serious damage. While the Ustians crawled on the ground to avoid incoming fire). The Panzer IIs arrive and attack the Ustians from behind.

By having tough front armor, the FCM.36 sacrificed both maneuverability and armor coverage on the sides and rear. With lackluster protection of 20mm of steel, at a distance of only 50 meters, even standard AP ammo from the Panzer II can penetrate it. After a bout with the other FCM.36s, the Lieutenant knows better to fire at the engine than the cone-head of the tank.

Dumping an entire 10-round magazine, the Lieutenant sets the enemy tank on fire, much to the astonishment of the Ustian infantries. Having no other choice, the FCM crew bails out and along with the rest of the Ustian soldiers, finally surrender when they see the Panzer IIs surround them.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Scout 2 commander notices that the sounds of battle are dying down. Figuring that this skirmish is over, he jumps out of his car and go to the friends that lost their ride.