Battalion Wars I

Chapter 5: Plan of Attack

"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic."
-Joseph Stalin

September 27th 2014
0925-9:25 Am
Sgt. Eryk C
2 miles from Castle Potemkin
7th Army Division; Delta Battalion

We arrived a little early at the castle. There were more outer defenses than we thought, so now we were suspicious that the main base was warned about our impending assault.

After that, we had to get more troops. We feared the Tundrans would counter-attack before our assault even began. Deciding to dig in we built a small series of trenches and set up our tents behind them and a command center nearby to coordinate with Frontier command.

"Are we ever going to attack the Castle?" Donavan asked with a sigh.

"Hopefully when we get the extra men and supplies that the Colonel promised he would send," I replied, sounding quite glum.

"Can't we just attack now? We have enough troops," voiced Miles.

"Well, the Captain said that they were coming with a light tank and other troops they could spare," I shot back.

"Man, fuck the Captain and the Colonel!" shouted Donavan.

"Okay, if you guys would stop your complaining, much would be appreciated!" I yelled back. Donavan and Miles shut right up. "I would like to ask who is in command here?" "You are sir!" They replied in unison. "Good, so leave the planning to me, 'cause frankly if we attacked now it would be a motherfucking slaughter," I explained. "The Tundrans have decided to hold up behind their walls and defenses for a reason? Don't you all think?" I stated asking a rhetorical question. A calming silence was their response. 

"Sorry for disrespecting your command sir." Said, Miles. "No it wasn't disrespectful you are just upset that we haven't seen some combat yet, I understand the frustration but it's my duty to lead you and to keep you all safe from yourselves and the enemy," I said.

"If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go watch for the enemy," I declared as I stormed out of the tent. I walked outside to see a helicopter landing, and when it touched down its ramp, down and out came six infantry soldiers, four rocket troops, one light recon, and one Tank. The helicopter took off leaving its cargo to me.

I went back to the tent and grabbed a map, having Donavan and Miles get a table. I went over to the new troops and asked for their commanding officer.

To my surprise, Zach came up and greeted me. I chuckled and said, "Come with me. I need your help thinking of a plan." He followed me over to the table with the map and we stood around it.

I looked at him and asked, "So what do you know about the defenses of this Fort?" He looked up and then pointed to different spots on the map.

The first spot was a small prison camp to the east of us with five flamethrowers and five men to use them. The second point was to another prison camp, that was holding a light tank to the west. Both were heavily defended by the Tundrans.

He then showed me two routes we could use to attack the castle from our current position. The first one was an all-out frontal assault, which would make us vulnerable to enemy fire because there was little to no natural cover on that road through the main entrance. In addition, that route also provided us with the high possibility of heavy casualties. In addition, the Tundrans would catch on and attack with their main force along with any reserves in waiting. 

The second route was to flank the enemy and come from behind, ultimately taking them by surprise. I didn't hesitate to choose the second option, for the frontal assault was just not the best option, as I stated before, it was my duty to protect my men and complete the mission. The second route would help us be stealthy and destroy the enemy with hopefully fewer casualties.