Burning Rivers

Sergeant Williams' Story

I woke up from my brief nap to the sight of anti-air fire in the sky. I was on a UH-60 Black Hawk with the 59th Infantry Dividsion. Our mission was to eliminate all Russian opposition as Allied and NATO forces push towards Moscow. But the Russians had 2.1 million soldiers who would die if it meant protecting the Russian Motherland. I was first deployed in 2024, fighting in North Korea and China. But the issue is, the North Korean and Chinese armies are nothing compared to Russians. "Drop zone, 30 seconds," said the helicopter pilot. I had to put my game face on, because I knew that when I get my boots on the ground, I could be killed in anytime. I looked at my men and said, "Alright men. We know our jobs. We push back the Russians and we should be done within 10 hours. This is step one to Moscow. Hoorah?" My men nodded and got their guns ready. I had a quick prayer, loaded my gun, and took a deep breathe. "10 seconds," the helicopter pilot yelled. The helicopter was under intense fire, so much so that I thought we would have a crash landing. It was dark and rainy, but the sky constantly light up with explosions and rockets, and gunfire. Thankfully, the helicopter landed, and my men and I were boots on ground. The helicopter lifted off, and I could smell the smoke, and gunpowder in the air. I looked around for enemy soldiers, but it seemed that the main opposition was farther away. I saw American tanks, and infantry soldiers run past us. I stopped my friend Lieutenant Charles Donnell who was apart of the U.S Navy Seals Team 10. "Donnell," I yelled, "What's the situation?" Donnell was constantly looking up and around which was normal because there was an everlasting chance of getting shot by a sniper. "The Russians have defenses all across the river. Artillery, tanks, infantry, everything. The Germans, and French are trying to have their ships try and weaken the defenses,  but this river is so narrow they may not make it!" I looked around myself. "So I guess a frontial assault is not going to cut it?" Donnell laughs, "We could try. But the Russians are using civilians as shields, and we can't risk anymore lives. The best we can do is wait for the British and American fighters to do their strafing runs. Now head to the river basin, NOW!" Donnell can be the coolest guy on the planet but when we are in the middle of battle, he is all business. "Alright men, move it!" I waved my men forward as we charged towards the river. And as I expected, we encountered gunfire from all directions. We heard enemy soldiers screaming at us. I yelled to my men, "Open fire!" I started shooting at will, trying to kill any enemy opposition possible. I was trying my hardest to dodge bullets as they constantly whizzed by me by the skin of my teeth. I took cover behind one of our American tanks hoping to catch a breathe. I could finally breathe when I say a Russian solider come at me with a spiked baseball bat. I pulled out my pistol and shot him twice in the face. I was trying to catch my breath again, looking around. I saw that half the Russian army started charged at us head on. I got a message over the radio, saying "All units this is Cobra 3-1. The Russians are charging us. Be advised they are armed with a assault rifles and pistols along with clubs and flamethrowers." I got nervous and started looking for my squad which split up after the assault began. I found two of my men, Private Jacob Newman and Corporal Steve Watkins across from me hiding behind a truck. "Newman! Newman!" I yelled. He looked over st me and nodded, "Yes sir?!" "We need to move forward so we can take out the main defenses. Grab a shield of some kind." He looked around and found a car door. I nodded and said "Okay on my mark we charge them. 3, 2, 1, charge!!!" I grabbed my rifle and began running towards the closest cover while shooting enemy soliders. "Don't let up," I told Newman, "Keep firing!" I saw a Russian jet crash behind us, and an American A-10 Thunderbolt Jet zoom overhead. "All American units, this is Brodus 0-1. We are inbound for bombing run on the entire river, eta 5 minutes." The B-52's were the ones in charge of the bombing runs and they don't mess around. Holding around 60 bombs in each of the 20 planes flying overhead, the bombing run will do the job, and then some. I started to see the river in the distance and I got a clear view of the defenses we were up against. Triple A guns, anti personnel guns, and mortar positions, which is the usual Russian trifecta. "Williams, I don't think we can make it! There's like 3,000 of them and 1,500 of us. We are so outnumbered!" yelled Newman. I ran over to him and said, "Get a grip Newman. We aren't dying today. Listen all we have to do is push them back to the river, and let the B-52s handle their job. And we got 3 minutes to do it." I knew we were running out of time, so we had to improvise. I looked around and saw a quad launcher which is like an RPG, but you can shoot 4 at one time. I ran over and picked it up. It automatically locks on to a enemy target, so I had to be careful what targets I pick. I saw 2 Russian tanks, a Mig-33 jet constantly doing strafing runs overhead, and I was eyeing the mortar dig-ins. I locked the targets, and pulled the trigger. All four rockets launched and aimed towards the intended targets. Both tanks blew up on contact, the Mig-33 got hit and the mortar positions were only slightly affected. "All units this is Brodus 0-1, we are inbound for bombing run. ETA 20 seconds." I looked to see where I was,  and my blood ran cold when I did. Me and Newman were by the river basin, and directly in the path of the bombing run. If me and him didn't get out of the way in the next 20 seconds we would be blown apart. I looked at Newman, and screamed, "Run!!" At that moment, me and him took off running and as we did, we felt the ground shake like an earthquake and a loud whoosh sound overhead. Suddenly, bombs started exploding all around us. They seemed to follow us, and we tried to find cover. Then a bomb went off behind us, and I felt a big push forward. I hit the ground and then everything went black...

Continued in Part 2