The Merinan War Part V
The Rogue Marshal's Men
Major Keith Saunders; Kululu, Eastern Bataar, MerinaThe township of Kululu lay astride the Katamba-N'gal Tsata road, on the north bank of the Khunene river, a dozen miles west of its confluence with the White Qast. A week earlier, it had lain well behind the National Liberation Army's lines in a quiet sector. Now, they were occupied by the enemy, and Keith could make out the shapes of several Merinan National Army tanks parked between the distant buildings. Unbeknownst to the men in the town, in the dark of the night two Dijelis were peering down at them from a low ridge to the west. Though the Federation had long closed its borders, many Dijelis had fled abroad, and more than a few of these had found their way to distant Kaedwen. And now these two were back in Albion.
It was all very strange.
These two were with the Kaedweni Office of Defence Intelligence's Group K. Krithia-99, to be specific, which had been in-country for a couple of weeks, having been issued a warning order in the wake of the
Kaedo-Albion Raid. With the decision having been made to quietly undermine Nguessa's regime, Group K-99 had been introduced to the National Liberation Army through a contact within Marshal Bemba's officer corps. Their twenty men, split amongst five sections of four men apiece, had busied themselves raising a mixed force of local fighters paid and equipped through a front company abroad.
And now, for one section, it was time for their
Kandak to see action.
Off to Keith's left, another Dijeli leered into the darkness. Sergeant-Major Blackwell was an old comrade, and the years since their adventures in Safrean and Seaforth had done little to dull his edge. Off to his right was a Merinan Major, commanding the company of regular troops from the NLA's 16th Airborne Brigade who would form their reserve for this attack. This officer, who's name Keith had already forgotten, was in nominal command of the operation, though in reality another Dijeli was pulling the strings in the dark. Colonel Kai al-Quirm commanded the
Kandak, and was making his way forward through the dead ground with two of their companies and his adjutant - the Kaedweni Captain Guy Wiley - while Saunders and Blackwell had the remaining two companies and Merinan paratroopers dug in on the heights. This area was heavily agricultural, criss-crossed with irrigation ditches and dotted about with imposing adobe compounds in between thick fields of tall crops. With this close country, and in the dark before the dawn, the attackers would be able to close in to almost grenade-throwing range before their foe knew they were there.
That was the plan, at least. The Colonel had been hesitant to throw their raw
Kandak into the maelstrom of a night attack, so had arranged to make the actual assault at first light. Their handful of mortars, stationed with Keith up on the ridge, to fire a short barrage just as the sun came up, which the infantry would then follow-up against a hopefully shaken foe. Keith glanced backwards to his gun pits, where their four 81mm pieces were dug in in defilade, high-explosive and phosphorus shells at the ready. A gaggle of their native troopers had gathered around the guns, eager for the best view of the fireworks when they started. Blackwell hissed at them angrily to get back in position, and most slunk away back into the darkness.
Suddenly, a distant crackle cut through the still of the night. Then another. Then the throaty bark of a machine-gun. But it was still dark. Something was wrong.
A para-flare went up with a
whoosh, casting an unsteady orange glow over the area. Another burst on the machine-gun, then an RPG went off with a bang against one of the buildings in the town.
"Minor, this is Sunray" Colonel al-Quirm's voice on the radio was surprisingly calm, though nonetheless urgent for it "Come in, over"
"Sunray, this is Minor" Keith responded horsely, fumbling for the pressel in the dark "Send traffic, over"
"Minor, Bravo Company engaged to immediate south of Church. Attack is now commencing, put the fire plan in now and bring Delta Company round to hit the Western Roadblock from the north. Confirm you understand, over?"
"Sunray, can confirm understood. Fire plan commencing and Delta moving against Roadblock. Minor out"
The Colonel had decided to go for it. They needed to, really. Bringing trained men back from a serious contact in the dark was bad enough, but with these Merinans it wasn't really much of an option. They were vicious enough fighters, to be sure, and quite bold in attack, but their
Kandak lacked the order or cohesion to extricate itself from this fight in good order. So they'd have to make a fight of it, then run like hell once they'd bought themselves a little breathing space.
"B" Keith called out to the Sergeant-Major, though he already had Blackwell's attention "Can you tell the gunners to have at it? And find me Delta's Subedar? Quickly, please mate"
"Sir" The Sergeant-Major growled curtly, before hurrying off. The mortars opened up seconds later, their gunners clearly expecting the order. This was good. Keith pushed himself to his feet, hefting his rifle - a long, heavy Kaedweni SLR, not an uncommon sight on Merina's battlefields - and casting about for D Company men. These were the Colonel's Pindaris, recruited from the refugee camps around Farsiboka. Their Subedar, a short, wiry and weasel-faced man with an unfortunate pencil mustache, presented himself quickly and seemed to grasp the situation even moreso, assembling his Company in fighting order on the top of the ridge.
Unable to resist the temptation, Keith led them into battle himself. Buoyed by adrenaline, he led them down the hill through the cool night air at a steady trot. Whereas the initial attack had gone in down the right, looping around to attack the southern side of the town, he took Delta Company around to the left, cutting through a culvert under the highway where two NLA pickets stood guard, and pushing into the low ground to the north of the town. Here, the company's three platoons were marshaled: one pushed up into a cluster of two-story buildings on the left flank, the second held as a reserve in the low ground, while Keith led the first in amongst the buildings on the western end of the town where the government troops had established their checkpoint.
They stormed into the town firing and throwing grenades almost at random. It was unplanned and unorganized, though so too was the defence. Some of the government troops were still in their billets, while others seemed to be wandering about in search of their officers and NCOs who, in turn, were desperately trying to round up their men in the darkness. Their all-round defence had been poor, the handful of sentries rapidly overwhelmed in a succession of small and heavily unequal gunfights, before the NLA fighters began pushing into the buildings with wanton abandon. All cohesion seemed to have been lost as the men ran left and right, tossing grenades through windows before rushing inside with murderous intent. Most of the buildings here were little more than huts, of either wooden or blockwork construction, and few with more than one floor. Few with more than one room, come to think of it.
A government soldier blundered from a hut right in front of Keith, brandishing his rifle. Not breaking step, Keith bore down on him quickly, firing once with his SLR, and missing, before reflexively driving his bayonet into the man's gut. The trooper fell back against the rough blockwork wall, scrabbling uselessly at his attacker, his own firearm dropped to the floor. Keith put a boot to his victim's thigh, wrenching the bayonet free in a welter of gore, before driving the wicked point into the unfortunate trooper's throat with a vengeance. One of his havildars grinned appreciatively at the Major's antics, yelling something unintelligible before posting a grenade through the door from which the MNA solider had emerged. Right on the heels of the blast, the man ducked inside, firing a few rounds before reappearing, clearly quite pleased with himself.
Out on the highway, were the checkpoint itself was established, the roar of a big diesel engine indicated that the defenders were beginning to get their bearings in the fight. A BMP nosed around the corner into the side-street where Keith's men were rampaging, headlights suddenly casting a painful brigtness in the pre-dawn murk. The men scattered as the great steel beast opened fire with its machine guns, Keith pushing past the havildar, still stood in the doorway. With another roar from the engine, the BMP trundled forward into the alleyway, blasting a chunk from one of the huts as more government troops pressed in behind it. The fight had rapidly turned.
Fortunately, this counter-attack was stopped in its tracks by Delta Company's Subedar, who emerged from the darkness with their reserve platoon. A smart RPG shot smashed into the BMP with a bang, the machine quickly beginning to burn as the crew scrambled from its hatches, the hapless gunner cut down by a burst of automatic fire as he was momentarily skylined atop the turret. A little more firing, and then the government soldiers turned back, the rebels once again surged forward, scenting victory. Keith followed on behind, pausing behind the now merrily burning BMP to stoop beside a fallen enemy officer. His uniform was clearly new and, unusually for a Merinan, he worse a set of body armour - Tamoran, though Keith was ignorant of this - which had done nothing for the poor bugger when a hot fragment of something had torn half his throat away. Keith thought briefly of taking the set, then thought better of it. Bravado counted for much with these men, he'd learned, and wearing armour himself without providing it for his men would not go down well. He did help himself to the fallen officer's night-vision goggles, however; these would make a good reward for Delta's quick-thinking Subedar. Pocketing these, Keith also noted that the dead man's sleeve bore the insignia of the MNA's 207 Brigade, a mechanised unit. Useful to know.
The firing died down for a moment, and his radio chirped again.
"Minor, this is Sunray" It was the Colonel again, puffing this time, though nonetheless still quite composed "Come in, over"
"This is Minor" Keith croaked. Their last conversation seemed a lifetime ago, though the little action had only lasted a few minutes "Receiving you Sunray. Send traffic, over"
"Minor, provide sitrep on Delta, over"
"Sunray, Delta currently engaged around Checkpoint. Initial positions have been cleared, continuing to fight through in depth, over"
"Understood Minor... Alpha and Bravo now withdrawing to FRV, bring Delta back also. Leave the depth positions. Confirm understood, over?"
"Understood Sunray, Delta will withdraw to FRV. Out"
Rounding up his rampaging troops was almost as fraught as the initial attack. The Subedar had led his men across the highway and into the buildings beyond, where they were now fighting a merciless and confused little action with the survivors from the checkpoint in what was quickly becoming the grey light of dawn. Keith waded through this, gathering up what men he could until he found the Subedar, bleeding profusely from his leg but still commanding his men with an undimmed fury. His reluctance to withdraw only dissipated once tanks and reinforcements were spotted moving on the checkpoint from the town centre, though he couldn't be dissuaded from taking a parting shot at the leading tank with an RPG. After a quick head-count, they made good their escape under the cover of a second mortar barrage.
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), so some or all of these may never see the light of RP day, and others will never make it past the prototype stage, or exist solely as 'ideas'))
))
