' The Longest Night ' & ' Crossing the Rubicon ': The Original Map Illustrated and Uncut Final Volume (Armageddon's Song) Read Free Page B

a circular L2 Frag grenade storage container. The lid and fastener kept soil and dirt out, and the heat in for quicker boiling.
    Roger fished the gas parts from out of the compo tin and grunted in pain as the rust remover attacked the tiny cuts on his fingertips that seem to appear as if by magic on infantrymen’s hands as soon as they get into the field. Roger’s discomfort was a minor thing, akin to getting lemon juice on a cut and the reassembly and reattachment of the gas regulator to the barrel went in silence.
    The newly field cleaned barrel replaced the old one, and a brief hiss sounded from the shermouli container that one was doused too.
    The white noise issuing from the radio headphones cut out abruptly.
    “Hello Four Six Delta this is Nine Four Bravo, over?”
    The trio paused in what they were doing.
    “Four Six Bravo, send, over.” replied Dopey.
    “Nine Four Bravo…shoot Delta Echo Three Six Echo, over!”
    “Here we go again.” muttered Roger.
     
     
    Bloodhound Zero Three, Germany: West of Bremen.
    2049hrs.
    Of the fleet of converted Boeing 707-300 airframes currently in service with the USAF, the one presently carrying the callsign Bloodhound Zero Three was the oldest of the JSTARS.
Forty years before, it had taken to the air in the livery of Pan Am on the long-haul transatlantic routes, but it now wore pale grey as it traced its north/south race track route.
    Retired from commercial service some time before the sad demise of Pan Am she entered military service via a make-over at the, then, Grumman Aerospace facility. Since the end of the first Gulf War, or ‘Desert Sword’ to some, this old lady had sat in the dry desert heat in Nevada, just another retired airframe left out for spy satellites to count until  this, the Third World War, necessitated a hurried refurbishment and installation of a surveillance suite several generations superior to the one previously carried.
Tonight, high above a solid cover of rain heavy cloud Bloodhound Zero Three was watching events unfolded to the east.
    The Russian 77 th Guards Tank Division had completed its awkward reverse course and the opposition had worn out two other divisions in keeping up the pressure so NATO could not exploit the situation. It had not all been for nothing, not all a complete waste as a minor breakthrough had occurred between two defending units, always a weak spot. Romanian tanks and AFVs from the 91 st Tank Regiment were through that small breach before hard fighting by 3 Para, plus A and B Companies of 1 Wessex, had choked it off, battering the follow-on infantry.
    The Hungarians had smashed into the US and German sections on the Vormundberg, making some gains, only to lose them again in vicious hand to hand fighting as the Americans took back their fighting positions trench by trench, with grenades, bayonets and sheer guts. Once the last trench was retaken they poured fire into the former German positions, assisting their allies as they too fixed bayonets and counter attacked.
    Only in the sector held by the composite battalion of 82 nd paratroopers and Coldstream Guardsmen did the enemy have a foothold and the Czechs of the 23 rd Motor Rifle Regiment used that position to pry at the neighbouring 44 Commando, Royal Marines.
    Bloodhound Zero Three saw it all and reported each turn of events despite twice having to run from Red Air Force fighters.
    The NATO Air Forces were joined by carrier air groups and their brief was to get 4 Corps to the front, so only helicopter assets were on station where the ground fighting was taking place.
    It was SACEUR’s call, his decision. Did he allow the enemy to pound 4 Corps with their fighter bombers , or did he load up his own fighter bombers with air to air ordnance and use them as well as his remaining fighters in fully supporting the newly arrived US and Canadians in their drive to the front?
    If 4 Corps failed to arrive then the war in Europe was lost, and it had to get there before the