NationStates Jolt Archive

Bahbian Press Syndicate Extra; Train bomb detonates outside capitol, killing over 800.

The carnage is horrible! Of the fifty cars that were on the monorail, fourty-four fell into the river below after the engine exploded. The local fire departments responded immeadiatly, with pumpers following the tracks and fireboats coming up river. Helicopters pulled survivors from the roofs of cars. Many people drowned after their cars were pulled under.

The Oompa-Loompa terrorist group known as "Orange Fist," is responsible for the attack. They broadcasted a message of war shortly after the explosion. They took full credit for attacking "The Imperfect (their term for "non-oranges") Imperialists"

Bahbland has declared war on Loompastan. We seek allies in this effort, as the deserts and mountains of Loompastan are unforgiving, and very hostile. The Oompas believe this will protect them from attack, but they are wrong.

(ooc: does anyone want to create and act as Loompastan?)

*bump*

no allies in this war against the Oompas?

The nieder ostlandish government sends it condoleances to your people.
We feel that acts of cowardice like this shall be punished. Therefore we have decided to aid you in your quest to get rid of this band of terrorists.

We have troops specialy trained for mounatin warfare, since large areas of our country are mounainous.
After discussions in the parliament, we have decided that we are willing to aid you, by sending some of our bergsjäger troops, as well as ordinary infantry troops, and tanks, with some air support from our luftwaffe.

If you accept our proposal we can have the first units on their way within twenty four hours, with the bulk of the army coming in later, as it takes some time to organize an operation like this.

Please do tell us what you require from us and how many troops you wish to come to your aid.

Best regards.

==================
Jurgen Schmidt
Minister of Foreign affairs:

Manfred Kaltenbach
Minister of defence:

We thank you for your assistance in this matter, Nieder Ostland. We would like tot keep our deployed contingent small, so we can defend ourselves from another possible attack, and because the Oompan cowards fight guerilla wars.

Don't expect any large battles.

We will be sending 5000 of our more experienced soldiers; mainly air-cavalry and mechanized infantry. Recon satellites above will tell us the Oompan tunnel locations (accurate within 92 cm!) which we can bomb shut. Our supreme stretagists believe that this war can be won in amatter of weeks; we just need to cut off their tunnel system.

Respecting your wish of a small force, we will send the 2:nd bergsjäger brigade, which is a mechanized force, consisting of 4000 soliders, led by Oberstleutnant Heinrich von Zoyton. We will also send some transport helicopters, in case our troops should ever have to redeploy fast.
And as soon as you tell us the location where you want us to land, our forces will be there.

=================
Manfred Kaltenbach
Minister of Defence

Oompastan is located in NW Nepal. India has granted us passage.

Again, we thank you for your assistance in this matter. As a gift, the Cheif Executive of Babhland has sent you and your cabinet a bag of "Tobagan Hill;" our finest, rarest, and most expensive Coffee. :)

(ooc: we still need an Oompastan, though.)

Our government has been plauged by terrorism as well, and becuase of this understands your pain and offers our friendship. We will send a highly trained Anit-Terrorist unit of 50,000 men. They will be assisted by a light tank brigade of 500 vehicles. Again, we offer our condoleances to your nation. The troops will be sent straight from our military base in Pudite City and will arive in three days.

OCC: you could always rp Oompastan as well?

The sky suddenly was filled with the roars of the engines of the transport planes. And one after another they landed.
Soliders, wearing the Nieder Ostlandish army uniform, stepped out and hurried to unload all the equipment and vehicles.
When this was done and the transport planes left, the officers yelled out orders, and all the soliders arranged themselves into four groups.
After a little while a small jet, with the Nieder Ostlandish Luftwaffe marking, landed.
The door opened and out stepped a blond, tall, and rather thin man, dressed in uniform, with the Oberstleutnant insignias. He looked over the troops, and put on his officers cap. As he did, the other officers yelled
Stramstehen!
And as one man, all the soliders stood at attention.
The Oberstleutnant stepped down the stairs, quickly looked over to his troops, and then walked towards the Bahbland officer awaiting him.
As he came up to the officer he stood in attention and saluted him.

Guten tag mein Herr. I am Oberstleutnant von Zoyton, commander of the second bergsjäger brigade. He said with a clear German accent
I hope that our coorperation against the terrorist scum will rid them of this planet.
I, and my troops are ready for orders.

The pudite transport ship touched down on the beach and the vehicles rolled off and the helicopters on deck roared to life and lowered cables to the men on the ground. Once the HUmvees were attached to the transports they took off again, bound for Bahbland. The lighter tanks rolled out of the ships next. These would have to make the long drive there.

ooc: I guess I could play Oompastan

Also ooc: Bahbland is located in Maine and Northern New Hampshire, and parts of New Brunswick Canada. We have colonies all over the globe.

Yet another ooc: Emporo Pudu, could you reduce your invasion force by a decimal place? 5000 will do just fine! :)

***

We thank you for your help in this war, Emporor Pudu. We have wired all Oompan information we have to you.

***

The Bahbian MV-22's and MV-44's set down on the LZ, on the outskirts of Oompastan. Soldiers lept from the transports and took up defensive positions. Their uniforms were denim jeans and large coats with many pockets, all kahki. C-17's dropped heavier vehicles and supplies down to the waiting infantry; mainly Rhino tanks and LAV III APC's. Ka-52's fired on any suspected targets in the perimeter. Overhead, a EB-52 monitered everything, and acted as a midpoint between the satellites and the ground forces.

Bossman 2nd-class Zachary Beard, commander of the Invasion force, shook Oberstleutnant von Zoyton's hand.

"Alle Bahblander dankt für hilfe" he said, in mangled German. It had been a long time since he had had a refresher course.

There was a flash, and a breeze as a flight of Viggens dropped napalm on a group of buildings.

*** (secret)

Oompa-Loompan Grand Patriarch Woompat looked over a display in his underground bunker. Bahbian satellites would know where he was if anyone left the subterra fortress; so no one left. The Bahbians have been bombarding every fort they find with tungsten rods from space. They had destroyed seventeen.

A force of three nations had gathered in Luma'oop, a small town bordering India. Mainly hovels, the town had no real interest to the Grand Patriarch.

"Servant!" Woompat yelled down the hall. "Tell the Gaffer to ready the mustard gas. The invaders can't fight if their lungs are full of blood."

OOC: Viggen planes? Cool.. thought no one outside Sweden knew of those fine fine JA/AJ-37 Viggen :) (or... are ya Swedish too, perhaps? )

IC:
von Zoyton snapped his heals together, and bowed to Beard.
"We are glad to be of assistance"
He then returned to his troops, and started shouting orders to them
"Erste battalion. Schnell! Take cover! Fire at suspected enemy positions.
Zweite Battalion. Ready the mortars.
Dritte und vierte Battalion. Continue the unpacking. Schnell, Schnell!"

The soliders hurried to follow the orders. The first battalion ran to nearest cover, and set up fire positions. The second ran to the crates, and got out the mortars, and hurried to position them behind the first.
And third and fourth unpacked the crates, and handed out extra ammo to the fighting soliders.
von Zoyton went to one of the crates, took out a assault rifle, and loaded it. He then stood himself in between the two groups of soliders, to supervise them, and shouting out orders when he saw something he didn't like.

OOC: I will have most of the dialouges and order-shouting in English, for the sake of game playing. Or. Do you want me to 'shout' out orders and all that in German?

The Mussian government sends it condoleances to your people and asks if there is anything we can do to help? We can't send troops because we are fighting terrorists, too.

ooc1: Nope! Not Swedish! I'm a 'Murrican :D . But I do have an appreciation for fine aircraft... and a love for delta wings & the unorthodox. :cool:
ooc2: Shout orders however you like! I've understood all the German, so far (I'm in my third year of German at school) What's your thoughts on the matter, Pudu?

***
LOOMPASTAN DATA-SHEET
Loompastan is an ex Soviet bloc country, located in the western Himalyan mountain range. The populace of the country, Oompans, are short and wide, to deal with very low temperatures there. There is an estimated 8,500,000 people located in Loompastan, 97% Oompans. Their skin is orangish and their hair green due to drug addiction to "Seed." The drug, which is harvested from a plant reminiscent of the poppy, has very high carotene levels. Children are born addicted.

Their military is comprised of mainly technical-trucks (civvie pick-ups w/ recoilless rifles, machine guns, or rockets.) and the occasional T-55, T-62 or T-64. The only gun in military service is the AK-47.

***

The Group of Oompan technicals raced toward the town of Luma'oop. The Bahbians wouldn't waste an expensive Tungsten rod on a small armoured column.

Little did the invaders know, their mortars were loaded with condensed mustard gas. Enough to kill at least half the invaders.

***

Mussia - Is there anything we can do for you?

OCC: cant speak a word of german, although my father can say were is the bar or something to that effect, and i can say 'hot' Heiss or something like that. IF i haaaaaaaaaave to reduce the invasion force then i will. they should be very close to you now, where exactly on the globe are we and where are we going again?

OOC: Ah well.. I'll do like they do in bad war movies.
My troops will speak english (with a german accent. (like 'ze', instead of 'the') and the occational german command word :)

Finally the third and fourth batalion was finished unpacking all the equipment. But before they had any time to rest von Zoyton shouted
Dritte battalion. Search thru those houses. Feure at will. Macht schnell!!
while pointing right of the position the first and second battalion guarded

Vierte Battallion. You back up ze third battalion. he continued

The soliders marched away. The third first, and about 50 m behind, the first soliders of the fourth batallion marched.
All looked a bit worried. house to house fighting, as it might end up in, is not a thing any solider looks forward too.

As the first soliders dissapered behind, and in the first buildings, a few shots were heard. Then all went quiet on the front. And then a few more shots were fired, followed by a solider shouting Sanitäter, sanitäter! Schnell, schnell!!

After a few minutes, two stretchers where carried out, one with a solider shot in the leg, and the other with a solider who had been shot in the head.
The first casualty of the Nieder ostlandish army in this conflict.
But most certainly, not ze last von Zoyton said quietly to himself, as he started walking towards the mortar crews.

OOC. Sanitäter = Medic

ooc: Loompistan is located in NW Nepal, and Bahbland is in Maine, New Hampshire, and parts of Canada, with a dozen colonies around the world.

***

The Oompan trucks came to a halt at the edge of their mortar's range. The squat orange people unpacked their mortars. They handled the shells carefully.

***

As the Ostlanders backed away with their wounded mates, a soldier threw a smoke grenade into the hooch where they had been shot at. The Bahbian Ka-52 closed in. As the pilot put his finger to the trigger, four Oompans ran out, shooting. He squeezed the trigger, and two of the Oompans fell. A third took three shells into the chest from the Ostladners. The fourth went into shock, shooting all over the place. A pair of rockets finished him.

The Blackshark pulled up and away. The pilot saw four puffs of smoke in th nearby hills. Surely not allied forces. He searched the area with radar and found four trucks; technicals, most likely, armed with mortars. The pilot radioed in "Find cover, control, you've got incoming mortars!" He squeezed off six rockets, then peppered the area with the gatling gun.

The trucks didn't appear on radar anymore.

***

The Fifth Mercenary Company, most decorated unit in The Corps, filed out of their C-17's on the new airstrip. There was four small explosions as the air-raid sirens went off.
Crewboss Miller watched the impact points, to see a yellow-green cloud coming from them. "It's Mustard Gas!" Miller yelled, "Get your gas masks on!"

The cloud slowly spread over the airbase...

As von Zoyton heard the explosions, he looked over to the impact points. As he saw the yellow-green cloud slowly moving forward toward his troops, he yelled
Gas, gas! Erhalten Sie Ihre Gasmasken an! Schnell, schnell!
He took out his own gas mask, and put it on. He then looked to his troops to see if they all had managed to follow his orders in time.
What he saw, made him pleased. The hard training he had given to his troops was proven worth it.
Then he saw and heard a small group of men, who had been close to the cloud, coughing.
Sanitäter! He shouted at 3 men, wearing the red cross insignia. Make sure those men haven't breathed in the gas he pointed to the men he had just observed

And if they have, Herr Oberstleutnant? one of the medics asked. . I mean. It's not like there's a hospital with ze proper equipment to deal with gas injured people.

You just make sure that you do anything you can for them, if they have inhaled the gas von Zoyton replied And I'm sure that there must be a military hospital not too far off. Jetzt, macht schnell!

The medics rushed off to their destinatoin. von Zoyton looked after them, and then continued towards the mortar crews.
Hauptman! he yelled at a short man. The man started to run towards him, and as he came up to von Zoyton, he snapped his heals together, and saluted.
Jawohl, Herr Oberstleutnant?

I want you to be ready to fire upon everything that looks like an enemy, without orders, is that clear, Hauptman! I suspect they might try an attack after this gas attack. And if they do, we will need these mortars.

Jawohl Herr Oberstleutnant. I have checked all ze mortars myself, and they are ready to spew fire and destruction over ze enemy.

von Zoyton smiled and nodded to the captain, and started walking towards the positions of the Bahblandian troops, to see how they had managed the gas attack.

Arkady Gregorovich was sweating, struggling to adjust his tie. Today would be an important moment for his people, a cahnce to show his strength. Turning towards the diatrobe, he prepared to adress the nation. Trembling, he openend his mouth to speak ...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, good people of Xenonier. I know that your hearts and angered and your passions afflamed by the vile terrorists actions of the LOOMPASTAN government against the innocent citizens of our good world. Truly this is a travesty against humanity, combining not only the cowardice of the terrorist, but the elitist veiws of a few, the true scum of this good world. This will not go unaccounted for. Not only will we provide expert medical assistance and full anti Biological, chemical and Nuclear logistical suppoprt to the people of Neider Ostland and their allies, but we shall make these terrorist scum know fear! as I speak, two "Retribution" class Plasma warheads are being delivered to our fellow Human beings in their time of needed! These shall be used to annihilate the military capabilties of this terrorist breeding pit!"

The people who have lost many shall have their chance at revenge, and Xenonier shall support them!"

(A roar of applause follows)

Description of Plasma "retribution" warheads.

By head Military Scientist Johannes Ailbek, delivered to Nieder Ostland with instruction manual for weapon use..

The Retribution is the largest tactical missile ever developed in Xenoniers armed history. These massive, deadly weapons are insanely powerful, capable of annihilating entire cities in a explosion of plasmaic energy. The particles are contained with an induction field, which, seconds before impact, expands to cover the target zone. the release of particles is incredible, stripping the earth of all life and vegitation. Those caught in the blast without cold Plasma shields .... do not survive. The fields will allow for a specific target to be identified, limiting civilian casualties. The weapon was primarily designed to assure the specific targeting and destruction of Nuclear weaponry housed in underground silos in the case of all out war. As a result, they are controlled by a Xenonian safeguard computer, which can detonate or disable them should they be used for a purpose other than what they are intended

Footnote. Sirs, this weapon can be launched through a normal missile lancher, or a Jet plane. If you have no deployment systems, we will provide one

Yours sincerely, Johannes Ailbek.

To: Johannes Ailbeck.

We thank you for these great weapons, and hope that they wont be necessary in this battle.
As we are very grateful of your support of our forces, we would like to remind you, that we are not commanding the situation, as we have lend our troops to the armed forces of Bahbland.
It is in their country we are fighting, and against their enemy. So before we would eventually unleach such a powerful weapon, we'd have to ask for their permission.

But. Once again. Thank you for this gift.

Best regards:
===========
Manfred Kaltenbach
Minister of defence

Bossman Beard growled through his gas mask. The command center was gas-attack proof, but a stray bullet could easily end that.

"Send a message to the Air Corps," he spoke, "I want all suspected terrorist towns to be carpet-bombed to Hell!" He paused. "How bad are the casualties, employee?"

"14 men caught near the strike zone, readyng helicopters, will need new lungs... Boss. We have them on life support." He continued, "None have died. A group soldiers on patrol pulled them out of the cloud, splitting their gas masks with them."

Beard grinned, "Crewboss! Get me my medals! I've got some awarding to do!"

***

We thank you for your offer of these powerful weapons, Xenonier, but we are not sure they will have much use in this war. Oompan terrorists are guerillas. They wear no uniform. They hide in caves. They'll use any weapon they can find to slow our advance.

von Zoyton marched towards the first battalion.
"I want 25 voulonteers" he said with a clear and loud voice.
A lot of soliders raised their hands. von Zoyton quickly chosed 25 men, and told to a lieutenant
"Take the men, and try to find the mortar crews. When you do, kill them. But. Dont play heroes, if you think the enemy forces are too strong, call for support. Now, get going! Schnell! "
"Jawohl, Herr Oberstleutnant" the lieutenant answered. He gathered the troops, and marched off to where they thought the mortars had fired from.
-----

The medics returned from the group of soliders they had gone to earlier, carrying five stretchers, with soliders lying on them.
"Herr Oberstleutnant." one of the medics said "we have a problem"
"What is it?" von Zoyton asked
"Five of the men inhaled some of the gas, they need urgent surgery if they are to survive. And we don't have the facilities here to do it, Mein Herr."
von Zoyton looked at the men lying on the stretchers. They were clearly, and not surprisingly, in a lot of pain.
"Run over to the bahbländers and ask them, if there's a hospital nearby, that we can fly our soliders to"
"Jawohl, Oberstleutnant" the young medic said

-------

The medic ran over to the Bahblandic postions. She didn't like this war, but the cheapest way to be a doctor, was to let the military pay the education. After getting close, she stoped and looked around.
"I should have studied how the Bahblandic army insignias a little better before we left she muttered to herself.
She chose a man, which she thought were some sort of officer, and ran up to him. She snapped her heals together, and saluted the man
"Mein Herr. Uhm. We have a problem. Five of our soliders accidentily inhaled the gas, and uhm. They are in urgent need of surgery. But we ourselves, don't have the facilities to do such complicated surgery here. So Oberstleutnant von Zoyton sent me to ask if there's a uhm. Hospital of some kind, that can take care of our injured soliders?"

The Crewboss returned the salute. "Follow me!" he said. He turned and jogged to an empty South African designed Okapi Ambulance truck. The two climbed in, and the Crewboss asked "Where are they?" as he flicked on the strobe. She pointed; "over here, near the radio tower."

The Okapi pulled up and the Ostlander medics rushed out. They carried stretchers and loaded the wounded soldiers into the truck. They turned and accelerated to the airstrip, where an HC-17, a specially modified C-17 Globemaster III that was a mobile MASH unit, was waiting.

She asked the Crewboss; "Where are we taking them?" He stuttered, then spoke "Ethiopia... our colony in Ethiopia."

The Okapi came to a halt, and Bahbian nurses in white labcoats rushed out of the plane with dolliesas the Bahbian wounded arrived. They were loaded into the HC-17, and the ramp closed. The plane taxied, and took off into the setting sun, flourescent green Paramedic symbols reflecting the orange light.

***

Five MV-22's took off, half full with Bahbian Troops. They flew to the advancing Ostlanders and landed. Crewboss 2nd Boscarelli jumped off the gunship and ran to the crouching allies.

"NEED A RIDE?!" he hollered over the pounding rotors.

"DANKE. THAT WOULD BE VERY NICE, MEIN HERR" Leutnant Bauer hollored back to the crewboss.
"SOLDATEN, GET IN THAT CHOPPER!! SCHNELL!! he shouted to the soliders.
The soliders, all happy to get a ride in the chopper, instead of walking.
When the last of the soliders had jumped into one of the choppers, Leutnant Bauer followed.
He turned to Crewboss 2nd Boscarell.
"Thank you. You sure saved my feet. Do you have an exact position of the enemy? Or are we out looking for them?"

Sel Appa sympathizes with you. We just had two car bombs yesterday, although only two dozen people were killed.

Here (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=376549)

"DANKE. THAT WOULD BE VERY NICE, MEIN HERR" Leutnant Bauer hollored back to the crewboss.
"SOLDATEN, GET IN THAT CHOPPER!! SCHNELL!! he shouted to the soliders.
The soliders, all happy to get a ride in the chopper, instead of walking.
When the last of the soliders had jumped into one of the choppers, Leutnant Bauer followed.
He turned to Crewboss 2nd Boscarell.
"Thank you. You sure saved my feet. Do you have an exact position of the enemy? Or are we out looking for them?"
Boscarelli handed Bauer a set of head phones.

"Can you hear me?"
Bauer nodded.
"Good! One of our scout choppers spotted the trucks that fired the mortars, and used all of its rockets on them, about a klick back. The pilot said he saw five or six men running into the hills to the East... See that Whirley?"
Boscarelli pointed behind them to a V-22 equipped with a large triangle mounted on it (EV-22) (ooc: link! (http://de.geocities.com/glupscherle/v22aew.jpg))
"That triangle is loaded with sensors. That Whirley is gonna find the Oompans, place smoke, then we drop down and capture them! With luck, one of them will cave and tell us where they came from!"

The EV-22 fired a pair of smoke rockets into a densly forested area.

"Go get 'em, guys!" yelled the pilot.

The V-22's rotors tilted back, and lines were thrown out from each side. Boscarelli screamed "YEEHAW!!!" as he threw off the head phones and slid down.

**

The Oompans were sorrounded, with only an AK-47 between the seven of them. Two of which were wounded by shrapnel. Smoke rockets threw smoke 30 feet away from them. Should they run? Hide? Fight and die? There was a dozen men aboard each helicopter, and five helicopters.

**

Boscarelli charged through the woods, shotgun first. Three of his men were right behind him. There was three cracks as bullets flew by them. "[censored]!" he yelled "They're armed!" He glanced over at Miscencik, who nodded. He hefted a grenade-sized stone, and threw it. There was two more gunshots, followed by a third and fourth; Boscarelli's shotgun. The Oompan with the AK fell with a moan, and the remaining Oompans started running.

"Do'-Wem!" * Employee Scott yelled, firing his carbine twice into the air "Ni do'-Wem!" The Oompans stopped, as a dozen more soldiers appeared in the direction they were running. They got down on their knees with their hands behind their heads.

"Bind 'em! We'll walk to the field about a half kilck back and get back on the choppers!"

*Oompani for "Halt immeadiatly!"

***

Sel Appa, if you require any assistance please do not refrain from asking!

Transmission from Arkady Gregorovich to Manfred Kaltenbach

Dera brother, we understand your hesitation and that of the Bahblanians in useage of such powerful weapons. We are returning them immediately. Instead, we are offering useage of our orbital satellite deployment centers as a means of deploying your forces to the surface of a warzone. The shock facotr, combined with the rapid deployment of such forces (Within two minutes) will allow you to quickly "tear the heart" out of any Oompan reisistance.

Yours sincerely, Arkady Gregorovich

Thank you, Gregorovich!

Imperfect Imperialists

[OOC]: Fighting against II?! Insanity!

ooc: They're trying, but they aren't very good at it!

***

Nieder Ostland, now that our area is pretty much secure, I recommend moving our forces Northward, to destroy "M02," which our satellites have been unable to destroy (3 artificial meteors have hit, and we're still seeing heat exhaust.)

From there we can take A01, which will be key to winning the war. Our satellites have seen five, maybe six, MiG-21's Fishbeds there, but we are unable to destroy them as they are in underground hangars.

http://www.angelfire.com/trek/deangelisium/images/Loompastan.PNG

von Zoyton recieved the orders to move out. He ordered the troops to pack up their things and load into the Strv 90's and M 113's.

Listen up men, we're in enemy land, keep your eyes open. And we have heard intelligence reports that the enemy have airplanes, so I want half the Strv 90's loaded with AA ammo. Schnell! We don't have all day!


The men hurried to load their equipment in the vehicles.

--

The vehicles roared across the Loompastan country side. The lookouts in the M 113's looked around, hoping that they would spot a possible enemy ambush, before it was to late. And the gunners of the Strv 90's kept their eyes on the radar screens, hoping not to see a series of dots moving in high speed towards the convoy.
Oberfeldwebel Bierhof looked at his radar screen, and suddenly saw 3 dots moving towards them, as he was to notify his commander, the dots dissapeared. After a couple of seconds they appeared again, to dissapear after a couple of seconds again. "Those bastards are flying low" he mumbled to no one in particular.
"Possible enemy contact, twelve kilometers to the north. Looks like three air crafts. They're flying low" He yelled to his commander.
The comamnder grabbed the radio and called to the other vehicles around.
"Achtung! We have possible incoming enemy air crafts. Low flying. Be prepared for the worst!"

The convoy spread out, so they wouldnt be a too easy target, and continued their voyage to the enemy stronghold.

The flight of Gripens fanned out while diving down to 1000 meters. The lead plane let off a pair of missiles, as did #2 and #4.

Six missiles streaked downward... there was two flashes as a pair of Fishbeds exploded. The third, with a bright orange paint scheme, had chaffed and flared in time, though, and managed to evade the missiles. It let go of it's bombs on the lead vehicles of the column... and completly missed, taking down a patch of conifers.

He hit the afterburner and pulled up, squeezing off the gun pods on the nearest Gripen. 2/3 the Gripens port wing disintegrated, and the plane started turning left. As they passed, the MiG was hit bya another pair of missiles. The Griffin pilot, in his stricken bird that would never land, and could barely fly, turned for the convoy, and ejected.

The solider cheered when they saw the Gripens coming to their aid. They followed the short dog fight with exitment, and waved at the remaining Gripens as they turned home.
A M-113 was quickly depatched to take care of the downed pilot. They reached him as he landed.
Leutnant Freyberg, the comamnder of the vehicle, and ran up to the pilot, making sure he was not injured.
He saluted the pilot, and handed him a pack of ciggarettes.
"Well done, mein Herr. You saved us from loosing a couple of vehicles. We have a seat in our little truck reserved for you."

-------
Radio transmit
"This is Oberstleutnant von Zoyton, to the Bahbalndic Gripen fighters. We have picked up the downed pilot. When you want him back, send a chopper, as we will continue towards our goal.
Danke for your help. Very well done. I will get you a bottle of schnapps when all this is over. Safe flight, and auf wiedersehen. Over and out"

Bossman Winter watched his burning Gripen roll into a hillside and explode.

"Nuts," he said under his breath. Winters glanced down and smiled at the sight of an Ostlander M113 veering off from the group to pick him up. He had his very own Taxi to retrieve him! What luck!

He pulled the rigging to avoid a group of trees, and set down nice and easy in a patch of knee-high-grass. The M113 came to a halt, and the commander jumped off and saluted, offering him a cigarette. Winters quickly got up and returned the salute, taking a cigarette. He didn't smoke, but he didn't want to insult his rescuers!

"Vielen Dank!"

The tank commander lit his cigarette, and he inhaled, and coughed... and coughed some more. The tank crew broke out in laughter, while the commander gave him a pat on the back and helped him up. Winters smiled, stumbling over to the APC.

***

The armor column was only kilometers away from M02. Mortar and sniper attacks were increasingly common, in a desperate attempt to slow their advance. The other two or three Fishbeds never showed up. Were they waiting for the assault on the airbase? Had they gone North to gather for a large offensive to push the Allied forces back?

The convoy halted. von Zoyton stepped out of his vehicle, lighted a smoke and watched the road infront of him in silence. There, on the other side of the small hill, layed the enemy air base. It was very quiet outside.
"Too damn quiet" von Zoyton said to himself. He hesitaded. Should he attack? Without any air support, or real artillery, things could go really bad,, if he had underestimated the enemy forces.
He looked over to the small group of trees to the left side of the road. Enemy snipers could hide in there.
He ordered 10 soliders to run up to the trees and take care of any enemies that might hide in there.
After half an hour, the men came back.
"All clear Herr Oberstleutnant." The group commander said.
"Good" von Zoyton replied. He walked back to the vehicle, and used the radio

"I want all grenade launchers set up, now!. And first and second battalion up that hill. Stay low, we dont want them to see us before we attack. Report back to me what you see. Schnell, schnell!"
The 2 batallions hurried away, and tried to stay as low as possible. When they reached the hill, they set up the machine guns. After awhile, von Zoyton heard a voice in the radio.

"Hauptmann Waldschmidt to Oberstleutnant von Zoyton. We are in place. The air base seem to be anticipating an attack. Sand bag barricades, with soliders behind are placed around the base. We think there are some pill boxes too. A frontal assault would most probably lead to heavy casualties. No sight of the enemy fighters, but they could be inside the hangars. Over"
"von Zoyton here. Thank you. Stay in place, and prepare for some fireworks. Over and out"
He turned to the commander of the grenade launcher squad.
"Give fire when you are ready Leutnant"
The Leutnant sptrinted back to his squad and started to shout out orders.

After a minute, the grenade launchers opened its devastating fire. Vollying in grenades after grenade. With its 350 rounds a minute capacity, it was an excelent weapon for these kind of situations.
The strv 90s also opened fire.
von Zoyton lit another ciggarette and looked over to the hill. He could see the machingunners up there firing at something.
He smiled, and got his helmet and assault rifle, and started to slowly walk over to his troops on the hilltop, together with his staff officers.
He wanted to see the effect for himself.

Two kilometers back, Bahbian artillery fired shell after shell, at everything but the airfield.

Viggen fighter-bombers took out SAM's while Draken missile-boats went in with rockets. Gripens flew CAP at 10000 meters, while B-52's carpet-bombed the perimeter every hour.

The Ostlander grenades were very effective. They cleared enemy fortifications on the airstrip without putting craters in it.

After three hours of mortars, grenades, artillery, bombs, rockets and napalm, the bombardment stopped. Bossman Beard stood next to von Zoynton on the hill, peering through binoculars, then referring back to satellite photographs. They discussed, then agreed to move in.

The Bahbians and Ostlanders boarded the MV-22's with gasmasks, and got ready for some, as one Crewboss put it; "thrilling heroics." Tanks and APC's, also full of troops, were waiting on the edge of the hill. Helicopter gunships topped off their tanks.

They would take the control tower, and all the nearby buildings. From there they could root out anyone that somehow survived the shelling...

von Zoyton entered his command tank, and all the vehicles rolled down the hill. Here and there shots rang out, as some defenders still hold a few positions around the outskirts of the air base. They were, however quicly ealt with by the storming coalition troops.
The vehicles stopped at the outskirts. von Zoyton took the radio and suggested to Bossman Beard, that the Ostlanders would take the north part of the air field, and the Bahblanders the sout part.
Beard agreed, and the two forces splited up, leaving a small rear guard, taking care of eventual survivors, and to be the first defence if a counter attack would happen.
Taking the north part, would mean that the Ostlanders would have the hangars and a few builings to clear out, while the Bahblanders would be attacking the tower, and the surrounding buildings.

When the Ostlandish troops neared the first of the buildings, two Oompan soliders became visible between two of the houses, carrying bazzokas. Before any of the Ostlandish tanks could react, the Oompans fired. Two explosions rang out, and one tank, and one apc was destroyed. Five tanks opend fired with their machine guns, and the two Oompans were perforated with hundred of bullets.
von Zoyton ordered out his troops, to be ready to storm the buildings. Before he gave the order, he took the radio mic, and spoke thrue the outside speakers.
"This is Oberstleutnant von Zoyton, commander of the Nieder Ostlandish troops, fighting on the side of the Bahbland. You have fought bravely, but this time, no matter how brave you will fight, you will lose. Surrender, and come out with your hands over your heads, and no one will be harmed. Resist our attack, and you all will be vanquished. The ball is on your side"

von Zoyton heard a voice shouting a response.
"This is not your war. Go home. We will never surrender"
And suddenly the air was filled with bullets, fired from Oompans appearing in the windows and doorways of the houses.
The soliders outside the apc's threw themselves on the ground, and returned the fire, andso did the tanks. Soon the air was filled with gun smoke, voices crying out in pain, the noice of hundreds and hundreds of guns firing.
The oompans fell, one after another. The ones trying to duck, behind the walls under the windows, were soon blewn away, by the tank guns.
As all the Oompans were dead, or at least not in a state were they could fight, von Zoyton ordered seize fire. The air who just a minute ago, was full of noice and explosions, now were all silent.
He ordered the soliders to clear out eventual survivors in the first buildings.

The soliders ran to the houses. von Zoyton could hear a few shots fired as the soliders cleared the buildings. But, the few Oompans that still could fight, were soon taken care of.
After some time, the soliders came out, carrying three injured Ostlandish soliders, and five incapacitated Oompans fighters.

"Take all of our dead and injured soliders to the rear. And drive those Oompans to the Bahblandic commander. He knows what to so with them, when they wake up." von Zoyton oredered a Obergefreiter.
Obergefreiter Becker saluted his commander and ordered a few men to load the injured soliders into a few M-113's standing nearby.
As they drew of, Becker sighed in relief. Taking care of the rest of the houses could turn out to a nightmare, and he, for one, was glad that he'd recieved this easy order.
As the injured soliders were unloaded at the quicly assembled field hospital, Becker and a schutze drove of to find the Bahblandic comander.
After having to ask their way, they finally found him.
Becker rushed out, and up to the Bahnlandic commander, saluted him and said:
"Commander. I am Obergefreiter Becker, and I have a gift to you from Oberstleutnant von Zoyton. "
He led the commander to the doors, and showed him the Oompans. One where starting to come alive again.
"He told me that You knew better what to do with them, commander."

The first obstacle was overran, now that the Ostlandish forces held the first line of buildings. Thou, a few buildings were still in Oompan control, and the hangars too.
As snipers set up in the occupied houses, and firing at any Oompans showing, von Zoyton pondered what to do next. Shoud he go for the hangars and leave a small force covering and defending the buildings, or take the rest of the houses first, and then go for the hangar.
While pondering this, he heard a few shots from the snipers.
He finally decided to take the houses first, and leave the hangars for later. And if any enemy aircraft where to try to fly away, well. The cannons of the strv 90's could do some damage, and (he looked up) the Bahblandic airforce would most likely take care of anything trying to flee using any type of aircraft.

The three large buildings left in Oompan control looked empty. But, von Zoyton knew that inside those walls, there were Oompan fighters, ready to fight to the end.
"Are the grenade launchers ready, Hauptmann?" he asked the short man standing to the left of him.
"Jawohl, herr Oberstleutnant" Hauptman Baumgarten, commander of the 4th batallion answered.
"Good" von Zoyton replied "Be prepared to open fire on my orders. And you" he turned to three other Hauptmanns standing behind him. It was the commanders of the first, second and third batallion "As soon as the barrage of grenade is over, you attack the houses. Kill anything that holds a weapon,except out own troops of course. Your storming will be covered by snipers and machine guns."

The three men saluted von Zoyton, and turned back to their batallions to give the orders.
"This is Oberstleutnant von Zoyton" he shouted toward the buildings. This time standing in cover. He had learned from the last time, that his messages probably would be answered by a storm of bullets. "You all saw what happened to your comrades who tried to oppose our assault. They stood no chance against our well trained troops, and neither will you. Give up, and you will not be harmed. Fight and you will die. Resistance is futile"

This time it was all silent. Suddenly, in one of the houses, a door slkowly opened up, and two Oompan fighter walked out, with their arms over their head. They got about 10 meters before another Oompan showed himself in the door with his AK47 raised to his shoulder. He shot two salvos, and the two Oompans were dead.
The Oompan who had shot, closed the door, before anyone had the chance to return fire.

"FIRE!" von Zoyton shouted. And all the grenade launchers opened fire against the houses.
After 10 minutes von Zoyton ordered a seize fire. As the dust and smoke settled, von Zoyton saw that the walls now had more than one opening.
von Zoyton heard a massive roar behind him, as the Ostlandish troops rushed forward, crying out battlecries.
He smiled. He had wanted the Oompans not to surrender, just so he could see the beautiful sight of his men and women storming forward, towards the enemy positions.

The tanks and gunships stormed forward. Hundreds of all gray tanks and helicopters, with the Bahbian seal etched on their sides; a gear and factory. The tanks, and the front of the assault, crashed through a fence, making a hole for the wheeled APC's that might lose their front tires if they attempted such. The ground sorrounding the buildings was holed from shellings. Barbed wire, 2 foot high stumps and trenches were built by the Oompans to slow an advance.

The helicopters flew just ahead of the armor, their miniguns and rockets taking out every automobile in sight. As the first group of tanks reached the complex, an RPG was fired from a window. It hit an APC just behind the second tire on the left. It came toa screeching halt as it ran into a stump. The crew dropped the hatch and scrambled for cover; knowing their wounded beast was now prey.

The building from which the RPG was fired lost it's roof and gained some windows.

Marines moved into the building under a cloud os smoke and supressive machine gun fire. Booby traps were all over the place. They took the building with 2 fatalities and 22 injuries.

Beard was worried. There were no tanks here. Not a one. Not even a lowly T-55. That concerned him. They must be preparing a move against the Bahbian-Ostlander Alliance (ooc: BOA? Hey, cool! It's like it's from a corny action movie or something! :D )

He stared at the Oompan prisoners. They had mangled themselves to satisfy their addiction to a drug their religion told them to take. Their blood flowed brown. Their life expectancy was 40.

He looked at the translator and said "Speak to them as I speak."

"I need to know where those tanks, and the three MiG's went."

None of them spoke

"I have a freind..." he reached into a pocket and pulled out a soldering iron with a six inch tube on the front. He turned it on, and lit a piece of paper on fire. "Do you like it?" He shoved it forward and all of them jumped back.

Beard tapped the gaurd on his shoulder "Let von Zoynton in."

The Ostlander walked in and pulled out a cigarette as planned, but didn't light it.

"Where are the tanks, and the three fighters?"

The Oompans looked at each other, then one stuttered and spoke. "The other three--" He was interrupted by another Oompan "FOOL!!!" The interupting Oompan got a rifle butt pointed at him, and he went quiet. He continued; "The other three MiG's were taken apart and shipped to another airfield! We don't know which! We don't about the tanks, either! We asked for them, but they never came!"

Beard lit von Zoynton's cigarette for him with the modified soldering iron.

"Gaurd! See that these men are treated well, and that they have winter clothing issued to them."

(OOC: I like the BOA :) like ya said.. it's like taken right out of a b-action movie :D and.. um.. Brittish Overseas Airlines. But, they no longer exist, so i dont think we will get sued or anything! :) )

von Zoyton smoked his ciggarette, also wondering where the heck the tanks were. If they were going to make a counter attack, with the tanks, well. Even an inferior tank, with a badly trained crew can make serious damage. And if they were used in a defensive position, well digged in, and camouflaged, well, then they could run into heavy problems. And eventhou von Zoyton himself lived to see battles, and really enjoyed the gunsmoke, he didn't want to see his men and women killed.
He turned to Beard
"Do you think they're going to counter attack our positions, or should we continue to their bext base?"

He didn't like the idea of a counter attack. If their commander were considering one, and if he had at least basic intelligense, he would position his troops on the surrounding hills. Making life hard for the BOA troops.

"My suggestion is" he continued "that we continue to push forward, leaving a small force here, to defend the air base if necessary. If they are planning a counter attack, we will then face them in the more or less open field, instead of being pinned down here. And if they're strengthening their defensive positions, the more time we give them, the better their defenses will be, and the harder it will be for us"

He now wished that they'd brought some heavier tanks than the strv 90, or atleast a few artillery pieces. Allthough he trusted the Bahblandic forces, they had helped out before a couple of times when he was in need, he would have liked it better if he didn't have to rely on his allies. But, it had worked fine this far, the Bahblandic troops had sacrificed themselves to save his troops.
And as a bergsjäger he was used to fight with none or little support, and rumours said that trouble was stirring in the home country, so the heavy weapons were probably reserved for the home defence right now. Thou, those kinda rumours always flourished back home.
"You're getting old my friend" he mumbled to himself "Worrying if some rebels can beat us."

"I don't think so... at least, not yet" Beard replied. "They won't fight for this airbase; there's nothing of value for them here other than the base. But here..." he pointed to the densly populated northern region on the map, which was lying on top of the hood of a Landrover.

http://www.angelfire.com/trek/deangelisium/images/Loompastan2.PNG

"They will definetly defend to the last man. We should take the nearby towns as fast as possible. We might stop the trucks carrying the disassembled MiG's, or find some of the tanks."

***

We've also noticed that we don't have enough heavies in the region. We are bringing in 50 K1A1 tanks; which are practically designed for the terrain in which we are operating.

How would you like a loan of 50 K1A1's? Fresh off the production line!

K1A1 (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/k1/)

***

Oompa-Loompan Grand Patriarch Woompat nodded solemnly when he heard the news that the airfield had fallen to BOA.

He had called all combat units and all men capable of fighting to the northern territories; where they would gather for an offensive against BOA. He had made a contract with Russia; he would be getting 40 T-72's, 80 BMP-2's, 80 BRDM-2's, 50 Mi-17 transports, 30 Mi-28 Havoc gunships, as well as twelve MiG-27's. His men weren't well trained, but they would fight valiantly.

They couldn't afford all of this, but the Russians didn't know that.

von Zoyton looked at the map that layed across the landrover, as he listened to Beard's plan.
"That sounds like a good plan. I think it's best, for the moment, to split our forces, so that we can take both towns at once. Or do you want keep the forces together, and take one town, and then the other?
If you agree, I can take responsibility of the souther town" he pointed at the airbase on the map, and drew a half circle, that ended just north of the southern town
"I'm going to go in a half circle, and attack here, from the north. Where they hopefully don't have as much defence. I think they suspect a full frontal attack, as we did on this base.
I was also thinking of sending a small task force here" he pointed south of the town "In case they try to run across the border. They can also act as a diversion. Shooting, with their canons, towards the city. And making the Oompans believe they're surrounded, and thus dividing their forces. he looked at Beard.
"What do you think, Herr Kommendant? You are the commander of our forces, so if you wish to act in a different way, I'll happily obey your orders"


"And thank you for the offer of lending us tanks. I'm sure they'll come in handy." [I] von Zoyton smiled and lit a ciggarette.

"A sound plan!" Beard smiled. "I'll take my forces to the Northern town, while a diversionary force makes a squick strike on M03"

"Once we've both captured those towns, we'll drive North-East and take another pair of villages, then our forces will rejoin and take the fifth. This should decrease morale, and halt weapons-materials trade in the region. Brilliant!"

An orderly walked over and handed Beard his coffee. He took a sip, contemplated, then said "That's even better!"

von Zoyton ordered his men in the APC's and tanks, waving to Beard, and left.
About half way to the town, he ordered halt, picked out 10 K1A1's, 40 Strv 90's and 30 M113's, put them under command of Hauptman Simon, and ordered them to go around the town to the south, to guard the roads there for any refugees trying to escape over the border.
"And i want you to open fire at the town, from maximum distance, at exactly 0930" von Zoyton said
"Jawohl herr Oberstleutnant!" Simon saluted von Zoyton, and ordered his vehicles to the south.

von Zoyton continued on his path, and set up a small camp just north of the city, awaiting the other group to open fire.
At exactly 9:30 am he took his binoculars and look towards the city. He saw the first grenades hit the ground.
"FIRE"! he ordered to the waiting tanks and the personel taking care of the grenade launchers.
He wished he'd been able to see the chaos that surely reigned in the town now, with grenades fired upone them from both borth and south, where they, hopefully, hadn't expected an attack.
He ordered his infantry units forward, closer to the city, to a better attack position. Now, they had to wait for the barrage to stop, and then, the infantry would storm the city, assisted by the tanks.
von Zoyton sat down on a small hill, still lokking towards the city, to see if there were any outbreak attempts. He lit up another ciggarette, wishing he had a cup of coffee right now.
"I have to quit" he said, looking at the ciggarette "These things are gonna kill me, if not an enemy bullet does"
He thought about throwing the ciggarette away for a second, but decided that now was not perhaps the best time to quit

OOC: If I wont write in a short while, it's coz i have to move tomorrow, and there should be internet already hooked up at my new place, but i dunno for sure.. But, if it aint, it'll be there in a few days.. just so ya know! :)

ooc: OK! Thanks for the notice!

The Bahbian attack force slowly moved through the muddy roads. Wheeled vehicles kept getting bogged down in mud and needed to be pulled out by the treaded tanks and dozers.

The Engineers were working harder than anyone else. Deploying bridges. Blasting. Carving. If we didn't have them we'd still be back at the airfield.

Beard recommended them all for Medals of Merit.

As they came over the rise of another mountain road, atop a deployable bridge, the town came into sight. Beard grabbed his binoculars and zoomed in to see a T-55! It was plowing down the main street, it's turret facing backwards to prevent mud from getting into the barrel. It was painted in a jagged conglemeration of browns, yellows, oranges and pinks.

"Kill me that tank!" He yelled into the intercom, pointing, while typing the coordinates single-handed.

Ten Anti-armor helicopters moved into the town...

von Zoyton hoped his plan had suceeded and thus separating the enemy soliders. He got the radio and called th hauptmann in charge of the assault
"Are your troops ready to attack?" von Zoyton had to shout, for the hauptman to hear him
"Jawohl. We are ready to attack on your orders Oberstleutnant"

von Zoyton ordered he seize fire, and called back to the hauptmann, with only one word to say
"Attack!"

von Zoyton sensed the battle roar from his troops more than he heard it, as they rose from their forward postitions and started their assault. And as they did, the tanks behind him started rolling towards the city.

As the Ostlandish troops started their sprint across the field towards the city, the Oompan defenders opened fire.
When the ostlandish troops were about 200 meters from the defenders, they threw themselves on the ground, opening fire towards the enemy.
So far the battle was even. The ostlanders where better trained and equiped, but the Oompans had the advantage of better cover, and the fact that they were defending. They don't had to take any risks.
Suddenly there was an explosion among the Ostlandish lines. And then another one.
von Zoyton was puzzled for a minute. They shouldn't have any mortars or any artillery support.
He looked thrue his binoculars across the battlefield. To the left he saw what he was looking for. Thrue a piece of dense shrubbery two cannons appeared.
"Tanks! To the left! Take care of them" he ordered the groups of K1A1's.

They turned their turrets to the left, and opened fire. As they did, three more tanks appeared. Two T-55's and a T-72. They opened fire, and one of the K1A1's dissapeared in a cloud of smoke and debris. Before they got a chance to fire again, the K1A1's returned the fire with a devastating result. The enemy tanks were no more.

von Zoyton looked to where the infantry was fighting again, and the sight made him happy. The defensive positions were broken. The Ostlandish troops poured in to the city, taking care of the few strong points that still fought back.
"Now begins the real battle." von Zoyton said to a major standing next to him. "The enemy knowd the city, and is prepared to fight for every house"
The major nodded as a response.

--------

Gefreiter Heinemann looked around the corner of the house. All clear.
He was on a special mission. Together with five men, he had been ordered to try to raise the Ostlandish flag on the roof of the city hall. This could very well be the last thing he attempted in life he knew.
He looked around the corner again, just to be sure, before he and his men, ran across the street, to the safety of the next house.
They made the way thrue the house, not encountering any enemies.
"So far so good" Heinemann thought.
He looked at the city map he had gotten from his commander.
"ok men. We have to move across this square. We'll take it in three steps. First we run to the stone wall on the other side of the road" he pointed out the window
"Then to the other wall on the other side of the square, and then in that house" he pointed to a two floor light yellow building, with sme kind of store on the street floor, on the other side of the square
"Who wants to go first?"
"I will" a young schutze said, stepping forward
"Ok, run as fast as you can, and for the love of god, stay low"
He gave the young solider a pat on the back as he got ready to run across the street.
He got about half way towards the wall, when someone opened fire with a machine gun across the square. The schutze fell to the ground, shot multiple times in the head and the body. Blood coloured the street around him red.
"Dammit" Heinemann thought. "Take cover men"
He had just ended the sentence when the gunner on the other side fired towards their position.
When the gun silenced, Heinemann dared to look out thrue the hole where the window were earlier. He saw the gunner on the roof of a buildning across the square. He just got his head down as more bullets were fired towards their position.
Heinemann got the attention of th only solider with a scope on his AK5, pointed to the next room, and whispered "On the roof"
The solider ran to the next room, taking cover.
Heinemann nodded to the other three soliders, and as one man they all rose up and opened fire towards the roof. They thre themselves on the floor as the Oompan gunner opened fire. And as he did, the solider in the other room, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. One shot was fired, and the enemy gunner, fell down from the roof, dead before he hit the ground.

Heinemann and his small squad hurried across the square to the other side. They could hear shots fring in other parts of the town. And saw a small squad of Oompan soliders rushing towards the battle zone, to concentrated on theirs, to discover the five men.

After running thrue a few buildning, the small force, stood and looked out a window. On the other side of yet another square, the city hall stood, all quiet.
Heinemann looked thrue his binoculars, to see if there were any defenders outside the city hall. He couldn't see anyone. He ordered his men acros the square, in small steps. This time without any cassualties. As he sat behind a small wall outside the city hall, he heard a thundering noice, and around the corner a T-55 rolled slowly towards them.
The men threw themselves to the ground. And, as they had hoped, the tank was heading towards the area of fighting.
Heinemann wondered for a second if they were winning the battle.
When the tank had dissapeared behind a building, they ran up to the door.
They positioned themselves on both sides of the closed door, and threw it open.
No return fire. They ran in the entry hall, taking cover behind what they could find. Still no enemy repsons.
"Don't they have any defenders here" Heinemann thought. The troop hurried up the stairs in the end of the hall. A long corridor stretched from left ot right. He knew tha tthe stairs were in either end of the corridor. As he was going to order his men towards the next stairs, he heard voices in the room infront of him. The door wasn't entirely closed, so he peaked thrue the small opening. The sight made him smile. Two officers, by the look of their uniforms, stood leaning over a table, where a large city map was positioned, and argued. In a corner of the room, a solider sat, infront of an old radio, giving the officers, what Heinemann thought, updated battle information.
Heinemann raised his weapon, and slowly opened the door. Still no one had seen him.
Knock, knock" He said.
The three men, turned around, as if hit by something, and stared at Heinemann, and the weapon pointing at them.
"Look what we have here. Don't you think it would be a wise idea, to lie down on the floor, with the hands on your heads?" Heinemann said.
The officers did as he told him, but the radio operator, quickly took up an AK47 leaning at the radio table. That was as far as he got before Heinemann shot him.
"Tie 'em up, and guard them" Heinemann ordered two soliders, while taking two soliders towards the roof.
He got there without any problems, and as it was the highest buildning in town, he saw clearly thet the ostlandish troops pushed forward. This would be over before nightfall. He went to the flagpole on the roof, took down the Oompan flag, and replaced it with the Ostlandish Red and Blue flag.
"This will surely give me a promotion" he thought, as he sat down on the roof, watching the end of the battle.

The lead helicopter released a pair of Hellfires on the tank. They streaked up and forward, then crashed down on the target. It was fully loaded; the excplosion was immense! A wave of burning gasoline and exploding ammunition incinerated the outside of the nearby buildings.

A storm was moving quickly toward the town. It would arrive soon.

The helicopters split into packs of two to search for targets, as the first tanks rolled into the city. A light AT gun emerged from a shop and fired a round at the lead tank. It ricocheted off the armor and into a building. The autocannon took out the AT gun.

The 10 tanks and 15 APC's passed the burnt hulk of the T-55 as the storm hit; freezing rain, very strong winds, and hail.

The tank must have been the town's only heavy defense! The Bahbian tank commander smirked; "This will be a piece of cake compared to the airfield!" His gunner grinned, then his face turned to stunned shock as he looked at the forward screen; 30, maybe 40, assorted tanks!

The last thing they saw was a flash from the barrel of a T-64. The K1A1 exploded; its turret splitting in two, with a large rip in the middle of the body.

The tanks split up off the main road.

The commander of the second tank, Crewboss 2nd class Gallagher, grabbed the mike; "Boss! Large number of enemy tanks on the other side of town! They must have hid in buildings! Estimate three dozen! Soviet!"

"We can't send reinforcements, Gallagher! Oompans have blocked the road, and helicopters can't fly in this weather! Find a place to stand for a few hours!"

"Roger, base" Gallagher nodded solemnly and barked an order; "Load main gun!" Have all forces rendevue at the town square!"

The tank turned, and as a T-72 passed in front of it, the tank fired. The T-72 was ripped apart.

ooc: To be continued...

Heinemann sat on the roof and saw the Ostlandish troops moving close and closer towards the city hall. He kept a good eyer to see if any enemy troops closed in on the buildning. He wished he have had a radio of some kind, but the radio in the room where he caught the officers, was dead. Probably from the three bullets that Heinemann himself had shot at it, while shooting the soldier. And he had dropped his own walkie talkie somewhere, while running between houses.
But for now, he just enjoyed the sight of the battle. Watching his comrades winning the battle.
He was one of the first Ostlanders that noticed the sound. And it drew closer and closer. And suddenly, just over the roof tops, 6 helicopters rushed by.

------

von Zoyton, who had moved closer to the city now, suddenly saw the Havocs over the roof tops. "Verdammt" he thought. This was not a good thing he knew.
The choppers concentrated on taking out the tanks, and they did a good job. The few Ostlandish tanks that were in the city, was quickly dealt with. von Zoyton knew that thwe tanks in the city would mostl likely be destroyed, and he also knew, without any SAM's he had to wait 'til the choppers drew closer the tanks standing outside the city, and hoping that the choper crews didn't know of the anti aircraft capabilities of the Strv 90. He ordered the light tanks to reload with AA ammo, and be ready to shoot at anything flying towards them.
The tanks spread out and awaited the choppers. As von Zoyton had expected, the choppers couldnt resist all the tanks standing on the field, with no SAM sites, or anti aircraft guns nearby. They all turned towards the tanks, and came closer.
The Strv 90's and the Havocs fired at the same time. Eight tanks got hit by the missiles. The Havocvs themselves got caught in a devastating cross fire from the tanks, as their 40mm cannons fired round after round towards the choppers. Three of them got hit and crashed. The three others, fired one last missile each, turned around and fled the field. One of them, crashed in the middle of the city from the damaged it had suffered.

von Zoyton smiled as he saw the choppers getting caught in the crossfire. The smile was however, quickly wiped from his face.
"Scheisse" he swore, as he saw one of the missiles heading his direction. He ran as fast as he could, the last thing he heard was the explosion behind him, from the exploding tank. After that, the whole world turned black.

He blinked. He could see the light. Was this heaven? He didn't believe in God, so this would more likely be hell. But it wasn't warm enough for that either. von Zoyton was confused. He tried to focus his eyes. After a little while, he could see that he was still outside.
"He is awake now, major" he heard a voice saying.
After a while he could see a familiar face, his second in command, major
Henrietta Eberhardt.

"Glad to see you decided to wake up, Oberstleutnant" she said to him.
"What happened?" he asked, still not feeling too well.
"Your tank got hit by a missile, mein Herr. she told him
You got hit by the airwave after the explosion. You made a nice little flight, before landing with your head first. You also got hit in your left leg by shrapnel. We hope that we can save it. We have radioed the Bahblandic forces for a chopper to pick you up. Once a real hospital takes care of you, you should be back in no time, Herr Oberstleutnant"

"Ah, I see" he said slowly "And how is the battle going?"
"We are winning mein Herr" she said, smiling "We have more or less the whole town by now. Just a few pockets of enemy resistance remains to clear up. Shouldn't take too long. "
"Good. You take care of it, and if you don't mind, I think I'm going to go back to sleep again."

Major Eberhardt watched as her commander lost consciousness. She left him in the hands of the medics, and walked a few steps towards the city. The battle should be over soon. The resistance had crumbled after the Havocs had been chased away.
She hoped von Zoyton wouldn't be away from service for too long, or this would be her first time as a commander in a real situation.

4 of the 10 tanks and 5 of the 15 APC's made it to the square. Some vehicle crews and infantries that were in APC's had made it to the square, almost all of them wounded in some way.

Enemy tanks were attacking from all sides, with sniper fire, RPG's and mortars just adding to their problem. Slowly the Bahbian's numbers fell. The Oompans had just backed away after their fourth attack. Each time, the Bahbians were pushed farther back as their defense net got gaps.

The weather was horrible! Thick fog, heavy rain and high winds. Any helicopter that went up would be immeadiatly blown down.

"Sir!" the gunner screamed over machine gun fire, "We're all out! All we've got is machine guns!"

Should they surrender and take the cowards way out? Or defend to the last man? Right now the Oompans were running toward the square, with more ammo and more men. They might not be able to withstand this attack, with no ammo, mostly-dead batteries and the amount of wounded they had.

Gallagher hefted the mike; "Bahbian vehicles! Organize your tanks into a circle around the fountain! We make our last stand there!"

They had no sooner parked then the enemy attacked. A hail of RPG's and a blizzard of AK-47 rounds. A K1A1 took out a T-64 that took a corner too fast.
Gallagher squeezed the .50 cal trigger at a group of advancing Oompans.

Suddenly the front of the turret was gone, and Gallagher went limp and deaf. He saw the image in front of him change as he was hauled out by another soldier, a medic. The medic put him down next to the fountain, and as he turned to go, he was hit twice by an AK. Gallagher looked down at his legs and noted they weren't there. He laughed, as he was in shock. An Oompan soldier ran in front of him, and fired.

*** twenty-two minutes later ***

The 30 K1A1's, escorted by 45 AT helicopters, and fifteen fighter-bombers circling above, rammed through barriers to get to the fountain in the square. Plumes of black smoke could be seen through the mist, which had settled down after the storm passed.

However, there was no tank in sight. There was nothing in sight! No Oompan soldiers or tanks!

The reinforcements pulled into the square and stopped. Commanders stared in horror at the row of dead Bahbians on the concrete tile. Carved in their sky-facing backs was "LEAVE IMPERFECTS." A few of the new men threw up over the side of the tanks.

The group leader picked up the mike. "Command..." he held back tears "Once we're out of here, I request that you flatten this town. Artillery. Bombers. Everything. Use crowbars if you must! Take out everything!"

Major Eberhardt was pleased. The battle had finally been won, by the Ostlandish troops. But, it was to a huge cost. Over half of her soldiers were either dead, or too injured to be able to fight anything in a near future. The intelligence report she had recieved before leaving Nieder Ostland, had talked about ill equiped, poorly trained rebels with a low morale. She wondered where they were, coz the enemies they had fought in this town were anything else than low on morale.
She handed over a piece of paper to her second in command, and told him
"Send this to the Bahblandic commander. Bossman Beard i think his name is. I want a reply as soon as possible."

She walked over to the quickly asembled hospital. Thou, hospital was maybe saying too much. They had simply put all the injured soliders, in need of care, in the towns medical center, where at least some medical equipment could be found. They were running low on everything in there, except injured and dead soliders.
She went to von Zoytons room, and looked in. The leg injury had not been a problem for the doctors, even thou they worked under hard conditions. But his head injury had been worse than first expected. He still hadn't woken up from the last time he lost consciousness. She was now in command, wether she liked it or not.
And she didn't like it. Being forced to take over after von Zoyton, who was as close to a modern legend there was in the Ostlandish armed forces.

The group that had stayed south to the city had just returned. They too had ended up in battle. Eventhou not as hard as the one for the city, they had lost a lot of men, and some tanks to the enemy.
If the Oompans wanted to counter attack, this was the perfect time, she knew. She had positioned the tanks and soliders around the city, in defensive position, but both ammo and morale were running low right now. nd the fact that every soldier knew that their commander was severly injured, didn't exactly help the morale to rise. She looked up to the grey sky
"If there is a God, can you please make sure that the enemy wont attack, bitte"

She walked over to her command tank, to get some shelter from the wind, and hopefully some sleep. Doing this, she had to walk past the new grave yard, where all killed Bahblandic and Ostlandish soliders were burried, or soon to be buried. They stil had a few hundred dead soliders left to bury. The other soliders were told that it was coz they still awaited some kind of identification on the dead soliders. But Eberhardt knew that the main reason was that they simply didn't have the time to do it, as fast as it should've been done.

----------------------------------
Transmitting telegram.. 3...2...1
From: Major Eberhardt, commander of the Ostlandish troops
To: Commander of the Bahblandic forces, Bossman Beard

Guten tag.
Since von Zoyton have been injured, I have taken command of out troops. After heavy battles, we have taken the city, together with a few enemy prisoners.
This was however done under heavy cassualties. We therefore request permission to bring in reinforcments to our troops, if we are to be able to continue to fight the rebel scums.
We request that we can send after the following reinforcments.

3rd Heavy mechanized Infantry regiment. (4500 men)
2nd and 24th field hospital units.
28th Panzer company (40 strv 122)
21st flight staffel (10 JAS 39 Gripen)
823rd Fallshirmsjäger company (300 Paratroopers with transport planes)
64th Artillery company (40 mobile artillery units)
14th pioneer batallion (750 men)
As you are in charge, you have the final word which reinforcments we can bring in, if any, to the war.
We would like to have an answer as soon as possible, but understand if you are tied up in battle right now.

On a brighter notice. We thank you for the tanks send to us. They fought hard and brave during the battle, and we have commisioned the "Grossherzogs medal for bravery in battle" 2nd class to the commander of the tanks and "GMBB 3rd class" to 14 other tank crew members, for their bravery shown in the battle.

We hope that the fighting is going well for you. We will win this war!

Major Eberhardt.

End transmission

As usual millions of people tuned on to the 8 o'clock news on NOT, (Nieder Ostlandic Television)

Anchorman:
Good evening.
Here are tonights top story.
The war in Oompastan continues. Outnumbered and outgunned, our men and women in the BOA continues to push further and further to the north. Yesterday two important enemy cities were taken by the BOA troops. We now go over to our journalist, who lives together with the Ostlandish troops.

The picture changed. Instead of the anchorman in the studio, now was shown a man, wearing a military helmet and a bullet proof west, holding a microphone in his hand. In the background the city hall, with the Ostlandish flag could be seen

The Oompan rebels fought hard, and with their tank and air support our troops sustained heavy casualties, but still fought their way thrue the cities, who now are under BOA control. Thou sustaining heavy casualties, the morale of our troops are still very good, and they enjoy the brief period of rest they have now. Soon they will have to push further north, towards more victories against the rebel scum.
Unconfirmed sources says that our great commander, Oberstleutnant von Zoyton was injured during the fights, and now is under hospital treatment. But none of the high rankning officers have confirmed this yet.
I will remain with our troops until the war is over, to give you updated reports.
This is Johann Mahlbach, NOT news. Back to you.

The picture changed back to the anchorman in the studio

Thank you Johann.
On a related note. All over Nieder Ostland, school children are writing letters and drawing pictures to the brave men and women fighting with the BOA troops against the rebels. And this they are doing by their own free will, on lunch breaks and after school, to raise the morale of the hard working soliders over in Oompastan.

And now to other news. The ministry of education today proclaimed that...........

After two artillery barrages and a carpet-bombing, the Bahbians reentered the city en masse. Very slowly. With full back up.

There was no resistance.

Beard led the assault to inspire confidence in his men. Hopefully the combined assault on two cities at the same time broke the Oompan militias back. Hopefully.

***

BAHBIAN TELEMAIL 42-00037-05G
WOUNDED
SNDR: BEARD
TO: EBERHARDT
MSG: WILL TAKE ANY WOUNDED. C17 TO ETHIOPIA COLONY. 300 HOURS TOMORROW. GET SUPPLIES THERE.

Major Eberhardt was there in person to see that the wounded got away ok, and that there were no one faking injuries or wounds just to get out of battle. But eventhou the morale was pretty low no fake injuries were found, as the medics looked over the injured people.
Almost all of the wounded soliders wre at the air field when the first C-17 landed.
Eberhardt overlooked the loading of the soldiers, making sure that the most heavy wounded persons got on first, in case they were attacked. Better to be safe than sorry.
No enemy troops were seen however, and the loading of the wounded went without any problems.
When the stretcher with the still unconsious von Zoyton was loaded into the C-17, Eberhardt saluted him. Now his faith was in the hands of the Bahblandic doctors and nurses in Ethiopia. She knew that he would be a lot better off there, with better facilities, and better personell, than here on the field.
She waved at the pilots as they took off, and she returned to her tent. Time to plan the next move.

-----------------------------
Ethiopian colony.

"This is An-225, codename NO-663, of the Nieder Ostlandish luftwaffe. Requesting permission to land, for me and my wingman"
"This is tower control. You are cleared for landing on runway 220" [I]

The two massive An-225's landed on the runway, and taxied to where the ground personell waited for them. Their load was valuable. Both were loaded with medical supplies to help the military hospitals in Ethiopia. And also with 20 doctors, and 50 nurses.

(ooc: I meant your doctors could get supplies from Ethiopia, but this works too! I'll play along!)

Cheif Physician Harry Mendeleev ran out the sliding doors of the service building to the An-225's, which had just had chocks put in front of their wheels. He climbed quickly up the cargo ramp, and tapped an Ostlander on the shoulder; "Wer ist das Mannschaftoberhaupt?" The Ostlander looked confused for a moment, than lit up as he recognized what the doctor meant; the cargo-master. He pointed to a short, old fellow with a clipboard shouting orders.

Mendeleev walked up to him and shook his hand. "Thank you very much for the assistance, sir! Our hospital wasn't designed to care for this many!" Mendeleev realized that the man couldn't speak English, and he had no clue how to say what he just said in German. Luckily, an Ostlander doctor walking by overheard them, and told the cargo-master what Mendeleev had said.

The cargo-master smiled, then in German, replied; "You are very welcome, doctor. Thank you for taking care of our boys!"

ooc: oh.. sorry.. my bad! -s- well.. as long as ya are ok with it! :)

Ethiopia
Doctor Schuber stepped out of the plane. Just a few hours ago, he had been sitting at his office, looking out the window as the first snow fell, back home in northern Nieder Ostland. The phone had rung, and a voice, presenting itself as a general for the army, had ordered him to pack his things and go to the airfield. There a small jet had waited for him, to bring him to Bachwald, where he ha been briefed about the situation.
And here he was, thousands of miles from home appointed the head doctor of the Ostlandish personell, in a heat he really couldn't stand. He was about to light up a ciggarette, when he saw the non-smoking sign. He sighed. He hadnt smoked for hours now.
Schuber walked over to two Bahblanders discussing somehting.
"Where I can smoke?" he asked. knowing perfectly well that his english was terrible.
They pointed him to a corner of the airfield. He walked there and lit his ciggarette, sighing with relief.
"God i hope the facilities are air condtioned" he said quietly to himself, as he watched the unloading of the two cargo planes.

---------------
Oompastan

Eberhardt was happy.
Happy because she had found, in a cellar in one of the houses, a large quantity of alcoholic beverages. So this night she threw a party for her brave soldiers. Except for the poor men and women forced to be guards for the night being. This, she thought, would surely raise the morale of the troops, except, once again, the poor soldiers forced to stand guard.
She hoped that the Oompans would see the foolishness in continue their fighting. Eventhou they had managed to kill many troops, both Bahlandic and Ostlandish, surely they had to know that vast reinforcments could be sent to the area.
But, deep inside, she knew that the Oompans wouldn't surrender. They would continue fight to the last man.
She sighed, and opened her third bottle of beer for tonite. She had a plan. And that plan involved a larger quantity of alcohol and a major head ache tomorrow. But, tomorrow was still far away, she thought, as she walked over to the men, sitting nearby singing old Ostlandish folk songs.

BAHBIAN TELEMAIL 42-00037-05G
REGROUP
SNDR: BEARD
TO: EBERHARDT
MSG: GET REINFORCEMENTS, AND PREPARE FOR A NEW OFFENSIVE TO THE NORTHERN REACHES. (ooc: 1 RL day)

One after another, the giagnt transport planes landed on the airfield. Unloading personell, equipment and ammunition.
The bergsjäger troops were happy about this. Now they knew that they would probably not have to be the first, and only, line of attack.
Eberhardt knew that they would have to work around the clock, id they were to be ready for the upcoming offensive.

After a few days hard work, all troops and equipment was unloaded, and all the transport planes except those belonging to the fallshirmsjägers, returned home, and the Gripen planes landed.
Eberhardt looked over the troops as they stood ready to travel north. Now, from being the commander of half an infantry regiment, now she was the commander of a small army. Here she had everything she needed. From tanks and infantry, to mobile radar and SAM sites.
She had also been promoted to Oberstleutnant, she found out in a letter addressed to her from the superor commander.

Now, all she could do was to wait for the orders from Beard.

-----------------------
Incoming telegram...
To: Beard
From: Oberstleutnant Eberhardt

Reinforcments have arrived. We are ready when you are.

(late for my own appointment! Whoops! :headbang: )

75 B-52's cruised high over the mountains of Loompastan. Their 600 combined engines leaving 600 vapor-lines in the air. Each was loaded with thousands of kilograms of explosives.

B-1's were ahead of them, dropping bunker-buster bombs on the Oompastani Mountain fortifications. The bunker-busters also triggered massive avalanches; burying anyone unfortunate enough to be in its path.

Next in would be the ground units...

ooc: hey.. that can happen to the best of us. :)

ic:
Eberhardt watched as the bombs fell over the mountain forts and bunkers. It was a pretty sight she thought.
She stood on one of the tanks, looking thrue the binoculars towards the mountains.
The pioneer troops were out sonewhere near the enemy lines to blow up any fortifications still left, or to clear any mine fields that happened to eb in the way. A dangerous job, but, that was the job of the pioneer troops.

The artillery, tanks and APC's were ready to roll forward. The Gripen pilots, ready if air support was needed. The SAM launchers loaded, and the radar vehicles searched the skies for any enemy aircrafts unfortunate to come this way.
"This time nothing will go wrong" she said to herself.
Now, all they could do was to wait for the call from Beard, telling them to charge.

The B-52's and B-1's turned away from the target area, and the radio in Eberhardt's command tank crackled; "Eberhardt, you may proceed with your assault! We've got your backs!"

"This is Eberhardt. Orders recieved, we're moving out"
She switched frequenzy on the radio, and one short sentence was heard on every Ostlandish radio transmitter.
"We're moving out boys and girls"

All over the camp site, the men and women of the Ostlandish army rushed to their vehicles. Tanks Artillery and APCs started their engines and slowly began to roll toward the Oompan positions.
Once again the Bergsjäger would be the ones to go in first. This was what they had trained for. Mountain warfare.
As they got closer, Eberhardt ordered the artillery to stop, and prepare for fire support.
The men unloaded their APCs as they're quote useless in the mountains.
The pioneer troops were waiting for them, having cleared a path thrue two minefields, under protection from the bombers.

It was very quiet. Eberhardt was worried. It was too quiet.
As the men drew closer to the fortifications suddenly machine guns opened fire at them. All the soliders threw themselves on the ground, and started crawl against the nearest protection they could find.
The Oompans had however been too eager, and opened fire too soon, which lead to that almost no Ostlanders were hit. But they were pinned down. If they tried to storm the place, the casualties would most likely be staggering.
Eberhardt took the microphone to the radio and called the artillery and the airforce.
"Eberhardt here. Need precision bombardment at the following coordinates."

It didn't take long for the artillery to start bombard the fortifications that were left standing.
Eberhardt rushed over to a leutnant sitting nearby.
"What's your name Leutnant?" she asked.
"Leutnant Lange, He.. Frau Oberstleutnant"
"I want you to take 10 men, and circle around and try to see if you can find any enrance to the fortifications. Keep in constant touch. If you enqounter too heavy opposition along the way, break off. I want you to go as soon as the air bombardment begins!"
"Jawohl, Oberstleutnant!"

The Leutnant rushed over to his squad and quickly picked a group of ten men.
The Gripens came in, and fired their missiles at the fortifications. At the same time Leutnant Lange and his men took off, to find an entrance of some kind.


OOC: Sorry, am in a hurry so i have to rush now. Will finnish this when i get back (or tomorrow morning (my time). Or.. this gives the Oompans time to react too :)

Lompi's 2nd Death Battalion held firm against the BOA assault. They would let no man through this pass until they were all dead... then there was booby-traps. Snipers fortified themselves in key positions. The remaining tanks were buried up to the turret, and heavily camoflouged. They couldn't drive anyway; BOA had bombed all the fuel trucks. The few fighters they had had no fuel. But AK-47's were plenty.

Bahbian bombings and shellings had kept them under cover for days. Today, the bombing had stopped, and hundreds of Ostlanders advanced on their postions. The machine-gunners opened up, but they were no match for artillery...

Lange and his few men moved out, under cover the cover of Gripen and artillery bombardment.
At first they moved alongside the hill infront of them for about 2 km, before they moved slowly towards the hill, making sure that noone saw them.
As they came up against the hillside, they started moving towards the fortifications again, looking to see if they could find anything that could be an opening in to the fort itself. Any sign of smoke, or traces of men, thou traces would be hard to find, being in the mountains.
Closer to the fort, Lange stoped his men. He knew that if they went any closer, the Oompans would spot them, and that was the last thing he wanted.
But, being a bergsjäger, he decided that they should start climbing the hill instead. Maybe not to the top, but as lil bit up the side.
The men started climbing, 5 at a time, with the other 5 covering them, just in case.

-------------

Eberhardt looked over the battlefield. It was a stalemate. The Ostlanders were pinned down, any major advance towards the buildings would be taken care of by the Oompan machinegunners.
And the Oompans couldn't do much either, because of the artillery barrage, and the fact that a couple of Bergsjäger was waiting for them.
Any man or woman foolish enough to stick their head up too far, were soon killed by the Oompan snipers.
"Not a very comfortable situation she thought"
She decided to pull the tanks closer, and use them as a shield for the men to walk behind, til they got close enough to assault the Oompan positions. Not an ideal terrain for tanks perhaps, but, that was the best she could do.
She ordered the artillery to intensify their bombardment while the tanks were brought up.
As they came closer, she ordered her men behind the tanks, and the tanks to advance as far a s they could in the terrain, shooting with machineguns and cannons against any enemy targets.

Hopefully, she thought, this would break the deadlock, and not lead to a slaughter on Ostlandish troops.

Wapp, a young Oompan, barely fitting into his uniform, smiled as things started going his way. The Ostlanders were slowly advancing, troops hiding behind tanks. There was four AT mines, only 150 feet or so away from the advancing BOA forces. The detonator was rigged so at the press of a button, all of them would go.

They came closer, and closer. As the lead tank passed the marked rock, Wapp pushed the detonator, and there was three explosions.

The fourth never went off! "Cheap Soviet Bas~~..." he mumbled. The lead K1A1 was obliterated. Two APC's had been heavily peppered, and many infantry were dazed and confused from the deafening explosions. Wapp opened up with his machine gun, and cut down four or five men, before there were zipping sounds coming toward him. The last thing he saw was the muzzle flash from an Ostlander's gun.

***

Bahbian fire-support boats (SAAB Drakens loaded with Zuni rocket-pods, napalm, and a 20mm gatling gun) came in low over the BOA advance. Ostlander commanders chimed in over the radio telling them where to drop ordnance. Pink smoke grenade clouds climbed into the sky, only to be blown away by fireballs of diesel jell-o...

The attack was not the success that Eberhardt had hoped for. Four of the tanks had been blewn to pieces almost at once, and many of the troops had been killed or injured.
The Oompans were not as demoralized as Eberhardt thought by the constant bombradment the past couple of days.

But, they were still advancing, ver yslow, but at least they were heading forward.
Eberhardt looked up as she saw the Bahblandic Drakens coming zooming down from the sky, to drop their loads at the Oompan troops.
Shortly after, the Ostlandish Gripens came in, using their missiles and Multiple bomb capsels (OOC: One bomb contains many smaller bombs), against the enemy troops.

At the order from Eberhardt, all the troop commanders ordered their men forward to attack, and engage in close combat. Something that the Bergsjäger troops was well trained in.
Many men fell during the assault, but even more reached the enemy strongpoints, throwing their grenades over the edges of the barriers, and when they had exploded, the men followed, jumped over, and attacked any soldiers there.
Eberhardt knew that she would loose many of hewr men and women during this assault, but she also knew, that if they didn't do anything, they would loose even more, since the Oompans probably could sit in their fortifications for as long as they wanted.

---

Leutnant Lange and his few men saw the attack from their relative safe position, a bit higher on the mountain side.
As the attack started, he ordered his men to fire against the enemy troops, and to aim at any officers as their primary target. Hopefully, he thought, this could confuse the enemy troops, andm ake them believe that they were attacked from two positions.


OOC: Bad news. I might have to take a short break for a few days, coz my intenret at home is completely down :( I'll try to get back as soon as possible thou. SO, Merry X-mas! :)

ooc: That's okay! Merry Christmas to you too!

The Bahbian tanks rolled over the rise, to see the Ostlander encampent. They had made it! After travelling hundreds of kilometers on absolutely horrid roads, blowing through barriers, suffering through rocket attacks and snipers, the Bahbian tank column had gotten there.

The Engineers averaged three hours of sleep per day. All they did was work. And not once did you a hear a groan from any of them. Beard recommended them all for The Bronze Gear, and Silver Gears for the Crewbosses.

ooc: terribly sorry that i havent posted in a long loooong time, but my internet have been completely down untill now! :( but... now it's back again! *keeps my finger crossed*

IC:
Eberhardt smiled as she saw the first of the bahbian tanks arriving. She ran over to the lead tank, and shouted to the commander of that tank.
"Good to see ya, and welcome to the party! We could use some help over there" she pointed a bit to the left
"They have drawn troops from their left flank to support the defences in the middle. If you want to, it'd be very nice if ya could perhaps make an assault over there? I think that that would give us the victory!"

She looked at the tank commander.

-------------

Lange and his men had found a relatively calm spot in the fightings. Being above the rest of the battle, and in good protection behind some boulders, they had a pretty easy task, to sit and fire upon every oompan soldier that came within range. It seemed like they, so far, hadn't discovered them, and Lange hoped that they wouldn't. He knew that he and his 10 soldiers, really didn't have much chanse of standing grounds against a counterattack from the Oompans!

ooc: Hey! You're back! Woohoo! :D

Garvey, leading the Tanks, smiled. "Of course!" His curled mustache moved with his mouth.

He twirled his hand around twice and pointed between the right flank and the middle. It was the "Comand code." The two twirls represented concentrated defenses. The pointing is hopefully evident.

The tanks behind him responded by revving their engines, and they set off toward the right flank. The Oompans would see this, and hopefully bring more men from the middle and left to aid. Before going into the valley, his tanks would turn, place smoke, and go to left flank. The Oompans would need to reinforce that side, too, no longer knowing where they were going.

That's when the Ostlanders could make their attack. Two attacks on different flanks would crush them.

Eberhardt watchec as the Bahblandic tanks drove off, and picked up the radio.
"All troops, be ready to attack at my signal. Right flank"

When the Bahblandic tanks placed their smokes, Eberhardt once again reached for the radio transmittor.
"Angriff, angriff! Schnell!"

Almost at the same time, the Ostlandish tanks started their engines and rolled off towards the right flank.
As they came close enough they opened fire with their machine guns and cannons.

After the tanks, one company of infantry troops half walked/half ran towards the Oompan positions, hoping that the Oompan troops would be too busy firing at (or better yet fleeing from) the tanks.

------------------
A few minutes earlier

Leutnant Lange had problems. The Oompan had discovered them, 2 men were down.
"Whats the ammo situation men?" he said.
"One and a half clip left"
"About fifty bullets left"
"I'm down to my last three bullets"
"Two clips left"

"Ok, we need more ammo then" Lange said, not letting the last 4 men answer his question.
Lange knew that they couldn't climb down from their position, if they did, the Oompan troops would most likely kill them. And as soon as the Oompan realised that they were out of ammo, they'd attack.

As Lange thought of the situation, he saw that the Oompan troops started to run around.
"What the...."
He looked up, towards the horizon and saw the Bahblandic tanks coming towards them. And after them the Ostlandish tanks came.

"Men, soon we'll be off this verdammte cliff. The cavalry is coming to save us!"

The Oompans were fleeing! Dropping their weapons to run! The BOA advance was tremendous, and the attack was a vicous tactical success. BOA casualities were very low, but theSappers were beat up pretty bad, with 30% losses. But it was with worth it; twice as many were saved by the mines they found and flagged.

Buried tank turrets were easy to dispose of. Send a practically-infeatable Chobham-armored tank in front, while another tank comes from behind and takes it out.

The cowards ran into their own traps, fleeing from the metallic onslaught. The irony was painful.

Attack helicopters and air cav entered the valley through the (blocked) "out" pass, holding the fleeing troops at bay. 173 were taken prisoner.

The Ostlandish troops cheered as the last of the Oompans had surrended. Eberhardt walked over to the Bahblandic commander.

"Nice show. Do you have any orders what to do now? I would like to continue pushing forward, at once, or at least tomorrow, when my boys and girls have had some sleep. But, we don't know where to go, where the Oompans have gathered their troops, etcetera."

"I also have other news. As of tomorrow, i will no longer be in command of our troops. I've found out that von Zoyton has recovered, and is heading back to take command once again" Eberhardt looked disappointed.

"But now, let's celebrate. My senior officers are having some schnapps over there in the officers mess" Eberhardt pointed towards a large tent to the right of her. "You and your officers are of course welcome to join us"

A section of Oompan prisoners marched sloppily by, hands bound. They were boys and old men; most definetly reservists or militia. Uniforms were green pants and coat. The design of each varied; they weren't provided by any power. They were purchased by the individual.

A crew repairing Garvey's "wounded" (his words) command-tank watched the prisoners walk by, with bayonet-armed gaurds behind them. Their yellow/orange faces were frightening. Freakish, even.

Garvey realized then; the drug they had gotten themselves addicted to could be used as leverage. If they could engineer a cure...

***

"Thank you for the invitation, Eberhardt! I will inform my men! I am glad von Zoynton has made such a quick recovery... I will be sure to inform him that you require a bump up in rank" ;)

The Ostlandish military chopper landed, and out of it, von Zoyton stepped out. He limped away from the chopper, supported with a wooden cane, towards the officers tent.
When the chopper had lift off, von Zoyton lit a ciggarette, mumbling something about stupid anti-smoking laws in military vehicles.

He finished his smoke, and entered the tent. As one man all the officers rose up in attention. Eberhardt walked towards him.
"Glad to have you back Herr Oberst, and congratulations to your promotion" She said, saluting him
"Thank you Oberstleutnant. It's good to be back. Couldn't stand it at the hospital. So, what's the new orders from the Bahblandic high command? How long are we to stay here?"
"I have no idea herr Oberst. But the men enjoys the rest. They needed it mein Herr"
"When you hear anything from our allies about our next step, call me!"
von Zoyton nodded, and walked out of the tent, to greet his soldiers.

The 9 o'clock news was on in Nieder Ostland

"This is Julia Kaltenbrunner. I am standing outside the army headquarters, OKW, here in Bachwald. And as you can see thousands of protestors are here. They're demanding that our troops shall return home at once." she turned to an angry young man
"Why are you protesting?"
"Our young men and women shouldn't be killed, because our Grand Duke wants to creat diplomatic bonds with nations we've never heard of. Our soldiers, our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters are right now fighting and dying in another nations civil war. Why? The Oompans have never done us anything! And the Bahbländers have never done anything to support us. We need to bring back our troops NOW!"

"As you can see, the support for the war is very weak. I tried to get a comment from Oberst von Zoyton who's commanding our troops abroad, but all he had to say was that we should enlist the troublemakers.
This is Julia Kaltenbrunner. Back to the studio"

-------------------

In an office on the eight floor, field marshall Johannes von Hoffmann looked out thrue the window down on the protesters. From here, it looked like ants someone had disturbed.
His intercom buzzed, and his secretary spoke
"The minister is here now"
"Let him in" Johannes answered.

Minister of defence, Manfred Kaltenbach entered the office.
"Have you seen the news, herr minister?" Johannes asked, still looking out the window
"Yes I have. It might go out of control soon. What do you think we should do about it?"
"If we want a peaceful situation here, we should break of the war. But, it wont look good if we break off the war now. We need to continue. Thats why I asked you to come. The war in Bahbland need to be continued, but we need to end it fast. And the only way is to send more troops. Yes, there will be more protesters among the people here, but.... Once the war is over, they will be forgotten."
"And what do you want me to do about it? You decide what reinforcments we need to send, you know that"
"Yes, but the Bahbländers don't want too many foreign troops on their ground. So we can't send too many. So my suggestion is. Now that the troops are resting after their last offensive, we should replace them, with troops from the Einsatsgruppe Omega. And for that, I need your approval."

"But, the E.O is a secret. You know that. Except the men and women serving there, there's only a handful of people who knows about them. They are supposed to be used only if our own country is threatened by enemies." the minister said with a slighly higher voice
"Yes Herr minister, but. If we bring home the soldiers who is currently stationed in Bahbland, it'll be a propaganda victory against the protestors. And if we send the E.O there, they should be able to take care of the Oompans faster. And, I also suggest that we keep von Zoyton in charge of the troops."

"But. You know he was tranfered and degraded from E.O to the Bergsjägers after the... uhm.. you know... incident"
"That happened eight years ago, Herr Minister. And none of the soldiers in the E.O formations that we send will have served under von Zoyton previously."
"Hm, ok. For the sake of keeping the peace in our country, I'll approve the use of E.O. I'll sign the paper this afternoon. Auf Wiedersehen"
The minister walked out of the office, and the field marshall called his secretary on the intercom.

"Please, will you phone up the high commander of the Bahblandic troops. Say it is of outmost importance."

Five minutes later, the intercom buzzed again.
"The Bahblandic commander is on the phone Herr Field marshall. But he doesn't sound too happy."
I know that, he was probably asleep, or at some party. It's almost friday midnight over there, he thought
"Thank you Elsa" he said
He lifted the phone.
"Guten tag Herr commander. I'm sorry if i distrubed you, but i needed to talk to you. We have some domestic troubles here at home. So, we need to bring home our troops, but don't worry. We will replace them with equally many troops. But, I want you to halt the offensive for four days, so we can send them over, and to bring back our troops that are there. And we will of course not bring back our troops there, before the replacements have arrived. can this be done you think?"