NationStates Jolt Archive

Edinburg
Hidalgo Seat of Government

An ominous message slid across the desk of Governor Tyler Hornsby. The small independent nation of Hidalgo County was in some sort of termoil. What was happening was unclear. As news spread of a possible collapse of the governing body, Hornsby placed a call to Ambassador Childs.

Hornsby: "Ambassador, yes fine. Have you been following the potential crisis in Edinburg? Well sir I am not sure what is happening, but it is apparent they are without leadership. You do realize 90% of our fresh fruits and vegetables come from McAllen? The possible market interruptions would be expensive for our citizens. Well sir, you know I am not authorized to deploy the state guard without authorization from the DoD. To be honest I don't think this is a job for a force designed to aide with natural distaster's. Yes, I will keep you abreast of anything I find out."

Ambassador Childs called Defense Minister Wells to ask for assistance.

Ambassador Childs: "Minister, we have a situation in Hidalgo. The local governing body has apparently collapsed. Governor Hornsby has contacted me to ask for Hawdawg military assistance in stabilizing the situation. The economic ties the Texas Republic has with Hidalgo simply warrant a response. Yes, please inform the Prime Minister."

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Press Conference
Residence of the Prime Minister

As the lights came on Prime Minister Wales addressed the monitor in front of his large oak desk.

"Good Morning fellow Hawdawgians. As we woke this morning to a beautiful sunrise in Stockholm, all was not well in the world. It was brought to our attention Hidalgo County, a largely agricultural nation south of the Texas Republic has plunged into utter chaos. With the economic impact a potential market crash in Hidalgo we have decided to take steps to stabilize the situation. Elements of the 542nd Urban Combat Division are being moved to from San Antonio to the cities of Edinburg and McAllen to attempt to restore law and order to the region. We wish no harm to the inhabitants of Hidalgo County and will offer the same protection and autonomy the Texas Republic enjoys."----------------------------------

San Antonio, Texas
Camp Fannin
542nd Headquarters

As the order came down, the assembled group of Urban Combat specialists began the slow trek south to restore order in the rich farmland of south texas.

Oslo
"Så de tar Hidalgo?" [So they're taking Hidalgo?]

"Ja. Som vi vet var det jo en enklave som tilhørte Liebermonk før de sa takk og adjø, og som har meget sterke bånd til våre Hawdawgiske naboer." [Yes. As we know, it's an enclave which belonged to Liebermonk before they said good night, and which has very strong ties with our Hawdawgian neighbors.]

"Okay. Vi får vel spørre om de trenger hjelp da. Send beskjeden innen en time er du snill." [Okay then. I guess we'll ask if they need any help. Please have the message underway within an hour.]

"Javel minister." [Yes Minister.]

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Secret Transmission

"We've detected the civil unrest in Hidalgo Country and the Hawdawgian forces heading for Hidalgo. We are wondering if we could be of assistance, it be militarily, logistically, humanitarianly, medically or otherwise. Please don't hessitate to ask."

[signed]
John Alvheim
Minister of Defense
Royal Ministry of Defense
The Realm of Cotland

Secret Message to Cottish Government

Thank you for your offer for assistance, we have a group of Urban Combat Specialists in route to establish order. Apparently the former government has crumbled. If we need assistance we won't hesitate to ask.

Signed,

Josey Wales
Prime Minister
Holy Republic of Hawdawg

Somewhere between Corpus Christi and Edinburg


As the 542nd crossed over into the Rio Grande Valley north of Edinburg, some refugees were spotted heading north towards Corpus Christi. The fallout from the governmental collapse apparently made some folks simply leave to seek out a better life elsewhere. All along Highway 281 abandoned cars and personal belongings littered the ditches. Something was amiss in Hidalgo County for sure.

Just north of Edinburg the 542nd encountered a make-shift roadblock consisting of a burnt-out tractor-trailer rig. As the Engineer group attached to the unit moved forward to clear the road, all hell broke loose.

The armored D9 Caterpillar Bulldozer the engineers were using to clear the road was enveloped in a cloud of dust and debri.

"IED, IED. Hold position, check for secondaries." was the call heard across the radio in the tanks supporting the removal of the roadblock. From both sides of the road, spider holes erupted with two man teams as they flanked the column and began to pour javelin rounds into the sides of the lead vehicles.

The fatal flaw of hand held weapons was the exposure of yourself to targeting once you launched your weapons, and this proved fatal for these insurgents. Two IFV's rolled into the ditches on both sides of the column and promptly let loose with there 30mm chain guns. An eery calm settled over the location as the infantry swept the area to be sure the enemy had been dispatched. As the hulk of the Bulldozer sat in the road burning out of control the unit prepared for an onset of IED's and insurgents that surely would come in Edinburg.

Outskirts of Edinburg

As the 542nd crept towards the town many of the citizens could be seen making there way towards the border. It was clear some holdouts desperately wanted to remain in control of the region. Yearly the population of the county swelled with the gathering of fruits and vegetables in the fertile valley of the Rio Grande River. Through an extensive levy and dike irrigation system this region was able to produce an excessive amount of crops that would ultimately find there way north into Hawdawg Texas. As deverse as the population was, Edinburg and McAllen were the two focal points of resistance within the county. Holdouts of the failed government were attempting to cling to the false hope that they could establish a uniform government without outside help. Truth be told, the rampant corruption and abuse of power the local corrupt political machine possessed for many years had reduced the will of the people of Hidalgo County for some time.

It was determined by the 542nd that Edinburg would be the natural first target of control, followed by McAllen. Troop movements would be delicate, as evident north of town, some of the insurgents had access to formidable infantry weapons like the Javelin anti-armor missile. A few armored vehicles might be encountered, but the main danger still seemed to be the IED. Improvised Explosive Devices could be made from anything and with a region rich in farm supplies, bombs made from fertilizer and the like would be a hazard they would most certainly encounter.

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The Hawdawg Recon Vehicle approached the town with a large loudspeaker mounted on its roof. A simple message rang out from its core. "We wish the inhabitants of Edinburg no harm. We have come to free you from the oppressive government and to restore order to the town. All inhabitants please remain in doors. Anyone on the streets will be treated as an insurgent. Please remain in doors until we clear the area. Thank you." With a large portion of the populus being Hispanic, this message was also broadcast in Spanish to ensure everyone understood the message.

At the junction of the loop and Hwy. 281 the Kiowa Scout Helicopter noticed a group preparing a defensive position.

"UC-20 UC-20 this is Bird Dog. You have a camp ground on your 12, over."

"Roger that, thanks for the eyes Bird Dog."

The MBT's of the group moved forward to engage this position to open a gateway into the center of town.

Hwy. 281 & Loop
Edinburg

Along the CRBT Barrier, a group of militants positioned themselves for a flanking move on the MBT's coming down the road. The burning roadblock was a distraction that would hopefully draw attention long enough to ensure a few hits on the lead vehicles in the column. The group of twelve men were armed with a mix-mash of weapontry taken from the Libermonk Army Storage Facility south of town. M-4 Carbines, fragmentation grenades, and the lethal Javelin AT were held by these men. When the stores were raided some days ago the small stash of Javelin's was found in storage lockers labeled "food". Although limited in numbers, these weapons would be utilized by the resistance to slow the onslaught of the Hawdawg Forces.

As MBT T-129 crept towards the roadblock, two additional MBT's took up positions to cover its approach. When T-129 was within acceptable range, the fire command was given and two insurgents rose from behind the CRBT barrier and let loose a pair of Javelin's into the lower torso of T-129. Smoke began to bellow from the engine compartment. The Tank Commanders screams could be heard over the engine noise, as he tried in vain to get his driver to reverse tracks and back out of the area. The tank protecting the right flank of T-129 saw the insurgents pop up and let loose a round from her main gun into the CRBT Barrier, but the insurgents had shifted down the wall to avoid falling prey to the HE round. As T-129 began to burn, it was obivious she was dead in the water. Hatches poured open on T-129 as the crew began to crawl and roll off the top of the tank and onto the ground. As the crew rose to run towards the rear, an SMG opened up on them and cut them down. The tankers fell into a heap in the divided section of the highway not 50 yards from cover.

MBT T-135, covering the right flank took drastic action next. She rolled up and over the CRBT Barrier. This move suprised the unsuspecting insurgents, whom had counted on the MBT's staying in the main highway. As they began to flee the scene, T-135 began to pick them off with 7.62mm rounds fired from one of her coaxial guns. The two men carrying the javelin launchers were first to go down, followed by the next group which had seperated from them because of the lack of gear they were carrying.

If this was any indication to come, Hidalgo County would be very costly for Hawdawg Forces. A new tactic had to be developed.

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Hawdawg Command
North of Edinburg

General Thatcher sat in HQ, studying the recent reports of the losses incurred earlier in the day.

General Thatcher: "It says here we lost a bulldozer, and one MBT? How the hell did these crackheads get Javelin's?"

Intellegence Officer Wright: "Sir, it seems these AT systems were left behind by the Liebermonk Forces when they exited Edinburg. These insurgents found a large cache of weapons south of town in an abandoned Army Storage Facility. We do believe that the numbers of these weapons are limited in nature."

General Tatcher: "They better damn well be IO Wright. I've got one dead tank crew linked directly to them. Plus one of my engineer's families just got a unwelcomed visit by the base chaplain. From now on, no forward movement w/o gunship support. Bring up the Commanche's. Also draft a leaflet to drop on Edinburg and McAllen, anyone with information on the location of stolen Javelin AT systems will recieve 1000 Gondors payable in Gold. This should cause someone to turn the insurgents in."

IO Wright: "Yes sir, I am on it."

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As the Engineer's cleared the wreckage from the road and MBT-129 was returned to the rear for retrofit, Commanche Gunships hovered overhead providing the ever important aerial dominance of the situation. The column made it to the main square downtown without further incident, most of the inhabitants on the north side of town welcomed the Hawdawg Forces. As the house-clearing measures continued throughout the day, slowly the Northern sections were declared free of insurgents.

When night fell on the group, 9 Hawdawg Troops were KIA and some 13 were wounded, mostly thanks to the next generation body armor these troops wore with added lower torso and shoulder kevlar. The insurgents had lost an estimated 115 KIA and many more wounded. A small triage was established inside the old Liebermonk Library downtown, as medical personnel worked feveriously to save as many lives as possible.

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Dawn two days later

After several days of sporadic fighting the Hawdawg Forces finally could declare Edinburg free of any organized insurgent activity. They prepared for the march on McAllen and rested and resupplied there stores for three days. This allowed for Hawdawg Command to establish civil order in Edinburg. Most of the residents accepted this, and for the most part accepted the new transition into Hawdawg citizenship. The dissenters kept quiet, at least while the troops with automatic weapons were in town.

1 Week after Edinburg Fell..............


Things were beginning to return to some form of normalicy after the remaining insurgents melted away into Southern portions of the County. A local magistrate was established in a renovated Grocery Warehouse. The flow of Hidalgo residents into the office for naturalization was slow at first, but word spread of the enormous benefits of becoming a Hawdawg citizen. At the beginning of the four day of registration, some 4,000 people anxiously stood in line, hoping to receive some form of aid from the new government. A loudspeaker outside blarred a message in Spanish and English.

"Become a naturalized citizen of Hawdawg. Upon completing an application, you will recieve a voucher for free groceries, and membership to the newly established Hidalgo County Credit Union. A job awaits you here. Poverty befails those who don't sign up. Remember Hawdawg rewards its workers with prosperity. Own your own piece of the Hawdawg dream today, sign up for citizenship here!" (repeat)

At the end of the process men and women were assigned different tasks of cleaning up Edinburg. Large sums of money were being spent, but the people would soon have more than they were accustomed to, and a better life they so longed for.

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Makeshift FireBase Dog
1-click South of Edinburg
542nd Base Camp

With the taming of Edinburg, the 542nd recieved a much needed rest for the final push into McAllen. Word was the defenders of the old realm had planned on use house to house fighting to try and negate the Air Superiority established by the Commanche Gun-ships. This played into the hands of the Urban Combats Specialists of the 542nd. To become a member of this unit, a soldier had to endure a regiment of training similiar to the fabled Ranger Dragoon Academy. These troops had to pass a gaunlet of sustained combat operations in an Urban environment for 72 hours. This often stressed many of the candidates out of the program, but the few who could stay joined an elite group of men.

As they rolled south to McAllen a few IED's exploded along the roadside, but they caused minimal damage and simply slowed the convoy. Upon arrival at the outskirts of McAllen, a suprised RECON IFV returned this message.

"Insurgents have some sort of...........Incoming Rounds.........Mortars!! Pop smoke, hard right no left, left damn.........................(silence)"

The Kiowa Scout Helicopter reported to command the sad news.

"Red-6, Red-6, Halo-1 we have visual one IFV burning in the street, no survivors. Repeat, no survivors."

The loss of another support vehicle angered the commanders in the field as the once again adapted tactics to the enemy's actions. It was decided that McAllen would be divided into a grid pattern and summarily bombed. A simple warning was issued to the townsfolk.

"If you do not want to be shelled, leave McAllen at once. Head South of town, anyone moving North will be considered hostile and engaged. (repeat)"

Meanwhile, 3rd Bt. MBT's positioned themselves at a natural choke-point to the South of Town. All the inhabitants would have to pass across this bridge to exit the city. A perfect place to engage any insurgents trying to leave. Certainly all steps would be taken to spare as many innocent lives as possible, but the enemy had to be dealt with swift and firmly. Allowing them to melt away into the countryside would invite attack upon attack for years to come. The line was drawn and a stand was to be made.

1/2 Click North of McAllen

The three SPG Batallions of the 542nd moved towards a forward position to begin the shelling of McAllen. Some (54) M2001A1 Crusaders were in place to officially decimate any resistance offered by the remaining rebels. The (18) M270A1 MLRS Batallion moved alongside the SPG units to provide long distance engagment and fire support for the 3rd Armored Batallion south of town.

At 0600 hours the shelling began. This was designed to be a surgical strike. All buildings in town were not to be destroyed, but the major routes into and out of town would have the buildings within 200 yards leveled to eliminate the threat of ambush points. As the M2001A1's raised there guns to a firing position, shells fell onto the buildings like rain. Systematically a path was cleared down the two main arteries into town.

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Choke Point across the International Bridge
3rd Batallion Armored
1st Mechanized Infantry Batallion

General Thatcher wasn't taking any chances. With the huge amount of human traffic crossing the bridge he sent the 1st Mechanized Infantry to assist the 3rd Armored. A checkpoint was established and both ST-37K1 MBT's and IFV's covered the pedestrians crossing the bridge on foot. Wire had been strung to funnel the people into a narrow passage in which metal detectors taken from one of the old Embassies in Edinburg had been set up for everyone to be screened through. No one would be allowed around without screening. As a further precaution, IFV's were positioned far enough behind the wire blockage to be out of range of a hastly thrown grenade. Soldiers manned the .50 caliber guns on the IFV's wary of the exiting traffic. The screeners at the detectors wore the advanced land warrior combat suits to add an additional "shock" value to the civilians passing through the gates. An attack was expected, but the troops simply didn't know when it would come. They didn't have to wait long...............

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As the leaders of the insurgency approached the bridge they noticed the funnel and wire seperating the IFV's, MBT's and the metal detectors people were passing through. Time was of the essence as the shelling was moving closer to the bridge. It wouldn't take much to panic the crowd. This is what they wanted. The group of fifty insurgents sprinkled themselves throughout the crowd, some carried boxes that looked like personal belongings. Hidden inside were the precious remaining Javelin AT systems. They would have to get close but they could create a panic that might possibly allow them to destroy several tanks on the bridge. With a predetermined signal four seperate insurgents carefully placed themselves next to the wire and quickly opened the boxes to assemble the Javelins. They knew they would be spotted but the bet on the fact that maybe the Hawdawgian's wouldn't shoot into the crowd.
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Sgt. Childs was watching the crowd anxiously as they moved towards the exits. His station was the .50 caliber Browning atop IFV-245. As his eyes strained from the bright sun, he noticed something that caught his attention behind the wire. Four men had knelt down and were doing something. As he focused, it was clear what they were up to.

"Insurgents in the wire!" Sgt. Childs screamed.

Immediately he jacked a round into his Browning leveled off and squeezed the double trigger set. A quick burst tore through the four men, cutting two of them in half, and totally removing the head of a third. Panic struck the civilians. Many hit the deck, some dove off the bridge. On the opposite side of the bridge the insurgents had some luck. The Corporal atop the IFV guarding the approach wasn't as vigilant as Sgt. Childs. When the panic started the insurgents let loose a round into the IFV the corporal was in flipping it over almost instantly. As the Javelin crew reloaded, a second round was fired into the ST-73K1 MBT directly behind the IFV and it too was set on fire. Sgt. Childs saw the commotion opposite his position and pulled the pin loose on his .50, allowing him to rotate the gun onto the opposite side of the bridge. A quick double squeeze of his trigger and a his machine gun came alive sending round after round into the Javelin crews across the bridge.

When the gunfire errupted the insurgents had hoped to spread panic throughout the crowd. With this they succeeded, but the outcome didn't play to there advantage, when most of the civilians hit the deck or dove over the sides of the bridge into the river. This left all of the insurgents in a vertical position shooting at a dug-in position. They didn't have a chance. Fox, Dog, and Lima Squads from the 1st Mech. Batallion immediately deployed from there protective IFV's and swept the bridge. As they rushed forward six brave Hawdawgians where shot dead, the remaining troops killed every insurgent to the man. When the smoke cleared two vehicles and some 15 troops were dead along with 75 civilians, and 50 insurgents. With the firefight over, the troops cleared the rest of the civilians from the bridge and sent the "all clear" message to HQ. Anyone else in town was a bad guy for sure.

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Three Days later

The constant pounding of buildings and structures in McAllen had done what General Thatcher had requested. A clear path some 300 yards wide skirted the main streets of McAllen. All six of the Mechanized Infantry Batallions had begun the clearing of the remaining buildings in town. It appeared the Insurgents had all been pushed to a small 6 block area, with the River to there rear.


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Seven Days later

The noose was steadily tightened around the remaining holdouts. Noise was pumped into the area via large loudspeakers to disrupt the sleep patterns of the insurgents. One final push would overrun there position, but not until they were shelled sufficiently. General Thatcher made sure of this, being a former Artillery Commander, his use of M2001A1 Crusader SPG's was almost assured. Another three days of shelling commenced with a push of Dog Squad from 1st Mechanized Infantry into the sole standing structure on the block. As they methodically worked up each floor of the five story building, each floor was littered with bodies of the dead. As they reached the final floor, the fire-fight began.

Two grenades rolled down the stairwell amongst the squad. "Cover!" was shouted, but three members of the squad lost legs to these grenades and immediately bled out in the stairwell. The medic simply couldn't stop the loss of blood. This enraged the squad and a satchel charge was passed up the line to the point man, who lobbed the lit charge onto the top floor. The concussion was immense. Dog squad rushed the top floor and found several dead and many disoriented from the blast. They were all dispatched with a ruthlessness that would become legend. So died the last of the insurgents, crawling across the floor begging for mercy shot through eye with a .45ACP round.


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1 Month after the last battle

Things began to come calm down after the seizure of McAllen. The hardcore fanatics had all been killed or captured by the Hawdawg Forces. People had began to return to work and the ever important business of cultivating the land had begun in earnest. This did not come without a price as countless civilians lost there lives and over 150 Hawdawg Soldiers were lost to secure the region of Hidalgo County.