NationStates Jolt Archive

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Kiev, Odessa [Cnian Province]

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(Odessan Rebels to the West, First Brigade to the East)

It had been six days since Lance Corporal Rock James had been transfered into Kiev, Odessa, the boiling pot of the ex-Soviet fanatics and their children. Hate for the Cnian stabilization, that's what they had been taught by their fathers, hate for the order that was forced onto them, lest self-consumption occur, a slow process not fit for the hardy people of this region. The first pipe bombings started at the beginning of the month, the ambushes had started two weeks ago, and the first full scale assault was yesterday. It was getting riskier, but James had signed up for this unit and he was going to be doing his best to serve.

The First Cnian Partisan Brigade was an all-volunteer militia made for the specific defense of the Odessa province, but it's training was that of defense and to hold out until the rest of the Cnian military could reinforce the position. Save for the sixteen hundred men en the 177th Cnian-Odessa Rifle Regiment, but even these were stuck en an on-going border war with the native Cossacks near Uzhhorod. The First consisted of some fifty thousand troops, with additional armored technicals and transport vehicles, except for those the unit was completely on foot, and their anti-armored capability was limited to their AT mines which was issued to each soldier.

The new AK-113s proved to be an asset en the cramped fighting of Kiev, James himself saw the suppressing fire of the weapon, along with the addition of the 40mm Launcher, which was equipped to every soldier en the unit. A perfect example of this weapon's use en the city fighting was just yesterday for James, where an attack of some hundred strong rebels attack his small squad, which had already lost three of its original twelve men, and with a solid volley of lead, followed by a pounding from the launchers, and another lead volley, the attackers turned and ran, their cover being obliterated.

Now Corporal James was leading his fire team en front of the rest of the unit, his fire team commander had been wounded the second day of their arrival and he had been commanding them ever since. The men were three abreast, moving at a walking pace, the inhabitants of the city had vanished, but Kiev was unlike most cities en the rebellion, it was a full war zone, with a line dividing the rebels and the First Brigade, James was leading the assault on the Eastern section, behind him was the 4th Regiment, almost twelve hundred men strong at this point en the fighting.

1st Cnian Partisan Brigade

1st Regiment [Kiev]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



2nd Regiment [Kiev]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


3rd Regiment [L'viv]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



4th Regiment [Kiev]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


5th Regiment [Kiev]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



6th Regiment [Luts'k]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


7th Regiment [Chernivtsi]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


8th Regiment [Zhytomyr]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


9th Regiment [Chernihiv]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


10th Regiment [Kirovohrad]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


11th Regiment [Chornobyl']
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



12th Regiment [Kharkiv]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



13th Regiment [Luhans'k]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


14th Regiment [Donets'k]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



15th Regiment [Kryvyy Rih]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



16th Regiment [Mikolayiv]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


17th Regiment [Kherson]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



18th Regiment [Odesa]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



19th Regiment [Illichivs'k]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



20th Regiment [Izamyil]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



21st Regiment [Reni]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



22nd Regiment [Sevastopol]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


23rd Regiment [Sevastopol]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



24th Regiment [Simferopol']
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



25th Regiment [Kerch]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



26th Regiment [Yalta]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



27th Regiment [Berdyans'k]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



28th Regiment [Mariupol]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



29th Regiment [Dnipropetrovs'k]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



30th Regiment [Sevastopol]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



31st Regiment [Sevastopol]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)


32nd Regiment [Chornobyl']
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



33rd Regiment [Mikolayiv]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



34th Regiment [Simferopol']
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



35th Regiment [Odesa]
1,400 Troops
30 Armored Transport Buses
90 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)



36th Regiment [Kherson]
1,000 Troops
20 Armored Transport Buses
64 Armored Technicals (.50 Cal)

Lance Corporal James took his ten thousandth forty-sixth step, and the first rebel opened fire on his position, the first sign was the explosion of the ground around them, his two men fell to the ground, both hit with multiple rounds to the chest, James dipped to the left of the street. He made it all the way across and without even looking out into the street he could see the signature purple tracers of the First Brigade. There was a technical near the front, which was probably laying down a sufficient amount of fire to keep the return fire low, which judging by the amount of enemy tracers, was working.

Several minutes pass and James leans out the side of the building, his gun aimed towards the unseen enemy, but as the position of the rebels is slowly realized to him four men run up behind him, scaring him into pointing the gun at them. They exchange the Cnian curses and eventually James is calmed down and his moves with the people further down the road, him and the four people were attached to the leading platoon.

The first rebel stronghold was a two story building that was right at the end of the road, which split to the left and the right, after a small deliberation the platoon continued down to the right, clearing each building. There was a random gun fire, but nothing to sustained. Two dead, along with four wounded from the first contact, adding another two wounded from sweeping the buildings.

Eventually they went far enough down the street to reach their goal, a suspected rebel regimental head quarter. It was an abandoned apartment complex, which was surrounded by two hundred meters of open grass. The expected garrison was to be atleast seven hundred rebels, with additional reinforcements being able to strike at the flanks while engaging the building. However it was a very important center and the 4th Regiment formed up, ready for the charge against the building.

James' entire platoon was en the front of the Fourth regiment and for that reason nearly the whole unit had been decimated. The result of this was the transference into a green platoon en the back of the Fourth regiment's column, which was being moved to the second wave of the assault against the apartment complex. Along with the transfer was a field promotion to Senior Sergeant, giving him command of an entire squad of green troops, this came with a cash bonus also, which James expected to spend on prostitutes, bud and drinks.

Senior Sergeant James looked out into the field, the first wave had already been launched and except for three technicals they had no support. Unlike the first unlucky company, James' wave had the advantage of mortar cover, (they were being set-up at the time of the first wave, a delayed convoy of ammunition kept them from opening fire for the first wave) sixteen technicals and the charge of an entire battalion, some seven hundred men. The men of the first wave made it a good hundred meters before a massive salvo opened up on them, leveling atleast half en the first minute. The rebel tactic was simple genius. They allowed the enemy unit to get close enough to increase their accuracy and it gave the attacking group no chance of survival. The entire first wave was gone, even their retreat couldn't save any of them. Now the battlefield was silent save the few bullets the rebels fired to execute the wounded.

Now Sergeant James looked around at his squad, it was a sad sight, the only uniform given to any en the First Brigade was a purple Kevlar jacket, other then that the men wore regular clothing. His men were young, none of them looked older than seventeen, even his sergeants looked young. The only thing to fear was from his men was their rifles, and while they could inflict a severe amount of damage, en the hands of these young men it looked as if it wouldn't, but James prayed he was wrong about that.

Senior Sergeant James marched behind a slow moving technical along with his squad. The advancement had begun a minute ago, the 8th Battalion had made their way about ninety meters, and ever single man in the unit was aiming at individual windows, there were some holes en the building, but due to the roughness of the Odessa Province en the history of its existence these were thought to be from years ago. At exactly a hundred meters the 8th Battalion stopped, the technical in front of James' squad turned to its left and halted. James quickly ordered his men to use the technical as cover. At this point the dead bodies of the first wave were around them.

Sergeant James looked to his left, to examine one of the dead bodies, the poor bastard couldn't have been over eighteen. Then he looked back at the complex, and explosion erupted all around it, all from the 80mm mortar support. Then he saw a couple flashes erupt from some of the holes en the complex, but due to the noise from the mortar support he thought nothing of them, until a shell from a recoilless rifle camouflaged en one of those holes exploded six meters away from him, then it was time for revenge.

James ordered his squad to return fire with the 40mm slugs. They followed the order and soon sixteen 40mm HE shells hit the walls, these did unnoticeable damage, except dislodging a few bricks. The 50 cal. attached to the technical was being used at full force, an ejected shell even hit one of James' men en the head. He looked around surveying the field, four technicals had already been downed, and atleast forty men were hit. However, this was nothing compared to the last wave, and James looked down his sights and opened fire at one window where he saw a small muzzle flash. The wall around the target spewed brick fragments all about. The whole battalion did the same thing to random holes, causing about sixty casualties on the rebel side, but the dead and wounded on the First's side of the battle was nearing a hundred, and would soon top that.

Bullets whizzed past James' head, some hit the ground around him spitting up dirt and the most notable ones scratched the metal of the technical he was hiding behind. The recoilless rifles were negating the effectiveness of the technicals as cover, and he soon made his way to the side of the technical with the driver. He hopped en the shotgun position and ordered his men to rack-up on the vehicle, then told the driver to charge straight at the complex, en less kind words of course. The technical made a very quick turn into facing the complex, and seconds later a round landed right were the vehicle was positioned before.

Now James heard his men, the rebels and the mortar support, which had stopped as other squad had adopted the tactic. The vehicle made a rough stop landing right next to the base wall of the complex. James ordered his men to get out, and told the driver to go and shuttle more troops to his position. He then looked back at the field, pot holes marked the ground, bodies did as well, and even more of both were being added to the battlefield, but the number of troops became scarcer, atleast on the part of the battlefield that was a hundred meters out. Already over a hundred men were surrounding the complex, due to the technical's shuttling of troops, and only about four hundred more men were left on the field, which left about two hundred dead or rounded. However the technicals were now becoming a target of increasing small arms fire, dead gunners and popped tires were on nearly all of the surviving seven technicals, but the brave crew continued bringing troops around the complex.

It had been a full thirty minutes since the first shots had been fired on the second wave. Some four hundred troops had made it around the building due to the shuttling, the remainder were stuck out en the killing fields, since all of the technicals had been wiped out, in fact every gunner and driver of the second wave's technical was dead or too wounded to do their job at this point en the fighting.

Now the rebels were pushing molotovs above James' position, one fell a few feet en front of James and another landed atop one of his squad's men, and he slowly burned to death with a scream. He ordered his men to quickly breach the door as all the other commanders were beat into stupefaction by the horrible deaths of their underlings. Fireteam B made the first breach, their leader Lance Corporal Jennington went en first and quickly opened fire as the barricaded rebels saw him open the door. Fireteam B quickly jumped to each side of the door, escaping death, but molotovs dropped all around them, two were minorly burned and continued fighting and another got a direct hit, screaming en pain their ignorantly walked en front of the door, where he was silenced by a salvo of lead.

James pushed past the rest of his men and put his index finger on the 40mm launcher. He ordered Fireteams B and C to get behind him following his finger's position. James, along with Fireteams B and C charged into the entrance, where they were able to fire off their HE rounds, killing many of the downstairs defenders, plus kicking up enough smoke to disquise his group, he pulled another soldier forward threw the smoke where he fired randomly and whenever he heard what sounded like a rebel. He stopped as he got half way up the stairs and told his troops to call everyone inside.

In another three minutes about a hundred troops were en the single lobby. James ordered Fireteam A to go first, followed by his fireteam (D), then C and last A. They would be shadowed by another company, and that company by a another company as they would grenade each door and push their way threw the headquarters until the rebels gave up. The firing outside grew louder and louder as, unknown to the 8th Battalion, the rest of the third wave that was about to launch en support of the second wave had been bogged down by a large rebel counter attack.

Forty minutes passed since the 8th Battalion had breached the outer defenses. The brutal close-combat fighting had wasted everyone en James' squad's ammunition, now they were reduced to using pistols and en a recent engagement even knives. His squad had lost four men, and another two had been wounded and were carried to the back. Now James had his man behind him as he broke down the next door where a man threw a molotov at him, James jumped out of the way en time, but the man behind him was hit and ended en a cage of flames. James quickly leveled his sights on the man's center mass and unloaded with three or four extra rounds.

James walked over to the rebel, he was fifteen with just another rock equipped to him. Looked as if the rebels were just as long on ammunition as his men were. James picked up the rock and continued charging door by door, shooting the enemy at first, but later using a rock. The rebel's attention was split as they were laying down supporting fire for the counter-attack by their comrades, but the men at the lower level soon lost most of their ammunition quickly and this is what made the fighting so intense.

Twenty-five more minutes into the fighting James was the last man fighting en his squad. Now he had an AK-47 with an attached bayonet, taking command of another squad that had lost their commanding NCO. He continued to lead the charge until he was met with a checkpoint at about the ninth floor, where the rebels had recently put the few remaining guns with rounds their as a blocking maneuver. James yelled for them to find a molotov, which they quickly did and ordered a full fledged charge, with him en the back, allowing him to place the molotov on top of the two rebel's heads. However he lost four men en his squad with another one wounded. Both sides were nearly broken at this point.