Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises (19 page)

The mortars would be operating in their mobile fire bases from multiple positions to the north west of the town, guided by the mortar fire controllers (MFCs) allocated to high points, likely concealed on top of the granaries to give them over
-watch of the battlefield.

The air defense technicals would be similarly organized, but further forward and coordinated by fire controllers. The idea was that the technicals would remain
concealed and dispersed as much as possible, moving out from cover when there was a target to engage.

Given the wind direction, the fires would be set mainly out to the western edge of town to provide best thermal cover to the activity on the ground. Finally, Jack would locate his
Company headquarters central to the action in the buildings of the town center. He had a group of key players, including his communications guys and a mortar and machine-gun fire controller.

They had given some thought to the use of radios and it would certainly be a lot easier to coordinate
the battle with them. They had considered the possibility of the Regime using electronic warfare to jam the radios, but they concluded, based on their own deployed experience, that the Regime would more likely view their radios as a source of Intel and direction finding.

As
such, the Company would use the radios to coordinate fires and movement as necessary, minimizing as much as possible; employing veiled speech and codes rather than communicating in plain language.

It was knowledge of t
he technology available to the Regime that was behind the thermal screening smoke, because armored vehicles as well as aircraft were equipped with thermal imagers. The intent of the smoke was to degrade the advantage that this technology would have, and to mitigate Regime aerial FLIR surveillance.

A
lso mortar locating radar was a concern. In order to avoid counter-battery fire vectored in by such radar locating systems, it was essential that the mortar firing points were mobile. Having them split into three squads in three dump trucks allowed them to essentially conduct fire and movement, one truck moving while the others continued to engage targets.

Following the concept of the operation, Jack handed over to Jim to cover service support, which was the nitty
-gritty of logistics and administration. Following that, Jim handed over to Ned, a recent recruit and communications expert, to cover command and signal, which was basically the communications plan, codes, and location of the chain of command, including command succession in case of casualties.

After this detail, some of which was mind numbing to the less experienced members of the
Company, Jack stood back up.

“Ok, listen up everyone, put your notebooks down, and listen in to my summary of execution. This is going to be an urban defensive battle, dirty nasty dangerous stuff. We will be facing a full
battle group. It is imperative that you keep your mission in mind and keep nimble and light on your feet. There will be no ‘Alamos’ here. Do not stand and die. Hit, run, hit again. Ok, now we’ve had the detail of the plan, here it is in plain speech.”

Jack launched into a simple verbal summary of what he intended to happen, painting the picture of the coming battle. He looked them in the eye and threw his soul into it. When he was done, and had asked for any questions, he looked around at the team for feedback. Some were hard to read, but most looked inspired. He looked over at Jim, who nodded assuredly.

“Good job Boss,” said Jim as they walked back to the office afterward. “Now let’s get this show on the road.”

They were planning to move out for Harrisonburg the following night. It was important to get there as early as possible to prepare the area for defense, before the enemy arrived. It was a busy time, and although he could have headed back to Zulu to see Caitlin and the kids, he felt that it was not appropriate; all hands were to the grindstone getting the operation ready, and no-one else had the opportunity of home leave. Jack took Andrew for a walk around the training base.

             
“Dad, I want to come with you.”

             
Jack looked at him, “No way Andy, no chance.”

Andrew looked crestfallen.

“Look,” Jack continued, “it’s simply too dangerous this time. When you turn eighteen, I will try and get you out on some operations.”

             
“But Dad, I’m old enough, I’m sixteen!”

             
“Look Andy, what I need you to do for me is go back to Zulu tomorrow. I’m not going to get a chance to see Mom and the babies. Give them my love and keep them safe for me. Ok?”

             
“Ok.”

             
Jack put an arm around Andrews shoulders, gave him a squeeze, and then they walked on in the darkness, each in his silence.

The Company infiltrated in small vehicle packets by various routes into the north western outskirts of Harrisonburg. They consolidated into a forward operating base inside a large warehouse belonging to the dominant grain company in the area. It gave them a covered assembly area out of view of aerial observation.

Jim had some people marshaling and organizing the arriving vehicles, and placing the various fighting elements into administrative areas in different parts of the warehouse.

              Megan and her aid station arrived in a couple of discrete vans decked out as mobile ambulances, towing a couple of gators on trailers. The gators would be used for casualty evacuation back to the aid station, once the casualties could be pulled back from the fighting. Megan was a force of nature; she had taken and molded a team of medics, both for the aid station and field medics to deploy with the platoons.

Jim allocated her a permanent area because this warehouse would be the home for the aid station for the
duration of the battle, unless exigent circumstances forced relocation. Jack watched the interaction between Jim and Megan, it always made him grin. There was definitely a chemical reaction there, but neither of them would admit to it, and pride made them bristle towards each other. The sooner they admitted it and got on with it, Jack thought, the better.

Once they were consolidated in the warehouse they pushed out an OP screen for security and bedded down for a couple of hours sleep. They were up with the dawn and Jack gathered the leaders around him. They were going on a
recon into the town and it was going to be low key, for the benefit of any drones or spies that were in the area. It was civilian clothes, no rifles.

Leaving the warehouse under Jims command, Jack took his leadership team on a ground
recon.

He had a pretty good idea from the map of where he would establish his defensive sectors and phase lines, but it was
vital to get out on a confirmatory recon. There was no Regime presence in the town; they were waiting on the coming operation to establish one. The only recent activity appeared to be convoys running through on the I-81, and Jack had historically had IED teams targeting the stretch of road as it ran past the town.

They noticed that the town really seemed
deserted; it appeared that the warnings from Bill’s network had been heeded. They ran into a checkpoint run by a local militia unit that had stayed behind. It seemed more of an ad hoc citizen’s force, armed mainly with hunting rifles and the odd AR-15 and AK, than an organized militia.

They pulled up to the checkpoint
and Jack had to explain that they were a Resistance company operating in the valley and they had come to conduct operations in the town for a short period of time.

One of the local men went to get his leader. He came back with a grizzled looking character with a Vietnam Veteran ball cap on.

“Good morning sir, how are you?” said Jack.

“Well, who do we have here?” replied the man.

“Sir, we are a Resistance company, we’ve been conducting anti-Regime operations around here, based out of the hills west of here?

The man peered at him “You the fellas that shot down that Apache?”

“Yes, that’s us.”

“
Well hell yea! Let me shake your hand young man. Next time, just introduce yourselves right; you’re known round here as the Mountain Men.”

Jack grinned, “The
Mountain Men?”

“That’s right, you’re the ones been living up in the forests and
coming down to blow up those Regime convoys. And you brought down that Apache.”

“That’s us.”

“Ok, how can I help?”

Jack explained to him that he could help with a tour of the town. He also explained that it would be best if the
militia evacuated for the next few days, and apologized that it was likely the town was going to get chewed up some.

It turned out that the militia was
in fact an ad hoc force that had come together from the local community after the collapse. They had protected the town from the evacuating hordes as they poured south down the I-81, manning roadblocks to prevent them accessing the town. It was the same up and down the valley.

That night back in the warehouse Jack gave confirmatory orders, issuing the sectors and phase line information. The three maneuver platoons were to deploy that night and infiltrate on foot to the south east, occupying their initial lay-up positions in identified buildings.

The OPs for the mortar and air defense controllers would also deploy up onto the grain silos, to set up concealed positions under thermal ponchos. The mortar dump trucks and air defense technicals would wait in the warehouse until the time came to deploy them.

              Once in their lay up positions, the initial job of the maneuver platoons would be to create their routes and rat runs, preparing the buildings for a mobile defense falling back through successive positions. This was easier to do closer to the town center, when enemy options were easier to identify. Further out towards the I-81 it was a case of establishing OP positions that would identify enemy approach routes. Once the approach was identified, assets could be switched to it, establishing hasty ambushes in pre-identified locations.

             
As the platoons fell back, fighting by squads, towards the center of town, their defensive measures would be more thorough. The buildings were also more substantial towards the center of town. It was important for the squads to aim to move through and under buildings as much as possible, keeping out of view. Not only were the streets and open areas in an urban conflict kill zones, but there was the additional threat from aerial observation and attack.

The platoons were equipped with their usual squad level weapons as well as AT-4 anti-armor rockets and an assortment of IEDs. They had
victim operated EFPs that they could rapidly set up in advance of enemy movement, and also ones on command wires for observed command detonation. They also had an assortment of improvised claymores and pipe bomb devices, some of them set up as booby traps.

Jack had identified three likely access routes into the city center, each of them originating from the I-81. There was State Route 11, which would amount to an enemy right flanking thrust from the north east. The main direct route in was the 33 from the east, and from the south west was the 11 again, forming a left flanking option for the
Regime commander.

The fighters worked for three days to prepare the defense of the town. They created obstacles, laid booby traps, reconnoitered ambush sites, cleared routes back through build
ings and smashed ‘mouse-holes’ to crawl through. They located and identified successive firing positions to allow the squads to leapfrog back past each other while providing covering fire. They identified hide positions for their integral sharpshooters to fire from, creating a multitude of shoot options onto the likely approaches of the enemy.

They had train
ed all this over the winter, using the training farm complex buildings. They had worked both urban and rural offense and defense. Jack had been thorough, and they had undergone an intense period of training. The ‘mountain men’ were ready as they ever would be.

On the fifth day, dawn broke to the scene of the Regime armored battle group drawn up on the I-81 where it bisected the town. The OPs had picked them up the night before as they rumbled down from the north. They had laagered up on the interstate, established security, and readied for the morning assault.

They were a mix of armored vehicles, M1 Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs), Bradley armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) and even some MRAP and armored Humvees. The three fighting companies were based around the Abrams and the Bradley but there were also a multitude of ancillary and support elements, from an APC mounted mortar platoon to an EOD detachment in large wheeled armored personnel carriers (APCs), looking like they came straight from Iraq.

With the dawn, Jake had the fires lit. There was no sign of Regime aircraft yet, but there was the assumed presence of unseen drones overhead. With the drum and tire fires lit, and multiple buildings fired on the western edge of town, soon an acrid black smoke was drifting over the town, obscuring both thermal imaging and the naked eye.