Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5) (26 page)

Brigadier General Lane returned to his own Command Post, called his staff in and prepared the battle plan.  They had already been probing the lines to their west and had a very good idea where the weaknesses were.  The operation would involve all of his combat Marines, and would kick off at 0230 the following morning.  For the next twelve hours they planned and briefed the commanders. Once the commanders had been briefed, they returned to their men and women and briefed them. 

              This went on for the rest of the night. The following morning and throughout the day the Marines ate and slept.  After that, their NCOs ran thought final preparations with everyone down to the last man and woman in their Platoons and Squads.  They were prepared as they could be. Final briefings and status were collected at 0100 and everyone was moved to their respective jumping off points.  It was going to be a long day for everyone involved. 

              At 0230 the Marine artillery batteries began firing round after round into specific points along the line.  The point of the artillery was to keep the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac heads down on either flank. This would allow the main thrust to focus on driving a wedge right down the middle and open up a hole.  Ten minutes after the artillery barrage started, Marine machine guns opened up on the soldiers throughout the line of the main attack.  The soldiers, not to be outdone, returned machine gun fire accurately actually surprising the Marines, who were a bit overconfident. 

              The Marines began to move slowly taking ground a few feet at a time. By 0400 they hadn’t moved more than two hundred feet and both sides were taking casualties.  It was becoming evident that it was going to be a slugfest.  The Marines were great at small unit tactics, but what they were unaware that right in front of them was a National Guard Ranger Company.  They were giving as well as they got. The Rangers were outgunned four-to-one and had placed various minefields in front of their positions, which the Marines didn’t know about. 

              By 0430 the attack by the Marines had stalled. This wasn’t good. If the Marines couldn’t break through the entire plan would fail.  General Lane and his staff quickly analyzed the situation, calling for a shift in artillery strikes to the center. They would send two companies in a feint to the east, where the artillery had softened up the line.  The artillery would continue in the area until the two companies had moved and were ready to advance.

              By 0530, they were prepared to execute the second plan. The two companies were well hidden in the woods. Once the artillery stopped, they would charge the line as quickly as they could, trying to overcome the soldiers with speed and aggressiveness.  The Marines received word via radio that the artillery would halve in five minutes, and they were ready to go. The clock ticked by slowly, tick-tock. On the radio the RTO was listening to the countdown, he repeated it at a whisper to his CO.  Once the countdown reached thirty seconds, the NCOs quickly spread the word, ‘get ready’ then it was silent.

              “Go, go, go!” was heard throughout the Marines. The Marines came out of hiding charging the soldiers who were still huddled in their foxholes from the shelling.  The Marines had two hundred yards to cover, but it might has well been two miles to them.  They ran in silence, which was unusual for them.  The soldiers started to pop their heads out of their foxholes, the LPOP was overrun before they knew it, and all occupants were killed.  The soldiers started to fire into the Marines.  It was going to be an expensive day for the Marines.

              The Marines were on-top of the soldiers’ positions before they knew it. There was a lot of hand-to-hand combat, and there were an equal number of losses.  However, a small breech had been created. A Platoon of Marines was able to break through and return fire from the rear, causing a great deal of chaos because the soldiers didn’t know who was firing at whom and in some cases the Marines didn’t either.  Then it came, a white flag was seen, waving back and forth, coming from the soldiers in front, from within the Marine lines. 
Cease fire, cease fire
was heard throughout the area, as the man carrying the white flag came closer and closer. 

              Brigadier General John Clayton was carrying a huge white flag on what looked to be a pool to set up camouflage nets.  He waved it back and forth through the Marines and into the center of the Soldiers.

              “This is so fucking stupid!” General Clayton yelled. “We are killing our own brothers and sisters, and for what? Can any of you tell me for what?”  The General looked around. “Soldiers of the Army of the Potomac look around you.  These Marines came from Camp Pendleton, California. They were on Navy troop transports, escorted by the USS Hornet an aircraft carrier and the
USS Iowa
a battleship.  General Clayton paused for a moment to let that sink in.  “The entire 82d Airborne Division is between Baltimore and Washington DC‘ the 184
th
Infantry Regiment an Airborne outfit from California is fighting alongside the 28
th
Infantry Division, and the 11
th
ACR out of Fort Irwin has been running raids in your rear echelon areas.  There is no way you can win.  There are two more Marine Battalions waiting back there itching to get into the fight here, so you can’t win.”  General Clayton was looking from soldier to soldier.

              The soldiers’ First Sergeant walked up to General Clayton, and the General noticed that he had on a Special Forces combat patch on, for either the 5
th
or 7
th
Group. Then the General recognized the man, “Well I’ll be damned,” General Clayton said. “How the hell are you Sergeant Diaz? It’s been a long time, what ten years?”

              “First Sergeant Diaz,” he responded smiling. “Yeah it’s been ten years, sir, it’s been a while.  It’s good to see you too.”

              The First Sergeant looked around him, signaling for his soldiers to lower their weapons. “What’s going on John?”  First Sergeant Diaz asked.  “But, I gotta tell you that was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen an officer do, then I saw you, and I was right!”  The First Sergeant laughed.

              “Funny, ha ha…”General Clayton smiled. “What I want is for this fucking nightmare to end; it should have never started to begin with.”

              “Alright, alright John let’s think smaller. What do you want of us?”  First Sergeant Diaz pointing around his soldiers.

              “I want you all to pack up and go home, enjoy your lives, things, I promise, are going to get better.”

              The First Sergeant looked down, while shuffling his left foot back and forth. “That’s it? You expect us to lay down our weapons and go home?”

              “No, keep your weapons and go home.”

              “How do you know we won’t turn them back on the country again?”

              “I don’t, I really don’t… all I can tell you is that things will get better. I know they will, and they have already.”  The soldiers and Marines around General Clayton and the First Sergeant were listening intently.  “Ask any of the Marines what life is back in California, and they’ll tell you.  It’s a lot different than it is here. We’re going to get it fixed. By the way where’s your CO?”

              First Sergeant Diaz looked up quickly, staring at the General. “He’s dead. He was out taking a piss and was killed in the first artillery salvo yesterday.”

              “I’m sorry to hear that,” General Clayton was very apologetic. 

              “Don’t be he was an asshole; no one liked him.”

              General Clayton raised his eyebrows at the remark. It wasn’t unusual that soldiers hated their commanders and occasionally fragged them or wanted them dead.  “Look Diaz I’m doing my best to save some lives today, I think this entire thing is pointless.  This is not how we change government by overthrowing the one we have.  All of us are better than this.”

              “Yeah, I don’t disagree. I’ve been having second thoughts about this entire operation for some time now.”

              “Why are you even here than?”

              “I’m a soldier and I follow orders.”

              “Bullshit! I’ve known you for how many years? And you always question orders!”

              First Sergeant Diaz leaned over to General Clayton. “Tell me that you’ve changed your mind that we have to lay down our arms.”

              General Clayton gave the First Sergeant a puzzled look. “First Sergeant Diaz, I don’t have to justify anything to you. You and the people under your command are being given the opportunity to live or die, your choice.  I’m now concerned with the progress and questioning by you. I’m going to have to ask you to order your soldiers to lay down their arms.”

              “If we don’t?”

              “We’ll kill you and push through anyway.”

              The Marines immediately lifted their weapons, pointing them at the soldiers, while only a few of the soldiers reacted by lifting their weapons and pointing them at the Marines, but most of the soldiers left them pointing down.  First Sergeant Diaz stared at General Clayton with a blank expression. It was hard for the General to read what the First Sergeant was going to do. “Drop your weapons,” First Sergeant Diaz ordered.

              Most of the Soldiers immediately complied. There were five that still had their weapons trained on the Marines.  First Sergeant Diaz turned to face the five men, “I said drop your weapons!” the First Sergeant angrily ordered. 

              The five men turned and looked at the First Sergeant angrily, which prompted the First Sergeant to pull his pistol and point it at them, “Drop your weapons.”

              The Marines now had all of their weapons trained on the five men, plus their own First Sergeant, as one by one each man angrily threw down their weapons.  With that the First Sergeant holstered his pistol. First Sergeant Diaz ordered everyone to form up in the clearing, and once there they were broken down into groups and searched for further weapons.  First Sergeant turned the formation. Under Marine escort they headed back toward General Lane’s Command Post, where they would be processed and sent to Andrews Air Force Base’s POW camp.

First Sergeant Diaz stood fast and didn’t accompany his soldiers. He turned to the nearest Marine and asked where General Clayton was.  The Marine he asked was unsure whether he should answer or not, but he noticed that the NCO and General were friendly and knew each other.  He told the First Sergeant that the General had returned to his Humvee the last he saw him and he was on his radio.  “He’s on his radio?” The First Sergeant asked.

              The Marine thought the question a little odd. “Yes First Sergeant, every unit has radios. You don’t?”

              “No, no Corporal we don’t.  Which way to his Humvee?”

              The Marine Corporal directed the First Sergeant to General Clayton.  On his way over he picked up his pistol and M-4, which a few of the Marines spotted, but didn’t stop him.  After a little hike the First Sergeant spotted General Clayton speaking into a radio handset.  General Clayton was giving Major General Boney and update and a suggestion for a new plan, which General Boney was all for.  The First Sergeant walked up to the General and waited until he was off the radio.

              “Are you really concerned about the loss of life or is this a career thing?” First Sergeant Diaz asked.

              “I want this entire thing to go away. I would much rather be home, back in Hayward with my kids.”

              First Sergeant Diaz thought for a moment, “How’s Mel?”

              Brigadier General John Clayton looked at his old friend, “She died from cancer about six months ago,” the General said matter-of-factly.

              “I’m sorry John. I didn’t know.” First Sergeant Diaz was caught off guard by the response and was sincere in his apology.

              “Yeah…I know….”General Clayton responded softly.

              The pain was still evident in John’s face and the First Sergeant could clearly see it.  Out of all of the couples he had met in his Army career, he always felt that John and Mel would make it the long hall. 

              “Look Diaz if I knew a way of getting every single man and woman to lay down their arms I would gladly take it.  I’m open to suggestions.”

              “I’m assuming you’re going to push everything through here?”

              General Clayton thought about how much he should tell the First Sergeant.  Minutes ago, he was on the other side.  “That’s the current plan for now,” General Clayton decided to take the gamble.

              “Let me come with you. I know the commanders. These are rear echelon Soldiers, and you’ll cut them to pieces.  I think that I can convince them to surrender without a fight.”

              “Let me think on it.  It’ll be about an hour before 11
th
ACR gets here, then we’re moving out.”

              “I promise you if you lead with the armor, which they have no way to counter that I’m aware of, I can get them to surrender.”

              General Clayton looked at the First Sergeant, “Alright we move out in sixty minutes, so be here.”

              “Roger that, I’ll be here.  Any place I can get some chow?”

              “Mess tents over there. Go ahead and grab a bite to eat and get back here.”

              First Sergeant Diaz hurried over to the Mess tent. Once inside he saw they had hot chow, and thought what the hell? That was when he was one hundred percent sure the Army of the Potomac was going to lose.  It had been weeks since he had a real meal, even though most of what he saw was t-rats, still better than MREs.  He filled up his plate twice, wolfed down his food and hurried back to where he left General Clayton.  There was no doubt in his mind that the General would leave him if he wasn’t there, so as he hustled back, he saw the M1A1s and Bradley’s pulling into the AO. He never thought he would see those types of vehicles again, and to think they were brought out from California.  Along with the 11
th
ACR vehicle, came the Marines’ LAV’s and AAV’s, First Sergeant Diaz prayed he would be able to stop the upcoming onslaught. It would be a massacre if he couldn’t.

              The lead vehicles in the column that would push through were the Abrams and Bradley’s, followed by General Clayton and First Sergeant Diaz in their Humvee.  The Abrams and Bradley’s would only fire when fired upon, giving General Clayton and First Sergeant Diaz the opportunity to speak with the commanders.  Like before, General Clayton would approach with a white flag, this time accompanied by First Sergeant Diaz. Hopefully someone they recognized would respond and wouldn’t shoot. 

              The vehicles passed through unopposed. The nearest unit was four miles way according to intelligence.  It didn’t take long to reach them, as they moved unopposed by the units LPOP. IN fact the two men manning it surrendered immediately to the tanks.  The armored vehicles held up outside of the main camp, General Clayton with First Sergeant Diaz in their Humvee hung out a huge white flag high over the vehicle.  As they got closer, they could see the GIs staring at them as they entered the AO, and a Major stepped out in front of them and raised his hand to halt them. 

              Both the General and First Sergeant thought this was a good sign. No one was shooting at them, and hence they were still alive.

              “Here to surrender?” The surly Major asked.

              “Major Horace, it’s me, First Sergeant Diaz from Alpha.”

              “Oh yeah, what’s going on First Sergeant?”

              “We’d like to speak to your CO if we can!”

              The Major looked at the two men, one of them being a General Officer with more qualification badges on his uniform than anyone he’d ever seen before.  “Alright, get out and follow me,” the Major grumpily responded.

              The two officers exited their Humvee and quickly fell in behind the Major. They walked headed toward a group of tents set further back in the tree-line.  There were two M114s almost entirely covered with tents and totally covered by camouflage nets.  They entered the far side of that tent, which turned out to be the Battalion CP.  Major Horace asked them to halt at the entrance, while ignoring the fact that he had a General Officer with him. Even a General Officer as a Prisoner of War is supposed to be treated accordingly to his rank.  The Major moved through the CP and into one of the M114s. 

              A few moments later a big bull of a man came tumbling out of the M114 followed by the Major.  It was the Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ashford, easily six feet four inches tall and weighing close to two hundred seventy five pounds.  He took long, broad steps, and came to a halt right in front of General Clayton and the First Sergeant. He stood feet apart with his hands on his hips, “Y’all here to surrender I’ve been told?” Lt Colonel Ashford said with a deep southern drawl. 

              “You will address me as General or Sir! Is that clear?” General Clayton barked at the Colonel. This startled everyone in the CP and they stared.

              Lt Colonel Ashford wasn’t accustomed to being talked to like that. “Excuse me? I don’t think we have had the pleasure of meeting,” the burley Lt Colonel said.

              “I’m Brigadier General John Clayton, United States Army, and we aren’t here to surrender.”

              “John,” First Sergeant Diaz said cautiously, as a warning to his friend.

              “Is that so? Are you expecting us to surrender?”

              “I want you to listen closely for a moment,” General Clayton said.

              There was silence in the CP, and then they all heard it, a sort of buzzing, roaring sound coming from above them. Everyone in the CP knew what it was, but thought it couldn’t be.  They exited the CP and looked up through the trees to see dozens of fighter aircraft flying over them, with US Navy stenciled on the side of them.  “Next pass they will level this area, along with the tanks sitting outside your perimeter that will begin firing into your AO.  Once they’re done, nine hundred Marines and another thousand paratroopers will descend on what’s left of your command,” General Clayton said to the Colonel.

              Lt Colonel Ashford looked at the First Sergeant, “I know you don’t I?”

              “Yes sir, I was in Alpha Company; we were overrun a few hours ago.  I’m here in an attempt to save some lives.”

              “So you’re a traitor then?” Lt Colonel Ashford said.

              “No sir, I’ve seen the firepower they have. We aren’t fighting Washington, we’re fighting the United States Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Army, all of them very much alive.  Those Abrams and Bradley’s are from the 11
th
ACR out of Fort Irwin, California.  They were airlifted here; those fighters circling overhead are from the
USS Hornet
, the aircraft carrier, sitting off the coast, also from California.  The Marines sitting out there right now and another fifteen hundred to the east are from Camp Pendleton in California.  The entire 82
nd
Airborne is in between Baltimore and Washington, the 184
th
Infantry Regiment and Airborne unit out of California over three thousand strong. They’re right out that door too.  Then you still have the 3
rd
Infantry Regiment, which by the way General Magnus assured us was the only thing standing in our way. Throw the 28
th
Infantry Division on top of that for good measure, hell yeah I surrendered. I’ve got a family.”

              “On no.” Lt Colonel Ashford said almost silently.  “How, but how?” He asked.

              “I can’t get into it all now Colonel, but suffice it to say, they have moved further along than we have after the lights went out.  The question here and now Colonel is will you surrender?”

              Every man and woman in and around the CP that was hearing this conversation was listening intently.  “What happens to everyone if I surrender?”

              “Every soldier under your command will have to lay down their arms right now.  No exceptions,” General Clayton said. “If we can get past that, than they will be moved back to an assembly area, processed and most of them will be released.  We’re working on getting them a ride home.  We have trains that might be able to help, but rail lines would have to be cleared.  There is a good chance that Senior Officers will be court martialed, but we haven’t crossed that bridge yet.  As far as I know, according from the First Sergeant here, none of the rear echelon units have been involved in the fighting or killing of any soldiers.  I can’t see them prosecuting you, federally, for that; it would be up to your state.”

              “How long do I have to think it over?” Colonel Ashford asked.

              “About thirty seconds Colonel.  After that it’s on and God help you,” General Clayton replied.

              “You’ll be killed too!” an angry Colonel Ashford replied.

              “Maybe, maybe not. But, I can tell you I won’t have the blood of these men and women on my hands,” General Clayton stoically stated to the Colonel.

              Colonel Ashford looked hard at General Clayton and then looked with disdain at First Sergeant Diaz, “Fine we’ll surrender.”  Colonel Ashford looked around his CP. “Put the word out to lay down their arms now.”  The officers and NCOs were more than happy to comply after hearing what they were up against.  “You drive a hard bargain,” Colonel Ashford said to General Clayton.

              “If you forget to call me Sir or General again, I’ll blow your fucking head off you fat bastard!”  Brigadier General Clayton told the Colonel.

              The General turned and left heading for the Humvee to radio back to Major General Boney that they had another surrender to call off the Navy for now.  He contacted the 11
th
ACR commander and ordered them to stand fast and keep an eye on the soldiers surrendering.  He then contacted General Lane and told him to send in his Marines.