Liberators

The Battle of Sevenivov

Act Three: The Siege of Sonolovichyrevko

Chapter Eighteen: The Battle of Sevenivov

The Sevenivov Hills

2 kilometers north of Sevenivov, Rivymiyitevko

October 23, 2008 1530 Rivymiyitevko time (1130 Krakozhian time)

"Forty-eight hours have come and gone," muttered Lev Arigov, "and yet Konstantin Benin is still cocooned inside his concrete bunker underneath Sonolovichyrevko. They can't blame us for attacking them during a ceasefire, because that time has already come and gone. And if that Benin fellow decided to surrender now, he better not be angry if we shoot down his helicopter or sink his submarine and ask questions later."

Arigov was sitting inside the lead BTR-80 of the 117th Platoon of the 50th Motor Rifle Division, where he thought the leader should be. But his deputy, Maria Atolova, was with him inside the BTR, and Lev thought that any chain of command, whether corporate or military, should have its top figures dispersed as much as possible so that there wouldn't be any confusion if the head honcho died. Unfortunately for him, Captain Urov's orders said that his deputy was not Maria, but rather the commander of the 2600th Platoon of the 100th Motor Rifles, which had been merged with his platoon during the ceasefire.

The 2600th Platoon was composed of nineteen soldiers, three BMP-1 troop carriers, two Ural-4320 fuel trucks, a P-40 mobile radar unit, and a T-72 main battle tank. Lev didn't know what use he could have for a mobile radar unit, but the T-72 was a very welcome addition to his token force. In any case, it was his now, and he had every right to do what he wanted with it.

The road that the platoon was travelling on was an old dirt path that snaked around the hills before dropping into a small valley where it continued into the surrounding plain before finally merging with Highway Two before the ten-kilometer marker. For this part of the journey to Sevenivov, Arigov decided not to risk his single tank and he decided to dispatch it to the 69th Tank Army, but it was expected to rendezvous with the platoon in the valley. He did this knowing that he was risking his other vehicles, but the way he saw it, he thought he had no choice.

Arigov always had a conversation with his troops whenever they were about to enter a combat situation—it helped to ease the tension—and today was no different. Their topic right now was their lives after their compulsory tour of duty with the Armed Forces. "For me, I'm thinking of going back to the mainland and become a training officer or a drill instructor," he said, and the others clapped their hands and nodded their heads in approval. "How about you, Maria? What do you want to do after this mess is over?"

Atolova was silent for a few moments before she replied, "I can always go back to my father's bureau and design and build the next generation of battlefield weapons." At this, the troops let out a big whoop. Dmitri Atolov, Maria's father, was the founder and head of the Atolov Design Bureau and Machine Building Enterprise, more commonly known as ATMASH, the largest such group in Krakozhia. It was the country's chief supplier of locally made weapons, and its products could go toe to toe with the arms produced by the other former Communist nations, like Zastava in Yugoslavia and Izhmash in Russia. Arigov clapped his hands along with the rest of the squad, and then he turned to one of them and asked, "How about you, Semyon?"

"Uh, Lieutenant, I—" The soldier's reply was cut off by what sounded like rivets popping. Some of the younger soldiers ducked, but Arigov and Atolova knew that even machine gunfire couldn't penetrate the BTR's armor. But if the enemy had PTRS-41 antitank rifles, then that was a different matter altogether. The BTR's gunner replied with a burst from his own machine gun, and then it was answered by a low rumbling noise similar to thunder but much worse.