Decisions; Ch. 8

"Comrade, I hate to bring down morale, but this sucks!"
"You're telling me?!"
"Well yeah we just wait for them to rush us and mow them down...why not attack them?"
"It's called attrition. We're taking out their men so that when we go in there is no one to oppose us...it's long, boring, and it sucks!"
"Well...I got a letter from Katusha today!"
"You didn't open it did you?!"
It was considered bad luck to open a letter, especially from a loved one...they all heard what happened to Alexander that day he got in his tank and headed for Frankfurt.
"Uh yes...actually I did...why?"
"You fool!"

Just then a sharp whizzing sound filled the air followed by hundreds of similar sounds. The Chinese were using what was left of their artillery to flatten the Russian position, but it had no effect. Then the Chinese horde, expecting to find no resistance, charged the Russian position.
"For China!"
The Russian guns began firing and the machine guns, like lawn mowers, landscaped the mob.

"You idiot see what your letter has brought?!"
"Whatever let's just fight!"

All along the trench all the division commander could hear was the continuous chatter of the machine guns and the occasional burst of of about 10 Ak-47's at a time. He managed to block out the screaming coming from the direction of the Chinese. The artillery threw dirt around everywhere and accuracy became impossible.
"Comrades, switch to full auto!...and start lobbing grenades, their attack is heavier today!"
The Chinese, although massacred, were still coming and getting close.
"Comrades! Fix bayonets!"
He started wondering why they weren't trained in close combat enough. He pulled out his pistol for the close combat. He immediately emptied his clip killing five and yet they still came. He threw his empty pistol at the next unlucky soldier and quickly picked up his gun and managed to impale the next man over the trench. Without reinforcements the Chinese attack was eventually fended off, but not without losses.

"I told him that letter was his ruin..."
He gave his fallen comrade the letter and closed his limp hand around it. He knew he would have to write to his comrade's Katusha, but he didn't know what to write.
"I suppose he was brave...close combat isn't easy..."

"Good afternoon comrades...you fought well today and there's going to be another bombing tonight which will give us a break, so drink your vodka, write to your girls, or sleep...we will need it...if you need anything, I will be sipping some vodka, writing to my girl, and sleeping the rest of the night..."

Meanwhile back at the base Lt Col Daniel was walking around observing ground aircraft operations. Of course he came upon Ivan's Su-37.
"Hey Lieutenant Ivan!"
He jumped up and saluted to be proper.
"Colonel Wilson how may I help you!"
Daniel returned the salute.
"Enough bull crap, we need to talk!"
"Yes comrade, we do."
"You seem to have a disliking for me...can you explain why?"
"Uh...well...sir...uh...comrade...uh you see...I...well I have a question for you my American friend. Do you love that girl Tanya?"
"You have no idea how difficult yet easy a question that is..."
"What do you mean?"
"Straight up, the answer is, yeah I do for some unexplainable reason I do love that girl. With thought, the answer is, is it possible? Could she love me? Could our relationship survive?"
"She is not for you!"
"Wait what?"
"She is Alexander's!"
"Who the hell is Alexander?!"
"...He died near Frankfurt..."
"Oh...him...I guess I will stand away from her, but that won't change the whole love factor you know that right?"
"I don't care I just think it is too soon for her...what is that sound?!"

The base sirens sounded that a missile strike was fifteen minutes out.Everyone started scurrying around for their chem suits and heading for the bunkers. Ivan and the other pilots hurried to get into the air. Daniel found a bunker and saw a bunch of big green things running into, it was weird how a chem suit changed the appearance of someone. He got in the bunker and sat against the reinforced walls. Everyone was quiet and all that could be heard were the sirens. The Chinese chemical-tipped warhead hit the base and released its deadly payload. The personnel waited for about twenty minutes and cautiously exited the bunker. Once the all clear was given everyone removed their masks and there was Tanya right next to Daniel.

"Well it's nice to see that you're alive!"
"You are Colonel Daniel, yes?"
"Yeah we met in the...well we've met before..."
Suddenly there was a loud zip sound and a man fell to the ground. Two more fell until it was discovered that there was a sniper and everyone tried to find cover. Three more men went down before they found the sniper and had Ivan napalm his position. Everyone got up hoping that the worse was over for the day. It was apparent the Chinese were feeling the pain of attrition for they only had a very limited chemical weapons storage, they were getting desperate.

Europe was having more conventional problems. The flow of tanks against Russian positions was seemingly endless, but the divisions managed to hold. The decision was still being thought out at the top of when to attack. Now that trenches were dug it seemed it would be a while, if they decided to attack the US. Again they knew they wanted to, but timing and knowing the reaction was holding them back and they new China and France would soon get very desperate, perhaps even tempted to move their fingers over the nuclear launch buttons. The decision needed to be made and somehow it had to be in favor of attacking the US or their job would be in jeopardy....