The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

eport of shots being exchanged between Russian and American tanks in Berlin.
SACEUR says the radio message stopped – I mean, it was cut off, sir. Before
that, a U.S. Army captain reported that Soviet tanks were attacking the Berlin
Brigade at its base in southern Berlin, and that a tank battalion of ours was
just about wiped out, sir. They were attacked in their lager by Soviet forces
stationed just across from them. Those two things – the reports, I mean, were
almost simultaneous. The reported times were just two minutes apart, Mr
President. We're trying to reestablish contact with Berlin right now, going
through SACEUR at Mons, Belgium.'
'Christ,' Fowler observed. 'Elizabeth, does this fit into your scenario?'
'It could show that they're not kidding, that they are serious about not being
interfered with.'
***
Most of the American forces had escaped out of the lager. The senior officer on
the scene had decided on the spot to turn and run for cover in the woods and
residential streets around the brigade base. He was a lieutenant colonel, the
brigade executive officer. The colonel commanding the brigade was nowhere to be
found, and the XO was now considering his options. The brigade had two
mechanized infantry battalions, and one of tanks. From the last, only nine of
fifty-two M1A1s had gotten away. He could see the glow from the rest of them,
still burning in their lager.
A DEFCON-THREE alert out of nowhere, and then minutes later, this. Over forty
tanks and a hundred men lost, shot down without warning. Well, he'd see about
that.
The Berlin Brigade had been in place since long before his birth, and scattered
throughout its encampment were defensive positions. The colonel dispatched his
remaining tanks, and ordered his Bradley fighting vehicles to volley-fire their
TOW-2 missiles.
The Russian tanks had overrun the tank lager and stopped. They had no further
orders. Battalion commanders were not yet in control of their formations, left
behind by the mad dash of the T-80s across the line, and the regimental
commander was nowhere to be found. Without orders, the tank companies stopped,
sitting still, looking for targets. The regimental executive officer was also
missing, and when the senior battalion commander realized this, his tank dashed
off to the headquarters vehicle, since he was the next-senior officer in the
regiment. It was amazing, he thought. First the readiness drill, next the flash
alert from Moscow, and then the Americans had started shooting. He hadn't a clue
what was going on. Even the barracks and administrative buildings were still lit
up, he realized. Someone would have to get those lights off. His T-80 was
back-lit as though on a target range.
***
'Command tank, two o'clock, skylined, moving left to right,' a sergeant told a
corporal.
'Identified,' the gunner replied over the intercom.
'Fire.'
'On the way.' The corporal squeezed his trigger. The seat-cap blew off the
missile tube, and the TOW-2 blasted out, trailing behind a thin control wire.