Announcement

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-15-2011, 01:39 PM

Part 1: Friends oh Friends

After having given it a careful thought, Lario decided to probe the American line further north. With an ear to possible incoming dangers, he started to carefully move with direction north east for 4 5 kilometers and then converged northwest west in order to debouch out of the wood, possibly at its northerner point. Larios plan was to venture into the hilly area between Nobelton and Lake Lindsey, and check the consistency of the American position at that latitude.

He proceeded carefully, trying not to feel the exhaustion from the firefight and from the march in the difficult terrain, in a weather that was going from bad to worse. After a two hours march, he found the limit of the wood and he was by then in full red light mode for exhaustion. On the bright side, there was no trace of living being around, no civilians, no military, no nothing. The abundant rain, which had become by then a severe shower, poured down with no mercy, making his journey even more miserable, every step made more difficult by the mud and by the extremely soft terrain. On the positive side, the inclement weather, the light conditions, and the morphology of the terrain made him almost invisible to anybody who was not specifically observing the location where he was walking.

The view of the hilly terrain in front of him past the limit of the wooded area made Lario mind and energies sink. But he could not stop. First of all he had to put more distance between him and the location of the firefight he had in the morning, and secondly he had to find a location with a minimum of shelter for his next break. Also, and even more discouraging, he would have to skip his afternoon foraging because of the heavy rain, and because of his physical status. He had to be careful about that, as more exhaustion led to more inactivity and to more exhaustion and so on and so forth: a very well known downward spiral in Special Forces long range operations. So Lario promised himself that he would draw from his strategic food reserve that night, but whatever happened, he would spend extra time resting and foraging the next day. He could not allow tactical exigencies endanger the whole strategy of his mission. His mission, he continued to repeat in his head, as he dragged one step after the other, was to probe the American lines and to link up with E.F. forces as soon as possible.

And then, once he marched out of the wooded area, he began to climb and descend, climb and descend hills of different size and altitude, none of them very steep, but each of them accumulating more fatigue on his exhausted legs and soul. By the time darkness began to blur the scene, Lario was barely able to compass navigate with a minimum of precision and he had completely abandoned the idea of walking behind the crest lines to minimize his visibility to third parties. It was simply too tired to worry about that. His only worry now was to find a gully or something, where to stop and rest with a minimum of oecomfort, make some hot tea, that he still have in his strategic reserves. At that point, he was not even certain anymore that he would have the energies to eat, but it was starting to become imperative that he found a convenient location to stop and spend the evening and the night.

Completely soaked from head to toe, despite his parka and his hood well tightened around his head and neck, Lario stopped on a crest line to make a 360 observation routine check; more to provide himself with an excuse to take a two minutes break than for a real necessity. He kneeled down, put down his backpack, and paused a moment to massage his sore and stiff shoulders. He extracted his binoculars and gave the horizon a sweep with it, first south and then more carefully, northwest to northeast; the view did not reveal anything encouraging: gray dim horizon, uniform brownish/green landscape, as the showery rain changed the apparent color of the grassland at that particular hour of pre sunset time of the day.

He did not see it on the left to right sweep, but as Lario went back right with his binoculars, he saw it:
oeWhat is thatwhat is
Right in a depression: Lario could not be certain, but yesa vehicle, a big vehicle. Lario focused better, trying to penetrate the wall of water pouring down from the sky, and yesit was a turreted APC of some kind. It appeared like miles away, but Lario knew that with that visibility it could not be farther than half a kilometer. Then suddenly, a couple of lights appeared in the vicinity of the vehicle; some movement, Lario could not tell.

And it was decision time again: Approach or evacuate the area. Lario tried to focus his mind on the problem. He had to get closer, see better. If he could proceed with enough caution, the chances that he could be spotted would be slim, especially in that weather. The plan was to close the distance enough to be able to identify the contact, and to get the h*ll out of there if it was a hostile. He was sure that he would have found the extra energies to disengage stealthily if he really needed to, even if he had to collapse short after. He had a contact, he had to identify it. He decided to exploit to the maximum the difference in visibility between him and whoever was oecamping down there.

Lario put is backpack back on, and cautiously started to approach, pausing every 30 seconds or so to observe. Finally, when he was at approximately 250 meters, he stopped, went prone and gave the target another scan with his binoculars.

Lario Realized that he probably could be spotted as well now, even if his prone position and the weather favored him. He gave a good extra scan

oeC.monCmon who are you Show me who you are buddy!!

oe... Go#@mnitits a Dardo.

At that distance other details became clear. The Dardo AIFV was located at the center of a defensive perimeter which included a pickup truck armed with a TOW antitank fitted in his bed, and a system of hastily dug in positions all around. Inside the perimeter, Lario also saw a circular enclosed fence with some horses, and several tents scattered randomly, including a big one built out of the Dardo back door.

Decision time again: chances of having come across elements of the Italian oeCOMFOD 1: high.
Chances that it could be an American position with some captured Italian equipment: certainly possible
Chances that he was looking at some kind of illegitimate forces with captured Italian equipment: less likely.

Half aware that he was more wishfully thinking than actually examining his chances objectively, Lario decided to proceed and reveal himself.
According to the Italian Army SOPS for approaching friendlies, without a password, Lario stood up and began to walk with his arms wide open and holding his M16 barrel down.

At about 100 meters from the position, the over worried voice of a clearly surprised sentry froze Lario on his weels:
oeHaltyou stoppp and make yorrrself reccognize

Ahhawrong language and syntax, but damn right accent Lario thought with a smile of relief.

oeSergente maggiore Vailatti...soldato9o Reggimento Incursori Col. Moschin. Metto il fucile a terra ed aspetto. Non fare cazzate, e nessuno si fa male, he said overempahsizing his Venice accent.

*Translation: Seargent Major Vailatti here soldier 9th Raiders Regiment Col. Moschin. I am putting my rifle on the ground. Dont do anything stupid and nobody gets hurt.

Continues

Comments and criticism appreciated

ambrafoxtrot

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-17-2011, 04:48 PM

Part 1: Friends oh Friends

After having given it a careful thought, Lario decided to probe the American line further north. With an ear to possible incoming dangers, he started to carefully move with direction north east for 4 5 kilometers and then converged northwest west in order to debouch out of the wood, possibly at its northerner point. Larios plan was to venture into the hilly area between Nobelton and Lake Lindsey, and check the consistency of the American position at that latitude.

He proceeded carefully, trying not to feel the exhaustion from the firefight and from the march in the difficult terrain, in a weather that was going from bad to worse. After a two hours march, he found the limit of the wood and he was by then in full red light mode for exhaustion. On the bright side, there was no trace of living being around, no civilians, no military, no nothing. The abundant rain, which had become by then a severe shower, poured down with no mercy, making his journey even more miserable, every step made more difficult by the mud and by the extremely soft terrain. On the positive side, the inclement weather, the light conditions, and the morphology of the terrain made him almost invisible to anybody who was not specifically observing the location where he was walking.

The view of the hilly terrain in front of him past the limit of the wooded area made Lario mind and energies sink. But he could not stop. First of all he had to put more distance between him and the location of the firefight he had in the morning, and secondly he had to find a location with a minimum of shelter for his next break. Also, and even more discouraging, he would have to skip his afternoon foraging because of the heavy rain, and because of his physical status. He had to be careful about that, as more exhaustion led to more inactivity and to more exhaustion and so on and so forth: a very well known downward spiral in Special Forces long range operations. So Lario promised himself that he would draw from his strategic food reserve that night, but whatever happened, he would spend extra time resting and foraging the next day. He could not allow tactical exigencies endanger the whole strategy of his mission. His mission, he continued to repeat in his head, as he dragged one step after the other, was to probe the American lines and to link up with E.F. forces as soon as possible.

And then, once he marched out of the wooded area, he began to climb and descend, climb and descend hills of different size and altitude, none of them very steep, but each of them accumulating more fatigue on his exhausted legs and soul. By the time darkness began to blur the scene, Lario was barely able to compass navigate with a minimum of precision and he had completely abandoned the idea of walking behind the crest lines to minimize his visibility to third parties. It was simply too tired to worry about that. His only worry now was to find a gully or something, where to stop and rest with a minimum of oecomfort, make some hot tea, that he still have in his strategic reserves. At that point, he was not even certain anymore that he would have the energies to eat, but it was starting to become imperative that he found a convenient location to stop and spend the evening and the night.

Completely soaked from head to toe, despite his parka and his hood well tightened around his head and neck, Lario stopped on a crest line to make a 360 observation routine check; more to provide himself with an excuse to take a two minutes break than for a real necessity. He kneeled down, put down his backpack, and paused a moment to massage his sore and stiff shoulders. He extracted his binoculars and gave the horizon a sweep with it, first south and then more carefully, northwest to northeast; the view did not reveal anything encouraging: gray dim horizon, uniform brownish/green landscape, as the showery rain changed the apparent color of the grassland at that particular hour of pre sunset time of the day.

He did not see it on the left to right sweep, but as Lario went back right with his binoculars, he saw it:
oeWhat is thatwhat is
Right in a depression: Lario could not be certain, but yesa vehicle, a big vehicle. Lario focused better, trying to penetrate the wall of water pouring down from the sky, and yesit was a turreted APC of some kind. It appeared like miles away, but Lario knew that with that visibility it could not be farther than half a kilometer. Then suddenly, a couple of lights appeared in the vicinity of the vehicle; some movement, Lario could not tell.

And it was decision time again: Approach or evacuate the area. Lario tried to focus his mind on the problem. He had to get closer, see better. If he could proceed with enough caution, the chances that he could be spotted would be slim, especially in that weather. The plan was to close the distance enough to be able to identify the contact, and to get the h*ll out of there if it was a hostile. He was sure that he would have found the extra energies to disengage stealthily if he really needed to, even if he had to collapse short after. He had a contact, he had to identify it. He decided to exploit to the maximum the difference in visibility between him and whoever was oecamping down there.

Lario put is backpack back on, and cautiously started to approach, pausing every 30 seconds or so to observe. Finally, when he was at approximately 250 meters, he stopped, went prone and gave the target another scan with his binoculars.

Lario Realized that he probably could be spotted as well now, even if his prone position and the weather favored him. He gave a good extra scan

oeC.monCmon who are you Show me who you are buddy!!

oe... Go#@mnitits a Dardo.

At that distance other details became clear. The Dardo AIFV was located at the center of a defensive perimeter which included a pickup truck armed with a TOW antitank fitted in his bed, and a system of hastily dug in positions all around. Inside the perimeter, Lario also saw a circular enclosed fence with some horses, and several tents scattered randomly, including a big one built out of the Dardo back door.

Decision time again: chances of having come across elements of the Italian oeCOMFOD 1: high.
Chances that it could be an American position with some captured Italian equipment: certainly possible
Chances that he was looking at some kind of illegitimate forces with captured Italian equipment: less likely.

Half aware that he was more wishfully thinking than actually examining his chances objectively, Lario decided to proceed and reveal himself.
According to the Italian Army SOPS for approaching friendlies, without a password, Lario stood up and began to walk with his arms wide open and holding his M16 barrel down.

At about 100 meters from the position, the over worried voice of a clearly surprised sentry froze Lario on his weels:
oeHaltyou stoppp and make yorrrself reccognize

Ahhawrong language and syntax, but damn right accent Lario thought with a smile of relief.

oeSergente maggiore Vailatti...soldato9o Reggimento Incursori Col. Moschin. Metto il fucile a terra ed aspetto. Non fare cazzate, e nessuno si fa male, he said overempahsizing his Venice accent.

*Translation: Seargent Major Vailatti here soldier 9th Raiders Regiment Col. Moschin. I am putting my rifle on the ground. Dont do anything stupid and nobody gets hurt.

Continues

Comments and criticism appreciated

Ambrafoxtrot

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-18-2011, 11:03 AM

Part 1: Friends oh Friends

After having given it a careful thought, Lario decided to probe the American line further north. With an ear to possible incoming dangers, he started to carefully move with direction north east for 4 5 kilometers and then converged northwest west in order to debouch out of the wood, possibly at its northerner point. Larios plan was to venture into the hilly area between Nobelton and Lake Lindsey, and check the consistency of the American position at that latitude.

He proceeded carefully, trying not to feel the exhaustion from the firefight and from the march in the difficult terrain, in a weather that was going from bad to worse. After a two hours march, he found the limit of the wood and he was by then in full red light mode for exhaustion. On the bright side, there was no trace of living being around, no civilians, no military, no nothing. The abundant rain, which had become by then a severe shower, poured down with no mercy, making his journey even more miserable, every step made more difficult by the mud and by the extremely soft terrain. On the positive side, the inclement weather, the light conditions, and the morphology of the terrain made him almost invisible to anybody who was not specifically observing the location where he was walking.

The view of the hilly terrain in front of him past the limit of the wooded area made Lario mind and energies sink. But he could not stop. First of all he had to put more distance between him and the location of the firefight he had in the morning, and secondly he had to find a location with a minimum of shelter for his next break. Also, and even more discouraging, he would have to skip his afternoon foraging because of the heavy rain, and because of his physical status. He had to be careful about that, as more exhaustion led to more inactivity and to more exhaustion and so on and so forth: a very well known downward spiral in Special Forces long range operations. So Lario promised himself that he would draw from his strategic food reserve that night, but whatever happened, he would spend extra time resting and foraging the next day. He could not allow tactical exigencies endanger the whole strategy of his mission. His mission, he continued to repeat in his head, as he dragged one step after the other, was to probe the American lines and to link up with E.F. forces as soon as possible.

And then, once he marched out of the wooded area, he began to climb and descend, climb and descend hills of different size and altitude, none of them very steep, but each of them accumulating more fatigue on his exhausted legs and soul. By the time darkness began to blur the scene, Lario was barely able to compass navigate with a minimum of precision and he had completely abandoned the idea of walking behind the crest lines to minimize his visibility to third parties. It was simply too tired to worry about that. His only worry now was to find a gully or something, where to stop and rest with a minimum of oecomfort, make some hot tea, that he still have in his strategic reserves. At that point, he was not even certain anymore that he would have the energies to eat, but it was starting to become imperative that he found a convenient location to stop and spend the evening and the night.

Completely soaked from head to toe, despite his parka and his hood well tightened around his head and neck, Lario stopped on a crest line to make a 360 observation routine check; more to provide himself with an excuse to take a two minutes break than for a real necessity. He kneeled down, put down his backpack, and paused a moment to massage his sore and stiff shoulders. He extracted his binoculars and gave the horizon a sweep with it, first south and then more carefully, northwest to northeast; the view did not reveal anything encouraging: gray dim horizon, uniform brownish/green landscape, as the showery rain changed the apparent color of the grassland at that particular hour of pre sunset time of the day.

He did not see it on the left to right sweep, but as Lario went back right with his binoculars, he saw it:
oeWhat is thatwhat is
Right in a depression: Lario could not be certain, but yesa vehicle, a big vehicle. Lario focused better, trying to penetrate the wall of water pouring down from the sky, and yesit was a turreted APC of some kind. It appeared like miles away, but Lario knew that with that visibility it could not be farther than half a kilometer. Then suddenly, a couple of lights appeared in the vicinity of the vehicle; some movement, Lario could not tell.

And it was decision time again: Approach or evacuate the area. Lario tried to focus his mind on the problem. He had to get closer, see better. If he could proceed with enough caution, the chances that he could be spotted would be slim, especially in that weather. The plan was to close the distance enough to be able to identify the contact, and to get the h*ll out of there if it was a hostile. He was sure that he would have found the extra energies to disengage stealthily if he really needed to, even if he had to collapse short after. He had a contact, he had to identify it. He decided to exploit to the maximum the difference in visibility between him and whoever was oecamping down there.

Lario put is backpack back on, and cautiously started to approach, pausing every 30 seconds or so to observe. Finally, when he was at approximately 250 meters, he stopped, went prone and gave the target another scan with his binoculars.

Lario Realized that he probably could be spotted as well now, even if his prone position and the weather favored him. He gave a good extra scan

oeC.monCmon who are you Show me who you are buddy!!

oe... Go#@mnitits a Dardo.

At that distance other details became clear. The Dardo AIFV was located at the center of a defensive perimeter which included a pickup truck armed with a TOW antitank fitted in his bed, and a system of hastily dug in positions all around. Inside the perimeter, Lario also saw a circular enclosed fence with some horses, and several tents scattered randomly, including a big one built out of the Dardo back door.

Decision time again: chances of having come across elements of the Italian oeCOMFOD 1: high.
Chances that it could be an American position with some captured Italian equipment: certainly possible
Chances that he was looking at some kind of illegitimate forces with captured Italian equipment: less likely.

Half aware that he was more wishfully thinking than actually examining his chances objectively, Lario decided to proceed and reveal himself.
According to the Italian Army SOPS for approaching friendlies, without a password, Lario stood up and began to walk with his arms wide open and holding his M16 barrel down.

At about 100 meters from the position, the over worried voice of a clearly surprised sentry froze Lario on his weels:
oeHaltyou stoppp and make yorrrself reccognize

Ahhawrong language and syntax, but damn right accent Lario thought with a smile of relief.

oeSergente maggiore Vailatti...soldato9o Reggimento Incursori Col. Moschin. Metto il fucile a terra ed aspetto. Non fare cazzate, e nessuno si fa male, he said overempahsizing his Venice accent.

*Translation: Seargent Major Vailatti here soldier 9th Raiders Regiment Col. Moschin. I am putting my rifle on the ground. Dont do anything stupid and nobody gets hurt.

Continues

Comments and criticism appreciated

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-18-2011, 11:04 AM

Part 2: 11th Battaglione Bersaglieri

As soon as Lario finished being checked in by the guard on duty, he was conducted to the center of the compound inside the tent which acted as a prolongation of the Dardo interior. There, two young soldiers, staring at him with a mix of apprehension and amazement, timidly informed him that he was required to leave his weapons in the tent before he could be introduced inside the AIFV. They were probably expected to be shot right there by that crazed man covered in mud and black camouflage. Instead, without a word, Lario put the safety on his M16 and informed the guards that the pistol had a chambered bullet and that it was jammed. One of the soldiers hesitantly took possession of the weaponry, looking at the camouflage paint on the M16 and to the customized Beretta 92 with awe. It was probably the first time in their life that they saw an operator of the 9th live, in all his oemuddiness and oeafter patrol misery, and they seemed quite amazed with what they were looking at. Without any further formalities, Lario walked through the Dardo back door escorted by one of the soldiers.

oeSignor Maggiorethis is Sergeant Vailatti of the Reggimento Incursori . He managed to regain our lines, according to what he said, after one month spent in enemy controlled territory.

oeYou can go private, thank you.

oeYes Sir; the soldier turned on his heels and left.

Standing on the attention, as much as the space allowed him, Lario looked at a man. He evaluated he was in his late thirties, probably around his same age. The hair half grey already, carefully combed with a impeccable line and kept scalp short in the back and on the sides, reminded Lario of a Prussian officer and made him wander how in the heck could that man maintain such a pristine appearance in the middle of a general war, and in the confined space of an AIFV rear compartment. Compared to the officer, Lario felt like a bag of trash just scooped out of a dumpster, stink at all, but he didnt care. He was actually quite happy to be still alive. The Majors uniform, was as impeccable as his hair style and Lario noticed that his face showed a note of genuine interest in Lario, as he observed him from behind green steady eyes.
Major Lorenzo De Gaetano moved his black gloves, which were characteristic of the Bersaglieri corps, on a side of the retractable desk he was sitting behind, and stood up, his right hand reaching out at Lario:

oeAt ease Vailatti, I have heard great things about the 9th here in America Major De Gaetano paused as to study Vailatti more closely after having shaken his hand. oeTell me Sergeant, what was the mission of your section here in Florida

Lario hesitated for a second like if he wanted to investigate De Gaetanos expression a little bit longer before answering. oeWe acted as a recon element to identify and possibly mark sensitive targets behind the enemy lines SirHeadquarters, supply depots, mobile radars and other stuff like that Sir.

oeWhat happened to your team Sergeant

Larios expression turned dim, oeSir, I was patrol leader of a team of three. We had a contact with the enemy outside an Air force depot we were evaluating. We got surrounded before we could disengage. I am the only one who managed to escape alive. Both members of my patrol were killed in action. Lario voices trembled slightly, while he looked expressionless right in front of himself.

oeAnd where was that

oe10 miles west of Orlando

oeOrlando the Major said thinking out loud. oeYou probably know that Orlando it is the main strategic objective of the Italian expedition corps right

oeI know that Sir, that is why my operation axis was along that route. Suddenly Lario remembered his last two weeks of operations, while the white of his eyes, surrounded by his blackened and muddy face almost disappeared in an expression of inquiry. oeSir I have seen an explosion over Tampa Bayan atomic or nuclear explosion Sirand then I lost communication with mission control at COMFOD probably due to the EMP.

It was Major De Gaetanos expression turn to get dark. oeThere has been more that one of those detonations Sergeantfor sure Tampa Bay Miami and Cape Canaveral have been hit, along with other economic and military objectives all over the United States. De Gaetano turned his head in an expression of disgust. oeI do not doubt that the Americans have launched as well, and I do not even know who attacked first and from where. We lost contact with COMFOD as well. The Brigade is dispersed in a large salient as for atomic alert SOPs. The detonations were tactical, but big enough to devastate entire cities if released as they were on populated areas. I cant imagine the disaster caused to the civilian populations; I suspect that we will see the effects of all that very soon.

At that moment, one of the two soldiers that had accompanied Lario to the AIFV, entered with a couple of hot milk and coffee cups, and the Major invited Lario to share with him. Lario did not need to be told twice as he could really use some restoring assets of that kind.

oeAt the moment of the Attack on Tampa bay the Major continued after a long sip of his cappuccino, oethe Ariete Armored brigade was the spearhead of the corps and my battalion was leading the brigade. At that time, the 4th Tank regiment had already taken a good beat from the Americans withdrawing from Hernando beach. Those damn Yankees did not give us mercy all along the exploitation movement out of the beaches. We moved to contact all the way here, but at a dear price. Just before the attacks, we had just relieved the 4th Tanks after which we advanced for two more days. Then all resupply and replacement ceased. We have been stuck here ever since, trying to economize fuel, ammo and supplies, and waiting for any further directives. COMFOD communication with National Authority must have been somehow severed, brigade is waiting for orders, we are waiting for orders, but no orders have been received yet. The exec directive to cut Florida west to east stands I guess, but the brigade lacks the fuel to reach the objective. We have no idea of the situation of the enemy either. The road to the Canaveral peninsula might be open, but we cannot progress logistically.

Lario remained silent for a while, trying to soak in all the information the Major had given him. Then he answered: oeSirI detoured south a lot in my way back here, so I dont know anything about the American deployment east of here. But I can tell you that we have the enemy on the south east of this position. Again I dont know the troop count, but I had a personal encounter with American infantry in the woods 10 kilometers east of Brooksville, and was again very lucky to make it out of there in one piece.

oeWe know who they are Major De Gaetano snapped back. oeIts the remnants of the 274th National Guard Brigade. They were stalking us and keeping our advance under observation. They dont have the punch to come at usI mean I would be happy if they did; we would cut them to pieces if they tried. But no the Americans are not that stupid are they Sergeant They are pretty strained an all fronts; here, on the East Coast, and west as well, where last news of the Chinese advance were very, very promising. We dont know about the progresses of the Germans and the Russians on the East Coast, but given the scarce density of the American defenses on our front, I would have to assume that the Ivans and the Krauts were banging pretty hard on the Americans. We dont have any details though, apart from the fact that the French and the Mexican offensive through the Gulf States were almost grinded to a halt.

The Major paused again for quite a long timeand then finally added: oeTomorrow morning at 0700 I have a briefing with my officers. I will be thinking about how best I can use you before then and let you know my decisions. I will be glad to have you as well for the briefing, and I will introduce you to my unit commanders. Until then you are dismissed. Take a good rest; you really look like you need one.

Major de Gaetano called one of the soldiers guarding the H.Q. tent and ordered him to assign one of the available tents to Lario, and to give him back his equipment and his weapons.

Lario thanked the commander and saluted by putting himself on the attention before turning away and leaving the vehicle. It would be his first meal and sleep under a decent shelter in weeks.

**cavtroop** · 10-18-2011, 01:34 PM

nice read. Very interesting background you've created here - I'm a big fan of alternate histories/backgrounds, and love reading what other people have come up with. Care to share any more information you have on this alternate history you're writing about

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-18-2011, 05:30 PM

cavtroop

I am glad you are enjoying the reading.

The story you are reading about is the fruit of a complex project; we call it the "GDW Bundle"

We are using Twilight 2000 in conjunction with Harpoon and part of the "campaign system" of Command Decision 2.0.

The core engine of the project is the above mentioned Command Decision Campaign system. In simple terms it is a system of "scale reduction" for strategic military operations. We stretched the system a little bit, so that we can compress strategic operation at the tactical level. We do that for land forces (Twilight 2000) and for air and naval forces (Harpoon). For interaction between Air/Naval elements and Land Elements, we still use Twilight 2000 rules (for example an A-10 attacking a platoon T-80 tanks).

Should anything "weird" appear on our fictional world, we would simulate it with GDW Dark Conspiracy, and should our fictional world drastically advance in technology (unlikely given the premises) with would call GDW Traveller New Era into play.

As for the alternate background development, it is a work in progress: we want to explore the consequences of an overly aggressive foreign policy by a radical U.S. administration, which triggers a balancing reaction by the other "advanced powers" in the mid nineties inspired by their own radical administrations. Internal dynamics in Europe split the already "risible" European Union into pro and against United States policies. In particular, a realignment of policy between major continental European powers and Russia, favors the rise of a counter pole to object The United States administration attempt to establish "The New American Century"

We start from the assumption (it is a postulate) that the bulk of the U.S. navy (carriers as main objectives) is mauled in a series of surprise raids by dedicated naval special forces against the American Ships in port, in all their bases in continental U.S. and overseas. This necessary abstract premise is designed t allow the combined Euro Naval forces to dispute the command of the sea to the remaining American vessels. Without this "premise" the entire background would be impossible; nobody can confront an intact American Navy.

After that an invasion of Continental U.S. becomes feasible, if the invasion forces can be supplied. At this point China, Mexico and minor central and southern American states join the bad guys.

Summing up, from a role gaming standpoint, we are going to explore military operations in the territory of the Unites States of America, but not only. We are also going to explore operations other than war, based on the aftermath of a nuclear scenario similar to the one depicted in the original Twilight 2000 background. We are going to have an inner look at the relationship between the American population and its unique cultural background and these hypothetical foreign invasion forces. The details will be created of course as the story progresses.

I hope I managed to answer you questions

greetings

ambrafoxtrot

**cavtroop** · 10-19-2011, 09:41 AM

That sounds awesome. is this an on-going project, or something that's done that you're now writing up

Either way, keep us posted, love to hear more about this...

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-19-2011, 12:34 PM

Part 3: war council

The following morning Lario was awakened by his internal clock around 0600. First thing he noticed was that it wasnt raining any more. He peeked out of his tent, to observe a heavily overcast sky in the dark early morning. Lario took a walk to the encampment improvised oebathing area, where he tried to make himself at least presentable for the morning briefing that Major De Gaetano was supposed to give. Fortunately the previous days rain had made water a fairly item for a while at least. He looked around, noticing the dismounting guards quickly getting into their tents or vehicles for their sleeping shift, and the various activities in preparation for the day. He consumed a decent breakfast based hot milk prepared on his camp heater, coffee accompanied by one of his last packages of stale cookies in his food reserve, and then prepared himself for the briefing.

By the time he was ready, it was almost daylight and he could observe the details of the position; a standard defense circle built around the Dardo strongpoint and the Pickup truck anti tank nest. He noticed that the pickup was one of those American huge trucks and undoubtedly looked brand new. Hastily dug in trenches hosted light machineguns nests, and a circular pad almost in the middle of the installation, contained an 81mm mortar at the moment unmanned. The Dardo light tank was well positioned on a slight terrain elevation and his 25mm autogun and its MGs had a good field of fire all around. Offset from the center of the installation there was the enclosed fence Lario saw the day before with a bunch of horses guarded by a couple of soldiers.

After his short inspection of the security of the camp, Lario headed towards the Dardo where Major De Gaetano morning briefing was supposed to begin soon. The two guards at the entrance of the tent saluted him cordially and he entered the tent hoping not to be late. He immediately realized he was not, as the tent was occupied only by two men: a lieutenant and a major sergeant. The lieutenant was spread on a chair and did barely respond to Larios salute by telling him to make himself comfortable, and that the old man would be there soon. As for the Sergeant, at least he had the decency of introducing himself. oeSergente Giunta he said. oeI am the commander of the cavalry squadron. He then sat back on a barrel that he used as a chair. Lario did not have a problem with the cold welcome of the two men, and simply sat on the ground with his backpack between his legs.

The three did not have to wait very long before Major De Gaetano accompanied by a Captain entered in the tent. Sergeant Giunta stood up and saluted the two officers reluctantly, followed by the Lieutenant who clearly was not a happy man.

oeGentlemen Major De Gaetano began. oeI see that you had the opportunity to meet Sergeant Vailatti from the Raider Regiment. He is going to be attached to the battalion for a while and he will be directly under my command, unless detached to any sub units. Like promised, today we are going to discuss about our course of action. Captain Liuzzi, please would you like to recap our present situation for Sergeant Vailatti

Captain Liuzzi nodded and opened a rolled down a map of the area of operation of COMFOD 1.
oeGentlemenour situation in the last week is substantially unchanged. The battalion maintains its positions in the eastward portion of the Brooksville salient. We are currently waiting for orders from Brigade HQ about the resuming of the advance eastwards. As you know, our logistic situation does not allow to immediately restarting operations, and Brigade is fully aware of that. In fact, in the lack of more precise orders from COMFOD, our command issued the directive to all units to maintain the positions and to reorganize while we wait for replacements and resupply. This however is old news.

Captain Liuzzi crossed eyes with the lieutenant looking at him with a very perplexed expression.

oeMajor De Gaetano and I continued the Captain, oehave conceived an operation that is designed to relieve our situation and to enhance our operational awareness, compatibly with our present unstable position. As you all know, we did not have much of an intelligence report on the general situation since the detonation of nuclear weapons has happened on our theater of operation. Probably COMFOD is still trying to put together all the pieces before deciding on a definite course of action. This has left us in the dark for quite a long time

The Captain paused to give the time to the listeners to soak in the information.

oeGentlemen: Captain Liuzzi turned a transparent sheet on the wall map he had on a wooden stand.
oeThis is operation TORCIA (Flashlight), and it is conceived to give us a minimum of information on what is going on around us, in anticipation of the orders that we will receive from Brigade HQ. The arrival of Sergeant Vailatti is especially welcome in this moment as he will for sure represent a useful asset for this operation.

Lario observed the map with a series of blue arrows extending south and east of the battalion position, with a series of phase lines and unit designations.

Captain Liuzzi continued: oewe plan to develop recon missions based on the most mobile of our units, maintaining at the same time the bulk of the battalion defense centered on the Mechanized infantry assets. Elements of Sgt. Rena recon platoon minus the anti tank section, will perform an armed reconnaissance in direction of Tampa Bay, to investigate the situation in the area. This force will be commanded by Sergeant Vailatti.

Captain Liuzzi tapped with a ruler on the map.

oeThe direction of the advance will be along State Highway 93, and will have the village of Wesley Chapel as intermediate point.

Liuzzi turned his head towards Sergeant Giunta.

oeLight elements of Sgt. Giunta cavalry squadron, will hit county road 476 with objective the village of Nobleton, and if situation allow, they will proceed through the swampy area west of Orlando. If no resistance is encountered, the final objective is the outskirts of Orlando itself. We need to know what the enemy situation is along that axis, so that we can plan properly when the final advance order will come from Brigade HQ.

Captain Liuzzi turned another transparent sheet on the map.

oeWe know for sure that the 274th Florida National Guard Brigade is positioned on the axis of advance of Sgt. Renna force. If this enemy unit discovers the movement and acts to counter it, the order is to disengage and come back home; we do not want any major engagement with the enemy at the moment. Brigade did not authorize it. The same restriction applies to Sgt. Giunta detachment, with the difference that we know nothing about possible enemy units east of us.

Liuzzi looked at Major De Gaetano to indicate that he terminated his briefing.

oeGentlemen De Gaetano intervened, oethese two missions are extremely important for us. Like Lieutenant Lerner has suggested some days ago, the Major gave a stare to the Lieutenant who had listened to the entire briefing in complete silence, oewe need to generate some activity. Our logistic situation becomes worse every day, and we need to do something. The recon forces are tasked with two precise objectives: first, finding any possible sources of sustainment for the battalion, even a provisional one; and second provide us with information about the operational situation on the territory that surrounds us.

oeWith that said continued De Gaetano; these are reconnaissance missions will be conducted by light forces. They are, however, going to put a big dent in our stockpile of fuel, and grain. The hope is that the recon parties can find some kind of supply source that justifies the investment. Preservation of force is vital to both missions. Do not engage or let the enemy engage you, unless you enjoy tactical and numerical superiority

Then De Gaetano looked at Lario and at Sgt. Giunta.

oeSergeant Vailatti, you will command the southern recon force. Touch base with Sgt. Rena, the commander of the recon platoon. Have him help you choose the best men for the mission. You have all day to prepare the operation. I also leave to you to decide if you want to include a vehicle in your force or not. I have of course total trust in your skills in preparing and conducting a mission of this kind. You do not need to report to me again. Just plan and execute your mission; reports and debriefings are postponed to when you come back.

oeSergeant Giunta, the same applies to you. Your mission is exactly what you have been trained for. Explore and report. Its a long range mission. Do not get caught behind the enemy lines, if there is any enemy east of here, and do not get any of your men killed.

Lieutenant Lerner, who did not move a muscle during the entire briefing, suddenly broke into the commander monologue.

oeThese missions are a bullock Major. You will get the battalion crippled, your combat force diminished, and you will not have improved our situation by an inch.

Lario turned to Lerner horrified; then he looked at Major De Gaetano. He expected to have to draw his pistol, which he finally managed to fix before sleep the night before, and shoot the Lieutenant. Insubordination in time of war ensued death penalty on the spot may be after a summary court martial if the commanding officer felt generous that day.

Instead, Major De Gaetano looked at Lerner with a resigned expression.

oeWhat do you suggest instead, Sir Lerner of Augusta, may be you want to go all the way back and bring your complaints to COMFOD, or may be to Rome

Lerner looked at the Major, making no effort to conceal his disgust. oeCOMFOD is in the dark exactly like we are Major, and as far as we know, we might be the last efficient force existing in the Brooksville salient. And Rome might be a pile of radioactive junk by now. You continue to give briefings, and to think like if there were still normal operations going onsir, but I think that you did not understand that this war has gone through dramatic changes. Why do you think the Americans are not harassing us anymore Well Ill tell you why. They are clueless, like we are. There has been a generalized nuclear exchange Major, even though for some reasons with intermediate weaponry instead of strategic ones. We are still alive for two reasons: one; the attacks were counterstrike and not counter forces. And two, thanks God, we are in the middle of this s%$#ty swamp that they call Florida and the detonations did not involve us directly.

The Lieutenant paused to take his breath, and then looked at all the presents.

oeWe have to bring the entire battalion to a port; this is what to have to do. The entire battalion, I say. We have to avoid splitting our forces and having them overwhelmed piecemeal. If the attacks that have taken place here, have been replicated all over this Go&%$#ed United States, we will soon see the effect of that. It will be general chaos, we will be eaten alive by the locals, civilian and not. We dont have any supply, scarce ammunition, almost no medical supplies. Tampa Bay was supposed to become our supply port. I say lets go there with the entire battalion and see what the situation is. May be there are still some ships going out of here. In that case we embark the personnel and get the h%$ll out of here. If Tampa is barren, like it might very well be, then we will seize all the supply we can, and head to Miami. See if the Russians still have a base of operation there, and if the port is still open. Whatever we do, we have to keep our forces together. Its the only way to have a shot at surviving in this mess.

De Gaetano left the tent and went into his command Dardo without answering to Lerner. Captain Liuzzi, limited himself to stare at Lieutenant Lerner for a while; then he snapped: oeLieutenant. I dont care what your name is, where you are from or what the color of your family barony emblem is. I told you many times that we are not in the Rome officers circle here, but in the middle of a war. You will follow the orders that you are given, and without discussing them. I am tired of your insubordinate behavior. If you think you are a brilliant strategist, you can get out of here, and go wherever you want. I wont even file a report for desertion that can stain the spotless military tradition of your family; I am pretty sure I can find someone else capable of commanding your unit. On the other hand, I can guarantee you that I will personally shoot you in the head at the next act of insubordination of yours and then gladly fill a report of friendly fire accident for the overall command.

Liuzzi looked intensely at Lieutenant Lerner to see if his words actually soaked in. The he concluded: oeI believe you have duties to fulfill today Mr. Lerner. You are dismissed. Focus your energies on the management of your company, for as long as you have one

Lerner gave a prolonged meditative stare at his superior. Then he went on the attention with a slight bow in the manner of the cavalry, and without a word he turned around and left.

Liuzzi looked at Lario: oego prepare your men sergeant. We are very glad that you made it here in one piece. We really count on your expertise in conducting an operation like the one you have been assigned to. Well meet again just before you are ready to go.

Continues

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-19-2011, 01:38 PM

cavtroop

it is an ongoing campaign. we are one session ahead of the written story.

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-20-2011, 11:47 AM

Some graphical update about the story:

1 st picture
Lario and his original patrol (Florida Dec 1999) at the beginning of the operations

2nd Picture
Captain Liuzzi (white arrow) and boys from the cavalry platoon (Florida 2000)
(covered face soldier: element of the intelligence service)

Attached Files

**RN7** · 10-20-2011, 08:51 PM

Hi Ambrafoxtrot nice read.

I presume the senario is invasion of the continental US by an alliance of Italian, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Mexican and Cuban forces with the Brits still on the side of the US. A sort of grand alliance of EU/Russian/Chinese & Central Americans against the English speaking world.

Can you expand things a bit. How did this come about What's going on in the Middle East, Asia and the rest of Europe I presume Australia, Canada and NZ are on the US/British side. What about Japan, India, South Korea and Israel

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-21-2011, 01:15 PM

RN7

Glad you like the read.
The details will be uncovered as the story proceeds. For the premises and role gaming purposes of the story, see my answer to cavtroop above.

greetings

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-26-2011, 02:37 PM

Part 4: The Terror of the Game

The rest of the day was more than sufficient for Lario to plan his mission. First thing he went to visit the recon platoon quarters, where he was received by Sergeant Dario Rena. Rena was not a new face for Lario, who had met him In Pisa during the brief period he served as an assistant instructor at the Airborne troops school.

Rena, Lario thought, had not changed a bit since then. A military career was the thing he wanted more than anything else, and he could not get it. He was expelled from the Modena Military Academy in his third year, after having hit an officer who went too far in bugging him with courtesy regulations. In one single day he lost both his hopes to be an officer, and a paratrooper, like his father and grandfather before him. The latter had been a captain of the glorious oeFolgore Parachute Division that taught some lessons in light infantry tactics to the 44th English Divisions and to a regiment of the French Foreign Legion at El Alamein in October 1942.

After his misadventure in Modena, Rena barely managed to remain in the army, thank to his state of service. He was redirected to the cavalry, on a death track that saw him advance as far as section commander in the antitank troop of a recon Battalion. When his unit was ambushed out of Hernando beach by element of an American cavalry regiment, and almost slaughtered in a furious engagement, his platoon was reassigned to the 11th Bersaglieri battalion and tasked both with recon and antitank duties.

oeVailattiI cant say its a pleasure to see you again Rena addressed Lario as soon as he saw him reporting to his Platoon HQ. oeI hear you are here to take command of my men.

oeNot exactly Rena retorted Lario with a half smile: oeI am actually taking command of one of your men only. But I need the best guy youve got. Do we have a deal

Rena gave Lario a oewhat are you up to, look.
oeWhat is the nature of the mission

oeObservation point

oeI seeIll give you Private Goia. Hes got the best pair of eyes in the entire platoon and he is a quiet sneaky son of a bitch. I wouldnt define him a ferocious warrior but he can hold his own in combat

oeOne more thing Dario said Vailatti looking Rena straight in the eyes; oeI will need your vehicle. I have been thinking about going out on foot, but the distance is considerable. I am supposed to stretch out as far as Tampa bay outskirts if possible, and I have only got five days to be back here. Not a chance to make it dismounted.

oeI dont recommend that. Youll be damn visible with the blue pickup we have scavenged in Timber Pines after the first encounter with the enemy.

Lario paused for a moment considering options. oeWell cover it in mud and branches and see if it can go like that. Hows the fuel

oeNot even half a tank, itll carry you for may be 150 kilometers, then you are on foot.

oeWill have to be enough; then again we might get lucky and find some fuel along the way.

Rena gave a prolonged stare at Lario.

oeLook big special forces man he said with a tad of resentment; oebring my vehicle and my soldier back in one piece, or I will have to kill you; is that understood

Lario simply stood up, not too much impressed: oeIntroduce me to this Goia guy, and hes better be as good as you say, or I will have to kill YOU.

The two NCOs walked to a set of tents behind the parked Chevrolet pickup.

oeGoiacome here quick Rena yelled as they approach the oerooms.

A soldier intent to clean his assault rifle, turned over, stood up and trotted towards the two men approaching. He stood on the attention when he reached Rena and Lario, and saluted them.

oeAt ease Davide; this is Sergeant Major Vailatti of the Col. Moschin Regiment. He will brief you on a mission that you are going to undertake at his orders. I leave you with him. Then he turned towards Lario, and gave him the perfect military salute;

oeLet me know if I can do anything more for you Sir he said to Lario.

Lario simply reached out with his hand and smiled at Rena. oeWe will have fun. A smooth little data collection. It will be a nice little vacation.

By the end of the day, Lario and Goia had all the details of their excursion figured out; routes timings, and reasonable contingencies. They would travel west to the Lake Lindsey main crossroad, and then they would turn south on highway 41 in direction of Brooksville. The entire itinerary was supposed to be in the brigade rear area and thus, at least in theory, secure.

The following morning, Lario and private Goia were in full gear and ready to go. They looked exactly like a LRRP patrol should look: two big backpacks which just happened to have two little men, in black painted faces carrying them, weaponry casually hanging down as secondary appendices; and even though for that particular mission the backpack would soon find some space in the rear seats of the vehicle cabin, that did not necessarily make the expression of the two men less miserable. Major De Gaetano approached them as they checked their equipment for one last time before leaving.

oeIn five days from now, we will still be here, Vailatti said the Major with a warm smile. oeAnd in the remote case we are not, I will leave orders for you buried with a cache of ammunition exactly where the Dardo is located now. Be careful, do not run unnecessary risks, and remember the purpose of your mission; your patrol is going to be the southern eyes and ears of the battalion. Let us know what is going on. I am especially interested in the conditions of Tampa and surroundings.

Lario and Goia saluted on the attention, then embarked on the pickup and departed.

For a change, Lario found himself driving in pleasant and even warm morning with a big shiny sun rising over the horizon. If it was not for the deserted landscape, Lario could have thought he was on a nice trip in the country. Some of the farms along the highway appeared damaged, some very badly, in those particular areas where the Americans had set Antitank of machinegun nests during the Italian advance past Brooksville. Other signs of battle were visible, in the form of burned vegetation and terrain, especially near the artillery craters still filled with water. Occasional clusters of destroyed combat vehicles, most of them completely burnt out, littered the countryside, indicating the points of major resistance that the Ariete Armored brigade had encountered during its advance east.

oeHow did you get in the special forces asked Goia while Lario was about to turn to get on highway 41.

oeI won the European high school marathon two years in a row Lario answered with a smile, keeping his eyes on the road. oe1979 and 1980; Lario dreamed out loud I won by a large margin in the second year.

Goia looked at Lario to signal him that he wanted to hear more. Lario briefly turned towards him, and seeing his inquiring expression, continued:

oeI wanted to be a professional athlete. I was a tall skinny guy; kind of the perfect structure for a long distance runner. Then in 81 came the conscription medical visit, and the captain cardiologist that screened me, said I had a horse heart, and that was the reason why I won the marathons.

oeAnd you joined the Army as a volunteer said Goia with an amused smile.

oeWell, you know, I was given the speech about how the armed forces needed men with my potential, and they gave me the entire patriotic crap story. I signed, and was dispatched to the Parachute Brigade. Four years I spent there; then I went to the 9th for further training.

Larios smile became bigger as he continued to talk.

oeI still remember how I could outrun all the instructors. Boy that was fun; great times. I also started to develop a knack for basic infantry combat. I proceeded to systematically fail all the IQ tests that the regiment submitted me to, but I worked well in team, worked well by myself, and they kept me.

Lario paused, as he gave a circular look from right to left, to the landscape that was becoming worse as they proceeded west: more signs of devastation now, punctuated by the occasional civilian vehicle abandoned along road, some burnt out, or still with corpses on board.

Approaching the outskirts of Brooksville, the road sudden went uphill. According to the map, that was the last hill before the road would gradually descend into the town.
On the top of the hill, the view extended for several kilometers down in the small valley were Brooksville was located. And that view, Lario thought, was not good at all.

The first thing that a Lario and Goia eyes recorded was a scene of devastation: fires fiercely burning on various sections of the town, smoke all over it and confused activity going on all around. A couple of CARABINIERI helicopters circled around in their black and white paint, their bellies clearly visible in the morning sun. Military vehicles, many of them belonging to the CARABINIERI as well, moved in and out of the town in a confused carousel that did not suggest anything good.

Lario instinctively slowed down approaching the downhill part of the road heading into town. A defense line manned by the military was visible between them and the town, and it looked like it was facing the town itself. As Lario and Goia approached the line, the details become clearer. A big tank truck and a wagon, like a wagon towed by horses, but without horses, were placed at the two sides of the road. Lario blood froze when he focused his attention on the wagon, and saw an MG 42/59 on it, its crew pointing the weapon directly at him. At the same time, on the left side, a soldier appeared from behind the tanker and signaled them to stop, his assault rifle on the ready and, Lario noticed, several others rifles leveled on his vehicle approaching the roadblock.

Without hesitation, Lario slowed down to a crawl, until he came to a complete stop once he got close to the soldier who came out from behind the tanker. The soldier approached Larios side window and started in English: oeTown closed, you turn then he saw Larios uniform and the passenger in the pickup and quickly switched to his native Italian language.

oeYou guys from the frontline

oeWhat the h$ll is going on here asked Lario.

The army corporal gave Lario a disoriented look, bloodshot eyes in a smoke covered face. oeSir, are you kidding me Are you guys all they sent as reinforcements

oeWe are on a recon mission Corporal; we are from the 11th Bersaglieri Battalion, Ariete Brigade. I ask you again son: what is going on here.

The corporal licked his lips and looked down at the town chaos, then turned at Lario again.

oeSir, we have a huge mass of people coming from Tampa Bay devastated area. Tampa is a burning furnace. Two nuclear weapons have been released on it. Tampa and S. Petersburg downtown areas aint no more. Whatever is left of the population is overflowing the countryside, crazy for food, water and shelter. COMFOD dispatched a battalion of CARABINIERI here, the last operative battalion for crowd control. They are trying said the corporal almost with tears in his eyes, oebut they are slowly losing the battle. Whatever is left of the rear COMFOD support troops is manning this line between the town and our front line troops. The order, if the mob overwhelms the CARABINIERI containment cordon, is to shoot. Do you understand Sir We have been ordered to open fire on the civilians if things fall apart.

Lario looked down the valley, and then looked back at the corporal.

oeWhat unit do you belong to, corporal

oe79th Logistic battalion, COMFOD overall command Sir

oeAnd you have been assigned to guard the main road north

oeYes Sir, all the front line troops are committed. Apart from the CARABINIERI battalion, there is nothing left to contain the apocalypse that hit the population.

oeWhat about the local authorities

oeAs far as I know, Tampa Bay police department was wiped out with the rest of the population. Before the exodus began, I think that COMFOD tried to establish communication with the American National Guard Florida and with elements of the American 82nd Airborne division, which were believed to be in transit from Tallahassee to cut our supply line east. COMFOD wanted to organize a truce to deal with this tragedy, but then communications went down and nothing could be done. At COMFOD they believe that the entire United States have been attacked with nuclear weapons. According to the rumors, Florida has been one of the less damaged states: Tampa, Miami, Canaveral, and Jacksonville have all been hit with intermediate warheads. Other parts of the country have been hit more heavily, they say. COMFOD managed to make sporadic contact with some French coming east from Mobile, may be by ship. I do not know what the outcome of that has been.

Lario took some moments to process all the information, then he looked the corporal right in his scared eyes.

oeListen carefully son he said with a compassionate look. oeWe were supposed to recon as far as Tampa Bay, but I have the impression that our mission will not proceed beyond here. We are now going to go past your check point to Brooksville
Lario paused and gave another look at the chaos in front of him.

oeWe are going to go down there and collect all possible details of what its going on. We need to report back as soon as possible to our command, to update them about the situation. I have the impression that the chain of command has completely collapsed, and what you told me unfortunately confirms this fear of mine.

oeHow about you stay here with us Sir We have no command here, and if the mob breaks the CARABINIERI ring, I really dont know what to do Sir the logistic corporal was now looking at Lario with a desperate expression.
oeI would stay with you if I could corporal. But my orders say otherwise. You continue to do what you have done so far, and you will be doing well. Dont worry, Lario said to try and calm him down; oethe CARABINIERI are super though; they will not let go. Meanwhile COMFOD should be able to envision a viable line of action. We have to believe son, and do the best we can. Do you have any fuel in that tanker Lario finally asked.

oeYes Sir, its one of the last tankers in the entire Army Corps. We were supposed to refuel the front line troops and then distribute the rest to the civilians. There is no way that we could resupply the corps twice, so our orders were to help the civilians out of here. Apparently there are not a lot of places where to go anyway and besides, we got stuck in this emergency and we couldnt even complete our trip to refuel the combat units.

oeWell said Lario, oeyou have a chance to do it now. Order your men to fill my vehicle before we get down there. There is a chance that we might have to run back up here in a hurry, and not necessarily using the road.

After they left the outer ring line, Lario and Goia proceeded south along the road. Goia, who didnt say a word during the entire time Lario conferred with the logistic corporal, finally said:

oeWhat exactly do you have in mind now Sir

Lario did not turn his head, while he slowly continued to approach Brooksville.

oeWe get down there, collect any possible information and we go back to battalion; this is what I have in mind. We need to know if this situation can be contained, because if it cannot well it is my impression that the entire brigade is screwed.

As they approached the town, descending from the hill, they lost perspective on the general situation, but they acquired details about the portion of the military cordon they were approaching. After Lario drove the pickup past the first buildings he immediately spotted a platoon of motorized CARABINIERI guarding the route. A lieutenant in full antiriot gear run towards them as both Lario and Goia opened their doors and came out of the vehicle.

oeWho are you and what are you doing here the Lieutenant approached Lario brusquely.

oeSergeant Vailatti 9th Col Moschin; and this is Private Goia, 11th Bersaglieri. We came from Nobleton, frontline east. We heard about the situation from the troops that are manning the outer ring. Our original mission was to scout and refer to our command. We didnt expect to run into trouble that soon.

The Lieutenant looked at Larios shoulder patch. The Parachute and the Gladium with the number 9 on it always commanded a certain amount of respect to anybody in the military. He just let go a bit of his rudeness and continued: oewe are responsible for crowd control in sector five, the north eastern arc of the containment ring. One of my sections was overwhelmed and massacred just a few blocks south of here yesterday night. I do not have the strength to form a coherent line anymore. I am loosely dispatching teams to plug the gap. I am almost out of men even to do just that though. If you want the Lieutenant looked at Lario with a steady expression oeI could use you two to form a manipolo and send you down there. In this sector the mission is now to try and prevent the town folks to be massacred by their city countrymen coming from Tampa and Petersburg. Maintaining the containment ring is now secondary. If you are willing to help, CARABINIERE Mancuso here can join you to form a manipolo of three. Ill give you an armored van and you can go ahead and patrol the area. That would also give you a chance to collect all the information you need for your command.

The Lieutenant looked on his left at the smoke, the fire, and the screaming coming from his area of responsibility. The ballistic visor of his helmet up, he turned at Lario once again and waited.

Lario looked at Goia, paused for a second: then turned back at the Lieutenant.

oeGive me some equipment and that spare man you were talking about. Youve got yourself an extra team of bouncers for this morning.

oeMancuso the Lieutenant yelled to a private that was guarding a vehicleCall Giuffre; Im giving you guys that VM and two guys from the army here. Giuffre will be driving the VM.
You are under command of Sergeant the Lieutenant paused and looked at Larios name tag.

oeVailatti said Lario looking back at the officer.
oeYou are under the command of Sergeant Vailatti. Sweep up sector five: one single sweep, just to keep the crowd calm, and then rush back right here

The Lieutenant looked back at Vailatti

oeSergeant, bring me back my equipment and my personnel in one piece andthank you very much for your help.

That said, the officer turned around and walked to a man that was carrying a big vehicular radio on his back.

oeOk gentlemen Lario said to the two CARABINIERI manning the armored VM vehicle.
oeLets get this straight. You know the situation on the terrain, so you will be directing us to the points you believe are more critical. I will issue orders only if we get involved into something, but until then, the direction of the mission is to you Giuffre.

oeYes Sir, answered the young CARABINIERE. Please get in the back of the Van and arm yourself. We dont have much left to tell you the truth: the water cannon vehicles are gone, the supply of tear gas is gone. Were doing it the old way: club, shield and guts.

Lario and Goia climbed in the back of the VM and started to gear up. Both decided to leave their Kevlar helmets on, Lario and Goia picked up shields and clubs from the vehicle racks and left their assault rifles and grenades in it. Lario thought for a second, and then decided to keep his sidearm.

Giuffre drove the VM through ghost downtown Brooksville, with Lario sticking his head out of one of the roof hatches. He put on his goggles to avoid the effect of the dense smoke and dust. Sector five was an abandoned and devastated area, were there was no cordon in place any more. Loose patrols of CARABINIERI, mounted or on foot, were all was left to contain the disaster.

The street Giuffre was driving on was practically desert, until he turned left to a particular crossroad. All of a sudden Lario spotted action going on in a front yard. Two young men were beating to death a more aged fellow who was down, probably already unconscious since he did not even try to protect himself anymore.

oeStooop right here Lario shouted to the driver.
oeTeam dismounts here. Lets disperse those goons over there. Giuffre, as soon as we are out, you continue to drive around here. Do not stop the vehicle for any reason and keep coming back every two minutes or so to check on us. DO NOT LET THE VEHICLE FALL IN THE HANDS OF ANYBODY; it is full of military weaponry. Did you get than son

oeYes Sir, answered the young CARABINIERE; oeIll circle around and check on you guys every two minutes. He repeated.

Lario opened the back door of the VM and jumped down in the smoke and the rubbles. He didnt even turn to check if his team was following him. A weak but steady wind was moving smoke and yellow dust west to east as Lario run towards his objective.

As the two men realized that a team of soldiers was getting at them, they let go of their prey. One of them panicked and started run toward the house the front yard belonged to, while the second one, a though guy, faced the approaching team with a club in his hand.

oeCmon you dago bastards; Cmon, show me what youve got, the goon said swinging his club

Lario could not understand what the man was saying and wasnt interested in that either. When he was ten yards from him, he slowed his run into a trot and readied his riot club in a lower position. With a single steady movement from low to high Lario impacted the club on the man solar plexus and even heard the crack of the rib cage giving up from the blow. The thug fell on the ground with a gurgling sound, clearly incapacitated by the devastating blow inflicted by Lario.

For a brief moment, the manipolo stopped to check on the original victim of the assault; a man that could have been in his forties, completely covered in blood flowing from no less than five wounds on his head, arms and body. An unnatural posture of his left leg, also suggested a probable compound fracture. The man needed stabilized and Lario, who had brought some of his first aid kits with him was about to do exactly that.

Then, a terrifying woman scream coming from inside the house, made Mancuso and Goia turn at once towards the front door. Another scream, from a different woman, followed the first one soon after that. Noises of crushed furniture also came from the house and Lario decided to momentarily leave the wounded civilian to go and check the apparently more urgent situation.

oeThat sun of a bitch that fled from us must have stormed the house instead of getting lost when he had a chancesaid Lario oeThere are more civilians in the house guys!

oeWe go check it out boss said Goia. It was the first time that the recon platoon private called him that way; a new tone of even higher respect clearly noticeable in his voice.

oeNo way shouted Lario. oeWe stick together. The team moves together or not at all. Reform the manipolo and lets go get those women.

Lario, Mancuso and Goia stormed the house, as more screams and noise came out of it. As they rushed through the front door, they immediately realized they walked into trouble.

No less than four thugs were busy on the women, beating them as they tried to resist the attempt to be raped. Two of the four goons were holding down and beating on the almost naked victims; a teenage girl and a woman. The other two thugs, their pants down, were doing their business on them. The screams of the two ladies, and their faces covered in blood, froze Lario and his team in place.

Before Lario could give any further order or initiate any actions, more crazed up savages, from lateral rooms, poured at the team; no less than ten, eleven guys charged at them with fanatic rage. At the same time, the four that were on the women, tried to get their pants back on, and to take action as well.

oeForm the MANIPOLO shouted Lario trying to make his voice heard above the general fracas inside the house.

Lario knew right there that they were in trouble. Theyd got themselves in a situation that all anti-riot training schools considered one to be avoided at all costs: stuck in a semi enclosed space, stormed from multiple sides by a vastly superior force, the only points in favor of the team being that none of the goons seemed to be armed, and that all units of the Italian army receive at least basic training in anti-riot.

Lario managed to set up the basic fighting formation in crowd control operation; a fortified group (MANIPOLO) of at least three soldiers, each facing out in a different direction, using their shields as walls of the fortress and their clubs to keep the aggressors in check.

Since the very beginning Lario had perceived that this was no ordinary crowd though. These guys were a group of mindless savages that could not be intimidated or discouraged.

A human wave of 10 thugs threw itself at the MANIPOLO from 2 different directions. By pure chance, Lario was the less involved character in the action in the early stage. Mancuso sustained the charge of no less than three goons, while Goia tried to keep another couple of them at bay. Many of the assaulters impeded each other movement, and were easily repelled by the shields and the clubs of Goia and Mancuso; but a couple of blows managed to go through, and Mancuso had his right arm trauma protection plate shattered, and his arm hurt by multiple blows. Many of the aggressors did not even try to strike at the soldiers; they just dove on the group in the attempt to grapple them, tackling them down, deprive them from their protections and kill them.

At first, the steadier reaction came from Lario, who found himself on the less exposed side. He saw a flash of one of the most aggressive savages reaching for Mancuso helmet, and he thrust his club right in his stomach. A spur of saliva came out of the goon mouth. He went down with a grunt and stopped moving.

Immediately after that, things started to go south for the manipolo: thugs falling down and trying to stand up again, confused mass of arms legs, and clubs rotating in the air and on the ground.
In an attempt to parry a particularly vicious blow, Goia lose his shield and got hit hard on a leg. He kneeled down in pain, trying to continue to maneuver his club to defend himself. On his own side Mancuso faced no less than four enemies, who were trying to force him down and go from there. He barely managed not to get tangled, but he had to give up any attempt to strike back at the bad guys. Only Lario, who still enjoyed more freedom of movements than his companions, managed to put down another thug, with a thrust of his club: with blood squirting from his face, the ugly guy went down in a world of pain and shock.

And then Lario made what probably was a bad mistake: as he saw some of the crazies trying to take off with the women through the other side of the house, he tried to extricate himself from the melee and get to them. Not only he failed to do so, momentarily falling down and losing control of the situation, but more importantly, he compromised for some vital seconds the tactical integrity of the manipolo, offering an open spot for the crazies to focus their attack on. For one more moment Goia managed to keep the assault at bay by downing one more bad guy with his club, but then Mancuso got finally forced down by two enemies who managed to grapple and immobilize him. With one side of the manipolo collapsing, the gang finally managed to get at Lario as well. One of them managed to grapple him, before he could do anything with his club.

Rapidly Lario felt that things were starting to fall apart, as he looked down at Mancuso and saw him without helmet, two crazed beating on him. He turned his head towards Goia and saw him down too, even though he was still fighting and struggling.

Lario did not wait any more. He dropped his club and extracted his handgun. He put the barrel on the head of the thug that was struggling with him and squeezed the trigger. The guy head exploded like a melon spreading blood and brain all over the fighting bubble of men. New target: Lario hit him right in the face, with similar result as the first shot. He managed to blow a third guy leg, before he noticed with horror that the remaining geeks, would not hesitate or retreat, despite the carnage. On the contrary, they doubled their effort to get a hold of the oeheroes and kill them all. At the same time, Lario noticed that the women and their assaulters were by now gone and nowhere to be seen any more. Again, Lario looked at his mates; Mancuso down with people beating him unconscious, and Goia still weakly reacting to the repeated and prolonged assaults of more and more enraged thugs.

With the force of desperation, Lario raised his Beretta once more, and opened a hole in another leg, before being hit on the arm that held the pistol. He drop it. One crazed thug threw himself at him. Lario tried to struggle to break free: an incredible weight on his chest, one blow, then another.
A flash of pain up his head

oeF@ck it...let...it...be was last Larios thought. Then everything went dark.

Picture #1
Lario in high school. He wanted to be a professional marathon runner

Picture #2
CARABINIERI units dispatched to Brooksville before the outbreak of the riots

Picture#3
CARABINIERI inner containment cordon in Brooksville

Attached Files

**ambrafoxtrot** · 10-29-2011, 03:12 PM

Interlude

Some clarification about the campaign might be in order for who might be interested in following this thread.

We are a group of military buffs interested in war/role gaming a vast conflict in our modern era.
Even though the Geopolitical premises of this campaign are certainly not entirely realistic, we are trying and will try to portray the realistic consequences of such a devastating occurrence, with particular emphasis on the territory of the United States of America. At the same time we will try to have as much fun as we can, being this a game and not an academic project.

Nevertheless, we have a couple of participants in this game who are supposed to make it very interesting for the gaming group, and hopefully for the audience of this thread if there is one. The Game Master has a working experience of five years in Bosnia Herzegovina between 1991 and 1995 during the Former Yugoslavia Civil War, while one of the players is a PhD in contemporary history; specialization History of United States Culture and Society.

This campaign will be mainly focused in the United States of America. The game master is using a technique of oeprogressive induced awareness about what generated the conflict depicted in the campaign. The players started by knowing nothing other than their units had been activated for an invasion of the U.S.

The rationale of this oeignorance of the events is that actually the crises has not been the result an escalation of political tension debouching into an armed conflict, but rather a sudden and secretly planned military campaign against the hegemonic power emerging from the cold war.

The only available data to the players before the beginning of the campaign were that the European Union and NATO did not exist anymore. The first one had been substituted by a federation (actually a confederation) formed by Germany, France, Benelux countries and Italy, and the second one, simply dissolved in 1997.

The invasion of the United States of America by a huge coalition of oeobjectors to the international order emerging from oethe end of history to quote Fukuyama, began at the end of November 1999 (Thanks Giving Holiday) with a devastating attack to all the major facilities of the U.S. Navy, by the entire pool of special naval forces available to the World Coalition; objective, the destruction of the American Navy in port: tactically a massive repetition on a huge scale of the attacks by Italian human torpedoes on the British Mediterranean Bases during WWII; strategically, a giant repetition of Pearl Harbor, but with proportionally less waste of American lives, being the attacks surgical sneaky events.

At the price of practically the annihilation of the World Coalition naval Special Forces, a sufficient degradation of American Naval Power was achieved to make an invasion by sea possible.
The rest of the strategic and operational justifications for the establishment of beachheads on the continental Unites States are: the simultaneous assault by several major military powers all around the territory of the United States, with the attacks coming from multiple directions and with the help of a consistent strategic surprise.

Countries are actively engaged in the planned operation to subdue the United States to a new international order other than the oeNew American Century:

THE WORLD COALITION formed by:
The European Federation (Italy, Germany, France Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg)
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus
China
Mexico
Cuba

Countries that intervened in defense of the United States, and are currently engaged in various degrees of military operations against the World Coalition:
Japan
United Kingdom
Canada

Neutral countries, but inclined to support the United States
Israel
Pakistan
South Africa
Korea (unified since 1996)
Taiwan
Ethiopia
Vietnam
Australia
New Zealand
Spain
Portugal
Brazil

Neutral countries, but inclined to support the World Coalition
Arab Countries in general (with exceptions) with various degrees of support for the World Coalition. Examples range from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya (very high support), to Oman, Kuwait Morocco (very low support)

All the rest, for now, are neutral and shocked by the magnitude of the events and by the degree of strategic surprise.

There are more countries which would be inclined to sympathize with the United States, but do not declare it officially for fear of powerful neighbors at war with the U.S. Examples are Poland, The Baltic States, Northern Europe countries, Hungary, Slovenia/Croatia/Bosnia and some others.

Like I said, the object of exploration of this campaign is a global war raging (for the first time in history) on the very homeland territory of the United States, at least at the beginning. Main focus will be the interaction of the American population as a whole, included of course the military, with such a cataclysmic event.

The followers of this thread are invited to comment, suggest, add, and subtract/criticize what they find inappropriate to the premises of the campaign.

Greetings

ambrafoxtrot

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