A tale o'war

[Muti]

ambrafoxtrot,

ma sei italiano Are you italian

[ambrafoxtrot]

Part 12: The Battle of January 11

Lario was on watch for the first two hours of the night and he was scanning the surroundings with his binoculars. Darkness and silence were almost total except from the crackling noise of some fires burning nearby and some barking dogs, God only knew how they were still alive. He could not believe that nobody had stormed the building yet. He continued to repeat to himself that there was no reason why he should be still there and that he actually shouldnt be there.

Brooksville once a logistic supply point for the Ariete Armored brigade advancing towards Orlando, was by now nothing more than a ghost town with no more tactical use than a big empty hole. He didnt have any idea of what the situation of the brigade was. All he knew for certain was that the MP coy had been destroyed or at least dispersed by the attack of the panicked mob coming from Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg and that the logistic company that used to be in town had been used to man a cordon around the north outskirts, and now he had to presume that it was gone too, given that since he come into town a week before he didnt see anybody of that unit either.

He was pondering that his mission would have to be either to try to go back to the 11th Bersaglieri battalion with whom he had a brief contact the previous week after barely escaping an encounter with American infantry, or even better to head back to Hernando Beach where brigade command was supposed to be located. He didnt particularly liked this second solution because he had a member of the 11th with him private Goia, and the commander of the unit, Major De Gaetano, gave him the specific task of exploring the route from Nobleton to Tampa and report back the situation. He was the only survivor of a detachment of the 9th Parachute Regiment, and he wasnt happy.

While Lario was weighing his options, sudden noise came from downtown in a crescendo of screams punctuated by occasional fire weapons staccatos. Lario senses sprung into activity at full regime in less than a second accompanied by a surge of adrenaline which shook away any trace of sleepiness. The more time passed the louder the noise became and he was matter of seconds before Goia was at Larios side asking for information on what was going on. Lt. Frigerio popped out of the basement where together with Kate was taking turns sleeping and tending at the patients of the hospital. Screaming and clanging raised and rose in intensity to a point where the distance didnt let louder volume to be heard. Lario judged that the theatre of the action was a mile, mile a half westbound of their position, so no immediate danger for them yet. He looked at Frigerio, who meanwhile reached him and Goia staring out of the window.

Lario stood for a minute or two to hear if the noise got closer, but it did not. Then he suddenly turned towards his mates:

oegotta go for a patrol gentlemen. This could be something big happening. We need to know whats going on, and fast.

oeIll be right with you said Goia oeLemme get my equipment.

oeNegative Lario retorted oeyou stay here in case anything happensbesides, I move better on my own.

Goia was about to protest at Larios decision but he was already up packing his ammo and his M-16. He quickly completed his preparation with some more camo on his face, and securing his equipment to the BDU so that nothing would clang.

Lario looked back at Frigerio before slipping out the window.

oeIf Im not back by dawn Lieutenant, please consider the possibility to evacuate and reach the 11th up north. Goia knows the precise location of the unit. If they are not there anymore, there will be instructions to follow cached somewhere on site.

Frigerio limited himself to a nod and whished Lario luck. Kate appeared from the door leading to the basement and exchanged a quick glance with Lario. He smiled at her and took off the window, quickly disappearing in the dark.

Lario moved tactically. He dashed From building to building pausing often to listen to possible dangers around him; but it felt like the town was deserted if was not for the bedlam coming from west. It sounded like those town summer fests, where all people are gathered in one spot and the rest of the place is dead. Only problem was that he wasnt hearing band music, cheering and firecrackers but screaming and firearms noise.

After he passed a couple of more blocks, the night started to be pierced by red and black glazes of fires, projecting sinister shadows on his path and the noise was of course raising in intensity; the more Lario approached the source of the noise and the more details he could hear. He moved another two blocks and he started to recognize that some kind of big riot was going on. Then he came to an intersection that opened on a fairly big open space containing what it seemed to be a school or something like that. And the scene that presented in front of him could have been taken from hell itself.

A full scale medieval battle was going on; three different roads converged on the site and all of them were crammed with people trying to make their way to the main theatre of the battle. Luckily for him, Lario approached the place from a housing compound, crossing backyards and fences, which kept him out the lines of confluence to the carnage. People were fighting with any kind of real or improvised weapons imaginable, from spears to firearms. Some cars were on fire, which gave a spectral tone to the scene, and so were a couple of wood houses on the east boundary of the open ground theatre of the clash. At each charge a number of people remained motionless on the ground; some stabbed or crushed by hand weapons of various sorts, some other hit by bullets fired with any apparent directions from different locations within the crowd. It was a devastating looking mess, something in between a British colonial engagement with some natives and a giant stadium riot so common in Europe before the war. Lario didnt find anything better to do than hiding under a fence, in a little ditch to try and understand exactly what that shit was all about. At the distance he stood from the massacre, about 250 yards, the noise and view could have taken directly from Dantes Inferno.

After 20 minutes that Lario was observing the scene, he could not yet make out the dynamic of the battle, which didnt give any sign to cease; neither he could tell who was who in the giant fur ball, but at a certain point he noticed that the clash was taking a decisive turns and that the struggle was diminishing in intensity as if one part was about to be finally defeated. Before that could happen though, he saw a new surge of combatants coming down from the opposite side of the school and with horror, heard a large group of people running from behind his position towards his very position.

Lario quickly rolled on his side and managed to crawl behind the porch of the house he was hiding close by and fortunately for him none of the new comers had the time of the presence of noticing him. The party run right past him, silent enough, and as far Lario could see, well armed with shotguns, pitchforks, iron bars and other assorted weapons.

It seemed like the stream of newcomers were very well prepared and that they were acting under some kind of either organized or preplanned direction, because as far as Lario could tell, their intervention put an end to the battle. Coming from two different directions, they hit the mob in the square in a flank and in the back, and what it seemed to be the winning faction till minutes before, got quickly and promptly routed by the reinforcements intervening in the clash. After brief resistance, the succumbing part was slaughtered by the winners and very few managed to flee and to avoid death. Those few were chased by the winners, but this part of the action quickly exited Larios line of sight.

The scene that Lario had in front of him in the aftermath of the battle was probably the most apocalyptic he had ever seen in his life, as he evaluated that the biggest hospital of a big town in peace time could not receive the number of wounded and mauled of such a battle, many of them still moving and crawling on what had been the battlefield. Lario couldnt see all the details from that distance, but the noise of the clash was being substituted by the moans of the wounded and the screams and cries of the people that try to give first help to those people. Lario could smell the blood even at that distance and no pre war training could have prepared him for what he was witnessing. This was the apex of human desperation and ferocity bundled together, he thought, before his brain managed to resume tactical thinking. He thanked God that he had been far enough from the action not to be able to see the closest details of the effects of the struggle on those bodies, and slowly but surely he started to move backwards in order to leave the site. He needed to go back to the medical post of what remained of the 8th Carabinieri company and convince everybody to get the hell out of that town.

picture 1 A father trying to get his family out of the mess
picture 2 Lario's point of view

[kcdusk]

Im really liking it. A big twilight 2000 thing for me was the whole oesoldier in another country theme (USA soldiers in Europe). Ive never really gotten into the USA based modules. But reading these write ups, its great. An Italian soldier caught on USA soil is the reverse of what I normally play. Also, no offence intended, but the English used for the write ups is probably unintentionally adding to the fun of reading it. Ive got this crazy Italian accent in my head as I read the not-quite correct English. Again, I think it adds to the enjoyment. Its written well enough that its easy to know whats happening, but imperfect enough that it has a real Italian flavour to it its great.

Ive read the first 3 parts of the story, and the story itself has been pretty good so far. Atmospheric, a real T2K feel to it. Theres a connection with the lone soldier were following (Lario), especially early on when he is travelling on his own. Im looking forward to reading allot more.

[ambrafoxtrot]

Part 13 Reunion

Trying to relax his battered muscles, Lario hid himself as deep as he could in the miserable ditch hole he had occupied for the last half an hour. It was his official improvised OP.

"Cristo !!...what a fuc&ing disaster..." Lario glanced once more at the scenario in front of him. He grabbed the binoculars once more and gave the gloomy scene another scan.

It was pitched dark, but the glare of the raging fires in the square in front of him allowed a decent vision of his target area. Ignoring pains and aches all over his body and the overwhelming sense of prostration, he gave another good look at what was happening around.

People going in and out of a building and carrying...."What; frames, pictures, paintings or something like that, out of a building very close to a fire. The recovery volunteers lined up the objects carefully on the ground differentiating them by type.

"Interesting"

Engine sounds came out from west of the position; some pickups appeared soon after, and people started to carefully load injured folks on them. Some of the drivers came out to confer with the people on place; others gave assistance to the wounded still lying around.

Blackened face glued to the binoculars, Lario started to think that the good guys had won the battle after all.
"Bad guys don't give a damn about saving art from fires." was his reasoning

"Godda%it...I understand less and less of this mess...what am I doing here anyways" thought Lario observing the gloomy scene in front of him. "I don't even know who I am working for anymore and why"; he went back with his mind to his encounter with the 11th Bersaglieri up north and then with the Carabinieri in Brooksville. "I better get back to COMFOD or at least to Brigade as soon as I can, to see if there is still anything to do in this fuc/&ng war."

After he saw the vehicles departing east, he decided to move out and go back to the hospital; he suspected that vehicles full of wounded were heading there anyway and he didn't want to be too behind the locals in rejoining his party. Besides he'd better go back, before Goia got worried and decided to pack up and leave town alone. He reckoned he'd got enough intel on the battle scene, to understand what was going on.

"Vehicles approaching! Vehicles approaching from Summit Road" cried Goia, who brought is AR 70 to bear using the windowsill as a bipod for it.

Medic Lt. Frigerio dropped what he was doing and rushed at Goia's side to look for himself. He tried to still give the image of the good perfect noble officer, but the shredded BDU, the body odor and an inch of dirt all over him, kind of showed otherwise.

Three or four pickups were heading towards the building from the right side very slowly, a white flag sticking out of the first one.

Goia anxiously looked at Frigerio. The medic put a hand on Goia's rifle and moved it away from the sill. "Let's wait".

Two battered and long bearded civilians came out of the first vehicle, unarmed, peered around, and walked towards the main door. They stopped cold as soon as they saw the back of an APC sticking out of the spot where the door ought to be.

"Who arre you" was the simple question Frigerio asked to the newcomers.

The two men, who hadn't spotted the Italians ducked behind the window, yet, turned their heads that way.

"Sir...There has been a battle down in Cortez Boulevard. We routed the marauders but we had a lot of casualties. We have some wounded here. We know the Italian military Hospital is the only facility still working around here."

More people dismounting from the vehicles and starting to unload their sad cargo.

Frigerio turned his haggard face in direction of the convoy again and saw more vehicle headlights coming up the road. The vehicles approached and stopped in an orderly line behind the ones that were already there. The medic was tired, he was exhausted and he had almost finished all the medical equipment he once had, including everything the 79th logistic coy had left in town one week before.

Kate came up from the basement to see what was going on.

"Peoples...thiis ospital iss bout to bi evvacuated...we arre auttof supplise. Therre isnotte mutch we can du for yu."

"You must be kidding me man...you can't leave just right now...we just managed to liberate the town from the mob wave, but now we have relatives, here...friends who have been injured in the struggle...the hospitals south of town have been abandoned, there is nowhere we can go...you have to help us!! We saved also your ass you son of a bi%&c!!"

The crowd started to assemble in front of the hospitals carrying the wounded, some of them walking and some in such a pitiful state that it was doubtful that they were still alive. Some of the people gathering in front of the hospital were armed and they didn't really look like they would take a no for an answer.

Frigerio felt the frustration mounting and the physical prostration overwhelm him all at the same time...it seemed to him that nobody in the fuc&/ng world was able to reason anymore. He looked again at the front row of people advancing towards the windows.

"Yu listen to me bastardi. I am tirred of yu...yu all and yor fucching cauntry. Some of yur solders yust tried to kill us all some hours ago okeeeey I don't wont to bi here, I didn't asked to bi here. They sent me understend They sent meeeee !!!!! Now yu discipline yursself and put all the wunded down utside, I dont have space left inside. Second...you stop your threatening attitude or I wont even look at any of them not even if yu kill me. Third I garanteeee you that I wuld take many of yu with me if yu tried to kill me, and fourth I come out with my assssistent and make prioritis for the worse wounded ok
Line all yur frends outhere and get out of my way.

Goia petrified tried to keep his finger as far as possible from the trigger of his AR, while Kate, who miraculously managed to understand the main part of the Medic lecture, rushed downstairs to grab as many plasma units, sedatives, needles, and the like as she could still scavenge in the rapidly decreasing supply of the Carabinieri company.

"Discipline yourself" Goia thought while looking at Frigerio with a puzzled expression. "Can you really say that to a population that lines up their vehicles in such a neat file in the middle of a fuc&/ing war zone.

"Don't yu ever get tirred Ms. Bates" Asked Frigerio while trying to start to sorting out that bundled mess of variable typology of wounded.

Goia tried his best to keep relatives, friends and fiances out of the way while Doctor Frigerio attempted to establish who needed his skills first.

Kate looked at him, the beauty of her face mixed with dirt and sweat, but not defeated yet.

"Thank you Lieutenant" she just said.

Picture
Frigerio (center) and Goia (left) discussing inside with one of the American civilian leaders, about the situation in Brooksville during a much needed break.

[ambrafoxtrot]

kcdusk

I'm glad you are liking the story so far. This is a complete gritty story: no discounts to the characters if they get in trouble; no events tailored on the players either. What happens is as much as possible detached from what the Characters do (unless of course they influence the events directly).

I think this is great in a Twilight 2000 campaign. Keeps the players always alert, always worried and with that sense of "oppression" and distress that a setting like twilight is supposed to depict.

Greetings

ambrafoxtrot

[ambrafoxtrot]

Part 14 Doubts and Plans

Goia was the first one who saw Lario approaching; he wasn't really walking straight and he was barely coherent. Air humidity and a temperature way higher than a normal January would dictate, didn't help with the situation either. Goia run towards Lario and proceded to help him through his way inside the hospital.

It was still dark; the only visible lights being the ones of the scattered fireplaces in front of the building. Goia helped Lario to climb over an open window. Inside it was quite calm; Lario saw Lt. Frigerio inside, exhausted as much as he was

Lieutenant Frigerio was sitting at the half crushed reception desk, his head down.

Lario sat on the guest side of the desk, and gestured to Goia that he could go back to his watch duties outside. Before addressing Frigerio, Lario looked around in the big hall theatre of a nasty battle with the Americans the previous afternoon.

"As soon as I am able to...tomorrow I guess, I will take Goia, try to retrieve my vehicle, and I will leave. I have to warn brigade, or whatever command still in charge around here, that Brooksville is out of commission as a logistic base for the Italian forces. I'm just a dumb Sergeant, but I believe that this invasion, at least as far as western Florida is concerned, has failed.

Frigerio didn't move his head from the table; just his eyes.

"We couldn't do much more here Sergeant: the Carabinieri company and the logistic company are presumably both finished as combat capable units. We exhausted all the medical supplies, in the last effort to assist the local population. I barely managed to keep everybody alive, I don't know for how long though. There are some patients in critical conditions, and I have used everything I had. There is no much more I can do. Yet, before I go, I would like to mount one last patrol to the southern outskirts on State road 41...I would like to see if we can manage to find Captain Cantatore, dead or alive, Brigadier Dalmazia or anybody else. It would also be interesting to see what happened to the town sheriff and may be to that yank naval detachment.

Lario raised his head.

"Friends of that American that I hit last night"

"Yes; we put him with all the other casualties in the ditch behind the main road...I believe it was originally a group of three men; two of'em where fighting with Cantatore down south, but we have no news regarding them or the local police forces".

"If they are still alive, it's one more reason for us to grab our sh%t and get lost; the Americans have clearly wrestled this town out of our grasp"...Lario paused..."with the help of the mob I would say. Now, if it is so, the yankees can, and have to take care of their own people here."

"And the fifghting elements of the brigade I mean they will completely be cut off of the main supply routes from Hernando beach.

"We don't have enough elements to judge Lieutenant! We don't even know if there still is a command in Hernando; supplies...or anything.

"I heard some news yesterday, before the beginning of the battle. They recovered a couple of survivors from the 4th tank regiment and from the cavalry company attached to the brigade. If I have understood well, the cavalry company has been assaulted and destroyed by masses of civilians coming from the nuked towns. There is no precise information about the tankers though."

"Difficult to say lieutenant; I know there is a mechanized battalion northeast, between Lake Lindsey and Orlando. I am here because I was tasked with a reconnaissance mission by this very battalion. It seems I didn't make it very far. Hell...I might even try and contact them over the radio...at this point we don't have much to lose if we get detected by the enemy.

"And the locals here" Asked Frigerio.

"We did everything we could for them as long as it was tactically meaningful for us to hold this town...now, I think, the time has come for us to leave. The American military will have to deal with its own population now; may be, that will keep them busy enough to prevent them from hitting us too hard. On the other hand, I have no idea about what American units there are around here. Since the beginning of the operation, all I have really ever seen is American light infantry."

"What about possible survivors from the Carabinieri company."

"You feel free to stay here and look for them."

"I might end up doing just that Sergeant...you should let me look at that head of yours, before you leave. You don't really look in top shape if I may say so".

"Does anybody else"