Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 63-1: Brawl (Part 1)

When facing an enemy numerically superior to your own in an urban condition, divide and conquer is the name of the game. -Urban Warfare 101, written by Major Aleph Muller.

In the time it has taken for the Polanian Warsaw garrison to encircle the Slavic slum area, the dwellers of the site have been hard at work setting up roadblocks and burning barricades. This is not to block the path of the Polanian Army, rather, the intent is to create a maze of small walkways and dead ends. Even if the military garrison has a map of the area, they will not be able to maneuver properly in large numbers, forcing them to divide into smaller teams to scout or push forward. Even if these Polanians are well-armed, it doesn't mean they're well-protected against unseen threats. Very soon, the first casualties will occur in these advanced detachments. The arrogance they place in their numbers and weapons will quickly prove to be their downfall.

Of many forward elements is a squad of eight riflemen, not very serious in terms of firepower but are nevertheless universally equipped. They have trodden a path that brings them far away from the trailing main body of the Warsaw garrison. If they need urgent help, the only thing they can do is to send a runner back to the main unit, something that can easily be exploited. Navigating the dirty streets of the slum, one can barely find their way when the path is always occluded by an obstacle or piles of gross rubbish. Suddenly, one of the riflemen steps on something, it clicks, before a bang rings out all over the alley they're in.

"AIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!"

Very, very unfortunate for that Polanian, he has stepped up on a toe-popper trap. It's quite a simple, albeit nasty trap nonetheless. Made using a combination of a spare bullet, a steel tube, an aluminum band, and a steel fish hook acting as a firing device, the mine is then directed upward using a wooden plate with three upright supports. When the Polanian infantryman stepped on the mine, which was buried in a shallow hole and covered with a thin layer of garbage, the downward pressure on the sliding fish hook immediately fired off the blasting cap which instantaneously ignited the powder of the casing, sending the bullet through the steel tube. The result, normally, would have just been a foot or toe injury, hence the name toe-popper. Yet, because this particular trap used an old 7.62x54R bullet, it had enough of a kick behind it to go beyond the foot of the Polanian soldier and hit his proud jewel instead.

Well, that's one less contributor to the gene pool. Being hit in the spot that every man fears, it's understandable why the soldier screams like a pig in the slaughterhouse.

At first, the others in his squad think that they're under attack, it's why they make the conscious decision to seek cover first before trying to extract the wounded. It's this ingrained instinct of theirs that makes one of them take cover behind a stairway leading up an elevated building. The moment he steps on the pavement of the sidewalk, it collapses into a pit of jagged spikes of all sorts of materials. Sharpened wood, rebar, and even half a knife's edge... All made for a trap that can rend bites into a leg just fine. This time, the bloodcurdling screams of another one of their friends sure catches the others' attention.

Seeing one of them literally tearing his foot apart just to escape the trap has been a mortifying sight. Thinking that there are no terrorists around, most of them abandon their posts to try and help the pair of injured members. Just from a cursory glance, the more experienced members of the unit decide that their first casualty needs to be sent back to a hospital. No one deserves to be taken out of the genetic pool like that, no one.

Their second injury, however, requires special care and attention. The spiked pit has been a carefully planned trap, intending to play at a soldier's training and instinct by working in tandem with the toe-popper. Since it had been carefully prepared, the pit was dug with sharp spikes in the sides pointing downward at an angle. A soldier stepping into the pit would find it impossible to remove their leg without doing severe damage, and injuries might be incurred by the simple act of falling forward while one's leg is in a narrow, vertical, stake-lined pit. Such pits would require time and care to dig the soldier's leg out, something that would leave a unit tremendously exposed. That said, scenes like this aren't rare as other forward elements of the Warsaw garrison also stepped on traps like this one. Due to the nature of such traps, units are forced to slow down to treat their casualties or are routed when they trip multiple traps in quick succession. This particular unit though, they have picked the short end of the draw on this particular occasion.

Owning to the lack of 360 degrees of security and that they haven't even checked the nearby abandoned houses, these Polanians got jumped upon by a Hunter-Killer group from the so-called terrorists. Soldiers clad in urban camo jump down from a second-story building, their SMGs and rifles raised at the unsuspecting backs of the Polanians trying to help their wounded. They pull their trigger unhesitatingly, sending a mix of 8mm and 9mm bullets to their center mass. The ambush drops four of the Polanians dead, while another is sniped by a marksman on a nearby rooftop. The initial engagement killed five out of 8, and of the remaining three, only one is combat effective. Yet, this one lucky Sergeant decides to high-tail out of there, ducking into an alleyway before the ambushers manage to get a shot off. Unfortunately for him, he runs into a fist coming right up his nose.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh is surprisingly loud, and so is the sound of a body being decked onto the muddy floor. Adam cracks the knuckle of his right fist, unruffling that he just one-punch a foreign officer under the floor. Adam then turns to the Slavs behind him, giving them a gesture of go-ahead. These Slavs nod at him gratefully before moving to secure the unconscious Polanian Sergeants and scavenge the dead soldiers' weapons. Coincidentally, the Polanian wounded are either shot or stabbed. Some may call it a violation of the Geneva Convention, but these two men were trying to go for their guns, ok? It's not like Adam and the rest can even take care of them anyway. Getting living prisoners for intel and proof is already stretching their timetable.

It's unknown who fired the first shot at this point, but first contact ended in a small shootout when they tried the diplomatic approach. One of the Slavic people died in that initial engagement, so the plan then changed. Knowing that the Polanians will be coming in hot with scout units, a Hunter-Killer force of their own will be moving to eliminate some of them to get more guns for the slum dwellers. They have been effective so far, already picking up around two dozen assorted weapons and ammo. This is mostly due to the Belkan radios receiving guidance from the Barracuda UAV in the sky. If the UAV is already up there, CAS is not too far away from its position.

Nonetheless, it's time they all head back. The gig must be up by now, and the Warsaw garrison must have learned enough intel to kick the bulk of their forces into the arena. Up next will a metaphorical train of hostile units barging into the slum. It's here that the Slavs and their allies will have to make their stand. As for how many will live to tell the tale, leave it for the fortune of war to decide.

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