Re: 0Dark:30
Tense minutes passed.
The sun peaked through the roiling thunderstorm for a heartbeat; sunrise had finally came along. That would mean that the landing was nearly completed, that real on the ground support would be close enough to offer assistance soon.
Then came the shriek of incoming Soviet artillery. The heavy 152mm shells made a ripping sound as they passed overhead. And immediately faded out in the ear rattling passage of incoming NATO artillery from offshore.
The morning suddenly turned into a riot of deafening explosions and a cascade of shrapnel, wood slivers, pulverized stone, and waves of percussive over-pressure. Lacerations, perforations, contusions, swelling, and bleeding became the order of the day. While they had suffered no major injuries, the team members would spend some time removing bits of shrapnel and debris from their various minor wounds while their noses and ears seemed to slowly bleed.
The aches, especially Patric's invigorated headache, were terrible. Their radios, night vision devices, weapon's optics, canteens, and other small electronic devices payed the price as percussive force disconnected leads, cracked lenses, ruptured fluid filled containers, ruptured vacuum seals, displaced rubber gaskets, and shattered digital displays.
The NATO barrage had fallen within thirty meters west of the team but it ripped the guts from the Polish Infantry's attack. Several vehicles were burning. Corpses littered the ground as if they had been haphazardly dropped from the sky. Secondary explosions caused by ignited rockets, grenades, and ammunition had killed many. Both of the BRDMs were aflame, but the T62m still stood its ground. Its hatches were still open from where the crew had bailed out and it was obvious that engine wasn't running.
Behind the team to the east the heavy 152mm shells from the Pact barrage had landed mostly in trees and bog. Luckily for the team. It was a scene reminiscent of the old black and white photos of the Somme or Belau Wood.