Chapter 16: Freedom Comes to Pittsburgh
Lt. General Elisabeth Arica readies her troops on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. They had moved into the southern suburb of Washington three days ago and had setup their supply and logistic centers here. Security was paramount, as proper supplies would be critical for the upcoming operation. Rear area hospitals were being erected to deal with the upcoming casualties and holding areas were under construction to deal with prisoners. Local Confederate sympathizers, though few in number, were used as liasons with what was left of the local civilian population. Ariel reconnasaince by the CSAAF had produced reports of the streets heading east out of Pittsburgh being flooded with civilian refugees. Over 750,000 US citizens fled before the CSA invasion. Arica smiled. They would make it virtually impossible to bring reinforcements into Pittsburgh and unless those roads were cleared by force, the US would have a tough time keeping Pittsburgh in supply. The CSAAF commander in charge had prohibited his planes from strafing civilian refugee columns. While this order was given for purely military reasons, it also had good propaganda effect for the newspapers back home. It certainly helped with keeping the locals tamed. Maximillians brutal tactics had made many of the local civilians edgy, and she believed that they caused more harm than good. Nothing worse than fighting fanatics in urban warfare.
The sun began to crack the horizon in the east. She looked at her watch. It was time. The orders were given and within a half hour her three crack Freedom Guards divisions were making their way up Highway 19 toards Pittsburgh. Resistance was scattered and light as the Freedom Guards secured town after town on their way to Pittsburgh. It was like a rolling carpet heading towards downtown. Once an area was secure the engineer battalions went into action making sure the area was safe and fit for truck traffic. Mount Lebanon and Bridgeville were home only to a few scattered militia elements and these were easily rooted out and destroyed. US army soldiers were afforded the comforts of the Geneva convention. Non-uniformed guerilla elements were not so lucky. It was a subtle distinction, but one that was quickly disseminated throughout occupied territory.
It wasn't until the scouts reached the intersection of Highway 19 and Sawmill Rd. did the US army make its presence felt. But when they did, they really made it felt. Three light recon vehicles were hit simultaneously by anti-tank guns and were soon smoldering wrecks in the middle of the road. Small arms and machine gun fire swept down Hwy 19 and the intersection. Confederate troops quickly left the exposed road and took refuge in small shops lining the roads. Radios further back with the main force came alive all at once with reports pouring back in of heavy resistance. The Freedom Guards knew what to do however, as they had been specially recruited for urban warfare. Light infantry guns were quickly deployed and began shelling the coordinates that had been relayed back. Fifty millimetere cannons would not destroy the cement and steel structures of downtown Pittsburgh, but they were excellent for leveling the small light concrete buildings and wooden houses and shops of the suburbs. More and more Freedom Guards moved up and began to advance in leafrog motions through the houses and businesses that seperated them with the American forces. Eighty-one millimeter mortars spread smoke throughout the area, covering the advancing CS soldiers.
House to house fighting soon became the order of the day as the CS forces slowly advanced closer to their goal of the Monongahela River. Arica had wanted to reach the river by the end of the day, but with each passing hour that goal was becoming impossible. She could not complain, her troops were making good progress. The US was just putting up a much stiffer fight than anticipated. CS casualties began to filter back from the front lines as the Confederates widened their line of advance. Freedom Guard troops had spread out to McKinley and Mt. Washington parks and as more men came forward Arica decided anchor one end of the line at McKinley Park, and send the rest of her troops north towards Highway 121. Maximillian's forces were supposed to join up with hers at Highway 121, where they would then form a giant U-shaped battlefront, and begin to move as one into Pittsburgh proper.
The fight to secure McKinley park was getting more vicious by the second. Mortars rained smoke and shells down upon the US defender's positions, and CS howitzers began to rain fire down upon the Americans. The US, however, did not take this lying down and began to fire their own mortars and light artillery back at the advancing Freedom Guards. Carefully arranged defensive nests proved to be deadly to the oncoming Confederates. US machine guns sweeped the open ground in front of them in overlapping fields of fire. The Park needed to be secured before nightfall before the US could bring any more defenders up. The position was too vital to the US defensive efforts. It was ordered to be held to the last man. Arica looked at the sky. The sun was setting too fast in her opinion, and reports from the park coming back indicated that the CS advance was moving painfully slow. Units had tried to encircle the park to flank the US forces, but the had been cut down by hidden US strongpoints. The US machine guns then provided cover fire while these troops escaped to hide in another location. The Freedom Guards had tried a straight on assault, but that too had failed. Casualties were mounting at the park, and the requests for more men began pouring in. Arica knew something had to be done, but what? She needed air support, but not just the normal air support. She needed precision bombing. Her men were seperated from the enemy by mere yards. Without precision bombing, the CSAAF would kill more of her men than they would the AMericans. She called the CSAAF aircommander and requested his best pilots for extremely close air support. The air marshall balked at the request at first. It would be impossible he claimed. Nothing like thise had been attempted before. But it was the only solution. Her men would mark the targets with purple smoke. She needed the bombs dropped exactly on the smoke. Twenty yards one way or another would mean another order of CSA body bags to go. After much talk, the air marshall said that he would send her the planes, if he could find twenty of his pilots willing to accept the job. He would call her back in five minutes.
Four and a half minutes later the phone rang. The planes were in route. The order was issued to mark the targets with purple smoke and prepare for close air support. Her local ground commanders protested, insisting their men were going to die. Everyone knew those airforce jockeys couldn't hit a football field. She cut them off. This was the only way, unless they wanted to try another frontal assault. The major in charge did not need to sweep the park ground littered with dead and dying Freedom Guards to realize she was right. The orders went out. Mortars trained their sights on the furthest north pill boxes and after several practice shots to get the ranged, popped the US position with the purple smoke. The orders were transmitted to the scattered CS soldiers still alive on the park grounds to mark the enemy machine guns with smoke. A concerted push was made and amid a hail of bullets and grenades, most of the US posistions were so flagged. The CS soldiers prepped for the assault. Once the flyboys had done their duty, another charge was to be made. There would be no evalution time to determine if the guns had been neutralized or the pill boxes destoryed or the houses leveled. Once those planes made their third bombing run, the atack was on. As the sounds of the affectionately named AssKickers told the soldiers that the time had almost come, seven hundred Freedom Guardsman began to pray. For many, it would be their last rites.
Will the end of the day see Confederate artillerists aiming their guns across the Ohio, at downtown Pittsburgh?
