Helping a fellow writAAR is no hassle at all, and soon I will be the one who will bounce ideas off you. 
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I'm a bit hesitant to ask as I haven't updated any of my own AARs recently, but how is the update coming?
The local military headquarters, Chita Province on the border of Mongolia, 7 am, January 23rd 1939
Sergeant Antonov was relaxing along with his squad in the main army camp. They had been here for several months now and had made their surroundings quite pleasant as a result.
“Hey Sarge, listen to this.” Corporal Arkady, Antonov’s second in command, called out. He was currently half-sitting, half-lying on an old madras, slung across some empty ammo-boxes. “It seems that The Balkan alliance finally defeated Bulgaria a couple of days ago.” Arkady was the most studied member of the squad and he made a special point of staying up to date on the current news, whenever he got the chance. At the moment, he was reading the newest example of the army newspaper, wherever he had gotten his hands on it. Probably pilfered it from the officer’s mess. Antonov thought, too lazy to worry much about it. To be honest, he didn’t mind Arkady’s strong interest in the world around them. From time to time, he had been good to have around, when they had to pass the time and stories from around the world seemed an innocent enough way of doing that.
“Oh?” He asked, somewhat alert, although the sun seemed to want to put him to sleep, as he rested in an old chair, with his feet up on yet more empty boxes, these from food supplies. “What will they do then?” he asked, more out of an intent to keep Arkady talking, than out of any real interest in what he said. Arkady, when he got going, was also good at putting people to sleep. At least some of the time.
“It doesn’t say.” Arkady replied, seriously studying the newspaper. “But my guess is they might consolidate their forces and turn on someone else. Maybe even Hungary if they’re stupid enough, or the Ottomans. Greece at least has quite an old thorn in the Sultan’s side and they may very well go for it.”
Antonov nodded, drowsily. “Wouldn’t mind the Sultan getting a trashing myself.” He said, half mumbling, noting that Arkady was shaking his head, out of the corner of his eye.
“I don’t agree.” He said, “I’m not sure the Tsar would look very favorably on Greece or Romania controlling Constantinople or Istanbul, as they call it. He might decide to intervene at that point and to be honest about it, I’d rather not have another war, if I can avoid it.” Antonov nodded, although he didn’t really hear the reply.
“Let the high-ups worry about strategy and what-not Corporal.” Barjik, one of the privates, said. “We’ll just follow orders as always. And to my mind Constantinople would be far better than the mountains, we’re about to enter.” Barjik was lying on the ground, his head resting on his helmet. In the time they had all been together, the squad had noticed that the tough Alash-Ordan could sleep almost anywhere and the somewhat cold ground on the border of Mongolia didn’t seem to bother him.
“I thought you liked mountains Barj.”Yasha, or Yakov as his name really was, retorted, as he was leaving their tent with a water-bucket. “Didn’t you grow up in one?” The rest of the squad laughed at the gentle banter. Yasha was always trying to make jokes, something which occasionally became annoying, but which mostly simply helped to lighten the mood.
“That’s precisely why I don’t like them.” Barjik replied. “I’ve had all the experience I ever want with mountains, back home.” Yasha laughed.
“Very clever of you to join the Mountaineers then.” He said, as he made his way towards the mess-tent, with the bucket.
“Like I had any choice. I should’ve kept my mouth shut and perhaps I’d be in Europe by now.” When Barjik had joined the army, the officer had immediately sent him to the Mountaineers, as the Imperial Mountain Corpses were commonly known. It was the standard procedure with anybody, who had lived in or even near mountains, as their experience was counted to valuable to be wasted anywhere else. Probably true, but Barjik hadn’t liked it anyway, even if he was the best scout in the squad and a dead-shot with a rifle as well, which had meant that he didn’t carry the usual rifle with him, but that used by snipers of the Imperial Army. He took pride in that, even if he did loathe the mountains, something which the others didn’t take too seriously, since he seemed to be as much home in them, as any living animal did and since he had, on more than one occasion managed to provide his friends with not only shortcuts, water and other such things, but also the occasional free meal, when they were on patrol. Compared with that, his complaints didn’t really bother anyone.
“Heads up, officer coming this way.” Petr, the youngest member of the squad suddenly called out. The youth usually bore the brunt of the friendly banter in the squad, but he didn’t mind it and gave as good as got, most of the time. He was currently playing cards with Oleg, a mountain of a man, who was very strong, although not very good with cards, which was why he usually played with Petr, who wasn’t a shark in the field either. Oleg rarely spoke, unless he had to, but the sight of the big man was always a comfort and he could be counted upon to come to his friends’ aid, whenever they needed him.
Antonov, who had by now fallen asleep, awoke when Barjik pushed at him. “Officer coming Sarge.” Barjik said, as Petr’s announcement hadn’t woken the sergeant. “It’s the lieutenant.” Antonov quickly shook his head, to clear it and looked the way Petr was pointing. Sure enough, it was lieutenant Yegor.
“What does he want?” Antonov mumbled, but stood up and walked towards the lieutenant. He saw no reason why his men had to abandon their pastimes to stand up, if they didn’t have to, so he moved away from them, before the lieutenant got too close.
“Sir.” He said and saluted, when Yegor arrived. The lieutenant nodded.
“At ease Sergeant. Get your men to pack up and have them ready in an hour. We’ll be moving out very soon.” Antonov nodded.
“Very good sir.” He said, at ease with the lieutenant, whom he had known for about a year now. “We’ll be ready.” Yegor nodded and turned on his heel, to walk back to the company headquarters. Antonov turned as well and went back to his men.
“Vacation is over.” He said, as he got there. “Be ready in an hour.” The men groaned a bit, but immediately packed up what they had been passing the time with and got to packing. Antonov watched them silently for a few minutes and then smiled. They are good men. he thought, pleasantly, as he went to pack his own things. And they’re mine.
Three days later, in the mountains of Mongolia, In the province of Urga.
What secrets do these woods keep? And what enemies do they hide?
“Did you find them?” Antonov asked, as Barjik came out of the trees nearby. Barjik nodded.
“There’s a camp a few miles into the forest.” He said, sitting down near the small fire and nodding his thanks to Petr, who handed him a cup of coffee. “There’s about a hundred of them, I’d say, seems like an advance post to me.” Barjik sipped the coffee. He had just spent the better part four hours making his way through the woods, following a trail he had discovered earlier that morning. He had known it to be man-made the instant he laid eyes on it and Antonov hadn’t doubted him. They had camped down and Barjik had made his way into the forest, arguing against the entire squad going, since he could hide much better on his own. Again Antonov hadn’t argued, since he knew Barjik to speak the truth. True, they weren’t bad at moving and hiding at the same time, but Barjik outmatched them by a high margin and until they knew where the enemy could be found, it was better to be careful than careless. That kind of thinking kept men alive. “It’s common infantry, but they do have a few pieces of artillery, although only small ones.” Antonov looked up.
“Artillery?” He asked, “How many?” Barjik shrugged.
“Five that I could see.” He replied, “and unless they had buried them, they didn’t have anywhere else to hide them. They did have a timber lodge though, which they could hole up in, if they were attacked. All in all, they seemed to know what they were doing, but that’s about it. As far as I could see their equipment was old and none of it up to our standards.” Antonov nodded, although he didn’t reply. After a few minutes, he looked up again.
“Alright, stay here and keep down.” He said. “I’m going back to Company, to talk to the lieutenant. We may be able to give the Mongols a very nasty surprise, if we play this right.” He smiled and his men nodded in reply.
“Will do Sarge.” Arkady said with smile, as Barjik pulled out a couple of rabbits, from his backpack. Antonov grinned.
“However did you do that?” He asked, as he stood up. Barjik shrugged.
“I placed a few snares, as I went along. Baited them with a plant I found yesterday. Always seem to do the trick and I picked up the snares, as I came back with these two fellows in them.” Antonov shook his head in mock disgust.
“At least save me a piece, till I get back.” He said and Arkady nodded again, grinning.
“Will do Sarge.”
Antonov quickly made his way down to the Company, which was camped a few miles further back. He made good time, as he didn’t have to worry too much about enemy scouts. If there had been any tracks suggesting that the enemy camp ahead was patrolling this area, Barjik would have found them and let him know about it. He was pretty sure the Mongols knew they were here, but perhaps they weren’t keen on the idea of attacking them just yet. No matter the reason, he arrived at the camp unharmed and quickly went in search of the lieutenant. He found him, sitting in front of his tent, cleaning his pistol.
“Sir, I have a report.” He quickly said, as lieutenant Yegor looked up. He could’ve made the report to the captain, but he preferred dealing with the lieutenant, who seemed to understand him and his men somewhat better than the company chief.
“Sit down Sergeant.” Yegor said, laying the gun aside. “Coffee.” Antonov nodded, as he found a seat and the lieutenant quickly motioned for a nearby soldier to bring more coffee and another cup. “So, what’s up?”
The company had made early camp, as Barjik’s report of man-made tracks was deemed too important to ignore. Even the captain knew of the man’s skills and even though he didn’t like the Alash-Ordan or any foreigners really, he was at least wise enough not to let that hinder his duty. So, the entire company had moved back and made camp, while Antonov’s squad had settled down further up and sent Barjik out to investigate. “Barj found the camp sir.” Antonov explained. “He says it’s about a hundred or so men with five canons of some kind. They’ve made camp around a timber lodge and as far as I could understand, didn’t seem to have any plans of moving on in any foreseeable future. At least Barj didn’t say and he would have, if there were any signs.” Yegor nodded, like all the rest of the company, he too had a healthy respect for the man’s abilities.
“So what did you have in mind?” He asked, noticing that Antonov had more to say. Before he could do so however, the private arrived with the coffee, which Antonov happily accepted.
“Well sir, I think it would be awfully nice of us, to pay them a visit, since we’re in the neighborhood anyway.” He said, Yegor looked at him, somewhat surprised. “Sorry sir.” Antonov quickly replied. “I’ve been listening to Yasha too much these last days.” Yegor grinned and nodded.
“Will he ever outgrow that humor of his?” He asked and Antonov shook his head.
“Probably not sir. I’m fairly certain that man will even make a joke of his own death, when that time comes.”
“Let’s hope that’s far of yet sergeant.” Yegor replied. “But you want to pay the Mongols a visit, you say?”
Antonov nodded. “Yes sir, along with you and the rest of the Platoon. I was thinking along the lines of having two platoons moving around to the other side of the lodge, while mine and sergeant Grigov’s squad take them from this side.” The lieutenant nodded, he seemed to like the idea.
“Why Grigov?” He asked.
“He has Fyodor in his squad and he’s about as good a shot as Barjik is. Between them, they could take out a lot of the Mongols, while I take some men and move in with grenades to take care of those cannons they have. That’s as much idea I can get without seeing for myself.” Yegor nodded again. He respected Antonov and although the sergeant was a bit presumptuous to make plans without consulting himself, he didn’t mind. Antonov always mentioned his plans beforehand, if possible, allowing Yegor the opportunity to agree or deny them and that was fine with him. He didn’t see any reason why a good plan should be rejected, simply because he wasn’t the one who came up with it.
“I’ll talk to the captain about this, while you go find Grigov.” He said and arose, with Antonov quick to do the same. “Explain what you have in mind and we’ll talk further, once we get going.” Antonov saluted and left to find his fellow sergeant, while Yegor went towards the captain’s tent, further back in the camp.
It was several hours later, as Sergeant Antonov found himself and his squad quietly getting into position on one side of the glade. Grigov’s squad was already in position to their left and the men busy readying their weapons for supporting fire. Meanwhile, on the other side of the glade, or so Antonov hoped, Lieutenant Yegor and the remaining two squads of the 3rd Platoon were making the final preparations of their own.
He glanced at his watch. Two minutes to go. He thought and looked at his men. They were all there, except Barjik, who along with Grigov’s sniper had made their way to either end of the glade, to provide even more cover. All in all, Antonov thought it wasn’t such a bad plan, he had cooked up. The idea was rather simple. They were attacking superior numbers, so they had to use not only the surprise element, but the advantage of staying at least partially hidden from sight, to win out without too heavy casualties. Thus, at least initially, only he and his own squad would be advancing into the glade itself and then only to be able to blow up those artillery pieces and whatever else, they could find to throw grenades at. As soon as that had happened, the other soldiers would fire upon the Mongol troops outside, as well as those inside the cabin and hopefully, they’d get them all. If not, they’d have to do it the old fashioned way.
Barjik, in his position, ready to cover his fellow squad-members.
Antonov eyed his watch again. They had dispatched the enemy guards quietly. Not that there were that many of them, apparently the Mongols hadn’t thought they would find them here. Amateurs. Antonov thought, when considering that. No professional soldiers would be overcome this easily.
He glanced at his watch for a third time and quietly nodded to his men. It was time. By now, all the other men should be ready and if they weren’t, well, it was too late to be wondering about that now.
They moved in slowly, crouched low and trying to make as little sound as possible, feeling with their feet in the snow, before putting down weight. It took time, but the sound of a hidden twig breaking would sound as loud as a gunshot in the silence of the mountains and Antonov and his men were too well trained in this kind of warfare to take any unnecessary chances.
They slowly made their way into the glade, staying out of sight from the cabin, while working their way towards the artillery pieces a little way off. Antonov had wondered earlier, why in the name of God, the Mongols kept the cannons way up here, but he knew that warfare in the mountains was different than practically everywhere else. Here, more than anything, you had to do with what nature allowed for and this cabin was probably the only one within miles. Thus, as Antonov would have done himself, the Mongols had made their camp where it was possible, if not very convenient.
He motioned for his men to get the grenades ready and to file out into position. Not only did they have to destroy those guns, which would create quite a spectacle and hopefully draw the enemy out, they also had to be ready to penetrate the cabin, if and when the opportunity arose. Theirs was the most dangerous job, but Antonov knew and trusted the abilities of his men. They would be able to handle this, if anyone could.
He pulled out two grenades of his own, placing one on the ground and readying the other. He glanced around a final time and knowing that he was as ready, as he ever would be, threw the grenade towards the farthest piece of artillery. Moments later, eight more grenades followed suit and the calm silence of the evening was destroyed by the almost simultaneous explosions, as the artillery pieces were ripped apart. Antonov quickly readied the second grenade and threw that as well, this time towards what looked like a shed at one end of the cabin, which might very likely house the ammunition for the artillery, before grapping his rifle and ducking for cover. Only moments later, another explosion shredded the silence, as the shed went up, although the explosion was far too small to have taken any shells with it. Bloody Hell! Antonov cursed silently, as he eyed the cabin door, from behind the low pile of snow, he had chosen as his cover. Where the fuck is the ammo then?
He didn’t have time to think more closely about it, as the cabin door burst open and soldier after soldier came running out into the glade. For a while, noting happened, until about sixty or so troops had left the cabin. Then, as if on cue, one of the Mongols went down, as a blast was heard from somewhere to the north. Barjik had fired the shot, which was the signal for the other squads to open fire themselves and within moments, several more Mongol soldiers had been felled. They ran away from the cabin then, trying to find cover and not thinking to head back inside, where they might be safe, at least for a while. Antonov couldn’t help but smile at that, they had fallen for it.
As the enemy moved away from the cabin, they came into view of the two squads hidden in the wood opposite Grigov’s position and gunfire erupted from that side as well, ending the lives of even more enemy soldiers. At that, some of the soldiers seemed to see reason and try to flee back towards the cabin, but instead of finding safety, they found only Antonov’s men, waiting for them. It was a slaughter and within minutes all sixty or so soldiers were dead, with not a single shot fired by them.
Antonov waited in silence, but no more troops came out from the cabin. He cursed. If what Barjik had told them was true and he didn’t doubt that, around forty more soldiers were left inside the cabin, far more than Antonov had hoped for and he didn’t like that. He crouched even lower, as he made up his mind. He had to get to the cabin, so he could sneak a peek through one of the windows on the ground floor. There weren’t any windows facing him directly, so he might have a chance to get there, if he sprinted fast enough.
Well, it’s not like I have much choice, do I? He thought grimly, as he readied himself. Then, cursing again, more to set himself up to the task ahead, than for anything else, the sergeant broke cover and made towards the cabin, as fast as he could. A shot rang out and he felt a searing pain in his left leg, but he went on, knowing full well that if he slowed, he was dead.
He made it and threw himself against the wall of the cabin, staying as low as he possibly could. He quickly checked the leg and found to his relief that the bullet seemed to have only graced him. He pulled off his scarf and quickly tied it across the wound. He would have to deal with it later. Right now was definitely not the time. He moved over to the nearest window, noticing it was unbroken. So the shot didn’t come from there. he thought grimly. That’s something, at least. Very, very slowly, he moved so he could cast a glance in through the window. There was only a single room and it was empty, as far as Antonov could see. That should have made him happy, but it didn’t as it meant that either there were about forty enemy soldiers on the first floor, which would be bad, or some of them at least, weren’t here at all, which was much, much worse. He stayed there a moment longer, to ensure that he wasn’t missing anything and then decided on his next move. He still had two grenades with him and that might be enough to do the trick, if he was lucky. If not, it might at least distract whoever was still on the first floor, giving more of his men a chance to close the distance. He nodded to himself and moved to the door, keeping himself close to the wall, so he was out of danger from whoever was on the top floor. Once there, he steadied himself, took a deep breath and with a quick snatch, flung the door open and jumped inside. He dove to the floor, rolled around and had his rifle ready, in a heartbeat. But no-one was there.
They know I got to the building, they know I must be trying to get in. He thought quickly, as he got up and ran to the stairs. He crouched low again, when he got there, staying out of sight of whomever, if anyone, might be sitting up there, waiting for him. He considered his options and were about to reach for a grenade, as he heard a shot once again and a single voice cry out upstairs. He took the chance and quickly moved into the opening, his rifle pointing up, but found no-one there. Shit. He thought. It looked more and more like they had somehow missed about half the Mongols here. So where were they? He moved up the stairs, trying to stay as quiet as possible and cast a quick look around, when he came up. The room was empty, although an open door led into what seemed like the other half of the top floor. So two rooms. He thought, as he moved over to the door and looked inside. He needn’t have worried, there was only one man there and he was already dead. Well done Barjik. He silently complimented the Alash-Ordan, as far as he knew, the only one were in a position to have taken the shot. He quickly went over the contents of the room and found a small pile of papers lying on a table. He quickly scanned them through.
“Bloody Hell!” He exclaimed, his eyes suddenly widening. He took hold of the papers and jammed them inside his uniform, as best he could and then ran back down the stairs and outside. He didn’t stop, but turned immediately towards the lieutenant’s position, sprinting as fast as he could. Shit, shit, shit! Was all that went through his head, as he ran.
Sergeant Antonov was relaxing along with his squad in the main army camp. They had been here for several months now and had made their surroundings quite pleasant as a result.
“Hey Sarge, listen to this.” Corporal Arkady, Antonov’s second in command, called out. He was currently half-sitting, half-lying on an old madras, slung across some empty ammo-boxes. “It seems that The Balkan alliance finally defeated Bulgaria a couple of days ago.” Arkady was the most studied member of the squad and he made a special point of staying up to date on the current news, whenever he got the chance. At the moment, he was reading the newest example of the army newspaper, wherever he had gotten his hands on it. Probably pilfered it from the officer’s mess. Antonov thought, too lazy to worry much about it. To be honest, he didn’t mind Arkady’s strong interest in the world around them. From time to time, he had been good to have around, when they had to pass the time and stories from around the world seemed an innocent enough way of doing that.
“Oh?” He asked, somewhat alert, although the sun seemed to want to put him to sleep, as he rested in an old chair, with his feet up on yet more empty boxes, these from food supplies. “What will they do then?” he asked, more out of an intent to keep Arkady talking, than out of any real interest in what he said. Arkady, when he got going, was also good at putting people to sleep. At least some of the time.
“It doesn’t say.” Arkady replied, seriously studying the newspaper. “But my guess is they might consolidate their forces and turn on someone else. Maybe even Hungary if they’re stupid enough, or the Ottomans. Greece at least has quite an old thorn in the Sultan’s side and they may very well go for it.”
Antonov nodded, drowsily. “Wouldn’t mind the Sultan getting a trashing myself.” He said, half mumbling, noting that Arkady was shaking his head, out of the corner of his eye.
“I don’t agree.” He said, “I’m not sure the Tsar would look very favorably on Greece or Romania controlling Constantinople or Istanbul, as they call it. He might decide to intervene at that point and to be honest about it, I’d rather not have another war, if I can avoid it.” Antonov nodded, although he didn’t really hear the reply.
“Let the high-ups worry about strategy and what-not Corporal.” Barjik, one of the privates, said. “We’ll just follow orders as always. And to my mind Constantinople would be far better than the mountains, we’re about to enter.” Barjik was lying on the ground, his head resting on his helmet. In the time they had all been together, the squad had noticed that the tough Alash-Ordan could sleep almost anywhere and the somewhat cold ground on the border of Mongolia didn’t seem to bother him.
“I thought you liked mountains Barj.”Yasha, or Yakov as his name really was, retorted, as he was leaving their tent with a water-bucket. “Didn’t you grow up in one?” The rest of the squad laughed at the gentle banter. Yasha was always trying to make jokes, something which occasionally became annoying, but which mostly simply helped to lighten the mood.
“That’s precisely why I don’t like them.” Barjik replied. “I’ve had all the experience I ever want with mountains, back home.” Yasha laughed.
“Very clever of you to join the Mountaineers then.” He said, as he made his way towards the mess-tent, with the bucket.
“Like I had any choice. I should’ve kept my mouth shut and perhaps I’d be in Europe by now.” When Barjik had joined the army, the officer had immediately sent him to the Mountaineers, as the Imperial Mountain Corpses were commonly known. It was the standard procedure with anybody, who had lived in or even near mountains, as their experience was counted to valuable to be wasted anywhere else. Probably true, but Barjik hadn’t liked it anyway, even if he was the best scout in the squad and a dead-shot with a rifle as well, which had meant that he didn’t carry the usual rifle with him, but that used by snipers of the Imperial Army. He took pride in that, even if he did loathe the mountains, something which the others didn’t take too seriously, since he seemed to be as much home in them, as any living animal did and since he had, on more than one occasion managed to provide his friends with not only shortcuts, water and other such things, but also the occasional free meal, when they were on patrol. Compared with that, his complaints didn’t really bother anyone.
“Heads up, officer coming this way.” Petr, the youngest member of the squad suddenly called out. The youth usually bore the brunt of the friendly banter in the squad, but he didn’t mind it and gave as good as got, most of the time. He was currently playing cards with Oleg, a mountain of a man, who was very strong, although not very good with cards, which was why he usually played with Petr, who wasn’t a shark in the field either. Oleg rarely spoke, unless he had to, but the sight of the big man was always a comfort and he could be counted upon to come to his friends’ aid, whenever they needed him.
Antonov, who had by now fallen asleep, awoke when Barjik pushed at him. “Officer coming Sarge.” Barjik said, as Petr’s announcement hadn’t woken the sergeant. “It’s the lieutenant.” Antonov quickly shook his head, to clear it and looked the way Petr was pointing. Sure enough, it was lieutenant Yegor.
“What does he want?” Antonov mumbled, but stood up and walked towards the lieutenant. He saw no reason why his men had to abandon their pastimes to stand up, if they didn’t have to, so he moved away from them, before the lieutenant got too close.
“Sir.” He said and saluted, when Yegor arrived. The lieutenant nodded.
“At ease Sergeant. Get your men to pack up and have them ready in an hour. We’ll be moving out very soon.” Antonov nodded.
“Very good sir.” He said, at ease with the lieutenant, whom he had known for about a year now. “We’ll be ready.” Yegor nodded and turned on his heel, to walk back to the company headquarters. Antonov turned as well and went back to his men.
“Vacation is over.” He said, as he got there. “Be ready in an hour.” The men groaned a bit, but immediately packed up what they had been passing the time with and got to packing. Antonov watched them silently for a few minutes and then smiled. They are good men. he thought, pleasantly, as he went to pack his own things. And they’re mine.
Three days later, in the mountains of Mongolia, In the province of Urga.
What secrets do these woods keep? And what enemies do they hide?
“Did you find them?” Antonov asked, as Barjik came out of the trees nearby. Barjik nodded.
“There’s a camp a few miles into the forest.” He said, sitting down near the small fire and nodding his thanks to Petr, who handed him a cup of coffee. “There’s about a hundred of them, I’d say, seems like an advance post to me.” Barjik sipped the coffee. He had just spent the better part four hours making his way through the woods, following a trail he had discovered earlier that morning. He had known it to be man-made the instant he laid eyes on it and Antonov hadn’t doubted him. They had camped down and Barjik had made his way into the forest, arguing against the entire squad going, since he could hide much better on his own. Again Antonov hadn’t argued, since he knew Barjik to speak the truth. True, they weren’t bad at moving and hiding at the same time, but Barjik outmatched them by a high margin and until they knew where the enemy could be found, it was better to be careful than careless. That kind of thinking kept men alive. “It’s common infantry, but they do have a few pieces of artillery, although only small ones.” Antonov looked up.
“Artillery?” He asked, “How many?” Barjik shrugged.
“Five that I could see.” He replied, “and unless they had buried them, they didn’t have anywhere else to hide them. They did have a timber lodge though, which they could hole up in, if they were attacked. All in all, they seemed to know what they were doing, but that’s about it. As far as I could see their equipment was old and none of it up to our standards.” Antonov nodded, although he didn’t reply. After a few minutes, he looked up again.
“Alright, stay here and keep down.” He said. “I’m going back to Company, to talk to the lieutenant. We may be able to give the Mongols a very nasty surprise, if we play this right.” He smiled and his men nodded in reply.
“Will do Sarge.” Arkady said with smile, as Barjik pulled out a couple of rabbits, from his backpack. Antonov grinned.
“However did you do that?” He asked, as he stood up. Barjik shrugged.
“I placed a few snares, as I went along. Baited them with a plant I found yesterday. Always seem to do the trick and I picked up the snares, as I came back with these two fellows in them.” Antonov shook his head in mock disgust.
“At least save me a piece, till I get back.” He said and Arkady nodded again, grinning.
“Will do Sarge.”
Antonov quickly made his way down to the Company, which was camped a few miles further back. He made good time, as he didn’t have to worry too much about enemy scouts. If there had been any tracks suggesting that the enemy camp ahead was patrolling this area, Barjik would have found them and let him know about it. He was pretty sure the Mongols knew they were here, but perhaps they weren’t keen on the idea of attacking them just yet. No matter the reason, he arrived at the camp unharmed and quickly went in search of the lieutenant. He found him, sitting in front of his tent, cleaning his pistol.
“Sir, I have a report.” He quickly said, as lieutenant Yegor looked up. He could’ve made the report to the captain, but he preferred dealing with the lieutenant, who seemed to understand him and his men somewhat better than the company chief.
“Sit down Sergeant.” Yegor said, laying the gun aside. “Coffee.” Antonov nodded, as he found a seat and the lieutenant quickly motioned for a nearby soldier to bring more coffee and another cup. “So, what’s up?”
The company had made early camp, as Barjik’s report of man-made tracks was deemed too important to ignore. Even the captain knew of the man’s skills and even though he didn’t like the Alash-Ordan or any foreigners really, he was at least wise enough not to let that hinder his duty. So, the entire company had moved back and made camp, while Antonov’s squad had settled down further up and sent Barjik out to investigate. “Barj found the camp sir.” Antonov explained. “He says it’s about a hundred or so men with five canons of some kind. They’ve made camp around a timber lodge and as far as I could understand, didn’t seem to have any plans of moving on in any foreseeable future. At least Barj didn’t say and he would have, if there were any signs.” Yegor nodded, like all the rest of the company, he too had a healthy respect for the man’s abilities.
“So what did you have in mind?” He asked, noticing that Antonov had more to say. Before he could do so however, the private arrived with the coffee, which Antonov happily accepted.
“Well sir, I think it would be awfully nice of us, to pay them a visit, since we’re in the neighborhood anyway.” He said, Yegor looked at him, somewhat surprised. “Sorry sir.” Antonov quickly replied. “I’ve been listening to Yasha too much these last days.” Yegor grinned and nodded.
“Will he ever outgrow that humor of his?” He asked and Antonov shook his head.
“Probably not sir. I’m fairly certain that man will even make a joke of his own death, when that time comes.”
“Let’s hope that’s far of yet sergeant.” Yegor replied. “But you want to pay the Mongols a visit, you say?”
Antonov nodded. “Yes sir, along with you and the rest of the Platoon. I was thinking along the lines of having two platoons moving around to the other side of the lodge, while mine and sergeant Grigov’s squad take them from this side.” The lieutenant nodded, he seemed to like the idea.
“Why Grigov?” He asked.
“He has Fyodor in his squad and he’s about as good a shot as Barjik is. Between them, they could take out a lot of the Mongols, while I take some men and move in with grenades to take care of those cannons they have. That’s as much idea I can get without seeing for myself.” Yegor nodded again. He respected Antonov and although the sergeant was a bit presumptuous to make plans without consulting himself, he didn’t mind. Antonov always mentioned his plans beforehand, if possible, allowing Yegor the opportunity to agree or deny them and that was fine with him. He didn’t see any reason why a good plan should be rejected, simply because he wasn’t the one who came up with it.
“I’ll talk to the captain about this, while you go find Grigov.” He said and arose, with Antonov quick to do the same. “Explain what you have in mind and we’ll talk further, once we get going.” Antonov saluted and left to find his fellow sergeant, while Yegor went towards the captain’s tent, further back in the camp.
It was several hours later, as Sergeant Antonov found himself and his squad quietly getting into position on one side of the glade. Grigov’s squad was already in position to their left and the men busy readying their weapons for supporting fire. Meanwhile, on the other side of the glade, or so Antonov hoped, Lieutenant Yegor and the remaining two squads of the 3rd Platoon were making the final preparations of their own.
He glanced at his watch. Two minutes to go. He thought and looked at his men. They were all there, except Barjik, who along with Grigov’s sniper had made their way to either end of the glade, to provide even more cover. All in all, Antonov thought it wasn’t such a bad plan, he had cooked up. The idea was rather simple. They were attacking superior numbers, so they had to use not only the surprise element, but the advantage of staying at least partially hidden from sight, to win out without too heavy casualties. Thus, at least initially, only he and his own squad would be advancing into the glade itself and then only to be able to blow up those artillery pieces and whatever else, they could find to throw grenades at. As soon as that had happened, the other soldiers would fire upon the Mongol troops outside, as well as those inside the cabin and hopefully, they’d get them all. If not, they’d have to do it the old fashioned way.
Barjik, in his position, ready to cover his fellow squad-members.
Antonov eyed his watch again. They had dispatched the enemy guards quietly. Not that there were that many of them, apparently the Mongols hadn’t thought they would find them here. Amateurs. Antonov thought, when considering that. No professional soldiers would be overcome this easily.
He glanced at his watch for a third time and quietly nodded to his men. It was time. By now, all the other men should be ready and if they weren’t, well, it was too late to be wondering about that now.
They moved in slowly, crouched low and trying to make as little sound as possible, feeling with their feet in the snow, before putting down weight. It took time, but the sound of a hidden twig breaking would sound as loud as a gunshot in the silence of the mountains and Antonov and his men were too well trained in this kind of warfare to take any unnecessary chances.
They slowly made their way into the glade, staying out of sight from the cabin, while working their way towards the artillery pieces a little way off. Antonov had wondered earlier, why in the name of God, the Mongols kept the cannons way up here, but he knew that warfare in the mountains was different than practically everywhere else. Here, more than anything, you had to do with what nature allowed for and this cabin was probably the only one within miles. Thus, as Antonov would have done himself, the Mongols had made their camp where it was possible, if not very convenient.
He motioned for his men to get the grenades ready and to file out into position. Not only did they have to destroy those guns, which would create quite a spectacle and hopefully draw the enemy out, they also had to be ready to penetrate the cabin, if and when the opportunity arose. Theirs was the most dangerous job, but Antonov knew and trusted the abilities of his men. They would be able to handle this, if anyone could.
He pulled out two grenades of his own, placing one on the ground and readying the other. He glanced around a final time and knowing that he was as ready, as he ever would be, threw the grenade towards the farthest piece of artillery. Moments later, eight more grenades followed suit and the calm silence of the evening was destroyed by the almost simultaneous explosions, as the artillery pieces were ripped apart. Antonov quickly readied the second grenade and threw that as well, this time towards what looked like a shed at one end of the cabin, which might very likely house the ammunition for the artillery, before grapping his rifle and ducking for cover. Only moments later, another explosion shredded the silence, as the shed went up, although the explosion was far too small to have taken any shells with it. Bloody Hell! Antonov cursed silently, as he eyed the cabin door, from behind the low pile of snow, he had chosen as his cover. Where the fuck is the ammo then?
He didn’t have time to think more closely about it, as the cabin door burst open and soldier after soldier came running out into the glade. For a while, noting happened, until about sixty or so troops had left the cabin. Then, as if on cue, one of the Mongols went down, as a blast was heard from somewhere to the north. Barjik had fired the shot, which was the signal for the other squads to open fire themselves and within moments, several more Mongol soldiers had been felled. They ran away from the cabin then, trying to find cover and not thinking to head back inside, where they might be safe, at least for a while. Antonov couldn’t help but smile at that, they had fallen for it.
As the enemy moved away from the cabin, they came into view of the two squads hidden in the wood opposite Grigov’s position and gunfire erupted from that side as well, ending the lives of even more enemy soldiers. At that, some of the soldiers seemed to see reason and try to flee back towards the cabin, but instead of finding safety, they found only Antonov’s men, waiting for them. It was a slaughter and within minutes all sixty or so soldiers were dead, with not a single shot fired by them.
Antonov waited in silence, but no more troops came out from the cabin. He cursed. If what Barjik had told them was true and he didn’t doubt that, around forty more soldiers were left inside the cabin, far more than Antonov had hoped for and he didn’t like that. He crouched even lower, as he made up his mind. He had to get to the cabin, so he could sneak a peek through one of the windows on the ground floor. There weren’t any windows facing him directly, so he might have a chance to get there, if he sprinted fast enough.
Well, it’s not like I have much choice, do I? He thought grimly, as he readied himself. Then, cursing again, more to set himself up to the task ahead, than for anything else, the sergeant broke cover and made towards the cabin, as fast as he could. A shot rang out and he felt a searing pain in his left leg, but he went on, knowing full well that if he slowed, he was dead.
He made it and threw himself against the wall of the cabin, staying as low as he possibly could. He quickly checked the leg and found to his relief that the bullet seemed to have only graced him. He pulled off his scarf and quickly tied it across the wound. He would have to deal with it later. Right now was definitely not the time. He moved over to the nearest window, noticing it was unbroken. So the shot didn’t come from there. he thought grimly. That’s something, at least. Very, very slowly, he moved so he could cast a glance in through the window. There was only a single room and it was empty, as far as Antonov could see. That should have made him happy, but it didn’t as it meant that either there were about forty enemy soldiers on the first floor, which would be bad, or some of them at least, weren’t here at all, which was much, much worse. He stayed there a moment longer, to ensure that he wasn’t missing anything and then decided on his next move. He still had two grenades with him and that might be enough to do the trick, if he was lucky. If not, it might at least distract whoever was still on the first floor, giving more of his men a chance to close the distance. He nodded to himself and moved to the door, keeping himself close to the wall, so he was out of danger from whoever was on the top floor. Once there, he steadied himself, took a deep breath and with a quick snatch, flung the door open and jumped inside. He dove to the floor, rolled around and had his rifle ready, in a heartbeat. But no-one was there.
They know I got to the building, they know I must be trying to get in. He thought quickly, as he got up and ran to the stairs. He crouched low again, when he got there, staying out of sight of whomever, if anyone, might be sitting up there, waiting for him. He considered his options and were about to reach for a grenade, as he heard a shot once again and a single voice cry out upstairs. He took the chance and quickly moved into the opening, his rifle pointing up, but found no-one there. Shit. He thought. It looked more and more like they had somehow missed about half the Mongols here. So where were they? He moved up the stairs, trying to stay as quiet as possible and cast a quick look around, when he came up. The room was empty, although an open door led into what seemed like the other half of the top floor. So two rooms. He thought, as he moved over to the door and looked inside. He needn’t have worried, there was only one man there and he was already dead. Well done Barjik. He silently complimented the Alash-Ordan, as far as he knew, the only one were in a position to have taken the shot. He quickly went over the contents of the room and found a small pile of papers lying on a table. He quickly scanned them through.
“Bloody Hell!” He exclaimed, his eyes suddenly widening. He took hold of the papers and jammed them inside his uniform, as best he could and then ran back down the stairs and outside. He didn’t stop, but turned immediately towards the lieutenant’s position, sprinting as fast as he could. Shit, shit, shit! Was all that went through his head, as he ran.
W.Rusco: Welcome aboard I'm sorry you found my AAR at a time, when I am less than solid in posting my updates, but hopefully, in time, you will come to like reading it, as much as I do writing it..
trekaddict: Have faith my friend
Hardraade: And that goes for you too..
Well, I'm terribly sorry about all this.. It seems I've run afoul of what I usually refer to as my 'Autumn-period'..
For some reason, I seem to catch everything and anything, when it's autumn, as my immune-system tends to be down at that time.. or at least that's what I figure to be the reason.. Whatever the cause, fact remains, that every year, I seem to catch colds, the flu, stomach-trouble and so forth with alarming pace, throughout the autumn. It usually settles, when the weather does, as in when winter is finally here and the temperature gets more stable.. I am not entirely certain exactly what the connection is, but it seems to be the same way, every year, so I can only speculate that there is, in fact, a connection..
This time, it's the flu, I'm afraid and it's pretty bad, as I barely made it over my cold, which was bad enough in itself, before it hit..
I'm not over the flu yet either, but I'm actually feeling rather ok today and I took the opportunity to get a little work done, the result of which, is posted above..
I hope you enjoy it and I will get back to you, whenever I feel a bit better and has worked out the next update.. Meanwhile, you can enjoy the time trying to figure out what got Antonov worked up so badly..
And please, forgive me for the lack of responses for the last week or so, I've been so sick that I wasn't able to get on my comp.. I cannot tell you exactly when I'll be on again, but I'll do so as soon as I have the energy for it once more..
Thank you all, for your patience and for staying on.. It makes me very happy to know that I am missed. I only hope I will be able to repay you with regular posting shortly.. But I cannot say for certain when that will be..
Thank you..
I'm sorry you found my AAR at a time, when I am less than solid in posting my updates, but hopefully, in time, you will come to like reading it, as much as I do writing it.. trekaddict: Have faith my friend
Hardraade: And that goes for you too..
Everybody:
Well, I'm terribly sorry about all this.. It seems I've run afoul of what I usually refer to as my 'Autumn-period'..
For some reason, I seem to catch everything and anything, when it's autumn, as my immune-system tends to be down at that time.. or at least that's what I figure to be the reason.. Whatever the cause, fact remains, that every year, I seem to catch colds, the flu, stomach-trouble and so forth with alarming pace, throughout the autumn. It usually settles, when the weather does, as in when winter is finally here and the temperature gets more stable.. I am not entirely certain exactly what the connection is, but it seems to be the same way, every year, so I can only speculate that there is, in fact, a connection..
This time, it's the flu, I'm afraid and it's pretty bad, as I barely made it over my cold, which was bad enough in itself, before it hit..
I'm not over the flu yet either, but I'm actually feeling rather ok today and I took the opportunity to get a little work done, the result of which, is posted above..
I hope you enjoy it and I will get back to you, whenever I feel a bit better and has worked out the next update.. Meanwhile, you can enjoy the time trying to figure out what got Antonov worked up so badly..
And please, forgive me for the lack of responses for the last week or so, I've been so sick that I wasn't able to get on my comp.. I cannot tell you exactly when I'll be on again, but I'll do so as soon as I have the energy for it once more..
Thank you all, for your patience and for staying on.. It makes me very happy to know that I am missed. I only hope I will be able to repay you with regular posting shortly.. But I cannot say for certain when that will be..
Thank you..
Oi, dangerous enemies those mongols can also be.
But it seems that the russians shall win.
But it seems that the russians shall win.
Well, either entire IJA is comming trough that mountain, or intelligence screwed up and they are facing not a brigade but an corps, or the rest of the M, went around them to ambush their base camp.
Great update, I can't wait for more. I'm guessing that massive reinforcements, are on their way. Hopefully they are not Japanese, or else you will be in for a long war.