The captain smiled indulgently. “I don’t want you going off and getting drunk in celebration. We have too much work to do.”
“I won’t sir,” Zhu said.
“It would be good if you could go through several practice runs with your men, but there’s no time. After we establish the breakthrough through this Second American Tank Army, then you’ll have time.”
The captain stood.
Zhu shot to his feet. Tian rose too, although more slowly.
“I want to show you gentlemen my little surprise for the enemy. The Eagle Teams are still the cutting edge of Army Group A. If you’ll follow me…”
The captain marched out of the room.
Zhu followed Tian. He was a First Rank. He would have his own squad to lead. What an honor. Zhu grinned and his eyes shined. This was so marvelous that he could hardly believe it. After months of grueling battle, someone finally noticed his effort. That was a good feeling. No. It was a great feeling.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
In the right time and place, the Behemoths were unstoppable. That was Colonel Higgins’ belief. He picked up a pipe, fingering the opening. He’d found this in an abandoned house and had picked it up on impulse.
The trouble was, none of his ten remaining super-tanks was unscathed. Each had taken damage from the Chinese heavy lasers. Tests to the frontal armor on each showed that the lasers had deeply stressed the plate. Each tank also had compromised systems, such as the thermal sighting, cannon control, the AI or the main power plant. These were not the same Behemoths that had begun the attack along the Platte River Line.
Still, there was nothing in Second Tank Army even closely approaching the Behemoths in capability. The Jefferson MBT-8s had also performed well. They were able to face the T-66s on relatively equal terms. The Chinese tank still had an edge due to having three guns to the Jefferson’s one.
The Jefferson divisions had lost half their new tanks to a variety of problems: enemy hits, battle stress, engine failure and teething problems, kinks that still needed hammering out.
Second Tank Army had originally spread out to face both north and south. It contained a critical number of the nation’s M1A3s, all the Jeffersons, all the Behemoths and far too many of the remaining Bradleys, Strykers and self-propelled artillery. Reinforcements had arrived: attack helos, vast amounts of munitions, tac-lasers and mobile missile launchers.
Stan had spoken to General McGraw, who had flown down to the southernmost position of the penetration.
As Stan waited in his Behemoth, with his head and shoulders outside the hatch, he recalled the earlier conversation.
“The Chinese have assembled too much north and south of us for Second Tank Army to handle,” Stan said.
“You’re getting cold feet?” McGraw asked.
“I’ve read the Intelligence reports. Tom, we always knew this would be the hardest fight: keeping the Chinese sealed. Marshal Liang is good at his job. He’s assembled a fighting force to break through faster than we thought he could. He’s accepted greater risks than we thought he would.”
“I’ve read the Intelligence reports too,” McGraw said. “So this is it? You’re suggesting I withdrawal Second Tank Army and try to bloody the Chinese as much as we can as they drive past us? And we do this because they’re too strong for us to contain?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Stan said “But I have a different suggestion.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Stan took a deep breath. “Let Second Tank Army deal with the southern attack. Those are relatively fresh enemy divisions but they’ll be ill-coordinated, would be my guess. They’re not used to working together. Second Tank Army can stop them.”
“That still leaves the Tenth and Fifteenth Armies from Denver to worry about,” McGraw said.
“You mean the burned-out hulk of those two armies,” Stan said. “They’ve taken losses in the house to house battles. They’re not the same formations that started the attack.”
“Go on,” McGraw said.
“I propose that you leave them to me.”
“You’d better explain what you mean.”
“It’s simple: my ten Behemoths against them.”
“Are you crazy?” McGraw asked.
“I’m not going to wait for them to launch a perfectly coordinated assault against me,” Stan explained. “I’m going to attack, but with the ten super-tanks bunched together. I’ll want plenty of artillery to help me. But those tubes can turn around later and assist our Second Tank Army.”
“The Behemoths are good, old son. I admit that. But you can’t take on two entire Chinese armies.”
“Burned out armies,” Stan said. “I’m guessing many of those soldiers have