Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable

A War of Attrition

1st Lieutenant Thornton’s Company had been stationed near the Hastor Ashbod Israeli airbase following 75 days of continuous combat. The battalion needed time to decompress, reorganize and integrate their new replacements. Lieutenant Thornton was sitting in the battalion command tent, along with the other company commanders, when word come down that the Russians and Chinese were launching a new offensive. Their battalion had been planning to move to their own jump-off position within 24 hours for General Gardner’s offensive when the Russians and Chinese launched their spoiler attack.

Major Lee walked into the tent after talking on a command phone with his own higher ups. “Marines, as you all have heard the Russians and Chinese are launching a pre-emptive attack. Our guys in the north are getting hammered hard by the Russians. The 1st MEF is also getting blasted by the Chinese in the south. We have been ordered to reinforce the Army and the Israelis in the north. I know we are closer to the 1st MEF, but apparently, the Chinese are not hitting them nearly as hard as the Russians are.

“As of right now, the Russians have plowed through our entire defensive line in the north. The 1st ID suffered 30 % casualties within the first six hours of combat, and has been forced to fall back. Intelligence says the Russians are advancing with their entire force and a group of about one million IR troops as well. You all know the drill; have your companies ready to move within the next two hours. We roll out in support of an armor unit, so be ready. Dismissed.” As Major Lee finished his speech, his officers quickly got up and began to head towards their units and infantry fighting vehicles.

The 2nd MEF had been heavily reinforced after their brutal mauling during the first 60 days of the war. They now had 60,000 Marines, along with 300 Pershing tanks and 800 M1A4 tanks. It took the battalion three hours to reach the edge of the battlefield, and what they saw reminded them of the first few weeks of the war. Off in the horizon, they could visualize hundreds of artillery rounds and rockets being destroyed by the railgun and laser defensive systems. Despite the valiant defensive efforts, hundreds of missiles and artillery rounds were impacting the American and Israeli positions. The sounds of tank rounds and the rumbling of explosions was nearly constant. It was a cauldron of death that they were driving into.

“Lieutenant Thornton, this is Echo 1. We are passing through the Israeli forces now and moving along the edge of the ridgeline, Jericho 1,” said the lead scout vehicle in Thornton’s company.

“Continue to move forward and be alert. See if you can find a defensive position for the battalion to hunker down in,” Thornton said to his scout leader.

Thornton’s company was the lead element for the battalion of Pershing tanks they were escorting. His infantry battalion had been filtered into an armored brigade that was moving to engage the Russian armored units. Their mission was to provide infantry support to the Pershings and act as scouts to find the enemy and identify ambush positions.

The scouts continued to move along the edge of the ridgeline until they spotted half a dozen Russian tanks and dozens of infantry vehicles moving forward. They were currently engaging a dozen or so Israeli tanks that had just passed through ten minutes earlier. The scout leader found a good position, just shy of the top of the ridge, that would give them a clear field of fire without silhouetting them against the top of the ridgeline and making them easy targets for Russian tanks. The scout leader radioed in the position, and the battalion, led by Thornton’s company, began to move into their new defensive position and set their trap.

Less than an hour after the battalion set up their positions and kill zones, a column of Russian infantry vehicles supported by some additional tanks made their way towards the Israeli positions, which took them right across Thornton’s kill zone. They held their fire until the enemy vehicles had moved to the end of their kill zone.

“Open Fire!” ordered Thornton.

The entire battalion opened fire as soon as Thornton’s company did… the fight was over within five minutes. Multiple enemy infantry vehicles and tanks were destroyed before they could be pulled back. The Russians managed to destroy several Marine tanks, including three Pershings, when a pair of MiG40s arrived on scene above their positions. The Russians called in artillery and rockets to pound the battalion positions and hold them in place while another Russian armored battalion maneuvered around the ridge to get behind the Marines. The Israelis, seeing the tank battle taking place not far from their positions, also joined in and began sniping Russian tanks and IFVs as they tried to maneuver around the Marines.

The Marines anticipated a Russian move like this, and had a pair of Razorbacks on standby in case it did. Minutes later, both Razorbacks arrived on scene and began to engage the Russian tank battalion. In just a few minutes, they had destroyed nine enemy tanks and seven infantry fighting vehicles. Unfortunately, several MiG40s were also in the area and swooped down from their high altitude perch to launch a pair of air-to-air missiles, destroying one of the Razorbacks and badly damaging the second. A half dozen surface-to-air missiles jumped after the low flying MiGs, destroying one while the other managed to get away.

After three attempts by the Russians to capture the Marine positions, the battalion fell back to another position that the scouts had found for them. They immediately did their best to disengage and fall back to their next ambush location and repeat the process. They would duplicate this progression four more times before they were relieved and told to fall back deeper into Israel. Their primary objective was to engage and then disengage the Russians, sapping them of their strength and constantly starting and stopping their offensive. As this played out, various IDF and other American armor units continued to maneuver around the Russian flanks, hitting them repeatedly and whittling their numbers down while rotating fresh Allied units in to the fight.