Post by ArmoredTrackLayer on Sept 12, 2005 2:47:50 GMT
Heres a little short story, told from the perspective of a reporter after the war. Describes a SUCCSESSFUL engagement on a tripod by the british military.
A glimmer of hope
It was a chilly November evening when the tank column I was with broke into a field in southern Scotland. It had been a week since the Tripods tore open the ground and wrecked almost all the major cities on the English mainland. I was attached with this particular tank battalion to cover their actions against the tripods, but now I was stuck with them indefinately. I held no hope at all for our future. Every attempt at military intervention up to this point had ended in either rout or utter defeat. But, according to the commander of the tank I was in, this attack was to be different. The young Captain told me that the Army and RAF had one last ditch idea to bring the tripods down. Everyone by now knew that the tripods had an invisible shield around them that prevented any of our weapons from hitting them. Every piece of ordinance exploded prematurely, and then the Tripods would follow with the heat ray and the battle was over.
However, the Captain informed me of a new plan, one that just might give us some sort of edge. "Ya see" he said "They gave us this idea themselves."
I listened intently.
"when they burst up from the ground, they used an emp first to shut us down." He smiled wolfishly, "The RAF has about fifty high grade Electromagnetic bombs in its arsenal."
I suddenly saw where he was going with this story, and I must say I felt a twinge of excitement.
"Well, were gonna post up behind these woods up ahead," He motioned toward a tree line forward our postion, "And the RAF is going to try its luck."
Our tank column was soon upon the tree line, there we found several Warrior IFV's, about 50 to 100 infantrymen, some with anti-tank weaponry, and several self propeled guns and towed howitzers. There were no specific units involved in this action, the entire force was an ad hoc mix of troops from different units. And it was very, very obvious that their morale was incredibly low. Most of the men openly muttered doubts about the mission ahead, and I cant say that I could blame them. But none the less, the heavy guns were loaded and they were ready to put up a hell of a scrap.
Suddenly a Jaguar tore over the trees coming from the east. I heard the tanks radio beam to life, "Eyes in the sky say one of the bast*rds is on it's way, get ready." The piecemeal artillery unit sent a forward observing unit forward to the edge of the treeline, and I detached from the armored unit I was with and moved forward with them. They didnt question my motives, and why should they, if we won I would be there first hand to witness the victory and record every moment of it, if we lost, well, there would be no need to worry anymore.
My cameraman, Jack, who had been with me in every hotspot in the world from Kosovo to Iraq, was right by my side. The forward observers dug into a good spot and I was quick to follow them. They were setting up their radio and rangefinder when the tripod crested a hill on the horizon. I figured that we were very well hidden, and that there was no need to worry about it taking a long shot at our forces from it's current postion. The horizon behind it glowed orange with the light of distant fires, I knew Dumfrieshire was in that direction, or, as it were, used to be in that direction. The tripod stood scanning the sky, I suppose looking for the Jaguar which had lured it here, when suddenly I heard the rumble of jet engines, which as one of the observers told me belonged to a Tornado. It roared across the horizon BEHIND the tripod, and started in for the east, following almost the same path the Tripod did on it's way here. This was the jet that was to deliver the EMP.
The tripod turned and seemed almost unconcerned by the approaching jet. It looked like a man watching a bird flying overhead. Suddenly there was a small explosion above the Tripod, the EMP had been dropped and detonated. The tripod seemed to shrug it off and advanced suddenly Toward the woods, following the Tornado that hit it. The forward observers groaned to themselves, one of them clicked a button on the radio and said sullenly, "no effect, sorry mates, lets give 'em hell before we die though." Suddenly the second observer yelled something unintelligable. I looked up and saw a faint flicker around the tripod, the radioman screamed for the waiting units to stand by as we watched the spectical before us.
Suddenly the tripod began firing its weapon in random directions all about it, then it began making its mechanical cry for help. "Whats it shooting at?" asked Jack. The radioman laughed joyfully, "Its panicking, THE BASTARD IS LOOSING ITS WITS!" The voice on the other end of the radio chirped back, "Repeat that?" Suddenly two more Tripods crested the hill, I can only imagine their confusion when they saw their comrade in panic. Then, out of nowhere, two more Jaguars swept down on the erratic tripod. They dropped bombs on it and quickly pulled up, the other two had just started to fire into the air at the retreating jets when their comrade exploded. The hood of the thing bursting at the impact of the bombs. The other two machines took a few paces back as if in panic. I heard a voice burts over the radio, "HIT HIT! POSITIVE IMPACT!" It was a pilot on one of the Jaguars. I heard cheering from the trees behind me as another Tornado shot from the sky (perhaps it was the same one as before) and dropped another EMP between the two tripods before it. The effect on these two was exactally the same, there was a faint flicker of light around the machine after a few seconds. And then, suddenly, they did something I had yet to see one of them do, they began to retreat. It would appear that, even though the EMP didnt completely shut down the tripods, it was enough to knock off their shields. The radioman began to call for the artillery to fire, and fire it did. One tripod lost its hind leg and collapsed, the other took a dead on hit from another Jaguar and toppled down, exploding as it did. There was another loud cheer, and the observers joined in the chorus this time.
The battle I had witnessed in no way changed the course of the war, infact, only two days later the aliens succumbed to our bacteria, and the war was over, but it did give me, and the men around me something that we all desperately needed in those dark days, a glimmer of hope.
Well there it is, R/R
I figured that, since it was mentioned that other nations had some success in killing the aliens, I might as well give the brits a few kills, after all, without England, there would be no source material for the the movie anyways
A glimmer of hope
It was a chilly November evening when the tank column I was with broke into a field in southern Scotland. It had been a week since the Tripods tore open the ground and wrecked almost all the major cities on the English mainland. I was attached with this particular tank battalion to cover their actions against the tripods, but now I was stuck with them indefinately. I held no hope at all for our future. Every attempt at military intervention up to this point had ended in either rout or utter defeat. But, according to the commander of the tank I was in, this attack was to be different. The young Captain told me that the Army and RAF had one last ditch idea to bring the tripods down. Everyone by now knew that the tripods had an invisible shield around them that prevented any of our weapons from hitting them. Every piece of ordinance exploded prematurely, and then the Tripods would follow with the heat ray and the battle was over.
However, the Captain informed me of a new plan, one that just might give us some sort of edge. "Ya see" he said "They gave us this idea themselves."
I listened intently.
"when they burst up from the ground, they used an emp first to shut us down." He smiled wolfishly, "The RAF has about fifty high grade Electromagnetic bombs in its arsenal."
I suddenly saw where he was going with this story, and I must say I felt a twinge of excitement.
"Well, were gonna post up behind these woods up ahead," He motioned toward a tree line forward our postion, "And the RAF is going to try its luck."
Our tank column was soon upon the tree line, there we found several Warrior IFV's, about 50 to 100 infantrymen, some with anti-tank weaponry, and several self propeled guns and towed howitzers. There were no specific units involved in this action, the entire force was an ad hoc mix of troops from different units. And it was very, very obvious that their morale was incredibly low. Most of the men openly muttered doubts about the mission ahead, and I cant say that I could blame them. But none the less, the heavy guns were loaded and they were ready to put up a hell of a scrap.
Suddenly a Jaguar tore over the trees coming from the east. I heard the tanks radio beam to life, "Eyes in the sky say one of the bast*rds is on it's way, get ready." The piecemeal artillery unit sent a forward observing unit forward to the edge of the treeline, and I detached from the armored unit I was with and moved forward with them. They didnt question my motives, and why should they, if we won I would be there first hand to witness the victory and record every moment of it, if we lost, well, there would be no need to worry anymore.
My cameraman, Jack, who had been with me in every hotspot in the world from Kosovo to Iraq, was right by my side. The forward observers dug into a good spot and I was quick to follow them. They were setting up their radio and rangefinder when the tripod crested a hill on the horizon. I figured that we were very well hidden, and that there was no need to worry about it taking a long shot at our forces from it's current postion. The horizon behind it glowed orange with the light of distant fires, I knew Dumfrieshire was in that direction, or, as it were, used to be in that direction. The tripod stood scanning the sky, I suppose looking for the Jaguar which had lured it here, when suddenly I heard the rumble of jet engines, which as one of the observers told me belonged to a Tornado. It roared across the horizon BEHIND the tripod, and started in for the east, following almost the same path the Tripod did on it's way here. This was the jet that was to deliver the EMP.
The tripod turned and seemed almost unconcerned by the approaching jet. It looked like a man watching a bird flying overhead. Suddenly there was a small explosion above the Tripod, the EMP had been dropped and detonated. The tripod seemed to shrug it off and advanced suddenly Toward the woods, following the Tornado that hit it. The forward observers groaned to themselves, one of them clicked a button on the radio and said sullenly, "no effect, sorry mates, lets give 'em hell before we die though." Suddenly the second observer yelled something unintelligable. I looked up and saw a faint flicker around the tripod, the radioman screamed for the waiting units to stand by as we watched the spectical before us.
Suddenly the tripod began firing its weapon in random directions all about it, then it began making its mechanical cry for help. "Whats it shooting at?" asked Jack. The radioman laughed joyfully, "Its panicking, THE BASTARD IS LOOSING ITS WITS!" The voice on the other end of the radio chirped back, "Repeat that?" Suddenly two more Tripods crested the hill, I can only imagine their confusion when they saw their comrade in panic. Then, out of nowhere, two more Jaguars swept down on the erratic tripod. They dropped bombs on it and quickly pulled up, the other two had just started to fire into the air at the retreating jets when their comrade exploded. The hood of the thing bursting at the impact of the bombs. The other two machines took a few paces back as if in panic. I heard a voice burts over the radio, "HIT HIT! POSITIVE IMPACT!" It was a pilot on one of the Jaguars. I heard cheering from the trees behind me as another Tornado shot from the sky (perhaps it was the same one as before) and dropped another EMP between the two tripods before it. The effect on these two was exactally the same, there was a faint flicker of light around the machine after a few seconds. And then, suddenly, they did something I had yet to see one of them do, they began to retreat. It would appear that, even though the EMP didnt completely shut down the tripods, it was enough to knock off their shields. The radioman began to call for the artillery to fire, and fire it did. One tripod lost its hind leg and collapsed, the other took a dead on hit from another Jaguar and toppled down, exploding as it did. There was another loud cheer, and the observers joined in the chorus this time.
The battle I had witnessed in no way changed the course of the war, infact, only two days later the aliens succumbed to our bacteria, and the war was over, but it did give me, and the men around me something that we all desperately needed in those dark days, a glimmer of hope.
Well there it is, R/R
I figured that, since it was mentioned that other nations had some success in killing the aliens, I might as well give the brits a few kills, after all, without England, there would be no source material for the the movie anyways