The lost Regiment 03 - Terrible Swift Sword by William R. Forstchen

Author:William R. Forstchen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780451451378
Publisher: Penguin Group (Canada)
Published: 1992-02-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

"He has sounded forth the trumpet."

John Mina looked over at Pat.

"Which shall never call retreat," Pat said softly.

Kal shifted nervously in his chair, looking over at the situation map on the wall.

"How could we lose the Potomac line so quickly?" Kal asked sadly. He stood up, his one hand patting down the wrinkles of his long black jacket.

"It was a risk," Pat replied almost defensively. "Lee held nearly the same length of line in '64, with about the same numbers."

"Three hundred miles of rail, a hundred miles of fortifications, all of it lost," John whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.

The telegraph key continued to chatter in the next room. An orderly brought in the latest tear sheets, and Pat read them silently before passing them over.

"Are we ready for this?" Kal finally asked, looking over at John.

"Thirty engines and rolling stock are in reserve behind the lines, to move the troops and artillery back. Fortunately we decided to keep our main depot here in Suzdal. It'll mean losing whatever direct supplies are at the front, nothing else."

"But for the rest of our plans?" John shook his head.

"We gambled on the Potomac, figuring we'd have another two months at least to build the secondary line at Wilderness Station, and even heavier fortifications along the upper reaches of the Neiper. We were counting on having at least two more corps of infantry, another twenty batteries of guns, by early July for the final showdown."

He paused for a moment, leaning back in his chair as if calculating out a textbook problem.

"We might lose all of Hans's corps," Pat said quietly, looking at the reports coming in from the beleaguered third corps headquarters. "The penetration is five miles deep already—nothing to stop them except darkness."

Pat rose up out of his chair. Leaning over the table, he adjusted the wick of the kerosene lamp and looked over at Kal.

"If we lose all of Kindred's men, I don't think we'll stop them," Pat said quietly. "That's one-third of all our veterans."

"We might lose even if we do save them," John said coldly. "The Merki apparently have taken precious few loses. We had to trade casualties at ten-to-one to come out ahead. I doubt if we'll even see two-to-one. They'll hit the Neiper almost intact."

"What the hell are you two saying?" Kal snapped angrily. "All of us have gotten too damned confident of always winning. We lost this one, but it's only the first battle of the war."

Pat looked down at Kal and smiled.

"Assuming the best, can we hold the Neiper line?" Kal asked, looking over at Pat.

Pat pulled on his whiskers, frowning.

"That trick of building the dam . . . We never figured on it, and by me hairy ass we should have."

"They'll pull the same trick on the upper reaches of the Neiper. They got a hundred miles of river. They can probe, find an unprotected spot, and lash through. Once across . . ." He fell silent.

"How long?" Kal asked sharply.

"If they move

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.