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logistically support the United States and her allies in any way possible
short of declaring war themselves.
The CAS released a harshly worded communiqué on behalf of Red China and India,
denouncing what it called the hasty decision by NATO countries to declare
war on a member state of the CAS. That same communiqué praised other NATO
countries for showing restraint in what it viewed as a regional issue centered
around religious persecution and intolerance by those states upon whom the GIR
had declared war. Both the Russian Federation and Red China offered to mediate
and called for an immediate meeting of the UN Security Council to work out a
meeting of the parties at the negotiating table.
January 22, 2006 21:30 local time
CP, 39th Security Forces Squadron
Incirlik Air Force Base, Turkey
Captain Hanson surveyed what he had left as a fighting force. He was down to
about one-third strength for his security forces, but had augmented that with
various grades of enlisted and officer rank personnel left over from the 39th
Support, Transportation, Logistics and Medical groups and a few from the Air
Wing Group. A few members of the 628th Air Mobility Support Squadron and US
Army Corps of
Engineers were also with him.
He had been fighting a rear guard action since the major evacuation from the
base after the devastating ballistic missile and air attacks of the 18th. His
original job had been to ensure that all critical equipment and materiel left
behind in the evacuation was destroyed and that any stragglers were gathered
up for the final evacuation which was supposed to have occurred late yesterday
afternoon. But that was before the
GIR had landed in battalion strength in airdrops to the south and east of the
base the afternoon of the
20th, soon after the major evacuation was completed. They had been lucky that
the transport, support and escort aircraft had made it out, and that the
ground convoy had escaped.
The GIR had been reinforced and now controlled roughly two-thirds of the base.
He had destroyed a lot of classified materiel and equipment, but useful
equipment had still fallen into the hands of their attackers.
Captain Hanson did not expect any further re-supply. The first evening, the
U.S. Air Force had returned in strength and supported him, accomplishing close
air support and dropping ammunition, medical supplies and other materiel to
the beleaguered defenders. But last night the sky belonged to the GIR, and it
was looking like they had established air superiority in the region. His radio
communications were being effectively jammed, and the last message had given
him the initiative to continue the fight for as long as practicable, or
retreat at his discretion. Reports indicated that an entire GIR Army group,
numbering in excess of one hundred and twenty thousand men, had broken through
Turkish defenses near Osmaniye, fifty miles to the east. This meant that
advance elements would be arriving very soon, possibly this evening, and
certainly by tomorrow morning.
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Hanson had decided to withdraw this evening. He had six deuce-and-a-half
trucks for transportation, his last three Avenger-2 Missile systems (mounted
on HUMMV chassis) for anti-air coverage, his last three
V-150 APC s, six Peacekeeper APC s and six HUMMV s (two of which were
outfitted with TOW
missiles). Altogether, he had two hundred personnel to transport, with
twenty-seven of these being severely wounded and unable to assist in any
defense.
In order to accomplish the withdrawal, the Captain had requested a volunteer
force of twenty security personnel, which he would lead as a diversion. He
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planned to use one Avenger, one V-150 and one of the Peacekeepers with this
force to punch through the GIR lines and attack a logistics depot on the
opposite side of the base near the northern perimeter. Two of his scouts had
discovered this logistics point last evening as they were reconnoitering
behind enemy lines. The depot appeared to be fairly well defended.
This diversion would be Captain Hanson s answer to the GIR brokered
cease-fire for him to consider terms for surrender. A part of the diversion
included an escape route north into the hills for any who could manage it.
An hour ago there was still an open corridor back through Adana to a small
security detachment, also under his command, with the 39thWing A 39 Supply
Squadron in Yumurtalik, thirty kilometers away.
Once his XO joined up with them, they would retreat to the east and join U.S.
or Turkish forces north of
Mersin along the defenses being created there.
January 22, 2006 22:23 local time
GIR logistics point
Incirlik Air Force Base, Turkey
The firefight was over. It had been short and incredibly intense. Colonel
Ahmass could hardly believe the audacity of it. Twenty minutes ago when he had
been informed that the Americans had made a breakthrough and were proceeding
towards his position with several APC and an unknown number of personnel, the
Colonel had prepared accordingly.
Colonel Ahmass unit was a lead element of the large GIR/Syrian Army that was
invading Turkey along the Mediterranean coast. The Colonel had arrived
yesterday and was the one who set up the logistics depot and its defenses.
Those defenses consisted of a detachment of one hundred and fifty soldiers
with two ZSU-23 4 AAW
vehicles, four BMP-2 tracked APC s, four BTR-152 wheeled APC s and several
7.62 MM PK
machine guns.
As the Americans approached, the Colonel called in air support in the form of
two Mi-28N Havoc attack helicopters from locations just behind the advancing
GIR army group. When they arrived, the lead unit immediately attacked one of
the American APC s, the Peacekeeper, with an Ataka anti-tank missile, and
completely destroyed it. To the Colonel s shock, the small U.S. attacking
force included a very capable AAW platform, the U.S. Avenger, which
immediately engaged both Havoc helicopters and shot both out of the air with
Stinger missiles.
The American V-150 laid down a deadly fire with its 20 mm cannon, immediately
engaging one BMP-2
and destroying it. As the other GIR BMP-2 s came into play, American soldiers
on foot employed their man-portable M47 Dragon anti-tank missiles and
destroyed two of them. Finally, the last BMP-2 scored
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