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NARRATIVE, Part 2

Steinberg, the brigade S4, finally completed the fight for transportation. His initial thought had been to solicit the Blackhawks from the aviation brigade but they were committed supporting the CAB and took the division commander's approval to fly to the FLOT. To avoid that problem, he had made contact with the FSB operations officer who in turn contacted the TMT Company located in the DSA, and was told that all but five of the twenty-seven five-ton cargo trucks were committed. Steinberg jumped at seizing the five trucks, and figured that since the light battalion had thirty-five HMMWVs, the five additional trucks would be sufficient to move the battalion forward.

CPT Hite, the infantry battalion S4, saw MAJ Steinberg arrive at the battalion TOC with the five tons in tow. He was surprised to see only five; he guessed others were enroute. Hite walked out to where MAJ Steinberg had halted his little convoy and asked, "Where are the other trucks?" Steinberg pulled himself out of his HMMWV and explained, "With thirty-five organic HMMWVs these five tons should do the trick." CPT Hite concealed his shock caused by the MAJ's statement. He went on to explain that, yes, the battalion did have thirty-five HMMWVs but these were committed to the AT platoon, mortar platoon, the command group, support platoon and other CS functions. The support platoon could be down loaded but that would only provide twelve HMMWVs to transport a scout platoon of nineteen and three rifle companies of one hundred thirty men each.

As the S4 was finishing his MTOE class for MAJ Steinberg, SFC Trimble, 2-74's support platoon sergeant, roared up and jumped down from a Tucher beer truck. "Sir, I've got a handle on everything," he said. He went on to explain that drawing upon his previous tour's experience in Germany, he had already contacted the WBK host nation liaison for miscellaneous support. Behind him stood a potpourri of transportation assets. The eight beer trucks, four buses and one farm tractor and trailer would sufficiently and quickly move the battalion. Steinberg, relieved that things were well in hand, went off to begin organizing the Class I, IV, and V prestock that would be needed to support the defense of the Steinwald.

Rockcastle accompanied by Horn met COL Madison at the Brigade TOC and proceeded to 2-74's sector. As they drove through the sector, Madison reaffirmed his concept on how he wanted the battle to go and explained that he had received the CG's approval to narrow the brigade sector. They quickly arrived at a vantage point northwest of Fuchsmuhl where Madison clearly directed Rockcastle to have his battalion deny the enemy the woods, the mobility corridor to the Northwest and the second corridor in the south.

Rockcastle was pleased with his mission and proceeded to tell his new commander the defensive terrain was perfect. Being restrictive to mechanized forces, it would provide 2-74 with a combat multiplier. "At first look, COL, I plan to use mines and abatis to block the enemy's entrance of the forest."

" I'll use anti-armor ambushes to reinforce these and force the diimounted fight. The battalion will defend in sector. Restrictive terrain, such as the dense forest and steep slopes, will limit the enemy to the trails. Through positions in depth, we will destroy the enemy by preventing him from coordinating his attack and massing against us. Our defense will be characterized by decentralized execution and the giving of some ground, but the defense won't break." "Understand," Madison nodded, "but I want you to stay east of the north-south candystripe bisecting the Steinwald. This is where I may want to pass through you with the brigade counterattack. Don't give it up."

Rockcastle took the opportunity to inform COL Madison of his concerns about engineer support and prestock. Additionally, he wanted the brigade commander to know that his battalion was without any augmentation from even his own division except for the fire support teams.

"Okay, what do you need?" Madison invited as Horn took his notebook. Rockcastle explained his concern for prestocks which allowed Horn to echo in that Steinberg was working on it, and the class IV and V would arrive shortly after the battalion got set in. A critical piece of the defense would be the emplacement of the obstacles just inside the forest perimeter. Rockcastle did not think the battalion could emplace obstacles and dig the fighting positions they would need to survive. "You're in luck, Rockcastle. Most of the rest of the Brigade's countermobility and survivability positions are finished." COL Madison said, and directed LTC Horn to have Batista place A/23d Engineer BN OPCON to 2-74 and to see if the division received any Corps engineer support that the brigade could steal.

"What about ambulances, Rockcastle?" LTC Horn asked. "I understand a light battalion doesn't have much casevac capability." "Chop him two from the Mech battalion!" Col Madison interrupted. "And XO, attach two stinger teams to the 2-74. I know you'd like more Rockcastle, but they're all I can spare and your battalion's sector has the least likely air threat."

Rockcastle and Madison exchanged a few more concerns before the COL departed. On his way back to the brigade TOC, COL Madison saw the S3 and other members of 2-74's staff enroute to link up with LTC Rockcastle to begin finalization of the battalion order.

The battalion continued to prepare the defense. The movement from the assembly area looked like the Rag Tag Circus of World War II fame and LTC Rockcastle knew his troops would be as successful. The battalion staff had done a magnificent job preparing the order and the rifle companies and speciality platoons were now engaged in setting in their defensive effort. As LTC Rockcastle left the TOC to inspect the line companies, his S4 told him that the prestock ammo and barrier material had arrived. The LTC emphasized to the S4 the need to figure out what they had and to get it to the units per the order ASAP.

CPT Hite said, "No problem sir, it will really go quickly since I kept the eight beer trucks and the farm tractor and trailer." Hite went on to explain that his NCOIC had found some chain saws in one of the local villages which would allow them to cut trees for overhead cover. He also said that the brigade XO had sent a HEMMT with a collection of pioneer tools from the other battalions to help their digging effort. Hite broke into a grin and chuckled, "These tankers are OK, those tools sure will dig better than an E-tool."

CPT Devin knew he was at the right grid, give or take a couple of hundred meters, but even with all his tracks shut down he still could not hear the generators associated with a standard TOC site. He really wasn't sure what a light battalion TOC looked like. Just as he decided to give MAJ Batista a call, a motorcycle skidded to a halt just in front of his HMMWV. A young buck sergeant jumped off the bike, came over and asked if they were the engineers for 2-74. After they worked out the sign/countersign and figured out that they were on the same side, the young sergeant led them back to the TOC.

MAJ Gabbard and CPT Devin reviewed the capabilities of the engineer company and agreed upon the obstacle plan. Devin sent one engineer platoon to each rifle company to emplace obstacles and provide the technical expertise on position survivability. He consolidated the company dozers to work with the mobility-counter-mobility platoon as they dug in the TOC, command vehicles, aid station, other CSS assets then, tank bumps and ditches. He put his XO in charge of the small emplacement excavators which would prepare the trench lines and other crew served weapon positions. Finally, the company would assist the battalion's commo platoon in burying WD-1 to improve the survivability of the critical command and control wire net.

CPT Hite knew that he was beginning to feel the effects of sleep deprivation and the battle hadn't even started. Now he had another fire to put out. The ammo sergeant reported that there was lots of class V on the ground at the hasty battalion ASP, but the ammo mix didn't make sense. It seemed like the brigade somehow sent someone else's ammo. Hite crystal-baIled that a mechanized infantry battalion's prestock showed up and that someone didn't understand that a light battalion had no need for 25mm or 4. 2 inch mortar ammunition. Fortunately there were plenty of tow and dragon missiles but what was missing were hand grenades, AT-4s, 81mm, and 60mm mortar rounds. This would really make the XO hot. Hite had to get this fixed now.

Shortly, he found out that the trooper on the other end of the radio was adamant about using the "yellow reports from the brigade SOP and wouldn't listen otherwise. Hite charged off to find the XO to see if any SOP exchange was ever done. The only good thing he learned was that he could talk to Brigade. That meant the retrans problem was finally fixed by either the battalion or brigade.

After the sixty-plus hours of preparation, Rockcastle sat down to take a break after another visit to the company CPs. Trying to relax, his mind raced to verify those tasks that were complete and those which needed his attention. He still needed to set a handle on COL Madison's intent. What had he meant by being prepared to violently counterattack to retake initial positions and support the division's counterattack to restore the Inter-German border?

He wanted to keep the S3 pushing on the development of their counterattack plan, but he knew that he owed his staff additional planning guidance. First things first he thought, trying to mentally organize himself. Being deployed to central Europe without augmentation had been a total surprise to begin with, much less working for an armored brigade. The 1st Brigade was doing a pretty good job supporting them.

The engineers were a god-send, the TOC was dug in, more fighting positions than we would need were squared away. (He wanted to steal a small emplacement excavator.) But most importantly the abatis and minefields completed the outline of the web. The enemy was going to have a tough time of it.

Rockcastle wished that he had more LNOs without robbing the rifle companies. He had the motorcycles to get them around, but the S3 shop didn't have the people to maintain the needed flank coordination, fires distribution and other liaison which was critical with his new sister battalions.

What really pleased Rockcastle was the performance of his staff. The support platoon through host nation support recreated the Rag-Tag Circus. The S3's plan was outstanding and he corrected everything from the broken commo to being able to keep the Brigade LNO and his vehicle with us.

Table of Contents
Narrative, Part 1
Narrative, Part 3