Day #899: ambush in the fields

Day 899, 15:47 • Published in Serbia Serbia • by Ilija Bozic
'Get down!' Janjordy jumped forward, grabbed VettigeSwa by his backpack and pulled him down to the grass, a bullet whistling over their heads.


We had left town of Algyő and were making our way through the fields northeast of Szeged, the last enemy stronghold in occupied Hungary. Our platoon was part of a Serbian army corps that had been detached just south of Szolnok. Our initial task had been to defend the southern flanks as the bulk of the armed forces cleared the north of Hungary from all enemy presence. However, as soon as a Brazilian company of Special Forces was stationed right next to us we knew we were up for something good. Geopaja had spoken with one of their platoon leaders, Brunno, and had found out that several countries had stationed some of their best units at Szolnok. After a quick look on the map it was clear that we were going to launch an assault on the Southern Great Plains of Hungary, in specific the heavily fortified city of Szeged.



Our unit stationed several kilometers south of Szolnok,


As the orders were distributed I was surprised that we were going to attack the enemy head-on. Our intelligence had reported a massive influx of Romanian and Spanish armed forces in and around the city. Because we wanted to keep the infrastructure as intact as possible, a large bombing campaign had been ruled out by the high command. Many men in our platoon looked worried, because even though we were trained to fight house by house, we feared a high number of casualties. But no one seemed to doubt whether it was possible.



Blue: our unit clearing the fields north of Szeged.



‘Sniper, white shack,’ Janjordy yelled.

I peered through my binoculars when another shot rang. Morhuhny had already managed to track down the sniper. BANG. I had spotted the white shack at 192 degrees south on a distance of only 200 meters and saw the second shot blowing a hole through the door.

‘Provide covering fire!’ JohnMcClane said, ‘Iljia, Noryee, Prokey, go in from the west.’

We quickly scrambled to our feet and made our way to the shack, while staying under the cover of the bushes and making sure to avoid any direct line of sight. In the meantime we heared short bursts of fire riddle the shack with holes.

‘Surrender yourself!’ No response. We tried in Spanish. No response. Maybe Romanian? Again, no response. Noryee and I took our positions, one person on either side of the door, while Prokey kicked it in. Quickly we cleared the room. Except for two bodies on the floor the shack was empty. After checking their markings we found out they were Greek, but it was too late for them to surrender anyway. The sniper was already missing a part of his head, while his buddy’s corpse showed several bullet wounds.

‘Target cleared, two corpses.’ Prokey signaled to JohnMcClane through the radio.