Battlestations: Arctic

Chapter 1 | Ivan's Attack

I woke to an explosion outside. Well, not really outside, but it was close. I bolted upright, and looked at my fellow soldiers. We all sat up confused. Then a sentry burst through the door and yelled: "PERKELE, GET UP YOU SCUM! IVANS ATTACKING!" We didn't need anyone to say anything more. I got myself ready, threw on my coat, my cap and gas mask. I then bent down under my bed and grabbed my service weapon, the M/26 Light Machinegun. "Time to prove how good you are" I thought to myself. I lifted it out quickly and a ammo box. I looked over to the bed next to me. Simo, my best friend was grabbing his helmet and his own weapon, a Swedish M/96. He also grabbed an ammo box for my LMG as well as other ammo, since he was an ammo bearer.

"Come on, we need to get out there" he yelled at me. I ran out of the door, Simo following me. The moment I stepped outside, the cold hit me. The hairs on my neck rose, my eyes blinking several times to adjust. I looked around at the ensuing chaos. Craters lay all over, one of the barracks seemed to have been hit, while debris rained down on all of us. One of the soldiers were being dragged away by a medic, while other bodies lay sprawled. I then quickly came back to my senses and ran alongside Simo. We soon enough reached the edge of the camp. Other soldiers were already in position, firing at the soviets. We dived into a ditch, concealed by branches and bushes. Simo dropped me my ammo, and ran back to fetch more ammunition for other soldiers. I grabbed a 30 round magazine and slipped it into the chamber with a click. I bolted the 26, and just as I was ready, the soviets began a charge.

"URRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" It sent shivers down my spine, but I still waited and aimed. As the unit charged towards us, other soldiers got out shovels, pistols and bayonets, ready for melee combat. I aimed, breathed and fired. DTTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT. The LMG blazed sending the soviets falling. Yet they kept charging, so I kept firing. DTOTOTOTOTOT DTOTOT DTOTOTOTOT. They fell back and regrouped behind a- "Oh god no." It was what appeared to be a group of T-26 light tanks. They slowly advanced while firing their co-axil machineguns. A group of soldiers rolled a field gun up to a hill a few metres away from me, and began to load the gun. They aimed, and their commander yelled "FIRE". The gun made a huge bang as it fired and one of the tanks came to a dead stop. One of the tanks spotted the nest. We all began to panic, with the crew running off and one of the members, the commander trying to reload the gun. I screamed "GET DOWN!" but he didn't listen. I then grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged him into the ditch right before one of the tanks fired.

All I heard was a loud ringing in my ears as I began to get up, the field gun lay turned over, completely demolished. I then heard a rumbling, but it wasn't the soviet war machine. I looked over and saw something spectacular. A Renault FT, not much but definitely a moral booster. My comrades began to advance, throwing Molotov cocktails at the tanks, setting them alight. The FT then fired on a T-26, disabling its track. Soon the Ivan's were running, and everyone celebrated. The crew of the disabled tank raised a white flag and got out, arms over their heads. We stripped them of their weapons, and were taken back to the camp for interrogation. I was then joined by Simo who patted me on the back and said: "Mr Fredrick Koskinen, that was quite some work out there" he said in a raised voice. People began to congratulate me and the tankers on keeping the soviet hoard off, but I was happy that I could live to see another day.