Entry #7 - First blood

A few days ago our scouts returned to town. The compound of the ‘raiding officers’ appeared to be quite well defended. Still, they discovered a blind spot in the defences. It will take some expert timing, but that’s why we have a military ally.

At the moment the night shift is relieved, there is a short window of time that no one is watching the south east wall. This side of the compound is generally lightly guarded, as it watches over the open wasteland. Anybody approaching from this side would be easily spotted. But during the early morning we can hide our convoy in the glare of the morning sun. Cmd. Jackson will be here tomorrow, so we can go over the final details. After that we will be on our way to take out these raiders.

The following afternoon the convoy left New Hope. The two armoured pickup trucks took point, the APC in the middle and the supporting trucks behind that. They would drive through the night to get close to the raiders compound, then they will wait until sunrise to start the attack. Both me and Phillip were in one the supporting trucks, Jackson took command of the APC, he is a true front line commander.

While the support trucks took positions, we could see the assaulting vehicles rush on towards the compound. With the glare of the morning sun behind them they should be able to get pretty close. Then suddenly we could hear a siren wailing over the open plains, the convoy has been spotted. Only moments later the sound of heavy machinegun fire answered the siren, followed by the repeated explosions of the APC’s main gun. Through my rifle scope I could see the grenades hit the side of the building and after several hits, part of the wall came down followed by an explosion and a huge fireball. They must have either destroyed a fuel dump or a propane tank. This brought down quite a large section of the building.

Meanwhile, the snipers on the support truck were shooting at the guards on the walls and the roof of the building. By now the raiders were trying to regroup and try to counter our forces. The confusion was complete when the Jacksons men disembarked from the APC and began clearing out the outside of the compound. I could see some shooting from the buildings windows, but this was quickly countered by machinegun fire from the assaulting vehicles, or by sniper fire from the support vehicles.

At one point the guard tower at the other side of the compound opened fire on a small group of soldiers, I could see at least one of them go down. The turret of the APC quickly turned towards the tower and with a few well placed grenades the tower was blown to bits.

After 10 or 15 minutes the outside was cleared and the soldiers were grouping in front of the doors of the building. We’re in good shape with only a single wounded soldier. I hope the clearing of the police station will go as smoothly as the assault on the outside.

Entry #6 - Time to strike! Entry #8 - Going in