Tales of the Aztec Sultanate

[TacCovert4]

January 1938, Northern Parthia, near the Horde Border

Ali had lied to his wife.  Ok, he had technically only mislead her a little, but he knew that she would not consider his 'routine currency training flight' along the contested border region to be 'routine' in the least.

But at the moment, his mind was elsewhere.  About ten kilometers in front of his perspex canopy in fact.  Checking and re-checking his map, and confirming via radio with his Parthian wingman, himself up on a currency flight as part of cross-training pilots, it appeared that a flight of Horde fighters were committing an incursion into Parthian airspace. 

The pair of fighters were flying straight and level, about a thousand meters below the pair of Aztec planes.  Checking his gauges, Ali makes the call once the Horde aircraft are well within Parthian airspace.  "Go for shoot down, or drive away?" he asks the Parthian Captain.  "Shoot down I think, this is the time of year they commit incursions by air, we should give them pause". 

Stooping from above like the peregrine falcon on Ali's sealskin jacket, the big Double Wasp engines on the two Corsairs spool up, superchargers forcing air into intakes as the massive props bring the diving fighters up to over three hundred knots and approaching four hundred before they knife in behind the two Horde planes.

Tracers rattle out as both pilots perforate the aft fuselage of their quarry.....only for tracers to scream past their cockpits as another pair of Golden winged aircraft swing into the aft arc, the hunters suddenly becoming the hunted. 

"Break" Ali calls, his momentary adrenaline rush tempering into the familiar wave of excitement in air combat, his hands moving with practiced haste to twist the big fighter out of the way before diving to extend, the Parthian pilot holding onto his own position on the CAG's wing. 

"They're still on us" his wingman calls out as Ali maneuvers hard, discovering that like some of the Mayan planes, these are extremely maneuverable, but unlike those godless communists, the Horde has managed to put together an airframe that has low enough drag to not fall behind in a dive. 

"Go Vertical" Commander Ali calls out, feeling the G forces burying him in his fighter's seat as the Corsair stands on its tail, a thousand horsepower thundering as the fighter claws for altitude, entering a vertical scissors with its foe.  At the top he cruelly stomps on the rudder, feeling his body straining against the harness as he comes about to find his pursuer already stalled out and attempting to pull away.  Excitement wars with responsibility as he sees the Parthian pilot still being doggedly pursued, and Ali points his nose towards his wingman, closing on the pursuing plane before triggering a long burst from all ten machine guns, ripping up the wings of the Horde fighter and sending it spiraling out of control. 

Looking back to see the remaining fighter headed back towards the border, Ali pulls alongside his wingman, spying a few holes in the Corsair's skin.  "Thanks sir" the Parthian Captain says, only a little panic tinging his voice after the close scrape "You were doing fine, I've just got a couple of air campaigns more under my belt" is the response as Commander Ali, ancient by fighter pilot standards and one of the Sultanate's more prolific aces, leads them both back to base.

[TacCovert4]

Parthia,

"What do you think Chief?" the much younger major asked Chief Warrant Officer Metzli after they had toured the captured BT7 light tank commonly used by the Horde. 

"It's fast, as fast as the Greyhound or Hellcat.  But look at the arrangement.  Everything is on the vehicle commander, directing, running, firing, all of it."

"I agree with the chief, that's a lot of work on their one officer" Colonel Tupac of the Snake Warriors agreed.  "And their practice of nobility commanding tanks while their infantry is completely disrespected is counterproductive and strange"

"Not completely strange, Queen Fatima's Light Cavalry is mostly the daughters of nobility after all, at least the officers, but they have some interesting coordination problems." the major replies.

"So, thoughts on how we can use our own forces against them?" the colonel asks.

"Sir, I think our greatest strength is that our entire force, not just tanks, can maneuver at speed, and trains for it." Chief Metzli responds.  "Whether wheels or tracks, our platoons include mounted infantry and gun armed armor.  And look at their setup, they have to choose whether to be using their cannon or machine gun.  Our armored cars can use both, and your Hellcats have a hull mounted gunner as well.  I think our move against them is to avoid their infantry at speed and draw their armor to pursue us, then cut it to pieces with rapidly deployed infantry and our own guns.  We even have artillery and rocket artillery that can move at speed, so we can bring all arms to bear on their nobility in their tanks, and overwhelm their ability to react.  Once their tanks are dealt with, the infantry cannot maneuver and we can use their own tactics against them, coming in on the flanks with pincers while artillery and rapidly moved infantry forms a stop line to halt their advance"

Listening to the veteran, the officers nod their agreement with her assessment.  "Very well, we will plan maneuvers around this and see how they work in the wargames" Colonel Tupac says.  My troops can draw their tanks in where our 7cm guns can knock them out at long range, then your Greyhounds maneuver against their infantry to cut them off and surround them with dismounts and machine guns while our artillery pounds their force flat.

[TacCovert4]

"Call me Captain Axl" the large (for an Aztec) officer says, gripping the hand of the much younger Parthian lieutenant.

"Lieutenant Darius" he replies, looking a bit askance at the parachutes being packed.

"Ready for your first jump?" the Captain asks, finishing packing his own chute and hooking it up before helping the Parthian with his gear. 

"I think so, sir, we've been experimenting, but nothing quite this elaborate"

"Don't worry about it, color sergeant over there has been jumping for ten years.  We started this up after the Mayan war, figuring out ways to get around fortifications, and to rapidly respond to threats."

The lieutenant gets aboard the Lodestar with the rest of the squad, or 'chalk' of Eagle warriors, noting that these guys all seem older than the other Aztec soldiers.  An affectation of the Eagle warriors being a bit of an exclusive fraternity within the Aztec military, elite light infantry forces.

Over the large parade ground, the Color sergeant stands and checks the door, then shouts "Stand Up", "Hook Up"!  The chalk stands, putting on their helmets and hooking their static lines to the cable running down the center of the plane. 

The light at the back flashes green, and fourteen Aztecs, and one half-terrified Parthian officer, leap into the afternoon sky, jerking to a slow fall as big white silken parachutes open for their few minutes of ride to terra firma.

Landing, each man unhooks his parachute and stuffs it in the pack before ditching both and running to the rendezvous point, snatching rifles from the loops on their packs.  They form a hasty 360 on the ground, the color sergeant checking each man before calling the exercise. 

The assembled dignitaries observe the events, seeing how the Aztecs have at least operationalized the concept of parachutist infantry, with the Eagle Warriors Colonel describing how it would look on the ground with a company or battalion dropping in to seize a piece of key terrain such as a forward airfield or dropping only a kilometer from a mountain pass to rush and seize it before an enemy force could arrive.  The assembled senior officers note the possibilities, and the risks, as such a unit would have only small arms and light mortars, and be incapable of making significant movement once they dropped in.  Unsupported, it would be inevitable that a light infantry unit thrown too far forward would be destroyed before the relief column could arrive, though with careful planning such a force could tie up the enemy and allow a relief column to move at road speed without the need for infantry scouts out front.