December 30, 2025
Village of Mirnyi
North of Vladivostok
Russian Far East
“Major, wake up, we have movement on the line!” The private from the 6th Company woke Tolya from his light sleep. He’d kept a cot in the battalion headquarters established in the “tunnel hill” near the center of the village. The tunnel in question was a half mile long railroad tunnel. Since Vladivostok had been cut off from the rest of Russia, there were no trains coming or going. Instead, the rail tunnel was full of the command, control, and communications equipment and personnel. It was from this bunker that Tolya would direct the defense of the western approaches to Vladivostok.
The Major rose and blinked a few times to get his eyes working. This was the night he’d been preparing for since he was first ordered to hold this town four months ago. Those hadn’t been idle months either. His men had dug in, and prepared to face the horde. They needed to do everything they could to stem the surge when the Khans came across the valley. Tolya crossed from his “stateroom” (really a small square space created by piling crates of supplies and empty equipment boxes) to his radioman.
“Ilya, what do you have?” Asked Tolya, looking at a row of computer monitors that were showing the view from the various lookout towers and outposts along the Russian side of the valley.
“Sir, those Chinese cats are moving into the river valley,” said Lieutenant Ilya Tarasov, the headquarters communications officer. He was referring to the small CSK-131 light vehicles. The Russians had taken to calling them “cats” because of the resemblance of the vehicle to the larger Russian GAZ Tigr.
“We’ve seen that before. I’m assuming they are trying to get us to show our artillery positions,” replied Tolya.
“Yes, sir,” replied the Lieutenant. “That was our first thought as well, however their maneuvering is very different. Normally, they make a run right towards our lines. Tonight they are picking their way through the valley, moving along the length of the river and her tributaries.”
“You believe they are testing the ice?”
“Yes, sir. They might not come over tonight, but they are making preparations to cross soon. I thought it important enough to wake you.”
“And you were correct in that,” said the Major. “Captain Sayanovich, what are the latest reports on the Chinese force composition on the west side of the valley?” The Brigade Intelligence Officer looked up from his computer.
“Sir, our latest reports indicate that a full division is deployed between Tikhoye and Nezhino. This is supported by air and artillery operating out of Ussyurisk. Of the four brigades that make up the division, two are heavy combined arms brigades, and one each are medium and light combined arms brigades. Our Spetsnaz reconnaissance teams have reported that the Chinese have taken the past few months to rebuild their forces. They appear to have completely recovered from their losses in taking Ussyurisk, though these replacement troops are fresh from training, and lack combat experience. Also, it appears that the light brigade is the 119th, which was previously detached to support the siege of Khabarovsk.”
“Yes, I suppose they don’t need them up there any longer,” spat Tolya. The fall of Khabarovsk had been a bitter pill to swallow for the defenders of Vladivostok. It meant that the trickle of supplies that they were getting was completely cut off. Tolya considered the forces that they were facing as he went over the forces that were defending. His own 155th Naval Infantry Brigade was under-equipped, having lost most of their tanks and self-propelled mortars during the first night of the war. The army had also reconstituted the 70th Rifle Brigade out of the stragglers from the 5th and 20th Armies that had retreated after the fall of Ussyurisk. On paper, the unit was the “70th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade,” but nobody actually referred to it as a motorized brigade. They were even less equipped than the 155th Brigade. Most of the soldiers making up the unit had crossed the thirty five miles between Ussyurisk and Vladivostok on foot.
Snapping back to the issue at hand, Tolya gave his orders, “Okay, send runners up and down the line. Don’t send anything over the radio yet. Put everyone on alert to expect combat in the next two to four hours.”
“Understood, comrade major,” said Lieutenant Tarasov, who conveyed the order to a sergeant who in turn left the communications table to contact the “runners,” at the edge of the tunnel. Those men and women wouldn’t actually run down the line passing the word, instead they would ride electric “Izh” motorcycles to their assigned sectors and get the word passed.
“Now we just need a pot of coffee and some stories to pass the time,” said Tolya
The Russians watched as the Chinese scouts picked their way deep enough into the valley to determine that the time for the invasion had finally arrived. The thunder of artillery announced this to the Russian defenders. Shell after shell pounded the battlefield as the Chinese tried to soften up the Russian lines.
The ground shook beneath the headquarters as rounds hit the hill above them. Nearly every person in the bunker looked towards the ceiling to see if it was about to collapse in on them.
“Tell the artillery to hold their fire,” said Tolya. “I don’t want any counter-battery fire. We need to save our guns until the enemy ground forces advance. Ilya, give the order to the ISDMs to prepare the welcome mat.” The ISDM was a state of the art mine-layer. Each truck could lay a two hundred and forty meter long, fifteen meter deep minefield of five hundred and forty anti-tank mines. These would be dropped into the valley to join the minefields that were already sewn. Once those mines were deployed, the trucks would make a dash for the city, hopefully before they could be targeted by the enemy air or artillery. Tolya knew that with Khabarovsk and Chita gone, Russian air power would be hard pressed to give them much relief.
One-by-one, the monitors lost signal as the cameras were destroyed in the artillery barrage.
“Sir,” said Tarasov, “the enemy is advancing. Our scouts are reporting a mixed force of infantry vehicles and armor crossing the valley.”
“Send the order to engage. Let us hope that we’ve covered everything.
*******
The Russian artillery finally answered the Chinese. As the rounds pounded the armored vehicles speeding across the valley, the mines fell in front of them. In the chaotic fight, the Chinese missed the significance of the ISDM attack. The counter-battery radars simply recorded the barrage as falling considerably short of the attacking formations. The incoming artillery devastated the advancing armor. Unfortunately for the Russians, each round that came down revealed the position of the gun that fired it. The Chinese then used this information to pour counter-battery fire on the Russians in order to silence the guns.
For each vehicle taken out by the artillery, there were ten more pushing on towards the Russian lines. As the Chinese approached known or suspected minefields, combat engineers in mine clearing vehicles fired mine clearing line charges. These vehicles fired rockets which trailed a long line of high explosives that would cross the minefield to a depth of 100 meters before detonating, and (in theory) destroying all of the mines along the path. This would give the Chinese a nine meter column through which they could continue their advance. While effective, this tactic slowed the advance drastically. Each minute spent on clearing the minefields was another minute that the Chinese were exposed to the Russian artillery.
Along other sections of the line, the Chinese were being surprised by the minefields freshly sewn by the ISDM trucks at the start of the battle. In those cases, the advancing columns were coming to a complete stop.
********
“Sir, the Chinese are wading into the minefields,” said Tarasov.
“Send in the professors,” replied Tolya. The “Professors” in question were the helicopter pilots of the 92nd Helicopter Training Squadron, who had relocated to the Vladivostok airport from their base at Sokol, a few hundred miles northeast of there. That training squadron was responsible for all of the advanced attack helicopter training in the Russian Far East. As such they had a host of all the attack helicopters in the Russian fleet. They flew everything from the aging but deadly Mi-24 to the newer and even more deadly Mi-28 and Ka-50 attack helicopters. From the moment the Chinese started their assault, the Professors of the training squadron were ready to leap into the frey.
*******
The formation of varied airframes clung to the nape-of-the-earth as they raced forward into battle. The tiny formation of ten helicopters was lost in the massive ocean of Chinese armored vehicles. The Chinese were falling to the 9M120 misiles of the Russian helicopters before the Chinese even knew the Russians were there. Yet, the sudden attack was quickly turned back. Chinese HQ-17 air defense vehicles engaged them with drastic effect. Each helicopter could destroy several vehicles before being taken out by the Chinese SAMs, but again, there were always more Chinese.
In the narrows of the northern defensive line, the Chinese ran right into the dug-in Russian infantry. The Russians held their fire until the last minute to ensure the maximum chances of destroying enemy vehicles before letting loose their Kornet missiles. As the Chinese armor started taking losses, the ZBD-04 Infantry Fighting Vehicles unloaded their troops to clear out the Russian fortifications. They were met with the full determination of a desperate enemy. The Russians had no place to which they could fall back. They would make their stand here and die in the effort. Chinese tanks blasted away at concentrations of Russian forces, while the Russians returned fire with AKs, RPGs, Grenades, and ill will. The relentless onslaught ground the defenders into the soil, now thick with blood. The first neighborhood to fall was Kiparisovo. As the Chinese destroyed every building and killed every last defender, they gained control of and access to the A370 highway.
The Russians had mined the highway, as they had mined everything in the valley. Never-the-less, with demining operations, the Chinese would soon be able to use the highway to move quickly towards Vladivostok.
********
“Major, the enemy has overrun Kiparisovo,” reported Tarasov. “They are turning south, as you predicted.”
Tolya knew that this was the prudent move. Continuing to the east would have put the Chinese crossing the jagged hills protecting the peninsula. While those hills weren’t as heavily defended as the river valley, the fewer troops could cause much greater death and destruction due to the terrain. If the Chinese chose to push the fight into the hills, the Russians would oblige them by committing their reserves to that front.
“Prepare the train,” said Tolya.
“Understood, Major,” replied Tarasov, who then relayed the orders to the relevant parties.
********
The Chinese success in the northern side of the valley was repeated further south. As the defenders in South Kiparisovo (another neighborhood, located a few kilometers south of the first) reported their collapse and defeat, a massive behemoth emerged from the north side of the headquarters tunnel. The train slowly accelerated, pulling ten flatcars north just to the east, and under an embankment of the highway. Each of the flatcars held three of Tolya’s Infantry fighting vehicles. While the dismounted infantry fought to the death in the streets of the towns outside of Vladivostok, Tolya had just committed his only reserve force, in an effort to stem the tide of the Chinese horde.
The train bolted north of Kiparisovo, and decelerated, to allow the Russian vehicles to disembark. The Russians successfully deployed along the eastern flank of the Chinese attack. This forced the Chinese to halt their advance to the south to address the new threat to their east. The BTRs fought valiantly, providing more Anti-Tank-Guided-Missiles to destroy even more of the Chinese tanks and infantry vehicles. As with everything else in this defense, there were just too few BTRs to stop the attack. The Chinese turned back the BTRs, and resumed their relentless push towards Mirnyi.
********
“Sir, Captain Yurasov reports that the BTR attack has failed to stop the enemy,” The gravity of the situation could be heard in Tarasov’s voice. Everyone in the command bunker knew what this meant: There was no significant force between the onrushing horde, and their position.
“Very well,” replied Tolya with a stoicism he didn’t really feel. “Everyone take up defensive positions and prepare to repel the enemy.” Troops scattered from here to there, moving from their more administrative positions needed to control outside operations to the more direct firing positions from which they would engage the Chinese. Tolya scanned the crowd, looking for…
“Corporal Baldayev, get over here,” said Tolya. When the younger man reached him, he continued, “I need you to take one of the runner bikes and report to Brigade Command. Tell the Colonel that we will fight to the last man, but that we anticipate being overrun by the Chinese within the hour.” He could see the confusion in Baldayev’s eyes. “The Colonel will be expecting you. Let him know that I would have sent Semichayevsky if I could have. He will understand everything.” The confused soldier nodded, turned and headed for the south entrance.
Tolya turned back to the men and women of his command, now assembled at their combat posts. “We don’t have time for a grand speech. There is nothing I can say that will turn you into better warriors than you are right now. We will fight the Khan bastards. When they tell this story in their histories, they will remember the 59th Battalion of the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade.” With that said, he returned to his stateroom, retrieved his AK-12 and and began the walk to the northern tunnel entrance, where they expected to first encounter the Chinese. There was nothing left for him to do as a Battalion commander. At this point, he was just another rifle and he was going to put that rifle where it would do the most good.
As soon as the train pulled out, the Russian defenders began building the barricade. They had used a bulldozer to push several more of the flatbed railcars and concrete construction barriers into the tunnel opening, and built out firing positions in this new and impressive wall. Deeper in the tunnel, there were snipers perched near the top of the tunnel. As Tolya took up a position along the wall he knew that all of this defense would melt away under the fury of Chinese 125mm cannon fire.
On his radio, Tolya could hear enemy contact being made. The defenders dug in along the hillside outside of the tunnel reported incoming armored vehicles. It was a mix of IFVs and Tanks. Tolya listened as the unit commanders ordered their men to fire their Kornet missiles at the incoming enemy with an emphasis on taking out the Type-99 tanks. Tolya knew from his briefings on the battles of Kyaght and Chita, that the Anti-Tank-Guided-Missile (ATGM) teams wouldn’t get more than one or two salvos before they were dispatched by the enemy.
The tunnel defenders could hear some of the ATGMs as they fired off from nearby hidden positions. After a brief pause they again felt the ground shake as enemy armor began pounding the hill. Tolya had no doubt that within a minute they would be on the receiving end of another artillery barrage.
“Prepare to take cover from artillery,” he called out, knowing that soldiers who were too focused on looking for the coming horde might leave themselves exposed when the rounds started dropping. If the Chinese had any idea what was under this hill, Tolya had no doubt that as soon as the artillery stopped falling, the infantry would follow.
As if on script, the artillery began to burst along the entire length of the hill. Tolya thought for a second that the enemy must be especially focused on the northern end of the tunnel, but brushed the thought aside. I can only see what is in front of me. There’s some poor fool on the south side thinking the same thing about what’s in front of him, he thought. As soon as there was a lull in the shelling Tolya called out, “Prepare to repel!” and the crack of a DXL-5 sniper rifle emphasized his point.
Soon, the Snipers were joined by the riflemen along the line. AK-12 Avtomats opened up at extended range as soon as Chinese infantry appeared. With Chinese losses mounting, Tolya raised his binoculars to get a better view of what was happening. Peering through the disjointed area between two railcars, he could see the Chinese pulling back.
“They’re bringing in an IFV,” said one of the elevated snipers. Tolya looked to the Kornet team to his left as they nervously scanned the battlefield for this new threat. When it emerged from the darkness, there was a near simultaneous firing of ATGMs. The Kornet reached out for the Chinese IFV while the Chinese vehicle fired a 3UBK10 missile at the center mass of the barricade. Tolya was thrown back by the explosion, but the wall held.
Tolya recovered in time to see the Kornet team scrambling to reload the launcher. Before he could get his rifle on a target, another round was fired by the IFV. This time, instead of hitting the barrier, it flew over the wall and into the tunnel. When it exploded behind him, it sent slivers of metal throughout the interior of the defenses.
Tolya could hear defenders scream as the metal fragments tore into flesh. He immediately put himself back into his firing position and started looking for a target. The Chinese had resumed their advance, showing more bravery now that they had vehicle support. He fired a burst at one of the infantrymen, then shifted his sight to the IFV. He could see that the Kornet team had taken out the left track, rendering the vehicle imobile, but not inoperable. He shifted to the left, looking for more targets when a second Kornet blew a hole in the 100mm turret, finishing the job that the first missile started.
The attacking Chinese concentrated rifle fire along the wall. As he reloaded his Avtomat, Tolya could hear cries of pain as the defenders began to fall. More high explosives were slamming into the wall, and Tolya knew that the infantrymen were firing RPGs in an effort to breach the wall. Even worse, Tolya could feel the conducive blast waves of grenades going off behind him. They must have brought up a grenade launcher, he thought as the scanned the battlefield searching for it.
He found the man reloading his QLU-11. He fired at the man, killing him, then hesidated for a second, to see if any of his brothers-in-arms was stupid enough to retreive the weapon. One was, and Tolya ended him. The sounds of rifle fire from both sides continued to grow as the Chinese infantry pushed their assault. Russian PKP machine guns cut down waves of Chinese as they advanced.
As he seated his last magazine, Tolya caught something moving into view behind the Chinese infantry. Almost too late, he recognized the silhouette of the Type-99 Main Battle Tank. Even before he heard the report of the 125mm main gun, he knew that he had mere moments left on the earth. The tank began pounding the wall with high-explosive rounds, pushing the railcars back and turning the concrete barriers into powder, which filled the tunnel and reduced visibility. Tolya and the defenders fell back from the barricade and into the tunnel.
Before the dust could settle, Chinese infantry were swarming into the tunnel, firing at every corner, every outcrop. The Russians were now firing almost indiscriminatley at the incoming horde. There were so many Chinese soldiers that any shot sent downrange was bound to hit one of them. Tolya fired his last shot into the oncoming assault and tossed his rifle to the ground. He pulled out his boot knife and crouched low in the corner.
The knife had been his grandfather’s in the Great Patriotic War. His father had carried it as a Paratrooper during Operation Magistral in Afghanistan. He crouched, tightly coiled and ready to strike. He waited for the first line of Chinese soldiers to pass him before leaping out, knife in hand. He buried the knife in the man’s side, where he knew there would be a gap in the armored plates. The Chinese soldier cried out as Tolya ripped the knife around, searching out the man’s heart.
Something bit Tolya in the side. He pulled the knife out of the doomed soldier, and looked for his next victim. His legs gave out as he staggered towards another Chinese soldier, who was pointing a rifle at him. He watched the rifle buck, and saw the flame lick the barrel. He felt the punch to his chest and he fell backwards, staring at the ceiling of the tunnel hill as his life ran out.