Читаем Chimera полностью

“Kulkarni, 43RD Armored is now part of the 3RD Infantry A-O. Get your unit to DBO via Saser and report to Colonel Sudarshan, who is in charge of all mechanized-infantry and armor operations in that sector. He can use all the help he can get. The Chinese have one of my Brigades under Brigadier Adesara by the balls over there. He’s giving them hell, and getting some in return. Sudarshan and his Mechanized infantry battalions are getting chewed out by Chinese tanks as he is trying to advance into Chinese held territory. Let’s see if 43RD Armored can change the odds in his favor somewhat. We will coordinate ASC support for your unit from here when your C-O gets here with the main bulk of the regiment. Understood?”

“Yes sir! Rhino force will give them hell,” Kulkarni responded as he saluted and ran back to his tank, signaling the other commanders behind him to rev-up their engines.

Mohanty took out a cigarette pack from one of his uniform breast pockets and lit it up, blowing the smoke away as the first Arjun tank bellowed smoke and roared forward along the road.

Since the first day of the ground war in Ladakh, when Mohanty, Adesara and Sudarshan had lost the tiny T-72 force in DBO holding the Chinese back, it had taken a good five days to get the next, fresh set of armor into the theater on account of poor infrastructure in Kashmir.

Five days!

Mohanty scowled and threw away his cigarette into the gravel.

Five days. Imagine what I could have down with this force if I had them on the very first day of the war!

He walked back to his command post. Behind him, a dust cloud rose into the gray cloudy skies as the tanks of the 43RD Armored rolled forward.

HAA DZONG

BHUTAN

DAY 6 + 1730 HRS

“What the heck are they waiting for?” Potgam asked his operations staff inside the admin building at the former IMTRAT headquarters, now functioning as JFB command center. He and his other officers were poring over a bunch of paper maps strewn about on tables and pinned to the walls. He had radios lined up in the other room and a couple of laptops and battlefield computers showing the UAV feed in case he needed to see it.

The whole arrangement was ad-hoc and everybody knew it. But it was also the best they could do for now. So everybody had to improvise and make do…

Potgam had long decided that his Chinese counterpart leading the Highland Division into Bhutan had made a mistake in stopping and consolidating his forces before rushing for Thimpu. The latest satellite imagery showed two Highland Regiments bringing up supplies and preparing defensive fall-back positions north of Thimpu. This was not without merit. They had captured vast areas of Bhutan and were now trying to bring in supporting arms to secure it. Potgam’s UAV crews had seen what looked like a lot of Mi-17s moving field artillery guns and supplies and they had even seen a few Short-Range-Air-Defense, or SHORAD, vehicles being brought in to create a bubble of protection around the Divisional forces.

Potgam turned away from the maps pinned to the wall to face the Brigadier in charge of gathering intelligence on Chinese forces north of Thimpu.

“Well?”

“Sir, they are bringing in two more Regiments to reinforce their lines. Same as before: digging in before advancing. Pathanya’s team here,” he pointed on the pinned map with a marker, “reported twelve hours ago that they have seen evidence of precision artillery attacks against RBG forces near the Wang-Chu Bridge on the approach to Thimpu. They might even be using R-P-Vs of their own for precision targeting. Also, I think it’s a safe bet that the Brigade of the Highland Division advancing on Thimpu will hold one Battalion in reserve and the other two for the advance. There are also at least three enemy special operations teams inside our A-O.”

Potgam folded his arms as he continued to stare at the map in front.

“Yeah, I agree. I want those bastards found and killed before they cause any trouble. As for the Brigade north of Thimpu, all I heard from you is an enemy plan if we just decided to sit around and do nothing. And that’s not happening! What I see is an enemy commander so cautious and methodical that it leaves him vulnerable to an unorthodox foe. He has also shown us that he unable to adapt to a fast moving situation,” Potgam concluded ruthlessly.

He paced around the room lost in his thoughts for a minute before he stopped and looked at the other operations officers waiting for him: