by Vivek Ahuja
“Agreed.” Yadav said. “Call up Potgam at Haa Dzong in Bhutan and tell him to get his act together. Tell him that we are looking at getting authorization from the King of Bhutan to put the Royal Bhutanese Army under his command. In the meantime warn him that there looks like at least one Chinese Highland Division possibly preparing to enter Bhutan from Tibet. Ask them to submit a preliminary appreciation of the local situation immediately along with his readiness, TO&E and mobility requirements. I will pass the word to the Defense-Minister. He needs to make sure that the Bhutanese Government knows the threat of invasion on their northern border!”
“Yes sir,” Suman said from where he sat.
“What about the two Chinese Divisions entering the Chumbi valley?” Sen asked.
“I think they have reached far enough south. Time for us to stop them in their tracks. It’s time we initiated Operation Chimera.”
NEW DELHI
DAY 4 + 2230 HRS
“What is this?” Chakri asked as he took the sheet of paper from the Navy Lieutenant-Commander right as the Admiral walked into his office.
“It’s a warning issued by the US Navy about Chinese submarines leaving port. AVM Malhotra at the Aerospace Command confirmed it with overhead intel. Two of our Il-38 patrol aircraft launched from the Nicobar Islands a few minutes ago,” the Admiral noted as Chakri continued to read the report in his hands. A few seconds later he looked up:
“So we will know more in a few hours?”
“Yes sir. In the meantime I have put the Eastern Fleet on high alert. Almost all commercial shipping has been diverted away from the Malacca strait for days now so the threat to them is low. At any rate, I intend to keep the Bay of Bengal clean and the Malacca straits closed.”
day 5
DAULAT BEG OLDI
LADAKH
DAY 5 + 0355 HRS
The IMFS view flared out as a line of artillery explosions overwhelmed the optical scope’s ability to clean up the image…
Brigadier Adesara lowered the device and looked down at his feet as the thunder rumbled through. To the east the Chinese lines disappeared in dust clouds raised by the falling shells. As jet noises saturated the air, he instinctively looked up. He couldn’t see anything in the night sky, but he thought he saw the outlines of three Jaguar aircraft. A thunderclap erupted behind the Chinese lines and an inverted cone of dust went upwards…
The attacks were being coordinated by Adesara’s forward-air-controllers using tactical UAVs. It was as high-tech a war as Adesara could arrange, but in the end it came down to his soldiers clasping full magazines into their rifles and his tankers closing the hatches on their armored vehicles. He brought up the IMFS again and looked south to see lines of BMP-II and other special vehicles moving out with a rumble of their diesel engines.
Adesara was committing all he could spare from the forces in the sector into the attack. There were no reserves left behind worth speaking of. That made this plan risky to say the least. And both Adesara and Colonel Sudarshan knew this.
But if you have to play, you better play to win!
SASER
LADAKH
DAY 5 + 0415 HRS
Wing-Commander Dutt could not have agreed more. He checked his sidearm and patted his flight-suit pockets to ensure he had some extra clips for it. He stood aside his parked LCH as they approached the time for launch…
His helicopter was outfitted with eight Nag anti-tank guided-missiles, four on each side in a 2x2 pod load-out. That was about all that could be carried at the moment given the very high altitudes they were on.
Oh yeah, there is also the gun rounds…
Dutt corrected himself and looked over to see the second LCH parked a little further away. He checked his watch again:
Two minutes to go.
He waved to his WSO and started climbing into the cockpit. His crew-chief walked up to the side glass panel of the cockpit and helped both crew members strap in. A few moments later the turbines on both helicopters were spooling up and the main rotor slowly gathering RPM. The Saser valley filled with the whine of the rotating turbo-machinery. Dutt activated the helmet-optics that instantly turned the murky dark environment near Saser into a brightly lit green-white-black terrain. His WSO was already looking left and right to verify chin gun turret slaving to his helmet. The crew-chief standing outside confirmed gun slaving and closed the cockpit side-glass panels before locking them in place.
Both helicopters were on full power now as they waited for the Smerch battery to the west across the road to cease fire and clear the airspace of rockets. The FARP should not have been that close to their deployment locations, but terrain negated any other choice. Flat open spaces were a luxury in short supply…
When the Smerch battery rocket-launchers fired off their salvo and were being approached by their replenishment vehicles, the two LCH pilots maxed out on the throttles to initiate dust-off and pulled off the gravel of Saser with a groan. Dutt’s heart was in his mouth as the engines groaned under the weight of the helicopter and the thin mountain air. But a few seconds later they were climbing away, much to the cheer of the HAL volunteers on the ground below. As they built up forward velocity, Dutt throttled down. Soon they had disappeared from view at Saser and entered the Daulat-beg-oldi sector…
SOUTHEAST OF DAULAT BEG OLDI
DAY 5 + 0431 HRS
“Do it!”
Colonel Sudarshan ordered the Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of operations for the 10TH Mechanized Battalion. As the latter officer began shouting radio orders, Sudarshan walked over to the nearest parked BMP-II and climbed on top of its hull. The warm metal near the engine was welcome against the freezing snows all around. He stood on top of the turret and took out his binoculars.
He surveyed the continuing bombardment of the Chinese locations to the east. On his side he saw the dozens of parked armored vehicles as his ears picked up on the radio chatter from his forward command post behind him:
“Thunder-One to all elements! Destroy all enemy in grid box Five-Two-Nine. Sweep and clear! Advance! Advance! Advance!”
The valley filled with the thunderous roar of dozens of diesel engines as the 10TH Mechanized Battalion advanced to contact…
DAULAT BEG OLDI
LADAKH
DAY 5 + 0440 HRS
Adesara noticed the bursts of tracer fire from the BMP-II auto-cannons as they laced the terrain to the southeast. He pressed a button on top of the IMFS with his index fingers and the device changed views to infrared, turning the sector south of the Chip-Chap River into a black-white-gray dynamic portrait.
Adesara’s signals officer walked up and stated the obvious:
“10TH Mechanized is advancing. They report higher than expected enemy resistance. Advance is continuing. No casualties to our vehicles yet!”
“That will change soon enough!” Adesara noted soberly without lowering his optics.
As if on cue, a distant fireball marked the end of another Indian BMP-II. Adesara frowned.
Three more of my boys dead.
God damn it!
SOUTHEAST OF DAULAT BEG OLDI
DAY 5 + 0451 HRS
Sudarshan was leaning over the maps inside the tents pitched near his battalion command vehicles. The banks of radios were alive with chaotic combat chatter as young tank commanders leading the assault were shouting orders and updates over the radios. Sudarshan’s operations staff were trying to make sense of it and trying to update the tactical maps.
But Sudarshan preferred the view from above now visible on two of his battlefield computers nearby. These were showing the live infrared video feed from an army Nishant UAV flying directly above the battle. He had a very clear view of the battle situation and noticed before his staff officers that the Chinese were fighting, and fighting hard…
THE LINE OF ACTUAL CONTROL
SOUTH OF THE CHIP CHAP RIVER
LADAKH
DAY 5 + 0452 HRS
“Gunner! Traverse left! M-G emplacement! Ra
nge five hundred!”
Captain Kongara shouted after spotting the target through the commander’s sights. The response from his gunner was quick.
“Identified!”
“Fire!” Kongara shouted without looking away from the sights.
The BMP-II shuddered as the 2A42 auto-cannon’s 30mm rounds slashed out and slammed into the Chinese machinegun position, killing all three Chinese soldiers in a series of small dirt explosions.
“Target neutralized!”
“Confirmed kills!” Kongara agreed.
The vehicle rumbled over some rocky terrain and he had to grab on to the optics with both hands to prevent being rocked about like a stone inside a tin can. The smell of expended ammunition was already filling the cramped turret.
A moment later he spotted a Chinese ZBD moving out of cover very close to their advancing line…
“Gunner! Chinese Z-B-D on the move!”
“I have him!” the gunner shouted a second out of sync with his commander.
“Fire!”
The 30mm rounds lashed out yet again and this time hit the thin armor plating of the Chinese ZBD at almost right angles, maximizing penetration. Even so a lot of the rounds ricocheted off the enemy vehicle like fireworks. Kongara’s gunner shouted out some choice expletives in his native village dialect and depressed the fire button again. The second burst scored home and the treads of the ZBD shredded along with most of its turret mounted optics. The vehicle staggered to a halt…
A moment later its hatches snapped open and the Chinese vehicle crew members started clambering out. A couple of them attempted to throw some small smoke grenades towards the lines of advancing Indian BMPs. However, the smoke takes time to spread. Kongara’s gunner did not give them that time. The vehicle shuddered again, this time somewhat more lightly as he fired the coaxial 7.62mm PKT machinegun rounds. A mass of small dust clouds and sparks lit up the rocks and the disabled vehicle around the crippled ZBD.
He did not stop until all movements were silenced.
The lead vehicles in the Indian line were now approaching the main line of Chinese defenses. And he knew the soldiers in those trenches ahead were bound to carry some light anti-tank capabilities. The Major’s voice filled Kongara’s helmet:
“Thunder-One to all elements! We are entering prepared enemy positions! Maintain unit cohesion and watch for enemy infantry! Advance and destroy. We will move into the enemy’s rear echelons. If you see a truck that’s intact: light it up! If you see a commie soldier: shoot him! All you infantry boys: listen up! Debus and provide over-watch for my tanks! Go! Thunder-One out!”
Kongara strained to hear all the words over the sounds of gunfire and the vehicle’s engines. But once he heard what he wanted to hear, he brought his comms speaker closer to his mouth:
“Driver! Stop! We need to get our passengers out there! Gunner: deploy smoke!”
The vehicle abruptly stopped, causing Kongara and the soldiers of the 9TH Battalion of the Punjab Regiment in the back to lurch forward. A moment later they had snapped open the back entrances to the vehicle and were leaping out with their rifles. The last soldier to leave into the freezing cold outside turned around and slammed the doors closed on the vehicle…
Okay. Here we go!
“Driver! Move out!”
The line of Indian vehicles renewed their advance a few seconds later and closed in on the battered positions of the opposing Chinese Regiment. Both sides realized that this was a battle to the death. The terrain did not permit a fighting retreat for the Chinese and for the Indians this was to be the penetration point into territory controlled by the Chinese for the last sixty years.
They had no intention of turning back.
The Chinese began offering stiff resistance to the advancing Indian vehicles and debussed Sikh soldiers. The latter were shouting out their battle cry as they advanced, sending a streak of terror down the Chinese positions. The ferocity of the Sikh soldiers of the Indian army was legendary. The Chinese deployed smoke and launched a mortar barrage on the mass of Indian vehicles in an attempt to separate them from their supporting infantry. They also began launching anti-tank missiles.
But the powerful inertia of the Indian advance could not be stopped.
Not now! Not this close to victory!
Kongara watched the gunners of the various vehicles on either side of his own firing continuous cannon bursts against the dug-in Chinese soldiers. A line of explosions rocked the ground behind the Chinese defenses and the mortar fire stopped. He thanked the friendly UAVs above directing friendly artillery fire from the powerful 155mm howitzers for that…
His eyes suddenly spotted what looked a fast, stubby, thin cylinder moving across his view towards some vehicle down the line.
“Oh shit! Incoming miss…!”
His frantic radio call was cut midsentence as a massive white flash of light saturated his NVG systems and a shockwave ran through the interiors of his vehicle with a thunderclap. A moment later the radios were alive with the sounds of chaos.
“Two is gone! Oh my god! Two is gone! We have lost Thunder-two!”
Kongara did not join that chaos. He waited in silence as his sights regained enough vision. He then turned them to the side to see a BMP further south from him burning furiously as it got left behind the advancing line. The Major was back on the air a second later:
“Cut the god damned chatter! Keep the net clear! Keep advancing, damn it! Thunder-One out!”
Kongara rotated his optics back towards the east to see that his gunner was busy engaging visible targets and so were a bunch of other vehicles in the line.
Good.
Kongara restored his composure. They had just lost another vehicle, but the Major was right. They would lose a lot more if they did not put that loss behind them…
By now the sounds of vehicle cannon-fire had given way to chaotic small-arms fire as the Sikh soldiers stormed into the Chinese trenches and bunkers while the vehicles cut down any Chinese soldier who attempted to flee from the terrifying lunge of the Sikhs.
It was a quick and bitter massacre.
As the bursts of gunfire gave way to silence and the Sikhs began mopping up the Chinese Regiment’s position, Kongara noticed that the Major commanding the 10TH Mechanized vehicles had already diverted a group of BMP-IIs along with a couple of the NAMICA tracks to move beyond the positions from the south. This group was now heading into the vast open spaces east of the LAC as their turrets continued engaging some targets at long-range…
The Chinese line south of the Chip-Chap River had been broken.
As silence prevailed and the battlefield lay littered with dead and wounded Chinese soldiers, Kongara could only see Indian soldiers milling about. The 9TH Punjab Battalion commander’s voice came on the net and declared an “all clear” for the line of halted Indian armor in front of the dead Chinese defenses.
Out on the trenches, a handful of captured Chinese soldiers were being herded back. As these captured enemy combatants moved past the parked rows of Indian vehicles, Kongara opened the top hatch of his vehicle and looked around…
With the static positions destroyed, maneuver warfare now beaconed for the 10TH Mechanized Battalion and its sister units deploying into Ladakh.
Kongara jumped off his vehicle onto the gravel and picked up a mound of earth as it dawned upon him that they had just liberated a piece of land that had been under Chinese control for more than sixty years! As the sun began rising from the east and illuminated the very tips of the eastern faces of the Karakoram mountains, Kongara realized that it was a morning the likes his country had never seen before.
NORTHEAST BHUTAN
DAY 5 + 0730 HRS
The smoke was everywhere.
The village was on one of the last road heads in the sector after which there were only mud tracks and terrace-cultivated hills all the way to the northern border. But this village was no more. The Chinese long-range Smerch MBRL units had launched severe attacks an hour ago
from beyond the border forty kilometers north and had practically razed the houses and huts to the ground…
The missing Chinese Division in south-central Tibet had finally been found the night before by Indian satellites. It was at the northern Tibet-Bhutan border. The Chinese Highland Division had moved south of the Karo-La in Tibet and had spread its regiments out along the Bhutanese border. Its intentions, as well as those of Beijing, had been made utterly clear: the invasion of Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
The Royal Bhutanese Army had been deploying into northern Bhutan ever since. The RBA was moving everything it had along with some Indian support, but the elite Highland Division was far better equipped than anything the Bhutanese could throw at it.
And they make this so very clear to us…
Bhutanese Army Colonel Toshum thought as he stepped out of his jeep and walked past the line of trucks parked along the mountain road. Injured and panicked civilians were streaming and running back on the side of the road to the south.
He could see the smoldering ruins of the village. The dead and dying were everywhere and Bhutanese soldiers were rushing to administer first aid and urgent medical support. Toshum and his staff walked past the rows of burning houses until he came across an army Major, his face blackened by soot and grime. The Major and a few of his men were walking down the hills from the north. All showed the exhaustion of combat on their faces and most had sustained injuries.
The Major spotted Toshum and saluted. Toshum ordered his men to help the Major and the other survivors. A couple of minutes later he had retrieved his maps and walked over to the Major who was drinking water from a bottle. The younger soldier poured some on his face and wiped it with his grimy hands.
“The front is broken, sir,” he said finally.