Able Sentry

by John Schettler

  They are here for their people, he thought, and perhaps more. We took their oil, which is really our oil, as we so kindly allowed them to drill here for it. Now they think they had a little sovereign island here in the middle of our desert, but I will show them how wrong they are. How will they evacuate the personnel if they get to Sultan Apache first? They will have plenty of trucks, but it is a long way back to Tobruk. Perhaps they will use their helicopters, in which case going to Siwa to get control of the airfield there might be wise.

  I have three brigades…. Perhaps I should try each road with the two mechanized infantry brigades, and hold my 11th Armored brigade in reserve. If either road proves promising, then I commit the bulk of my armor. He called a Lieutenant.

  “Take 714th Brigade down through this depression and up the far side to this canyon. Break through and then await my orders. 715th Brigade will follow, but turn west after they cross this mess. 11th Armored crosses here, and then waits. Understood?”

  “Yes sir.”

  * * *

  Brigadier Kinlan had finally arrived, finding the Hillier Road that would take him directly to the main north gate of Sultan Apache. After almost 24 hours of near constant movement, he paused, ordering Colonel Reeves to do a bit of night work and get him some information.

  That night Reeves ordered up the drones, small hovering craft that could rise up into the darkness, and move unseen in the night. They would send back a bird’s eye view of the ground, which Reeves could monitor on screens. By 03:00, he had recovered them, and put together his report for Brigadier Kinlan.

  “Hard night, Reeves,” said Kinlan. “I’m afraid it just gets worse from here.”

  “No bother, sir. I’ve done drone reconnaissance, and can report that it looks like the other two battalions of the Egyptian 222nd Special Forces are here. They’re mostly up on the northern perimeter, and around the gates.”

  He went to the map.

  “Now here, sir, down along this track leading to the West gate at Mugbara, Brigadier Hale has a company of 1st Para Battalion. They’ll be of some help on that flank. The ground here east of the Hillier Road isn’t very good, but I think I can get through if you want me to swing around to the east gate at Al Abayad.”

  Kinlan nodded.

  “I sent a message by radio in the clear to those fellows,” he said, referring to the Egyptians holding the fields. “I told them we were here to rescue British nationals and secure facilities and property of British Petroleum.”

  “How did that go down?” asked Reeves.

  “As well as might be expected. The bugger told me there was no property belonging to anyone here except the Egyptian state, and that our people are presently being treated as guests of the Egyptian government. Well, I told him, in no uncertain terms, that I was here to see to their wellbeing, and these guests had better be in good state of mind and body, because they are checking out and going home. I gave it to him nice and thick.”

  “And he likely told you to bugger off,” said Reeves.

  “That was about the size of it, though he was a bit more politic. Very well, the men needed rest, and you get some as well. While I’d prefer a night attack, better to have clear heads in the morning. We go in at dawn. As for your suggestion, yes. Swing over to the east and secure that gate. Once you get through, that road takes you right on in to the main storage warehouses, and the barracks. They probably have our people there. Getting them out may be dicey. You’ll have to dismount your men and operate on foot so you can and move those people back here to the truck pool.”

  “Very good, sir. Three hours sleep sounds lovely, but we’ll be ready at the crack of dawn. Are you going to hit them hard, sir?”

  “As hard as it takes.”

  Kinlan gave him a wink, and Reeves saluted.

  Chapter 20

  Those three hours slipped by all too quickly, and at sunrise, as General Salid was sending his column down into that deep sebkha depression, Kinlan gave the order to move on the norther perimeter. Reeves was the first to go, sending Lieutenant Hansen’s 1st Saber for that end around to the east gate. That move had a dual purpose, as it would put them right on the road between Sultan Apache and the Qara Oasis, which was only about 25 klicks northwest of the El Abayad Gate.

  It would start with a brief announcement, call it a hard knock on the front door, when Kinlan ordered the 155mm guns to shell all the gate positions while his assault teams were forming up. Reeves report had been accurate, because most of the remaining strength of the 222nd Brigade was in the north. The gate there was sometimes called the Central Gate, or Hillier Gate, as it really wasn’t much north of the east or west gates. All three were along the arc of the northern perimeter of the site, which stretched 30 kilometers, side to side.

  The local commander of the 222nd, Brigadier Daud El-Baz, had been the man sparring with Kinlan on the radio, and he had expected the gunfire to start at dawn. Setting his HQ at the big refinery on site, he climbed up to the top of a high ventilation tower and surveyed the northern perimeter with his field glasses. It was as safe a place as any, for surely the British will not shell their own refinery, he thought. Now he could see the large dust cloud being kicked up by Reeves and his Ajax AFV’s. A large force was moving east of the main gate, most likely moving to the east gate.

  They will cut the road to Qara Oasis, he thought, but there is little I can do about it now. I have barely enough men to contest the northern perimeter, but we will answer their guns with our 105’s against that flanking move. If nothing else, they will know I have seen that knight on the run.

  He looked up, seeing contrails in the sky, and he knew that enemy planes were up there. They have command of the skies, and there is nothing I can do about that either. So we sit, hold our positions as long as we can, and hope 3rd Mech gets here soon. They are close at hand.

  * * *

  Yes, they were close as the crow flies, but a bit farther as the tank moves, especially under the rude attentions of enemy aircraft. It took three hours for General Salid to get his 714th Brigade across the sebkha depression and along the road running parallel to Wadi Hamid. In that time, forward scouts called back to report the canyon pass was defended by British infantry.

  “They are dug in,” said the Sergeant.

  “Then we will grind them under our tank treads, if only these infernal air strikes would cease.”

  The General’s men were close enough to hear artillery firing up on the high plateau. He looked at his watch, seeing it was 09:00, and at that hour Kinlan’s attack began in earnest. Reeves had sent only 1st Saber on that wide envelopment to the east gate. Then he took the other two Sabers, eight companies, and blasted right through an undefended section of the perimeter. His new Ajax AFV’s raced south, hooking west a bit towards the heart of the facility. In an hour they had reached a nob noted as Hill 179 on the maps, just a kilometer from the barracks where they hoped to find their people.

  The weight of the Strike Brigade was going to be too much for the lightly armed Special Forces. Their role had been to sweep in out of the night and seize this place, but it never occurred to them, or anyone else, that they would soon be facing a heavily mechanized force, with rows of menacing Challenger II tanks, and swarms of tough, professional infantry in Warrior APCs.

  2nd Saber, Royal Lancers, swept into the barracks area, running off an enemy headquarters company and weapons platoon there, and securing the buildings. The Egyptian guards had fled and they were greeted by scores of oil workers, waving at them and shouting good will from the windows. By 11:00, platoons of A-Company, 1st Scots Guards, came rolling up towards the refinery. All General El-Baz could do was watch his brigade crumbling from his high roost in that tower. He briefly contemplated sending orders to take groups of British nationals as hostages, but when no one answered that radio call, he realized that he and his men might soon become prisoners here, and thought he had best mind his manners.

  At the barracks, Reeves radioed back that he had the priz
e.

  “We’ve got them secured,” he said, “but sir, I think it’s safe to get the trucks in. You can cease fire with the artillery, I’ve a good look at the attack, and we’re rolling over them like a herd of stampeding buffalo.”

  “Good job, Colonel. Very well, I’ll send the trucks your way. Kinlan out.”

  * * *

  General El-Baz was trapped like a fish in a kettle. The only way he could retreat was south, and the way would be blocked by those sheer escarpments. The British took the west gate, though there was still fighting there, and they were outside the east gate too. The central main gate had been stormed by heavy tanks and infantry in armored vehicles, and his men were light on RPG’s. No one expected the oil workers at Sultan Apache would have Challenger tanks.

  He climbed down from his tower, jumped into a staff car, and headed for the one gate in the south that his men still controlled. Along the way, he got on the radio to General Salid and his 3rd Mech Division.

  “In Allah’s name, where are you? They are overrunning the entire facility!”

  “You cannot hold? What will you do?”

  “We will retreat to the south gate.”

  “Then go to Siwa,” said Abdul Salid.

  “Siwa? I had a full battalion there, but they are all prisoners now.”

  “Then let us go and rescue them. I am sending a full brigade there, though at this rate, we may be all day getting west, if we get there at all. What about your helicopters?”

  “What about them? We had orders to hold this place, so I sent them back to ferry in supplies. We thought you would be here by now, but the British were too fast. They are in great strength, a full brigade, and with heavy armor.”

  “General, I left our bases on the Nile days ago with over 150 tanks. How many I still have left, only Allah knows. I have not had time to count my sheep, but we are still strong. Take heart. We are coming.”

  As Allah counted them, he had left the Nile with 157 tanks, mostly Ramses III models, and he had lost 16 on the road, along with nine APC’s. The two Generals were realizing that their mission here was going to be far more difficult than they realized. General El-Baz decided he would fall back on that southern gate, and see if he could get through, but he doubted he would ever reach Siwa.

  12:00 Local, 9 JAN 2026

  By noon Kinlan’s brigade had taken all the main facility installations, both refineries, the pump stations, power generation building, storage warehouses and barracks. All the rig sites in the north were secured, and with no sabotage or damage. There were still five rigs in the south he had to look after, but he was gratified that his attack had been somewhat of a cake walk. His heavy tanks were truly intimidating, and his men just ran right over any resistance they encountered. He had taken back the heart of the place without even committing his 4th Royal Scots Battalion, which was still on the Hillier Road as a reserve.

  He had 48 trucks in the pool, and sent them all to the barracks to begin loading the oil workers. Sir Douglas was only too glad to see them, clapping a Sergeant on the back with a “Good show, old boy.”

  We’ll have it all back, and prisoners, by 15:00 this afternoon, thought Kinlan. He had driven up to the main gate, seeing the guard shed demolished and still smoking, the chain link fence flattened, and the whole area ground up by the treads of his tanks and APC’s. The lads can fight, he thought. You never really know until you get out and mix it up with the enemy, but all the training paid off, and our equipment is top drawer. The Egyptians hardly knew what hit them. Their heads are still spinning from that attack, textbook perfect if I ever saw one.

  And he had seen many, not in this life, but in another. As he stared at the gate, and started driving south towards the small airstrip, that haunting feeling returned. The last time he had the whole brigade up in the sand like this, they were leaving… In his dream. He instinctively looked up at the sky, afraid to see that searing light there, but things were as different as night and day here now. In his dream it was night, the sky alight with an evil glow, the brigade feeling its way through blowing sand that had covered all the roads. Now it was broad daylight, a fine warm afternoon, and the only thing in the sky were the contrails of the fighters that had been after the Egyptian relief column further south.

  “Sims!”

  “Sir?”

  “What’s that Enemy mechanized column up to?”

  “They were trying the road to the El Abayad Gate, but ran into Gurkhas dug in there. A considerable group seems to have turned off that road to the west.”

  “They may be trying to reach the south gate, and that’s where this lot seems headed. Well, we pulled it off. Now all we have to do is get all the way up north to the coast again.”

  He saw a scout car come up, and a civilian was with the corporal. The man got out and came up, dark haired with greying temples, and a fine mustache, all smiles.

  “Good to see you,” he said, extending a hand. “Sir Douglas Moore. I’m the CEO of this facility, and its bloody good to know it’s back in British hands. I knew you’d come for us.”

  “Glad to be here,” said Kinlan. “Are your people all right?”

  “As good as we could expect. They herded us all into the barracks, but there was no mistreatment, and we were well fed. They even allowed us to use our cooking staff in the cafeterias.”

  “Good. Then I’ll have a light hand with these fellows we’re rounding up. Should be another three of four hours, but we secured all your main facilities. I have trucks enough for your whole contingent. You might have your people collect their belongings, or any documents that might still be left here. We’ll be pulling out tonight.”

  “Tonight? We’re leaving?”

  “Of course,” said Kinlan. “I don’t know what you’ve heard being holed up here the last month or so, but there’s a war on. The Egyptians shut down the Suez Canal, and the Israelis and Americans are after them hammer and tongs in the Sinai.”

  “Then you want to haul us all up to Mersa Matruh?

  “Tobruk. That’s where we came in, as we couldn’t land on the Egyptian coast. They had a full brigade at Mersa Matruh, but we got into Tobruk with no problem. The rub is getting back out. The Egyptians crossed the Libyan border with a full division, so we may be riding north to relieve that garrison as we did here.”

  “My,” said Sir Douglas. “I had no idea. Here I thought we could all finally get back to work, and with your lads about for security. Leaving tonight? Do you realize what all this costs? How can we just up and leave now that we’ve got it all back? British Petroleum has invested tens of millions in these well sites, not to mention the two refineries and the pipeline.”

  “Sir, it’s all shut down,” said Kinlan, “and not just here. There’s a good deal more you probably haven’t heard. The Chinese have stirred up the soup kettle in the Med, and now in the Indian Ocean as well. The bloody Iraqis and Iranians ran through Kuwait as easily as I just chased off this lot, and by now they’re down near the Ghawar oil fields.”

  “Goodness lord! It seems there really is a war on.”

  “Indeed, sir, and at the moment we’re having this nice little chat some 300 miles behind enemy lines. The whole of North Africa is hostile now, and there’s a big oil embargo on. The Yanks, God bless ‘em, have come in hard with their military, and there’s a big operation teeing up to reverse the situation. This jaunt I just made getting down here was just a feather in that war bonnet. My mission was to get here, get your people safely out of harm’s way, and then hump it back to Tobruk. Sorry to leave all this in the lurch, but there it is.”

  Sir Douglas pursed his lips, and it was clear to Kinlan that he didn’t like this outcome as much as he did when they first shook hands.

  “General Kinlan, might I get access to a good satellite telephone or radio set? I’ll need to let Headquarters at BP know what’s going on. I’m sure they’ve been on pins and needles.”

  “Understandable,” said Kinlan. “Unfortunately, we can’t let an
y knowledge of what we’re doing here get out on the airwaves. Operational secrecy must be maintained.”

  “But surely the Egyptians are in on the secret by now. Yes?”

  “I would think so, but that’s protocol at a time like this. Look… If we get you all safely to Tobruk, then you can sort things out there. Good enough? Now sir, as there’s a bit of a ruckus still going on here, you’ll kindly excuse me.”

  Sir Douglas wasn’t happy, nor was he used to hearing “no” from anyone, but he simply nodded, and then set his mind on getting over to the main office building to see if the Egyptians found his other cell phone. He kept it well hidden, and he desperately needed to make a call to BP now—to headquarters, and a few other people of some note in the government. What he wanted was for Kinlan and his brigade to stay put, guarding Sultan Apache and protecting all those millions in pounds, shillings and pence that went into this site, and all the oil it had been bringing to market. To him, at least, and as the British rock artist Roger Waters might say, it all made perfect sense.

  Chapter 21

  At noon on the 9th, Brigadier Kinlan convened a meeting of his battalion commanders. He made his report to General Arnold at 3rd Division HQ, now posted in Haifa with the rest of the division. It was good to deliver the news he had safely rescued their people, and now he had his marching orders.

  “Well done, gentlemen. I’ve just spoken to General Arnold, and he wants us to move out for Tobruk as soon as possible. I’ve already contacted Brigadier Hale with his Paras and told him to get the VIP’s on helicopters for Tobruk, and then begin moving his brigade north. They’ll be landing to secure key points all along the road north, a nice little carpet to ease our way. What we need to do, is get the Brigade sorted out and ready to move right at sunset.”