Chimera

Kongara’s force was primarily armed with BMP-IIs and few other light vehicles. Facing them was a force of Chinese T-99s streaming in from the Aksai Chin arterial roads. And it would only get worse as other Indian forces fought their way east.

The only good news around was the indirect support available to Kongara and his men. The two 199HU attack helicopters had proven deadly. And the Smerch MBRL and 155mm howitzer batteries near Saser were continuing to pummel Chinese forces with impunity now that their artillery forces had been suppressed…

Speak of the devil!

One of the two hills shouldering the battalion objective disappeared amidst a carpet of explosions. The sky above filled with incoming shells that were slamming into the Chinese positions on the hill and beyond. Friendly UAVs overhead had also identified several T-99s moving amidst the Chinese lines near the objective.

“Driver, Halt!” Kongara shouted.

As the vehicle jerked to a stop he opened the top hatch and raised his head into the freezing winds outside. He saw soldiers from the 9TH Punjab moving on both his flanks as they attempted to take control of the hills bracketing the axis of advance to the objective. Next to his vehicle were the lines of BMPs and NAMICAs taking position in a loose line-abreast formation. The formation was spaced out to reduce the effect of enemy indirect artillery strikes, though the latter were solidly suppressed at the moment.

Directly to his north lay his objective.

The smell of burnt diesel was in the air as Kongara checked his paper maps and then his watch.

T minus thirty…

He jerked inside the turret when a Helicopter fired Nag slapped into the air behind him and flew overhead and on its way to the target. He turned around to see the two LCHs flown by Wing-Commander Dutt and his pilots banking away after engaging the target, releasing flares along the way…

A rumble reached his ears above the sounds of the two helicopters and the diesel engines. He turned to the north and saw a small fireball racing into the sky several kilometers away. He brought up his binoculars and saw the pillar of black smoke rising up.

Kongara smiled as he appreciated that the air-force was watching after his force. His radio squawked:

“This is Thunder-One to all Thunder elements. Engage and destroy enemy forces at Points Golf-Black-One. Thunder Force will seize and hold the objective! All vehicles advance!”

THE LINE OF ACTUAL CONTROL

NORTHERN LADAKH

DAY 5 + 1035 HRS

Colonel Sudarshan walked out of the tents that made up his command post. As his command staff ran about with various jobs and crises to solve, he took it all in with his senses. The radios were alive with incoming traffic from the small unit commanders.

Much of his current work was simply to eavesdrop on the conversations taking place between the vehicle commanders and match that with the views on the video feed from the UAVs. This allowed him to keep track of the battle without constantly interfering.

Not the same being over there at the frontlines, though…

He folded his cold hands into a fist and saw the whitish skin turn pink as blood returned under the skin. A crumble of distant thunder caused him to look to the east.

That was where the battle was.

A couple of days ago he had taken charge of the small armored force in this sector and led it during the desperate first battle for control of DBO alongside Brigadier Adesara’s infantry brigade.

Four days later he was in overall command of roughly two-hundred vehicles inside DBO. That made it a reinforced Mechanized Infantry Brigade for all practical purposes.

His biggest enemy at the moment was not the PLA. It was the absence of doctrine within the army on high altitude armored warfare. The army high command had toyed with the idea over the past few decades, inducting and de-inducting forces from Ladakh. But they had never really bought into the idea of armored combat at these altitudes.

And the result of that lack of imagination showed.

At the moment, Sudarshan was having trouble explaining exactly what his Mechanized Brigade could and could not do to the Corps and Army commanders. The problems on the ground were far worse than anything the senior commanders could imagine.

On paper the Mechanized Brigade concept was very appealing given its makeup. It could, theoretically, be placed to slice southeast into the Aksai Chin, perhaps even demolishing the PLA offensive in the Galwan valley currently underway.

In reality, the Brigade’s forces were stretched out over a vast front fighting relatively isolated battles with little coherence. And as desperate as the struggle was, even the thought of disengaging them to reestablish coherence was impossible.

What I need, are tanks! Proper, actual main-battle-tanks!