Chimera

His infantry battalions were already deployed north of the citadel and aligned north-south. Colonel Sudarshan was in command of friendly armor forces and had moved the available T-72M tank platoon further north. The tanks were in hull-down positions in open terrain that gave their turrets a wide field of view while presenting the least possible target area for the enemy gunners. Topside hatches were closed and the tank crews had identified targets on their optics.

Adesara looked around to see his men hunkered down and their INSAS battle-rifles aimed east with each soldier looking down the weapon’s optics, waiting to engage enemy soldiers dismounting from the ZBDs at long-range. He then looked behind him to see the airstrip still being pummeled into dust by Chinese artillery.

They don’t leave anything unfinished, do they?

Adesara was quietly worried about the upcoming fight. But for the Chinese field gunners battering away at his positions, he had a special welcome that was already being executed.

“Five kilometers…” the same soldier’s voice came through on the radio. Adesara thought it sounded more strained than before. He could understand that. There were very few things in the world as scary as seeing a line of tanks heading straight for you when all you have is a rifle. It took training and courage to keep calm in these situations. But in that, he knew he had the finest soldiers around. They would not break under the increasing strain. Perhaps not even after the tanks had rolled over their positions?

Adesara was watching the UAV feed on the battlefield computers in his command center. The views had changed from infrared to visual by now. He could see the very slowly advancing T-99 tanks with their rotating turrets.

The Chinese gunners were looking for targets too…

Adesara grabbed his binoculars and stepped outside the bunker as the gravel was still raining all around. He looked to the Major in charge of his anti-tank teams and nodded. The latter turned to his men:

“Milan crews forward!”

SASER

SOUTH OF DAULAT BEG OLDI

LADAKH

DAY 2 + 0745 HRS

South of the airstrip at DBO, a group of three truck-mounted radars remained camouflaged under snow-white netting. The radars were modern and did not require physical movement. Their beams were moved electronically. So there was no motion from that location as the phased-array radars quietly stared into the skies east and beyond the LAC, tracking the incoming artillery shells as they flew on their projectile paths towards the airstrip and other defensive positions around DBO.

In the command vehicle, a Major and his group of NCOs punched in the target information data into their systems and then digitally transmitted them up the Indian Army’s Artillery Combat Command and Control System or ACCCS, also known by the name “Shakti”. This system received inputs from all such sensors including ground based weapon-locating-radars or WLRs, remotely piloted vehicles and even satellites to paint a picture of potential targets to be hit and destroyed by artillery assets. These latter could include anything from a battery of guns to a high-tech MLRS vehicle or even a tactical cruise-missile or ballistic-missile regiment, depending on the situation.

Out here, near the airstrip, that information got distributed over to the battery of Smerch launchers deployed further down the valley near Saser…

The launch barrels elevated on to a high zenith launch angle and the correct azimuth before stabilizing and locked into position. Two minutes later the early morning sunlight was snubbed out by the salvo launch of heavy MLRS rockets in quick successions. The rockets raced into the sky, leaving behind a lingering dust cloud.

East of the LAC, the Chinese field gunners had little warning.

The morning sunlight transformed into a shadow after a series of small thuds. Chinese soldiers working on their guns jerked their heads upward to see a cloud of small blacks specks scattered across the gray skies. The incoming cluster munitions slammed into their targets split seconds later…

As the fireballs exploding on the airstrip at DBO stopped abruptly in the seconds after the strike, the Indian artillery counter-response had just begun. All along the Ladakh front, battery after battery of Chinese field guns and short-range rocket-launchers were snubbed out by long-range Smerch MLRS systems in those first few hours of the second day.

But the battle for Ladakh had just begun.

EAST OF DAULAT BEG OLDI

LADAKH

DAY 2 + 0800 HRS