Chimera

The Milan anti-tank guided-missile crews heard small thuds of their own as their anti-tank missiles leaped out of their canisters and streaked eastwards. Opposite the missiles was a wall of Chinese vehicles slowly trampling over the gravel as they headed westwards to the airstrip. The line of sixteen T-99s was interspersed with a dozen ZBD infantry-fighting-vehicles. Behind that line was the second line of vehicles with the same vehicle types but inversed composition. The idea behind that was that the first wave was expecting to take on Indian amour and the second wave would mop up the infantry. A third wave was spread out into platoon sized formations.

The Indian anti-tank teams were aiming for the tanks. And as far as they were concerned, this wave was as good as dead. Adesara and his staff were obviously more concerned knowing as they did the real depth of the enemy force in front of them.

By this time the wave of missiles were streaking towards the tanks…

The Chinese T-99 tank crews saw, analyzed and reacted to the threat heading towards them as they had been trained to do. The first armor line instantly disappeared behind a manmade mist.

The entire formation then executed a textbook spread maneuver and increased the distances between their ranks. The line was now spread out and still detonating aerosol mixtures around themselves to shield from the missile-gunner’s optics. They were almost within main-gun range of the Indian positions…

The Indian gunners had precious seconds to retarget their missiles. Most of them managed to stick to their original targets, while others had to fix on to another vehicle or a nearby ZBD. The eight Milan missiles slashed into the Chinese lines a split second later.

Adesara looked with delight as five T-99s went up in fireballs amidst the advancing tank line. The burning hulks staggered to a stop before being gripped by secondary explosions as their internal fuel and ammo lit up. Three ZBDs were also now nothing more than furiously burning chasses.

By now both sides were within range of their main-guns and in an ear shattering burst of fire the remaining eleven T-99s and four Indian T-72Ms in hull down positions opened up with sabot rounds.

That first exchange killed another three T-99s, one ZBD and one T-72M. Three Milan missile teams were killed as they attempted a second launch attempt from their trenches. On both sides the remaining crews reloaded within seconds before a second burst of gunfire sounded out while the infantry on both sides were left feeling vulnerable and impotent in the deadly fusillade.

Adesara watched another two T-99s and another T-72M go up under a fireball before he picked up the radio and called up Colonel Sudarshan and his BMP force to the southeast. The Chinese first line of armor, or what was left of it, was now closing to two kilometers and was well within the Indian side of the LAC…

The twelve BMPs comprising three platoons under Colonel Sudarshan had splashed across the semi-frozen waters of the Chip-Chap River through a shallow fjord and had raced off to the southeast leading a dust cloud raised by their tracks. The specialist anti-tank platoon of four modified BMPs had silently peeled off inside that large dust cloud. Sudarshan was racing his BMP-IIs further southeast than where his anti-tank platoon had peeled off so that as far as the Chinese UAVs overhead were concerned, he was slicing across the Chinese advance from the south as a right hook maneuver.

In reality the entire move was a farce designed to draw the Chinese to the wrong conclusions.

And while the auto-cannons of his eight BMP-IIs were effective and were savaging the Chinese recon troops immediately at the border, making no attempt to mask their envelopment, the real claw of the pincer was already heading for the Chinese left flank.

But the Chinese were also reacting to this threat. The third line independent platoons of the armor advance were already being diverted to the south by the Chinese brigade commander to face Sudarshan’s BMP-IIs head on. Unfortunately, they bypassed the real threat to their main force on their right flank…

The four vehicles of Sudarshan’s anti-tank platoon now staggered to a stop as their crews watched the lead tanks of the Chinese first wave hammering the Indian positions and moving east to west in front of them. They were watching the Chinese from the south. In the chaos of the dust clouds and vast maneuvering forces all around them, these four vehicles operating in single units had failed to attract attention.

Now the four vehicles deployed their weapons and the rectangular launch canisters for the Nag anti-tank missiles slewed into position. By this time the surviving elements of the Chinese first line were moving directly towards Adesara’s lines, oblivious of the threat on their left flank…