DAY 11
Lieutenant-General Potgam walked out of the former IMTRAT admin building after being woken up by his adjutant. He stepped out of the main doors and looked around. The place was as abuzz with activity as ever, despite the freezing cold morning. Mi-17s were operating out of the former golf-course, although the mushed up ground there no longer looked like it ever was anything more than a swamp. The artificial grass there had been crushed into the earth long ago under the weight of the arriving helicopters loaded with cargo. Had it not been for the few paved roads inside the base this place would have shut down because of deteriorating logistics long ago.
Potgam walked down the small step of stairs from the building and began walking to the parked AXE utility-vehicle parked on the road waiting for him, its engines revving on neutral gear. He recognized his driver but also noticed new faces standing nearby with their Tavor rifles…
The 12TH Para-SF Battalion had deployed alongside the 9TH and the 11TH into Bhutan. The 11TH was deploying via An-32s at Paru and being airlifted via helicopters from there to Thimpu, where Colonel Misra was leading the assault on the remnants of the once powerful PLA Highland Division at Barshong. The 12TH Battalion was Potgam’s reserve force that he intended on deploying for security duties around Paru and Haa-Dzong.
The 12TH Battalion had already deployed companies to Lieutenant-Colonel Fernandez’s location north of Paru and had also secured Paru airport.
Now he could see Paras standing next to his vehicle, heavily armed in case JFB headquarters came under attack. But Potgam was not worried about getting attacked from the ground. Not anymore.
Potgam had chopped over control for a single Nishant UAV from his original force to the commander of the 12TH Para-SF to allow his men to find and isolate the faint infrared signals detected north of Paru and suspected of being enemy special-forces units. Potgam had no spare men before to try and do anything about them. But now the situation had changed, and he wanted them dealt with…
His driver pulled the vehicle from neutral and pushed into forward drive just as the two Paras jumped into the back. The vehicle lurched forward on the slushy wet mud and accelerated, forcing Potgam to hold on for his life. His vehicle drove past the parked helicopters at the golf-course, heading away from the admin building and towards a large patch of trees just inside the base perimeter to the east. He could see camouflaged netting deployed over the tree branches to cover the comms trailers. He also saw a dozen or more Paras patrolling in silence, their breaths visible as puffs in front of their faces…
No. His main concern for this base now was from the air. The Chinese control of the skies via manned aircraft was no more. But the threat from cruise-missiles and ballistic-missiles was definite and very real.
As JFB forces became more and more dominant and the PLA positions became weaker, this threat only increased. And it didn’t take more than two or three missiles to completely shut down Paru for days, if not permanently.
Same went for Haa-Dzong.
He had controlled this war in Bhutan in its initial days from the old IMTRAT buildings. Now the threat to this place was very high and he could not afford to continue keeping his headquarters so vulnerable. So he had ordered all critical elements of the headquarters spread out and dispersed. The situation and the threats had changed, and so had his tactics.
The only problem is, now I have to drive for five minutes every time I want to make a call to somebody!
The vehicle rumbled to a stop a few meters away from the entrance of his comms trailer, bristling with antennae and small satellite dishes on its flat roof. There was an army technician climbing the ladder on the side of the trailer to reach the roof as Potgam walked over. His comms officer, an army Lieutenant-Colonel, was there to meet him.
“Well?” Potgam asked.
“General Suman wanted to talk to you, sir,” the signals officer replied as they walked in and shut the door behind them. Potgam was handed a speaker set from one of the NCOs inside.
“Warlord here,” Potgam said matter-of-factly.
“Potgam, it’s damn nice to hear your voice! How are things looking up there?” Suman said from Kalaikunda. Potgam noted the informality of the conversation. There were very few people in the army who could take that tone with him, and only because they had known him for decades. He responded accordingly and had a rare smile on him:
“It’s nice to hear your voice too, Suman. Glad to see you in nice spirits. I take it the Chinese plans for us aren’t going too well?”
“Indeed!” Suman exclaimed. He was in good spirits. “The bastards thought they could kill me and push my boys out of Arunachal Pradesh just like last time. Well, I am still alive and kicking and it hasn’t worked out too well for them over there. Sikkim is secure like the gates of hell and we have snatched a good chunk of the Chumbi from them during Chimera. I wish things were as good in Ladakh but that’s out of my control. I heard that there are nasty armored knife-fights taking place over there even now. Our boys got their asses handed to them and they returned the favor to the Chinese. Neither side has any strategic momentum worth speaking of over there now. This brings me to Bhutan.”
Oh boy. Here we go… Potgam thought as he listened.
“Bhutan is the only sector where we have lost significant chunks of soil, Potgam,” Suman continued, more soberly this time. “The Chinese hit Bhutan much harder than we had expected. Heck, we were still looking around for the Highland Division when it went rolling into the RBA defenses. And the Bhutanese got crushed and folded their cards far too quickly to give us a chance. You and Dhillon have done well under the circumstances. If I had the time, I would let you do what you are doing and retake the lost territory. But time is a luxury we no longer have.”
Potgam frowned as he nodded to himself. This was not a surprise.
“Nuclear card?” He asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes,” Suman answered bluntly. “The bastards in Beijing hit Tawang yesterday with cruise-missiles and inflicted staggering civilian casualties. At about the same time, their media mouthpieces started blurting very clear threats to further attacks against our cities and infrastructure, possibly with nuclear weapons if you read between their lines. The intelligence boys up at army headquarters are convinced that we are fast approaching Beijing’s nuclear threshold.”
“Surely they are not that stupid?” Potgam thought out loud. “Between Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, we must have crushed… about seven Divisions worth? Maybe five more remain in engagement? Add perhaps other six or seven Divisions in Ladakh plus their security Divisions in Tibet? So they have a lot more Divisions across the mainland that they can bring into the fight first. Why jump to the nuclear card so soon?”
Suman thought he knew the answer to that question: “Because, old chap, our flyboys decimated their flyboys during the time we were fighting on the ground. Air-force operations in Ladakh and southern Tibet have been highly successful. The Chinese can no longer control what is happening in Tibetan skies and their ground forces are feeling the heat as a result of it. Our boys are now striking deep into Tibet. Any and all reinforcements the PLA intends on bringing in will be hammered before they even get to the FEBA. Beijing can see the writing on the wall here.”