Kwatra jumped into the nearest trench along with Iyonpo. The Captain commanding the Bhutanese forces here was moving through the positions and passing orders. He was suddenly ripped by several rounds of machinegun fire from the advancing group of PLA armored-personnel-carriers.
The three Bhutanese army jeeps were raked by cannon fire from the ZBDs advancing into Bhutanese territory. Kwatra looked around for options.
There were none.
There was no question of fighting off the Chinese tanks with weapons at the disposal of the Bhutanese soldiers here.
He quickly got hold of a radio and pushed through to IMTRAT headquarters at Haa Dzong with an urgent request for assistance. There he was instantly put through to Lieutenant-General Potgam, the current Indian commander for Bhutan.
A few minutes after the desperate call from Kwatra was received, the request for assistance went up the command line from Potgam to General Yadav at Army headquarters and from him down to Lieutenant-General Suman.
By the time the first Indian high-altitude Heron UAV was diverted from patrol over the Chumbi valley and directed over Dochen-Tso region further north, it was clear that the two Bhutanese infantry companies were under threat of being destroyed by the advancing mechanized units of the Chinese 55TH Division.
The war for the Chumbi valley and the survival of Bhutan had begun.
The first flight of four Mig-27Ms from No. 222 Squadron at Hashimara airbase armed with heavy ordinance tore into Bhutanese airspace fifteen minutes later.
The pilots could see the snowcapped Chomolhari peak to their left as they headed out north. The onboard RWRs were already screeching with warning sounds as they realized that they were being washed by long-range airborne radars from Tibet.
But that could not be helped now. A friendly unit with Indian army advisors on the ground was being crushed by Chinese armor forces in the three-lake region.
And they needed help.
The pilots noted the massive Dochen-Tso to the northwest beyond the Chomolhari peak and saw the line of peaks of the Great Himalayan Range that separated Bhutan from Tibet. They had their location on GLONASS navigation assistance in their cockpits, but the mark-one eyeball was still as much needed today as it was a century ago. Two minutes later they were within visual range of the three lakes beyond the peaks. They were now flying over the Chumbi valley and the RWRs were screeching madly as Chinese anti-air units noted the arrival of Indian aircraft in the skies above…
The leading ZBD staggered to a halt after a jarring explosion ripped through its hull. A column of flames burst out of the hatches as thick black smoke filled the air…
The two Bhutanese soldiers manning the Carl-Gustav rocket-launcher took cover after taking the shot as the ground around their positions churned with impacting cannon rounds from other Chinese vehicles.
The twelve ZBDs had stopped a small distance away from the Bhutanese trenches as eight other vehicles from another group had bypassed the Bhutanese from the north and were continuing to move east towards the foothills and the three-lake region.
As of now there was nothing to stop the Chinese advance to the foothills of the Chomolhari. The only positions holding out were the prepared bunkers and trenches where Iyonpo and Kwatra were trying to organize a defense…
Chinese soldiers inside the back of the armored-personnel-carriers were already debussing. Many had taken positions alongside their vehicles and were supporting their vehicles with assault rifle fire. Mortar rounds were falling around the Bhutanese positions now.
Iyanpo spotted the Indian Mig-27s overhead against the blue skies overhead. He shouted Kwatra above the sounds of the gunfire. Kwatra heard the Bhutanese officer from his position and looked away from the optics of his INSAS rifle to see…
The four Mig-27s were now in a racetrack pattern as each aircraft dived into the fray. The flight-leader in the first aircraft pushed his aircraft into a shallow dive and pulled up just after releasing the first of his dumb bombs. Less fancy than other modern weapons, these bombs were nonetheless extremely powerful when aimed properly.
The flight-leader had aimed for the PLA mortar crews and the line of two-hundred-fifty-pound bombs hit the ground in distinct thunderclaps. The explosions sliced through the Chinese mortar crews much to the cheer of the besieged Bhutanese soldiers to the east.
As the flight-leader pulled away from a hailstorm of anti-aircraft artillery fire that followed him up, the next Mig-27 began its dive.
This pilot aimed for one of the ZBD platoons that had bypassed the Bhutanese positions from the north and whose four vehicles were racing for the three lakes. Against such highly mobile targets, the choice of weapons was cluster-bombs. The pilot selected his CBUs and released his entire load in selective drops that scattered the deadly shrapnel over the entire sector below. By the time he pulled away, three of the four ZBDs were dead in their tracks and burning furiously…
The Chinese ZBD company commander was no fool.
He knew exactly why the Indian aircraft had not struck his slowly advancing vehicles directly opposite the Bhutanese trenches: they were too close.
He decided to force the issue further and directed all vehicle commanders and supporting infantry squads to push forward and stick close to the Bhutanese positions.
Kwatra saw through the Chinese intentions as he saw the ZBDs emitting puff of smoke from their engines and driving towards them.
Shit! No choice now!
He looked over to Iyanpo who nodded. Kwatra looked around for the radio set nearby and found it buried under gravel from the explosions. He dusted the mud and gravel off and switched frequencies…
“You want us to do what?!”
The Mig-27 flight-leader asked incredulously as he banked away sharply after yet another strafing run on the Chinese vehicles below.
“You heard me! Drop whatever you have right in front of our positions here. We are being overrun!”
Kwatra’s strained voice came over the sounds of the afterburning engines inside the cockpit as the flight-leader accelerated away from the anti-air shells exploding in his wake.
“You realize what you are doing, don’t you?” he asked soberly.
With less than one hundred yards between the two sides…
“We are out of options down here! I have enemy armor about to roll over us and we are down to throwing stones at them! Unless you have a better idea, do as I say! We are in entrenched positions, so use something that won’t penetrate too deep and we might even see the next sunrise! Out!” the radio clicked off.
The flight leader frowned inside his breathing mask.
God help you boys…
He finished the pitch-out and settled into the required bearing. He pressed the multi-function-display inside the cockpit to select CBU dispensers from the remaining load-out just as explosions began ripping the skies around him again.
On the ground below, Kwatra, Iyanpo and the remaining Bhutanese soldiers were down to firing off their last rounds. Kwatra fired off his last rifle round and was searching for the next magazine…