He saw the sunlight glistening off the Mig-27’s forward-swept wings flash directly above his head at murderously low altitude followed by a sunlight sparkling distribution of sub-munitions in its wake.
A moment later the ground shook with explosions and a blast of sand, dust and smoke rushed above and through the trenches like a wave. Kwatra, Iyanpo and the other soldiers were knocked down where they stood…
By the time the four Mig-27s reengaged afterburners and were streaking away to the south with empty weapons pylons, the cloud of dust and smoke was settling near the three-lake region. The sounds of gunfire had died down. The rumbling of aircraft engines echoed for a bit and then faded away as well.
Soon the only sounds were that of furiously raging fires out of the Chinese ZBDs a few yards away from the now silent trenches…
For more than an hour the sector remained silent as the fires died down in the freezing cold.
The first Mi-17 to touch down near the trenches raised a cloud of dust as it did. Other Mi-17s were flying overhead and Chinese soldiers were shouting at each other. By the time these soldiers were clearing the bodies of their dead comrades and moving through the silent Bhutanese trenches, a line of trucks and other utility vehicles were moving to the east towards the three lakes.
The Chinese soldiers were enraged by their heavy losses here.
Single shots rang out within the trenches as they cleared them with prejudice. No prisoners were taken alive.
By the time the Chinese flag was fluttering in the stiff winds near the three lakes region, the Bhutanese Government was already in contact with New-Delhi as both sides attempted to enact plans to prevent the fall of Bhutan.
“The human tragedy continues to unfold today as streams of civilians made their way south from Tawang and other villages across Arunachal Pradesh in light of heavy and bitter fighting between Indian and Chinese armies at the border. War spread today to Bhutan as Chinese ground forces launched a preemptive strike into the tiny Himalayan Kingdom caught between the two Asian powers…”
“You are hearing this?” Chakri asked from his airborne conference room above Madhya-Pradesh.
Yadav switched off the streaming media reports. He was sitting at the operations center for the IV Corps in Assam with Suman and Chatterjee. Yadav leaned back in his chair.
“General, I don’t need to remind you of the sensitivity of the media situation in this war! How on earth did they get this information about Bhutan so quickly?” Chakri asked angrily.
“Sir, we don’t know. Perhaps somebody on the Bhutanese side leaked it to the press. If you ask me, it was bound to come out anyway. So why does it matter?” Yadav responded.
“General, we cannot allow our own media to subvert our morale. But that’s not your job. Where are we at the moment?” Chakri said finally.
“We are putting the final pieces in play. The 5TH Mountain Division is in the field and elements of the 21ST Infantry Division are deployed around Tawang. Once the Chinese 13TH Group Army has finished breaking its teeth on our defenses, these two Divisions will lead the counteroffensive into Tibet!”
“That’s good news, General! What about Sikkim and Bhutan?” Chakri continued. Yadav took a deep breath and sighed.
“Not sure entirely what our options are over there at the moment. General Suman and I are about to head over to Siliguri to meet the Corps commander about the Bhutan question. We will know more about what’s going on over there. Operation Chimera was supposed to be moving already but the Chinese have frustrated our efforts by involving Bhutan. Now we have to divert resources to help the Bhutanese defend their kingdom!”
The Defense-Minister nodded his agreement.
“I agree! I was handed a request from the Bhutanese government before this meeting asking for helicopters to lift some three RBA Battalions from their bases to the northern border with Tibet. I am not sure where we are going to come up with the spare helicopters and crew! Something has to give in all this. I suppose the Chinese planned on this, didn’t they?”
Yadav grunted his response.
“The bastards are clever!”
“Noted. Anyway, I will be talking with the Bhutanese officials in an hour or so. We may need to provide some support to them, so make sure you do keep some of your forces earmarked for possible redeployment inside Bhutan,” Chakri said and then considered that for a bit more…
“Yadav, who is your point man in Bhutan?”
“That would be Lef-tenant-General Potgam, the current IMTRAT commander and military liaison to the King of Bhutan. Why?”
“If we have to defend Bhutan from the PLA, it would be good to combine our forces in there with the Bhutanese armed forces and place them under a unified command. This Potgam: is he your choice for the unified commander for Bhutan?” Chakri asked speculatively. Yadav considered that and then looked back at the Defense-Minister:
“Yes sir. He’s the man for that job!”
The pilots were not comfortable with this mission. The silence in the cockpit was broken only by the large high-frequency rumble of the two turboprop engines running on full power outside.
The two An-32s were from the No. 48 ‘Camels’ Squadron. The pilots knew this terrain by heart. This unit had been doing this job for decades with different types of aircraft. But wartime missions had an additional manmade risk built into them.
Their job description was simple enough:
Haul the special cargo on board at Leh.
Head to Saser.
Make the drop.
Return.
Its execution was somewhat more complex. Saser lies in a deep valley. The two pilots had to fly their lumbering aircraft within this valley to be low enough to make the drop without scattering the cargo. The south-eastern tip of this approach was less than eighteen kilometers from the LAC. That was far too close to the liking of the two crews involved.
Battles between the Chinese and Indian fighters were still raging all over Ladakh and southern Tibet that nobody was laying claim to any real estate in the skies just yet. One thing was clear: they were no place for lumbering transports.
But this mission was necessary.
Perhaps even vital.
The only road link from Leh via Shyok was crammed with military vehicles and was fast becoming a choke point for the two Indian Corps fighting the Chinese in Ladakh. The same was not true for the Chinese. The relatively easy terrain on their side meant that they had a larger number of tactical roads heading into the mountains from their arterial roads through the Aksai Chin.
This operation was the brainchild of the Air-Marshal Bhosale and Lieutenant-General Gupta at Leh and was designed to get the equipment and supplies to build and maintain a forward-area-rearming-point or FARP at Saser. Once established, it would take over the role that the airstrip at DBO played before it had been destroyed by Chinese artillery fire three days ago. It would turn Saser as the heart of the DBO sector pumping vital lifeblood to all Indian army units nearby…
The radio inside the cockpit chirped:
“Eagle-Eye-One to Switchblade-One. You are approaching enemy detection range. Keep your eyes open. Out.”
The pilot and co-pilot shared a look.
“Okay. What’s our exact location?” the pilot asked.