Chen sighed and leaned back in his chair:
“It is a painful strategy, Feng. And you know it!”
“But it works!” Chen exclaimed. “That alone is all that should matter to us at this point! It worked when I applied it for the operations under Zhigao against the Indian airbase at Leh at the start of the war. It worked again in Bhutan against the airport at Paru. And now it has worked again against Thoise! In all cases we traded for this success with the lives of our pilots. But nothing else works and we are out of time!”
Chen pushed back his chair and got up, picking up the satellite imagery from the table. He glanced at them again before facing Feng:
“So what’s the analysis on this airbase we managed to hit?”
Feng smiled.
“Destroyed! For all practical purposes. Analysis suggests destruction of base facilities and the runway. They may be able to operate a few helicopters from now on, but by the time they get the airbase functional again to operate transport aircraft, this war would be over!”
One way or another… Feng didn’t add.
Now was not the time for doubt, but Chen was no fool.
“Indeed. The war will get over soon enough, if the rumblings from Beijing are to be believed. But if they are indeed true,” Chen tossed the glossy images back on the table, “then the fourteen fighters we lost today to take out this base would be waste of resources, all things considered.”
Feng felt a shiver rise up his spine as he grasped what Chen meant.
“Meaning what, exactly?” he asked to verify what he had concluded.
Chen let out a derisive laugh.
“Oh come now, Feng!” he said after several seconds. “You and I can both see the writing on the wall even if Jinping and Wencang have not! We are close to losing the air war, if we haven’t done so already. We are throwing second line J-8IIs into the fight to replace combat losses in J-10s and J-11s. And they are getting massacred, as is to be expected. These stand-off missile strikes are the only effective weapons at the moment that are delivering results. But how long will it be before the Indians mop up the final S-300 batteries in southern Tibet? Twenty-four hours? Forty-eight? Then they will come after our stand-off bombers, tankers and special mission aircraft over northern Tibet. There is no stopping that. We can delay it using innovative tactics as you are doing. But they will adapt, as we would in their situation. And once that happens we would have lost the strategic initiative.”
“You mean we would have lost?” Feng asked hesitantly.
He understood the realities only too well. But one could never be sure when talking about such things. Chen walked over to the digital map of Tibet showing PLA dispositions that he was charged to protect.
“Is it really that hard to believe, Feng?” Chen asked with a raised eyebrow. “What do you think will happen to our ground offensive once you and I are no longer able to push enough forces into the air to protect our land-forces? Do you know the bloodbath that is taking place in Ladakh right now? Of course you do. We all do. Despite what NCNA puts out every hour. Give it another day or two and both sides will be running out of men and ammunition to throw at each other over there. The only land offensive going well is the one through Bhutan. But it’s too insignificant in the grander scheme of things. What is Bhutan but a minor rump state in the mountains? We promised the CMC and the Chairman that we could bring India to its knees within days. Those days have now passed!”
Chen walked back to the table and picked up his peak-cap and also his personal sidearm which he put into his uniform holster. Feng got ready to escort the General out. As Chen put his cap on and opened the door of the conference room, the light glistened off the medals on the chest.
“But have no fear, Feng. Regardless of how tenacious the Indians are in their pursuit to defeat us in this war, they will never defeat us. We will not let that happen. Ever!”
DAY 8
“Wake up you lazy bozos! Time to get up!”
Pathanya jokingly kicked Ravi and then Vikram as they lay on the floor of the room in their sleeping bags. Ravi jerked awake immediately and went for the rifle by his side before realizing where he was. Vikram simply mumbled something and turned over to his side fully aware of the friendly tone in Pathanya’s voice. He hoped the Captain would simply go away. But it was not to be. Pathanya kicked him again, slightly harder this time.
“Get up! We got to go. Move!”
Ravi, Sarvanan, Tarun and the others were already up and sitting inside their sleeping bags by this time. The room was still dark, the town having lost electricity following the Chinese attacks on Bhutan. They could all see their cold breaths in front of their faces as they spoke.
Vik fumbled about and forced himself to get up. Pathanya could easily sympathize with his men. Spear team had been on the frontlines of the ground war in Bhutan for four days now.
Colonel Misra had relieved Pathanya of the task of defending Thimpu and the arrival of the 11TH Para-SF Battalion into the city had effectively secured it from the PLA. This had allowed Pathanya to finally give his men sleep, real food, time to rearm and also to refocus. And they had taken the better half of a day doing just that.
But vacation time was now over…
The war was not waiting around for them. Thimpu and eastern Bhutan had been secured over the past day and the PLA Highland Division had been forced to pull back into northern Bhutan where they were now squarely on the defensive, holding on to large chunks of land already captured during their initial assault. Now Potgam was planning his own counteroffensive as more and more army units began entering Bhutan to beef up his forces. And while Dhillon was already coordinating with IV Corps to free eastern Bhutan from two brigades of the PLA Highland Division, Potgam had the single responsibility for recapturing Bhutanese territory north of Thimpu from the third brigade of the Chinese Division.
First part of that was to push the Chinese Battalion strength force just outside the northern outskirts of Thimpu back to Dotanang and then Barshong to the north. Barshong was the staging area in northwestern Bhutan for the Chinese Division and its recapture would effectively vacate that Division from Bhutan for all practical purposes. Dotanang, between Thimpu and Barshong, was the Brigade headquarters for the unit leading the offensive against Thimpu.
Potgam had given this task to Colonel Misra and he in turn had passed his orders to Pathanya and his men an hour ago…
As Pathanya saw his team waking up and finding their bearings, he took the maps and notes from the Colonel’s briefing and stuffed them inside his uniform chest pockets. Outside, two Paras on sentry armed with Tavor rifles walked by and peeked in at the commotion. They nodded to the Captain and walked off.
Vikram finally got to his feet and walked up to Pathanya as both men left the room and entered the courtyard of the palace. The dim flashes of light from the north and west was a reminder of the ongoing war. Two Indian Mig-27s streaked by and headed north of Thimpu. A large wall of flames erupted some kilometers north of the city and lit up the valley with a hellish orange-yellow décor.
Another napalm strike mission completed.
“So what’s the deal, boss? Where we going?” Vik asked.
“Place west of Barshong,” Pathanya said as he pulled out the maps from his pocket, “about twenty-five kilometers north of here. 11TH Battalion Paras are pushing hard against the battered remains of the commie Battalion that we were engaging before the Colonel got here. They have managed to push them north and are still pushing them back to their Brigade headquarters at Dotanang, about twelve kilometers north from the outskirts of Thimpu. That’s where all these air strikes are going. The last intact PLA Battalion is at Barshong, acting as their reserve. Once the Paras finish off the one at Dotanang, they are going to move further northwest and engage the one at Barshong. For now we are going to be deployed in between Barshong and Dotanang to play hell with their rear echelons.”