Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 194: The Number Was Gone

Did the two dragonflies become guides?
Milton was slightly surprised, but not too surprised—it was clear from their performance just now that as soon as Milton's fighter approached, the two Dragonflies fled in panic without any attempt to resist, which was in stark contrast to the two P-51s that immediately tried to retaliate.

Even after encountering danger, they immediately fled towards the airport.

It's obvious that Lopez's men are driving.

“We can shoot down the enemy planes now,” Milton said. “Then attack the airport’s fuel depots…”

"Don't worry, it's easy!"

Milton took one last look at the enemy pilots scattering in the air, then accelerated toward Flora.

Soon, Milton saw Flora's car fly far away, and further ahead of her, a plane exploded and disintegrated in mid-air.

Even piston-engine fighters, whose infrared signatures are not so obvious, cannot escape the lock-on of air-to-air missiles, so it is even more impossible for the A-37, as a jet aircraft, to evade them.

Milton glanced around and casually asked, "Where's the other one?"

"I shot it down with my machine gun." Flora's voice was filled with pride. "Using a machine gun is the right way to go. This is what it feels like to be an ace in aerial combat."

"Heh." Milton couldn't help but sneer. "Then why did you use up both of your missiles?"

“That’s because victory is my primary goal,” Flora said matter-of-factly, then quickly changed the subject, “Let’s hurry up and blast the oil depot!”

"After we finish bombing, we need to fly to the front line as soon as possible. The enemy must already know we are coming. We can't give them too much time to react."

Both aircraft were carrying KH-25 air-to-ground missiles, which are specifically designed to bomb ground targets like these!

All I can say is that the Guatemalan regular army is really a makeshift operation. Two cylindrical oil storage tanks and an oil tanker were placed right next to the airport without any concealment, and they were clearly visible from the air.

As for the imagined possible counterattack, it never happened—let alone anti-aircraft guns and missiles, the infantry on the ground began to flee frantically as soon as they saw the planes roaring in.

"Coordinates confirmed, prepare for attack." Milton pressed down on the joystick. "Ten o'clock, reverse slope behind the small hill... Feature matching complete..."

call out!
An air-to-ground missile was launched, and the warhead accurately hit the fuel tank, penetrating the top of the tank. The missile's warhead detonated inside, and the liquid was ejected in all directions before being ignited!

Boom! The entire fuel depot experienced a sudden explosion and fire!
The extremely hot flames swept away the soldiers stationed around the oil depot at an incredibly fast speed, and after the firelight dissipated, there was no trace of their presence.

They turned to ashes.

Almost simultaneously, another oil storage tank was hit by an air-to-ground missile launched by Flora, causing another violent explosion that created a charred mushroom cloud.

“That’s about it.” Milton glanced at the soldiers scattering and fleeing on the ground, choosing not to waste precious ammunition on finishing them off. “This airport will be idle for at least 12 hours.”

"Let's go to the front lines—tell our dragonflies that we can enter."

Flora couldn't wait any longer: "Charge! Go get the fries! Let them see how powerful ground attack aircraft are!"

……

boom!
BOOM BOOM BOOM... BOOM BOOM BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The deafening roar of howitzer fire and the incessant blasts of machine guns of various types suppressed a special forces unit attempting to charge forward once again.

The heavy body armor of the two soldiers was pierced by large-caliber bullets, and they fell to the ground with resentment in their eyes.

"No, no...no!"

"Come back! Lie down! Don't act rashly!"

"..."

The repelled special forces unit was none other than Juan's two special operations squads—after a day and a night of pursuit, and with the help of counter-battery radar, they finally got close to their target once again.

The enemy's last remaining large-caliber artillery unit is now planning its next relocation!
The remaining targets for this special operations platoon to deal with are a radar-trackable howitzer and an enemy radar whose location is completely uncertain.

Juan's tactics were naturally simple—one squad would search for the radar, while the other two squads would join forces to find a way to destroy the last howitzer.

A soldier, hiding on the reverse slope, felt the terrifying sound of the firepower and his lips turned pale: "Sir, their firepower is too strong... and they also have grenade launchers!"

In the continuous rush and fighting, several soldiers in these two special operations squads have been killed in action!
"This is our best chance yet!" Juan gritted his teeth and growled in a low voice. "Their garrison isn't too large yet, and our current situation is pretty good!"

"We are behind enemy lines, and their reinforcements will arrive soon; moreover, we are out of food."

"Delaying this any longer will only make things worse for us... This is the best opportunity!"

The soldier knew his superior was right. He gave a wry smile and said, "Yes, but how are we going to destroy this last howitzer?"

With the battle at this point, the soldiers inevitably felt some despair—the front lines were collapsing faster than they had imagined, and special operations in the rear were facing numerous obstacles.

Just then, the communications soldier's voice came from behind.

"We've made contact! We've made contact with command center!"

Juan immediately turned around and asked, "Any instructions from command?"

The reason why communication is so difficult and information transmission is so challenging is because of a single shell fired from this howitzer!
The communications officer said, "The messages I received were fragmented... They gave a general overview of the situation at the front, but most importantly, good news came from the 'Hell Tax Collectors'!"

Juan's spirits immediately lifted: "What good news?"

"Three days. He told us to hold on for three more days, and the reinforcements would arrive!"

Juan was both happy and worried: "3 days? Are you sure it's 3 days? Did you hear me right?"

The good news is that, as far as he knows, Milton should still be grappling with Retalu Leu... Could it be that there has been a major breakthrough there, with the enemy advancing and Quetzaltenango about to fall?

The worry is that three days may not sound like a long time, but for the resistance, it's unknown how much more blood will be shed if they try to hold out for those three days...

The communications soldier nodded vigorously: "Although the communication was intermittent, I'm certain they said the 'Hell Tax Collector's' support was coming, and I heard the number '3'... They can't possibly be arriving in three months, right? It can only be three days! The 'commander' told us to be careful after that, but I didn't hear clearly, then there was a very loud explosion, and the communication was lost again..."

Explosion……

Juan turned his head and stared intently at the direction of the howitzer.

Three days! Just three more days!

Once we take out this howitzer, the pressure on the front lines will be greatly reduced!
The question is, how do we take it down?!

The soldier in front suddenly turned around, looked at Juan, remained silent for a moment, and said, "Sir, I have a way to deal with a machine gun emplacement."

Juan was taken aback: "You have a way?"

He took off his dog tag (military identification tag) and threw it at the feet of the communications soldier: "I need five men to cover me... I'll try to get close to their machine gunner."

After saying that, the soldier glanced at his grenade, his meaning clear.

Before Juan, who looked surprised, could say anything, another soldier took off his dog tag and threw it to the communications officer.

"I'll take over the other machine gun. I also need five men to cover me. Anyone want to help?"

He used a tone that sought opinions.

Because this was a mission where certain death was inevitable—it was called providing cover, but how could one provide cover in front of a machine gun? It was nothing more than risking one's life, using the bulletproof plates on one's body for cover.

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

A full five seconds later, a soldier removed his dog tag.

Snapped!
Wow...

Then, one dog tag after another was thrown on the ground.

"Hey... Ricardo, didn't you say that after this war you'd go back to your wife and kids and spend next Christmas together? Don't you love your kids? How can you bear to let them lose their father?"

Ricardo pulled out a worn-out pocket watch, glanced at the tattered photograph on it, and chuckled: "If I don't fight this battle, then my son will... After thinking about it, I'll fight it myself. Haha, I should have listened to 'Hell Tax Collector' and not made that so-called flag before the battle. I'm doomed!"

Another soldier calmly tapped his forehead and shoulder with his right hand, offered a brief prayer, and asked, "The machine gun is taken care of, but what about the cannon?"

As for rifle firepower, it's not a big problem—their heavy body armor is enough to hold them off for a while.

Upon hearing this, Juan finally chuckled. He stroked his dog tag, then took it off and threw it on the ground.

"Give me any unused explosives you have, and I'll make a simple explosive charge," Juan grinned. "The rest of you, those willing to cover me, come with me, it's all voluntary... Who's willing?"

"I!"

"I am willing!"

"As you know, you saved my life from the enemy 10 years ago... Today I'm returning it to you, and also avenging my parents."

“They tortured my sister to death right in front of me, and then they cooked a bowl of soup and forced it on me.” “If I were afraid of dying, I wouldn’t have come here with you.”

"If I could exchange my life for three days... no, even three hours, or three seconds, that would be enough."

"..."

The entire team made their final preparations before the charge—they removed the bulletproof plates from their backs and tucked them in front of them, while handing over any unused explosives to Juan.

Apart from the communications soldier who was holding back tears as he painstakingly collected the dog tags, everyone else was chatting and laughing.

In fact, Juan and his soldiers knew that even with such a tactic that was almost a suicide attack, the chance of successfully destroying the howitzer was only about 20% to 30%.

If sacrifice could bring victory, the resistance would have won 10 civil wars already.

But... that's just how cruel reality is. A chance of 20% or 30% is enough for an entire platoon to risk total annihilation to achieve.

Without sacrifice, victory is impossible.

Three minutes later, everyone was ready.

At this point, the enemy no longer fired wildly in this direction as they had before, and their firing rate decreased significantly.

"It looks like their reinforcements are already on their way; we can't wait any longer."

"Prepare to charge..."

Juan offered a brief prayer for half a second, then stood up, intending to follow the soldiers covering him as they charged toward the enemy lines.

boom……

The large-caliber howitzer ahead fired again.

Just as Juan gritted his teeth and took a step forward, a huge red flash suddenly appeared in front of him. After a smaller explosion, a series of larger and more violent explosions followed!

The shockwave came from the artillery position, gently nudging Juan and pushing him back behind the bunker.

Juan looked up blankly again and glanced at the enemy artillery position—no, there was no enemy position left. The howitzer that had been firing just moments before had been completely engulfed in flames.

"This, this is..."

hum!
The roar of turbines compressing air finally came from the sky, and a plane with diamond-shaped wings and a large amount of ammunition hanging below flew low overhead, leaving a trail of flames.

The next second, another identical aircraft appeared in the field of vision, with two 30mm cannons on the centerline of its fuselage spewing out white smoke.

Juan was only in a daze when he saw a large amount of dust kicked up from the makeshift machine gun bunker that had just been firing fiercely—dust mixed with dark red flesh and pieces of corpses!
The machine gunner who tried to operate the machine gun after the artillery position exploded turned into a cloud of blood mist!
buzzing...

Then, the intense firing of machine guns rang out!
It was only then that Juan and his soldiers belatedly realized that reinforcements had arrived.

Juan shouted, almost trembling:

"Support has arrived!!! It's friendly air force!!!"

"Reinforcements have arrived! Reinforcements have arrived!!!"

"Not 3 days, but 3 minutes!"

"After command re-established contact with Milton, the response from them was probably in three minutes. What Lark told us to be careful of was taking cover and avoiding being accidentally hit..."

"Charge!" Juan glanced at the mountain of dog tags, feeling a slight embarrassment, but his spirits were higher than ever before. "Everyone, follow me, keep charging! Charge! The enemy is in disarray!"

After suffering such an unprecedented blow, the true nature of the Guatemalan regular army was finally revealed. They could no longer organize a defensive line and began to flee in confusion. The so-called supervisory team led the way in the escape, and the deserters even broke up a defensive line that was still barely intact in the rear!

"Come on!"

"Charge to the front!"

Juan, gun in hand, rushed forward to seize a good position and fired, killing several enemy soldiers whose backs were turned to him—this machine gun position, which had just been incredibly fierce, was now only riddled with dense, honeycomb-like bullet holes.

"Kill them! Eliminate them all! Don't let any enemy escape!"

"Don't give them any chance to reorganize! Fire! Fire!"

From the enemy's position, screams of agony filled the air!
This two special operations squads, with fewer than 20 men left, were actually chasing and fighting an enemy several times their size!
"At the 9 o'clock position, a small enemy force is attempting to regroup!"

Juan was getting anxious and roared, "Kill them! Kill them at all costs!"

After the two planes finished their attack, they did not turn back, but instead headed straight for the front line.

The fires at the front lines are what need to be put out the most; they most likely won't be coming back.

Therefore, we must take advantage of the enemy's initial onslaught and subsequent chaos to annihilate them.

"I'll take the lead."

Ricardo brought up the PKM and was about to open fire on that area.

But before he could pull the trigger, the roar of airplane engines came from the sky once again.

The Dragonfly attack aircraft squadron, following behind the two Su-25s, entered the field.

The 12.7mm Gatling heavy machine gun relentlessly aimed at the enemy position and swept across it, causing enemy soldiers in a straight line to explode one after another.

The near-massacre completely shattered the psychological defenses of the already fearful government soldiers.

The hard-won defensive line collapsed once again.

Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!
Juan advanced steadily with his body bent over, constantly firing at the enemy. Just moments ago they were so arrogant, but now they were practically as helpless as pigs.

No, they're worse than pigs.

Because pigs scatter when they escape, while these enemy troops often gather together, making them much easier to kill.

buzzing...

As Juan attacked, the sounds of planes flying overhead and machine guns firing could be heard from time to time, and dense barrages of fire would rain down from the sky from time to time.

You can see bullets raining down as soon as you look up.

At the same time, enemy troops fell in droves.

There's not even much need for friend-or-foe identification anymore—the ones that are collapsing are the enemy troops.

Juan and his soldiers felt as if they were in the middle of a storm. Watching the contrails that kept passing by and the attack aircraft flying overhead, along with the intense near-ground support, they had a strange feeling—the feeling that they were American soldiers.

Enemies, whether visible or invisible, are vanishing like snowflakes!
All they need to do is advance slowly with continuous close-range support, pull the trigger, and reap the lives of the enemy.

No enemy dared to take up arms in resistance anymore.

Juan's troops were on a roll, their morale at an all-time high: "We're going to win, aren't we? The civil war is going to end, isn't it? We're going to win!"

One of the soldiers looked at Juan and was so moved that he almost burst into tears.

For more than 30 years, the front lines suffered repeated defeats, and the country was on the verge of defeat...

In the past, no matter what victory he had won, even a great one, Juan would sternly pour cold water on his soldiers, telling them that victory was still a long way off.

This time, Juan nodded vigorously and said with great certainty, "Yes, we are going to win."

The communications soldier stumbled as he ran from behind, his voice trembling with tears: "Sir, sir, it's command post!"

Juan took the radio and said, "Lak?"

"We were just talking when we got blown up..." Lark joked in a rare relaxed tone, "But I guess we won't get blown up again."

"The enemy is in defeat; they're doomed."

"But the 'Hell Tax Collector' said that simply winning wasn't enough; he wanted to completely annihilate the Guatemalan 2nd Infantry Brigade and wipe out its designation!"

Remove the serial number!
Juan suppressed his excitement and asked, "Lack, tell me, what can I do?"

Lark said seriously, "The head of the 'Grey Wolves,' the enemy commander Ross, is trying to escape—do everything you can to hold him and his troops back until the main battlefield is where the battle ends!"

"'Grey Wolves' are the elite of the elite, unlike any of the opponents you've encountered before. Therefore, 'Hell Tax Collector' says there will be a Dragonfly aircraft on standby 24/7. Ground support will arrive immediately upon your call. The radio frequency is..."

"Ross has very important intelligence; we must not let him get away."

P.S.: I don't know if any of my readers are high school seniors (anyway, I wish you all the best in your exams!).
I was a bit busy today and missed updating by a thousand words. I'll make it up within a week.

(End of this chapter)