Middle Eastern tyrants

Chapter 19 The Defense of Nukoshir (Part Two)
"This single bombing raid cost me five tanks and over thirty soldiers! Four of them were junior officers! A full four!!"

Colonel Avi suppressed his anger as he analyzed the casualty report. His hearing in his right ear had recovered slightly, but he had lost all hearing in his left ear due to close-range artillery fire. However, he was lucky to have survived.

“And right now we don’t even know who the commander is at the outpost on the other side!” He slammed his fist on the table, making everything bounce. “If we can’t take this outpost by tomorrow, the 7th Regiment of the 38th Armored Brigade will become a laughing stock in the entire army!”

“Perhaps we should change our offensive strategy,” his staff officer suggested. “The accuracy of Shuangzhi’s artillery exceeds our expectations—whether the enemy is just guessing or not, the facts are right in front of us.”

Therefore, our primary objective should be to destroy the enemy's artillery positions, so that we can fully leverage the advantages of our armored forces.

“That’s right.” Colonel Avi pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked up: “We need air support! Get the air force to send fighter jets to bomb their artillery positions!”

The adjutant then said, "The 31st Armored Division has already occupied the Tiran Strait and set up an airfield there. Perhaps we can make a request to the division headquarters via encrypted radio, and then transfer it to the command headquarters to have them send a flight squadron to assist our troops."

"That's settled then!" Colonel Avi decided. "And while we're at it, send a squad of soldiers tonight to tow our tanks back from the dunes!"

As evening fell, the reconnaissance platoon of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion of Shuangzhi, led by platoon leader Tamim, set off towards the area bombed during the day.

"Did you say that the lieutenant colonel really hit the enemy tank?" a new recruit asked quietly.

"Most of the time it'll be a wasted trip." Lieutenant Saleh snorted lightly. "Our lieutenant colonel can't even recognize all the mortar models! If he could command artillery positions, I'd devour the entire officer training manual!"

"But you previously said that the Lieutenant Colonel would miss the target when piloting the Bofors."

Lieutenant Saleh raised his voice: "He was just lucky!"

Platoon Leader Tamim turned around and glared at the two of them. Lieutenant Saleh and the recruit quickly shrank back and dared not speak.

The group reached the back of the dune and then they heard Hebrew conversation.

Platoon Leader Tamim made a gesture, and the soldiers immediately flanked him from both sides in the dark.

Their gun barrels were wrapped with strips of cloth, allowing sand to get into the bolt and jam.

"Who's there?!" A Zion soldier exclaimed alertly, drawing his Uzi submachine gun.

His answer was four gunshots in the darkness, which instantly riddled him with bullets.

The remaining Zion soldiers also realized what was happening and began blindly firing in the darkness.

The soldier standing next to Saleh was unfortunately shot and fell to the ground, letting out a terrified scream.

"damn it!"

Saleh cursed under his breath, but the enemy's fierce firepower forced him to lie on the ground and provide cover fire.

At this moment, Platoon Leader Tamim also crept up behind the three Zion soldiers. He pulled out his scimitar and slit one of their necks. The other two soldiers jumped up and stabbed one of them to death.

Zion's team was completely exposed from behind, and before they could react, all their teammates behind them were taken out.

"Allahu Akbar!!"

This phrase is similar to the Russian "Hurrah!" Platoon Leader Tamim pulled out his submachine gun and began firing at the enemy's backs, causing Zion's soldiers to fall forward one after another.

Until his magazine ran out of bullets, there were no more Zion soldiers standing on the dunes. Platoon Leader Tamim walked up to the recruit, examined him closely, saw a bullet in his chest, and frowned, saying, "Quickly take him back to the outpost, press on the wound, maybe he can still be saved."

Lieutenant Saleh volunteered for the mission. Before leaving, he glanced back at the disabled tank on the sand dune and said in shock, "I didn't expect him to actually hit it!"

“On the battlefield, if you don’t even trust your own superiors, who can you trust?” Platoon Leader Tamim glanced at him.

"No, no, I just..." Lieutenant Saleh hesitated, but in the end he went to carry the stretcher.

"Send the repair crew up here to see if there are any tanks that can still move! It would be even better if they could be driven back!" Platoon Leader Tamim ordered.

The two repairmen immediately began to check the condition of the tanks and found that the tracks of all five Chieftain tanks had been blown off, and some even had their idler wheels missing.

Two of them had broken torsion bars, and sand particles wore down the seals, causing hydraulic oil leaks. They are probably no longer able to run.

"This vehicle only has a broken track and a clogged air filter. It should be able to run again after some repairs," a mechanic indicated.

Upon hearing this, Platoon Leader Tamim's eyes lit up. This was a great achievement!

"Who can drive a tank?" he shouted.

A scout raised his hand: "I used to be in the armored forces and learned how to drive a Centurion. They are all tanks produced by the United Kingdom, so there shouldn't be much difference."

Platoon Leader Tamim nodded: "Go up and see if the engine can still be started."

The scout climbed onto the tank and was about to open the hatch on the turret when the hatch opened by itself.

Two gun barrels emerged from it and immediately opened fire. The bullets pierced his body, and bursts of blood mist erupted from his back.

Platoon Leader Tamim cursed, pulled out his gun and began firing, forcing the soldiers hidden inside the tank back inside.

He climbed up the turret in a few steps, threw a grenade into the hatch, and heard a terrified curse from inside the tank.

boom--

The grenade exploded.

Smoke billowed from the Chieftain's tank.

Platoon Leader Tamim exclaimed "Te!"
"Damn it, there won't be a single one left."

Colonel Avi quickly learned of the towing plan's failure, but he simply waved his hand and said, "Never mind, let's leave it at that for now."

After a good rest, he seemed much more invigorated. Colonel Avi then delivered some exciting news: "We just received a reply from the division headquarters that the 101st Air Squadron will come to support us in bombing the artillery positions at the Nukoshir outpost. This will allow us to utilize our armored advantage and completely remove this thorn in our side!"

“Zion will definitely use its air force to bomb our artillery positions,” Lu Lin said confidently. “As long as our artillery positions are not destroyed, their armored forces will not dare to advance.”

So what we need to do now is hide the artillery positions first, and then drop decoys to lure their air force!

He waved his hand forcefully: "Once they fall into the firing angle we've calculated, we'll use the advantage of our air defense positions to shoot down all their planes!"

(End of this chapter)