The two helicopter gunners in the front seats used their helmet integrated optics to guide their cannon fire over several Chinese ZBDs as Dutt and his wingman flew over them. The result was the incapacitation of several ZBDs and the diversion of attention to the two helicopters buzzing overhead. This gave Kongara and the 9TH Punjab soldiers the opportunity they needed to deploy smoke and disengage. Several platoons made their way through the smoke and headed south to safety towards the 4TH Mechanized lines.
Back at the command post, Sudarshan realized what had happened. He also saw the danger that had now materialized on the left flank of the 4TH Mechanized, deep inside the LAC to the southeast. If he wanted to avoid its encirclement, he had to pull his force out now and also put the incoming 3RD Mechanized into the battle there.
Back in the skies to the east, Dutt noticed the volume of fire now being put up from the ground against his two helicopters. The shock and surprise amidst the Chinese gunners on the arrival of his helicopters was now gone.
It was time to leave.
His decision was made easier for him when his gunner announced that they were out of ammunition for the cannon.
He ordered an immediate break and dived back to the southwest towards Saser, followed quickly behind by his wingman. The two helicopters flew low over the lines of Indian soldiers moving south alongside a BMP-II, all that remained of the once powerful 10TH Mechanized Battalion…
With the withdrawal of the 4TH Mechanized back to the LAC to remove their exposed left flanks to the Chinese armor, most of the territory gained in the first few days had now been lost. All surviving units of the 10TH Mechanized were now passed over to the operational control of the 4TH Mechanized and Sudarshan removed the former from the Indian order of battle in Ladakh.
The 43RD Armored Regiment entered the Shyok river valley after having reached and passed Leh. The road and the valley represented the main supply route for Indian forces in central and northern Ladakh. It was a hotbed of activity when Major Kulkarni’s taskforce rumbled on to the road in a long convoy of tanks. The only reason they had gotten here so fast was because the XIV Corps headquarters as well the 3RD Infantry Division commander were prioritizing its arrival above all else.
Kulkarni sat in the open turret hatch of the Arjun MBT, admiring the sun rising above the mountains. In his mind, he had finally entered the combat zone. Now began his dash to DBO, still another twelve hours of driving away.
“Yeah… I have all vehicles on the ground now ready to go, sir. I am moving them into positions now,” Fernandez said to Potgam.
Potgam was not happy at the moment. The Indian military was just not in a position to airlift equipment at the rates he required to effectively defend Bhutan. It had never been structured to do so over the years. And the result of that meant a very sluggish response in Bhutan.
On the golf-course at Haa-Dzong, continuous helicopter operations had converted the once pristine course into a churned up piece of land. Soon it would be completely unusable for the heavier helicopters. Potgam was aware of this. And he wanted as much of his minimum required heavy equipment brought into the valley before the place broke down.
Hotel-Six battery vehicles under Fernandez were right now bunched up at one corner of the golf-course, awaiting deployment orders.
And that was actually a good question under the circumstances.
In order for the Pinaka Launchers to be of any use to Potgam’s soldiers in western Bhutan and Thimpu, the battery had to be moved northeast from Haa-Dzong towards Paru. That would put the battery southwest of Thimpu with enough range to support operations there. Paru also had a very useful airport that Potgam so badly needed right now.
Paru was currently unoccupied. Rumors had filled the streets of the small town that Thimpu had fallen and that Chinese soldiers were advancing south to the town.
But it wasn’t true.
Potgam had confirmed through UAV recon that Paru was in fact unoccupied and so was Thimpu. And Paru’s civilian airport remained surprisingly untouched. For now anyway. Potgam had his Searcher-II UAVs moving northeast above Thimpu and maintaining an eye out for flanking forces from the Highland Division that might attempt to cut him off from the south.
But Paru airport was the prize that Potgam wanted and he was currently making sure that he had it.
Fernandez walked back to his AXE utility vehicle at the head of the convoy after finishing his talk with Potgam. He looked back to see a good eighteen plus heavy vehicles from his battery including the launchers, replenishment, radar and command vehicles all stacked up in a column.
