Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

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vivek_ahuja
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

I will add more such data to allow a better visualization of the terrain and personalities being talked about in the scenarios

SCENARIO WAYPOINT:

Battle/Event/Personalities: Battle for Winchester-Charlie, Day-6
Imagery: The Wang Chu Bridge in 2010-11

ImageImage

Battle/Event/Personalities: IMTRAT Commander before the war; Predecessor to Lt-General "Warlord" Potgam
Imagery: IMTRAT Commanders with his Highness, the King of Bhutan at Thimpu

Image
vivek_ahuja
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7

THE BATTLE FOR BHUTAN




DAY 7 + 0630 HRS (L)

THIMPU
BHUTAN


The streets could not have been more deserted if god himself had wanted it. The aftermath of a panicked evacuation of Thimpu’s residents was everywhere. And more so in the northern outskirts than in the south where the roads had jammed under the stream of people heading south into the current Indian security zone. Captain Pathanya observed this when his team emerged from the bushes and carefully began walking through the muddy roads between the houses. There were bound to be people here, of course. And sure enough, around the corner of the street where the road bend to the east, there were residents still trying to get their belongings together from the upper floors of a house as the nine Indian soldiers walked around the corner.

Pathanya’s men had their faces covered with soot and mud from two days. Three of them limped as they walked from injuries sustained during the battle of Winchester Charlie yesterday. Pathanya’s shoulder arm part of his fatigues was dark stained with blood from the Army Aviation Major they had evacuated from the crash of the Delta-Flight chopper during the battle. And their faces showed the weariness of men having been exposed to extensive combat. This was of course true. Pathanya and his men had engaged in continuous hit-and-run combat for the last twelve hours trying to delay the advance of two of three Chinese infantry regiments towards Thimpu. They had support from Hotel-Six MLRS battery under Lt-Col Fernandes during the battle. And of course Warlord Central was always keeping an eye on things from the air using their Nishant and Searcher RPVs.

But it had been a lonely fight for Pathanya and his men. Only six of his men now remained fully combat effective. Even that definition was questionable given the exhaustion each of his men had suffered. But there was to be no respite. They had delayed as much as they could, but the Chinese commanders were no fools. After the initial setbacks they had suffered at Pathanya’s hands at Wang-Chu, they had figured out the weakness of the Indian positions in Bhutan. They understood that the attacks by the CAF on Paru airfield had crippled the Indian force reconstitution capabilities in western Bhutan. They understood also that there were only a couple of good MSRs to bring supplies and units into Bhutan from the Indian border and their assault on Thimpu had the desired effect of sending the local populace in panic and clogged the approaches to Bhutan from the south. To their unexpected pleasure, they had been assisted greatly in the uncontrolled media coverage from Thimpu by the Indian Media in particular. So they had marshaled their forces, spread out the forward units to avoid mass attacks by Fernandes’s Pinaka unit west of Paru airfield and now were less than a dozen kilometers from the outskirts of Thimpu.

Right on my heels…Pathanya thought as he and his nine man force limped back into the Bhutanese Capital. He had been ordered by Lt-Gen “Warlord” Potgam to pull back to Thimpu where he was trying to bring in reinforcements and hold the city. The Chinese could not be allowed at take the capital of Bhutan, or it would be a stunning public victory for them in the eyes of the Bhutanese populace and utter defeat for Indian control over the small Himalayan state. Potgam and Pathanya both understood this. The problem was what reinforcements could be brought in? And how?

While General Potgam was attempting to figure that larger question, Pathanya had his own problems at the tactical end of things. He had been ordered to move to the Dechencholing Palace: the governmental node point In Thimpu. He was to figure out the exact situation from the local Bhutanese officials there and ascertain on the availability of the RBA units in Thimpu and bring them under control of Warlord-Central. The disintegration of the RBA during the initial assaults by the Chinese forces in northern Bhutan had not left many units to play with. Most that remained were closer to police and para-military forces rather than organized military units. And even their availability was currently unknown. Many had deserted and left along with their families to the south after the King of Bhutan and his family had been evacuated by Indian Air Force Mi-17s two days ago. The Bhutanese monarchy was a tight knit group, but remove one binding thread and the whole apparatus came crashing down. Not good.

The Bhutanese citizens in the streets of the northern outskirts were scrambling at the sight of Pathanya’s men, not sure whose side they were on. Others recognized them as obvious Indian forces but also realized from their condition that the Chinese were not far behind. Pathanya saw housewives grab their kids and run away and drivers of small trucks leave their vehicles with the engines still running as they scrambled out of the streets. Vikram, coming up behind Pathanya had his rifle at shoulder level and aimed at any sudden threat that might appear from the windows in the deserted streets. He brought it up on a jerk to bring a second floor window under his red-dot sight only to see a man in his early thirties close the shutters in anticipation of the upcoming battle…

“Damn. What do you think they know that we don’t, sir?” he said over his team comms.
“That the Chinese are coming. They couldn’t have missed hearing the ever increasing sounds of the gunfire and arty we were dropping on the Chinese all the way south from Winchester-Charlie.” Ravi, the Spear-One team medic replied a couple second later. His R/T then chimed off.

“Keep the chatter down! Vik, bring up the long range optics and set on top of this house here. It’s the tallest one around and has a good LOS to the north from here. Take two and set up an O-P here. I want you to be my eyes and ears on the Chinese advance into Thimpu.” He turned to Ravi further down the line of soldiers from his group who had taken positions along the edge of the road and were on their knees covering possible ambush sectors with their rifles. Pathanya pointed two fingers to his eyes and then swept them across the street. The soldiers nodded in turn. He then pressed the team comms again:

“Ravi, you and the rest of the boys are with me. I want to advance on the palace and see what’s going on and who’s left in this city that can fire a rifle. Vik, I want you and your O-P team to stay here as long as you can. When the position becomes untenable, simply make your way back to the palace. This is not a strategic position for holding this city, so don’t let yourselves be cornered while holding it. Play hell with the initial Chinese force and fall back. We will meet you at the palace. That will be our primary combat position. You hear?”

“Roger that boss”

“Good. Okay, rest of you: let’s pull out. Ravi, take point” Pathanya said and a second later his team went into action. Vikram pointed to two of the men and the three of them lowered their rifles and removed explosives and the handful of mines they had left and ran across the street to start setting them up. Vikram ran to the entrance door of the house and knocked politely on the door. The same person he had seen earlier at the windows above showed up, nervous like hell to see heavily armed Indian soldiers knocking on his door. He spoke broken Hindi so Vikram pointed out the need for him and his family to vacate the house right now and move south. The man was hesitant and there was no time so Vikram and another from his O-P team pushed the man aside and entered even as they found the man’s wife and kids inside, shouting at the intrusion. Vikram grabbed what looked like a bag from the man’s living room and ordered him to put stuff in and get out while there was still time. Finally the man relented and began telling his wife and kids to start moving the essential items into the bag. Pathanya was on the other side of the road during this commotion and as he saw the man and his family rush out of the house with their handful of belongings, he chimed the comms with a smile on the corner:

“Everything okay in there, Vik?”
“Yeah boss. All clear here. I guess the old man needed a more forceful argument as to why his presence here was detrimental to his and his family’s health.” Pathanya heard an amused grunt over the comms even as Ravi and the rest of his team moved past his position as they headed towards the Palace.

“Roger that, Spear-Two. Good luck. One out” Pathanya said and then picked up his rifle and moved out behind the last of his men. Vikram and the rest of his three man O-P team began setting up the delaying action required to set up Thimpu’s defenses against the approaching enemy…
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 27 Oct 2012 12:07, edited 1 time in total.
vivek_ahuja
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7 + 0645 HRS (L)

WARLORD-CENTRAL C-3I
HAA DZONG


Lt-Gen Potgam was standing with his arms crossed inside the command center at the former IMTRAT headquarters building which had now become his operations and planning center for Bhutan. He was staring intently at the paper map of Bhutan that had been pulled open over a wooden table inside one of the rooms of the building. Outside, the noise from helicopters operating from the golf course in support of his plans were making their presence felt. Every few seconds the reverberating rotor noise would recede or grow, indicating whether the helicopter in question was approaching or receding. Men were scurrying about in all directions, each on their own mission. Potgam however, was currently listening to his C2 officer, a Colonel who had been sent forward from Eastern Army HQ to take over from the Lt-Colonel who had till now been handling Potgam’s operations in Bhutan. Unfortunately the latter officer had met with an accident yesterday when he had been hit by one of the AXE vehicles outside his C2 Trailer at the helipad, a consequence of all soldiers under Potgam being close to exhaustion and not getting enough sleep or rest in the last few days. The driver in the vehicle that had hit Potgam’s C2 had fallen asleep on the wheel as a result of exhaustion and had run into the unfortunate senior commander. But such things happened, as Potgam and the others understood. And so now he had a new operations officer replacing yet another casualty from this war…

“My only concern, Colonel, is to get the 11TH Para-SF Battalion into Thimpu before the Chinese get there. Send the 9TH Para-SF to Major-General Dhillon in eastern Bhutan. He’s trying to rally the disintegrated RBA forces over there to prevent the Chinese from opening up this huge left flank on our Namka-Chu front. He can use all the reinforcements he can get. Eastern Army is already sending a Division worth of troops from the IV Corps sector to beef up their left flank. So when that happens and our Arunachal Pradesh defenses are secure, we can reacquire the 9TH Para back for operations here. And keep the incoming 12TH Para Battalion on security duties around Paru and west from there where Fernandes has deployed his Pinaka batteries. Especially that battery: I am particularly concerned about security to Fernandes’s unit. His is the only heavy arty we have south of Thimpu and the Chinese know it. If I was in their position I would be sending out my own SF teams to find and destroy that battery and remove any interference with my plans. We can’t let that happen. Tell the 12TH Para that I want that MLRS battery and the airfield at Paru secure and held. I will not accept failure from them.” Potgam said to his C2. He then rest his arms on the wooden table and stared at the lone unit marker in Thimpu: Captain Pathanya’s SF team. It must be pretty lonely up there…

“And what’s the ETA on the 11TH Para getting up to Thimpu? Pathanya’s small unit has held out as much as we could possibly expect them to. Now they have been pushed all the way to Thimpu’s outskirts. We have to get those poor boys up there some backup, damn it!”

“11TH Para is dismounting from AN-32s at Paru as we speak. I have requisitioned Air Force Mi-26s diverted from supporting Chimera Ops in the Chumbi valley to instead support the arrival of the 11TH to Thimpu. But Paru was devastated in the CAF attacks on the airfield. We are only able to being in two AN-32s at any time. Its slowing us down quite a bit.” The Colonel said defensively, even though it was the truth.

“But when, Colonel? When? I need to know when we will get the 11TH up there?” Potgam asked testily.
“Later this morning. We should have the first elements into Thimpu by noon today. I have asked Pathanya to scout the Royal Palace area and secure the medium helipads over there.”

“Noon?” Potgam repeated, then leaned over the map on the table and stared at the red markers just above Pathanya’s marker at Thimpu. If I were the Chinese commander, I wouldn’t wait till noon to make my move to capture Thimpu…

“That might not be fast enough, Colonel. See if you can push the timeline closer. We don’t have three hours, let alone six. Go!” Potgam said. The Colonel saluted and ran back out of the room, leaving the door open behind him. As the first rays of sunlight penetrated the Haa Dzong valley and brightened up the room Potgam stood in, he checked his watch. He then picked up his cap from the table and left the other younger officers in the room to figure out the details. As he walked past the snow covered lawns outside the building glistening in the early morning sunlight, he could hear the distant rumble of artillery from the Chumbi valley. That got him to stop and turn around to see the northern Himalayan peaks covered with snow jutting up into the bluish skies above.

So if I was the Chinese commander leading the advance on Thimpu, I would be giving my pep talk to my men before the assault on the city right about now…
Damn the Chinese attacks on Paru! They have brought us to the verge of losing all of Bhutan north of Paru! But if they think they have taken the capital, they are out of their freaking commie minds.

Warlord is not so easily defeated! And neither are his Paratroopers!
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 27 Oct 2012 12:09, edited 1 time in total.
manish.rastogi
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by manish.rastogi »

You are a god Vivek saar!!
Just too awesome!!
I hope your writing gig is successful so that you write more and we get more of such stuff!!
:D :twisted:
ashdivay
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by ashdivay »

vivek_ahuja wrote:DAY 6 + 1630 HRS (L)

SASER
SOUTH OF DAULAT-BEG-OLDI (DBO)
LADDAKH, INDIA


..................................................................................................“Rhino-One to all Rhino Elements. We are now in the FEBA. All units on Red-Con status! Over” he lowered his mouthpiece and turned to face the gunner and loader behind him: “Load APFSDS round!”
Hate to be a Pain, but i had to give a small input. During combat drills No body would say "Load APFSDS round!" In Armour units world over, (atleast in English speaking world) the its simply called "Sabot". Saying the whole "Load APFSDS" is too time consuming.

Similaqrly :
HMG on the trurret "Cal .50"
HEAT round is just called HEAT.
Coaxial is called Coax.

Armour warefare is about speed and effecenciey . If you are not fast enough you are giving enmy tank to shoot at you first. You have to be faster then your enmy , hit him first. Thats how most Armoured battles are won well that and number of other factors.

but when it really comes down to equal opponenets then the winner is one who is most efficiaent and fast.

Western countries have devloped effiecency and speed in their armoured drills.
Western tank crews dont waste time in speaking full lenght sentences. They stick to practiced Battle Drills SOP .

Eg - Tank Cmdr spots enemy tank 1500m hiding in bushes at 3 o clok using his periscope. While the gunner is scanning 12 of clock.
SOP for this would be :
1.Tcmdr will hit a switch and slave the main gun to his periscope. The Computer swings the main gun and gunners view to where the periscope is looking.
2.While doing the above Tcmdr will say "Gnnr Tank!
3. Now the main gun and Gunners sight is pointed in the direction where the enmy tank was spotted by the cmdr. Gunner will see if he can ID the enmy tank.
if he can then he will Say "Identified!" If not he will say "Cannot ID" in this case the cmdr will use his judgment either call indirect fire to flush the enmy tank out or ask another tank in his sec to see they can get a clear shot. Lot of times the cmdr can see target from his Peri which is located slightly higher then main gun and gunners sights these same targets are not visible from gunners sights.
Anyway if the target is "Identified" by gunner then -
4. Cmdr will give order to "fire!" Please note that whatever round is in breach is fired, Tank crews dont waste time is unloading the round and reloading a new one. In our situation lets assume HEAT round was allready loaded proior to spotting this target. In this case the Cmdr cmnd will be "Fire Fire Sabot !" which means fire the current round and load Sabot next !
5. Gunner yells "On the way !" and fires the current round (HEAT) which is not good for killing heavy armour but it can still do a lot of damage and sometiems even kill heavy armour. Loader loads the next round which will be a sabot. Loader yells "Sabot UP !" which is indication to all crews that next that has been loaded is sabot.

This is just a short example of efficiency in Western Armoured units. How evident is this in Indian Armoured units ?

PLA has also started to impliment similar efficient battle drills in its armoured units. While Indian Armour is still stuck in Good Old Jolly good days of "Queens RAJ".

Please dont get me wrong , i love these scenarios but the reality is Armoured battles between Indian Armour and PLA armour will not be about numbers , it will be about efficiency of battle drills.
and Sadly PLA with its western style armour battle drills will kick our Armoured units who are stuck in old times !

Correct me if i am wrong !
anand_sankar
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by anand_sankar »

@ashdivay

1. In this forum everyone has an right to opinion, but please refrain from making blanket unsubstantiated statements.
This is just a short example of efficiency in Western Armoured units. How evident is this in Indian Armoured units ?

PLA has also started to impliment similar efficient battle drills in its armoured units. While Indian Armour is still stuck in Good Old Jolly good days of "Queens RAJ".

Please dont get me wrong , i love these scenarios but the reality is Armoured battles between Indian Armour and PLA armour will not be about numbers , it will be about efficiency of battle drills.
and Sadly PLA with its western style armour battle drills will kick our Armoured units who are stuck in old times !
If you are saying what you have said above:
a) You must have served in western, PLA or Indian armoured units or
b) Must have been intimately associated with them as a third party in some form or the other in operational areas or
c) Kindly quote reputed published research or analysis to back up your claim.

2. We have been reading Vivek Ahuja's work here for some years now. We hold him in very high regard and he is an awesome guy always open to discussion. But please don't nitpick like you have done. Respect the fact that he is doing this out of sheer interest and while juggling a normal day job.
ashdivay
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by ashdivay »

anand_sankar wrote:@ashdivay

1. In this forum everyone has an right to opinion, but please refrain from making blanket unsubstantiated statements.
This is just a short example of efficiency in Western Armoured units. How evident is this in Indian Armoured units ?

PLA has also started to impliment similar efficient battle drills in its armoured units. While Indian Armour is still stuck in Good Old Jolly good days of "Queens RAJ".

Please dont get me wrong , i love these scenarios but the reality is Armoured battles between Indian Armour and PLA armour will not be about numbers , it will be about efficiency of battle drills.
and Sadly PLA with its western style armour battle drills will kick our Armoured units who are stuck in old times !
If you are saying what you have said above:
a) You must have served in western, PLA or Indian armoured units or
b) Must have been intimately associated with them as a third party in some form or the other in operational areas or
c) Kindly quote reputed published research or analysis to back up your claim.

2. We have been reading Vivek Ahuja's work here for some years now. We hold him in very high regard and he is an awesome guy always open to discussion. But please don't nitpick like you have done. Respect the fact that he is doing this out of sheer interest and while juggling a normal day job.
OMG, you are taking me the wrong way. I already said I love the scenarios but they are exactly that, Scenarios. I am not asking anyone to stop reading any current scenarios here but simply presenting my opinion about the current facts about ground reality. Thats All!
:rotfl:
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Sanku »

ashdivay wrote:my opinion about the current facts about ground reality.
English 101

Opinion != facts

English 102

Passing off opinions as facts == bullshit


Hope that helped
ashdivay
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by ashdivay »

Sanku wrote:
ashdivay wrote:my opinion about the current facts about ground reality.
English 101

Opinion != facts

English 102

Passing off opinions as facts == bullshit


Hope that helped
HAHA No more bullshit then believing Imaginary scenarios to be Facts !
vivek_ahuja
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Ashdivay,

I think going back to the original comments, we would all be grateful if you can suggest references (links/documents etc) that back up your thoughts so that its a mutually beneficial learning experience for all around. I am particularly interested in learning the new training changes the PLA might have brought in based on western standards. I think I can speak for the vast majority of BR folks that they are all eager to learn new stuff related to Military issues. However you are unlikely to get anywhere with general comments like "X will kick Y's ass" etc. Also, regarding the material and comments you have on armored warfare comparisons, I think you might want to copy to the armor thread so that we can take the discussion there if required.

Regards

-Vivek
Sanku
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Sanku »

ashdivay wrote:
HAHA No more bullshit then believing Imaginary scenarios to be Facts !
Sir, I think most people have the discretion to understand the imaginary part of the scenario compared to the reality of facts (so far universally acknowledged as correct and not contested) that are at the bedrock of the rest of the imagination. You however, have claimed to be in possession of facts contrary to those -- and are not contesting the imagination part.

Can you please provide evidence of your claims ?
kit
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by kit »

ashdivay wrote:
vivek_ahuja wrote:DAY 6 + 1630 HRS (L)

SASER
SOUTH OF DAULAT-BEG-OLDI (DBO)
LADDAKH, INDIA


..................................................................................................“Rhino-One to all Rhino Elements. We are now in the FEBA. All units on Red-Con status! Over” he lowered his mouthpiece and turned to face the gunner and loader behind him: “Load APFSDS round!”
Hate to be a Pain, but i had to give a small input. During combat drills No body would say "Load APFSDS round!" In Armour units world over, (atleast in English speaking world) the its simply called "Sabot". Saying the whole "Load APFSDS" is too time consuming.

Similaqrly :
HMG on the trurret "Cal .50"
HEAT round is just called HEAT.
Coaxial is called Coax.

Armour warefare is about speed and effecenciey . If you are not fast enough you are giving enmy tank to shoot at you first. You have to be faster then your enmy , hit him first. Thats how most Armoured battles are won well that and number of other factors.

but when it really comes down to equal opponenets then the winner is one who is most efficiaent and fast.

Western countries have devloped effiecency and speed in their armoured drills.
Western tank crews dont waste time in speaking full lenght sentences. They stick to practiced Battle Drills SOP .

Eg - Tank Cmdr spots enemy tank 1500m hiding in bushes at 3 o clok using his periscope. While the gunner is scanning 12 of clock.
SOP for this would be :
1.Tcmdr will hit a switch and slave the main gun to his periscope. The Computer swings the main gun and gunners view to where the periscope is looking.
2.While doing the above Tcmdr will say "Gnnr Tank!
3. Now the main gun and Gunners sight is pointed in the direction where the enmy tank was spotted by the cmdr. Gunner will see if he can ID the enmy tank.
if he can then he will Say "Identified!" If not he will say "Cannot ID" in this case the cmdr will use his judgment either call indirect fire to flush the enmy tank out or ask another tank in his sec to see they can get a clear shot. Lot of times the cmdr can see target from his Peri which is located slightly higher then main gun and gunners sights these same targets are not visible from gunners sights.
Anyway if the target is "Identified" by gunner then -
4. Cmdr will give order to "fire!" Please note that whatever round is in breach is fired, Tank crews dont waste time is unloading the round and reloading a new one. In our situation lets assume HEAT round was allready loaded proior to spotting this target. In this case the Cmdr cmnd will be "Fire Fire Sabot !" which means fire the current round and load Sabot next !
5. Gunner yells "On the way !" and fires the current round (HEAT) which is not good for killing heavy armour but it can still do a lot of damage and sometiems even kill heavy armour. Loader loads the next round which will be a sabot. Loader yells "Sabot UP !" which is indication to all crews that next that has been loaded is sabot.

This is just a short example of efficiency in Western Armoured units. How evident is this in Indian Armoured units ?

PLA has also started to impliment similar efficient battle drills in its armoured units. While Indian Armour is still stuck in Good Old Jolly good days of "Queens RAJ".

Please dont get me wrong , i love these scenarios but the reality is Armoured battles between Indian Armour and PLA armour will not be about numbers , it will be about efficiency of battle drills.
and Sadly PLA with its western style armour battle drills will kick our Armoured units who are stuck in old times !

Correct me if i am wrong !
Dude ., you could just pm Vivek and let him know if any mistake was made.Anybody can make mistakes, but why say that so openly and risk derailing the story line and the thread.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by pralay »

vivek sar, we are waiting for a sunday feast :D
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by disha »

Vivekji please continue posting.... Continuously checking to see updates...

Ashdivay - How is PLA doing western style armoured drills? All those tweenies going from US/Canada to teach english to the Chineese is introducing the western style or the PLA is learning directly from western commanders? And how do you know that they are learning all this (and in english) and then how do you know that it will be better? Unless you prove it with publicly available material (and that too unbiased) it would be a matter of opinion!

PS: Apologies to jingoes salivating for the next post from Vivekji ...
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7 + 0720 HRS (L)

SPEAR-ONE OBSERVATION POST
NORTHERN OUTSKIRTS
THIMPU
BHUTAN


“Time to wake up, boss.” A distant but familiar voice spoke up.
Already? What the hell. I just got to sleep. Five more minutes. Come on, I haven’t had proper sleep in two days. Just five more minutes…

A distant crashing explosion rumbled through the building and Vikram’s eyes opened with a jerk, still red from the exhaustion of combat. The sudden brightness caused him to squint even as he jerked around for his UBGL fitted INSAS lying next to him on the roof. His sudden motion was caught by his two colleagues.

“Easy there, boss! No danger! That was off to the west in the Chumbi valley.” Sergeant Sarvanan said as he lowered his binoculars and slid under the protection of the open, meter-high walls of the roof. Vikram was not fully convinced, though. And looked around and then realized where he was and what he was doing as his mental faculty caught up with him. He then lay back on the bare floor and stared into the clear blue morning sky above. It was nice and cold today, with snow on the roof as well. The three men had been careful not to remove the snow on the roof where they were taking cover, knowing fully well that a flat roof devoid of snow amidst all others covered with snow will show up on enemy UAV IR like a bright flare. So the only protection they had from the cold was their uniforms, which was designed to be thermally insulating. Along with the gloves, helmet and other equipment on them, it was not unbearable. Even so, all Vikram had to do to wake himself up despite his tiredness was to remove one glove from one hand. The biting chill hit him like a hammer and removed all grogginess from his head…

“What’s the situation?” He asked Sarvanan.
“Same as before, sir.” The latter said in a rare moment of formality. Both men found it bemusing and Vikram continued to stare at the blue skies above.
“How long was I asleep?”

“Twenty minutes or so...” Sarvanan replied as he opened himself a small sealed ready-to-eat meal. The packet could be chemically heated and he was doing so as he spoke. In the background the rumbling noises from artillery hitting targets in the Chumbi valley was a constant reminder that the war was going on without them.
“…Tarun has the optics all set up and pointed north. FLIR is up as well, though I am not sure how useful it’s going to be at the moment given daylight and white-out conditions. I have the comms set up from here and the majority of our stuff is stashed below. The building entrances are booby-trapped except for our escape route and we have that route under supervision. Nobody will surprise us up here. As for the Chinese, Tarun and I spotted a small recon party two kilometers north checking the roads for enemy resistances and found none so they retreated once they reached about a kilometer away from us. Guess they are holed up somewhere north waiting for the main body of their Regiment to catch up with them. Nothing unexpected, so I let you grab a few more minutes of sleep.”

Vikram did not like that one bit. He got up with a jerk and went for his binoculars in his backpack next to where he was as he spoke:
“You did what? Why the hell didn’t you wake me up during all this?”
Sarvanan was not intimidated by the young lieutenant’s sudden anger at being kept asleep during all of what had happened.

“You have to trust me on this, Vikram. I have been through enough to know that a tired CO is going to make mistakes in combat. Besides, nothing unexpected happened anyway, else I would have woken you up. Here, have some hot foot instead. Keep it under cover in case the Chinese have some thermal optics on us from above.”
Vikram scanned the northern approaches to Thimpu from above the meter high wall and spotted nothing. After a few seconds he lowered himself and took the food packet from Sarvanan. He reminded himself that the latter man was older to him and more experienced in combat. And Vikram was fresh out of SF training. And so while he was the ranking officer present, Sarvanan tended to look at him as a wet-nosed cadet still in training. Hell, Captain Pathanya probably thinks so too. Why else was he so pleased when I chose Sarvanan and Tarun to be my OP guys?
Probably thought I had picked the right babysitters.
Nah. Experience is something I could use and these two have it. So bite the pain, buddy. And learn, learn, learn…


He nodded approvingly at the food once he had a bite. It gave him the energy and clearness to think. Plus a bit of Indian food always tasted good. Even here.
“Movement to the north! Our buddies are here!” Tarun said from his corner as he continued to stare through the lenses of his binoculars. Vikram and Sarvanan dropped the food and picked up their binoculars and moved on their knees to get to the corner where Tarun was and then joined him with their own optics.

The view was clear. White camouflaged figures in their hundreds were running across the open terrain covered with trees and shrubs without leaves and a ground checkered with rocks and snow. Their black painted rifles were very contrasting though, and left little doubt.

“The buggers are just running across. They know we have no defenses between here and them.” Vikram noted sourly. His job was to observe and report, but it still pained him to see the enemy’s confidence at his side’s weakness in Bhutan. He turned to Sarvanan:

“Get me Captain Pathanya on the comms right now.”
“Yes sir.”
As Sarvanan dashed across on his knees, avoiding standing up for fear of being seen, Vikram turned back to his optics.
“How far out are they?” he asked Tarun.
“My take is about five kilometers and closing, sir”

“That gives us about an hour before they are on top of us here. Keep an eye on them. Let’s see if command has gotten its ass out of its head for once and can lend some support to us here.” Vikram said as he lowered his binoculars and saw that Sarvanan was coming to him with the speaker-set for the radio.
“Captain Pathanya on the comms!” he said as Vikram took the set from him and stared just above the line of the cement wall covering them.
“What’s the news, Vikram?” the R/T squawked with Pathanya’s voice.

“Not good, sir. The commies are approaching from the north as we expected. I am looking at Battalion strength in depth. They have special-forces teams conducting recon for them on the ground. But they haven’t penetrated the northern outskirts yet. I figure the commie battalion will be on top of us within the hour if we can’t delay them. Do you have any support at all for us over here?”

“Roger that. Hotel-Six is on standby and Warlord Central has RPVs overhead. They are watching the Chinese advance now as well. Hotel-Six will be our personal shotgun for this battle. Warlord will direct fire using its RPVs. I have open comms with them. We are to observe both the Chinese and our own comms and report anything the RPVs might miss. Do you copy?”

“Spear-Two copies all.” Vikram said and silently motioned for Sarvanan to get on the wall with his optics. He gestured with his fingers pointed above to indicate that friendly UAVs were overhead now. He felt better knowing that, and he knew the other two men did as well.
“One more thing, Vik.” Pathanya said, and Vikram pressed his headset closer into his ear.
“Sir?”

“I am at the Dechencholing Palace with the rest of Spear. We are clearing the pads here for imminent reinforcements from Paru airfield. Warlord tells me that he’s sending in the Paras to help us out. We need to ensure they have enough time to get here, understand? Hotel-Six cannot stop the hordes endlessly. Once they realize that they are only facing artillery, they are going to make a dash for Thimpu or direct counter-battery fire on Hotel-Six. Either way, once they get within the outskirts, I want you directing precision strikes on strongpoints as long as you can. The fly-boys in the Air Force have directed some Mig-27s with some serious mud-moving capability from Hashimara to assist us. But be advised, the Mig-27s have taken losses over the Chumbi Valley in the last few days. What we will get is the surviving force, so don’t expect overwhelming support. Strike what you can, and then fall back to the Palace. If necessary, we will hold them off here. Clear?”

“Sir!” Vikram said; absorbing what all was being passed to him.
“Good. Spear-One out.” The R/T squawked off.

Vikram lowered the headset from his ears and replaced it on the radio set. To his north the Chinese soldiers continued to run across the deserted and frozen fields towards Thimpu. He brought is hands and then rubbed it across his face as he considered his options…
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7 + 0745 HRS (L)

HOTEL-SIX M.L.R.S. BATTERY
NORTHERN OUTSKIRTS OF PARU, WEST OF PARU AIRFIELD
BHUTAN


Lt-Colonel Fernandes stepped out of his command trailer on to the snow. True to character even in the middle of nowhere, he had the chewed-out remnants of his cigar from hours ago still in the corner of his mouth. He looked around and saw the three launchers vehicles under his command deployed hundreds of meters away from each other and hastily painted white by his men. It wasn’t pretty, but pretty wasn’t his business.

Then there were the half dozen other command vehicles and resupply vehicles similarly scattered around the launchers. A line of trucks bringing in more ready-to-fire rounds were continuously making their way on the rocky and mushy roads from the airfield to Paru and then from Paru north to his positions outside the civilian areas. Heavily loaded vehicles made their way in, off-loaded and then drove back to the airfield to pick up more rounds. As Fernandes watched, men from his unit were currently using logs and ropes to pull out one such truck that had sunk into a patch of mud-snow slurry on the miserable excuse for a road that was serving as his main MSR. He chewed out his cigar in disgust at that sight.

The problem for him at the moment was not Chinese attacks from the ground or the air. His main problem was resupply. This should not surprise anyone, but what surprised him was that it indeed did surprise many people up the chain of command. Many of those simply could not grasp the rate at which his unit was using up rocket rounds trying to hold the Chinese back. And the attack on Paru had only messed things up even more. That had reduced his limited supply lines even more. It was always the case and many always missed this point: there was no need for the Chinese artillery to go head-to-head with Fernandes and his deadly Pinaka systems in order for them to disable his offensive capability. All they had to do was choke off his supply of ready-to-fire rockets and his launchers would simply become mute observers to the war around them. The IAF was doing the same to the Chinese in Tibet as well, attacking Chinese highways and roads with Sukhois and Jaguars. The problem was, for every road they struck, there were many others that existed on that flat terrain up north. Down here, once they hit Paru and threatened Thimpu, the handful of all-weather roads were clogged with refugees and the IAF was forced to bring in one or two AN-32s at a time. Clearly not enough for an Army to feed itself on…

So Fernandes watched in frustration as his men struggled with the half sunk truck and managed to bring it out from under the muck with superhuman feat of strength. And while his men cheered at the momentary success, he was more worried about the upcoming attacks on Thimpu, for which his unit was deploying even as he stood there.

“There he is! Let’s move, people!” He heard the voices behind him and turned to see three AXE vehicles with heavily armed Indian soldiers jumping off and grabbing supplies. Their CO walked up to Fernandes and saluted. He returned the salute.

“Who the hell are you guys?” he barked.

“2IC, 12TH Para-SF reporting as ordered, sir.” The Para Major said to Fernandes, who was more than a bit confused.

“Reporting to me?”
“Yes sir! Warlord-Central has directed elements of the 12TH Para to move here and provide security for the battery against enemy ground strikes. Friendly RPVs have detected vague thermals north of here and they figure the Chinese teams are attempting to locate this battery and terminate your command.” The Major said as his radioman ran up to him after grabbing his equipment from the all-terrain AXE vehicles. Fernandes looked over the Major and moved his cigar butt into the other side of his mouth before responding:

“Like hell! The commies couldn’t terminate snow in the middle of summer!”

But he also looked north and saw some of his own troops holding rifles and patrolling the trees north of the clearing occupied by his battery…
“But your men are greatly valued, Major. My boys have been providing our own security for the last couple of days ever since our lead elements got here from Sikkim: just not enough forces under General Potgam to give us security forces at that time. Looks like that is changing for the better. My men are artillery specialists, not infantry forces. I want you and your teams to reinforce these ridgelines…” he pointed with an extended arm to cover an arc around his battery; “…and relieve my men for the job they were trained for. As I am sure you are aware, Thimpu is hanging by a thread, and I need all my men working with the MLRS vehicles rather than pretending to be infantrymen. You understand?”

“Yes sir! Consider it done!” The Para Major waved at his men and they began running out to scour the territory before the trucks brought in the main force of two company worth of Paras to the position. Fernandes nodded in approval but gabbed the Major by the arm as the man was about to leave:
“Just one other thing.”
“Sir?”

“In case you do find one or more of the Chinese teams trying to head this way, don’t bother calling me up or anything. I don’t want my time wasted with that crap. Just waste them instead, understand?”

“Yes sir!” the Major smiled and ran off towards the hills.
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 30 Oct 2012 11:14, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7 + 0750 HRS (L)

PARU AIRFIELD
EAST OF PARU
BHUTAN


Colonel Misra stepped off the cargo ramp of the AN-32 as the deafening roar of the turboprop engines continued to reverberate all around. He was instantly met by Lt-General Potgam’s Operations officer (C2, Combined Command Force Bhutan) on the tarmac behind the parked aircraft. Paratroopers who had flown in alongside the Colonel stepped off as well and moved towards their Battalion’s rally point on the open grassy fields covered with slight snow to the north of the runway. The runway ran east-west with the terminal areas to the south of it. The northern area was now being used as temporary helipads and Misra could see two parked ALHs and a Cheetah helicopter lifting off at the moment. The C2 was wearing the standard disruptive pattern camo uniform of the Indian Army with red collar tabs and a beret to boot. Misra, on the other hand, was already kitted out for deployment into a combat zone with face painted white and brown camo and a white color camouflage uniform, similar to the rest of his Paras. He shook hands with his liaison to General Potgam as both men walked away from the now empty AN-32. As they walked, the air force ground crews cleared the way for bringing in wounded soldiers being evacuated to the south and began to load them on board along with medical staff. The two Colonels walked over to a parked AXE with the driver still in it. The C2 Colonel had used it to drive from Haa Dzong all the way to Paru airfield in order to coordinate Potgam’s reinforcements. He was now using a half damaged admin office inside the terminal building as his operations center. As the two men drove off to discuss the upcoming move to the Thimpu battle lines, another AN-32 flew over the runway and touched down.

The 9TH Para-SF was now deploying into Bhutan…
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Singha »

again the chilling picture of a thin line of 850 lads & a small artillery unit against brigade size cheen forces :(
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by manish.rastogi »

vivek_ahuja wrote: “Just one other thing.”
“Sir?”

“In case you do find one or more of the Chinese teams trying to head this way, don’t bother calling me up or anything. I don’t want my time wasted with that crap. Just waste them instead, understand?”

“Yes sir!” the Major smiled and ran off towards the hills.

Just too awesome....!!
Maar sutiya!! maar sutiya!!
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Bala Vignesh »

Vivekji, serving 1962, A la carte..
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Singha »

in 1962 we were strung out in isolated and ill supplied outposts which the cheen surrounded in the darkness and overwhelmed with much superior forces. they used hill paths to bypass those posts that managed to hold and nabbed the defenders when they retreated by road blocking. only few made it x-country into bhutan or assam.

here I believe Vivek is describing a scenario where we had little on the border and the enemy has already crossed half of bhutan to the doorsteps of the few major urban center/logistical road junctions.

if these junctions fall, any thought of even chasing them back will be tough. if they can consolidate in central bhutan and drive down to places like phuntsoling , galenphu or samdrup jhongkar which are border towns strung out along the Assam-bhutan border, the national highway and BG+MG railway line is a bare 20-30km south of the bhutan border foothills in most places....and areas like manas reserve even offer forested cover to infiltrate most of that.

another outside the box idea would be use the multitude of perennial N->S rivers and rivulets flowing from bhutan to assam to load up assault boats with SF/PLA units and speed down at night to destroy rail and road bridges before escaping north to more secure positions, or establish blocking position on the road/rail network at multiple points to "island" the IA formations in western assam :twisted: some of these rivers like manas, beki, pagladiya are quite big and swell even more in monsoon.

just throwing up a few ideas...after all why waste resources beating against western flank of tawang when u can catch india's chicken neck and also disrupt the chumbi valley ops from the rear areas bigtime. places like hashimara and bagdogra could then be attacked with MLRS or tactical missiles to knock them out from the bhutan border.

even link up with ulfa and bdsf holdouts lurking in the bhutan foothills and use their smuggling routes and guides to easily bypass IA strongpoints and collapse the highway,rail links at a dozen places to spread fear and confusion from tezpur to delhi.

this is exactly what I would do were I the PLA theater commander of the bhutan invasion...work insidiously at multiple levels to island and collapse the cohesion of the biscuit by a dozen bites.

also smack the barauni , guwahati and digboi refineries and Indian oil POL storage sites with GLCMs to create a local scarcity of POL. use saboteurs where GLCMs fail. :idea:

and instead of just sending battalions of troops running toward thimphu would also use helicopter gunships to disrupt and block the crowded roads leading upto thimphu.
Last edited by Singha on 30 Oct 2012 21:48, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Hari Sud »

The above scenario is painting Chinese as superhuman as they were painted in 1962 by Kaul/Parshad/Dalvi/Hoshiar singh. Chinese are about to stage what they staged 50 years back i.e. grab NEFA both from Tawang/Sela/Bomdila Axis and from Walong Axis from the East.

All this scenario could not be all true. There are eight mountain divisons of Indian army and the newly formed strike corp to cut Chinese off behind their lines in Tibet. There are 145, M777 mountain artillery guns to blow up anything 30 miles away, well above the ridge line of 18,000 ft.

Are they all sleeping or your scenario assumes victory all the time belong to the Chinese?

There are no pathways leading to behind the Indian lines as one existed in 1962 which Chinese used to bypass Sela Pass defences. Hence how can they capture Bhutan & Sikkim as per this scenario is leading me to believe. There only just 300, 000 Chinese troops in Tibet. (They cannot increase this number based on single railway line which passes over permafrost, which is very easy to destroy). Also, half of these troops are needed for internal security, otherwise Tibetans will revolt and all front line troops would be cut off.

I know all you Vivek_Ahuja baiters, do not like my comments above. But you guys, sit down and think for moment, what Ahuja is leading into. His Daulat Beg Oldi scenario was fine. Both sides were loosing badly with Chinese losses much higher and their pride suffering a blow. This scenario upfront is assumes that Indian Army does not know their job when it comes to defending Sikkim & Bhutan.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by nachiket »

Hari Sud wrote:The above scenario is painting Chinese as superhuman as they were painted in 1962 by Kaul/Parshad/Dalvi/Hoshiar singh. Chinese are about to stage what they staged 50 years back i.e. grab NEFA both from Tawang/Sela/Bomdila Axis and from Walong Axis from the East.

All this scenario could not be all true. There are eight mountain divisons of Indian army and the newly formed strike corp to cut Chinese off behind their lines in Tibet. There are 145, M777 mountain artillery guns to blow up anything 30 miles away, well above the ridge line of 18,000 ft.

Are they all sleeping or your scenario assumes victory all the time belong to the Chinese?

There are no pathways leading to behind the Indian lines as one existed in 1962 which Chinese used to bypass Sela Pass defences. Hence how can they capture Bhutan & Sikkim as per this scenario is leading me to believe. There only just 300, 000 Chinese troops in Tibet. (They cannot increase this number based on single railway line which passes over permafrost, which is very easy to destroy). Also, half of these troops are needed for internal security, otherwise Tibetans will revolt and all front line troops would be cut off.

I know all you Vivek_Ahuja baiters, do not like my comments above. But you guys, sit down and think for moment, what Ahuja is leading into. His Daulat Beg Oldi scenario was fine. Both sides were loosing badly with Chinese losses much higher and their pride suffering a blow. This scenario upfront is assumes that Indian Army does not know their job when it comes to defending Sikkim & Bhutan.
It's been a long time since this scenario started, but I vaguely recollect something about the Indian PM sitting on his backside hoping to avoid war while refusing to give permission to the army to deploy the necessary forces forward. The IA may well know their job, but it is of no use if they aren't allowed to do it, till it's too late.

As for defending Bhutan, IA forces aren't permanently stationed there, and Vivek vividly described what happened to the RBA when the Chinese attacked.

Destroying the railway line is impossible when the IAF fighters cannot penetrate the S-300 screen that the Chinese have put up. And India was reacting to Chinese aggression here. By the time it started and the IA and IAF went into action, the Chinese had already moved in the extra forces they required.

As for the M777 batteries, considering the fact that the deal still hasn't been signed, Vivek is wise to not consider them in the Orbat for his scenario.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by chaanakya »

Vivek, awesome writing. Looks realistic enough to sit back think on our preparedness vis a vis Chinese. Given the condition of roads in North East , it would be hell of a task to maintain logistics. Chinese have too many airfields across the border compared to our few and far between. However their mobile units and infantry would not be able to take advantages once drawn into the valleys and hillsides. SO I suspect that they would take border areas and stop there as they did in 62. Indians would have advantage . I think that is why, not only few more strike divisions have been ordered to be raised but PMO is concentrating on building better rail-road connectivity in NE region.
If Air superiority is denied to Chinese and their missiles rendered ineffective , their numbers in infantry would not be of any help to them. That is one of the lessons from your scenario

Incidentally , it is Paro and Airfield is SSE of Paro. Quite a feat to operate there. If Paro falles then Airport could be unusable. Thimpu would be a walking distance.

Thanks and it pays to be patiently wait for next part.... :D
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by chaanakya »

Paro Airport (IATA: PBH, ICAO: VQPR) is the only international airport of Bhutan. The airport is located 6 km (3.7 mi) from Paro in a deep valley on the bank of the river Paro Chhu at an elevation of 7,300 ft (2,200 m).

With surrounding peaks as high as 18,000 ft (5,500 m) it is considered one of the world's most challenging airports,[1] and as of October 2009, only eight pilots in the world are certified to land at the airport.[2] Flights at Paro are allowed under visual meteorological conditions only and are restricted to daylight hours from sunrise to sunset.[3]
wiki
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7 + 0820 HRS (L)

SPEAR-ONE OBSERVATION POST
NORTHERN OUTSKIRTS
THIMPU
BHUTAN


“RPV is clearing out. Stand by.” The R/T squawked as a disembodied voice from the UAV command center at Haa Dzong reported to all on the comms.
“Roger. We see the view backing out to the west. How’s the IR white-out?” Another voice said.
“Same as before. IR is no use. Switching to visual. EO eyes opened and we are recording.”
“Roger.” An authoritative voice from Warlord-Central spoke up.

Vikram had the headset pressed to his ears with one gloved hand while the other grasped the binoculars balanced in front of his eyes. He was listening into the comms between the current Haa Dzong UAV C2 crew, Warlord Central and Hotel-Six battery as everybody got into place. The Chinese Battalion was now less than two kilometers out from the first houses at the edge of the northern outskirts of Thimpu. Sarvanan and Tarun had now discarded their scopes and exchanged them with their rifles; Sarvanan clutching the UBGL of his INSAS while Tarun adjusted the optics on his Dragunov sniper rifle…

“Hotel-Six to Warlord-Central: hope your birds are clear. We are lighting up the sky in fifteen seconds. Out” Fernandes said curtly and went off the air. Vikram removed his hands from the headset and tightened the grip around the binoculars. Four…Three…Two…

“Incoming Rockets!” Sarvanan said as his head jerked up at the incoming howls of landing rockets. They couldn’t see anything, of course. But human reflexes never failed at times like this.

The ground just beyond the outskirts of Thimpu shook as inverted cones of gravel and rocks flew dozens of feet into the air around the leading mass of Chinese soldiers moving tactically towards the houses. The shockwave took a few seconds to reach the Spear-OP and the rumbling floors underneath their feet confirmed the visuals in their optics. Two dozen large 214mm rockets had pummeled the ground around the advancing Chinese soldiers, leaving nothing more than a dirt cloud rising into the sky, making the sun look orange and hazy as a result...

“Good impact! Hotel-Six! Good-Impact! Wasted those suckers!” an excited voice spoke up from Warlord-Central on the comms. None of the men in Spear had any such energy left. Plus they got to see up close and personal the effects of these strikes and it was not a pretty picture. Maybe it looked cleaner from where the Searcher-II was flying to the west: where there was no ground to rumble underneath or the screaming cries of help of wounded Chinese soldiers to be heard. Vikram knew that Pathanya was also listening in. But neither man had anything to add at the moment.

“Yeah…Roger. What’s the BDA on first barrage? I can’t see anything through that dirt cloud we raised. Switch back to thermal?” the UAV commander said in his now familiar disembodied voice.

“Uh…negative on thermal. Too much IR scatter. Let’s stick to visual and hold off on second barrage until we have a clear target. Let’s get the boots on the ground to confirm what we are seeing here.” Another voice said. That was Vikram’s cue. He squinted to see if he could make out anything through the haze, but it was not possible. However, one thing was confirmed: the leading Chinese infantry company had been massacred out of the clear blue sky in under a second…

“This is Spear-Two. Fire-Mission successful and good effect on target. Impossible to verify specifics but the lead Chinese company took heavy losses. Over” he said as he pressed the speaker tab of his head-set and then released it to chime out and listen in. He expected to hear something along the lines of “Yeah, no shit, genius!” but realized that General Potgam must have been standing nearby at Warlord-Central:

“Warlord-Central copies all. Hotel-Six, what’s the status on Fire-mission-2?”
“Two minutes. Send targets.”
“Roger. Stand by. Second target is Chinese Battalion HQ half-click north of Grid Baker-one…” he began reading off the coordinates. Vikram lowered his headset and looked around, seeing the two men of his OP group staying sharp as they watched the terrain from the scopes of their rifles. The silence in the valley was now only disturbed by the continuing distant rumble from the Chumbi-valley. To the north the haze began to clear.

This is proving too easy. What are we missing?
He changed frequencies and pulled up the secure intra-team comms to Pathanya.
“Spear-One, this is Two. Do you copy?” he spoke quietly.

“Go.” came one word reply. Pathanya was probably busy setting up the helipads at the Palace.
“Boss, this is proving a turkey shoot. Why are the Chinese not advancing under artillery cover? They are not even suppressing Hotel-Six.” Vikram said.
“Is that a problem, Vik? You make it sound like it’s a bad thing.”

“Negative, boss. I am just saying that the Chinese will not take this kind of mauling lightly. Thing is, I can’t figure out what they can do. For sure they are bringing in heavy mortars to support their assault on Thimpu, but that’s point artillery. Where are their long range guns? Their MLRS systems?”
“Maybe we took all of them out. I know we took out three of their direct support gun batteries yesterday, so maybe they haven’t had time to replace them yet.” Pathanya speculated.

“Then why make this kind of suicidal advance on us now? Why not wait it out until they can provide suppressive artillery and then advance on Thimpu?”
“Maybe they are on a timetable for something.” Pathanya offered.
“Perhaps”
“Or maybe they thing this is their only window for capturing the capital city before our Paras arrive and reinforce the place into a fortress. Look, I have enough things to worry about here. Let’s leave the speculation Warlord and his commanders to the south. Stay sharp at your end and keep your eyes peeled. We will be flying in the first batch of Paras imminently. Spear-One out” the R/T chimed off.

Vikram lowered his headset and tapped it on his lips as he remained lost in thought. He was pulled out of it when the first flashes of light appeared on the north as the Chinese Battalion lost its HQ to murderous fire from Hotel-Six rockets. Twenty near-simultaneous flashes destroyed the Chinese ability to control the momentum to Thimpu. This time the sound took longer to catch up and was much weaker. Vikram watched in satisfaction as the Chinese company commanders became visibly disoriented upon losing comms via their commander. While they sorted it out, they gave more time to the 9TH Para Battalion to arrive…
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7 + 0830 HRS (L)

PARO AIRFIELD
EAST OF PARO
BHUTAN


The first two Army Aviation Dhruv Helicopters lifted off from the grassy fields north of the runway and hovered for a few seconds. Then their noses tipped and the engines groaned as they started gaining altitude towards the west. Behind them the first IAF Mi-17V5 lifted off under its powerful rotors and followed close behind. A Lancer helicopter caught up with the three transport helicopters from the pads at Haa Dzong and accelerated in front of them, providing security as the entire force headed west above the town of Paro and then turned north from there. On the ground at Paro, a hundred other Paras waited their turns while AN-32s continued to rotate from the airfield bringing in more Companies of the 9TH Para into Bhutan…
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

DAY 7 + 0835 HRS (L)

AIRSPACE ABOVE SOUTHERN TIBET


The first three flights of J-8IIs lit afterburners and gained momentum for a few seconds after having slowed down to meet with their H-6 tankers. As the sunlight glinted from their cockpits, the pilots of the nine J-8IIs could see the three Su-30MKKs flying a few thousand feet above their tankers on BARCAP duty. The J-8 Regiment commander realized that these Flankers were not going to provide support to them today. Not after their murderous losses in the last seven days of continuous battle with the IAF. The remaining Chinese Su-27/30s in theater were now entirely tasked with defensive missions to allow the Chinese air force to maintain at least some level of independence of operations over southern Tibet.

What that meant for the mud-movers like the J-8II Regiments and a couple of J-10 regiments facing the flights of Indian Mirages, Mig-29s and SU-30s on their own BARCAPs was not something the Regiment Leader wanted to dwell on today. As they left the tankers and their precious escorts behind, the nine J-8IIs switched off afterburners and spread out into a loose line abreast formation and headed south. They had been tasked to strike the airfield at Paro yet again. The Chinese Generals on the ground in Bhutan were convinced that the airfield there must be shut down in order to secure victory in the Bhutanese theater of operations. As one of the only theaters where any chance of success now lay for the battered Chinese army on the ground, the tasking for the flight leaders in this group of strike aircraft was clear: the runway at Paro must be destroyed. Then there was the issue of Indian MLRS batteries in the region, one of whom was laying waste to advancing elements of the Chinese ground forces. Their satellites had finally located the battery north of Paro and three of the nine J-8IIs were tasked with the elimination of that target. Another three of the nine aircraft were armed purely for air-to-air, the Regiment commander knowing fully well that Paro would not be undefended like last time. He knew what he was leading his men into. Which was why he was commanding this mission despite strict orders from his Regiment Political officer against doing so: even he knew what the chances of making back from this mission were.

But if they could get in and strike their targets, that was all that mattered at this point. If they were lucky, some of them would make it back. If not, they would most likely be ejecting over areas of Bhutan already under control of advancing Chinese ground forces…

The Regiment leader checked the map display in front of him and then scanned the skies around him. Ten more minutes before he would order his flights to hit the deck and approach as low as possible once they reached the Bhutanese border. For now, fuel was to be conserved for combat. The blue skies were around with large white clouds. He noted that they would give him some ability to evade attackers. Of the latter he knew what he was up against. A detachment of Indian Su-30s was based at Kalaikunda airbase and was continually patrolling the skies over Bhutan. Behind them a single AEW aircraft based on the Embraer platform provided radar coverage for the Indians. A KJ-2000 AWACS far to the north behind him and his J-8IIs provided airborne coverage for all Chinese fighters in the Bhutan and eastern areas.
His radar warning receiver squawked and started throwing out warnings. The Indian AEW radar had spotted them at long range…

But we are still ten minutes out! The commander realized as he double checked his maps. The Indian AEW bird was flying far towards the north and probably over Bhutan at the moment. But why?
It didn't matter. Not now anyway. He switched on his radio and spoke to the rest of his pilots:
“The Indians know we are here. They are far more north today than we anticipated. We will improvise. A low level approach no longer matters for the CAP flight. Punch tanks and accelerate to cover us. Engage their patrols and buy us time to break through to our targets. We will attack first and take the initiative. Watch for enemy fighters. Go!”

In unison all nine J-8IIs dropped their external tanks and punched afterburners and accelerated. The six ground strike aircraft dived low, the three aerial escorts climbed for higher altitude and went active on missile tracking radars. The RWR inside his helmet was now continually screeching and the commander turned it off. His own AWACS had told him that three Su-30s were accelerating to meet his force just north of the Bhutanese border.

So be it! He thought as he pulled his aircraft as low above the plains of Tibet as he dared. In front of him, the white capped peaks of the Greater Himalayas that cut through Bhutan and separated it from the plains of Tibet were approaching fast…

Three streaks of white smoke appeared from above those very peaks and headed north, far above his head. The Indians had engaged his CAP aircraft. He saw two streaks of smoke heading south and he risked jerking his head above and to his left to see two fireballs falling out of the sky…

Those ba$tards!

**************************

The three Su-30s of Hammer Flight dropped streaks of flares and pulled north of the last set of peaks on the Bhutanese border and slashed across Tibet. The Group Captain leading the offensive sweep over the territory was having a pleasant morning…

“King-Hammer to all Hammer elements: Engage! Engage! Don’t let any of these ba$tards get home for breakfast today!”

He snapped his massive Sukhoi to its side and noticed several J-8IIs streaking by below him at low altitude and heading south. They saw him at about the same time as he saw them. Hammer-Two and Hammer-Three were busy finishing off the last J-8II on CAP duty above these mud-movers. He pulled the stick back and brought the aircraft into a very tight turn until he could see the orange-yellow exhausts of his opponents in front of him. Two of whom now dropped their ordinance and lit afterburners to pull up and engage…

“So you two will go first!” he said to himself and pulled the stick back once again until the aircraft attitude pointed up. The first J-8II had just finished punching off its ordinance and had no energy advantage relative to King-Hammer’s Sukhoi. A quick burst of cannon fire chopped that Chinese fighter into shreds. As that aircraft broke up in flight and slammed into the snowy ground below, the other J-8II was punching off flares and was already turning to get behind the Group-Captain’s bird even as he dived. The spiral maneuver caused the Indian crew to lose sight of their prey for crucial seconds until a line of tracers streaked by the cockpit, barely missing the aircraft.
“This guy knows his trade!”

King-Hammer punched both afterburners and climbed into the sky, taking advantage of the large engine power-to-weight ratio of the Sukhoi against the J-8II in the vertical plane. Sure enough, he left his quarry behind, leading him on with lines of chaff and flare drops. But before he could think about re-engaging, a missile streaked from the side and slammed into the J-8II, destroying it into a thousand pieces. As the fireball continued to climb and then start to take an earth-bound trajectory, Hammer-Two streaked across the sky on both afterburners…

“Sorry boss! You took my kill, so I took yours!” King-Hammer heard over his R/T. He responded back with a bemused grunt.
“Don’t get cocky, boy! Now where are the rest of these buggers?”

“King-Hammer, Hammer-Five and –Six are being dispatched to engage and eliminate remaining threats. Form up and advance north to engage. Over” he heard on his R/T from the AEW aircraft over Bhutan.

“North? That’s S-300 dominated territory, Eagle-Eye-Three!” he responded back as his other two pilots formed up on either side of him while they gained altitude.
“Not after today it won’t be! Pounder Flight is launching SEAD ALCMs on all remaining S-300 batteries up north. Once SEAD suppresses the targets, I want all skies north from here swept clear by Hammer Flight.

Eliminate and Dominate, King Hammer! Eagle-Eye-Three out.”
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by kulhari »

wow ..... VA saar wow....
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by nash »

its awesome...what a scenario sir jee .. :)
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Bala Vignesh »

Nice callsign for the flight leader- King Hammer..
Last edited by Bala Vignesh on 01 Nov 2012 23:24, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Hari Sud »

How could this scenario be awsome. What is their to call it awsome.

Chinese have crossed one hundred mountain miles (not as crow flies) to reach Thimpu/Paro and according to Vivek and they are unchallenged until they reached the row of houses in Thimpu/Paro corridor.

What is he trying to write that Indian Army is bunch of impotents.

The author is working hard to show that Indian Army is still bunch of impotents.

No they are not. They are as brave, capable and equipped as Chinese are. So get out of that defeatist mind set.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by kulhari »

Dear Hari,

Clearly you disagree with scenario. So write your own scenario and be done with it.

However even if you donot agree the audience has a mind of its own and we are free to like what ever we feel is good.

Your comments about VA's depiction of IA is very far from truth. That IA has managed to hold out this long despite obvious logistical problems speaks volumes of competence (incase yo uhaven't notice). However you are again free to disagree.

JMT
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by disha »

Hariji, in this scenario because of the mistakes of the chinese PLA, they are falling like nine-pins. They have moved in too far and they have lost air cover and are pinned with a single MLRS battery.

There are several scenarios and the days of bravery like in hindi films (mano-a-mano) type are over. The bravery now is now for example in staying and painting a target red for as long as possible. The bravery now is in effective coordination and winning for the team rather than individual fights.

One key aspect from Vivekji's scenario is - whatever happens locally, strategically do not lose your air superiority. Once you lose it, the war is effectively over. This will mean basing a regiment of LCAs and the new MMCAs at Kalaikunda or at Tezpur to project a short, medium and long force.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Singha »

here is a 10yr old road map of bhutan. unlikely that new major roads have been added.
http://www.bootan.com/bhutan/maps/image ... dsFull.jpg

there is another possible axis of advance in eastern bhutan between the two snow capped areas where a couple of roads cross into tibet.

just count the number of deep valleys and the small but ferocious rivers marked as blue-white .... I have been to southern bhutan twice for picnics and those rivers are like 1-3 feet deep in winter but fast flowing. in many places the road , instead of using a bridge, just transforms into concrete slabs laid along bed of river and you drive across a sheet of water few inches thick.

I still have a lucky smooth black stone picked from one such river when I was in class6 in my photo bag. today my son is in class2.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Hari Sud wrote:Chinese have crossed one hundred mountain miles (not as crow flies) to reach Thimpu/Paro and according to Vivek and they are unchallenged until they reached the row of houses in Thimpu/Paro corridor.
At this point I am not even sure we are reading the same scenario or not. I guess the combat I described in the days before between RBA forces, Indian Special Forces and artillery batteries on both sides are forgotten at this point? The exact path that led the Chinese to where they are right now is not relevant? Also, try and remember that this is Bhutan, not AP and Sikkim. Our forces are not deployed in depth there during normal peacetime operations. Yes there are plans to cover Bhutan during any such attacks, but all of which take at least some time (days, not hours). They have their own army (RBA) and it is not designed to fight off a Chinese ground assault (its meant more for internal security and COIN ops). In any such event of ground attack, the Indian response is to reinforce the RBA and plug holes. If, however, the RBA is unable to hold the threat, the current scenario develops. And yes, it does take time to move large units on a few land roads deep into the mountains to deploy. You could do what the Chinese did in the scenario and cover a lot of ground with light infantry units (a valid argument), but then the Chinese are now facing the consequences of that rapid advance against a dwindling support structure behind them and opposed to an enemy who has taken the time to build up a defense in depth with regard to air and ground indirect support.

I feel I have covered this in excruciating detail in these scenarios over dozens of pages. However if that is being glossed over for what I feel are really cheap shots like:
What is he trying to write that Indian Army is bunch of impotents.

The author is working hard to show that Indian Army is still bunch of impotents.
Then there is nothing more to add from my side on the technical aspects of logistics of modern units, multi-disciplinary combat and information warfare. I think we are beyond such argument lines.
No they are not. They are as brave, capable and equipped as Chinese are. So get out of that defeatist mind set.
Frankly, if what I am posting is what you consider a defeatist mindset, god help the Chinese when they see what you consider an offensive mindset. In fact, I hope like hell we are equipped the way I am portraying rather than the way the Chinese are, as you say.

Because I am not sure if you are noticing, the latter are getting their butts handed to them.

Regards

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Sanku »

Vivek, seriously, why bother. Hari-ji has been a constant source of unnecessary distraction on the story thread(s) -- if you can take any time to type, please give us more of the story.

Your story can well be made a text book for "Understanding combat 101" (or even 401) for Indians.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Sanku,

If possible I would like to do exactly that, but when somebody throws out allegations and claims that I am portraying a defeatist mindset (and this wouldn't be the first time either that I have faced this allegation) then I feel I must respond for my own credibility's sake if not for anything else.

************

On a more general side, I feel I must mention to the readers that with scenario writing such as mine, I had to face two options from a writer's standpoint.

a) Write a strategic viewpoint scenario
b) Write a tactical small unit scenario

The first option is more like a high level sand-table exercise. The reader is presented a scenario where he is always at the level of Generals and Politicians and overlooking the war from the command and control centers far from the battlefield. All battle scenarios are brief and glossed over for details (for example, units lower than Divisions and maybe Brigades is not presented, which means that advances are measured in higher level terms) for sake of maintaining speed of advance of the story-line and to keep things understandable by the more general reader. An example of such a scenario is Humphrey Hawksley's book Dragon-Fire. It is by no means a bad book, just that the military scenes are outlandishly impossible and reflects the writer's inability to comprehend how a modern military works in any great detail. But the storyline is fast and riveting if the reader forgives him for the gaping military mistakes and glossed over battles.

The second option is what you generally see in books like Tom Clancy's Rainbow-Six etc which goes into excruciating tactical details and very slow moving story-line but focuses only on the actions of a very small tactical unit so that the reader can keep track of who, what and where. Everything is through that lens and major conflict resolutions will often be dramatically (and unrealistically) resolved only through that small unit's POV. And when Tom Clancy does apply his skills to a major war setting (Bear-and-the-dragon etc) the results from his side are almost always heavily skewed in favor of whichever side he's batting on. In the Bear-and-the-dragon, I once did a casualty estimate for the US side after he had concluded that the entire Chinese offensive had been crushed inside Siberia. My count was something like <100 US soldiers dead and tens of thousands of Chinese dead. And of course I called bullshit by its name.

Fine.

But for a scenario on BRF, I chose to combine these two options, extending (some may say dragging) the scenario into minute details of battles with characters flung far from each other as part of a general war spread over thousands of kilometers. It was my belief that the general reader at BRF is more capable of grasping the details as well as the strategic implications of smaller actions in the scenario posts. In other words, to generally be able to connect the dots and see the upcoming projections and then leave it up to me to describe those projections and set new data for the reader. Very much a back and forth style mental exercise of a modern war.

So while sometimes the readers may get overwhelmed by the number of things happening simultaneously in a given battle and lose track of the strategic where and why, in general I feel it is a more intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying experience.

But at the end of the day, I do have a strategic view for this scenario in mind. So while on some days the posts may not extend much beyond the previous day, but overall it will progress towards the goals I set for this scenario years ago.

Just some thoughts.

Regards
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 01 Nov 2012 23:33, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by Sanku »

vivek_ahuja wrote:It was my belief that the general reader at BRF is more capable of grasping the details as well as the strategic implications of smaller actions in the scenario posts.
Oh they (we) are -- your work is uniformly well received, for the very reasons you mention.
but overall it will progress towards the goals I set for this scenario years ago.
This may be a bit of a problem, the geo-political situation is fairly fluid, some of the earlier assumptions on the ground realities may change. How do you plan to factor that in?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Sanku wrote:
but overall it will progress towards the goals I set for this scenario years ago.
This may be a bit of a problem, the geo-political situation is fairly fluid, some of the earlier assumptions on the ground realities may change. How do you plan to factor that in?
I regularly update it with new data, weapons, information and tactics, but the fundamental equations of combat and battles remain the same. If the new information changes the course of the battle, I will let it. No unnecessary forcing functions from my side. This is the reason why some battles will definitely not go in favor of India and if I try to make it, it will become a Tom Clancy style approach... :)

Others, of course will go into the Indian favor no matter what. In this aspect if somebody asks me whether I know an exact ending for this scenario in mind, the answer is a definite no. I will play out my simulations and take it to whatever ending it takes me to. Kinda risky, given how things can go, but that's the point of a scenario anyway. I am exploring as much as the readers are.

Sorry. I should have probably mentioned that clearly.
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