129: Chapter 128: So Many Armored Vehicles 129: Chapter 128: So Many Armored Vehicles Gambler and his team had made the first move, but upon seeing the mercenary betrayal, soldiers within the other three bunker groups in Sirte turned their guns and fired on the exposed mercenaries.
Though the mercenaries quickly cleared out the nearby bunkers of Sirte soldiers, they still lost three men before they could enter the bunkers.
The mercenaries who had entered the bunkers promptly displayed white flags at the shooting ports, attempting to have the tanks spare the bunker groups they had taken over, considering they had surrendered and even lent a hand, and instead turn their assault on other bunkers.
Gao Yang paid close attention to Gambler’s situation because he had intended to do the same, only to be preempted by Gambler’s crew.
However, Gao Yang watched in shock as the two tanks showed no mercy for the mercenaries’ aid and the white flags; after rotating their barrels, they opened fire on the bunkers flying white flags without hesitation.
After two consecutive bunkers were destroyed by tank shells, the remaining mercenaries ran out, but as soon as they emerged, they were caught in a crossfire from the remaining bunker groups and machine guns on the tanks.
Any who ran out of the bunkers were gunned down before they could take a few steps.
Grollov looked at Gao Yang with a bitter expression and shouted loudly, “It seems our plan is out of the question.
The opposition will kill every single one of us, whether we surrender or not.”
Gao Yang knew all too well that this time there was truly no way out.
He could only respond to Grollov with a wry smile and yelled, “Well then, let’s not hold back.
Killing one breaks even, killing two makes a profit.”
After eliminating one group of bunkers, the two tanks did not move.
Instead, they directly rotated their turrets to attack another group of bunkers.
At this moment, one of the three armored vehicles parked at the entrance of the palace finally moved.
The 73mm smoothbore gun on the armored vehicle fired a shot, hitting the turret of a tank upfront with precision, but the firepower of the 73mm smoothbore gun was insufficient; the shell merely left a mark on the tank turret and was deflected away.
The two tanks, recognizing the greater threat from the armored vehicles, all turned their barrels, aiming to eliminate the armored vehicles first.
However, at this point, all three armored vehicles started moving, charging towards the two tanks with full force.
Each of the two T-55 tanks fired a shot, but they missed any targets.
It was a challenge for those operating the tanks to hit fixed targets like bunkers, let alone highly mobile targets, proving to be quite difficult.
While the tanks were distracted by the armored vehicles, five soldiers with rocket launchers emerged from the bunker group close to the tanks.
They circled to the side of the tanks and at a distance of merely fifty to sixty meters, accurately hit the side of the tanks with rocket-propelled grenades.
The armor on the side of the tanks was relatively thin.
After taking four armor-piercing shells, the inside of the lead tank exploded violently, its turret was blown off and flew up four to five meters before crashing down heavily.
As the first tank was taken out, opposition infantry finally rushed in through the breach in the wall, but their attempted infantry-tank coordination was too late.
They managed to shoot dead two Sirte soldiers carrying rocket launchers but were then killed on the spot by machine gunfire from the bunkers and the armored vehicles.
The gunners on the armored vehicles were significantly more skilled than those on the tanks; even while moving, they continued to fire their smoothbore guns at the remaining tank.
Together with the rocket fire from the remaining three Sirte soldiers, the last tank soon caught fire.
Although it did not explode from secondary blasts, a crew member of the tank opened the top hatch attempting to escape the burning tank and was immediately riddled with bullets.
Seeing the tanks neutralized, Gao Yang felt as if a huge weight had lifted from his chest.
He was about to praise the three armored vehicles but saw them not stopping there; instead, they arranged themselves in a wedge formation and headed straight for the break in the wall.
Gao Yang was stunned and then threw his helmet onto the ground in frustration, yelling, “What the hell are those damned fools trying to do, go out there to die?”
Grollov also shouted in unison, “Damn it, don’t go out, oh, fuck!”
The lead armored vehicle had just driven through the gap in the wall when it instantly became a ball of flames.
The driver of the second armored vehicle, apparently failing to see this, drove straight into the burning vehicle, then attempted a forceful turn in the tight space.
However, it barely moved before it, too, was engulfed in a fiery explosion.
Li Jinfang shouted out in anger and sorrow, “They’re deliberately getting themselves killed, what the hell are those bastards doing?”
Gao Yang shouted back, “You should ask their commander what he’s doing, these pigs, no, pigs are smarter than them.
Soldiers dare to fight to the death, but their commanders are really sending them to their deaths.”
With two armored vehicles blocking the breach in the wall, the only remaining armored vehicle went into reverse, quickly driving away, then turned around and headed for the still-open gate.
However, the last armored vehicle did not drive straight out but stopped at a distance from the gate, aiming its gun at the entrance.
The place where the armored vehicle stopped was about a hundred meters from the gate, but it was positioned in such a way that it blocked Gao Yang and his team’s line of fire.
Gao Yang angrily said, “Great, now we can’t even offer support if we wanted to.
Our position here is completely useless.”
Just as Gao Yang finished speaking, he saw the armored vehicle reversing for a bit, then paused before moving to the right for a distance, stopping in a spot that could form a crossfire with the position in front of them.
Watching the armored vehicle’s maneuvers, Gao Yang snapped out of his daze and bellowed, “They have radio communication, check the walkie-talkie!”
To save the irreplaceable batteries, Gao Yang and his team had kept their walkie-talkies and phones turned off for some time because there was no use in having them on.
But seeing the movement of the armored vehicle, it was clear that it was keeping in communication with the bunker or some other place, which could only mean one thing—the intense signal interference had vanished.
Gao Yang turned on the walkie-talkie and tried it in the bunker; sure enough, communication was restored.
He immediately took out his satellite phone and dialed Morgan’s number rapidly.
As soon as Morgan answered the phone, he shouted, “Gao!
Where are you?
I’ve been looking for you for almost two months.”
Gao Yang said urgently, “First tell me, how are Yelena and the others!”
“Yelena got into Julliard, she’s settled in, they are very good.
Now listen to me, Abdul has gone missing, missing for over two months.
I’ve tried everything to find him.
Can you help—”
“I know where Abdul is, I’ve seen him already, he’s at Aziziya Barracks, in Hamis’ hands, listen closely, I’m in a dangerous situation, I’m trapped, if we don’t die, I’ll try to rescue Abdul, but you need to be ready to save him.
He was at Aziziya Barracks yesterday, but I don’t know if he’s still there now, and I don’t know if he’s still alive,” Gao Yang said.
“How did you see him?
What’s going on with you, give me more details.”
Glancing outside, Gao Yang yelled, “I’m in a battle, I don’t have time to explain, goodbye!”
After putting the phone down, Gao Yang immediately grabbed his M1A and roared at Glolov, “Yelena and Natalia have reached the United States, and Yelena got into Julliard, we can rest easy now.”
After that, Gao Yang shouted at the others, “Whoever wants to call, do it quickly, lest you miss the chance to leave a last message!”
Glolov’s expression was very satisfied but also somewhat regretful.
He shook his head, smiling and said, “No need, no need, knowing they are well is enough for me.”
Li Jinfang hesitated a moment before also shaking his head, “Forget it, making calls now, with guns blazing, it’s better not to.
If I don’t make a call and end up dying, my family will still think I’m hiding in some corner, which is better than knowing I’m dead.”
Frey also shook his head, “I don’t know what to say, I’m afraid to make a call.”
Just then, following two loud explosions, the surrounding wall was breached with two more gaps, and the opposition initiated simultaneous attacks through the three gateways.
Even though the opposition were attacking from three directions, as long as there were no tanks, they were not too much of a threat.
But upon seeing several monstrous figures emerging through the smoke, Glolov exclaimed, “Damn, what kind of abominations are these?”
The vehicles that emerged through the breaches were indeed not tanks, but from each gap came not just one armored vehicle.
Even though it was a stretch to call these vehicles “armored vehicles,” the monsters that charged in definitely qualified as such.
It was unclear what kind of vehicle they were on the inside, but they were reinforced all around with steel plates, and the top was covered with a steel slab, so they did indeed count as armored vehicles.
Despite being haphazard in appearance and moving sluggishly, there was no doubt that the opposition’s homemade armored vehicles with added steel plates were quite useful, at least capable of withstanding machine gun fire, and there were as many as seven of these improvised vehicles coming all at once.
The sudden addition of seven armored vehicles made the opposition’s offensive quite fierce, giving them an absolute advantage in numbers.
However, the few remaining armored vehicles of the Sirte forces held an absolute advantage in performance.
Their 73mm smoothbore guns had a hard time against tanks but could easily take down these so-called armored vehicles of the opposition, one shell for each.
After three of the opposition’s armored vehicles were taken out, a soldier emerged from the top of one approaching vehicle, carrying a rocket launcher.
Before he could be killed by the machine gun in the bunker, with just one rocket, the opposition turned Sirte’s BMP-1 armored vehicle into a fireball.