596: Chapter 591: The Enemy’s Sniper 596: Chapter 591: The Enemy’s Sniper The British ceased their covering fire, allowing Gao Yang and his men to peek out and shoot the enemy one by one at a not-so-far distance.
After several rounds of shooting, ensuring no enemies were left alive, Gao Yang and his men retreated behind the sand dunes.
Back in the safe zone, Glolov gestured to Gao Yang and said, “I’ve confirmed one thing, that is, not only do we want those Young Party people dead, the British do too.”
Gao Yang also felt it was too easy, unnaturally easy.
It was as if the enemy intentionally pushed the Young Party members to their deaths, and after they indeed came to die, the British simply stopped their fire suppression and watched as Gao Yang and his men slowly cleared the battlefield.
It was not common for both sides to collaboratively eliminate a force, but it was not unheard of.
This time, the unfortunate ones were the Young Party members, taken down by the Satan Mercenary Corps and the Skull Gang, with the British coordinating very well.
After Glolov finished speaking, Gao Yang laughed and said, “Believe it or not, if we weren’t now fighting the British, they would have definitely already started fighting the Young Party, no, to be exact, it would have been the Young Party attacking them.”
Glolov shrugged and said, “The Young Party is like a cancer.
No sane person would want them to continue existing.
So, the British would certainly be happy to have us eliminate them, and we are also willing to do so.
Now I’m just curious how the British managed to send the Young Party members to their deaths.”
Gao Yang moved closer to Glolov and said, “Maybe these idiots came not because of the British’s instigation but on their own volition.
Alright, now tell me, what do you guys think we should do in the current situation, Tommy, you give your input too.”
Gao Yang did not have much experience in large-scale battles, but Glolov had participated in two Chechnya wars, and Tommy had been in the Bosnia and Herzegovina war; they were quite experienced.
Tommy first glanced at Glolov, pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, “There’s no good plan now, under the current situation, we can only launch a strong attack.”
Glolov spat on the ground and bitterly said, “I hate the desert.
Alright, Tommy is right, under the current circumstances, we can only launch a strong attack.
If our target was just to eliminate those British, then there’s no need to encircle them, we just need to firmly grip the British, nothing else matters.”
Glolov’s words echoed Gao Yang’s thoughts.
After a brief contemplation, Gao Yang said in a deep voice, “A strong attack might result in significant casualties.
Moreover, the enemy has tanks and armored vehicles with strong assault capabilities.
We must be prepared for the enemy’s counterattack, hence we need a thick defense line.”
Glolov sighed and said, “Obviously, we need to be ready for a tough battle.
The enemy’s tanks are not sitting ducks, and our missile shooters lack experience.
If the British choose to retreat now, we can’t stop them.
If the British decide to fight us to the death, we also need to be cautious.
It’s tough to handle when their tanks and armored vehicles charge together.”
The effectiveness of the Skull Gang soldiers is quite limited; facing purely infantry enemies, everything is no problem, but fighting the British, especially when the British are prepared for massive artillery fire, makes the battle difficult.
Precisely, the Skull Gang lacks the capability for tough assaults.
Gao Yang tapped his helmet twice, looking distressed, and said, “No choice, let’s launch a probing attack.
We can’t delay.
Intelligence shows that the British’s night battle equipment is very sufficient, almost one per person.
If this drags into the night, our battle will become even harder.”
Tommy nodded and said, “Indeed, our missile shooters lack experience.
If we wait until night, the enemy’s tanks and armored vehicles will be harder to deal with, and artillery’s threat to the enemy infantry will decrease.
It would be best if we could take down the enemy during daylight today.”
Fighting a war where no one dies is impossible.
Gao Yang had always tried to avoid battles that would result in heavy casualties, but now it seemed, fearing casualties meant no battle could be fought.
After discussing briefly and making a decision, Gao Yang immediately said over the intercom, “Order, Instruction Platoon’s first squad to attack the enemy from the right flank, first platoon’s first and second squads to launch a frontal assault on the enemy, start the attack in five minutes, artillery to provide cover.”
Gao Yang decided to launch a probing attack, but if the probing attack progressed smoothly, it would turn into a full-scale offensive, with additional troops quickly being deployed.
In modern battlefields, under the threat of automatic firepower, scenes of thousands of troops charging together have become impossible.
Under the current circumstances, deploying three squads, which is about the strength of one platoon, is already a significant number.
The terrain at the forefront of the battlefield was very narrow.
When the combat formations were set up and launched their assault, too many people could not be accommodated at the front of the battlefield.
The width of the frontal battlefield could accommodate only two platoons at most.
Of course, if one didn’t mind massive casualties and truly used human wave tactics, it wouldn’t be a problem to squeeze thousands or even tens of thousands of people into a 500-meter-wide frontal battlefield; however, doing so would only turn them into meaningless, living targets.
Gao Yang and his team had laid the foundation for the Instruction Platoon based on Huaxia’s “three-three” system tactics, and Skull Gang, modeled after the Huaxia military structure, essentially embodied the “three-three” system tactic.
Three platoons each formed a group, with three squads within a platoon, each squad being a team, and within the team squads, it was divided further into three subgroups, the smallest unit being a triangle formation of three individuals for offensive operations.
The larger groups comprised no more than five people.
Within the “three-three” system, there were many elements like one point with two flanks, three groups forming a team, and these elements were the structure that formed the tactics — tactics were the structure.
In actual combat, the division of tasks was clear within the subgroup; members individually took on roles of attacking, covering, and supporting.
When scaled up, the same interaction of attack and cover occurred between groups, and even further scaled up, between squads and platoons, the synergy was essentially no different from individual tactics.
In the “three-three” system infrastructure, routine management could become a part of tactical training.
When actual combat ensued, the structure and tactics were virtually integrated, and soldiers didn’t need to think about anything; they just had to follow the commands of their group leader.
The “three-three” system structure and tactics were extremely suitable for combat operations at the company level or lower.
For larger tactical strategies, naturally, commanders like Gao Yang were there to think them through.
With the foundation set by Gao Yang and the meticulous training Jiang Yun implemented after his arrival, the infantry tactics within the Skull Gang had become very mature.
After the assault was launched, the three platoons advanced resolutely with wide intervals between soldiers, which made the enemy’s concentrated firepower less effective.
The soldiers’ tactical execution and maneuvers were problem-free, but as soon as the assault started, Gao Yang immediately realized that the casualties were too significant, far beyond his tolerance.
They had barely advanced less than a hundred meters from the start of their offensive, and not even reached the distance to charge, when ten men had already fallen.
After discovering that the Skull Gang possessed anti-tank missiles, the enemy moved their tanks and armored vehicles behind naturally formed dunes, but as the attack began, especially when they tried to target the enemy tanks with anti-tank missiles, the British opened fire almost simultaneously.
“Report, the enemy’s precision fire is too fierce, we can’t operate the anti-tank missiles, and we can’t even get close to the missiles!”
“Report, this is Instruction Platoon’s second squad, two of our anti-tank missiles have been damaged by the enemy!”
“Report, Instruction Platoon’s third squad is encountering enemy precision fire, we can’t launch the anti-tank missiles!”
The previously silent tank guns resumed firing, while the armored vehicle’s machine guns and light and heavy machine guns also opened fire.
Importantly, the primary target of the enemy’s attack was the Instruction Platoon’s anti-tank missile operators, while the advancing soldiers were not particularly targeted, even minimal fire suppression was not conducted; thus, the heaviest casualties were not among those on the attack, but those providing cover.
A closer observation revealed that the enemy’s artillery and machine gun fire were not the main factors for the heavy casualties.
Rather, the main reason for such heavy losses was the enemy’s skilled snipers.
Some of the anti-tank missile operators stood as close as one thousand meters from the enemy, while others were around one thousand and four hundred meters away; even from such distances, they were consistently being shot at by those British snipers, making it impossible for them to raise their heads.
Even if the three squads managed to reach close proximity to the enemy’s tanks, they couldn’t damage them, which meant that once they charged, it was a one-way path to death, and it was more likely that they wouldn’t make it across at all.
Gao Yang urgently said over the walkie-talkie, “Assault teams, fall back!
All units, take cover to avoid being spotted by enemy snipers!”
Gao knew that among those British forces were snipers, and they also possessed several large caliber anti-material sniper rifles, but he did not know the enemy’s snipers were that formidable.
Although the soldiers initiating the assault did not suffer heavy casualties while advancing, they faced significant losses when they stopped moving forward and began to retreat.
By the time the three squads returned to their starting positions, they had paid the price with eleven soldiers killed.
There were no injured because whether it was from the machine-gun fire, the large-caliber guns, or the anti-material sniper rifles, a hit from any of these weapons meant instant death.
The British almost simultaneously initiated their attack, coinciding with Gao Yang sending out his assault team.
However, the British snipers had fired.
The British snipers had been patient, but once they opened fire, they delivered a heavy blow to Gao Yang.
After a very patient wait, upon identifying nearly all the positions of the Skull Gang’s anti-tank missiles, they suddenly opened fire together, and with just that single sudden and fierce attack, Gao Yang nearly lost all his anti-tank missiles.(To be continued.
If you enjoy this work, please visit qidian.com to cast your recommendation or monthly vote.
Your support is my greatest motivation.
Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)