599: Chapter 594: War Escalation, Equipment Upgrade.
599: Chapter 594: War Escalation, Equipment Upgrade.
Gao Yang didn’t know what the enemy was up to, as they clearly had the advantage.
All they needed to do was send the tanks into the artillery position; even with just two tanks, they could have caused significant damage to the artillery.
Yet, they just gave up the advantage they had hardly gained.
The behavior of the enemy was very strange.
Avoiding the tank’s charge route, they lay on the ground, and as long as they weren’t hit by the machine guns on the tanks, they considered themselves to have escaped the ordeal.
Gao Yang and his men lay on the ground, helplessly watching as the tanks withdrew back the way they had come.
Gao Yang’s analysis concluded that after losing a tank and two armored vehicles, the enemy must have felt unable to bear such losses and therefore abandoned the attack.
From the enemy’s perspective, they wouldn’t know how many anti-tank missiles the Skull Gang had; assuming that the Skull Gang still had anti-tank missiles was normal thinking.
Or perhaps, the British simply assumed that breaking through the Skull Gang’s defenses was a trap, which was also highly plausible.
Situations on the battlefield change in the blink of an eye.
Being able to accurately analyze and take advantage of the enemy’s weaknesses isn’t something just anyone could do; those who could were indeed great generals.
After waiting for the tanks and armored vehicles to roar in and then back out, Gao Yang loudly said, “The British didn’t launch an attack with the tanks, and the people in the armored vehicles didn’t seem like pirates, but they definitely weren’t British either, and their coordination was a bit off!”
Glolov shouted, “The people in the enemy’s armored vehicles definitely weren’t British, but they weren’t Somalis either.
They looked like African mercenaries, maybe the British have found new allies.”
Just then, a rattled voice came through Zhou Zhou’s headset, “What’s going on?
My position was nearly obliterated just now, why did the enemy retreat?”
Gao Yang responded via the radio, “Don’t know.
We knocked out an enemy tank and two armored vehicles, perhaps we scared them off again.
Three Cannons, how’s your situation now?”
Zhou Zhou, still shaken, said, “I’m fine, I’m fine, I dodged in time, both men and artillery are okay, the tanks fired a couple of shots and then pulled back, not much damage.”
The Skull Gang’s artillery was inexpensive, but training gunners was not easy.
So, Gao Yang made it very clear, if the enemy tanks really charged into the artillery position, they would abandon the guns to save the personnel.
Buying more artillery was easy, but if gunners died, training new ones would take time.
Knowing the losses were minimal, Gao Yang heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Rearrange the artillery position.
Our anti-tank missiles have been used up, now we can only rely on rocket launchers for anti-tank defense.
If the tanks charge again, it could be troublesome.
Disperse the positions so that even if we have to flee, we’ll have time to do so.”
After ending the conversation with Zhou Zhou, Gao Yang climbed to the top of the dune to observe again, only to find that after the enemy tanks had retreated, they had hidden themselves away.
Gao Yang climbed down from the dune, his face gloomy, and said, “This way of fighting won’t do, if the enemy launches another attack and finds out that we actually no longer have anti-tank missiles, and even the anti-rocket grills won’t cope, then we’re really in a bad spot.”
Frey, looking depressed, said, “Boss, the intel we received didn’t mention that the British armored vehicles were fitted with grills.
Did the intelligence miss this, or did the British add them recently?”
Gao Yang shook his head and replied, “Don’t know, Justin’s intelligence indeed didn’t mention anything about grills, and also, why only the armored vehicles?
Why not the tanks?”
The question Gao Yang asked was one that no one could answer, but he didn’t really expect an answer; he just wanted to voice his doubts.
The anti-rocket grid is actually very simple—just a metal net made of iron plates or steel bars attached to the armored vehicles.
This device is useless against anti-tank guns, but for high-explosive warheads of rockets or tandem-charge warheads, it offers excellent protection.
The warheads of anti-tank rocket launchers or anti-tank missiles are armor-piercing.
They rely on the explosive production of a jet of molten metal to penetrate armor.
If the explosion is triggered prematurely, the molten metal jet might fail to penetrate the armor, greatly reducing its effectiveness.
Even if the armor of the vehicle is penetrated, it might not result in severe consequences.
The BMP-2 armored vehicle was originally unable to withstand RPGs, but with the metal grille added, it could now stop them.
The anti-rocket grilles provided good protection against the RPG-7’s rocket warheads, whether they were high-explosive heads or tandem armor-piercing bullets.
Although the AT-4’s high-explosive armor-piercing warhead operated similarly, its power was somewhat greater.
So, the grille reduced the AT-4’s power, but it was still damaged.
BMP-2 fitted with anti-rocket grilles could also be damaged because the armor on the armored vehicles was originally thin.
However, it was different with tanks; if they were also fitted with grilles, even the weakest protected tanks like the t-55 and 69 could likely block the strike of anti-tank missiles, not to mention rocket launchers.
The enemy was full of quirks, and Gao Yang decided he could no longer wait.
The current situation needed immediate change.
Gao Yang raised his hand and shouted loudly, “I need to make some calls.
Big Dog, take over command.”
Gao Yang needed to make calls, but if an emergency occurred during the calls, someone needed to react immediately.
Thus, he called Glolov to temporarily take over his command.
Gao Yang’s first call was to Justin.
Once Justin answered, Gao Yang immediately said urgently, “Tell me, why do those British armored vehicles have anti-rocket grilles!
Second question, have the British brought in new reinforcements!”
Justin replied gravely, “As part of the follow-up intelligence, I was just about to tell you this.
The British are fitting their armored vehicles with grilles, being processed and installed in Gesale.
It’s a sudden development.
For the second question, the British have indeed found new help: Kenyans, mercenaries, not many in number, a total of ninety, fighting alongside the armored vehicles, high casualty combat, the British won’t participate personally.”
Gao Yang immediately asked, “Do you know why they fit their armored vehicles with grilles but not their tanks?
Do you know that too?”
Justin laughed and said, “Wait till I finish explaining the new developments, then perhaps you won’t need to ask anymore.
Here’s the situation: the British made a deal; they sold almost all their tanks and armored vehicles to pirates and the Somali Youth Party.
They kept only five BMP-2 armored vehicles and had the Kenyan mercenaries drive them in combat.”
The current situation was that a group of pirates bought all the tanks, while the Youth Party bought the armored vehicles.
They wanted to buy tanks too, but the British refused, so the British prioritized fitting their own armored vehicles with grilles, but not the tanks and the Youth Party’s armored vehicles.
However, the British would certainly fit them too, just that it would take time; by tomorrow, all the tanks and armored vehicles would likely be fitted with grilles.
Additionally, you might want to know, the tank drivers are from Russia, not mercenaries, but they came to Somalia to fight for money.
Though the ownership of the tanks now belonged to the pirates, they were still commanded by the British, and the payments for the tank drivers were also made by the British.”
Gao Yang frowned and said, “It’s too messy, way too messy.”
“Indeed it’s chaotic.
I am starting to admire those British now.
I don’t know how they managed to make those pirates and the Youth Party willingly buy tanks and then obediently accept British command, willingly becoming cannon fodder.
Buddy, you have to admire the British; they are quite adept at manipulating people and great at transferring risks.
They bought tanks and armored vehicles and sold them at a higher price to the pirates, then had the tanks owned by the pirates fight for them.
F**k, are all those pirates so foolish?”
Despite swearing, Justin’s remarks were made in an admiring tone.
Gao Yang was now also quite admiring of those British; the European troublemakers surely lived up to their reputation, being so capable of deceiving others.
Gao Yang finally understood how such bizarre things had occurred.
With the British maneuvering like this, it would be strange if the battlefield could coordinate smoothly.
After contemplating, Justin continued, “There’s another big piece of news to tell you.
The British have struck a deal with Djo Malthael.
They’ve temporarily leased four helicopters; I don’t know the model or the cost, but I know that Djo Malthael started preparing the helicopters early this morning, and it’s just happened not long ago.
I’ll be able to tell you the model soon, but I don’t know it now.
Also, the helicopters will be transported from Egypt to Somalia, most likely by sea, barring any accidents.”
Gao Yang’s brows knitted tighter as he said gravely, “When did this happen?”
“Oh, today, or maybe yesterday evening or night, I can’t give you the exact time of the deal, but I can tell you that Djo Malthael began preparing the helicopters this morning.
This event happened not long ago.
I’ll soon be able to tell you the helicopter model, but I don’t know it yet.
Also, the helicopters will be shipped from Egypt to Somalia, by sea if all goes well.”
Gao Yang exhaled and said, “Alright, thank your for this timely intelligence.”
“It’s what I should do.
You know, as part of the packaged intelligence, I am responsible for notifying you of the latest developments, so it was you who called me, not the other way around, which makes me a bit sorry.
Although I was just a few seconds late in making the call, I was still late.
To make up for this, I have decided to lower the price of your exclusive intelligence to eight hundred thousand dollars.
Oh, by the way, what are you thinking about?”
Gao Yang said hurriedly, “I’ve thought about it, and I think we no longer need any special treatment regarding blocking enemy intelligence since our war is almost over.
Alright, that’s it, goodbye.”
After hanging up, Gao Yang didn’t have time to share the new intelligence with others.
He directly called Uriyangko.
Once Uriyangko answered, Gao Yang immediately said, “Uri, we need to rent helicopters, and quickly.
I don’t care how you do it, but you must get them to me as soon as possible.”(To be continued.
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