605: Chapter 599: The Nightmare of the Infantry Has Arrived 605: Chapter 599: The Nightmare of the Infantry Has Arrived Dozens of figures could be seen through the night vision device, sneaking out of a cluster of buildings and, amid the intermittent shelling, furtively approached the Instruction Platoon on Gao Yang’s right flank.
The enemy’s movements were unreasonable, but perhaps they intended to take advantage of the artillery fire, thinking that the Skull Gang would not expect a sneak attack, and they might make a surprise attack under the cover of artillery fire.
After calling out, everyone quickly extinguished the fire with sand, took their positions, and after notifying the other sentries of enemy activity, all that was left was to be on full alert.
Despite it being a deep night sortie, the enemy performed tactical movements frequently, seeking cover and moving undulatingly toward the positions on the right side of Gao Yang and his men.
After observing for a while, Golov said in a deep voice, “The enemy has finally made a move.
Shall we call for artillery and blast them back?”
Gao Yang pondered for a moment before replying, “No need, let’s see what they are up to.
The enemy is spread out; artillery won’t be very effective.”
After finishing speaking, Gao Yang loudly said, “Worker Bee, inform Three Cannons of the enemy’s coordinates and have them prepare the illumination rounds!”
Providing coordinates for artillery was usually Tommy’s job.
With Tommy around and a pre-prepared coordinate map, calling for artillery support was straightforward.
While on high alert, the enemy approached within less than three hundred meters of the Instruction Platoon’s frontline.
The platoon was also ready for combat, and Gao Yang decided that as soon as the enemy advanced further, he would order to fire.
As soon as the illumination rounds were activated, the Instruction Platoon’s light and heavy weapons would open fire collectively, surely annihilating all thirty or so men.
The shelling had stopped, and silence resumed, yet an intense battle was brewing.
At this critical moment, the enemy suddenly turned and retreated.
Seeing the enemy turn to retreat, Gao Yang, shocked as he was, could only order to fire.
Although the enemy wasn’t within the optimal shooting range, they couldn’t just let them go.
“Fire!”
Following the command, Gao Yang was the first to shoot.
The enemy was on their flanks, about five hundred meters away.
Firing at this distance, apart from him, Golov, and Cui Bo, the others’ gunfire was ineffective.
After they opened fire, the artillery’s illumination rounds were timely fired, brightly illuminating the battlefield in front of the Instruction Platoon.
The platoon’s light and heavy machine guns fired together, and the rifles also followed suit.
The distance was somewhat far, and despite the brightness of the illumination rounds, it definitely could not compare with natural daylight.
The enemy was about three hundred meters from the Instruction Platoon’s position; at this distance, as long as they lay down, it was hard for the platoon to accurately kill each one.
Gao Yang shot at least two men, but once the enemy lay down, his range of fire was insufficient.
At a distance of five hundred meters, with both sides at the same height, Gao Yang lying down couldn’t shoot at all.
Even standing up, he couldn’t accurately hit the small, prone targets.
Gao Yang’s principle was to annihilate this group of attackers, preferably capturing some.
Seeing that all of the enemies had laid down, he immediately called out over the radio, “Instruction Platoon, advance and shoot on approach.
Try to capture a few alive for me!”
After giving the order to the Instruction Platoon, Gao Yang waved his hand and said, “Assault team!
We’re moving in; others, cover us.
We’re going to catch a few alive!”
Opportunities to capture prisoners for interrogation were rare, and considering the enemy’s movements and their proficient nocturnal capabilities, Gao Yang deduced that they might be British rather than pirate cannon fodder.
Capturing them would yield valuable intelligence, so he decided that they must capture a few prisoners for questioning.
Following the usual assault formation practiced in drills, two three-man assault squads coordinated rapidly approached the hiding spot of the nighttime attackers.
However, they had barely covered a hundred meters when suddenly an explosion occurred at the place where the British were hiding.
The explosion was powerful, unlikely to be from a Grenade or an RPG, and it did not resemble the explosion from a mortar shell or a 107-millimeter rocket.
Gao Yang slowed his pace and called out loud through the radio, “Three Cannons, did you fire?
Instruction Platoon, did you open fire?”
“Instruction Platoon reporting, we did not use explosives.”
“Three Cannons reporting, we didn’t fire anything other than illumination rounds.”
Gao Yang was alarmed, the reports confirmed his suspicion, and he immediately shouted, “Halt advance!
Instruction Platoon, stop pursuing!”
Following Gao Yang’s orders, Golov also spoke up, and he yelled, “F**k, those guys were planting mines; they must be mines!”
Burying mines in the sand was too easy; Gao Yang watched as dozens of enemies rose and fell, but each time they laid down, it was only for a brief moment.
He thought they were using tactical movements to avoid possible incoming shells as they advanced, but unexpectedly, they were burying landmines.
After the enemies buried the mines, they accidentally triggered one as they retreated.
Once a mine is buried, unless there are conspicuous markers set beforehand, who could spot the mines underfoot?
It’s challenging enough in the daylight, let alone at night.
Fortunately, it was the enemy who triggered it; otherwise, stepping into the minefield would have resulted in a significant catastrophe.
Gao Yang immediately said over the radio, “Instruction Platoon, the enemy has buried mines.
Advance with caution, stop at a safe distance, and do not step into the minefield!”
After he finished speaking, Gao Yang waved his hand and said, “I roughly remember the area where those people were active.
We’ll continue, just avoid the places where they were, and we should be safe.”
Mines have a significant psychological impact, and after reaching the edge of the area where he remembered the enemies had not been active, Gao Yang dared not advance further.
Gao Yang wasn’t a god; he couldn’t possibly remember every place where the enemies had been.
It was impossible to find the areas where mines were buried just based on memory.
Though they triggered a mine, the speed of the enemy’s retreat was still very fast; Gao Yang and his men couldn’t catch up, only managing to get close enough for Gao Yang to shoot and kill one more person.
A round of ambushes should have caused more than ten casualties to the enemy, but as the enemy retreated, they took both their dead and wounded with them.
Stopped outside the minefield, Gao Yang and his men could only watch helplessly as the enemy retreated.
Feeling helpless after watching the enemy retreat, Gao Yang turned to Glolov beside him and asked, “Do you think the enemy was definitely planting mines?
I’ve never seen a landmine explosion, so I can’t tell.”
Glolov shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Based on the type of explosion, I can’t tell either.
But I think it was nothing other than a mine.
A grenade wouldn’t have that much power, and besides, our men weren’t even close enough to throw a grenade.”
At that moment, Rafael stated confidently, “Stop guessing.
It was definitely a mine, a bounding mine to be specific.
Though it wasn’t very clear, the explosion definitely occurred mid-air, at least a meter above the ground.
Plus, it was a large one, at least the M16 caliber or possibly even from the M16 series.”
Gao Yang sighed and said, “Let’s return the way we came, and remember the boundaries of this area.
We definitely need to bypass it tomorrow.”
Rafael shrugged his shoulders and said, “Boss, I don’t understand why the enemy didn’t bury the mines earlier instead of sneaking around and laying them late at night.
Also, do you think there’s a chance that the enemy had already set up the minefield earlier, and they just came tonight to reinforce it?”
Gao Yang was suddenly startled, “That’s probable, and highly likely.
Don’t forget that we’ve never been too close to the enemy.
If the enemy laid mines near their defensive lines, then we’ve had no opportunity to trigger them so far,” he said.
Glolov bitterly said, “That means, except for the main routes used by the enemy, other areas might be minefields or might not be.
The only way we can find out is either by guessing or unfortunately stepping on a mine.”
Gao Yang had no solutions for dealing with mines, not the slightest.
He vividly remembered the despair he felt in South America when Sirte stepped on an anti-personnel bounding mine.
Dealing with such devices required a mine-sweeping vehicle, because manual demining, if even manpower was available, wasn’t something that could be cleared in a short time.
Perhaps the enemy had genuinely just laid a few mines tonight along the possible attack routes of the Skull Gang, but the problem remained, how could one be sure without someone physically testing the path for mines?
In mercenary warfare, encountering landmines is definitely a situation no mercenary group wants to deal with or face.
It’s better to forgo the money than to fight in a minefield.
Gao Yang gestured with his hand and said, “Let’s quickly return to our starting position, inform everyone, unless necessary, do not advance towards the enemy positions.
I need to make a quick call to see if that bastard Justin knows about this situation.”
Once back at the starting area, Gao Yang immediately took out his phone, not caring what time it was, and dialed Justin.
Justin’s phone was always turned on, typically answering on the second ring, even in the middle of the night.
As usual, he answered quickly, and Gao Yang immediately said, “I’m sorry for calling this late, but there is an urgent situation.
Please tell me if you know whether the British are setting mines, or if you know whether they have purchased any mines?”
Justin clearly paused and then said, “Mines?
I really don’t know about that.
Please hold on a moment.
I’ll inquire right away and call you back soon.”
After hanging up the phone and waiting for about ten minutes, Justin called back.
“Ram, here’s the situation.
I can’t find out if the British were carrying mines or if they have laid mines, but I can tell you that the British brought in four heavily guarded trucks yesterday afternoon.
Except for those British, no one could approach them.
Moreover, about forty British were busy outside Gazaley City last night.” (To be continued.
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