The next day we repeated our raid, and retreated when the enemy sortied from the fort.
After waiting for 6 hours in the ‘hideout’, we drove to the road and set up an ambush.
The time when we spotted the reinforcements yesterday was about to come but there was nothing yet.
Somewhere around 16:30 I spotted a group of people on approach.
“Be ready to open fire.”
“Understood.” (J)
When the group was 100 meters away, I was ready to open fire.
“Azimuth 340. Range 90. Fire HE. Continue firing with the machine gun.”
“That’s affirmative.” (J)
‘Whuuuu-ch-whuu’
When the gun rose to the loading position, the enemy noticed our ambush but it was too late for them.
BOOM
Tra-ta-ta-ta
After the group was dealt with, we moved back to the back-up position.
We continued doing the same for the next few days, until the enemy started to understand that I was simply fooling them for reinforcements.
I decided to deal with them in a single strike.
“Status, this is Beril-Main. Requesting callsign Cake. Over.”
“Beril-Main, stand by for confirmation. … Your request is authorized. The aircraft was put in queue, ETA 5 hours. Status, over.” (St)
“Copy that, Status. Thank you. Beril-Main, over and out.”
“You plan to go all-out?” (J)
“Why not? We need to get rid of that place in a single move.”
4 hours later we moved out to the fort to witness the carnage with our own eyes.
Previously we found a nice position 500 meters away. After we confirmed that there are no enemies nearby, we set up and prepared to witness the bombing run.
The requested ‘little’ bird responded soon.
“Beril-Main, this is Cake. Come in, over.” (Ca)
“Cake, this is Beril-Main, we’re reading you.”
“We are 40 minutes away. Confirm the target.” (Ca)
“Set target confirmed. Proceed at your discretion.”
“This is Cake. Entering the attack course. We are on final approach.” (Ca)
I saw a small dot flying towards us. The dot stopped turning, and straightened its course.
The bomber was flying so high, that the sound of its engines couldn’t be heard.
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When the bomber passed above us, we started to hear whistling of the falling bombs.
All eyes were on the fort.
BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BOOM
The ground shook.
In a second the fort turned into a cloud of dust, together with its defenders.
“Our job here is done. Let’s strike somewhere else.”
I had reasons to believe that the enemy has another base nearby. The reinforcements are supposed to come out from somewhere.
According to the map Valencio gave me, there are no fortifications in the plains.
The closest one is a small fort on approaches to the capital.
We followed the road the reinforcements were using, and tried to find where they were coming from.
In the evening we saw a large group of people heading to the fort. There were wagons, horses, and infantry.
When they spotted us, they immediately regrouped into formations.
“Stop. Turn on the lights.”
The enemy hesitated but slowly walked towards us with their shields at ready. The slow speed of the enemy was a good opportunity to get rid of them without wasting our decreased stock of ammunition.
“Phoenix, requesting fire at this position.”
“That’s affirmative. Give us a moment. ... Firing. … Shots fired! 20 seconds until impact!” (P)
When the enemy was 100 meters away from us, the soldiers started running. However, it was too late.
Boom Boom Boom Boom
A rain of mortar shells covered the enemy forces.
With the enemy forces gone, we headed towards the unprotected wagons.
The leftover people raised several pieces of white cloth. I wasn’t surprised that after facing the main battle tank they surrendered.
We grouped the captured people in one place. The horses were set free, all but one. The wagons were rolled over by the tank.
After a small show of our might, the captives did not try anything stupid and were sitting quietly.
I approached them.
“Where you came from?”
The captives remained silent.
“Listen, you little f*ers, I’m not going to torture the answers out of you but, if you are not idiots, you should know that you are at our mercy. You don’t have any chances of winning against us.” The captives exchanged glances. Some hesitated, some glared at me, some were snickering.
“W-we were sent from a camp nearby to reinforce the eastern encampment.” A young man answered.
“I need one of you to lead us to this camp of yours.”
“And the rest…?” The captives were becoming nervous.