Chapter 5 The Land War, First moves
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Chapter 5 The Land War, First moves
A heavy drone filled the darkness of the predawn morning. Ahmad Dis looked up into the tropical black, his nostrils filled with sharp coolness that had not yet turned into the sweaty smoky mix that was the Malaysian morning.
No one else was awake. In fact, Ahmad himself had intended to wake up only when his shift began after morning prayers. But his bladder was full from the large meal the Askar-askar Negri Johor had eaten last night in celebration of their successful seizure of the Singapore waterworks at Gunung Pulai.
Taken two days ago by thirty warriors of the AANJ, they had scored a blow against the arrogant Singaporeans. So what if they had spent so much money on their SAF? In the end, had they not only complained like women to KL, to ASEAN, to the UN? And made empty noises about mobilization? Had they not shown that they were not brave enough to spill blood for what they believed in?
The mass of noise grew louder.
Ahmad stared into the darkness above the streetlamps at the main entrance to the waterworks. In front of him was a simple chain link fence that surrounded the entire complex of five buildings. Eight feet tall and topped with barbed wire, it was enough to deter the curious. Next to the fence was a guard house where Imraldi and Yusoff were on guard. Ahmad could see their silhouettes where he stood, fifty metres away. Behind him was the main office and control centre, where the water flow from the dam was monitored. Pumping machinery and other equipment made up the rest of the installation.
Now the sound was starting to hurt his ears. It was far louder and had taken on a deep bleating pulse.
Men were now starting to wake up because of the noise. Coming out of the office where they were camped, every one turned their heads to the black sky.
***
Everything looked green.
Captain Yap Beng Chuan stared out into the Malaysian night, now cast in shades of green from the low-light goggles he had on. They were not standard issue and flying a helicopter with them was a pain. But Yap had plenty of practical experience in their use, having been on the Singapore team that had run the equipment through the SAF’s procurement process two years ago. His co-pilot, usually a key role in any flight, had no such exposure to the gadgets and was reduced to acting as spotter in case anything unexpected came up on them.
Night vision goggles were still rare in RSAF unit TO&Es and men with flying experience while using the night vision goggles were even less rare. But the import of the mission Yap now flew had been deemed a worthwhile risk of both man and technology.
That mission was to retake the Pulai waterworks. For that purpose, 40 men from the 1st Guards Battalion and their equipment were stowed in the cargo of the Chinook heavy transport helicopter now within ten kilometers of the objective.
Ideally they would have used two of the smaller Super Puma transport helicopters. Those were faster and smaller. It also meant that if one was shot down or had to abort, there would still be twenty men to take the waterworks – enough to deal with the estimated forty enemy combatants on the ground.
But the timing had been too tight. The Pumas had been based in Australia as late as the day before, whereas some of the twenty Chinooks were in Singapore when the waterworks were taken. Pilots with Yap’s experience at night-flying were also in too short supply for the country to spare more than two.
“IP reached” the co-pilot’s voice said before being lost in the rasp of radio static.
“Going down” Yap responded. He switched to the general intercom channel, “get them ready, 30 seconds”.
“Roger” the crew chief answered.
The Chinook now went into a hover, and its large rear cargo door opened, the dim red light of the interior space facing away from the objective so as not to telegraph to the enemy what was about to happen.
Two long ropes were flung into the open sky on either side of the helicopter. The rope ends hit the ground and when the reverse wave of the ground impact snatched at the anchor points, two columns of twenty began sliding down to the ground.
***
It had only been about ten minutes but Ahmad’s head was starting to hurt more than at any rock concert he had been to.
Everyone was now awake, understanding that something was happening but not quite sure what. Pak Hendik, the field leader of the AANJ and formerly an officer in the Johor Military Force – the Johor King’s private military, suddenly began shouting at the top of his lungs, “They’re coming! It’s a helicopter! They’re coming!”
But the rest of the men, more patriotic than professional, milled about.
They’ve come Ahmad thought. Okay, so what do we do now?
He looked around. Some were staring blankly at Pak Hendik. Others had, like Ahmad, understood what he was saying but did not have the first idea as to how to respond. Show they take cover and ambush the attackers? Or repel them by charging forward? What if it was all a mistake and it was the Federal Malaysian army come to reinforce them? Or a visit by the Johor Sultan?
“Singapore! Singapore!” Pak Hendik shouted, running into the office block. Some followed him. Others, unable to hear the warning over the din of the helicopter or simply unprepared for the possibility of an attack stood where they were.
They did not stand there for long.
Ahmad saw a spasm of light in the darkness ahead. Then a slow, almost lazy streak of orange-redness zipped by and a low thud-thud-thud-thud added to the cacophony of the rotor blades. Two men standing by the main gate crumpled to the ground, dead from the machine gun fire.
Ahmad and two other men close to him dropped to the ground. Five others ran for cover.
From the office block behind him and the guard house in front, AANJ men returned fire into the darkness. They could not see past the lights of the compound and had little to aim at once the machine gun fire stopped. But this did not stop the untrained and jumpy men from letting loose with automatic fire from their M16s.
Ahmad joined in from where he was on the ground. He didn’t dare get up and move – the shredded back of a third man testimony to the dangers of trying to run for cover. No. He would stay and fight here. He yanked back the charging handle of the M16 he had been given when he volunteered for this mission, took aim at the spot where he had seen the flame from the barrel of the machine gun and pulled the trigger, sending jerk after jerk of recoil into his shoulder.
Ahmad, like his comrades, failed to hit anything.
***
In contrast, the Guards fire team with their “gimpy” had an embarrassment of targets in the well-lit compound. Designed soon after the Second World War to benefit from the success of the German Wehrmacht’s MG42 series of universal machine guns, the FN MAG was designed to be light enough to carry forward in an attack and yet robust enough to pour belt after belt of ammunition into a target to keep enemy heads down.
It was being used in the latter role this early morning.
Thirty seconds after they had opened fire, a fourth man caught in the open was down and the machine gun team then methodically pumped rounds into the brick guard house near the wire fence. Heavy 7.62mm bullets easily penetrated the structure and killed the two men inside.
Now shots came from the windows of the office block. Bullets cracked over the heads of the machine gun team, with little accuracy and little effect.
The machine gun now turned its ministrations on to the office block. Made of the same materials as the guard house, it would give its defenders much the same protection – none. The first thirty rounds from the machine gun silenced two of the three gun men firing back. The next twenty neutralized the third. A further two hundred filled the front of the office block with pockmarks and kept all the AANJ heads down.
***
Caught just under the furious waves of bullets and with no more ammunition to fight back, Ahmad hugged his hot rifle and tried to make himself as small as possible.
There was nowhere to go and nothing to do. Imraldi and Yusoff, his friends at the guard house in front of him were lying half out of the guardhouse, not moving and covered in blood. The office block behind him had stopped shooting back and now looked like it was being slowly devoured, chip by chip, by the Singaporean machine gun.
He heard a chorus of heavy footsteps behind him, loud bangs and then, nothing. Even the machine gun had stopped.
Teary eyed, from the dust on the ground, from gunsmoke and from fear, Ahmad turned his head back towards the office block. He first saw a crouched lump, darker in the middle than its edges. He stared, not understanding what he was looking at. The lump sounded like it was shouting at him. But, deafened by the firefight, Ahmad could not understand what he was hearing.
He stared again. He squinted. He blinked, trying to clear his eyes. Then he brought his left sleeve up to wipe his eyes and did not feel the three bullets that crashed into his stomach, ripped through his lungs and heart and exited from his upper back. Ahmad’s body slumped back, his hands still in their death grip around his rifle.
***
The mission’s objectives had been met with minimal casualties. Two men had been cut by errant wires as they had penetrated the perimeter fence, but that was all. Ten of the thirty gunmen had been killed and five more injured. The waterworks were now back in Singapore hands but now the hard work was about to really begin.
Observation posts were set up on the road leading up to the installation. Artillery and air support was registered on the main highway turnoff to Gunung Pulai and defensive positions were established in and around the compound.
Two hours after the assault, a message was received at the SAF headquarters at the Singapore Ministry of Defence in Bukit Gombak “Objective Torrent secured. Awaiting linkup.”
Singapore’s 3rd Division now had forty eight hours to cross the Johor Straits and drive up the main North-South Highway to relieve the Guards company.
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i would like to correct some stuff that seems unrealistic making yer movie plot look fake n somewhat out of touch.....first of all most of the airforce is exactly a carbon copy of the usa airforce army.if usa has nite vision goggles expect the sporeans to have the same amount as them....and if usa has gunships apaches and f-14 tomcats and miniguns...expect the spore army to have the same stuff as them.
and then what about their mercenary force and hitman units from overseas.,,,,,,these are the ones who are the true professionals in surviving only to kill more enemies the following day. they fight for the fun and love of it...not for monetary gains but for sheer fun of it.some of them actually have actually downed 17/20 post card sized objects in less than 60 seconds without much trouble without ever having a decent rifle and just a mere 20 rounds of ammo.
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and dun ferget spore has an entire battalion of super secret psy-ops soldiers where they can know who,what,why and when about the future and the enemy before even the enemy existed.they are likened to be jedi knights equivalent.
and the battalion of fierce head hunter mercenaries who were blessed to take only the enemy heads to their commanding officer or never to return to base...
then theres the fabled faster,better and cheaper battalions where each soldier is armed only with a special multi headed grenade and a medal who would cling onto u or jump down from the trees into the middle of your platoon killing and injuring enemy troops with only 2 of their soldiers lost.
also there the special units where a commanding officer actually rides on a fully grown lion as he does a battalion inspection signifying his great strength and power.
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where to read chap 1-4. seems interesting on a fictional perspective. dont take it too seriously la guys... fun reading what. oh ts, you write well.
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Thks egore, just trying the story out. Chapters 1-4 are still need cleaning up. They're basically on the run up to the outbreak of hostilities. Probably going to include emails and letters released to the public after the war.
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Have no idea whether all the profanity I just wrote is going to be allowed through. If it's not automatic deletion, would the modders read first to see why I used so many. Thanks!
Chapter Five – The Landing
Bloody fuck. What the hell am I doing here? How come I didn’t have the balls to get on to a plane three weeks ago and take a holiday? Shit! Then I would be worrying about whether the hotel beds were clean and where to have dinner. Not stuck in the middle of a jungle about to attack Malaysia. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to die.
We just had a company meeting at 2200 with Cpt Chan. All the reports in the news are for real…the mob is for real. We’re going to declare war on Malaysia tonight and then attack. Our battalion is supposed to cross the Johor straits from the Lim Chu Kang training area and land on the beaches opposite.
They gave us rubber boats to cross to Johor. Fucking. Rubber. Boats. Rubber boat got bulletproof is it? Kena Sai lah. And the kanninahbuichaocheebye engineers never even put them together for us.
4 am. Supposed to go. Signed my insurance form already… but don’t know who to give the money to. Fucking bitch wife is not going to get any of my money, after she slept with her boss and then still dares to demand custody of the kids. I’m not paying for her goddamn lawyer fees with my blood.
How leh? Got money to give also don’t know who to give to.
Fuck, that asshole Sergeant Wong yelling at us to go. Fire team also asking me why taking so long. Of course that bloody ah Wong say “go” lah, he’s only coming over in the third wave. I write quickly, fold and seal the form and give it to him. Take my fucking paper lah, and don’t mix it up with all those personal letters you’re holding asshole.
***
The water is damn cold. Or is that just me. The Johor beach looks quiet. Only about 500 meters. Good – no one knows we’re coming. If we land quietly then we can relax because another unit is supposed to push forward.
Oh shit. They started the arty. Oh fuck, the bastards are going to wake everyone up! Wahlau wahlau wahlau, sai lah, they were waiting for us on the beach. That shot just missed the boat. Come on, hurry up you fucking rubber boat. Get to the bloody beach! Please.
Ah here. Get the fuck out of my way, oh shit, you’re dead. Get down get down. Fuck that MG is loud. Damn helmet, keeps slipping down when I take cover. How to kill the enemy like that?
Yeah ok… see their gun flashes. Of course open fire lah stupid officer, then what? Shout ah?
Fire. Aiyah. Nearly hit them… then nothing. Oh.. mag empty. Reload. Damn magazine got sand inside. Shake the sand out. Whatever lah, just reload and keep shooting. FUCK that bullet was damn close to me.
Fire fire fire. Reload. Fire fire fire. Reload.. Fuck.. got enough ammo or not? Come on lah, I’m in the middle, the flank go and attack lah. Ahh they’re going. Go! Go! … fuck. Kena hit.
Fire fire fire. Reload. Kanninah Cheebye Fucking Cheebye, last magazine liao.
How now? Fuck! How now? Fuck fuck fuck. LT Lim dead already. Sgt Cheong also kena shot. Nahbeh Cheebye fucking bastards, gonna fuck their ass. Still got grenades, throw lah. Eh fucker you also throw lah. Keep for what? Dead already no use hor. Throw! Throw! Nah. Finish… now what? Now what? NOW WHAT?? FUCKING CHEEEOOOONGGGG!!
Cheebye fucking cheebye fucking die you fucking shit bastard. Die die die. Die motherfucker. Fuck! Want to shoot me with your MG? Fucking die! You too asshole…fuck no ammo, nevermind can still whack your head with my rifle. Mmph. Can’t breathe. Hahah…now got cover, can siam your fire.
Cheebye fuckers, still want to shoot at me? Now got a fucking MG hor. Shit it’s heavy… haha! Eat this shit motherfuckers. Die die die die die! Oei why the rest still on the beach. Move lah! Come on! I give cover!
Oof.
Wah. Very quiet hor. Shit, I think kena hit. … mmm I think April will be surprised with the money. I always liked her but never told her.
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??????it now sounds kinda b-grade movie......should have like whats happening like sivelling oif the mg pipods....followed by bayonet fighting.
and who uses rubber boats now?????jhohor in rubber boats?????why dun u just take over the causeway or get a hovecraft to johore???
i dun think heros will use so much bad werds as they are thinking wat to do next instead of hurling abuses.
and wheres the smoke for cover??????and wheres air support???and wheres the panzers??
i think mebbe should rewrite the whole battle.....
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well... it has a realism in the way a typical sg soldier would speak. in terms of method of attack and vehicle... that im not so sure... but yea i have to agree.. the standard of writing dropped from the previous 1... a rush job? probably need to polish it a little. but i love how you incorporate the character of a typical sg soldier. needs more... description of the surroundings, method, and punch!
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Chapter 5 is like a "ah beng" version of 'Saving Private Ryan".....
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Do admit. Was a bit saving private ryan. So i didn't include too much of the setting - what can you see at night right? But all points taken. Thanks very much.
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The Air
“Pablo flight, vector two-six-five, cutoff. Descend angels two-two, mach point nine-three. Two bogeys, head on, range: eighty, height two-four thousand. Four hundred knots. Weapons safe”
Four F-5Es turned slightly to the left, separating from the main formation heading west towards targets in Peninsular Malaysia - nearly forty F-16s and A-4s carrying enough ordnance to lay waste to Malaysia’s command centres and air defences twice over.
The F-16s were the most modern aircraft in Singapore’s air force inventory. Bought in the late 1990s, twelve flew in the strike force, the only ones able to make it back to Singapore from training bases in the United States in time for reequipping and arming for this mission. Forming the backbone of the strike mission, however, were the venerable A-4s. Designed in the 1950s and on the verge of retirement, they were less capable than the F-16s but capable enough for the mission at hand.
Above them flying escort were elements from two squadrons of F-5E interceptors, loaded with air-to-air missiles and intent on preventing any enemy fighters from disrupting the mission.
Pablo flight was now heading directly for the two aircraft, guided by directions from the airborne controller orbiting in Singapore airspace. The F-5s then descended below the bogies’ flight level, reducing the odds that they would be picked up by enemy radar amidst a backdrop of the South China Sea. The F-5Es had given no acknowledgement save following the vector instructions. Nor did they try to pick up the aircraft heading their way with their own radars. The order of the day was “emissions control”, limiting to a minimum the electronic signals that would have alerted Malaysian defenders to the planes’ presence.
“Bogies, zero-zero-zero. Sixty”
It was Pablo flight’s responsibility defend the left flank of the Singapore strike force. They were authorized to shoot down any aircraft that appeared to be a threat. There would be little hesitation from the pilots. The flight profile of the oncoming radar contacts strongly suggested that they were Malaysian jets on combat patrol – all commercial and recreational flights having stopped since Singapore’s declaration two days ago that it now considered Malaysia part of an exclusionary war zone.
“Bogies, zero-zero-zero. Forty”
Still on an intercept course, the bogies appeared to be asleep in their cockpits. The F-5Es were theoretically deep within the detection range of most Malaysian air force jets but no warning came from their radar warning receivers they had been detected by enemy radar.
“Bogies, zero-zero-zero. Thirty. Climb angels two-five. Individual control. Cleared hot”
The four F-5s leapt up three thousand feet, the three jets trailing the flight leader also speeded up, bringing all four aircraft into a line perpendicular to the approaching enemy flight. They now lit up their own radars, quickly picking up the oncoming jets. A last second IFF check produced no acceptable response. Missile lock-on tones thrilled in four pilots helmets. There was no more time for second-guessing as they made their first radio calls since taking off.
Pablo lead. Judy. Fox three
Pablo three, fox three
Pablo two, fox three
Pablo four, fox three
Four medium range air to air missiles leapt from Pablo flight’s wing pylons. The four aircraft immediately made a 180 degree turn, to maintain their distance from the bogey flight. Meanwhile, guided by data fed to the missiles moments before launch, the missiles sped towards the bogies. Frantically aware now that they were not alone, the targeted jets maneuvered desperately. They jinked and rolled. Launched chaff and flare decoys. And they prayed.
No use. Two fireballs lit the Malaysian night seconds later.
“Cymbal, Pablo lead. Splash two”
“Roger splash two, vector three-zero-zero, return to station”
Pablo flight made a shallow turn to the left to rejoin the strike formation.
It wouldn’t be long now.
***
The panicked radio chatter from the two Malaysian MiG-29s had been picked up by the air force base at Kuantan. Fired upon in mid-report, the trail pilot had left his mike hot, giving the duty sergeant working the communications radio a front row seat to the grunts, yells and flat static of a successful surprise air-to-air attack.
Resentful of having to spend time away from his new wife, he had been wide awake, angrily daring the radar scope and dark night sky to justify his lonely vigil. He had not dared believe what he was hearing, but the radar showed no trace of the two Malaysian jets, and if this was the start of war – the reason he had been put on extra watch duty – he would not let his country down. He reached for the telephone to inform the base commander and put the base on alert.
But it was no use here either. Hard on the Eastern coast, Kuantan was the first to be hit. Anti-aircraft fire and SAMs lit up the air base, the rising and falling wail of the air raid siren providing the melody to the hellish symphony.
For the sergeant though, the shriek of jet engines over the main control complex and radar tower topped even that. But the last thing he heard was the sound of the air ripping apart under the force of Singaporean bombs dropped on the building.
In the first hour, eighty percent of Malaysia's fighter and attack jets had been incapacitated. Main runways had been cratered and were strewn with anti-personnel mines to delay repair work. Follow-on sorties were already underway, sped up by the 'hot-refuel and reload' techniques developed by the Israelis before the Six-Day War in 1967 and borrowed by the RSAF. By the second hour, the attacks moved on to striking command and control centres of MAF HQ and its divisional commands. Bridges and spans on key roads and intersections were also attacked if they were beyond the planned SAF advance in Johor. The RSAF took minimal casualties in these sorties, mainly from ground-based air defences; only five aircraft in total were lost.
Meanwhile, on the front line in Johor Bahru, artillery units attached to the 3rd Division (Mech) of the MAF began hammering suspected troop concentrations in Singapore’s North, as well as the air and army bases in the densely populated island. With no prior information available on the locations of these artillery batteries, the SAF had had to wait for the enemy to expose these positions. Now they promptly responded with specially designated counter-battery units. And 187 Battalion, at Assembly Area Blue, readied itself to cross the Straits and land at the Danga Bay resort.
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so when's Godzilla making his appearance ?
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the air chapter half of it sounds pretty blend and makers me think im an air traffic controller at changi airport instead of in a battlefield.but i could still make something outa the other half without the sentence fulla jargons n stuff i dunno or never heard of....'
something is missing here.....like the physical details..like flicking a switch or special stuff they have in a aircraft.....or sweat from human trickiling down his forehead....or thinking bout his mom n pop feeling into zone of no return.
maybe spore is too small to have a real fight in the air......unless its soldier to soldier kinda trench fighting...
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you mean you people actually read the story ???!!!
i tried to............but after first few sentences...........YAWWWWWNNNNN...............ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.............
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is this the end???
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oh come on... i still believe this is worth a read. pretty interesting. i dont mind reading the whole book.
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THINK WRITER IS BUSY MAKING story better....its writers block if story isnt good n needs some time off to relax and make story better.hopefully when he comes in story would be better.
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u could like elborate details in the story line enhancing n detailing it:
Meanwhile, on the front line in Johor Bahru, artillery units attached to the 3rd Division (Mech) of the MAF began hammering suspected troop concentrations in Singapore’s North. as artilary commander sgt ismail twirled his whiskers with his thin long fingers and looked thru his range finder the final time....he roared a command and signalled to his artillary to commence firing at singapore 6th pdf positions.
with thundering explosions and continuous barrage for almost an hour on the speculated enemy position sgt ismail hoped he had indeed hit smack in the heart of the spore military unit he was supposed to annihilate.
as the artillary stopped for lunch of beef rendang ,sayur anily and steamed jasmine rice that permeated the entire artillary basse compound sgt ismail and men forgot about the pain and horrors of war and mission temporarily had their delicious meal cooked by the sultan himself in order to boost morale.
aS THEY WERE HAVING their meals, suddenly from nowhere a singapore UAV with its flat wings swooped down on them silently to everyones surprised....it headed straight for the area at high speed where everyone was congregating and scooping up the genrous amount of beef rendang and sayur.suddenly a huge flash engulfed everyone followed by a tremendous explosion and tables ,men and utensils were thrown into the air like confetti.
sgt ismail got up with the help of his battalion commander only to discover that most of his squad had ben injured and with half of then killed by the uav bomb.vowing for revenge sgt ismail decides to send a recon unit to check see if he had inflicted much damage on spore army position......LTA jaffa a seasoned malaysian mujhahideen from afghansitan and cpl rahman a javanese volunteered for the suicide mission which....................
think if write had more details then mebbe its still ok...
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wheres realhac?
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oei update leh!
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Good effort there!
I hope chapters 1-4 will provide some context to the war. It seems war is not declared yet, and I'm wondering why the waterworks was seized and if there is any wider war. (if this is the only provocation, and if singapore is destroying the malaysian whole air force. since malaysia seems so unprepared for war, it seems all they want is the waterworks- or they would have shelled all of singapore's runways first thing, mined the straights, launched anti-ship missiles from planes flying in their own airspace etc. You get the idea. Most people try to achieve big surprise gains in war, beyond seizing a little pumphouse.)
Keep it coming, we will be interested!
3rd paragraph of chapter 5- I think you've read Fist of God.