Chapter 11: REACHING KURSK AND GETTING PREPARED
When the aircraft finally landed on the runway, I started to see its body with great interest since it is my first time in both lives to ever see a transport plane for military use this close, but before entering, I got the shocking news that I have to do parachuting to reach my destination, and when I asked for the reason, they told me it is the fastest way to do things.
After that, I entered it with the rest of the soldiers and took off from the air port, after which I started to look outside the window and started talking with my fellow companions about our situation.
"So colonel, how do you think we should see this situation?."
"Sir, according to my point of view, we should see this situation in a favorable way, and now we do not even have a choice in it because now we are tied to the ship named Russians."
"Well, you are right, colonel."
And that is how I talked with the rest of them until I reached my destination since I wanted to know them personally and not as mere pawns or meat shields, which are inexhaustible for me, but that changed suddenly.
"Commander, be prepared for moving; we will be there in five minutes."
"I am always ready, but can you tell me why we are doing this? ."
"Sir, this is because of privacy, so you have to still move quickly since we do not want the enemy to know our current situation."
"Why do not you land the plane in the military base?."
"Sir, we cannot land in the military base since it does not have a runway, but you do not have to worry about it. In just one month, we are planning to build a runway at that place so we can provide you with logistics and reinforcements easily, and again, I am sorry for the inconvenience that we caused you, but our country will make sure that the vehicles are full with fuel before we send it to you. In the mean time, you will use our vehicles."
"Well, it is not that bad, but can you tell me how far the border is from the nearest airport?."
"Sir, the border town of Rylsk is just one hour from that place, but do not worry since we will use helicopters for your vehicles transport so that you can have them under your command on time again. I am sorry for the inconvenience."
Well, it is quite far since I know Rylsk is a town and the administrative center of Rylsky District in Kursk Oblast, western Russia, located on the right bank of the Seym River 124 kilometers west of Kursk, the administrative center of the oblast with a population of twenty thousand people, and this is all thanks to the base commander of Luhansk, who gave me the general idea of the area.
"It is fine, Natalia, and I think we have arrived at our destination, so we should start moving."
"Yes sir."
After talking with her, I went back and asked my boys to start the process. I have already talked with them that we will be using the combination of static line and HAHO method, while static line is the most basic method, where a static line attached to the aircraft automatically opens the parachute. This method is often used for paratroopers and novice parachutists. On the other hand, the HAHO method, also known as high-altitude military parachuting, mainly includes jumping from altitudes between 15,000 and 35,000 feet, and after the plane showed a green light, we started jumping.
Oh my god, what I just saw was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the view. It was fantastic over the city of Rylsk, which was giving us a view of the right bank of the Seym River, 124 kilometers west of Kursk. After that, I started to look for any military movement nearby and whether it was friendly or foe, and I saw them just two hundred meters to my right, and I started to move towards them and successfully landed near them.
"Hello, Colonel Andrey."
"Hello commander, it is nice to see you here."
"Colonel, can you tell me the situation?."
"Commander, the situation is quite complicated since they have not started sending troops here, but my boys saw a whole battalion of them with some tanks on the opposite side before you came; we were waiting for orders to attack them."
"Well, the situation is quite complicated, but still, I will see what I can do."
"Commander, the superiors have ordered us to move to the front lines in another area quickly, so Major Dima will brief you about the situation while Captain Dmitri will come with us."
"Well then proceed with the orders, soldier."
"Yes sir."
After that, I saw him going in the direction of Captain Dmitri, and I myself moved towards Major Dima and asked him some questions about the surrounding environment and people, to which most of the answers were positive from my point of view, and also started to visit the strategic areas, which will be very important for us to defend.
"Major, can you tell me about the exact numbers of people the enemy has on the other side and are they from any special force?."
"Sir, they are just normal soldiers, and their strength is around 1000-1500 soldiers with just five tanks since the enemy thought we were unable to detect their movement in the area due to the mountainous area."
"Well, that is their misfortune and our fortune then, and we should keep it up like this."
"Yes commander."
"Now can you tell me of any key locations that we can conquer?"
"Yes, sir, we have already marked them on the map."
"How many?."
"We currently have identified five of them in the area, which includes the largest city in the area named Starykove."
"Nice major, so let's do a pincer attack on them."
"Sir, is it the same pincer attack, which I know?."
"It depends on what you know about it."
"Sir, according to me, a pincer attack, also known as a pincer movement or double envelopment, is a military tactic where two forces simultaneously attack an enemy's flanks from different directions. The goal is to surround and defeat the enemy. The pincer attack is a classic maneuver that has been used throughout history. It can be used when opposing forces are advancing towards the center of an army. The army can respond by moving its outside forces to the enemy's flanks to surround it."
"Yes, I am talking about this tactic."
"But sir, we are in a mountain region, so it will be difficult for our soldiers to tell whether they are foes or friends."
"That is why only two hundred and fifty soldiers will remain on top while the rest of them will do an ambush. Now tell me, is it feasible?."
"Sir, I think it is feasible, but there is still a chance that our enemy will break the formation and defeat the troops, which are at high altitude."
"Yes, you are right. That is why we will also send a small contingent of a hundred soldiers on the mountains, which are far away, so that if any fish slips through the net, then they can kill them quickly."
"But sir, what about conquering the city?."
"We will think about it after taking the rest of the key locations since some tactics will not work on it, like controlling main supply lines."
"Okay, sir, then I will order the soldiers for the forward march."
"No, do not do that now. We will do it in the middle of the night, and in the mean time, order them to build some traps and do reconnaissance on their military. Order my spies to do it since they have the latest drones, but you can still send some soldiers in the disguise of villagers to see the situation from their eyes. Also, no need to evacuate the common people since it can alert the snake."
"Sir, how will it alert them?."
"Well, you do know that there is a chance that one of the people is a spy of our enemies, and if we start evacuating citizens, then it will alert them since they will think they are evacuating the citizens because they got to know the information of their attack, which yes, we got, but still we have to act like everything is normal and make them think that we do not know about anything about their plan so that they will proceed with their plan. Is everything clear, major?."
"Yes, sir, everything is clear, and your complex thinking is just amazing."
"Do not butter me up and get prepared for the war; we have to move the soldiers quickly and quitely so that no one will know about our situation."
"Yes, sir, I will start the work now."