Chimera (66 page)

Many had already left before the war had started, but the surprise start of the war had caught the local populace by surprise. And once the fighting had started, the army had put a stop to the exodus of civilians because it was choking the only logistical artery that existed to the Divisions fending off the PLA 13
TH
Group Army attack on Tawang.

But now they could hardly hold back the tide of panicked and shocked people trying to get their families out of the area before the Chinese missiles struck their town again. The army now had to task crucial personnel from its logistical units to help evacuate the people of Tawang.

In a way Beijing had achieved military goals in such a brutal attack against an unarmed civilian population. By forcing the Indians to deal with this massive exodus of civilians across hundreds of kilometers of mountainous terrain, they had relieved pressure from themselves along sectors of Bum-La. Here the Indian army had been preparing for a series of local counter-offensives now that the 13
TH
Group Army had been mauled after ten days of combat. This Indian counterattack now had to put on hold until the supply lines behind could be cleared.     

Indian morale had taken a beating as well.

Several media reporters had based themselves in Tawang when the war had started, providing the same feel of war to each and every home in India as the Kargil war had done. But when the missile struck the town, it also took the lives of a good portion of these journalists.

In the immediate aftermath of the strike, most news channels instantly lost all contact with their field teams at Tawang. Many were knocked off the air the instant the warhead exploded above the city and had not been heard off since. Chaos and confusion followed soon afterwards as news channels attempted to explain what had happened. It added to the fear and fed it to turn it into something worse. The ripple effect of such an event spread quickly through the country and across the world. But what scared New-Delhi and the military commanders was the fact for several hours the Indian people were almost led to believe by the media that perhaps Tawang had been nuked by China. 

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE COMPOUND

BEIJING

DAY 10 + 1840 HRS

“And where is our fleet now?”

Chairman Peng asked the PLAN commander-in-chief, Admiral Huaqing. The Admiral was a bald man of five feet height and he was standing in the conference room of the Central Military Commission at the ministry in his service’s new digital combat-fatigues patterned similar to the US Navy. It was his personal symbol of connection with the Rear-Admiral commanding the Chinese naval fleet in the Indian Ocean. This sentiment was echoed by Generals Wencang and Chen, the PLAAF commanders in the room as well as the PLA commanders. By comparison, the party leaders in the room were in their standard coats and ties…as were the Generals from the 2
ND
Artillery Corps, including Colonel-General Liu. They were still in their dress uniform and ties.

As Huaqing walked over to the large wall map of the Indian Ocean region, Chen leaned back in his chair and considered the environment.

Well lit and with large red ornaments galore, the large conference room epitomized to him the distance that existed between the leaders of this country running an empire and living like emperors while the common soldiers were dying at that
very
moment thousands of kilometers away. He found himself momentarily disgusted.

He saw his peers from the army sitting around him, listening to the Admiral as he outlined where the fleet was and what the plans were. Chen knew the credentials of these men. Few had reached here on the basis of their skills as combat leaders and competent field commanders. Most had thicker files on personal corruption than their career-service-vitae. Most had amassed vast wealth as a result of the military-industrial empire that each ran in his domain. But every single one of them had that one thing in common that allowed them to be in this room. They were all loyal party followers to the core.

Of course. How could they have come here otherwise?

For that matter, why am I here?

I should have been shot! Stripped of my command in the middle of war: was there anything more disgraceful? Perhaps it might indeed have been better to be shot! And yet I find myself in the company of these men with a ringside view as the war spirals out of control. At least if I have to die, I will have one last pleasure of seeing many in this room accompany me…

And many indeed had.

Chen noticed the replacement army Generals who had taken place in this room in the last few days. The disastrous war with India had an unexpected cleansing effect on the CMC.

Most of the peacetime money-launderers and party dogs had been tested in combat, had invariably failed and had paid for it with their lives.

The ungrateful party leaders had not shed a tear for them either.

It was simple logic. The ones who failed had to go and the party had to survive. The fate of so many in this room now depended on professionals like Wencang, Chen and others to ensure that they still held on to power when this war ended.

But the problem was that such replacements during war came at a price. Losing battles to weed out incompetent commanders was about as expensive a way to do so as possible. And China could not afford such lost battles. Chen understood the sentiment of the party leaders on this. His own air war had been pulled from under his feet by his subordinate commander at Kashgar, Zhigao, during the first two days. He had been typical of the senior officers in the military who had never fought a war in their lifetime and had more experience dealing with milking the military-industrial moneymaking machine than sharpening the edge of the military assets in their command.

So Zhigao had been relieved.

And shot!
Chen reminded himself.

Zhigao had been executed on personal recommendation of Chen to Wencang, Jinping and the senior political officer in Sinkiang.

Later, General Jinping had found himself in a similar boat once the Indians had defeated the PLAAF over Tibet. The only difference was that Jinping was a close relative of the former CMC chairman and a far senior military officer than Zhigao. So even though Chairman Peng held him responsible for the devastating reversal of the air war, he couldn’t have the man summarily executed without word getting out and affecting public morale. So he had been relieved and had met with an unfortunate accident. And so Wencang, the deputy commander under Jinping, had taken over command of the PLAAF.

Chen swiveled in his chair and wondered whether the reason Wencang had brought him here was because he needed actual combat leaders advising him or whether he needed someone who would show him the loyalty he might need. What better way to ask for loyalty than to save the man’s life? When he had pulled his old comrade away from a firing squad, Chen had been grateful. Now he wondered what price Wencang expected.

Certainly in the current atmosphere of reversals on the battlefields, it would not take much for Wencang to find himself facing an execution squad on the same bloody floor tiles where his predecessor’s blood had drained just a little while ago.

The party leaders were turning to their real selves under these trying times, and the outlet for their frustration lay on anyone in uniform who delivered anything less than perfection…

But how were they expected to make right decisions under such stressful conditions? 

Chen realized that the answer to that question was difficult. As his gaze moved down the line of army officers to Colonel-General Liu and his two senior Generals from the 2
ND
Artillery Corps, Chen realized that those three officers and their service branch had survived the purifying wartime purges suffered by the army, air-force and soon, Chen was certain, navy officers as well. It certainly wasn’t because they were any cleaner than the rest. It had to do with the fact that they remained untested in combat thus far. Chen shuddered internally to think of what constituted as “combat experience” in that particular service branch.

The thing about nuclear weaponry was that by the time anyone found out that it didn’t work, everybody would long be vaporized in a flash of fire and gravel from the enemy’s arsenal.

So perhaps that is where the confidence for these officers came from!

They knew that theirs was an endgame force. If they won, they would be honored for their victories and the other Generals in this room chastised for their failings in conventional combat. If they failed, there would be no-one left to complain…      

“…and what of the losses we suffered when the Indian ships sank our commercial ships? How
did
that happen? Who is responsible for that embarrassing defeat?” Peng asked the Admiral as Chen pulled himself out of his thoughts and leaned forward at his end of the table.

He saw Huaqing visibly lose blood from his cheeks as he speculated on the answer to that question in his mind. Peng wasn’t finished either:

“And is it also true that not only have the Indians sunk our convoy, but are now also going further up the Arabian sea to find and destroy individual ships? What is our naval task-force we sent to the Indian Ocean, doing about it?”

Wencang shared a look with Chen as both men realized the isolated position the navy commander found himself in. Nobody else in this room would
dare
say anything to support him at the moment. Huaqing finally found his power of speech:

“Sir, the naval task-force is maneuvering to engage. We received communications from the commander that he is being trailed by Indian long-range patrol aircraft from the south. Our satellites confirm that the bulk of the Indian navy centered on their single aircraft-carrier is now about to enter within range of the supersonic missiles onboard our fleet combat ships. Once we sink their carrier, we will take their naval force apart,”

Somehow Chen and the others found the statements devoid of conviction.

But who can blame the poor bastard
…Chen thought.

Besides, what else was he going to say?

That our ships are going to get slaughtered in combat just like the two supposedly state-of-the-art Frigates we lost with the commercial convoy? That the only reason the Indian fleet commander has not engaged is because he is luring our force into a combat setting of his choice and conditions and not the other way around? That despite everything, our navy is still not suited for long-range expeditionary combat? Huaqing may be have lost all his hair to old age, but not his willingness to live.

Or his sanity for that matter!

“Admiral, I certainly hope you are right for all our sakes,” Colonel-General Liu stated authoritatively and continued: “If our navy cannot secure our maritime lines of commerce, we will be left with little choice but to force an end to this war while we still have control…”

“Surely we are not in as dire a situation as losing control of this war, General? I mean, fo…” the vice-party chairman stopped midsentence when Liu raised his hand to interrupt the minister:

“I meant control of this
country
. Not the
war
. For now the people are listening to our broadcasts and our control of the external media availability within the borders of China has been effective. Do not expect that to continue when the people find out that their supplies of oil, gas and other commodities is being cut back or reduced. If that were to happen, we would have riots throughout the countryside and a revolt outside this building within hours, not days!”

“What are our reserves for fuel and other imported commodities? For the war, I mean,” Peng asked the PLA commander.     

“The armed forces are sufficiently armed and equipped with quantities of fuel for another thirty days of combat given the declining rate of combat intensity at the border and accounting for attrition of our reserves to Indian air attacks,” the General read out from his papers. Liu grunted his retort as he leaned forward on the table:

“This war will not last
days!
And you all talk of weeks. Fact remains that incompetency on behalf of many in this room has left us little hope for victory and we
must
accept this fact! And the thirty days of fuel comes from taking it away from local reserves as well as strategic economic reserves. We may have enough fuel for ninety days for our economy to run, but it takes a lot longer to replace the commercial ships that are being picked off by the Indians as we sit here to discuss and glorify tactical advances that are, quite frankly, meaningless!
Meaningless!
”

Chen saw everybody in the room shift uncomfortably in their seats on hearing Liu’s words. But Liu was not finished:

“We have
now
committed eight more divisions of men to the land war in the Tibet region, is that not correct?” Liu looked to the PLA commander, who nodded. So Liu continued: “The Tibetan rebels are already nipping at our heels, sensing our weakness. And what of the Americans and the Japanese? How long before they sense our weakness and begin taking actions in support of the nationalists? Make no mistake. Our neighbors stand waiting for us to become weak before they take advantage of it. We must
not
allow that to happen. The Indians have begun to wage total war on us by attempting to destroy our post war economy. Either we must do the same to their fleet by taking control of the seas or ensure that their commercial fleets have no use when their entire
economy
has been burnt to
ashes!
”