I work as a mercenary in northern Myanmar.

Chapter 590 Going in the opposite direction
"The defense line can no longer be held. The enemy infantry has broken through the minimum range of our indirect firepower and is about to enter the city!"

"All the barricades have been destroyed. The machine guns are not powerful enough. The enemy is advancing very fast!"

"The flank salient has been completely destroyed. Our armored units have been depleted. There is no way we can recapture it."

"Azaz Court has been lost. We can no longer control this intersection!"

"Enemy armored units are encircling the hospital from both sides along the road. They will soon gain the first support point!"

"Retreat or not? This is your last chance!"

In the temporary command center, under continuous firepower, Li Bang quickly reported to Chen Chen.

Chen Chen raised his hand to wipe away the dust in front of his eyes and grabbed the rifle beside him.

At this time, an hour and a half had passed since they launched the attack on the Turkish military positions in northern Azaz. From active offense to passive defense, from being evenly matched to a sudden turn for the worse, they had almost exhausted all their strength.

All the tanks and armored vehicles that could move had already been pulled to the battlefield, and were reduced to flames and wreckage in rounds of suburban battles.

All the elite infantrymen rushed to the front line, using their flesh and blood, carrying anti-tank mines and anti-tank rocket launchers, to launch suicide attacks on the enemy.

All medical supplies had been exhausted, and even medics without morphine took up their guns and went to the battlefield.

They stopped rescuing the wounded because they knew that in such a situation, even if they could drag the wounded back to the rear, they would not survive.

Fighting is the only option and the only possible way to survive.

In an hour and a half, the Syrian government forces lost 100 vehicles of various types, and the casualties easily exceeded 2000.

This was a truly brutal battle, and even in the history of war, the brutality of this battle is definitely ranked among the best.

On average, one person fell every 3 seconds, which is not only far more than the protracted Battle of Stalingrad, but even the Battle of Khorramshahr in the Iran-Iraq War, which is recognized to have the heaviest casualties in modern times, cannot be compared with it!

You know, in Khorramshahr, the two sides fought for 15 days, each mobilizing tens of thousands of troops, but the final total number of casualties was only about 8000.

And now, in Azaz, the casualty rate of the less than 1 Syrian government troops has reached 20%.

There is no doubt that such heavy casualties are related to the huge gap in equipment and strength between the two sides.

But the more important reason is the almost crazy combat strategy of the military commander here.
-
Not only Chen Chen, but also the commander under Isam, Abud.

Just as he had promised in front of Isam before, he was indeed ready to die here.

Therefore, when facing the attack of a powerful enemy, he not only did not retreat at all, but he did not even consider the so-called more "conservative" and "safer" strategies.

Once the battle started, it was a continuous and crazy attack.

In order to capture Azaz, the Turkish armored forces followed the standard procedures of urban warfare to seize the suburban flank salient. After seeing through their intentions, the Syrian commander did not hesitate to transfer his defensive forces to the flank, and forcibly filled the gap between the two sides with numbers.

He didn't want to take a step back, nor could he take a step back.

Once the flank is lost, the enemy's long-range firepower advantage will be magnified to the limit. At that time, this last armored division may even have no choice but to accept the fate of surrender.

Thus, a hellish battlefield began.

Round after round of exchanges, positions changed hands again and again, the red-hot gun barrels tore off the flesh of the wounded soldiers' hands, and the burning white phosphorus became the lights of the city.
They did block it.

But, this is really the best they can do.

The troops and equipment were stretched to the limit, and the commander had no way to make any additional deployments.

They are about to meet their final end - but the good news is that this end may come slowly.

Once they gave up the strategy of blocking the enemy outside the city, the tactics based on street fighting could slow down the time of death.

He would not die so soon. He could watch from a corner of the ruins in the city the Turkish army marching through Azaz and heading straight for Aleppo.
"boom!"

Another shell landed near the command post. Chen Chen pulled the bolt hard and said:
"You can't withdraw."

"Our only chance to evacuate is before launching an attack."

"Notify the reconnaissance company to join forces and cover Abud's hiding."

"Issue the final order. Everyone evacuate on the spot. Use urban guerrilla warfare to continue attacking the enemy forces entering the city."

"Let's go! Set up a defense line at Isaac Community on the south side!"

"understand!"

At the command, everyone in the command center immediately took action.

Take away everything that can be taken away, and destroy anything that cannot be taken away on the spot.

Like Chen Chen, Abud made the same decision. After communicating through radio, the two sides finally met on the road leading to hiding point No. 2.

At this time, it might be an exaggeration to describe them as "embarrassed", but "hasty" is definitely an accurate adjective.

The translator who followed Chen Chen had been killed, and the two sides could only communicate through simple English and hand gestures.

After confirming their intention, this team of less than fifty people started moving again. Under the leadership of the Dongfeng Corps reconnaissance team under Chen Chen, they abandoned their vehicles and quickly moved along the small paths in the city.

At this time, the artillery fire on the north side of Azaz gradually subsided, and the enemy infantry entered the city under the cover of armored forces.

It took only 5 minutes for a large number of infantrymen to capture the Azaz Hospital under the cover of heavy firepower, and used the hospital as a support point to quickly spread to the surrounding blocks.

The distance between the two sides was shortened to 400 meters. When passing an intersection, Chen Chen could even see the enemy's Leopard 2 tanks and the tactically professional infantry following the tanks.

"Damn, this is standard American military style."

"I now suspect that even the drivers in the tanks are Americans!"

"Enter the community immediately. Group 1 will stay outside to guard the perimeter. Group 2 will occupy the commanding heights and set up an observation post. Group will clean up the interior of the building and open up an evacuation route."

"We can't hold this position for long, we have to retreat!"

"understand!"

The group broke straight into the community through the gate, quickly completed the deployment after entering the community, and finally got some time to breathe.

This community is located on a hillside in the city of Azaz. It has a very advantageous geographical location. There are no main roads within 300 meters around it, making it difficult for enemy heavy armored units to enter. In addition, there are many bunkers, so as long as the commanding heights are occupied and firepower is deployed reasonably, it is not difficult to hold out for an hour.

However, Chen Chen was not blindly optimistic.

From the beginning of the battle until now, he felt that there was something missing in the offensive of the opposing force.

This question troubled him for 90 minutes, and it was not until now that he realized that what he lacked was the "beheading" power.

How is this possible?
The decapitation operation played a significant role in the Battle of Raqqa, but the other side did not replicate it?
This is obviously not the American style, nor does it conform to the logic of modern warfare.

Therefore, even though he had already entered the bunker, he did not relax at all, but immediately ordered the release of the last ultra-short-range drone to monitor the situation around the community.
-
He was not afraid of the drone exposing his position, because his position would be exposed sooner or later.

What he feared most was that his position had been exposed but he was still unaware of it!
"How much ammunition do you have left? Report the status of your equipment to me!"

Chen Chen gave the order, and Li Bang immediately responded:

"We did not directly participate in the fighting, and the consumption of small arms ammunition was very small."

"We also have four portable anti-aircraft missiles, a mortar and four shells, two rocket launchers, and a rotary grenade launcher."

"Aboud has a few more rocket launchers and two anti-tank missiles."

"There is an anti-aircraft gun and two heavy machine guns at the preset firing point. That's all."

"Where are the heavy machine guns located?"

“On the top of the mountain.”

"Take it down and put it in the yard. Is it in time?"

"Too late—"

"boom!"

Before Li Bang could finish his words, a violent explosion suddenly sounded.

Immediately afterwards, flames exploded directly in the window. Without any hesitation, Li Bang moved sideways to block Chen Chen.

The huge shock wave directly blew the two away, and Chen fell heavily to the ground, but he didn't even look at Li Bang's situation. Instead, he shouted into the radio: "Everyone prepare for battle!"

"Helicopter air raid!"

"Get ready to meet the enemy!"

In an instant, several portable anti-aircraft missiles rose from the community, dragging long tails of smoke straight into the sky.

The dazzling heat-attracting bomb exploded in the air, like the huge wings of a firebird.

All four missiles missed, but immediately afterwards, the exploding anti-aircraft gun hit the nearest target.

A ball of bright yellow flame flashed in the air, and then quickly fell into the city.

In just a few seconds, the anti-aircraft artillery position was destroyed by dense rockets, and the soldiers operating the anti-aircraft artillery were shattered into dust in the explosion.

Chen Chen struggled to pull Li Bang up and evacuate the building. The latter kicked his legs hard a few times, turned over and knelt, crawled a few steps, stood up suddenly, and then pounced on Chen Chen again.

The machine gun shells flew over the two men's heads, and Chen Chen shouted hoarsely:
"Yang Shu! Get rid of their hovering armed helicopter!"

"Roger that!"

Not far away, two consecutive "gunshots" from large-caliber sniper rifles were heard.

The XM109 spewed out grenades and hit the engine directly under the T150 rotor at a distance of less than 129 meters.

The T129 tilted and fell, and Chen Chen finally found an opportunity to stand up. At this time, six UH-4 Black Hawk helicopters under the cover of four armed helicopters had completed their landing.

There is no rope rappelling, it is the simplest and most direct airdrop.

Dozens of armed men emerged from the helicopter and immediately occupied nearby bunkers, forming a siege on the command post in the community.

"I was wondering how there could be no decapitation battle!"

Chen Chen and Li Bang hid behind the collapsed wall. After spitting out the mud and sand from their mouths, they said angrily.

"How are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, I just seem to have a stiff neck."

"Sprained! That's a sprain! Can you move your neck?"

"Can't turn"

"I come!"

Pingchuan rushed over from not far away and rushed in front of the two of them. Before Chen Chen could even see his movements clearly, after a crisp "click", Li Bang's crooked neck immediately returned to normal.

He raised the gun again and tried to aim, but Chen Chen pushed him back.

"Everyone hide where you are, find a way to cover up the infrared signal, and look for an opportunity to get closer to me."

"Don't expose yourself unless necessary. Get them within 50 meters first!"

"understand!"

"Roger that!"

There were intermittent replies coming from the radio. Under the extremely urgent situation, Chen Chen made a decision that would probably be unbelievable to most commanders.

Don't fight, hide.

Isn't this a slow death?
The enemy has the advantage in numbers and equipment. Once those Black Hawk helicopters take off again, what power will our forces on the ground have to resist?
But this was not what Chen Chen was thinking about.

What he considered was that if he attacked the enemy when they were at their strongest, his side would be forced to fight in the form of exchange.

This is not the result he wants!
Only by hiding can you survive!
Soon, Abud's wrong command proved the correctness of Chen Chen's choice.

Dozens of Syrian soldiers who attempted to fight back were accurately targeted by the professional special forces decapitation teams. Even without the cover of helicopters, they were able to kill them one by one with the light weapons in their hands.

The number of resistance members in the community dropped by half in an instant, and the enemy's encirclement was further reduced, with the distance shortened to less than 100 meters.

"The community is so big, they don't have time to search every corner."

"Their target is us. They have already located the decapitation target."

"Where's Abd?"

"On the other side, there were people shooting around him."

"He doesn't want to live anymore."

Chen Chen said decisively:

"Tell him to retreat back into the building as long as possible."

"We move in the opposite direction to give the enemy a path to advance."

"Let Abd be the bait?"

Li Bang asked subconsciously.

"Are we going to be the ones to do that? First of all, those people can't fight back, so they can only rely on us."

"Quick! Yang Shu, provide us with route guidance!"

"Understood, give me 20 seconds, the helicopter is still looking for me!"

"Countdown 20 seconds to start transfer!"

"Everyone, make good use of the time window and act in sync!"

"Roger that!"

The order was given, and the surviving Dongfeng Corps mercenaries were all ready.

At this moment, the gunfire and fighting in the community seemed to have nothing to do with them at all.

Their mission was strangely completely disconnected from that of other forces, and it could even be said to be the opposite.

The 16 people hiding in the darkness were like 16 poisonous snakes, watching their companions fall down in front of them with indifference.

They did not resist not because they were cowardly, but because they were really waiting for the opportunity to kill with one blow.

"Poplars are in place."

"There is a gap on the east side of Group 1. Move east around the bushes."

"Group 2, wait for 15 seconds. The enemy vanguard group will pass 30 meters in front of you."

"Group 3, start immediately. You have 5 seconds!"

"go!"

Chen Chen turned over and stood up, and 5 seconds later, they passed the most dangerous open area.

Just as they regained their cover, the enemy's fastest scouts had already engaged Abbud's last guard.

The heavy machine gun they were defending was silenced in an instant, and a guard who rushed out of the bunker with a grenade at the risk of his life was shot in the head and killed.

"boom!"

The explosion of the grenade slightly slowed down the speed of the enemy scouts, and at this time, the three groups of the Dongfeng Corps completed their deployment.

"50 meters."

"The enemy has entered the encirclement."

“All of them are back and sideways.”

"Fight quickly!"

(End of this chapter)