Chapter 4

Taff and I got to the edge of the wood as the sun went down and darkness took over.

We both had our NVGs at hand and put them on as we got within a hundred yards of the woods. We parked up and got our M16s ready for action. We waited for a few minutes. There was no movement. In the distance, we could see smoke, thin strings of smoke. That told me they had camped up for the night on the far side of the woods.

That was good it gave Spike and the lads as well as the Shabarain army more time to get sorted.

I guess if I was bringing a huge amount of men and kit through the woods, I would not like to do it in the dark.

There was a small rise around fifty yards from where the woods ended. It would make the ideal place for us to dig in.

We found a good spot for Taff, and I left him to get his sanger ready. I jumped on the ATV and headed over to the other side of the road. I parked the ATV in some bushes around ten yards to my rear.

The ground was soft, and I dug a nice sanger. My entrenching tool cut through the earth like a knife through butter. Taking my time on the sanger made sense, it could and would be a lifesaver.

There were some rocks around, so I used them to build up the front wall of the sanger. Then I used some branches to cover it.

I used the comms unit to check Taff was okay. I then used my NVGs to scan the area just in case they had sent out a forward recon unit to check out the woods. I had my sniper rifle ready and all the ammo I had to hand.

I radioed into Taff again and made sure he was okay. he was eating rations. We both knew that once the action started, there would be no time to eat or drink. I told him I was going to go and lay some traps. The last thing I wanted was any blue-on-blue action.

I did try to contact Spike, but we were out of range. I could only hope and pray that he had found a good ambush point and that the airdrop had reached them. We would need that extra ammo that was for sure.

I took a swig of my water and then headed down into the woods. I had all my grenades and the paracord.

I got twenty yards in and started to set up some tripwires. My guess was they would come through the woods along the road. Once we started to fire, they would disperse into the woods. Then they would set off the grenades. The idea was to start the enemy panicking.

Once I had set up the tripwires, I walked down the road toward the enemy. I was in full stealth mode. There was nothing to see and I could not hear anything apart from the noise of animals in the undergrowth.

I headed back to my sanger, I radioed into Taff to let him know I was coming out of the woods. Once I was back in my sanger, I got my sniper rifle ready and radioed into Taff. I watched his back as he headed into the woods on his side of the road and set up his tripwires.

I kept scanning the woods with Schmidt & Bender 6 x 42 telescopic sights that were fitted to my L96A1 Sniper Rifle. They were one of the best sights around.

I saw some small deer-like animals but nothing else. A quarter of an hour later Taff called in over the comms unit. He was just warning me that he was coming out of the woods.

We sat in our sangers and waited. I tried to contact Spike again but again without any luck.

I took first stag duty. I radioed over to Taff to let him know he could get his head down for a few hours.

I opened up another ration pack and ate some grub. Then I set off a self-heating coffee pack. It was not the best coffee, but it would keep the chill away.

Three hours later Taff called in to say he was awake. I got my head down and tried to kip. I heard Taff whispering into my earpiece. I was awake and ready for action five seconds later.

The sun was just coming up over the horizon.

“I can hear engines Rosie!” he said. I gulped down some water and got into a fighting position. I could also hear the engines. They were well back in the woods.

I made sure that all my weapons, mags and ammo were close to hand. The engines got louder and louder. I radioed into Taff and made sure that he was ready for action. I checked my guns, mags and ammo again. Things were about to get very exciting.

I used my binoculars to scan the tree line, any good commander would send out scouts. There was no movement in the tree line at all. The noise of the engines got louder and louder. There must be a couple of dozen vehicles coming our way.

I had my M16 with its M203 grenade launcher in my hands. The plan was to hit the lead vehicle with grenades to try to block the road and then use our sniper rifles to keep the enemy at bay for as long as possible.

We sat and waited. Some guys told me that their heart rate rises, and they get excited going into battle. I was the direct opposite; a calmness always fell over me.

“The first vehicle is in sight!” I heard Taff say in my earpiece. There was a light angle to the road, and I could not see the vehicle yet.

“Wait mate, wait!” I replied.

“As soon I see it, I will fire and put some serious firepower down!” I said to Taff.

Seconds later I saw the first truck. It was a copy of an old WW2 Bren carrier. There were at least three guys in the bed, and one of those was manning the GPMG that was mounted on its front. There was a jeep behind that and then a troop carrier, the bed of the troop carrier was uncovered. There were at least two dozen men in the truck. I could not see much behind that.

“Taff you take out the lead vehicle when I fire!” I said and lined up my M16. Men were walking on either side of the trucks.

I held my breath and fired. I had the next grenade in the launcher before the first one had landed. The first grenade landed on a sixpence in the back of the troop carrier. It exploded and its shrapnel did its job.

I heard Taff fire, and I fired seconds later. Taff’s grenade landed in the bed of the lead vehicle. I could hear the screams of dead and dying men. My second grenade hit the jeep. I fired off all my grenades, altering the angle I fired back up the line of vehicles.

I then fired out the mag on my M16 in three-round bursts. I swapped the mag out and picked up my sniper rifle. I could see dark smoke coming up from the burning vehicles.

There was the sound of small arms fire cooking off as the vehicles burnt. No rounds were coming our way yet, so I guess they were in panic mode in the woods.

“Good work Taff,” I said into my comms unit.

“Cheers mate,” he replied.

“Now we wait for them to attack us!” I said.

There was no point in forcing the issue. The idea was to slow them down and if we took the fight to them, it might force their hand. I fired up another self-heating coffee pack and ate an energy bar.

As I sipped on the coffee, I heard at least three of the tripwires setting off their grenades. There was more screaming and then another trip wire was hit. I knew that the guys in the woods would be panicking, worrying about where to put their feet. Worrying about what was out there.

I ripped open another energy bar, ate it in three bites and swilled it down with the last of the coffee.

When I first got into the parachute regiment, I went on a training exercise in the Scottish Highlands in the middle of one of the worst winters the country has seen in a long time. The sergeant that was with us told us that a good soldier should always find time to sleep, eat and drink.

It was fifteen minutes before the Titishian officers got their act together,

“Movement in the tree line Rosie!” I heard Taff say in my ear.

I used the scope on my L96A1 Sniper Rifle and saw that men were moving in the tree line on my side of the road as well.

I lined up my first target and fired. The round found its target and the man rocked backwards. It was a head shot and I knew he was dead. I did not wait to see as I had already lined up my next target. I could hear Taff firing, slow and steady.

There was no need to rush as a sniper. It was more about making each round count.

The second round I fired was not a kill shot, the man moved just as I fired. He was out of the game with a round in his shoulder. I heard them calling for medics.

I could hear AK47s chattering away as the enemy returned fire at us. I found another target and lined up my sights. Another round found its target and I knew the guy was dead.

It was a head shot and not many men survive a headshot. I picked another target and fired. A headshot, a clean kill. I heard Taff firing. I selected another target, a chest shot. Another target another chest shot. Another shot, this time I missed, the guy moved as I fired. I tutted, like any sniper worth his salt I hated to waste a round.

I changed mags and took two more men out.

I got another three rounds off before a GPMG started to strafe ground in front of us.

I ducked and swapped mags ... I heard Taff firing two more rounds. Then he stopped I could only hope he had ducked to take cover and had not been hit.