Chapter 6

“Right lads, have any of you done any sniper training?” I asked over the comms unit.

“I did a few sessions boss!” I heard Dave ‘Chalky’ White reply.

“Right come and take over please mate!” I said.

I handed over the sniper rifle and showed Chalky where the spare mags were.

I grabbed my M16 and some grenades for the M203, I checked my belt kit. I had a first aid kit, water bottle, Glock, knife and six spare mags for the M16 as well as five grenades for the M203. I also took one of the AK47s we had taken off the tangoes that had tried to attack us from behind. I took three spare mags.

I also took a small block of the plastic explosive we had brought with us and some detonating pens. The detonating pens were a new product that we were testing, I just hoped they worked as we had been shown by the company that sold them. They had a twist cap that allowed me to set them to detonate after twenty, fifteen or ten minutes.

I put the comms unit on.

“Right lads I am off to cause some trouble, I will radio in when I am on my way back!” I said. I did not need any friendly fire coming my way...

“Do you need some company, Rosie?” Spike asked.

“No mate, you are needed here,” I said. He nodded at me we both knew what I meant.

Before anyone else could say anything, I put my NVGs on, I headed into the rear sangar and then hopped over the wall and headed down the goat path that led to the right of our sangar.

I took my time and made sure I was not seen.

I had been out of the sangar when I heard the sound of shells wining over towards the sangars. I hoped the lads were keeping their heads down. They fired a dozen shells and then it went silent.

I took my time and made sure I was not seen or heard as I headed toward the enemy camp. When I was halfway down the goat path that led to the camp, I hid the M16 behind a stand of bushes. I made sure the AK47 was on semi-auto and that the mag was seated properly. I figured that I would be able to find more mags if I needed them.

Half an hour later I was only ten yards from the enemy’s front line of defence. There was a machine gun nest to my left, but it looked deserted.

I hunkered down and watched their lines from behind a rock. There were only three men on guard. They were guarding zones, walking back and forth and to be fair not taking much notice. I could hear snoring from tents that were a few hundred feet from the front lines.

The smell of cooked food hung in the air. I waited until the guy guarding my zone turned away from me and I scurried over to another set of rocks behind the enemy lines.

My aim was to put the big gun out of action. I was sure they only had one and if they got more accurate, we would be in real trouble.

I popped my head around the rocks and saw the gun was ten yards away. There was no one around it, I lowered myself to the ground and commando crawled over to the gun. I hide behind some empty ammo cases. I got the plastic explosive out.

I used my knife to cut the block into three, I was sure that a third would do the job I intended it to do. I checked my watch then I inserted the pen deep into the plastic explosive and dropped it into the barrel of the gun.

Then I looked for another target. It took only a few seconds for me to see another target.

There were three large crates of shells only ten yards back from the old artillery piece. I shuffled over to them and inserted the second third of the block of plastic into one of the cases inserted the detonation pen and twisted the cap.

I had one-third left. I sew the next target, there was a flatbed truck around thirty yards further back. I could see it was loaded with ammo cases.

I made my way to it slowly. Twice I had to duck down as men moved around. Once I got to the truck, I checked my watch before I slid under it pressed the detector pen into the plastic and lodged it between the fuel tank and the chassis of the truck I twisted the cap and was about to roll out from under the truck when I heard voices. I glanced out a saw legs coming my way.

At least a dozen men were coming my way. The way they walked, and the way they held themselves told me they were not conscripts. They were well armed, most of the lads had AK47s but at least two of them had carbines.

They stopped by the truck. They were chatting and I had no idea what they were saying.

I waited for two minutes ... i glanced at my watch ... I was about to put the detonating pen out of the charge when the men moved on. I waited for thirty seconds before rolling out from under the truck. There were some cases of rations to my right and I shuffled behind them.

I glance over them and saw that more men were gathering near to the front line of their defensive. All around me I could hear movement in tents.

I had to get the hell out of there ... There was no way I could go back toward the front of their camp, there were too many men that way. I could see a row of trucks ten yards back into the camp. I ran over to them, hit the ground, and rolled under the nearest one.

I commando crawled from the cab under the rear flat bed, once I was there, I had a good look around to make sure I was not being watched and then crawled to the next truck. I did this three more times, each truck took me further away from the front line.

I glanced at my watch ... I had five minutes before the first charge detonated. I had a good look around there were men walking past the trucks going toward the front line. it was obvious they were going to make a nighttime attack.

They were in for a shock on around four and half minutes.

To my right there was a big water bowser, it was mounted on a two-tonne truck. There was no one on sight. I rolled from under the truck and got to my feet and headed to the water bowser, I hit the ground and rolled under it.

I heard engines starting, I glanced out and saw two of the WW2 copies Bren gun carriers heading up the left-hand side of the road. a glance at my watch told me I now had three minutes. The two carriers rolled past me, then I made my next move.

There was another two-tonne truck to my right, i checked for movement before commando crawling over to it.

I heard move men moving forward. I stayed were I was, I wanted to make a move but there were easily a hundred men walking forward. I check that the AK47 was still on semi auto and that the mag was in position. I made sure all my kit was secure, any second now the shit was going to hit the fan.

I had thirty seconds before the first charge would go off...

I shuffled over to the right-hand side of the truck. There was nothing but bush to my right now. I made sure there was no one on this side of the truck and them I made dash for a group of rocks. I dived behind then at the same time as the old artillery piece exploded.

I saw flames shooting skywards and heard men screaming. The explosion would have turned the gun into thousands of shards of shrapnel and that was cutting down men, the screaming made that more than obvious. I heard men screaming, crying for their mothers, I heard men screaming for help.