Evans nodded to himself; his Marines had survived yet another battle and accomplished their goal. Now would come the fun part, making sure the road and rail bridges connecting the island with the mainland weren’t wired with explosives or sabotaged. The Navy would be sailing in their ships to start offloading their armored chariots soon enough.
Chapter 17
Operation Gladiator
Brigadier General Sir Nick McCoil had an uneasy feeling in his gut about this mission. On paper it looked superb — a large airfield that jutted out on a small peninsula, easily defendable and ripe for the taking. Suzhou Guangfu Airport was a PLA Air Force base several kilometers west of the city of Suzhou and a kilometer away from Taihu Lake. It had very few approachable angles from the nearby city, and it also boasted a small, higher-elevated ridgeline to the east and north of the airfield, adding to the defensible terrain nearby. However, what General McCoil disliked about this mission was how deep behind enemy lines it would place them.
The plan called for them to capture the base and ready it for Allied use. His airborne force would be required to hold the base and the surrounding territory until the rest of the British and French forces were offloaded at the Yangshan port, 180 kilometers away. Once the tanks and other armored vehicles were ashore, they’d be able to cross the distance in three or four hours and link up with them. At most, his brigade was being asked to hold the position for seventy-two hours.
To augment his brigade, a regiment of French Foreign Legionnaires would be joining them. He hoped having 1,200 zealot-like warriors in addition to his own brigade would bring them luck. The trick to making this jump work was logistics. The Air Force and Navy had to clear a path through the PLA’s surface-to-air missile network. Once that had been achieved, eighty-four British and French Transall C-160 and A400M Atlas transport planes would fly in at varying intervals and begin to offload his brigade and the Legionnaires.
The first units to land would be his pathfinder platoon, a company from the 1st Royal Gurkhas Regiment, or 1RGR, along with most of 2 PARA. While this main force was dropping on the enemy airbase, the regiment of Legionnaires would land at Shangshengcun, three kilometers southeast of the airbase, to set up a blocking position along the main highway at Xiangshanzui. That would effectively isolate the entire southeastern half of the little peninsula the airfield sat on. His company of Gurkhas would advance to the top of the ridgeline at Jiaoli and begin to prepare it for when the rest of 1 RGR arrived in the second wave. The Gurkha battalion would have a several-kilometer vantage point of the surrounding area, giving his brigade plenty of time to spot any enemy formations heading toward them. It would also be one of the first locations the PLA would have to secure if they wanted to recapture the air base.
The second wave of aircraft would be much larger and arrive ninety minutes after the first. This wave would bring with them rest of 3 PARA and the three batteries of 7 Para RHA, giving his brigade eighteen 105mm howitzers for fire support. Three hours after the second wave was scheduled to land, the third wave would bring in the remainder of the brigade along with several air drops of ammunition. Two hours after that, a string of ten American C-17 Globemasters would complete the sortie by drag-dropping ten fully loaded Panhard ERC armored cars on the runway. These French-made 6x6 vehicles packed 90mm main guns, which would act as their light armor support until the main British Army showed up. If the air lanes were still clear, then eighteen hours later, his air taxis would return to offload additional munitions, retrieve his wounded and offload twenty Jackal 4x4 vehicles.
This was by far the riskiest jump any British or French forces had made in the war, and perhaps in their history. The head of British forces in Asia had convinced General Bennet that the mission not only was possible to achieve but would give the Allies a much-needed air and artillery base deep behind enemy lines, with natural barriers for defense. With the sales pitch already made and approved many months ago, it was now incumbent upon General McCoil to execute the plan. Operation Gladiator was a go.
Corporal Jordan Wright had joined the Army at the outbreak of war with Russia. Never in a million years could he have imagined that nearly two years later, he would be jumping out of an airplane, invading the People’s Republic of China. After all the political hoopla going on back home, he and his mates were just glad to be soldiering again and doing what they did best, fight.
The men around him had their faces painted for war and were ready to get the show on the road. Wright was eager too, even if hours of sitting in the back of the A400M Atlas was making his backside hurt like never before.
“Everyone up! It’s time to get ready,” shouted Lieutenant Lou Shay. The platoon sergeant stood next to him and though he didn’t say anything, his look implied that the guys better get a move on fast.
The paratroopers grumbled a little at being roused from their slumber, but at the same time, they were also excited to finally be doing something, anything that would get the blood flowing again to their lower extremities.
Once they started moving, Lieutenant Shay announced, “We’re twenty minutes out! Run through your equipment checks and make sure you’re ready.”
Even though the battalion had seen plenty of combat in Ukraine and Russia already, for many of them, this would be their first combat jump. Corporal Wright looked at the green members with a sort of kind pity; the first one was always a bit unnerving. Here they were flying in the back of a cargo plane, hundreds of kilometers behind enemy lines, hoping the American Air Force and Navy planes had successfully suppressed or destroyed the enemy’s surface-to-air missile systems…and they all knew that SAMs had already cost the Allies dearly in Russia.
Five minutes away from the drop zone, an urgent voice from the front of the plane called out for the lieutenant. He trotted quickly past Corporal Wright, muttering something under his breath as he made his way to the front. Wright watched as the lieutenant poked his head into the cabin. He couldn’t hear what the pilot was exclaiming, but clearly, he was worked up about something. Shay turned to look back at his men, his face as white as a ghost.
“Oh, this isn’t good,” Wright realized.
The lieutenant walked back and faced his platoon. “Quiet down, men!” he shouted. “I have some news to report. The pilots just told me our fighter plane escorts are engaging some enemy fighters in the nearby area. They also told me the aircraft carrying the pathfinder platoon came under heavy enemy ground fire on their drop near the airbase.”
A loud murmur started, and Lieutenant Shay quickly raised his hands in a gesture to try and get everyone to calm down. When they didn’t quiet themselves, he shouted, “Shut up! I’m not done talking yet!
“The pilot said one of the German planes escorting us is currently trying to silence the enemy antiaircraft guns at the airfield. Regardless of whether the Germans are successful or not, we are still jumping! We’re 2 PARA! Ready for anything!” Shay shouted the unit’s motto to try to rile up their spirits.
“He knows we’re jumping into a storm and there’s nothing he can do about it,” Wright realized. At least they could try to make the best of it.
As the lieutenant made his way back to his position near the rear door and his platoon sergeant, Corporal Wright grabbed his arm gently and leaned in. “Damn good speech, Sir. Thank you for giving us the heads-up.”