He had just returned from a mission with Sargento Antonio Muller as an observer. They had spotted the bandidos moving eastward on the Rio Ancho with three piraguas. Muller left the young pilot with the aircraft after landing, rushing over to the Command Bunker to report the crucial findings of the short reconnaissance patrol.
When Muller presented himself to Castillo, he found Coronel Jeronimo Busch also in the earthen office. The sargento gave an oral report, not wasting words as he quickly told them what he and Pizzaro had seen.
Castillo was pleased. "This is most interesting. It appears that the bandidos are making a major transfer of their command complete with bag and baggage, verdad?"
"Seguro, mi generalisimo," Busch agreed. "They are obviously withdrawing because their support from the Petroleo Colmo Company--or I should say the CIA is gone. I wonder if they are trying to reach Paraguay. Perhaps they have aid available there."
Castillo nodded his head. "In that case, we must keep them from traveling that far." He swiveled in his chair and looked at the map of the Gran Chaco on the wall behind his desk. "Now, if I were the commander of the bandidos, what would motivate me to travel eastward whether I had support or not?" he mused.
"Ah!" Busch exclaimed. "The high country of the jungles. The Selva Verde Mountains! It would be a perfect place to set up defenses or link up with reinforcements."
"Of course," Castillo agreed. "A perfect place to hole up and hide until further help arrives, no?"
"You are absolutely correct when you say they must not be allowed to reach those mountains, mi generalisimo," Busch said. "The bastardos have been ambushing our patrols almost at will. Now it is their turn to endure strikes from the unknown."
"Tiene razon! " Castillo exclaimed. "You are right! And let's take into consideration that we have two helicopters at our disposal, and they have none. Alert the garrison, coronel, we are going on the offensive. Now we shall mount a full-scale attack on those damned bandidos!"
.
1100 HOURS LOCAL
GENERALISIM0 Castillo had been very precise as he dictated his operational orders to Suboficial Ignacio Perez. After writing down the combat directive word for word, the little man turned to his portable typewriter and carbon paper to make enough copies to pass out to the field officers who would lead the various echelons. In order to get out nine clear copies, he'd had to type the document three times. Fuerte Franco, without the power of generators, had no way to run word processors or photocopiers to ease the administrative burdens of the little adjutant and quartermaster.
Two lifts of twenty-four fully equipped men--each with eight on the EC-635 light utility helicopter and sixteen on the SA-330 utility helicopter--were organized for the trip to the battle site. Coronel Jeronimo Busch would be overall commander with Suboficial Punzarron, SargentoMayor Chaubere and Sargento Muller serving as his personal equipo comando. The three stalwarts would stick close to their field commander while he directed the operation to destroy the enemy in this one final effort.
Comandante Javier Toledo would command the first lift with Capitanes Francisco Silber and Roberto Argento as detachment leaders. Comandante Gustavo Cappuzzo was to lead the second lift, having as detachment commanders capitanes Tomas Platas and Pablo Gonzales. The latter was a recently arrived infantry officer from the Bolivian Army.
The basic concept of the OPLAN was that after Busch and the equipo comando were set down in the EC-635, it would return to Fuerte Franco to join the SA-330 to begin the transport of the two main lifts. The first was to be taken to a point on both sides of the river ahead of the bandidos, while the second lift would be landed behind them. At a signal from Busch over the RMAM radio, the battle would commence with an all-out infantry attack supported by machine guns.
.
RIO ANCHO
THE SEALS
1245 HOURS LOCAL
THE sound of a single helicopter engine caught the immediate and collective attention of the detachment. Everyone went on the alert, including the men napping in the piraguas. They all sat up expectantly while the Hankers scanned the skies for a sighting of the aircraft.
Joe Miskoski was on the left bank with his SAW, while Bruno Puglisi, who had been on break in the piragua, climbed up on the right bank to add his own SAW to the firepower on that side.
Brannigan spoke calmly into his LASH. "Command Element, get into the piraguas and be ready to lend a hand where and when necessary. Let's go, people! The shit's about to hit the fan!"
.
THE LOZANO GRASSLANDS
THE EQUIPO COMMANDO
THE EC-635 came in slow about two meters off the deck with Coronel Busch and his comandos standing in the doors. As soon as Busch spoke "Vamanos! " into his LASH, all four leaped to the thick grass, hitting the ground at a run. They continued going until the chopper pulled up and away to return to Fuerte Franco.
Busch took the lead, heading toward the river with his picked men. They were stripped down lean and mean for light travel and quick attacks. They carried only weapons, ammunition, grenades, knives and canteens. The equipo kept a close watch in all directions as they hurried across the savannah. The only sounds from their rapid trek were the swishing noise made by the grass brushing against their uniform trousers. None of the superbly conditioned men breathed hard as they continued toward the bandidos, all eager to lock horns in this final corrida.
After a half hour of hard pushing, Busch suddenly signaled for them to hit the ground. All four dove into the grass. "Enemy sighted!" the coronel said softly. "Ciento metres adelante--a hundred meters ahead." He gave each man a chance to raise his head just enough to see the bandidos. "We will do nothing now but trail after them for the time being. When the two lifts arrive, the fight starts."
.
THE SEALS
1320 H0URS LOCAL
FOUR more helicopter flights had been heard on both sides of the river with only quick glances of the aircraft as they settled to the ground out of sight, then almost immediately took off again.
"Now hear this!" Wild Bill Brannigan said. "We're approximately thirty-plus hours away from where we climb out of this fucking river and start humping our asses up into the mountains. If we don't make it that far, this whole operation is shot down. And us with it."
"Sir," Senior Chief Buford Dawkins said, "we've had no sightings of the enemy other than a quick look at them choppers. I'm certain there's only two of 'em, but they both came in twice."
Chief Matt Gunnarson agreed. "And you can bet your asses they was bringing troops in with 'em."
"You're right about that," Brannigan said. "We're going to have to keep moving and fighting at the same time. If they pin us down even once, we're gone gooses. There's no way in hell we can start up again. It would just be a matter of slugging it out until all the ammo is expended."
Everyone listened over their LASH sets, knowing that a real possibility of sustaining high casualties existed in this predicament. The main objective now was to get to those distant Selva Verde Mountains.
"I'm going to have to pull three guys off the line to pole the piraguas," Brannigan continued. "I want Frank Gomez and Garth Redhawk to get up on the left bank with the First Assault Section. Chad Murchison and Guy Deveraux will go with the Second. James Bradley will stay with me in the piraguas to take care of the wounded." Brannigan waited until the detachment was organized. "That's it! Send me the guys for poling now. We'll trade 'em off when it seems necessary. Let's go, people."
.
THE EQUIPO COMMANDO
CORONEL Busch and his men were formed in a skirmish line as they crawled through grass on their hands and knees, keeping as low as possible. Now and then they could hear one of the bandidos say something to a companion, and Busch estimated they were perhaps less than twenty meters away.