Chapter 824 - 770: The Battle Begins
The daylight in Alaska's winter is very short, and in the afternoon at three o'clock, heavy snow began to fall again, causing darkness to come faster.
At the dock of the abandoned police station in Saint Mary's, a medium-sized cargo ship loosened its cables and slowly departed from its berth.
A few tall men in striking cold-weather gear lifted three mortars out of the cabin as the ship started moving.
One was a 120mm M120 large-caliber mortar, and the other two were 60mm caliber M224 small-caliber mortars.
After a period of practice, the three mortars were each moved to their pre-set positions on the ship's bow. They aligned with the pre-welded screws, dropped the bases, and then tightened the large nuts to secure the bases firmly in place.
After positioning the mortars, the men carefully checked the muzzle caps. After confirming there were no issues, they quickly returned to the cabin and carried out several boxes of shells with fuses already installed and fixed the boxes in pre-designed ammunition storage locations.
Inside the ammunition boxes, each shell was neatly inserted into slots cut out of foam, keeping them completely stable despite the ship's movements.
Once the mortars were set up, several soldiers in snow camouflage appeared on deck, carrying some slightly old M2 heavy machine guns. Using pre-welded mounts at the bow and stern, they installed six M2 heavy machine guns around the cargo ship.
At this point, the small cranes at the back of the cargo ship were also ready. They would lower two inflatable assault boats into the Yukon River when they reached their destination, facilitating the soldiers' landings.
Their operations were very meticulous, with a setup that seemed less like an attack on a small camp of fewer than twenty people and more like the launch of a small-scale war.
The generator at the abandoned police station was running, and the seemingly dilapidated building was brightly lit inside.
The one-eyed General Sid watched as the cargo ship successfully sailed out of the dock, moving slowly upstream. He nodded slightly, looked at Commander Chuck, who had arrived less than 24 hours ago, and said with a frown, "My men have set off. At our estimated speed, the cargo ship will reach the designated position in three hours and land our ground troops...
Where are your men now?"
Pointing to a high-power radio in front of him, General Sid said in a deep voice, "We are executing a joint operation. You should integrate your radio communication with ours so that we can coordinate command."
The handsome Chuck glanced at the fierce-looking soldiers around him, then shook his head slightly after showing his satellite phone, and said, "My men don't need command. Once we have a plan, they will reach their target position on time to launch the attack.
My guys are elite of the elite, and they don't need anyone blowing a whistle to give them orders!"
After speaking, Chuck glanced at his watch, nodded slightly, and said, "Landing in three hours, and at nine o'clock in the evening, four hours later, we will launch our attack on time.
You should urge those people across from Brown Bear Camp; they are the main force to divert Brown Bear Camp's attention.
As long as they show an intention to forcefully cross the Yukon River, the people at Brown Bear Camp will have to focus most of their attention there.
When the battle reaches a stalemate, the planes I arranged will bomb Brown Bear Camp!"
General Sid had long known about the Edward Foundation's action plan through Vincent. He was inherently extremely crazy, but he handled matters steadily and cautiously, paying meticulous attention to detail within the limits of what conditions allowed for anything related to battle.
Regarding 'bombing,' General Sid was not particularly optimistic...
Without professional bombers, using propeller planes repurposed from a fishing company's cargo planes, accurately dropping four old aerial bombs onto Brown Bear Camp would be extremely difficult.
He didn't care about the grudge between Vincent and the Edward Foundation against Mountain Eagle. He only knew that when Vincent, the Edward Foundation, and the Sinaloa Group invested such significant resources and effort, as the nominal commander, he couldn't afford to lose.
Tiago, the Sinaloa representative, rubbed his slightly frostbitten ears and hands with agitation. He walked over to General Sid, gave a fierce glance at the recently joined Commander Chuck, then coughed and said, "Aren't we being overly cautious? According to the intelligence, there are very few combat-capable people in Brown Bear Camp, and there are women and children inside...
Adding up our forces on both sides, we have nearly 400 people, a power that could seize a vast territory even in Mexico.
We've wasted too much time here…"
As he spoke, Tiago stared at General Sid and said in a chilling tone, "My men suffer non-combat casualties every day, and you son of a bitch don't even treat them like humans.
I don't want to hear any more nonsense from you. I just want all issues resolved tonight...
Unless the entire Alaska National Guard is deployed there waiting for us, I can't see any possibility of losing.
Let's launch our attack, then bomb them, and end all this!"
General Sid seemed accustomed to the complaints of Tiago, the 'Sugar Daddy.' He didn't offer this military illiterate any explanation. Instead, Commander Chuck smiled and patiently said, "Sir, don't underestimate Mountain Eagle...
Don't forget how badly we suffered at his hands in Los Angeles!
Before I got in touch with you, I had air-dropped two elite squads north of Brown Bear Camp, but they got ambushed midway, and now I've lost contact with them.
"I don't know how Mountain Eagle discovered them..."
Tiago listened, impatiently saying, "So what, maybe your men are too stupid, or Mountain Eagle's trap is too advanced...
We have more people and such heavy weaponry, why resort to such clever tricks?"
Commander Chuck listened, and shook his head slightly, saying, "Sir, Mountain Eagle appeared more than 80 kilometers from the Brown Bear Camp 24 hours ago, which indicates that guy's range of activity is very large.
How can you be sure he is at the Brown Bear Camp?
If we destroy the Brown Bear Camp but don't kill Mountain Eagle, then what are we doing?
We deploy so many people there, their role is to blockade anyone who might try to break out and escape, then conduct a detailed battlefield search...
Mountain Eagle himself, including his wife, children, and subordinates, are all our targets, not one can be missed!
Therefore, we must start with small-scale conflicts first; those across the Yukon River are the means to force Mountain Eagle to aid.
We've all seen that guy's dossier, he is very belligerent and will never sit by idly while his men are surrounded and remain indifferent."
Chuck's words were not fully understood by Tiago, and there were still parts Chuck hadn't finished...
The most important reason he allied with this side was not because he lost two teams, but because Mountain Eagle's winter range of activity made him realize that only considering an attack on Brown Bear Camp was somewhat imprudent...
Their target now, destroying the Brown Bear Camp is just the first step, and then launching a net-like hunt, killing everyone around related to Mountain Eagle, taking Mountain Eagle's head back is the most important.
The Alaskan weather is a huge obstacle for them, but once they destroy the Brown Bear Camp, Alaska is fair to both sides, hmm, maybe for Mountain Eagle with his family, the issue will be greater!
And the most important point is that when they have an absolute manpower advantage, Chuck feels he can consider more comprehensively.
This very clever commander began to doubt those who coordinated the preliminary work in Alaska from the moment Codfish Team and Chimera Squad were attacked, so he would rather take some risks to join with General Sid, he has some strange suspicions...
Just like Mountain Eagle deliberately bringing his entire family to Alaska, completely exposing his weak spot, after Chuck joined these people, this place also became a fatal weak point for the three parties...
If Mountain Eagle is a restless wolf, then here is a deadly fat piece of meat!
If he appears...
Chuck didn't explain too much to Tiago because this guy is just a drug dealer, he simply couldn't understand the intricacies here; he could only see his side's numerous manpower and fierce firepower.
When Chuck closed his mouth and Tiago reluctantly stepped aside, gunfire first erupted from the sentry tower inside the Brown Bear Camp...
......
"Bang..."
The huge echo of the large-caliber sniper rifle made Supa and his fellows jump up from warming themselves inside the house...
Pushing open the wooden house door with force, Supa led his fellows sprinting wildly toward the pre-set positions at the riverbank, shouting loudly via radio: "What happened?"
Above the sentry tower, the scar on sniper Evgeni's grim face twisted slightly...
Through an advanced infrared scope, he saw a large group emerging from concealed positions in the shrubbery, using snowmobiles to haul a lot of supplies through the icy snowy paths of the wetlands, approaching the riverbank.
Upon hearing the surprised cries over the radio, Evgeni sitting in the sentry tower shoved an energy bar into his mouth, chewed a few times before swallowing, then watching the enemy about 2 kilometers away stumbling to a stop and starting to look for cover in the shrubbery on both sides, he said in a hoarse voice, "Don't panic, they are still far from the riverbank..."
Supa commanded his companions to rush into four positions on both sides of the camp's dock, forcefully setting up a machine gun while watching the opposite bank, shouting loudly, "Stay alert, the enemy is about to arrive..."
He then kicked the butt of a comrade beside him who wasn't wearing gloves in anger, scolding, "Are you crazy? Without gloves, those ammo will stick to your hands...
Everyone wears their thermal protection properly, don't be careless!"
In the sentry tower, Evgeni heard the radio voices, he shook his head slightly, eyes locked on the scope in front of him, pulling the Trigger again...
With a "Bang..." a loud shot, a snowmobile parked on the snowy path 2 kilometers away was hit...
Whether it was Mountain Eagle's provided high-explosive incendiary bomb that was too powerful, or Evgeni's shooting skills were better, after the bullet hit, the snowmobile surprisingly jolted and then slowly started to burn...