You have been given a company of 140 infantry, a battery of three heavy mortars, a section of three heavy machine guns, three 40mm grenade machine guns and a Javelin missile team with which to carry out this mission. Additions to your command are a light observation drone team and a spook from Intelligence ‘Light Side’,* aerial reconnaissance, to interpret the Intel it gathers and keep you up to date with the political side of this sensitive operation.

Your strategy

You have decided the best way to accomplish your mission is to dig in within effective firing distance of the bridge and prevent any enemy forces from crossing – be they terrorist militia or the neighbouring country’s army. Simple. To do this, in the face of potentially stiff opposition, it is your intention to create a defensible position which controls the bridge crossing and which you can hold against any one who might turn up. From this position you will be able to bring 81mm mortar, Javelin anti-tank missiles, medium (GPMG) and heavy (.50cal Browning) machine guns, 40mm GMG and sniper fire (8.59mm) to bear on anyone or anything which seeks to cross the bridge.

A Javelin Anti-Tank Missile. At $20,000 a shot it has a very clever guidence system and the special warhead will defeat any armour or building. (USMC)

Your position

You’ve picked a low hillock to dig in and hold. From this ground, the highest in the area, you command not only the bridge and the road from it but also the surrounding countryside. Visibility extends to approximately 7 miles while you can lay accurate mortar and heavy machine gun fire out to 3 miles, Javelin Missiles, GMG and GPMG fire to 2km, sniper fire out to 1½km and rifle fire to 300m. Because the ground is relatively smooth and open your position would be a nightmare to assault by unsupported infantry. To take advantage of the only high ground in the area your position has had to be sited 500m away from the bridge – beyond useful assault-rifle range – but your infantry are principally there to protect the position from mass infantry assault. There is nothing like infantry for holding ground. They are as hard to dislodge as rats in holes.

You’ve had your people dig two-man foxholes in a large circle and put the stores bunkers, GMG, heavy machine gun and mortar positions within it. The Javelin team are free to move where needed and will double as infantry until, and unless, required. In your store bunkers you have rations and water for 28 days and in the ammunition bunker you have reserve ammunition for all weapons. All this weight of stores and equipment was brought in by a couple of Blackhawk choppers under-slung with the mortars and heavy machine guns when the bunkers were complete.

Large pits have been dug for the mortars so the crews have room to work. A separate bunker has been dug on the north side of the position to give the mortar fire control officer a good view of the bridge. He has been using a laser range-finder and GPS to mark the exact range and bearing of various landmarks around the position to increase the accuracy of all weapons.

The GMGs and heavy machine guns have been sited so as to allow the gunners to see their fall of fire all around the position. This has been achieved by placing them on the highest ground with a raised sandbag emplacement. Due to this preparation work the mortars, GMGs and the heavy machine guns can quickly set out ranges and bearings so as to allow for rapid, accurate fire onto pre-selected targets.

There are no trees inside your position and nothing at all growing for 200 yards around. Not now anyway. Just to make sure no one creeps up too close and to stop any possible massed assault, you’ve put two rings of razor wire around your position. One is 50 yards out and the other 150 yards out. As a rule barbed or razor wire should always be covered by fire and mined if possible as its purpose and effect is to slow down massed troops approaching the position. There are two gaps in the wire where tracks lead to your position and these places are especially well covered by your medium machine guns. You are not using mines as it would take too long to lay and recover them. Obviously, all the infantry have been allocated arcs of fire which interlock with the next-but-one fire team so there is no gap if one is taken out.

Off to the east is a dry stream bed or gully where dead ground* could give cover to an approaching force so you have put some AP mines and a Claymore in it with an electric command wire leading back to the position.

A track runs past the position, also in dead ground, some 200 yards away. It seems likely that approaching forces might use it to close unseen and form up for the assault so you have sent out a patrol to fix trip wires. These will trigger Claymore Mines and illumination flares. That track is not a comfortable place for a night time stroll any more.

An A10 Thunderbolt ‘Warthog’ letting loose its nose-mounted 30mm explosive cannon at 70 rounds a second. A very useful tool when used in a ground attack and air support role. (USAF)

Re-supply

The elections are in three weeks and when they are over you can leave. You don’t really expect anyone will have a go at such a strong position – you have come so heavily armed to avoid a fight – so you’ve told your men to make themselves comfortable. You believe you can rely on a chopper re-supply every week for mail and fresh food to keep morale up but whatever happens you are good for ammo, basics and water for a month.

Air cover

In the briefing you were told you could count on ground attack air-support being overhead in 20 minutes. These could be the fixed-wing A10 Warthogs with their missiles and coaxial roller cannon or they could send Apache attack helicopters also with cannon and Hellfire missiles. The Warthogs pack the biggest punch but the Apaches are more accurate and can hang around longer. But, as ever, you know their availability will depend on what else is going on in the Divisional Area.

Settling in

It’s late afternoon and the men are tired from the digging. You pass the word to make a brew and have a smoke. It will be dark in an hour and if there is an enemy force out there they may try something at night fall. Not an assault probably but maybe the odd mortar round to keep you awake.

At your word the technical sergeant in charge of the observation drone launches his toy. Just as it begins to climb into the air the motor fails and it crashes to the ground with disastrous results. A Techie goes out and recovers the main bits and a few minutes later the reserve drone takes off successfully and starts to do a sweep of the area looking for anything on foot or otherwise unusual. The signal comes back, ‘All clear’. There is no one within a couple of miles of the base on our side of the river. It seems likely that any enemy forces would be keeping to the other side during daylight. Where the tree cover is thicker and the drone shouldn’t really cross the border.

Just the same, you give the nod to the sergeant and he sends the drone cruising down the middle of the river, scanning the opposite side. A burst of automatic fire from three machine guns hidden in the tree line and the reserve drone goes down in the river. Was it the enemy or was it the other state’s regular forces asserting their sovereignty? Is there any difference? Now you don’t have an eye in the sky. Was this a diplomatic incident you will have to answer for or was it the first step in a plan to remove you from your watch over the bridge?

Last light

The light is starting to fade and you have called, ‘Stand to’. All your men are at their fire positions. You hear a steady ‘thump – thump – thump’ as three mortar shells are fired from somewhere in the middle distance. You have no radar to pinpoint their firing positions so you have to sit and take this one without counter-battery fire. The men are all sitting in the bottom of their trenches, having a smoke and yet more of the eternal tea. You catch a whiff of what might be rum in the air – but you let it go. The men need to relax when the mortar rounds are coming in.