Stalemate (The Red Gambit Series) by Colin Gee Read Free Book Online Page A

here,” talking to himself he pencilled a cross, five hundred metres to the north-east of the lake.
    “Happy, Sam?”
    “I’m happy Cap’n”, the monotone revealing no hint of excitement at what he was about to do.
    “Call it in then.”
    Without another word, King dropped back into his position, checked the top-secret list he had been given earlier, and switched to the frequency of the nearest artillery unit, instigating an Arty/R mission.
    Basically, Arty/R was a barrage called in by an airborne spotter, a procedure well tested in the German War. However, new security procedures were being tested in this sector after some problems with Soviet misdirections, interference that resulted in a few Allied casualties.
    “Queen-five-seven-three, Queen-five-seven-three calling Omdurman-Six, receiving over.”
    A voice, clearly that of a man more at home in the east end of London, acknowledged receipt.
    “Queen-five-seven-three to Omdurman-Six. Fire mission Baker, target...” he paused briefly, checking the coordinates again before delivering them.
    “Omdurman-Six to Queen-five-seven-three, fire mission Baker received. Security check required.”
    The Beaufighter had a special list that gave it security access to men in the front line.
    “Standby for check. Ready? Omdurman-six over.”
    The procedure was laid out precisely, and the artillery units along a fifty-mile front all possessed a copy of the same list. A word was issued that required a specific reply within three seconds or the orders would not be observed and further communications ignored. It could not be otherwise.
    “Security check. Go. Troy.”
    “Achilles.”
    “Roger. Balloon.”
    “Otter.”
    “Roger. Sunburst.”
    “ Victory.”
    “Roger, check complete, ranging shot on its way.”
    The Beaufighter continued on its lazy turn, Captain Clark ensuring that his aircraft was not going to get in the way of a stream of shells.
    He was immediately impressed.
    “Bang on the money, Sam. Give the Limeys the word.”
    The observer keyed his microphone, relaying the confirmation of ‘on target’, and quickly scrambling up to look out of the cockpit.
    Seconds past with nothing, save the continued flashes of a few guns below, although the absence of the full count suggested that the Soviets were hitching up their guns, ready to relocate.
    Sam King was disappointed for all of thirty-two seconds, at which time the 3rd Royal Horse Artillery put their shells ‘bang on the money’.
    A Baker mission was a strike against enemy wheeled artillery, and the gunners of the 4th Indian Division had mixed a barrage of high explosive and fragmentation rounds, creating a highly effective cocktail of death in the area of the 7th Guards Artillery’s deployment.
    The barrage of twelve rounds per tube caused casualties and destroyed guns, but the disciplined cavalry troopers worked to hitch up their guns and move away, calmly ignoring the men and horses that fell.
    T he sun finally retired and the night was lit by exploding shells.
    The 7th Guards Artillery quit the field, relocating to another site and leaving the front troops unsupported.
    The General commanding called the commander of the 1814th SP Gun Regiment, his deployed guns having been given orders to cease-fire and stay alert, ready for exploiting the breakthrough.
    The displacement of the 7th Guards changed that once more , and the support role switched to them. The 122mm shells started to fall on the Indian second and third line positions, the intact battalions of Cossacks eagerly calling in fire, and accurately directing it, causing casualties amongst the enemy to their front.
    Inside the ‘Gypsy Queen III’, the display on King’s radar set informed him of a problem.
    “Cap’n, two separate contacts bearing 110, height 15, distance to us roughly fifteen thousand yards, and closing.”
    The Arty/R mission went on the back burner as the Mk VI-F Beaufighter slipped into its more accustomed role as a hunter-killer