Stand of Knights by Jack Thorlin

Author:Jack Thorlin [Thorlin, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure, War & Military, Genre Fiction, War
Amazon: B0098AD4Y2
Published: 2012-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3: Opening Moves

Our first notification of the invasion came from Captain Cheng. He was sitting on a fallen log at the edge of our base, near Section 2’s rest area. As soon as I had returned from my debriefing with General Verix, I had gone straight to my sleeping bag to take a nap. Cheng’s shout woke me up. It had been in Chinese and sounded like a curse. Captain Wood, who had been awake and engaged in a card game with three other officers, asked, “What’s the matter?”

Cheng’s eyes were riveted on his laptop’s screen. “They tricked us. The fucking Communists tricked us.” As I shook the cobwebs of sleep from my mind, I noticed that Cheng’s face had gone pale. He said in a more controlled voice, “Our planners thought the PLA would attack Quemoy and the Penghu Islands in the southwest and then push forward to take Taiwan proper from southwest to northeast. It would have been the most logical move on their part. With our submarines and navy still out in force, we could wreak havoc on their transports on the way over. If the Chinese attacked the small islands first, they wouldn’t have to send their transports on as long a trip. All the estimates from both our countries said that’s what they’d do – what they’d have to do.”

Wood had come over to look at the display, and I walked in that direction as well. Cheng continued, “They must have more advanced naval tech than we thought. Either that or they have a spy giving them information about the location of our fleet. Five of our subs in the Strait were sunk this morning. Then the whole damn PLA invasion force came crashing out of Quanzhou and the other harbors and made a beeline for Tongshiao.”

Realizing that none of us understood the significance of Tongshiao, Cheng explained. “It’s a big town about two-thirds of the way up the west coast.” When no one said anything, Cheng said with some exasperation, “We’re talking about a place seventy miles south of Taipei. With the Chinese controlling the air and sea, our 70,000 soldiers in Quemoy and the Penghu Islands are out of the fight. All hell is breaking loose out there.” He pointed vaguely west. “We’re moving forces to contain the landing, but they’ve caught us with our pants down. The first estimates are that they’ve surged five crack infantry divisions across the Strait. They’re landing armor right this minute.”

There followed a quiet moment. We had expected that the Taiwanese could hold the beaches, at least for a little while, and inflict some heavy casualties on the invaders. Now, the PLA was on the island.

Word spread quickly around the camp, and most of the Knights not on duty had come to get updates. General Verix arrived and, after Wood relayed Cheng’s update, he frowned and asked, “Captain Cheng, how fast can your military respond to this?”

Cheng thought for a moment before he responded. “I’m sure

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