After ending his call with Anthony, Song Heping sat back in his chair and didn't speak for a long time.

The pressure was immense.

The reason for fighting wasn't just about winning with fewer numbers, nor just facing a formidable enemy,

but because it was his first time commanding such a large-scale war.

On the ELN side, they had mobilized all their military forces, with two defense zones in the north and south investing three thousand troops, the Tame Region deploying nearly nine hundred men across two battalions, plus a battalion of reserves, totaling over four thousand three hundred people.

On the government army's side, two regiments plus a battalion-level Special Forces group, close to six thousand people.

The AUC forces had mobilized the most troops, rallying all their strength within Colombia, estimated to be more than thirty thousand people.

That is to say, this battle involved a whopping forty thousand plus people.

Although such a scale of military operation isn't considered too large for a division-level officer, for someone like Song Heping, who came from a non-commissioned officer background and a defense company owner, it was like a young girl riding in a great marriage sedan—a first time for everything.

Large-scale group warfare was entirely different from the small-scale Special Forces operations Song Heping had dealt with before.

Generally speaking, commanders of large-scale operations always have a staff team by their side, and according to the regular military organization, not only is there a chief of staff, but the team also includes several operations staff, part of the service communications personnel, and a small number of support staff.

Furthermore, there must be a robust intelligence network to draw maps through these channels and constantly update real-time battlefield dynamics, allowing the commander to have the most direct understanding of the battlefield situation, thereby devising effective tactics to counter the enemy.

Additionally, the role of the staff team is critical; they can help the commander analyze information one by one—all information could be true or false, subordinates might exaggerate or downplay their losses and victories for various reasons, and the enemy on the battlefield could also deceive you strategically.

And you can only issue orders through radio, meetings, couriers, etc.—both gathering information and issuing orders will have significant delays, and unfortunately, almost none of your subordinates will execute your commands 100%.

Moreover, it is necessary to grasp the personalities and abilities of one's subordinate officers, assigning them to positions where they are most suited.

There are many intricacies here, and Song Heping's current staff team was almost non-existent; the ELN command only had some soldiers responsible for communications, and it was questionable whether the staff counted as such, as those guys couldn't even draw a map properly.

The only advantage was that Morins could still provide a lot of useful information, after all, ELN was the armed organization he led; he was very familiar with the conditions of the troops below, as he was with his officers.

Song Heping was only familiar with 50 cadres who had undergone two months of short-term command training at his school.

He could only rely on these cadres.

For example, putting Anthony in charge of the most challenging blocking task in the Tame Region was based on this consideration.

Now, Song Heping finally understood why, during war, generals always cultivated their trusted followers and gave them preference in military funds and equipment.

Because trusted followers knew their roots, they were sufficiently loyal, and the execution of orders was comparatively more thorough than that of other troops.

While Song Heping was pondering his countermeasures under immense pressure in front of the map, Colonel Lawrence, a senior military advisor from the United States military, was having a life crisis at the Colombian Government Army's command post near Tame.

The intensity of the ELN resistance in the Tame Region, their tenacious will to fight, and their cunning use of tactics were all beyond his expectations.

From the very beginning of the firefight, over eighty AGLAN Special Forces members were killed at Camp G1, and Colonel Freddie, who hadn't even landed from the helicopter, was taken down by a man-portable air defense missile.

In the command post, Lawrence felt like a goat being roasted over the fire, with everyone around him casting doubtful glances.

"They must have had expert guidance!"

In the end, he came to this somewhat scapegoating conclusion.

"Otherwise, they wouldn't have set such a perfect trap, especially those air-defense missiles. Why didn't anyone tell me ELN had man-portable air defense missiles?!"

The implication was, had he known about this intelligence, he wouldn't have foolishly sent an entire AGLAN Special Forces squadron to raid Camp G1.

Mistake!

But not his mistake!

It was your lack of detailed intelligence!

Lawrence's American-style blame-shifting caught General Sanders off guard.

Facing the U.S. military advisor who had brazenly stated that he would take down the Tame Region within 24 hours the night before, Sanders felt utter disdain, though he still had to be polite verbally—after all, every year, the Great America was providing several hundred million dollars in actual cash to the government, and they definitely were a major sponsor.

"We won't play that kind of raid game with them anymore!"

At that moment, Colonel Lawrence finally felt how foolish he had been before.

"Why on earth do we need to bother with some damn raid?"

"Is it necessary?"

"With two mechanized battalions of the Colombian Army Special Division at my disposal, not to mention a battalion-sized CCOPE Special Operations Group, is there any need to resort to such tricks as raiding?"

"Even if we played our cards out in the open and just pushed through directly, taking Tame would be a breeze."

Suddenly, he realized that, from the beginning, he had a desire to show off his skills in front of the Colombian Military—this plan to raid the G1 camp was simply the result of the "Special Operations" impulse in him acting up, insisting on playing such a hand.

That's a real sickness that needs to be cured!

After learning his lesson, throughout the entire next day, Colonel Lawrence had given up on the notion of conducting special operations, directly ordering the two Army light mechanized battalions to position themselves in the south of Tame and push forward, while commanding a mechanized battalion to board Humvee light high-mobility vehicles and surge northward along Highway 86, penetrating deep into the ELN armed Tamei Defense Zone's central area, disrupting the enemy's defense.

These Humvees are outstanding performers in the American military weapons export business, and many nations have purchased this type of equipment. Their protection is average, but they are particularly suitable for rooting out drug lords hidden in the rainforest.

Unexpectedly, no sooner had they entered Highway 86 than the lead Humvee was blown sky-high by a violent explosion.

What followed was an intense battle.

The Army troops, dizzy from the explosion, quickly turned their vehicles around to flee, leaving behind the wreckage of more than a dozen Humvees.

After this encounter, Colonel Lawrence completely sobered up and proceeded with a steady and firm approach from the south to the north. Whenever there was an exchange of fire up ahead, he instructed the soldiers on the frontline to immediately report their position and relay coordinates, calling in the Air Force to deploy A-37 bombers to drop bombs.

This method of fighting might have been somewhat rigid, but at least the losses weren't so great.

Lawrence felt that the person commanding the ELN's counter-encirclement must be a tactical master; all of his assault actions were anticipated by the enemy.

This put him in a situation where he was fearful of both action and inaction, only able to fight the battle by the book.

By evening, when tallying personnel and summarizing the day's achievements, Lawrence nearly lost his temper enough to flip the table.

After fighting the whole day, they had only advanced 5 kilometers.

Those ELN armed soldiers were as sly as ghosts, never engaging in direct confrontation, always retreating after a clash, drawing back into the jungle and then luring the government army soldiers into the forest to pursue.

But these guerrilla-trained armed organization soldiers fought in the jungle better than monkeys; typically, while being chased, they would suddenly move around to the flanks or even behind the pursuing troops, engaging in sneaky ambushes and taking cold shots, and then retreating as soon as the fight was done. By the time the government army troops reacted and adjusted their direction of pursuit, they had already disappeared into the vast jungle...

The day's battles were incredibly arduous.

Several times, Lawrence wanted to ask General Sanders to dispatch two more battalions for reinforcement to increase the offensive force.

But just thinking that he, a high-ranking military advisor from Great America, who had two mechanized battalions and still needed support, made Lawrence's pride unbearable, so he gritted his teeth and endured.

It wasn't until ten o'clock at night that Lawrence still hadn't rested, instead he was staring blankly at the electronic screen in the command center, motionless like a meditating old monk.

"Colonel Lawrence, have some supper and then get some rest."

General Sanders was very considerate of his benefactor's face, having instructed the camp's cooks to prepare a late-night meal and bring it over.

"Dolti! Come have a bite too."

He also called Major Dolti, the representative of the AUC armed forces, to join them for the meal.

Today, Major Dolti had earned plenty of face.

The AUC forces had performed extremely well in battle, attacking from multiple points with superior force in the north and south defensive zones, breaking through two of the ELN's defensive lines, and almost cutting the enemy's defense zone around San Rita in half horizontally. It was estimated that by tomorrow, they could create a large gap, achieving the strategic objective.

"Colonel, please eat something. Victory and defeat are common in military affairs, don't take it to heart!"

Dolti was very polite, coming over for a late-night snack and also inviting Colonel Lawrence.

In reality, he was mocking the American advisor.

He had arrived two days ago to take up the position of liaison officer among the three parties, but Lawrence had looked down on him, always sneering in his speech and laughing at AUC as a guerrilla group that wasn't presentable.

Dolti had been holding his breath all this time.

Now, he finally found a way to vent.

The cooks entered the command center and set various foods on a table.

While a logistics officer was directing the cooks to arrange the food, his eyes kept darting towards Dolti.

Just then, as Colonel Lawrence approached the table with dead-eyed weariness, sitting down to dine with the general and the other three men, the logistics officer took two steps back, finding a subtle angle and distance that wouldn't attract attention, and quietly reached into his pants pocket to press the switch on the hidden micro pinhole camera within his camouflage outfit...

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com