"Very well. Maintain concealnt, and after the attack begins, you will be responsible for guiding the first precision fire." Song Heping calmly issued the orders.
anwhile, in the northern region of Kirkuk, the massive war machine of "Thunder" operation quietly began to accelerate, with every gear fitting precisely.
Beside the barren Gobi dunes east of Kirkuk, the logistics team was busy and tense.
Ammunition was being loaded onto trucks box by box, the fuel nozzles hissing, and the dical team checking the last ergency kits and stretchers.
Samir's staff were conducting final simulations with maps and real-ti images sent back by frontline drones, confirming the main assault direction and the timing for reserve deploynt.
Song Heping received preparation reports from various units via an encrypted data link.
He carefully reviewed the attack sequence, the fire allocation chart, and the defense deploynt plan after occupation.
He even personally inquired about the engineers' preparations, emphasizing, "Unless you can't hold Kirkuk, absolutely do not destroy the oilfields! They are our spoils of war and our future bargaining chips! If the opponent does counterattack and we are forced to retreat, then blow it all up, leave nothing for them!"
Finally, it reached 10 p.m.
Northern Illigo, Kirkuk area.
The deep night blanketed this oil-rich land.
In the vast oil field district, only a few scattered lights from patrol team flashlights and a small number of sentry spotlights flickered alone in the endless darkness.
Most of the Kurd garrison troops, including their elite units, had actually been urgently dispatched to the hopeless flesh grinder battlefield in the south, at Agra, and those left behind were mostly older or undertrained second-line reserve troops, local security police lacking heavy weapons, and a few oilfield facility security personnel mainly responsible for preventing theft and vandalism.
Their command system was loose, communication between units was poor, and they didn't even remotely suspect that on this seemingly peaceful night, deadly danger would strike from their relatively safe rear flank—coming from Daguge and Sulaimaniyah direction!
Precisely 2 a.m.
The piercing, hair-raising rocket sound tore through the dead silent night sky without warning!
Whoosh — Whoosh — Whoosh —!
The sound was like the shrieking tear as countless Grim Reapers swung their Scythes, moving from afar to near, suddenly filling the entire sky!
Then!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!
A series of violent explosions occurred at Kurd garrison camps, crucial road intersection checkpoints, communication relay stations, and vital oil storage depots, pump stations, and distribution center locations, happening in succession!
The first wave of rocket fire covered remarkably accurately, undoubtedly after prolonged intelligence gathering and precise calculations.
Towering flas and rolling thick smoke clawed the sky, staining it with a sickly dark red, completely illuminating the previously sleeping earth and the terrified faces.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! All personnel to combat positions!!"
A Kurdish soldier, just awakened from sleep and without even putting on his helt properly, clutched his aging PKM general-purpose machine gun, and scrambled out of the low barrack tent.
As he caught sight of the "Liberation Forces" militian and Abu You Brigade fighters driving pickups equipped with heavy machine guns and recoilless rifles rushing in from all directions under the light of the explosions, he was bewildered, his mind blank, completely unable to comprehend what was happening before him.
This is not "1515" ard forces at all!
These are Illigo people and Kurd people of the sa lineage!
"What's happening?! Don't panic! Everybody, stay calm! Get into position, start fighting!"
A Kurd frontline small leader scread hoarsely at the radio, attempting to gather the frightened soldiers for effective resistance.
However, the radio was filled with noise, static, and similar frantic pleas and curses from other units.
It was all too late.
The attackers were prepared so thoroughly it was hopeless.
At the forefront of the attack sequence was Samir's carefully selected assault team.
They used the chaos and smoke from the explosions as cover, adopting skilled squad tactics to rapidly approach the Kurd people's positions.
The accurate shooters occupied high-ground points, calmly picking off exposed machine gunners and commanders with sniper rifles.
The demolitionists used rocket launchers and explosive charges to clear obstacles and strong firepower points one by one.
In the sky, several small comrcial-modified drones hovered ghost-like in the night sky.
Avoiding sparse anti-aircraft fire, they calmly fed real-ti high-definition images and thermal signal back to the command vehicle and artillery observers.
These "eyes in the sky" provided unprecedented precise coordinates guidance for the mortar positions and mobile rocket teams in the rear.
Often a Kurd people unit barely organized scattered resistance at a location, and within a minute, precise mortar shells or rockets would drop as if guided, extinguishing the sparks of resistance instantly.
The ard pickup teams of the Abu You Brigade utilized their high mobility advantage.
These simple battle vehicles, called "technical trucks," like scaldingly hot blades, used the vast terrain and road network, racing with amazing speed to maneuver, intercut, and slash, crazily attacking the already fragile and panic-stricken defense flanks and rear of the Kurd people.
The heavy machine guns on the vehicles spewed long tongues of fire, mowing down massed defending soldiers trying to assemble; recoilless rifles fired fiercely at any suspected command posts or vehicle assembly points.
"Hold on! We must hold on! Quick! Quickly request aid from Elbil headquarters! We need air support! We need armored unit support! Hurry!!"
The front-line Kurd commander shouted hopelessly and futilely in a channel filled with explosions, gunfire, screams, and radio noise.
He even heard the equally chaotic and incredulous voice from the other end of the line at Elbil headquarters—"Are you sure it's 'Liberation Forces' and Abu You Brigade? Not 'Conquest Front'? It's impossible!"
However, the only reply was even denser bombardnt coverage.
Many Kurdish soldiers hadn't even completely woken from their slumber, baffled amid the deafening explosions and widespread sweeping from all directions, they either were captured or lost their lives forever.
Most never fully understood who was attacking them, where they ca from.
So bunkers and solid fortifications put up stubborn resistance, but once the ard pickups got close, they were cleared one by one by Abu You Brigade fighters using cluster grenades and flathrowers.
The fragile defense system in the Kirkuk region crumbled like shattered glass under this sudden deadly strike.
In a re two hours.
The entire eastern Kirkuk defense line completely collapsed, and Samir's and Abu You Brigade's five thousand soldiers began advancing westward, sweeping forward as if into an unguarded realm.
However, within the Kirkuk defense areas, the Kurd Ard forces showed another scene—communications broke down, command failed, units fought independently, all personnel resembled lambs startled by wolves entering the pen, everything fell into chaos.
The three Kurd battalion-level units deployed on the eastern line were quickly encircled, cut off, or annihilated, with most surrendering without firing a shot.
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