by Dale Brown
said. "Only thirty-two long-range strike aircraft, most of which are
over forty years old? I see no substantial threat."
"Their medium-range bombers and fighters are also a threat because of
their aerial-refueling capability, sir, " Captain Sun replied. "And we
should not underestimate the payload capability of the B-52. Fully
armed, they can carry twenty-four Harpoon antiship missiles, which can
strike from as far as one hundred and fifty kilometers-"
"Yes, the heavy bombers are a threat, Captain, " Admiral Yin said, "but
once we secure Davao Airport, we can launch twenty fighters for every
one of their bombers. The odds are clearly in our favor. The closest
American air base on Okinawa is almost sixteen hundred kilometers from
Manila, and the American air base on Guam is over two thousand
kilometers from Davao. Even if the Americans were granted permission to
use the British air base at Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, that is still
eight hundred kilometers to Zamboanga and twelve hundred kilometers to
Davao-plenty of time to organize our air, ground, and surface defenses.
Once reliable radar earlywarning networks are established around the
Philippines, no American planes would be able to approach any Chinese
positions without being detected.... "The key, however, is our impending
attack on Davao. What is the status of our forces and the status of our
operation against Davao?" Yin asked. "The Admiral's headquarters fleet
afloat reports fully operational, " Captain Sun replied. "All vessels
report fully manned, ready, and combat-capable, with no operational
defects. "The schedule briefed yesterday is still valid, sir, " Captain
Sun continued. "At two A.M. tomorrow morning, Marine paratroopers will
land on the coast outside the city of Davao and secure the Subasta and
Sibuyan highways. Other Marine units will take Talikud Island and seal
off the coastal towns of Samal and Bangoy on Samal Island. This will
allow the minesweepers to enter Dadaotan Bay ahead of the destroyers and
landing craft transports, without fear of attack in the narrow channel."
That was the same objective during the invasion of Zamboanga, when the
heavily populated Santa Cruz Channel had to be sanitized before Yin's
fleet could take up positions, except then they had more air power
flying from Puerto Princesa and the element of surprise. That was gone
now-unlike Zamboanga, Davao was ready for a siege. Many things were
different between Davao and the relatively easy siege of Zamboanga.
Davao was the heart of the Samar government and the capital of the
autonomous proIslamic government on Mindanao. Few officials and
residents here were from Luzon-although Davao had as much natural beauty
as Zamboanga and was the largest city on Mindanao, with a population of
over seventy-five thousand, it was considered an isolated, remote,
untamed frontier town and never gained the popularity of its more
contemporary sister city to the west. Davao had no large military base,
so there was no large-scale government facility from which to stage a
"popular revolt." Nevertheless, Yin was determined to see Davao fall.
"By five A.M. the destroyers should be in place, and the LSTs will
begin deploying landing craft, " Sun continued. "The Air Force will
move in to soften the beach area, and the destroyers with their escorts
and shallow-draft patrol craft will secure the bay and harbors and
provide gun support for the landing craft. The landing should begin at
six A.M. and should be complete by eleven. Sometime tomorrow afternoon,
perhaps earlier, Samar International Airport will be ours. "The Air
Force will continue to patrol the area, especially the six private
airstrips within fifty kilometers of Samar International-these are known
marshaling areas and resupply points for the Samar militia. Army troops
should have these areas secured by day after tomorrow, along with the
Cadeco River valley. General Yuhan's forces should have also secured the
radar site on Mount Apo and the Cagayan Highway to the north. With the
Mount Apo radar site, we can scan the region for almost five hundred
kilometers in all directions-we can detect a flock of birds or a group
of whales approaching the Philippines. "Once this is accomplished, Group
One can begin patrols of the east Celebes Sea and provide escorts for
supply vessels entering Davao Gulf. Group Three can begin resupply
sorties to Davao via sealift until the Davao-Cotaban Highway is secure
or until the area around Samar International Airport is secure and we
can begin airlifting in supplies. We have no firm timetable on this as
of yet, however. Our best option is to secure the sea-lanes for
resupply until substantial numbers of troops are in place on Mindanao-it
may take as long as a month. "We can reasonably expect the fall of Davao
to split the rebel forces into at least three separate groups, located
roughly on the east coast, the southern coast, and the north-central
parts of Mindanao, " Sun concluded. "This will reduce their ability to
fight and dramatically disrupt their own resupply chain. We will force
them into more and more austere conditions and reduce their ability to
fight." Yin nodded thoughtfully. He was impressed with Sun's briefing.
If Sun had started briefing tactics and weapons, Yin would have been
upset and concerned. Tactics and weapons did not win invasion
campaigns-logistics won invasions. Everything his fleet and ground
troops did ultimately had to open and secure supply lines or the
invasion was doomed to failure. They were going to pour thousands of men
and millions of tons of warships into Davao just to be able to land a
few cargo aircraft at the airport or dock a supply ship in the harbor.
Sun's briefing emphasized resupply-that was the way it should be. If
the supply lines were cut, he was doomed. "Excellent, Captain Sun, "
Admiral Yin said, bowing from the neck. "I congratulate you and your
staff for a well-organized plan, and I wish us all success. Now tell me
about areas in which we are weakest."
"I see two areas of concern for this operation, sir, " Captain Sun
replied. "Both relate to the remote possibility of counterattack from
American or ASEAN forces. "First, our close air support and fighter
aircraft must launch from Zamboanga Airport-Cotabato Airport is still
not secure enough for aircraft operations because of rebel activity.
This means our fighters must fly four hundred kilometers one-way to
reach Davao Gulf, and almost six hundred kilometers to intercept bombers
carrying antiship missiles capable of hitting our warships in Davao
Gulf. With the return trip and combat reserves, this leaves almost no
loiter time for all our aircraft."
"Why was a plan not developed to secure the airport at Cotabato?" Yin
asked angrily. "It was a major part of our invasion operation. You had
several days and plenty of support, Captain-why am I now being told it
is not safe to use this airport?"
"Sir, as I mentioned before to you, we depleted the reserve forces of
Group Two to dangerous levels during the assault
on Cotabato, " Sun
replied. "As you know, we had to abandon our patrols of most of the
Sulu Archipelago and create the hundred-kilometer safe zone around
Zamboanga to form the invasion fleet for the Cotabato operation. It was
barely enough for the job. We have taken the airport at Cotabato, but
the staff and I agree that it is not wise to count on using it for the
Davao operation. It is suitable as a landing base, and our aircraft
recovering there can be refueled, but. . "Can we not rearm our fighters
and attack planes there as well?" Sun shook his head reluctantly. "We
deemed it too danger ous to ship massive amounts of rockets, bombs, and
missiles to Cotabato, sir, " he replied. "Fuel trucks and bladders make
poor targets for guerrillas with mortars or RPGs, but bomb dumps or
parked cargo aircraft make convenient and inviting targets. Guerrilla
attacks are too frequent "Curse you, I should have been advised of all
this sooner!" Yin exploded. He waved his hand irritably at Sun.
"Continue, Captain. What other difficulties do you envision?" Sun
swallowed hard before continuing: he had previously briefed Admiral Yin
on the problems with air cover if Cotabato was not secured, and now he
was being blamed for not telling him; he had also briefed Yin on the
next topic, and it appeared likely that Yin was going to forget about
being advised of this as well. "Sir, with the destroyers moving to the
north Davao Gulf and their escorts taking their positions to support the
landing, we have decreased our air coverage of the eastern Celebes Sea
to a dangerous level, " Sun said. "What air attacks are you concerned
about, Captain?" Yin asked. "The American aircraft carrier is out of
position, it cannot launch its strike aircraft, and no other carriers
are within range... "The land-based bombers are our biggest threat, sir,
" Sun replied. "The American Air Battle Force has been on the island of
Guam ready to strike..."
"The Americans will not use the heavy bombers against us, " Yin said.
"Our intelligence reports stated that the American President did not
even want those bombers there. Besides, you reported that the Americans
had only a handful of bombers there, less than thirty-is that not so . .
?"
"The count is accurate, sir, " Sun acknowledged, "but each can carry a
number of Harpoon antiship missiles and bombs..."
"They have to get close enough to use them first, " Yin snapped. "Even
one of our small patrol boats can destroy a Harpoon missile in flight.
And the closer those bombers come to Davao during the invasion, the more
effective our antiaircraft guns become." Sun paused momentarily. Yin
seemed to have an answer for everything. Sun did not dispute his
commander's thoughts, but he was being extraordinarily confident of his
own fleet's power and recklessly unconcerned about the American Air
Force's power. I agree with you, sir, " Sun said slowly, "but I think
it would be wise to augment our air-defense preparations by moving the
Hong Lung and some of its antiair-equipped escorts to the eastern
Celebes Sea area. That would give us four ships with surface-to-air
missiles and four more ships with large-caliber radar-guided
antiaircraft guns. Zamboanga is secure-our presence is not needed
here." Yin thought about the suggestion, and he liked it-Sun would make
a fine fleet commander one day. The Hong Lung was one of the most
powerful ships in the world, well suited for both antiair as well as
antiship operations. It was also a very potent weapon for simple
show-of-force, but since Yin liked to keep his warships mostly out of
sight of the local population, it wasn't doing much good as a weapon of
intimidation in Zamboanga. His shore setups here were in place and
operating well-it was time the Hong Lung, the Red Dragon, got back into
the fight. "An excellent suggestion, Captain, " Yin said. "I want one
vessel to remain here, positioned so residents of the city can see it
clearly; the rest of the Fleet Master will accompany the ong Lung to the
battle area. Choose your escorts and alert the fleet: we sail
immediately for the eastern Celebes Sea." Sun looked much more
pleased-it was obvious he disagreed with Yin's estimation of the
American air threat-and he owed to acknowledge the order. "If there is
nothing else, ublish the orders and proceed." His flag staff stood,
bowed, nd exited the office. Yin was alone in his office for several
minutes when his xecutive officer knocked. "Sir, you have a visitor:
Philippine resident Daniel Teguina. He is requesting a short meeting
with you in private." Yin had to struggle to maintain his composure.
What in hell oes Teguina want with me... ? Since the coup, Teguina had
ealt exclusively with the People's Liberation Army Supreme ommander,
High General Chin Po Zihong, on any military atters; otherwise he dealt
with Dong Sen Kim, the ambassa dor to the Philippines, or to the Foreign
Minister directly. Just a few weeks earlier, Teguina would have gladly
kissed Yin's feet if he had helped him with his coup-now that the coup
was completed, Teguina was actually starting to believe the myth about
China just assisting Teguina to defeat the "rebels" and save his
country. "Tell him I'm too... never mind. I'll meet him. Have this
room cleaned and coffee and pastries served. . . and put his flags
back, too, his stupid Aguinaldo flag and the Sulu flag. And make sure
our conversation is recorded and the video cameras ar derision if the
coup fails. Accompanied by a heavily armed Marine guard, Admiral Yin
made his way to the quarterdeck and onto the receiving area. He was
kept waiting as several escort vessels made their way toward the Chinese
destroyer, under the careful scrutiny of deck-gun crews. An honor guard
was quickly assembled, and several crewmen were positioned on the port
rail, standing at parade rest, as Teguina's liaison craft approached.
Teguina's boat was stopped several times and inspected before being
allowed to dock at the Hong Lung's boarding platform, and the new
Philippine President started up the stairs. The honor guard snapped to
attention, and a broadcast was made on the public address system
announcing the arrival of the Philippine President. Yin forced himself
to raise a hand to the brim of his cap in salute. Teguina ignored the
Chinese colors and Yin's salute. "I must speak with you immediately,
Admiral, " Teguina said without preamble. "By all means, Mr. President,
" Yin's interpreter replied. He quickly translated both Teguina's words
and his own hasty reply for the Admiral, and Yin scowled darkly as he
followed Teguina through the quarterdeck doors. A few moments later
they were in Yin's flag briefing room. "The Admiral wishes to extend his
warmest greeting to the President of the Democratic Federation of
Aguinaldo, " Yin's interpreter said in English. "The Admiral considers
it a great honor that you have come for a visit and wishes to offer
you... Teguina started talking, a long, completely unintelligible
diatribe. The interpreter tried to tell Yin what the man was saying bu
t
was stopped by a sudden outburst of anger as Teguina angrily spit out
his words. "He said he wants an explanation of why the Chinese
government has made an alliance with Vietnam for the Spratly Islands, "
the interpreter finally said. "He is angry that his country has lost
all rights to the Spratly Islands to the Vietnamese."
"What is he talking about?" Yin asked angrily. "We did not make a deal
with Vietnam for anything!"
"Mr. Teguina says that Vietnam abstained in a recent vote of the
Association of South East Asian Nations, " the interpreter said, "and
the rumor that was passed to the Aguinaldo government was that the
Chinese government made a deal with Vietnam to give them rights to the
Spratly Islands in exchange for blocking a key vote." Yin was about to
rebuff the accusation, but the words died in his throat. That had to be
the reason why he had heard the tremendous outcry from the ASEAN nations
concerning the Chinese invasion, yet nothing had been done-because two
nations, Thailand and Vietnam, abstained. High General Chin Po Zihong
must have lost a key argument in Beijing if he allowed the Nansha
Dao-what the world called the Spratly Islands-to fall back into
Vietnam's hands... Chin would never have allowed that to happen unless
his voice was firmly stilled by Premier Cheung. "I assure you, " Yin
calmly told Teguina, "that our alliance is firm and there is no
duplicity involved. The vote to censure us was defeated in ASEAN
because the members believe in what we're doing, not because of any
back-room deals, especially with the reprehensible Vietnamese
government..." But Teguina didn't seem to be waiting for the interpreter
to finish; he began lashing out more accusations. "He is saying that
his alliance is ruined, that the Chinese are out to get him, that he can
trust no one... "Calm yourself, Mr. President, " Yin said via the
interpreter. "We will brief you on our preparations for assisting your
forces to retake Davao, and we will give you a tour of our flagship. You
may even speak to our officers. They will all tell you that they fully
support your government in this struggle." That seemed to mollify
Teguina a little, and he allowed himself to be escorted out of Yin's
