Qusay made a gesture, and all the soldiers who were still eating snake meat immediately picked up their weapons and followed him, stealthily approaching.
Hades carried the missile, thinking to himself that when the snake meat was chewed carefully, there was indeed a faint meaty fragrance amidst the fishy smell, much more delicious than field rations.
He warily glanced around; besides his own group, there were no other teams active. Qusay carefully stepped down into the knee-deep ruts. Below them, a layer of bundled reeds had been laid. Although it had been washed away by last night's heavy rain, he could still see the unique tracks left by treads, with broken branches mixed with mud, effectively increasing the vehicles' passability.
So the Persians weren't stupid after all, to have come up with such a method! Qusay admired them somewhat. In impassable areas, using dry reeds to pad the bottom could increase passability. This method is still used in some rural areas of China today; it's simple yet practical.
Since there were enemy tracks here, by following them, they would surely be able to trace the hidden Persian tank unit.
More importantly, finding these tracks finally confirmed his previous judgments: the Iranians indeed intended to pass through here and stab the Iraqi army fiercely in the rear.
His purpose for coming here had finally been achieved. God bless.
"Quick, follow this path, and we'll find the Iranian armored cluster," Qusay said.
The other members of the special forces also understood everything and couldn't help but admire their leader; he was simply divine, having indeed found traces of the Iranians.
The fatigue of the past few days was swept away, and they were all full of energy, following Qusay along the tracks, moving forward.
In some places, the heavy rain had almost erased the tracks, but those bundled reeds ruthlessly exposed the correct direction. Rajavi probably never dreamed when using these reed bundles that they, which helped his armored forces pass, would completely destroy their dream of attack.
Qusay didn't know that by taking the wrong path, they had inadvertently bypassed the enemy's very close base and reached the eastern part of the swamp almost at the border. On their way back west, they would definitely have to traverse the east-west swamp, which would happen to intersect with the enemy's advance route.
"What? Qusay is missing? How can you be a brigade commander?" In Basra, Izzat roared with rage upon hearing the news over the phone.
Idiots, truly a bunch of idiots. He shouldn't have agreed to Qusay joining the army in the first place. This Qusay, lately, seemed to have become a different person, constantly stirring up trouble.
Muhammad was full of grievances but dared not speak them. Which of these people dared he offend?
His Excellency Qusay, that was President Saddam Hussein's son. If he said something, would he dare to utter half a word of disagreement? Moreover, if the Iranians had indeed prepared an attack in that damned swamp, he would be the first to bear the brunt. Even if he luckily escaped from the battlefield, he wouldn't escape the court-martial. Who would care that he was resting at the time?
Searching the swamp was a must. His only mistake was not stopping His Excellency Qusay from taking his so-called Sidewinder Special Forces to personally scout the swamp. But with his status, dared he refuse?
A sudden heavy rain completely plunged Muhammad into a low point. Early the next morning, he dispatched a large number of troops to search the swamp, even losing several armored vehicles, but found nothing. He dared not delay any longer and immediately reported to the military region.
"His Excellency Qusay went to scout the swamp, where there might be an Iranian armored attack group. Who knew, it rained heavily last night, making the swamp difficult to traverse, so..." Muhammad said.
"Your unit's mission is to rest and, at the same time, ensure the safety of His Excellency Qusay. That damned swamp, and it rained heavily. Can you contact them by radio?" Izzat asked.
"We could contact them last night, but then we lost contact. Their armored vehicle might have broken down," Muhammad said.
"You fool, just wait to pack your bags and get out!" Izzat angrily hung up the phone. God bless, may nothing happen to His Excellency Qusay. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to explain it to the President.
"Immediately notify to dispatch a squadron of helicopters to scout the Susangerd Swamp and make sure to find His Excellency Qusay and the small team he leads," Izzat told his staff.
After speaking, he sat down in his chair, somewhat fatigued, and fell into thought. The biggest impression Qusay gave him this time was that his eyes had changed. Before, they were gloomy and silent; now, they had become somewhat cold-blooded and wise, a collection of contradictions.
He got lost in the swamp, and he had to send planes to search for him. It was as if this was his plan, the purpose being to make him send planes to search that area. Could there really be something hidden there?
Impossible. Iranian Chieftain Tanks absolutely couldn't pass through there. This was simply nonsense. Izzat dismissed these thoughts.
Abadan had been under siege for a year. He still needed to figure out how to take Abadan. Recently, for some unknown reason, the enemy's resistance seemed to have weakened. He could just transfer more troops and take Abadan as quickly as possible. If it weren't for Qusay's arrival, transferring the Thirty-Fifth Brigade would also have been a good option.
The huge five-bladed rotor had already begun to spin. Inside the massive fuselage, two rescue personnel were seated, and in the two bubble-like cockpits in front, two pilots had completed all pre-flight preparations.
This Mi-24 Attack Helicopter had the side painted to resemble a circling falcon. They were the famous Falcon Squadron, tasked with the search for His Excellency Qusay, a mission that had just come down from the military region.
Although it was a search mission, since it was still wartime and other dangers could be encountered at any time, the Mi-24's stub wings still carried two UV-32-57 rocket launchers, two AT-2 'Swatter' anti-tank missiles, and a 12.7mm four-barrel 'Gatling' machine gun mounted below the nose, capable of wide-range elevation and azimuth changes.
The Mi-24 was virtually invincible against enemy ground forces on the battlefield.
The main task of the Mi-24 was to open up advance routes for friendly tank units, clear anti-aircraft fire and various obstacles, and suppress enemy vanguard forces in airborne areas.
Hariri and Jabir were the lead aircraft of this flight squadron. Hariri was the pilot, and Jabir was the weapon operator.
Flying a helicopter is very complex, with control components mainly including the collective pitch, rudder pedals, and cyclic stick. The principles, however, are very simple.
A helicopter flies by the lift generated by the large disk on top, which is the main rotor, while the tail rotor primarily controls the helicopter from spinning in the air by providing lateral thrust to counteract torque. To fly forward, the main rotor and the fuselage are not parallel but tilted forward, providing rearward thrust to propel the helicopter forward.
Correspondingly, the collective pitch control stick changes the lift by altering the pitch angle of the rotor blades, achieving vertical ascent and descent – essentially increasing rotor power, similar to pressing the gas pedal in a car. The cyclic pitch control stick, or control stick, controls the tilt of the rotor through the swashplate, enabling horizontal movement – pushing the control stick forward makes the helicopter dip its nose and fly forward. The foot pedals change the pitch angle of the tail rotor blades via the spider mechanism, altering thrust to achieve turns. Pressing the left rudder pedal turns the helicopter left, and pressing the right rudder pedal turns it right. Through combined control, various helicopter flight maneuvers can be achieved. (This is just the simplest tutorial; flying is a serious profession and requires rigorous training.)
The two high-power turboshaft engines overhead began to start. The two engines are linked; if one is hit and destroyed, the other can still maintain some power, allowing the helicopter to escape danger.
After Hariri carefully checked all the instruments, everything was normal. He gently pulled the collective pitch with his left hand, and the massive Mi-24 rose vertically from the ground, soaring into the air.
After the three helicopters behind them had also taken off, they formed a diamond formation and proceeded towards the Susangerd Swamp to carry out the search and rescue mission.