On day one Ian had managed to drive off Mark and Russ's MiG27 air strike with his anti-aircraft defences. On day two the tables were turned. Ian's Andreivian Air Force L39 tried to bomb the Russian airborne troops on the airport perimeter. It was targeted by two SA-7s cunningly positioned by Mark. One of them rolled a 10 and...
... boom!
The lucky Russian SAM |
Meanwhile at the other end of Tcherbevan, Armenian commander Rob became the victim of his own indiscretion. On Sunday morning I'd placed a civilian figure next to Rob and said quietly, pointing to a name on a briefing sheet, "That's him".
"Oh, Serj Benkian?", Rob replied in a stentorian bellow heard halfway to Oldham. As a result, other eyes were cast about looking for the arrival on table of the Andreivian Armenian political leader.
Richard P and Jamie C were tasked with flying an airmobile mission on Sunday but when they launched, Richard decided to divert en route to complete an improvised snatch mission. In a fine example of inter-allied co-operation, his RAF Chinook HC3 was carrying American troops. Rather a lot of American troops.
Serj and bodyguards face the might of the 101st Airborne |
Before you could say "Diplomatic immunity", Serj was surrounded, his bodyguards were disarmed and he was bundled into the back of the Chinook to be spirited out of Tcherbevan. As a result the Armenians missed out on what would have been a healthy morale bonus for getting him into the Armenian Quarter.
And in the final action of the day Jamie launched an airstrike by a Jaguar...
... followed by a heli-borne assault on the roof of the former Italian embassy.
These troops would subsequently discover that the coaster moored at the nearby jetty contained an interrogation centre for the Government's political prisoners!
So having pissed off the Turks last time, NATO has at least balanced things up by annoying both the Armenians and the Government!