The snake meat eaten in the morning had long since been digested, and hunger began to gnaw at his stomach again.
Fortunately, there were some cans of beef on the truck. Canned food in this era wasn't like in later generations; back then, when they said 'meat,' it was actually mostly flour and starch mixed with some synthetic stuff called meat essence. It tasted like meat, but in reality, there wasn't even a scrap of bone in it.
The beef cans now were filled with large chunks of beef, processed so they wouldn't get stuck in one's teeth. Eating half a can was almost enough to feel full.
Qusay sat in the passenger seat of the lead truck, watching a base gradually approach.
He couldn't help but marvel at how the Persians had found it. This location was simply perfect—surrounded by marshes, yet here was a small patch of highland with hard soil and relatively open space.
Through his binoculars, he could see rows of neatly arranged fuel tankers and ammunition trucks from a distance. Those were the logistical support that sustained tank operations. As long as those off-road trucks were blown up, the Persians would have to walk back to Ahvaz.
Because it was covered with protective netting, if viewed from the sky, it would look like a uniform marsh and be impossible to discover.
However, looking at this massive logistical convoy, he saw only one Chieftain Tank undergoing repairs and a few scattered armored vehicles.
A few guards were tensely guarding the base, with several heavy machine guns set up at the intersection.
Qusay secretly rejoiced. If they had come here on foot, not to mention the energy it would have consumed, the key was that they wouldn't have had enough capability to blow this place up. Now it was different; they had become regular 'Iranian soldiers,' driving off-road trucks with a Chieftain Tank following behind.
With the prepared calculating against the unaware, this base was their free dinner.
By this time, the sun was already setting in the west, and golden radiance bathed the entire marshland, shrouding the base in a layer of strange colors.
"Halt!" At the outermost sentry post, two tall Iranian soldiers began to question them: "Which unit are you from?"
"Transportation Company, 4th Battalion, 52nd Brigade, 32nd Armored Division of the Iranian Revolutionary Army. Executing the Brigade Commander's orders to rescue a Chieftain Tank stuck in the marsh outside," Hades said in fluent Persian.
The sentry took a couple of looks and saw a Chieftain Tank following behind the two trucks. The Chieftain's turret was covered in mud, clearly having been rescued with great effort.
"The fighting has already started up ahead, why are you just getting back?" the sentry said. "Hurry up and refuel at the tankers, then go to the front line and give the Iraqis a good thrashing!"
Looking at his expression, it was as if he felt regret for not going to the front line, leaving the wish to thrash the Iraqis to the Chieftain.
"allah bless us, we're going right now," Hades said.
The sentry moved the barricade, and the two off-road trucks drove into the base one after another.
Upon entering the base, Qusay found that those fuel tankers had already started their engines and were preparing to drive out in another direction.
Just in time! Qusay knew those tankers were definitely going to resupply the Chieftains.
With the offensive of large-scale armored groups, fuel resupply was a critical issue. If fuel could not be replenished in time, the armored group would lose its combat effectiveness.
In later years, when Qusay participated in military exercises, he knew the importance of this resupply, especially for tanks using gas turbines, which needed replenishment every three or four hours. The most common method was direct refueling from a tanker; the corresponding tankers were also quite specialized, equipped with fuel pumps and multiple long fuel nozzles to refuel several tanks simultaneously.
More advanced methods involved laying refueling hoses directly from field fuel depots to the location, using pipes to transport fuel. As a special forces member, he had once been tasked with the heavy responsibility of guarding such a pipeline.
Now, seeing those tankers preparing to drive out, he knew the Chieftains at the front were starting to get hungry.
Want to eat? Not a chance.
"Marwan, take out the first fuel tanker," Qusay said over the radio to the Chieftain Tank behind him.
At this moment, the tanker convoy had already driven onto that gray road. Since the sky had darkened, Qusay hadn't noticed that it was a temporary concrete road.
"Understood." Marwan, driving the Chieftain, had already entered the base. He had originally wanted to make the Chieftain undergoing repairs his first target, but was ordered by Qusay to trouble the refueling convoy first.
The Chieftain's turret began to rotate, and that thick gun barrel rose.
"Hey, what are you doing?" A sentry noticed something was wrong. This Chieftain didn't stop in its fixed position as usual; it was driving forward while its turret was rotating.
"Da, da-da." The soldiers on the second off-road truck all leaned out and fired fiercely at the sentries outside.
In an instant, he was riddled with bullets like a beehive.
At this moment, all the Iranians knew a battle had broken out—their base was being ambushed!
The soldiers responsible for sentry duty in the bunkers reacted first, and heavy machine gun fire immediately swept toward them.
"Boom!" A High-Explosive Shell flew out of the Chieftain's muzzle. It didn't hit the first tanker, but instead struck the empty ground beside it.
Because none of them had ever operated an Iranian Chieftain Tank before, to achieve this kind of accuracy on the first shot was already quite good.
That was why they had chosen High-Explosive Shells.
To deal with different targets, one needs to choose different types of ammunition. To deal with enemy tanks, only Armor-Piercing Shells and High-Explosive Squash Head Shells can be used. To deal with large areas of personnel, High-Explosive Shells are primarily used. Armor-Piercing Shells eliminate enemies by penetrating armor, while High-Explosive Shells rely mainly on shrapnel fragmentation to kill.
If an Armor-Piercing Shell was used, as long as it didn't hit the tanker, it would have no lethality. High-Explosive Shells were different; although the shell didn't score a direct hit but exploded nearby, the massive air pressure had already overturned the first tanker, and scattered fragments shot into the tanker's fuel tank.
"Boom!" A massive flare of fire erupted from the tanker as the diesel fuel loaded inside exploded violently.
Diesel is not easy to ignite, but inside a fuel tanker, there is already a certain amount of oil vapor (a mixture of evaporated diesel and air). Thus, once the critical point for combustion is reached, it will burn.
Large-scale combustion within a confined space is an explosion.
The brilliant firelight was set against the evening glow.
"Clang, clang!" Qusay only felt a few bullets hit the off-road truck he was in.
Fortunately, it was a military truck with some bulletproof capability. Qusay shouted into the radio: "Attention, focus on destroying the fuel trucks and ammunition here!"
The two vehicles turned back and forth, dodging the assault of enemy bullets.
The Chieftain finally recovered. The coaxial machine gun on the turret kept firing at the Iranian infantry rushing over. Meanwhile, the cannon aimed once again at the Chieftain parked for repairs. At this moment, the opponent had already started their engine and was preparing for a duel.
This time it has to hit! Marwan thought to himself.
"Armor-Piercing Shell, ready."
Rajavi would absolutely never have imagined that while he was fighting a bloody battle at the front, his backyard had already caught fire.