Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 136
On the outskirts of Baharpur, Pakistan's Punjab province, the scorching sun still scorched the white desert.A lone tank is parked askew on the side of the road.Sergeant Yahini and his 211 crew were given a punitive security mission because of their cleverness during the exercise. Their superiors ordered them to point their guns at the east and monitor the endless desert. They could not return to the camp to rest. I can only stare at a yellow sofa 2.5 kilometers away from the battalion headquarters. The temperature here will remain above 40 degrees Celsius before nightfall. In the long shadows to the east.

"Your behavior this morning has annoyed the company commander, and may ruin your career. He dislikes soldiers who disobey orders." Gunner Tahim said.

"No way? I just want to make the exercise as close as possible to actual combat." Sergeant Yahini replied indifferently, promotion to sergeant is not what he wants most right now, and it is what he wants to let him go to the north to fight a battle. The most yearning, so he doesn't care much about the future.

"I heard that they will let you go to the baggage camp to drive a fuel tanker, or to drive a repair vehicle in the mechanic maintenance unit." Saad, the driver sitting on the other side of the commander, said immediately.His words made Yahini's heart skip a beat. This was indeed the thing he was most afraid of. He had always worried that he would miss this war.Aki, you have been imagining that years later, when his grandson asked him about his actions during the war, he would have to cough a few times to change the subject, or try to cover it up——At that time, a car was installed in a place where the sound of gunfire could be heard Tires, or kneading noodles day and night in the cooking class.Such a scene scares him just thinking about it.

"No, they won't let the most skilled commander do the repairs," said the sergeant.

"Come on, the company commander said that discipline is the most important thing in the army, and the army has no shortage of undisciplined people. He said more than once that a commander who lacks discipline will drag everyone down." The gunner said lightly. The commander had long been dissatisfied with his arbitrariness, but direct criticism is always inappropriate, so he decided to use the company commander's words to beat Sergeant Yahini.

"The company commander has only been to China, so he thinks that discipline is the only thing that matters." The commander retorted angrily.

The gunner was about to speak, and there was a faint roar in the depths of the desert. As the sound became louder, a black shadow whizzed past his head.

"What the hell is this?"

"Looks like... an airplane," said Tasim, who had never seen an airplane fly so low before.Low enough to see the bombs under the wings and the Indian emblem.

The three of them were a little overwhelmed, did not respond, and continued to sit there in a daze.Until a huge explosion came from behind.

"What's going on? It seems to be the direction of the arsenal."

Yahini stood up suddenly, and he walked around the huge turret with the help of the tank's tracks, heading towards the place where the smoke was rising.

"It's not an ammunition depot. I remember it...is the temporary headquarters." The sergeant said dully, the flames rising from a distance didn't look like an ammunition depot. In his memory, it should be the temporary headquarters and a Radar trailers huddled together.

"Could it be the Indian Air Force? How do they know the location of the temporary headquarters?" asked the dull gunner.

"I don't know, maybe there are traitors in the division."

As soon as the words fell, the howling sounds from the east passed overhead one after another, and several planes flew over the desert at low altitude, and also flew over the head of this lone tank.The planes headed straight for the flames rising ahead, and then scattered before the eyes of the tankers.

The aerial bombs were dropped on several places hundreds of meters away from the target just now. The sergeant remembered that one of them was a Sidewinder missile position. During the whole process, those surface-to-air missiles did not return fire, perhaps because of the first round of attacks. Just kill that radar.

Several black spots in the sky began to turn. Those were Indian MiG-27UPG attack aircraft painted in khaki desert camouflage. Now they finished throwing their ammunition and were ready to turn and return.One of them was obviously still thinking about the Khalid tank parked at the intersection, and it broke away from the fleet and turned sideways.At about a kilometer away, it began to adjust altitude and speed, and finally it aimed at the tank and leveled the aircraft.During the whole process, the three tank soldiers were lying on the edge of the chassis, watching it getting closer and closer.

"Run. He's going to fire," Ciani yelled.

Several people hurried away from the tank and ran towards a bunker.I heard that the Indian plane behind me had begun to fire.With a series of long strafing shots, the shells it fired created a sand curtain several meters high on the sand.Even though all three jumped into the bunker in time, they still splashed a neck of sand.The arrogant fighter waved its wings and chased its formation eastward. Obviously, the pilot saw the tank crew fleeing in a panic, which probably made him quite proud.

The three looked around speechlessly. This was the first time they had ever raced against death. Yahini slowly climbed out of the bunker, and in front of him was a long series of huge craters with a diameter of about one meter. He walked slowly to the side of the tank and found the tank The turret was only hit once, and the blow left a shallow crater on the turret, and the sighting equipment above it was intact.The fender on one side was hit by another shell, but it didn't matter, the No. 4 storage box on the track was penetrated, and the bullet hole was smoking.The commander opened the penetrating storage box and found a distorted warhead from a pile of broken tools. It was just an ordinary 23mm aircraft gun shell, not an armor-piercing shell. The enemy's purpose was obviously just to tease them.It was the first time in his life that he saw the enemy, and the enemy opened fire on him.

"Brothers, I have a bad feeling..."

He was interrupted by a hissing sound from the turret, apparently a new radio connection, and the sergeant jumped onto the tank, entered the turret as fast as he could, and put on his tank helmet.

"This is Panshi 221."

"Great, you are still here. This is the battalion headquarters, and I am Battalion Commander Younis. I ask the 221st vehicle crew and other vehicle crews to quickly advance to the high ground near Fort Delaware and prepare for defense."

The place mentioned on the radio is 75 kilometers away. A long time ago, there was a small oasis in the desert, where desert travelers rested. A defensive area on the edge.But for the 211 car group with insufficient fuel, this is really a reluctant order.

"But, where is it 80 kilometers away?" Yahini replied, his brain was a little blank, and it was difficult for him to adapt to the sudden change.

"It's war now, and the desert under your feet will soon become a battlefield, Sergeant, this is not a fucking exercise." The person on the other end of the radio station suddenly became excited, and the battalion commander's words immediately woke up and he was still in a daze Xiani, the battle he had been longing for really came before him, but he was still dizzy.

"But the ammunition and fuel consumed in the exercise in the morning have not been replenished..."

"I'll say it again, it's a war now, not an exercise planned by the division staff. Hurry up and act according to the order. When you arrive at the location, wait for necessary supplements."

"Understood, Panshi 211 will execute the order immediately."

"Young man, I remind you that Indian ground troops may cross the border from all directions after sunset, turn on the night vision equipment, and you are welcome to see them."

"understand!"

"Another thing is that a tank company of the 16th Infantry Division will arrive near Fort Delaware at about the same time. We have not yet grasped their specific location. Their Ukrainian tanks and Indian T72 tanks are in the It’s hard to identify in appearance. Make the trick brighter, and carefully see the small flag on the antenna.”

"clear."

The captain hung up the call and took a deep breath.He told himself again that it was finally time for a big fight. Although he also knew that it would be quite difficult to distinguish a T72 or T84 one kilometer away from the night vision device, he was confident that he would have no problem if he went out. .

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and start the engine." The captain raised his head and shouted.After a few seconds, the other two members also quickly got into the tank. They obviously haven't fully adapted to the sudden change, but Yahini, like a seasoned veteran, has quickly switched roles .

The driver pressed the ignition button, and the diesel engine of the No. 211 tank began to roar.The lone tank moved in a simple straight line toward its goal.Although the captain and other members were still wondering, why did the Indians suddenly choose this unshitty place to break through?But no one wants to ask such unnecessary questions in the noisy tanks. Now that everything has happened, what they have to do now is to block the Indian Army's attack.

Along the way, Yahini has been using the inter-vehicle radio to find other tanks of the 17th Battalion nearby. They should be nearby, but they have not been found.Outside the tank, the sound of explosions from far and near has never stopped.Yahini realized that he had been playing tricks during his drills, desperately trying to show how naive he was to be different.Because the real war is far more complicated than imagined.Now all companions are really out of touch, instead of deliberately dumping them themselves.To make matters worse, car No. 221 sailed to an unknown battlefield without enough ammunition and fuel.

"You shouldn't have wasted 8 precious fin-stabilized shells this morning. Now we don't have enough armor-piercing shells." Gunner Tasim couldn't help mentioning this fact again. Indian tank, but there is no armor-piercing bullet in hand, and many dissatisfaction with the commander once again came to my heart.

"I must be familiar with the ballistic characteristics of armor-piercing projectiles. If the fire control equipment is damaged, I need to manually set it." Yahini continued to deny it. In fact, he was more regretful than the gunner. Now there are 12 guns in the automatic loader. Send armor-piercing bullets and 10 rounds of grenades, and the rest of the ammunition storage box is all grenades and armor-piercing shells. If you encounter infantry or lightly armored targets, you can still make up for it. Once you encounter an enemy T90S equipped with reactive armor, within a few minutes The long rod armor-piercing projectile will be lighted up.Can they really be replenished as promised by the battalion commander when they arrive at the destination?He was deeply suspicious.

(End of this chapter)