Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 153 Exposure
Sure enough, the enemy's waiting was not without reason. The roar of fighter planes in the distance gradually rose, and the four MiG-4 fighter jets that took off from Satgerkh quickly flew towards the dilapidated castle on the slope.They carried 21mm rocket pods apparently for destroying tanks.

Yahini and the driver watched the enemy plane approaching from their respective hatches. They knew that the No. 221 tank would undergo a test in a few seconds. Now let's see if the place chosen by the commander is really so difficult to see .

The pilot on the MiG 21 squinted his eyes and searched for the target from the HUD. This is not a very good ground attack aircraft or bomber. In fact, this aircraft lacks advanced search equipment, and it is difficult to find well-concealed enemy equipment on the ground. , Too fast is not conducive to aiming, and the 57mm rockets are not accurate; but the Air Force can't get advanced aircraft to support the secondary front, so these MiG-21s of the Black Panther Squadron reluctantly flew here.

The colorful halo of the dazzling sunset enveloped the entire castle. The pilot could not see the tanks hiding in the long shadow of the turret under the shadow of the setting sun. The leader could only guess that in the shadow of the ruined walls, there might be some enemy artillery or Anti-tank missiles.He resolved to fire where he could and return to work.

"Turn on the weapon safety, and fire at the walls and towers of the ancient city. If you see a crowd, fire as appropriate, and don't take risks." The lead plane reminded the other three wingmen.

These MiG-21s have a set of simple ground attack sights. In fact, there is a shooting sight in the center of the HUD. This sight will change with the change of the pitch angle.If the depression angle is too large, this kind of aircraft is in danger of crashing, so shooting becomes extremely simple, and the hit is completely dependent on luck.

The lead plane was the first to fly over the castle at an altitude of 300 meters, and he was more confident at such an altitude.He lowered his head and adjusted the shooting mode to continuous fire. When he raised his head, the target was already very close. He slightly pressed the lever, and then pulled the trigger, tilting all 16 rockets to the target. It was a matter of luck if he could hit anything. .Other MiG-21s nearby did the same, and punched the two turrets and the wall on the front of this ancient architectural relic full of holes.

The three members of No. 221 hid in the tank and waited until the end of this round of attack. Accompanied by a series of huge explosions, the entire collapsed building covered the turret. During the violent shaking, the lighting in the turret stopped for a while, but soon It recovered soon, and after a while the explosion outside stopped, and it seemed to be all right.Yahini pushed hard on the top hatch, but found that it could not be opened at all, perhaps being held down by the falling wall.He knew that if the car couldn't move or the turret couldn't turn, it would be a fatal problem. He asked the driver to put it in gear and push it backwards a few times. Finally opened.

At this time, there were no Indian planes in the sky above the castle, and they probably went back to exchange business. No. 221 was half buried in the ruins, and the machine gun on the top was also damaged, but fortunately, the commander's sight was fine.The commander picked up the binoculars on his neck to watch, and the Indian straggler line in the distance began to move, moving forward like a wall.After a while, heavy mortar shells fell around the castle, but after a few rounds, the shelling became sparse.This verified his previous judgment that the enemy did not have strong artillery and had not yet discovered this lone tank.

"Sergeant, I found a command vehicle," the gunner said via the intercom channel.

"Very well, let's kill it first." The commander said while sitting on the turret.He tried his best to find the command vehicle from a row of T72s, a little fascinated.Driven by the motor, the turret turned suddenly, almost throwing Yahini off.Then there is the sound of the motor adjusting the height machine up and down.At this time, he followed the direction of the turret and saw the command T72K walking in the front. He could see that all these T72s were slowly charging forward at the first gear speed. Infantry, but the gas pedal of the tanker is still a little too big, maybe because he is afraid that the speed is too slow and easy to be hit.In this hot evening, it is enough for the infantry to run for several kilometers at this speed with their weapons on their shoulders.

"Very well, their infantry can't keep up." Yahini said, he planned to shoot a few shots and go down to the village to fight the enemy tanks. Enemy infantry is his taboo.

The commander of the car was talking, and glanced under the slope, and saw the wounded in Saleh's infantry company being carried out. It was obvious that the round of aerial beating just now had caused losses.

Yahini adjusted the call button on his chest to the outside of the car, and he had to tell the company commander a few more words:
"Listen, don't expose the firepower prematurely, and fire when you get closer. Also, don't foolishly shoot the tank from the front, you understand."

"Understood." Saleh replied impatiently, obviously dissatisfied with the sergeant's tone.

At this time, the muzzle of the artillery stabilized, and it seemed that the aiming of the Tahim command vehicle was completed.

"Aimed." came the voice below.

"Aim and shoot," said the sergeant, grabbing the cover quickly to keep from rolling off the turret.

With a loud bang, the tank shook back and forth.A slowly moving black spot in the distance suddenly stopped, then began to burn, and then exploded. It seemed that Tasim's technique was getting better, and he accurately hit a moving target 2 kilometers away in the first shot.

From the binoculars, Yahini could see that the enemy's entire skirmisher line stopped, seemingly stunned.

The turret moved to one side again, and Tasim found a new target.This time he aimed at a BMP-1 tank that had just appeared in the queue and was passing through at high speed.This kind of tank has weak armor and firepower, but it is sometimes more dangerous than the T72 tank, because their turret always carries a long-range anti-tank missile.

Yahini sat on the turret and waited for Tasim to fire. The bomb loader began to squeak and spin. It was obvious that Tasim intended to use a grenade that was behind.The short-barreled artillery of the BMP-1 tank started to fire and hit a house a few hundred meters away. Obviously, no real threat was found.

The main gun of the No. 221 tank opened fire again.Indian tanks were hit and then set ablaze.

Yahini quickly got into the turret and told the driver to reverse. In his plan, firing two shots at the same position was the limit, and now it was time to move.The tank rolled over the rubble and hid behind a section of the city wall that had not yet collapsed.Then it moved slowly along the city wall and drove towards the No. [-] shooting point selected by the commander. The enemy's mortars attacked again, but they were still scattered everywhere, aimless.

Commander Janaguri's command is indeed inappropriate. His current attack is somewhat nondescript. He neither launched a thunderous charge of tanks, nor concentrated artillery fire to cover the advance of infantry.In the end, the offense became the current nondescript mode. The tanks could not exert their speed, and the infantry was dragged back a lot.

After the enemy's artillery fire settled down, Yahini quietly jumped out of the tank and walked to a pile of rubble to observe. His practice of leaving the tank often made his companions a little dissatisfied, but sitting in the car, his vision would indeed be affected. restrictions, and he is most afraid of losing control of the battlefield situation.

The Indian tanks were evading to both sides at this time, probably because the short-term firing just now made them mistakenly believe that the shooting range of the direct fire point on the hill can only hit the target in the middle.

"What are you still dawdling about? Quick, come here." Yahini waved his hand at the tank behind him, signaling it to move forward a few feet and stick out the barrel.

The tank slowly stopped at the edge of the rubble, and the sergeant lightly jumped onto the vehicle body from a high place to grab the turret, and then slid into it. He was probably the busiest person on the entire defense line, and he had already entered and exited a lot all over.

"Hit them in the side."

In the director's instrument, Yahini guided the gunner to the first new target, and then he began to look for the second target with determination.The enemy tanks have already reached a range of 1.5 kilometers. If they let go of their hands and feet and accelerate, they can rush over in one fell swoop. There is a dead end for No. 221 under the slope.However, due to the order from above, the tank troops of the 16th Division could only drive slowly in this open land.The Indian staff officers will be subject to a lot of dogma when making plans, so this battle has almost returned to the era of World War II.To some extent, it was Tahim's armor-piercing bullet that killed the deputy commander of the division last night, which made the staff of the division staff go from one extreme of self-confidence to another extreme of conservativeness.

"Okay, aim."

"beat!"

Amidst the loud sound of gunfire, Tahim could see the shells flying towards the target from the sight.For him, it was a slow process.The shell hit the rear of the car and entered the engine compartment, and soon thick smoke rose from the rear, apparently the engine was dead.

"Hits," he yelled, but the turret turned before he could see if any of his crew were fleeing.A flashing arrow directed the gunner to another new target Yahini had designated.The target this time is a bit positive, but after the recent shootings, the protection capabilities of these Indian tanks without reactive armor are very average. In fact, No. 221 was hit once 20 hours ago, but the enemy's The shell did not penetrate the front armor, and the tungsten-core long-rod armor-piercing projectile fired by the No. 221 gun of the same caliber has no record of not being able to penetrate it so far.

"Avoid the slope, do you hear me?" the commander said. He was searching the battlefield at this time, and he was not watching the gunner take aim, but he just liked to point fingers.

"Okay, look at mine." Gunner Tasim pressed the launch button.

Due to the smoke released by the Indian tank itself, the white light observation was affected, and it was impossible to capture the firepower point in the first place.However, the huge flame of the second shot of No. 221 was still captured by the Indian tank, at the cost of losing another tank.

Indian tanks stopped firing and aiming one after another (these tanks have poor fire control and have a relatively low hit rate while traveling).Seeing that the situation was not good, Yahini quickly ordered the driver to reverse.During the retreat, several 125mm artillery pieces of the enemy still fired at the tank, and most of them hit the nearby ruins. However, at the moment when the No. 221 tank was about to retract to the bunker, there was still one shot The shell hit the left fender.The three of them could hear a terrifying crashing sound, followed by a huge shaking of the car body, but the car did not stop, and it still moved forward reluctantly, and the explosion suppression system inside the car body was not triggered, indicating that the enemy's shells did not penetrate the car body. , perhaps from just hitting a less lethal spot.However, Saad still felt a little awkward going backwards. He knew that the blow just now was not harmless, and it must be that a road wheel was broken.The loss of a road wheel will definitely affect the mobility of this car, but it can only make up for it for the time being.

(End of this chapter)