Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 157 The Bridgehead

"Let the self-propelled mortars run to the bridge and fire flares on the other side. And the signal soldiers, hurry up to Hamble on a motorcycle to report this emergency. Say that the bridge has been breached." The colonel then issued a series of orders.Although his eyes are dark now, the colonel's thinking is still quick.Most bad commanders would choose to do nothing or simply run away in such a situation, but Majid was different from them. He knew that instead of waiting for him to be court-martialed, he might as well struggle desperately, maybe he would be able to win the battle. The unsteady enemy rushed back to the opposite bank.War is always chaos, and enemies make mistakes in chaos.

"Let the armored battalion attack the enemy, not let them expand their positions," said the colonel.His armored battalion does not have a tank, only some 28-ton infantry fighting vehicles produced by the Taxila Heavy Machinery Factory. infantry fighting vehicle.There is no doubt that the 113mm machine guns of these tanks cannot pose a threat to the T25. The only thing that can be counted on is the TOW missile on the turret.This is Majid's only bet now, he also knows that in short range street fighting, the enemy's artillery will have less preparation time and a larger field of fire than the old TOW missiles, they only need to turn the turret, and they don't even need to measure range launch, and the TOW missile requires long-term optical tracking, but there is no way but to fight.

"Air defense companies have to be on the lookout, their helicopters don't sit still."

"Should the air defense company be deployed to the river, where there is the best anti-aircraft range?" A staff officer asked, just now he had a short call with the special forces captain of the Indian army, and then found that the bridge had been lost.

"No, no, soon their direct firepower will cover the opposite bank, so it's too dangerous there. Deploy the Stinger on the surrounding tall buildings, and deploy the anti-aircraft guns on the street. If the enemy rushes into the urban area, they can shoot flat targets on the ground. block."

"clear."

"There is also the problem of communication, which is a big problem." Colonel Majid said. "We have to think of a way."

"I understand, I've already sent a communications soldier to check the line, and the communications company has a lot of motorcycles that can be used at any time..."

"No, Hassan, you still don't get it."

"But you are talking about the problem of communication interruption..."

"Phone lines don't cut themselves, do you see what I mean now?"

"I understand. You mean the enemy has sneaked in."

"That's right, you are my smartest subordinate. So, let the company directly under you and the military police company set up checkpoints all over the city to find all those spies and shoot them on the spot."

"But Colonel," Hassan wondered, "what if they are wearing our uniforms."

"You don't have to doubt this. They will definitely wear our uniforms. Check all the people who stay in the street and wear our uniforms. The focus is on those outside our brigade, those remnants who have confused numbers but still carry weapons, The guys who don't talk all the time, the guys who are looking around outside the headquarters, and the guys who seem to be smarter than you and me. Anyway, find out, understand?"

"I understand." Hassan turned and left the brigade headquarters in a panic, his slowness hurt the brigade commander very much.

It is 15 kilometers southwest of Sukkur, which is a mess.A group of behemoths is slowly moving forward.The stragglers on the road silently let go of the road, watching these brave chariots groping in the dark and driving towards the desperate battlefield, it was like watching a coffin being carried to the cemetery.

Sergeant Abad sat on the turret of the tank destroyer, looking at the defeated soldiers who had no fighting spirit in the farmland on both sides, feeling very uncomfortable.He never thought things would turn out like this.He was told by his superiors that the liaison officers who had arrived to wait for the garrison in the southwest area of ​​the city would lead his platoon to the designated defensive position, where there was a good field of fire and cover to open fire on the opposite bank.But radio contact was never restored, and the liaison officer never showed up.These four 4-type tank destroyers can only advance to Sukkur along the only road.But the road ahead has become more and more difficult. Since Indian planes have been continuously appearing over the highway all night to attack all targets, a long line of trucks have been destroyed in the middle of the road. These trucks and engineering vehicles have been It was burning fiercely, and ammunition was detonated from time to time, and they completely blocked the road.

Two more Indian fighter jets roared overhead, and the tail flames of the planes could be seen flickering in the dark night. It was obviously the plane returning after attacking Hamble.The sergeant knew that continuing to dawdle on this road would be bad or bad.

Five minutes later, the road was completely cut off, and the flames on the road extended to the distant river, and the sound of fierce firefights came from the direction of Sukkur.It seems that the Indians' offensive pace is one step faster this time. This is a bad situation. The sergeant knows that the defense line envisioned by the headquarters for the next 5 hours is on the bank of the river, and now it has become a bubble.

"What do we do?" Said the driver asked.

"What else can we do, we have to get there and try to recapture and help them recapture the defense line, they lack heavy firepower." Abad said. 2 months ago, he was a fitter in the Southwest. In a short period of time, he was continuously promoted from corporal to sergeant, from gunner to temporary commander, and now he is a temporary platoon leader. Among all the non-commissioned officers of the reserve forces temporarily recruited, they were the only ones who asked their superiors to fight.Even without any information, the sergeant knew that the enemy on the other side of the river was the most elite unit of the entire Indian Army and had complete air supremacy, but he also knew that Sukkur was very important, and even related to the entire southern Pakistani battle. So he can't escape.

"However, the road is impassable," said the driver.

"It can only be bypassed."

The rumbling explosions were getting closer and closer, and the Indian artillery on the other side had already started extended shooting. Large-caliber grenades kept falling on the farms and orchards on both sides of the road. Obviously, the enemy's goal was to block the road.The shelling really caused panic among the defeated soldiers near the road, and they panicked even more, huddled together and ran westward.This makes it even more difficult for the huge tank destroyer to move an inch.The sergeant knew that the platoon under his command had four of the most powerful anti-tank guns in the world, but now he was only a few feet away from the battlefield and could not move.

"Don't hesitate, drive under the road, let's walk from the farmland." The captain said into the intercom, and at the same time turned around, waved at the other cars behind, the communication was blocked, and these novices I can't quite understand the flashing lights behind, so sometimes I have to rely on primitive methods such as hand gestures or waving small flags to get in touch.

The huge tank destroyer began to move, smashing the steel fence, and then rushed across the one-meter-wide irrigation ditch to a nearby farm, plowing a sugarcane field to the ground.

As soon as the vehicle left the road, the Indian plane flew over the road and dropped cluster bombs.Abad has not seen a single Pakistani plane in the sky since the afternoon.

The battle in Sukkur City is still going on, and the Indian Rapid Forces, which captured the bridgehead, are constantly consolidating their chassis and expanding their new positions southward with the support of direct fire from the other side.There was even a bulldozer in the Indian assault group, which kept pushing the damaged tanks and broken walls of both sides to the front as cover, and their tanks returned fire to the incoming enemy firepower points.

In this bridgehead, the core is the two T90S tanks, each of which has been hit more than 10 times by shells of various calibers, but these two tanks have been standing under the approach bridge like indestructible gods. Almost destroyed the will of the enemy on the opposite side.The old TOW anti-tank missiles launched by the light armored vehicles sent by the garrison brigade were all deceived by its magical "Shitula" photoelectric interference system and could not hit the target, while the 90mm armor-piercing projectiles launched by the T125 could easily destroy all of Colonel Majid's tanks. car.

An anxious Majid ventured outside the headquarters to observe the enemy for himself.He could see the dark enemy convoy on the bridge advancing, and the enemy's follow-up troops were rushing across the river in a steady stream. This opening might not be blocked anymore. He felt that he was exhausted, and he turned to the staff behind him Just as the officer was about to say something, suddenly there was a violent explosion in the ammunition depot in the old city behind him. This was not caused by an air strike. Obviously, the hidden spies of the enemy were constantly destroying it.The colonel was completely in despair. He didn't know why the reinforcements and air force support hadn't arrived yet?

On the other side of the river, Lieutenant General Spanga, who was secretly resisting the front line, was observing the east bank of the Indus River from a high ground.He watched as his sappers prepared to erect the pontoon bridge on the shore, and the second part of the plan was proceeding in an orderly manner.

The two-lane Lloyd Bridge is not an ideal passage for transporting troops, not to mention that such a bridge is easily destroyed.The part of the sandbar in the middle of the river that he values ​​is that the river in this section of the basin is wide, but in the middle of the river there is a piece of sand that is higher than the river surface.As long as he establishes a solid position 700 meters wide and 200 meters long on the opposite bank, the engineers can quickly build several pontoon bridges on these sandbars overnight. These plans were all planned a month ago. Now this The expected bridgehead is almost completed, and the machinery of the engineering corps is also in place, but the enemy's air force has not shown up. Maybe they have really messed up and forgotten the most basic means of attack and defense.

"Commander, the special forces have just called. The headquarters of this motley independent brigade is in the basement of Sukur Middle School." A staff officer came over and said.

"Is the artillery brigade deployed?"

"The battalions are ready."

"Very well, let the Tornado Battalion focus on this target. Tell the howitzer group to shoot at other targets that have been calibrated." Spanga said, but did not put down the binoculars.

"There is also a great Mosque from the Mughal era in the old city, which is very close to the middle school. According to the rules of engagement of the Ministry of Defense, we cannot use rockets to fire around the ancient building with such weapons, because the area of ​​the walk is too large. "

"Oh? Interesting, show me." Spanga suddenly became interested.

"Just south of due west."

Under the guidance of the staff officer, Spanga found the golden dome of the Great Mosque in the flickering firelight on the opposite bank.

(End of this chapter)