Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 167

At 4 o'clock in the morning (*** Fort time), Abad had a bandage on his head and was squatting behind the fence gate to observe the movement of the enemy ahead with a telescope.The artillery fire of the front and rear enemies has been connected, but after the frontal enemy occupied the concrete embankment, it has been a long time since the paratroopers in the rear converged. Obviously, they themselves encountered some trouble.He resolved to look across the open fields alone.So he took the risk of the second gunner and touched it back again.

Master Jail is indeed in trouble.The engineer brigade assigned to him did not have enough equipment to build a 550-meter-long pontoon bridge.Now more than half of his pontoon bridge has been completed, but the pontoon bridge body is missing a section. In other words, the pontoon bridge has become a decoration, and his tank troops still cannot cross the river.The preparations for this battle were completed under the meticulous supervision of Spanga. Before that, every link was closely connected without major mistakes.Under careful planning, all troops and equipment arrived at the designated location almost in line with the scheduled time.However, as time goes by, mistakes and omissions will inevitably occur in the operation of the war machine, especially in a country like India, the super-level performance will not continue forever.

Now the first major mistake finally appeared. After intercepting too many floating equipment in the direction of Sukkur, the 11th Division built a half-baked floating bridge here.Now the enemy on the opposite side retreated across the board, and the paratroopers were in great difficulty, but a large number of tanks and military vehicles were unable to cross the river.Jayer once thought about letting the infantry fighting vehicles of the mechanized infantry battalion that had crossed the river return to carry soldiers, but he quickly dismissed it. If this is done, the efficiency is not high (BMP-2 can only carry 7 soldiers at a time) Soldiers, and it is very easy to run on water.) Second, let infantry fighting vehicles spend motorcycle hours to pick up infantry, and it is likely to be a joke in the history of mechanized warfare.

Now he can only keep calling Spanga, hoping that he will solve these problems quickly.The absence of support from the self-propelled artillery units, field anti-aircraft units, and 31st Armored Division that Spanga owed him did make Jayer very angry.

"Give me the 21st Army Army Headquarters." Jayer said to the signal soldier. The last time he called Spanga was 5 minutes ago. Spanga ordered his reconnaissance battalion to cross the river for support.However, even if the wheeled tanks of the reconnaissance battalion could barely cross the river, they would not play any decisive role in breaking through the enemy's front.

"Connected to the division commander. Jayer grabbed the receiver.

"Commander, if our tanks can't get through, the paratroopers won't last long. After dawn, the paratroopers will be wiped out by the enemy's infantry." He said into the microphone.It's not that he really thinks that the motley army on the opposite side can annihilate the paratroopers. He just wants to scare the commander. This is a way he came up with on a whim 2 minutes ago.

"How far has your mechanized infantry passed?" the Spanga asked.

"A mecha battalion, and some reconnaissance tanks. This is all I can float." He subconsciously tapped his finger on the map and said, "They only occupied a narrow strip a few hundred meters wide. The enemy It will be very troublesome if you counterattack."

"How about the enemy fire?"

"The enemy doesn't have any decent artillery, but the number of their infantry..."

"Okay, your situation here is much better than Sukkur, think of a way. You can let your tanks submerge part of the way, you must get through with the paratroopers, they are in a hard fight." Spanga said.

"Commander, without a bridge, how do you let my people cross the river?" After he finished speaking, he found that the other party had hung up.Jail cursed.He ordered the soldiers who had crossed the river to suspend their advance in case they were ambushed by enemy anti-tank missiles in open areas.He asked the machine infantry battalion on the other side of the river to send scouts to guide the artillery attack first, trying to give the paratroopers some precise fire support.

"Well, we can only let the tanks of one company manage to sneak through. How is the situation on the other side?" Jayer asked the staff officer.

"Behind the embankment was a forest, which we controlled, and behind it was farmland with wheat and sugar cane. They had a second line of defense at about 500 to 600 meters in depth. There were some machine guns and anti-tank fire. The counter fire wasn't strong. .”

"Don't be too careless. If our temporary vehicle crosses the embankment and enters an unsupported area, it will be bad if their hidden firepower fires. There are many examples of such battles." Jayer said.

"It is such a sir."

"Let the artillery attack first. I think the support of two platoons of tanks is almost enough."

As Jayer said, he looked across the river with binoculars, and he could see blazing infantry fighting vehicles on the opposite side.The entire embankment was illuminated, and his heart was bleeding. As a mechanized infantry division in the group army, these BMP-2 tanks have always been his main assault force.

Abad and his second gunner walked through the sugar cane fields in the dark, and there were sporadic machine gun fire all around from time to time.He watched for a while, machine-gun tracers fired by the enemy roughly pointing out their position.He detoured as far as possible, crossed the dirt road in the countryside, and sneaked into the second floor of a dilapidated house.After a while, he could hear the voices of Indian soldiers talking nearby, who apparently did not have night vision equipment and did not see him.He poked his head out from a big hole left by artillery fire on the east side of the second floor of the house. Under the moonlight, he could see that the enemy who had crossed the river had more than 30 infantry fighting vehicles and several wheeled vehicles equipped with only machine guns. There are about 100 infantrymen standing behind the embankment. The enemy's strength is insufficient, and they obviously dare not rush across the embankment to attack westward. They are probably waiting for an opportunity.More than half of their pontoon bridge was built, and the engineers were laying iron plates and steel cables on the half of the bridge, but it was puzzling that the whole project had stopped, and it seemed that something went wrong.However, the sound of the idling motors of the tanks on the other side of the river has never stopped. Maybe they will find another way to cross the river.

"Commander, maybe they want to wait till dawn," the loader whispered.

"Probably so?" Abad replied. Of course, he hoped that the enemy would be able to delay until dawn, but there were still more than two hours to wait.

The exchange of fire in the area where the paratroopers exchanged fire with the rear did not stop, but there were no gunfires on the river bank. The front of the battlefield fell into a brief calm, and the Indians seemed to be preparing for something.Abad saw a pipe moving on the surface of the water, watched for a moment, and knew it couldn't be anything else but a tank sneaking up from under the water.

"Sure enough, there is a conspiracy. Their tanks sneaked over." He said.

"what should we do?"

"What should I do? Of course I'll go back first."

The two sneaked downstairs, turned around and returned to the sugarcane field and then walked back.During this period, Indian artillery fire fell again, perhaps some kind of fire reconnaissance before the attack.

Peshawar Airport in western Pakistan.In the early hours of the morning, the lights on the runway came on suddenly. The base had not had a nighttime takeoff and landing since the loss of more than half of No. 2 Squadron two weeks ago.Even the runway is pitch black at night to prevent nighttime raids by the Indian Air Force.But in the early hours of this morning, the base personnel received a sudden mission, and fighter jets will soon land for a short time to refuel.

Soon, the control tower received a landing request, and an Il-76 transport plane roared and landed on the runway.This is obviously not the plane of the Pakistan Air Force. After the plane stopped on the apron, the rear hatch slowly opened. With some big bombs.

The unloading here has not yet been completed, and there is another roar over the runway.Within a few minutes, several tactical planes painted with the 81 military emblem quietly landed here.The leading one is a single-seat J-10B fighter, and the other four are two-seat JH-4 bombers.After all the planes landed, the ground personnel immediately started preparations for the planes to take off, working in an orderly manner.There are rumors that these planes were sent by China to stop the Indian army from attacking, but what kind of changes can these 7 planes bring to the battle situation?Most people are not very optimistic.

It wasn't until an old man with a gray beard stood up from the fighter cockpit that the depressed scene was broken. Colonel Mohammad Sami, who was quickly recognized by the sharp-eyed ground crew, shouted alone.Then all the ground personnel rushed over.

"Squadron leader," someone yelled. "We thought you weren't coming back."

Apparently Sammy had a great time in 36 (Black Panther) Squadron too.

"I almost couldn't come back. An Indian pilot was lucky, but I came back anyway." The old man said.

"I heard they hit you in the ass."

"That's right. But God bless, this is the only part that doesn't affect flight. Haha."

"Squadron leader, you seem to be gaining weight..."

"I worry about this war every day. How can I gain weight? You must be wrong."

"You must have brought some new type of weapon that can turn the tide of the battle?"

"Heh, of course, some sort of cluster bomb that would make Singer cry. Keep it secret."

Sammy got off the plane and walked towards the command post surrounded by a bunch of people.The few Chinese pilots who just got off the ladder were left out in the cold. They were very strange, isn't this bad old man from the Black Spider Squadron?How come here is so popular.These Chinese pilots are not very familiar with Yu Sami. In fact, they are also flying in formation for the first time. I just heard that he is an ace of the Pakistan Air Force. The heads of each division took turns to fight against each other, and they were not defeated. During the period, they suggested some revisions to the tactics of the Chinese Air Force.

"Don't pester me, the bombers of these Chinese brothers must be refueled immediately, and they will go into battle in two hours." The ground crew then dispersed.The four bombers have their own Chinese ground personnel to check for take-off, and all the base needs to do is refuel.

To be on the safe side, the plane moving to the Pakistani airport flew off with the new type of bomb for shipment. The mounting of this type of bomb is not complicated, and it is no different from ordinary bombs.However, due to the heavy weight, only one type of aircraft can be mounted by the Chinese Air Force at present, which is why the special session of the four JH-4s is here.

(End of this chapter)