Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 180
Yahini wasn't sure if the shell hit or not, but he heard the sound of armor-piercing shells ripping through the armor from outside the turret.He got out of the gun mount and saw that 20 meters away, No. 245 stopped maneuvering, and thick white smoke was coming out of every gap in the tank. He had seen this situation several times, and he knew it was the ammunition being ignited. It was a sign of the past, but no survivors were seen getting out of the chariot.Before he had time to think about the danger, he raised his binoculars and looked forward. In the rolling loess, about 10 tanks with huge fronts gradually revealed their outlines, and all the muzzles of the tanks were facing him.

The driver Saad was a little flustered, and only then switched the gear lever into the reverse gear. The tank slowly backed up, and the tracks slipped and idling on the sandy soil from time to time.When the car body was raised high and retreated along the slope, the Indian tanks 1.5 kilometers away did not fire in time. They waited until No. 221 hid part of the car body in the mound before starting to shoot. flew away.Yahini was slightly relieved that the enemy's aiming time was not too fast, which saved his and his crew's lives.

Number 245, still on top, exploded violently.The new platoon leader stared blankly there, and has not seen a single person climb out of the tank so far.He let the shards fly past him until the pilot's shouts pulled him back into battle.

"Captain, where are you going?"

"Turn around now. Back into the woods," he yelled.The tank began to turn on the spot, and then retreated towards the road it came a few minutes ago. The commander turned the turret, and at the same time called out to No. 617, which was still approaching rapidly in the distance, to run back together.He knew that if all the enemies quickly occupied this slope, he would be finished.In a few minutes, he will be in a completely open area without shelter, and there is only one chance to fight back at most.He prayed that his opponent was an indecisive idiot who would give him more time to escape.

The commander of the 43rd Armored Regiment, Colonel Sander, is by no means an idiot. In fact, he is the best tank tactical instructor in India. The 43rd Armored Regiment, which is directly under the Indian Army Staff, is often used as a teaching force for the armored forces.At this time, Colonel Sandel was in the first tank, and the shot that hit the No. 245 tank was hit under his guidance.Now, he commanded the first company to deploy quickly, but out of caution, he did not rush to occupy the commanding heights north of the village.

Ten minutes ago, he was commanding this army to move westward on the road a few kilometers away, preparing to cross the river to intercept it, and happened to bump into this sudden battle.Then Pakistani tanks suddenly appeared on the commanding heights 1800 meters away. The Pakistani commander of this assault was obviously brave but a little overconfident. He was exposed to the conspicuous commanding heights for a long time, and he didn’t observe the surroundings carefully, so he didn’t pay attention. To this tank force passing hidden behind a building.This gave Colonel Sandel's column an ​​opportunity to fan out and open fire.He originally wanted to wipe out the two Pakistani tanks on the top of the slope in one fell swoop, and he had already agreed on the target with another tank on the flank, but there was a problem with the laser range measurement of the flank tank, and he could not fire at the same time. The second Pakistani tank reacted quickly, backed up in time, and missed.

The colonel didn't want to take too many risks to rush up the mound and chase the fleeing enemy. It is not his style to chase and shoot at each other. The most objection is the pursuit without strategy and the blind penetration without intelligence support.The colonel has always believed that the most important part of tank warfare is not the thickness of the armor or the more powerful armor-piercing shells, but the strategy specified by a cool head.If a tanker relies on armor every time to fight the enemy, then he is not too far from the end.

"Follow the defense formation and move forward at the search speed. The guns of the first row are aimed at 1 o'clock, and the second row is following me, aiming at the front. Carefully pass through the houses. Kabaddi, get off the car and communicate with the army to see what's going on "

"Captain, maybe we have to let the two cars in row 2 occupy the commanding heights first."

"No, no need, you do as I told you, first communicate with the infantry, I need information." After Sandor finished speaking, he stopped talking.

Many people think that most of the battlefield can be controlled by commanding the high point, which may be the case for infantry tactics, but the colonel has never felt that the commanding height has any special significance for tankers. The weakest bottom armor will be exposed, and during this period of time, the muzzle is facing the sky, and there is not enough high and low range to turn the firepower to the enemy below. On the contrary, the enemy below can use these few seconds to aim calmly. This is His taboo.From his point of view, a reckless fool would sometimes take some advantage because of his hotheadedness, but sooner or later he would return the principal with the interest due to another reckless charge, so he did not cherish such an opportunity.

Half of the 12 tanks of the first company were assembled in the village, and the other half were deployed to the east of the village.The muzzle was pointing roughly north, in the direction of the enemy tank that had been left burning alone on the slope.

Sandor got out of the turret and looked around carefully. With a "boom" explosion, the burning tank exploded again, the turret blasted into the air, and then fell to the ground, creating a very deep pit.

Everyone dodged subconsciously, only Sandel raised his binoculars to observe the other side of the river, barely moving.In another tank next to him, a captain jumped out to contact the panicked infantry.

The colonel drilled back into the turret, half turned around and took the communicator, hoping to report the situation to the division headquarters.Part of the ammunition was sacrificed on this command tank, and a bulky multi-channel frequency-hopping radio and dual antennas were installed, which can directly communicate with the division headquarters.

"I'm looking for Mr. Janaguri." The colonel said bluntly.

"The division commander has gone to the front line. I am the staff officer of the division headquarters." Someone replied casually on the radio, which sounded very perfunctory.

"That's right. Has aerial reconnaissance found anything unusual in the area east of the Chenab River?"

"Please wait a moment, Colonel." The staff officer paused as he spoke, as if he was looking for information.The colonel shook his head, obviously there was a guy who was on duty in the staff department but couldn't even remember the update of the map that day.

"Yes Colonel, no enemy is detected, their armored units are still... at the crossing south of Lahore"

"This is the morning position, I've come into contact with enemy armor, on the east bank of the river, I'm sure MBT2000 tanks or derivatives, only their most elite 6th and 1st armored divisions have tank."

"Oh, I remembered, 2 hours ago, the anti-tank company of the 224th Regiment did report a contact and destroyed 4 enemy tanks, but it was on the west bank of the Chenab River, and this situation has not been verified."

"Okay, where is Master Janaguri?"

"The division commander followed the infantry regiment on the front line of Dragazi Khan. I haven't seen him for most of the day. If you have any requirements, you can directly contact the group army headquarters."

Sandor turned off the radio. He found that on this battlefield, no one seemed to care about his armored regiment.Mr. Janaguri always avoids him, and he relies more on his own old-fashioned T72 regiment. Even the soon-to-be-eliminated T55 battalion is ranked ahead of his regiment.Perhaps it was because he thought his troops were moving too slowly, or, more importantly, because he was afraid that his regiment would take the credit.This situation has been repeated recently, and several armies do not want the 43rd regiment directly under the staff.There are rumors in the army that the Arjun tank is an immature tank that will bring nightmares to logistics. On the contrary, there are always people outside the army who want to stuff the Arjun tank into the tank division to replace the main Russian-made tanks. As a result, the 43rd regiment, which was deployed as an experimental force, became a victim respected by many troops.Sandor knew that the part about the failure rate of the legend did have its basis, but this tank is at least superior to various models of T72 in terms of armor.

"Kabaddi, how's the situation." He switched to intervehicle communication to ask his company commander.

"The infantrymen were frightened and didn't see the exact number. Some people said that Pakistani tanks had just raided from the east, and there were 20 of them. But I think they are talking nonsense," Kabaddi said.

"Okay, let the infantry go to the high ground for reconnaissance."

"No, they are stubborn to only accept the command of the 224 regiment. I'd better go and see for myself."

Captain Kabaddi climbed up the dirt slope in a wide circle to avoid being hit by the shrapnel flying from the wreckage of the tank, but he knew that the enemy tank had already fled because he could no longer hear the roar of the diesel engine, which meant that Enemy tanks are at least 800 meters away.

He slowly poked his head out and saw two tanks dragging black smoke into the woods.Then I looked at the open land. Two battered armored vehicles were still burning, and several infantry bunkers that could not form crossfire were destroyed.On the other side of the river, there were several Pakistani tanks that were destroyed.

"Colonel, they escaped. I saw traces of their tracks, only 2 or 3 vehicles. There are some wrecks on the other side of the river. This position is good, and it can block the entire river with concealment."

"Okay, that's great. Looks like I'll have to get regimental headquarters to launch a reconnaissance drone. I need more information on the surrounding area."

Yahini returned to the woods and did not continue to retreat. He knew that 5 kilometers was definitely a safe distance.He immediately notified Battalion Commander Younis that the enemy had at least one tank company and an anti-tank missile unit blocking the east bank of the river, where they could rely on villages to hide and have a large range of fire enough to control the road along the river.He reminded the battalion commander not to fight rashly.But Younis told him that the military order from above was like a mountain, and he must act quickly. If he could penetrate in place tonight, he could cut off the 16th Infantry Division with a long snake, so he couldn't waste time going around.If the enemy's flank has only one company of tanks, the Panzer Battalion should be able to outnumber them.

(End of this chapter)