Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 313 Weak Firepower

The troops under attack belonged to the transport troops directly under the Indian Southern Military Region, and most of the soldiers came to the various self-replenishment battalions in the rear.Many of these soldiers, until a few weeks before the war, were still driving cars in Mumbai or Delhi to earn a living.After the outbreak of war, reservists for special skills were drafted hastily.In fact, from top to bottom in the Indian Armed Forces, no one seriously thought about sending these people to Pakistan.However, as the front line continued to advance, the Indian Army gradually noticed the lack of truck drivers, so they supplemented these experienced drivers in the battalion, and they were directly transported to the front by helicopter, and then stuffed into trucks. Strength work.The Ministry of Defense's remedial work worked, and India's weak transportation lines finally supported Spanga's last offensive.The purpose of Lin Huaisheng's operation this time is to make this transportation line collapse again.

What the Indian soldiers on the transportation line were most afraid of was the Pakistani stragglers in the mountains.Spanga could only send large numbers of paratroopers and gendarmerie into the mountains to protect the transport lines.However, who would have thought that the guerrillas would have armored vehicles?
At this moment, several tracked vehicles suddenly inserted into the middle of the road, cutting the truck convoy in two. These huge tanks stopped in place confidently, allowing the trucks' headlights to illuminate them brightly.The Indian soldiers recovered from their astonishment, and then they saw that these armored vehicles not only had turrets, but also large-caliber artillery, which were clearly tanks.

The Type 97 tank turned around the turret, leaving a little time for the Indian soldiers on board to get out of the vehicle and escape for their lives before starting to shoot.These tanks did not use the main gun to bombard the truck, but just fired a few bursts with the parallel 30mm cannon.Trucks full of ammunition and fuel burst into flames, and then one after another exploded.

After the explosion settled down, infantry fighting vehicles rumbled over and pushed the wreckage of several trucks together to form a burning roadblock.

Lin Huaisheng had been observing the battle from the mountain, but the infantry fighting vehicle's attack was not decisive enough, and several trucks behind the convoy turned around and fled.He thought that maybe it was his own restrictions on the use of weapons that caused the tank to perform abnormally, or maybe it was because the vision of the tank commanders was affected.He did forbid the troops to use the main guns, mainly because he didn't want to frighten Jebri's enemies into hiding them.At the same time, he also prohibited the commander from sticking his head out of the turret, lest the Indians see the faces of the Chinese and spoil the whole plan.

The first step of the plan has been completed. The recent scouts in Rijbri reported that there was a surge of roaring in the town. It seems that the enemy's tanks have begun to warm up, but it is not clear whether they will attack rashly.Lin Huaisheng looked southeast across the hillside, but he couldn't see anything. The enemy's blackout was still strictly enforced.He thought, is there any truth to what the sergeant said?What if the enemy doesn't come out?
According to the plan, Yahini arranged his understaffed tank company to the expected position. There was an open field in front of him. If the enemy dispatched, he would walk in the open field for a long time, and the side was completely exposed to his guns.

"You keep saying that you fought against these ARJUNA tanks, is that true?" On the radio, a tank commander asked a very boring question.Although Yahini is already well-known in the First Armored Division, his record is still controversial among his peers, especially about the Arjun tank, because the Army intelligence unit has not confirmed that the Arjun tank appeared in the south, and Yahini said he destroyed several, but the wreckage has never been identified as the Pakistan Army retreated.

"Do you even have to ask? My entire crew can testify. So can Eunice, the deputy division commander. We fought this regiment at Suttledge Ferry. We killed 8...no...it should be 10." right."

"Are you talking about the weakness of this tank?" The other party seemed to want to test Yahini.

"I can remind you that its gun is more accurate than the T90, but the armor-piercing rounds it fires are weak. Also, Arjun is the slowest firing tank I've ever seen. Maybe their loaders are weak guys .”

"That's not what I want to ask, I want to know, where to shoot?"

"The front armor of these tanks is almost vertical, and you can penetrate wherever you hit. Of course, if you are confident in your skills, you can try to shoot the square optical equipment on the left, and their commander and gunner are behind."

The other side of the radio station stopped talking. It seems that the other commanders probably believed Yahini’s words. Although many people have always doubted Yahini’s record, he has become a legend on the front line. For propaganda purposes, the division headquarters intends to The spread of these rumors was unintentionally encouraged.In the most exaggerated side story, Yahini and his impenetrable tank blocked a division of the Indian Army.

"Frog, the enemy has come out." Someone reminded on the radio.

Yahini quickly turned the observation mirror and looked southeast.A tank was slowly driving out of town, its barrel spinning around.He quickly picked up the communicator and switched to external communication:

"Here is the viper, and the elephant is out."

Lin Huaisheng looked at his watch. The timing of the enemy's dispatch was about the same as Yahini's prediction. It seemed that he was not lying when he said that the opponent was aggressive.

The dispatched Indian tanks changed their formation and gradually changed from a single row to a double row. This is extremely rare in the march. Usually, the tanks will only change the double row formation next to the roadbed when they need to give way to the road; occasionally, This will also be done in order to prevent ambushes from fire from both sides.

This change was beyond Yahini's expectations. It seemed that the old opponent had become cautious except for being aggressive.However, Yahini knows that the Arjun tank has a huge flaw in night combat, that is, there is no independent thermal imager channel for the commander's surrounding mirror, so when its turret is facing other directions, the commander can only pass through the turret. The 7 periscopes with poor night vision capabilities are used to observe the surrounding movement, which means that the Indian armored soldiers will suffer a lot in night battles.He wondered, why would a $700 million tank be designed with this virtue?Recent fighting has reinforced the sergeant's belief that no armored corpsman should skimp on observation equipment.

The enemy tanks began to turn their turrets. Except for the two leading tanks, the following tanks pointed their gun barrels in all directions. It seems that the commander is not a fool. He also knows the weakness of this tank, so he wants to use the group Advantage.The gunner's mirror with an independent thermal imager can search around with the rotation of the turret, but the field of view of the sighting equipment fixed on the turret is not large. If you use a large magnification, it will be less than 2 degrees.

"Don't worry, let them all clear the way and go to the open ground before doing anything." Sergeant Yahini continued.Although he is only an acting company commander, he always shows a high desire for control on the battlefield. From the gunner's aiming to the driver's reversing and even the formation of other tanks, he has to give pointers.Then he began to use the inter-vehicle radio to assign targets for the first round of shooting.

After completing the assignment, he used the periscope to observe the reactions of his comrades to see if they were doing what he said, or doing it on their own.

At the same time, the Indian tanks drove towards the road one after another at an interval of about 70 meters. The first Arjun gradually passed in front of the Pakistani tanks. Yahini still did not give the order to fire, and the turret was humming. Driven to rotate slightly, he knew that in this situation, when shooting a target moving at a constant speed, the hit rate was close to [-]%, but he still had to wait.

"The poisonous snake calls the frog." Yahini received another communication from outside the car.Before the battle, he gave Lin Huaisheng the only off-board intercom connected to the No. 4 communication box in the car. Because the troops were divided in mountainous areas, sometimes communication was inconvenient, and Lin Huaisheng could stand on a high place to command the units. Of course, these communications cannot be encrypted, so "frog" and "venomous snake" became the temporarily agreed code names.

"The frog is listening."

"Trojan horses cannot join your operation."

"Frogs don't need a Trojan horse." Yahini replied indifferently. The Trojan horse refers to the 10 T90 tanks under Lin Huaisheng. He doesn't seem to want these T90s to be exposed when they fight the enemy, although there are many signs that these T90s were captured. , the Indians have already noticed it.

Putting down the communicator, Yahini still felt a little confused. The enemy dispatched about 20 vehicles, and he only had 8 guns.Those Chinese infantry fighting vehicles that lure the enemy out have 100mm cannons capable of launching laser-beam-driven missiles, but their low-light night vision devices may make it difficult to find targets.

"Sergeant, I'm waiting for your order." Gunner Tasim said uncontrollably.Following the target for a long time made him a little impatient.He hates Yahini even more than the other 7 commanders. After Yahini became the acting company commander, his shooting skills have regressed a bit, and Tasim's self-confidence has reached the point of pure love. Recently, the captain has not dared to go beyond shooting. up.

Yahini waited for a while, and finally gave the order to fire.

The cannonballs that were fired in a hurry pierced the Arjun tank in progress like a bolt of lightning, and shot through the huge turret.The shell triggered an explosion in the reactive armor, and then a second explosion started inside the turret.

At this time, other tanks also began to shoot according to the target designated by Yahini. After the rapid shooting, all the tanks began to automatically reload for a long time, and searched for the target for the second round of shooting.

Yahini's search for the most threatening targets in the chaotic enemy formation, that is, the tanks that react the fastest.Several tanks in the Indian queue even turned in the wrong direction.

A group of infantry that Lin Huaisheng arranged in advance is hiding in the ruins of the village to the east at the moment and firing flares. The original intention is to enhance the target illumination for the Type 97 infantry fighting vehicles with poor night vision capabilities, but it actually attracts some enemy firepower. up.

"Don't shoot those stupid ones. Shoot those who turn their guns. Did you hear that?" Yahini yelled over the squad channel, and he was indeed the most sober of the eight commanders.

With the sound of knocking and pushing the bullet into the chamber, the slightly raised artillery began to return to the gunner's aiming line.Under normal circumstances, the aiming time of this image stabilization system is slightly faster than that of the automatic loader, so the gunner must wait patiently for the firing line to slowly move back.Any impetuous pre-emptive shooting is impossible to hit the target.Unfortunately, Arjun, who was staring at the Tasim, also saw his opponent.However, Indian tanks do not need to be loaded, and they have seized the opportunity to shoot within a few millimeters.Tasim could see the muzzle where the enemy had finally adjusted its angle and the huge observation window next to the barrel. He thought that the experienced gunner should be right behind.

"Don't break the optics or the laser rangefinder on the top," Yahini wrote lightly.This is the most vulnerable part of the Type 99 turret, but Indian shooters are unlikely to be able to hit these areas in a life-threatening duel. In the past two months, Yahini's two tanks have been hit by various Indian firearms more than a dozen times.There were only two worst cases, one was when the track and several road wheels were damaged by T2 from the side. He waited alone on the side of the road for 2 hours before waiting for the mechanic repair unit.The other time was that an RPG pierced through the engine compartment cover and water tank, and finally the jet got into the gear box.He didn't even know when the bullet was shot. The enemy may have been hiding and shooting from the roof. This blow directly caused the Khalid to be scrapped because it could not be repaired.However, his tank has never been shot through from the front, otherwise he would not be standing here now.

Yahini and Tasim stared at the enemy's muzzle at the same time, seeing the huge flames ejected from the enemy's muzzle, accompanied by the heart-piercing impact sound, this is the terrible sound made when the core of the armor-piercing bullet is broken , It is not the first time that the whole car group has heard it.

"I told you, their guns don't work." Yahini snorted, then said disdainfully.

"Look at ours now." Tasim said through gritted teeth.He deliberately spent a few extra seconds to shift the muzzle slightly for a short distance, just to align the firing line with the huge gunner's sight on the left side of Arjun's turret. The goddamned commander and his gunner should be standing in the back and keeping an eye on it.The enemy started firing smoke grenades in vain. It might have been saved a few seconds earlier, but it was too late.

(End of this chapter)