Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 615
Lieutenant Colonel Yin Zhexi was very sure that he saw the fire on the mountain 1.5 kilometers away when the opponent fired. When the cluster of fire flickered, it even reflected the outline of the tank.The exposed Chinese tank quickly backed up and almost hid itself under the cover of rocks, out of sight.The lieutenant colonel immediately increased the magnification of 3X to 10X, and could only see a gun barrel that was extremely pale due to heat gradually disappearing from the field of vision, and finally nothing was seen.

He was surprised that the opponent could penetrate the K1A1 tank from the front?In Leh there is the wreckage of an enemy mountain tank and some captured ammunition.Although it is impossible to actually test it, he optimistically estimates that the power of this 105mm self-contained ammunition cannot penetrate the frontal armor of K1A1 at a distance of 1 kilometer, maybe 500 meters.This is his original intention of adopting the strategy of confronting the enemy head-on.He believed that in such an open mountainous area, his advantages in firepower and armor were enough to squeeze the shit out of weak opponents.

In fact, it was Lieutenant Colonel Yoon Cheol-hee who took the initiative to request to command this operation, not the request of the Indian military; South Korea has never authorized him to participate in combat operations.But fighting the Communist Party has been his long-cherished wish for many years, and in his view, it is too late to train Indians, and only by himself can he turn the tide.Of course, when he asked Meneam to fight, he didn't think that the Korean personnel he brought would suffer casualties.

There are a total of 3 Korean car crews in all 4 companies, 3 of which are in Company A. He himself stayed at the battalion headquarters and actually participated in command as the deputy battalion commander.Now he could see that on the burning tank, the Korean commander climbed out from one side, fell onto the snow, rolled three times and then stopped moving.Of course, this blood feud cannot just be left alone.

Lieutenant Colonel Yin Zhexi asked the Indian battalion commander who was still in Leh to pursue him, and got a very vague answer from the other party. The Indian battalion commander thought that he could pursue him if he felt necessary, but he should not force it.So he took two companies, A and B, to speed up and attack the Chinese tanks.

He confirmed the location of the enemy on the digital map. It was on a mountain ridge with a small slope. The average slope of 20° is a challenge that K1 can overcome. In addition, there are a lot of side slopes that can be borrowed. The slope is less than 10° , most of the slopes were not covered with snow and ice, and were still at a level his tank could theoretically climb.Of course, he also considered the problem of insufficient actual output power at such an altitude, but his desire for revenge made him decide to underestimate this situation. He just thought that the redundancy was enough.As long as one's own tank stands on the mountain ridge, the CCP's tanks that are exposed within a few kilometers will be in great trouble.

In the case of normal altitude, this tank can reach a unit power of nearly 24 horsepower per ton, and the theoretical climbing is about 30 degrees. This kind of performance is in the middle of the three generations of tanks. In fact, he does not know how it is on the plateau. It is conservatively predicted that it will drop by about ten percent.

The pressurized hot air in the turret made him not fully understand the thinness of the air outside.

Seeing the enemy rushing towards him, He Fan quickly retreated his tank over the mountain ridge and stopped on the reverse slope that the enemy tank could not see for the time being.He gave up the opportunity to use the commanding heights to ambush the enemy. Facing heavily armored opponents, the advantage he wanted was not as simple as being condescending.In fact, being condescending will only make yourself more conspicuous and become a target of public criticism.

As predicted by the weather report in the war zone, the snowstorm in the mountains is rapidly intensifying. Such a storm can hide the movement of the tank's diesel engine, and it can also quickly cool down the hot gun barrel. Of course, there are some variables in his plan.When fighting on such a large slope and undulating terrain, the rapid formation of snow has become a factor that must be considered. Once the situation is wrongly estimated, it may lead to extremely serious consequences.

He's out of the tank again, and now he's going to have to pull some killer tricks to close the technological gap between the enemy and us.In such a bad climate, the rear drone cannot fly close, but he has his own small drone. If he is lucky, it can work for ten minutes, but it is enough.

He quickly took out the small drone from the storage box, and using the side wind on the hillside, it didn't take much skill to throw it out. In fact, the speed of the small drone lifted into the air was faster than usual, and the airflow could guarantee It doesn't hit the hills.But then controlling the small plane is a difficult task.He quickly got back into the tank, and in just a few minutes, the backs of his hands were already freezing.

On the tank's navigation display, he selects the multi-purpose reconnaissance interface, where he can see the downward vision of the battery-powered small aircraft.It was flying to the other side, scraping the ridge.

This plane only has ordinary camera equipment, and basically does not support night reconnaissance, but it has a slanted lighting equipment that can cast a pool of light downward.

The plane could only circle in the valley with the help of the wind, completely restricted by the airflow, and could not fly to the area designated by He Fan at all. Moreover, the light it cast was very weak, and it was almost impossible to find the target in the empty valley.He Fan took out the signal gun, drilled out of the turret again, and fired several flares at the sky on the mountain ridge.

When the flare fell, it produced an instant light, which was enough for Lieutenant Colonel Yin Zhexi to notice through the commander.He frightened and ordered the whole team to stop on the slope and wait, but the moment the long snake formation stopped on the mountain, it was photographed by the drone and transmitted back.It was almost on the route that He Fan expected the enemy to take.

He Fan sneered, it seems that the enemy commander is not a guy who can make strange moves, that was what he was most worried about just now.He ordered the tank to slowly descend to a side slope according to the predetermined route. He had no time to control the drone. It was expected to stay in the air for a while due to the wind, but sooner or later it would crash due to icy wings.

He Fan's other company is on standby at the bottom of the valley at the moment. The elevation angle of those tanks can be aimed at the mountain ridge. The snowstorm may cancel the effect of the thermal imager, so he decides to stay on the slope and wait for the enemy to jump up the mountain ridge. He can Use some means to indicate the target for the 2nd company 2 kilometers below.

The K1 uses a torsion bar liquid-gas mixed suspension, which is only a compromise choice. The depression angle of the artillery is stronger than the 5° to 10° depression angle of ordinary tanks, but according to reliable information, it will not exceed 18°, and the elevation angle of its own tank is . Enough; he had carefully calculated this limit, and it was almost enough to make the enemy invisible.In addition, his tank's ability to move on the terrain in this area is far superior to that of the opponent. This is the first impression he left after seeing the enemy struggling to climb the slope just now.

Once the enemy finds that the angle of depression is insufficient, the greatest possibility is to cross the mountain ridge and use the slope of the mountain to make up for the shooting range. Then He Fan's second step plan will be completed. He knows very well that once these heavy tanks pass the mountain ridge, it will be impossible. Going back through the underpowered reverse gear, a 2° U-turn that leaks the weak ass out, is also out of the question.Most of them will choose to rush down, and although their 180nd company is a bit far away, it may not be able to penetrate the enemy, but at least they can retreat calmly, and then they can continue to attack the enemy on various preset favorable terrains.And his ultimate goal is to wipe out all these K2A1 tanks before dawn troops launch the general attack to capture Leh. If there is time, he will also participate in the battle to capture Leh.Leh has some solid turrets, and long-range curved fire is not easy to knock them out. It needs his tanks to use precise firepower to solve them.

Lieutenant Colonel Yin Zhexi continued to approach the nearby mountain ridge full of anger.A thought urged him to continue chasing the enemy. He thought that as long as he climbed the mountain ridge, he could have a fair battle. He could use the advantage of the liquid-pneumatic suspension to let those hiding Chinese tanks see the power of his 120mm artillery.

He was not an ordinary person, he had carefully studied the nearby terrain, the area where the enemy might ambush, and it was in the valley, which would mean that there would be a long-range artillery battle based on night vision equipment.When he thought of the enemy firing 2mm weak ammunition at him from about 105 kilometers away, and he would retaliate with 120mm armor-piercing bullets, an eager sense of war filled his brain.Lieutenant Colonel Yin measured the enemy's frontal armor in Leh and knew that his firepower could knock down their turrets at a distance of 2 kilometers or more.Out of his supercilious thinking habit, he seldom put himself in his shoes and wondered why the enemy commander would wait to enter a stupid confrontation.

Every brave K1 tank has problems with engine power and insufficient cooling of turbocharged equipment. In the hands of Indian soldiers who don't know the vulnerability of the equipment, the problem is even more serious. Three tanks in a row stalled on the hillside superior.One of the reported problems was particularly troublesome, with a broken engine belt.In this way, the car group itself cannot eliminate the fault.Of course, these circumstances did not shake Lieutenant Colonel Yin Zhexi's determination to die.He ordered the repair troops in Leh to try to repair the broken down tanks, regardless of the current weather conditions.

It took twice as long as the Chinese tanks. The first K1 finally climbed up the ridge, and then Lieutenant Colonel Yin's car also climbed up. He began to look down on the target, but of course he didn't dare to rush down easily.

He ordered the use of a gas-hydraulic suspension to lift the tank's butt to adapt to the terrain to increase the depression angle.But he soon discovered that the artillery firing line still couldn't point to the bottom of the valley, only a few secret points away. At the same time, the blizzard increased the difficulty of searching with the thermal imager, and he could only see a vast outline of the mountain and could not search for the enemy.

He Fan's 1st company hid on the side slope 1.2 kilometers away from the enemy. He did not go down to the bottom of the valley, nor did he show his head.He has in-depth research on the broken and undulating terrain in this area, and knows how to effectively hide himself.Under his command, the six commanders of the first company, each holding a flare gun, spread out on the snow-covered mountain, and then fired flares in the general direction of the enemy.

In the past, this kind of thing was just a kind of communication method that the troops didn't use very much, but He Fan participated in many exercises and discovered that in many cases, flares can be used to offset the advantages of night vision equipment.In addition to illuminating one's side by surprise, it can actually destroy the enemy's passive night vision reconnaissance based on low-light and infrared.

The 6 flares that did not require precise directions fell scatteredly, and in the next few seconds, another 6 flares were lifted into the air. Above the snow line, these flares can illuminate more areas than ordinary areas.On the ridge, 12 enemy tanks lined up were completely exposed.

The tanks of the 2nd company that came prepared all used white light equipment to stand by, but it was almost impossible to complete the whole process of searching and aiming before these flares fell.Of course, according to He Fan's request, the flares will be fired for 3 to 4 rounds, so before the first row of flares fall, no tanks will shoot rashly. The distance is a bit far for them, and the penetration ability of the 105mm kinetic energy shells will also be tested. .

The K1 tank commanders on the top of the mountain were horrified to find that when the flare fell to a certain height, it would temporarily destroy the work of the thermal imager, and the gunner's sight or the commander's commander would be blocked by white light for a few seconds.

Yin Zhexi was forced to get out of the tank for the first time in this battle to observe the origin of these damned flares.The gap between him and He Fan's command ability is also reflected in his reluctance to leave the tank to some extent. He relies too much on the tank's own reconnaissance sensors and believes in the advantages brought by superstitious technology; and He Fan realized early on However, the observation ability of the tank itself is the biggest problem. Whether it is the blind spot of the air search or the noise of the vehicle itself, the commander needs to use more means to make up for the lack of intelligence and fully understand the battlefield.Sometimes such means are data links and drones, and sometimes they are simpler - the captain leaves the car and goes directly to a commanding height to collect more information.

While the enemy was at a loss, the 2nd tank company began to fire on the enemy on the mountain, but most of the shells missed the target.

This company is not He Fan's best company (his main force is the 1st company), and the distance is a bit far. The whirlwind in the valley greatly affects the ballistic calculation, and the cross wind sensor on the top of the turret is almost ineffective against such wind. Invalid.

The young Chinese gunners have been steadily tracking the light-emitting tubes at the tail of the fired shells, and relying on the fire control system to calculate the flight trajectory of the shells. The integrated fire control can make certain adjustments to the second round of shelling according to the error of the first shot. Correction, but for the variable cross wind, this method has a very limited correction effect on the horizontal error, but it has a significant effect on the vertical direction.

After a long automatic reloading process, the second round of shooting started, and it was still the unilateral fire of the Chinese tank.During this period, the Indian K1A1 tanks on the top of the mountain kept reversing back and forth, adjusting the depression angle, but everything was within He Fan's calculations, and they couldn't find a shooting angle in their panic.

Yin Zhexi's car was hit by a 105mm shell on the front of the turret. The shell lost too much kinetic energy and failed to penetrate the frontal armor. He was so scared that he shrank his neck and got back into the car, but his forehead was still scratched by the tiny tungsten core fragments. , shed blood, it seems that the old debt has not been recovered, and a new blood debt has been owed.

(End of this chapter)