Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 621 Capture of an Important Town
The shock wave caused by the embrace was transmitted to He Fan's tank earlier than the huge explosion, and it felt the tank being rocked back and forth like a cradle.He guessed that something had probably been blown up this time.

The entire mountain was overturned from the inside by a violent explosion. In the footage captured by the drone, the entire mountain looked like a volcano that had just erupted.It was not difficult for the headquarters to judge that it was not only the one-ton charge of the bomb that detonated, but also more than a thousand shells and piles of propellant powder stored by the Indians in the mountain.

This highland is the most important core of the Leh defense system established by Pasad, and he did not hesitate to spend a huge amount of engineering to hollow out the mountain.As early as more than 30 years ago, when the defense system of Leh City began to be built, this fortress built according to the site was in a more important position than other fortresses built out of thin air, and it was in a certain kind of secret considering the abnormal engineering. The reconnaissance capability did not discover this project.According to previous estimates, even if Leh was attacked by tactical nuclear weapons and all the surface positions were destroyed, the mountain might not be able to be lifted off. But at that time, there was no guided munition that was accurate enough to drill through small loopholes.

The destructive power of this explosion is far more than just superficial. The earth-shaking energy release has spread to every corner of this fortified city, which has deeply shaken the morale of the Indian troops stationed there.

After the pulse bomb launched by the Chinese army for the first time cut off the communication, war weariness has begun to spread among the soldiers stationed here. The soldiers began to talk about the enemy's technological superiority and various incredible weapons; since then, the complete loss of air supremacy, All kinds of bombs fell in turn, and morale became more and more low. In order to escape from Leh, deserters and self-inflicted injuries were increasing. Meneam realized the seriousness of the problem, so he could only send airborne troops to take over important departments and monitor the situation at the same time. Shaken local troops.The arrival of heavy mountain tanks was a booster for him to maintain local morale. It seemed that Leh had a counterattack. However, the appearance of Chinese tanks in the morning indicated that the attacking troops would never return. Chinese tanks controlled the runway and cut off After retreating, most officers also knew that Leh had become a half-abandoned pawn used by the superiors to delay time.

Before detonating the ammunition depot, in the underground headquarters of Leh, there was a heated debate between the steadfast faction and the surrender faction who abandoned the city. The explosion directly paralyzed half of the headquarters, which confirmed that the surrender faction continued to stick to it and could only be buried in the ruins prophecy.So far, except for the two companies of the 50th Airborne Brigade who have just arrived here, the officers of the rest of the troops have given up the fantasy of continuing to resist, hoping to escape from this war before the Chinese army drops more perverted things.

He Fan quickly turned around the mirror to search for new enemy situations in front of him. A white flag waving in the wind flashed past his eyes. He quickly turned back, and it was indeed two Indian officers who were waving white flags and walking towards him.He reported to command and asked for a moratorium on the drone attack.

40 minutes later, the first Y-8 plane circled over the Leh runway for a few laps, then staggered over various craters and obstacles in the south of the runway, and completed the landing; when 60 Chinese engineers got off the plane, the runway The north side was already filled with thousands of disgraced Indians who came out of the caves. These people stood together in companies, each holding a white flag.

These soldiers persisted for more than a month in the cold and closed underground caves, and many of them hadn't seen the sun for a long time.Meneam deployed an artillery brigade here, originally hoping to start a long-term artillery battle with the opponent, but the overwhelming superiority of the Chinese army made the artillery battle a fantasy. The solid fortifications were huddled underground.

The Chinese engineers who landed immediately began to clean up the various wreckage accumulated on the Leh runway, increasing the length of the runway that can be used. Every attack by the air force and artillery intentionally avoided damage to the airport, just to completely receive this track.At the same time, the rest of the transport planes also began to land one after another, then unloaded personnel, loaded with prisoners of war and took off again.These actions were carried out completely according to the plan, although no one expected the enemy to surrender so quickly.

There are still some Indian paratroopers who refuse to surrender, retreating to shoot from the commanding heights around them. For the time being, He Fan's tanks can only suppress these firepower with machine guns. Waiting for the cold night to come, you should be able to freeze to death a lot.

During the operation of the engineering corps, two Indian helicopters, which did not receive information, attempted to fly to Leh and land. They saw the white flag flying on the runway from a distance, and realized that the troops guarding the city had betrayed and fled.

The battle around Sialkot commanded by Meneyam is falling into an unprecedented passivity. He got the news that Leh may have surrendered. He had a bad premonition early in the morning. Bao, but I didn't expect that Leh's miss would come so quickly.This meant that he had been completely isolated, especially since Leh's airport runway fell into enemy hands, and the consequences that would follow were beyond his imagination.

With no way out, he could only issue a death order to the Indian troops still fighting in Sialkot. This last hub wedged in the hinterland of Pakistan must be defended. Although the battle to cut off the enemy's supply line failed, as long as this If you don't block the starting position, you can still have a certain degree of initiative.Of course, the enemy is not prepared to reserve such an area for him. The Chinese Air Force is pouring out to attack the troops retreating from the front, and other reports indicate that some unknown tanks have appeared in the northeast of the city, and then disappeared. , if the report is true, it means that the enemy may take action to draw fire from the bottom at any time.He still has a card in his hand that can restrain these tanks, and he must play it out as soon as possible, so as not to shrink back and be wiped out by the enemy air force.

Yahini's tank battalion was making an extensive outflank of Sialkot.There are still tens of thousands of enemy troops and a large number of heavy weapons in the city. It is too early to attack directly. Lin Huaisheng asked him to take the initiative, find a way to destroy the passage between the enemy and Jammu, and create panic on the enemy's flanks and rear as much as possible. and chaos, but don't go near Sialkot.After he planned to concentrate three Pakistani infantry divisions, he would attack in one fell swoop.

Yahini observed that the Chinese and Pakistani air forces are constantly launching air strikes around Sialkot. The overall collapse of the Indian army has already shown signs. He has fought against the regular Indian army too many times. He knows the weaknesses of these people. I am most afraid of losing command, and secondly I am afraid of losing the rear. If there is chaos in the rear, the front will be over.Fighting guerrilla warfare with tanks is his specialty, and now is the time to show off his skills.

He can now supplement his reconnaissance capabilities with the help of a limited number of drones. For an excellent tank commander, higher and farther vision is never too much. This is crucial for dispatching troops in mountainous areas to deal with the enemy Importantly, since tanks can only walk in narrow valleys most of the time, their own observation ability is reduced to the extreme, and it is easy to have hasty encounters at close range, which he does not want.

A drone photographed several enemy convoys passing through the valley in front of them from a high altitude, and then parted ways at a fork in the road. It seemed that a certain transport force went into the mountains desperately to avoid air strikes, and then fled in all directions.The picture is not very clear, but some 6-wheel Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks can be distinguished. These trucks are standard equipment for the artillery of the northern Indian army.

The value of the truck column is too low to be the target he wants too much, but it cannot be ruled out that it will be accompanied by other targets.He planned the interception route for the 2nd company on the electronic map, while he tried to rush up from behind.At present, his 3rd company has chosen its own path, and there has been no news so far, which makes him somewhat stretched.In addition, his assault ability was almost exhausted. Before the fuel was exhausted, he had to find a flat open space and wait for the vertical supply from the helicopter. Since the supply in the mountains was strictly limited to daytime, the missing troops had to be found as soon as possible.

The drone returned without providing more detailed information. The second drone was still on the road. He had to jump off the chariot and judge the target from the tire tracks on the ground. For Yahini, how to choose became difficult.

He quickly confirmed that the enemy was only two transport troops, because there were no traces of towed artillery or tracked vehicles on the ground, but there were some large vehicles with different wheelbases in a convoy, and he couldn't tell what it was , but it cannot be ruled out that the French truck guns that the Chinese are paying attention to are in action. This is a slightly interesting target.

He chose to give up those ordinary 6-wheel Daimler Benz heavy trucks and pursue larger vehicles.In order to cope with various uncertain situations, Yahini ran at the forefront of the queue, and got out of the turret, looking around with binoculars from time to time, which increased his risk of being shot by a sniper, but he knew he had to do so Only by doing this can we ensure that the tank finds the target in advance.

He was complaining that the slow drone hadn't arrived yet, when he suddenly heard the roar of a diesel engine not far ahead, it was definitely not a truck but a tank.He suspected that it was his 2nd company or the lost [-]rd company, but the sound seemed a bit strange, that sound was different from any of his own or opponent's tanks in his memory.He ordered the team to stop and idle to reduce the noise of their diesel engines.

A green tank rumbled past 200 meters ahead of him, a Leclerc.The gun barrel was facing forward, but the commander did not stick out his head, which meant that the opposing commander did not notice the situation here at all.

It was an encounter in the mountains that he had least hoped for, and Yahini had never expected to encounter enemy tanks, which he thought were still hiding in Sialkot for bombing.Of course, relying on special intuition, he took the lead, but he didn't know the number of enemies, and the terrain did not allow his troops to fully deploy, which was what he was most afraid of.Should it be fired?
While hesitating, the second Leclerc drove past, and the enemy commander could see Yahini's company as long as he glanced here through the periscope.And the distance between them is only 2 meters, which is a distance enough to ensure that the two sides penetrate each other.

Yahini picked up the communicator and called the rear tank to retreat. During this period, the third tank creaked and passed by. The barrel of the Type 3 tank is always turning to track the target.The enemy seemed to be hypnotized, passing one after another, without noticing the muzzle here.

When the seventh tank passed, the tank behind Yahini had retreated a long way. He gave the order to attack the next tank, and at the same time gave two other orders: reverse and release smoke.

Without any suspense, the shell fired by Tasim directly hit the 8th passing tank. It was so unlucky that it was in such a position, hesitated in Yahini, and waited for the battle behind The last moment when the car reversed appeared in Tasim's field of vision.The shell easily penetrated the armor, detonating the internal ammunition.Yahini, who was waiting for the drone to relay the communication, felt that the floor was receding. He didn't check whether it was hit or destroyed. It was unnecessary. Instead, he quickly added a few orders and corrected the route of the 2nd company , He needs the 2nd company to move closer to him, of course not crowded together. On such terrain, too many vehicles may not be able to exert their firepower. Only by occupying a favorable position can they attack the enemy from all directions.

The communication could not be connected all the time, Yahini returned to the perimeter mirror, the enemy who appeared in the 9th vehicle could not make a turn, the tank hit the front vehicle in the explosion firmly, and then turned off, obviously the Indian driver's attention was very high Lack of concentration, on the battlefield, is often caused by extreme fatigue.Yahini watched the enemy's turret turn, and he knew that the enemy had the opportunity to shoot this round, and his loader could not catch up with its turret pointing at him first anyway.

The shrapnel exploded in the surroundings in time, and the white smoke quickly covered Yahini's car. This is the only protection that can be counted on at present. Switch the thermal camera channel and you can still see the silhouette of the tank through the smoke, but it will take a few seconds longer.

The enemy didn't wait too long, but fired quickly.

There was a frustrating impact sound, which meant that the shell did not penetrate the Type 99 armor. How could this be possible within a distance of 200 meters?Due to insufficient shooting accuracy, this kinetic energy armor-piercing projectile penetrated the sloping side armor of Type 99 from the front. The shell left a 1-meter-long deep dent on the side of the turret, and then flew away without hurting the turret. substance.

After the second shell on the loading machine was pushed, Tasim fired at the target position in his memory on the side of the smoke. Since the opponent was lying there and had a large cross-sectional area, this attack was extremely sure.He could hear the characteristic crisp sound of a shell piercing through armor, followed by the sound of a secondary explosion.

(End of this chapter)