Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 679 Defending New Delhi

Spanga suddenly found himself out of danger from the edge of the cliff. The enemy did not continue the relentless shelling. Under the cover of the last few rounds of artillery fire, the frontal enemy dropped 60 wreckage and retreated. The Chinese and Pakistani troops gave up their determination to solve the problem once?

He could already see the artillery fire in front of him from his command post just now. Standing in front of the enemy was his last reserve team. This unit equipped with old-fashioned T72 and T55 tanks was quickly consumed by the enemy's precise firepower. There was no way to fight back at all. Seeing that the Chinese tanks were about to reach him, the attack stopped suddenly.

Now he and his command are left with the last chance to accept it as soon as it is good. Since the Chinese Air Force has not yet dispatched on a large scale, they should be able to return in full.This limited counterattack was originally a part of the active defense, and he had no money to continue playing to gain some time and space for the subsequent defense; of course, the enemy's abandonment of the attack still hurt him deeply. Obviously his army used to be the most feared army by the Chinese. The enemy always wanted to annihilate their own troops at any cost, but now they have given up the ground attack. The reason may be to reduce casualties. Obviously, the 21st Army is no longer the enemy commander. It's on the priority list.The humiliation brought to Spanga by this failure must be carried for a lifetime. Military critics of later generations may define him as the No. [-] idiot who blindly buried his own army.

"Commander, should the frontal pursuit continue? Give us another 30 minutes, and we can fight off the Pakistani regiment in front of us."

The chief of staff's words interrupted the dazed Spanga.

He raised his head and pondered for a long time: "There is no need to chase. Let the troops retreat according to the plan. They will not attack New Delhi quickly, at least not within 10 days. Our final mission has been achieved."

"but……"

"Our intentions have been exposed. Soon their long-range firepower and air force will be strengthened, and all troops will be retreated step by step. Before dawn, they will withdraw to the defense zone of the Pasade troops, and then reorganize."

As he spoke, he walked around the huge map table, walked to Pacianita, and patted him on the shoulder: "I will suggest to Paciade that the remaining independent tank battalions should be merged into your army. I think the 21st Army will be dismantled soon, but Pasade is well suited for defensive warfare, and he will need a full mobile force."

"commander?"

Pacianita was a little confused. He felt that what Spanga said seemed to mean something else?
"Everyone," the commander turned around and said loudly to all the staff members of the headquarters, "Everyone, don't lose confidence. We haven't lost this war yet. I want to tell you a piece of good news. In the future, the fate of India will depend on everyone; and now..." He choked up a little as he spoke, "Now, it's time for us to cheer up and return to New Delhi."

All the command staff around him began to pack their things silently, preparing to retreat the headquarters. Many of them followed the commander in the South and North War for more than half a year. The scene at this time and this place inevitably made them cry.Most of the maps piled up by the staff are no longer necessary to take back and will be burned next door.These maps represent the places where they have fought since the start of the war, and the scenes of that scene emerge in front of them, as if they happened yesterday.

Eight months ago, the army broke into the enemy's territory from the Thar Desert, and it was almost like breaking a bamboo. It captured Haierpur in a few days, and then used special forces to capture the Sukkur Bridge, cutting off the enemy's north-south connection.The White Tiger Division turned to the south to attack, surrounded most of the heavy Pakistani soldiers who escaped from Karachi, and then turned to the Mokran Mountains, killing the enemy in fear.Seeing that the war was about to end with a brilliant victory, the most elite regiment was lost in the distance from the raid on Quetta. Since then, the Prime Minister announced that the Pakistani government had been overthrown, and finally stabilized his foothold. It was from Quetta Airport that the aid began.

After that, the war situation became stalemate and began to develop in a direction unfavorable to India. The weakness of the Indian army's logistics capabilities was undoubtedly exposed, and the Chinese army's actions in Assam caused the Indian army in Pakistan to lose half of its supplies, making it unable to launch new offense.During this period, Meneam, who had hoarded a large amount of supplies, started to do it. He took the Fort *** in one fell swoop, which made Kahan regain his confidence. However, it is impossible for him to capture an empty city. Almost in south-central Pakistan, after a few months of rest with nothing to do, they suddenly attacked north, thinking that they could still be invincible, but they found that the slowly recovering enemy was so strong that they could not be shaken. After Mu wiped his butt a few times, the troops were defeated and returned to India. Due to the addition of too many recruits, the combat effectiveness was not as good as before.In the end, after the last battle launched 21 hours ago, the troops were completely destroyed. Now the whole team has only about one-third of the personnel and one-fifth of the heavy equipment left. A brigade-level combat group has been formed, and from many perspectives, it can already be counted as annihilated.

Spanga watched with a blank expression as people busily passed by, moving all useful things from the underground hiding place to the ground. The ventilation system of the command post was still working under the generator, in order to make the incineration Documentation work does not have to be transferred to the ground, risking detection by enemy air forces.The smoke that drifted into the command room became more and more choking. He retreated to the inner office and began to call the Ministry of Defense and his old enemy Paciade one by one. His chief of staff and Lieutenant General Pacianita were waiting Outside.The convoy and tanks on the ground have been activated, and they retreated in different ways according to the route drawn by Spanga, but he himself has no intention of leaving.

Pacianita was still unwilling to leave. He always felt that there was something in Spanga's words just now, which made him very disturbed.He raised his wrist and looked at his watch. It was already 4 o'clock in the morning, and it would be dawn if he didn't leave. He would inevitably be disturbed by the enemy's air force; the enemy's attention had already focused on this area. and tracks left behind, find the command post.

He knocked on the door, and then entered Spanga's office. He was sitting on a chair, looking at the several telephones in front of him. It seemed that the contact work was over.

"Commander, the troops have already started to move. Now only the security forces and the air defense battalion are left. We have to move quickly. We must enter the main air defense circle of New Delhi before dawn."

Pacianita's words are true. To defend against the enemy's air force, it must move 35 to 40 kilometers further south to hide within the effective range of the S300.

"It's not urgent to transfer. Please go and find me the commander of the security force. I still have something to explain." Spanga said unhurriedly.

Pacianita and Spanga's chief of staff looked at each other and exited the office. They hadn't taken a few steps when they heard a gunshot behind them.

The two froze in place for a while, and then walked back quickly, only to see that Spanga had fallen to the ground, holding a pistol in his hand, and the back of his head was bleeding. He had just shot himself in the mouth.

"Why did the commander do this?" Pacianita asked the chief of staff next to him blankly. .

"I think he must have despaired of the prospect of war?"

The two searched around the table hastily. They didn't see anything like a suicide note. They hurriedly called the guards to find the body bag, then lifted the body up and quickly retreated. Finally, the evacuated engineers blasted the bridges and roads. Lay, in case the enemy catches up.Obviously, what Spanga said to encourage everyone to continue to resist was not true. He should have expected that the war would end in failure.

Two hours later, a Chinese reconnaissance unit touched the side of the headquarters and quickly confirmed that this was the enemy's headquarters.

After daybreak, fighter jets began to attack the enemy's trailing troops, but with little success.As Lin Huaisheng expected, the retreat plan deployed by Spanga was quite careful. The troops took turns to cover and planted a large number of mines on the main roads, so it was not inappropriate to prevent Huang Dexing's tank battalion from chasing after them at night.

There is still a buffer zone of tens of kilometers between Lin Huaisheng and Pasade, and Pasade dare not come out to compete for this area to strengthen the defense depth.The defense line he established around New Delhi was basically demarcated according to the effective defense area of ​​​​air defense missiles (the maximum range is 6% off); from this deployment, it can be seen that Pasad is cautious, and he does not often break away from long-range air defense firepower. , Spanga, who attacked with field air defense units, was different.Pasade's military thinking is obviously relatively conservative. This army general has never fought against the Chinese army, but judging from his past deployments on the border, he should be inclined to avoid similar tactics.

This morning, the two camps each had a sense of promotion of military rank. Lin Huaisheng was promoted from a colonel to a major general, while General Pasad, who was opposite him, was promoted to a field marshal in the bunker. The Indian newspaper announced a brief personnel report According to the appointment statement, Marshal Paisad will serve as the supreme commander of the New Delhi Garrison. He will command all army units and reserve forces.This is the first time that the Indian media has used the term defending New Delhi. Of course, the statement also specifically emphasized that the fort is still under the complete control of the Indian army.

In the afternoon of this day, the U.S. government also issued a strongly worded statement, demanding that the Chinese military not enter the capital of a sovereign country, otherwise it will inevitably cause incalculable consequences, and the U.S. government will not sit idly by.The Chinese government did not respond in a timely manner, and the outside world speculated that BJ would make a diplomatic counterattack at a later date, which may be compared with the silence of the United States when the Indian army invaded the fort.

Xu Jingzhe’s interpretation of the U.S. statement is different from ordinary people. He found that the U.S. did not list substantive countermeasures, nor did it mention the previous air force battle in southern Pakistan. Obviously, the determination is still not enough; and this strange text seems to be He admitted the fact that the Chinese team occupied the northern part of India, but strongly demanded not to enter New Delhi, and the suspicion of booing and intimidation was even greater.But there is intelligence that US military assistance will increase.

He knew that the front line would be deserted for a while, and Lin Huaisheng would spend some time advancing in small steps, eating away the buffer zone, and forming a confrontation with the enemy, but there would be no large-scale battle.The Indian Army has already lost its strategic initiative, and its army is unable to achieve any important tactical goals in accordance with the ideas of the high command. If it is forced to do so, it will eventually be the end of Spanga.

In the next period of time, it will be time for the intelligence front to show its strength. He must keep an eye on the information released by Charmain. The intelligence chief seems to have the idea of ​​turning against the water. The control of the Indian wartime cabinet has begun to decline, and all hilltops are doing their own thing.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been won over by the United States, and the intelligence agency does not seem to want to be completely controlled by the United States.The United States has fostered its own guerrillas in Balochistan and Assam, showing that they may betray India's interests at any time. Maybe the intelligence chief feels that he should at least talk to China first, instead of blindly tying himself to the American chariot .

However, he cannot take action yet and must wait for further signals from the other party. In any case, the split between the Indian intelligence agency and the Supreme Command is what Xu Jingzhe wants to see. Making full use of such contradictions will be conducive to the end of the war and the final outcome of the war. political settlement.Of course, there is one last problem that needs to be solved urgently. He knows that Kahan transported India's last strategic missile force to New Delhi, which is a ticking time bomb that needs to be eliminated.

Lin Huaisheng's headquarters is still busy formulating complex logistics plans and dispatching transportation from various airports.Preparations for operations outside New Delhi are also proceeding in an orderly manner. The top priority of the current reconnaissance work is the enemy's three sets of S3 systems and two sets of Aster systems; it is known that the radars of the above two systems cannot be combined to form a radar network. Each does its own thing, but Ah Pasade has zoned the systems.

In the evening, six U.S. military C6 transport planes flew directly from Bahrain to Maratu, 17 kilometers south of New Delhi, as part of a substantial warning to China. Obviously, they did not just talk about saving New Delhi. Satellite reconnaissance showed that, Pulled out of the aircraft cargo hold is the Patriot II missile.If the training time of personnel is counted, it is difficult for these weapons to catch up with the offensive and defensive battles in New Delhi. However, India is currently in short supply of such weapons, and it is not surprising that it has made some moves that violate military common sense, just like what most Pakistani tankers have endured for a month. After training, he went to the battlefield, and now he is almost a veteran.

After a few days of silence, the Chinese Air Force began to step up air strikes on military targets near New Delhi.The attack was not violent and seemed to be only tentative. The main weapon used was a satellite-guided glide bomb, which was dropped by JH-7 and J-11 fighter jets from climbing to high altitude.The plane had already entered the range of India's air defense circle when it dropped the bomb, but the other side never fired.

For these unpowered bombs, it is easy to find a strong airflow from north to south with the help of weather information in February. If the throwing plane flies higher, the range can be increased to 2 kilometers. Although this range is not enough to attack the core of New Delhi However, it is more than enough to attack the various fixed facilities marked by satellite reconnaissance on the periphery.Within 80 days of the attack, Pasade did not take any action. Not only did the ground troops not mobilize, but he did not even launch anti-aircraft missiles. He seemed not to want the enemy to collect any information about the countermeasures of the troops and how to counterattack. This is indeed true. Lin Huaisheng based on what he knew.The air force's effective attack on the ground's anti-aircraft firepower always starts through a series of trials. Only when the confrontation unfolds can the ground's flaws be easily exposed.Considering that the enemy's air defense forces have accumulated rich confrontation experience, and the air defense network formed by various air defense weapons covers each other, it is obviously too risky to rush into the depths to carry out strikes.

(End of this chapter)