Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 221 Tentative attack

"The enemy's radar shouldn't detect us, right?" the instructor of a certain company opposite Lin Huaisheng asked anxiously.

"Look at the mountains on either side. They won't see us."

"To the west is Bhutan?"

"That's right, it's just across a valley..."

Lin Huaisheng said, looking at his watch.It was almost time for the air strike, and he looked up to search, but he couldn't see anything in the clouds.The noise of the turboshaft engines was so loud that he couldn't hear if other planes were flying by.

"Get ready, you'll be there after you bypass this mountain." On the radio, the pilot in front said.

Lin Huaisheng looked around from the open side hatch.I was almost level with the solid enemy bunker on the hill.The enemy's 12.7mm machine gun is facing the sky. It seems that the enemy there has long lost the courage to fight back and dare not show their heads at all.Several Black Hawks lowered their altitude and bypassed the enemy's bunker.To be on the safe side, this attack did not land directly on the top of the enemy's bunker like the most professional foreign army, but chose the landing site behind the enemy's mountain, where there is a relatively gentle hillside. The Indian army uses Mi-8 helicopters to replenish, and it will also choose there.Even near the flat ground, the response personnel have been ambushed. This battle is actually prepared in the way of killing a chicken with a sledgehammer.

The helicopter circled the mountain from the east.Most of the hills ahead are a bit shorter, giving you the feeling of seeing all the small hills.The geographical pattern of southern Tibet is roughly the same. The mountains get shorter as you go to the south, which is not conducive to defense.And the crooked roads of the Indian army have been completely exposed.

A huge explosion was heard from the other side of the mountain, and it seemed that the air force attack had begun, but it could not be seen now.The first Black Hawk in front has already hovered on the side of the hillside, and it will press one side of the wheel on the rock to ensure the stability of the hover.The people on the plane came out in single file, and began to attack the top of the mountain with gunpowder billowing hundreds of meters away.

Lin Huaisheng and other command staff adopted the method of hovering and cable-dropping, descended to the other side, and then started to head towards the top of the mountain from the other side. No gunshots were heard during the whole climb, until the last 150 meters. He ordered all teams to stop, because there was one last precision air strike.According to the plan, on our mountain 2 kilometers to the east, lasers will be used to guide the enemy's surface positions.A few hours ago, when Xu Jingzhe explained the essentials of this mission, he said: "Everything is as accurate as a play to the second."

Lin Huaisheng lay on the slope, watched several Black Hawks return from under his feet, and smiled at the surrounding command staff.

"This is the new kind of warfare we're going to have, where the Air Force dominates and we just accept the ground."

These officers are all coming to southern Tibet for the first time. According to the intention of their superiors, after this experience, they are likely to become the core command team for the next large-scale attack.

Four bombs fell accurately on the hilltop positions in the clouds.The debris from the air wave filled Lin Huaisheng's neck.He raised his head and supported his helmet, watching the gunpowder smoke on his head dissipate.

"Teams hold still and see how the enemy responds. There's a second plane in the air," he said into the intercom.

After a while, he saw a white flag protruding from the rubble of the enemy's fortifications, which seemed to be modified from a shirt.

"The first group goes up, be careful, the enemy may surrender." He said into the intercom, and then turned to see the communicator with the radio behind him.

"Tell the Air Force, mission accomplished, stop airstrikes."

The first group climbed quickly.Lin Huaisheng asked these people to act mainly because the members of the reconnaissance brigade of the military region had experience in fighting Indian army strongholds when they were covering the Snow Wolf infiltration operations.And before today's attack started, they had been lurking under the enemy's nose for about a day, and they could take advantage of the night to capture the mountain, but the order given to them by their superiors was to wait until the Army Aviation's strength arrived.Lin Huaisheng knew that the scouts were on fire, so he let them take the lead.

After the first group reached the top of the hill, there was no exchange of fire.After a while, they reported through the radio that they had captured 20 prisoners, all of whom were honest.The rest of the groups just climbed to the top of the mountain. Lin Huaisheng told the rest of them to organize defense immediately, and he had to interrogate the prisoners as soon as possible.When I asked, it was the same as the intelligence. The paramilitary forces belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of India were stationed in this stronghold. Their main task here was to monitor the movement of Chinese troops and eavesdrop on the telegraph communications between China and Bhutan.

He then inspected the enemy's fortifications. The surface part has been completely destroyed by bombs, but the tunnels inside the mountain are well preserved. All these prisoners survived miraculously because their superiors reminded them that there might be air raids, so they listened When the helicopter approached, they all hid in the tunnel.Lin Huaisheng walked to the phone, wanting to see if the line was still open, when the phone rang suddenly.He hesitated and grabbed the receiver.Someone on the opposite side asked in English with an obvious Tibetan accent:
"104 What's the situation?"

"We were just attacked by the Chinese army." Lin Huaisheng replied.

The other party paused for a moment, as if suspicious of him, and then asked: "Report 106, have you heard the gunfire?"

"The enemy is marking the area east of the river valley, requesting artillery fire support." Lin Huaisheng said casually.

"No, you can't use artillery." The other party flatly denied, "However, we must persevere, and we will send reinforcements." After finishing speaking, the other end hung up the phone.

The man's words and the previous questioning of the prisoners made Lin Huaisheng feel that the Indian military seemed to be aware of this sudden attack.He immediately asked the attacking force to change the focus of defense, arrange the anti-aircraft missiles to a concealed position near the commanding heights, and at the same time hide most of the people together with the headquarters on the slope facing north to prevent possible shelling from the Indian direction.He knew that if the Indians were worried about the exposure of the artillery group, they would be less likely to shell, but it was better to be careful in everything.

The silence in the mountains was broken again by the noise of helicopters, this time from the south.Lin Huaisheng watched carefully with binoculars lying in the bushes. It was a Mi-17 transport plane painted in camouflage, but the distance was too far, and he could not confirm the specific squadron of the helicopter.The Indian pilot was obviously more familiar with the mountains in this area than the Chinese pilots, and the helicopter also appeared to be very skilled in crossing the mountains, and flew lower.For the shoulder-fired missiles brought by the strike team, the target seemed to be at a negative elevation angle.

"The air defense team is ready to shoot." Lin Huaisheng ordered through the walkie-talkie.

The shooter ambushing on the top of the hill took off the front cover of a missile and began to aim step by step.As the helicopter approached, the missile began to capture the heat source of the turboshaft engine, and the helicopter was completely within range by visual inspection.

"Look at the tactical sign, it belongs to the 115th Squadron. Guess, is that Luosang Tashi on it?" An officer said beside Lin Huaisheng.His hypothesis aroused Lin Huaisheng's interest.The "hovering angel" logo of the aircraft Hassan is indeed the logo of the 115th Helicopter Squadron, and this squadron is currently responsible for transporting the troops of Luosang Tashi to serve as firefighting teams throughout southern Tibet.Perhaps this blow could catch a big fish, but Lin Huaisheng's information showed that Luosang Zhaxi always liked to go to the front line in person, but he usually hid in the second helicopter.

"Look, the second target?" the officer continued.

Lin Huaisheng looked in the direction of his finger, and the second Mi-17 helicopter came out from behind the mountain, about 5 kilometers away.He thought maybe he could wait.

"The air defense team don't shoot yet, wait a minute."

At this time, the first Indian helicopter seemed to hesitate a bit. Maybe he sensed that the position was too quiet and didn't look like it was being attacked, so he never got too close; the second helicopter that followed was farther away.Lin Huaisheng knew the channels commonly used by the Indian Army, and he had been monitoring these channels, but the Indian pilots in the air did not attempt to contact the ground, and seemed to be carefully circling the hills, observing something.

"Captain, the missile cooling time is limited, we can't wait any longer."

"Can we have a second fight first?" Lin Huaisheng asked.

"No, the visual distance is too far." The soldier replied.

Lin Huaisheng hesitated for a moment. If he waited any longer, he might miss the opportunity, so he ordered to open fire.

As a cloud of white smoke rose from the top of the mountain, the Indian helicopter immediately sensed the danger and began to forcibly dodge to one side. The pilot almost forgot that the helicopter full of 22 commandos was flying in an area with thin air.After the Mi-17 forcibly made a sharp turn, it immediately lost control.The plane crashed head-on into a hill, and the trailing missile hit the broken fuselage.

Luosang Zhaxi was sitting in the navigator position of the second Mi-17 at the moment, and witnessed that all the people on the first plane were buried in the wild forest.He couldn't help roaring, these people were descendants of the older generation of guerrillas who escaped from the Mustang concentration camp, and he couldn't bear to just watch them be buried in vain.

In fact, a few hours ago, he knew that the Chinese army might launch an attack on this mountain, but out of certain considerations, the superior did not strengthen the defense in advance or simply withdraw the people in this prominent stronghold.After the position issued a distress signal, the superior asked Luosang Tashi to dispatch rescue from Tespur.Now it seems that such a belated command is simply unimaginable.

After the second Mi-17 fled in the desert, Lin Huaisheng always wanted to send someone to check the wreckage in the ravine to see if he was lucky this time and killed Luosang Zhaxi.However, the correspondent conveyed a new order from the headquarters: Lin Huaisheng was required to immediately abandon the mountain, withdraw to the Chinese control line along the Bhutan border, and bring back the captives.He couldn't figure out what kind of medicine was sold in the superior's gourd, but Xu Jingzhe had already vaccinated him before leaving, so he was mentally prepared.He asked the first group to escort the captives down the mountain first, and he led the other two groups to break the rear.Just after withdrawing to the valley, the Indian Air Force began to bombard the hill indiscriminately. This was the second round of bombs that this quiet hill received in just a few hours.

"Fortunately, we withdrew in time," said an officer beside Lin Huaisheng.

"Well, this shows that the superior has the foresight."

"What plane is it?"

"Look," Lin Huaisheng pointed to a steam trail in the sky, "That's Tespur's Su-30. The sound of the explosion sounds like a low-drag bomb, and it dropped well."

(End of this chapter)