Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 524 Victory is far from coming
"That is to say, we can regain hundreds of square kilometers of land in one fell swoop without firing a single shot?" The company commander of the 3rd company said excitedly.

"Don't be ashamed. As long as the enemy is still on our land, we won't win without a fight. We have to drive them all out, and maybe we have to make them pay an extra price to be considered a victory."

Yahini said angrily, this is not the empty talk he said when he taught others after he was promoted, he has always thought so.Although it is difficult to understand the significance of this breakthrough away from the northern battlefield, being able to kill Indians is still acceptable to him.

"...But no matter what, the tank regiment of the entire Mechanized Infantry Division is vulnerable to a single blow." The commander of the T[-] company, who was choked, added a sentence, although he was a little embarrassed.

"The 28th Division has a tank regiment? Why didn't I know?"

"When the intelligence department updated the enemy's sequence, you went to the division headquarters for a meeting. They just got the number of a tank regiment, which was pulled from the original armored battalion and added some reserve forces. In my opinion, it must not be our opponent. , unless...they dispatch the air force."

"Well, is that so?" Yahini pondered for a while, and he could only cautiously agree with his subordinate's judgment.

Now he is indeed a strong soldier.For this mission, the First Armored Group added several tanks to him, and then merged a broken T80UD tank company (the third company) with his troops, plus a mechanized infantry company and reconnaissance troops , forming a peculiar unit (such temporary formations are very common in warfare)
Ten days earlier, superiors had appointed Yahini as interim commander.In theory, he has been promoted to the commander of a synthetic battalion, but the official appointment has not yet been issued.It was not the first time for him to temporarily command a battalion, so during the meeting, he talked with the division commander about the necessity of this battle in an unusually old-fashioned way.He believes that instead of chasing the Indians to eat farts in an area of ​​​​no special value, it is better to let him make a few limited attacks in an area where the front lines intersect to test the enemy's reality.At that time, the division commander shook his head, hesitant to speak, obviously because of Yahini's military rank, he couldn't tell him all about his next plan.

In fact, the purpose of launching a campaign to attack Gujrat in the south, bypassing the Fort, is not clear even to senior Pakistani military officers. They only know that it is the Chinese who made such a request, but they It's just that the accumulation of troops in Quetta did not participate, and it was only said that it was to contain a certain Indian army.From this far-fetched reason, it is indeed difficult to guess the real intention.As for the ultimate goal is to establish a solid starting area in a relatively flat area and directly invade India in the next stage, the Chinese side did not tell anyone in Pakistan; All kinds of speculation, but no one dared to imagine such a bold plan.

Yahini was ordered to capture a 5X1.0 km bridgehead east of the river and wait for follow-up troops.India's defense in this area is sparse and there are not many troops. The 28th Division has probably undertaken a frontal defense of 0 kilometers, and now they are retreating.

The terrain in this area is flatter than that near the Fortress. The Indians were more willing to fight the Pakistani army in this area a few months ago, but this is conducive to their tank troops taking advantage of the numbers. The Pakistani side understands Avoid this flooded area; but now, the situation is reversed, and India has to withdraw from this area, and has adjusted its forces to resist the threat from the north.

"If the Chinese can listen to my persuasion, it would be a good plan to kill all the way east from here." Yahini said to himself while supporting the top of the command tower. Not until he interjects.

"Company commander, the engineers have erected the pontoon bridge, we can go over."

"Wait for a while, let the vehicles of the reconnaissance troops pass first." He didn't quite trust the quality of the bridge built by the engineers, and hoped that the lighter infantry transport vehicles would go there first to see if they could bear the weight.

Several M113 infantry transport vehicles staggered across the bridge and seemed to be alive, so he instructed the driver to take the lead and slowly cross the bridge.Two Cobra helicopters in the sky quickly flew in the direction of the Indians' retreat. Their night vision equipment was too old and they could only wait to be dispatched during the day, but finally the Indians could not spare their hands to seize the air supremacy here.After a while, the information obtained from aerial reconnaissance reached Yahini, and indeed no enemy troops were found 2 kilometers ahead.All I saw was a huge cloud of dust to the east, which was obviously the direction in which the enemy was retreating.

The tank unit finally rumbled across the river, and the platoons took cover, uh, and took defensive positions.Yahini finished worrying about the headquarters, found a few jeeps, took a platoon, and went to the front for reconnaissance.He has never been able to trust other people's reports, and it is not once or twice that he is deceived by the enemy in reconnaissance aerial reconnaissance, so he only relies on his own judgment.

Regarding the situation of the armored units of the 28th Division, the information is basically blank, and the Air Force has not taken any photos. It is just that the Indian army has recently loosened its defenses along the river, and the people on the east bank enthusiastically passed back information. However, these news are either exaggerated or lack of identification capabilities. Often not very precise.

Soon he reached the village of Dani Shiva, the largest village in this area, where a battalion of the Indian Army was previously set up.It was also the farthest east his scouting force had reached.

From a distance, he heard music playing from the mosque, apparently the locals had declared the victory of the war in advance.When he arrived at the entrance of the village, he was slaughtering cattle and sheep. People of all ages, singing and dancing, poured out to warmly welcome the army who had not shown his face for a long time. And the retreat is still brooding.

"Thank God, we finally drove away the enemy." Surrounded by the crowd, an old man with a walking stick came forward, probably a village chief.

"The truth is we haven't won the war, my venerable elder. We soldiers still have work to do."

Yahini walked around the welcome crowd carrying melons and fruits and waving national flags, and finally walked in front of the old man.He didn't know why these country people were so happy. There were only a few hundred troops crossing the river, and the Indians might come back at any time.

"You are our eagles and our pride. The enemy did not dare to fight, and retreated without fighting."

"Old man, are you really so sure they ran away?"

"Yes, last night I heard the rumble on the road to the south all night, and I knew they were finished. It was their tanks that were going to run away."

"Is that the sound of a tank?" Yahini found the information of interest, and raised his voice to overwhelm the loud music.

"Of course, I was a cook in the 1973th Division in 6, and I know what tanks do."

"Can you take me to the road?"

"Of course, how about drinking a cup of tea before going?"

"No need, let's go now."

Half an hour later, Yahini finally arrived at the south road under the leadership of the village chief. The abandoned vehicles on both sides of the road were densely lined up, and some of them were still carrying large luggage. Damaged, these vehicles silently tell of the turbulent refugee wave five months ago.After the Indians took control of this area, they used tanks and bulldozers to forcibly push away the blocked roads to facilitate the mobilization of their mechanized troops.

"Look at one of your tanks on the hillside. It was left behind when you retreated. It has been parked there for half a year. The blasphemous words on it were painted on by the latter two Indians."

Yahini looked at the tank with its head facing west. The cannon was hanging down, and the Indian wrote on it: The true God is great, guiding us to abandon the car and flee.He shook his head. As a tanker, this was indeed an embarrassing scene.

"Village Chief, did they run east from here yesterday?"

"Yes."

Yahini jumped out of the car and walked up and down the road, looking for traces.Sure enough, after a while, the wheels and the tracks of the tank were found.The reconnaissance platoon leader next to him was somewhat disapproving. He thought that Yahini's pretentiousness was superfluous. He had been to this place a few hours ago and found nothing different from the original information.

"It's a four-ton truck, yes, and a towed gun. They removed about 4 trucks. It must be pretty busy here at night."

"Company commander, this is the enemy artillery regiment, which belongs to the 14th Division of the 28th Army Group. It is a very ordinary infantry division with mediocre combat effectiveness. They retreated all the way to the outskirts of Gujrat to protect the supply line of Rawalpindi." The platoon leader interjected.

"Don't jump to conclusions too easily. You come here and look at these tank tracks. They are still very new."

The reconnaissance platoon leader rolled his eyes and walked over, squatting down to look at the traces of Yahini's fingers.It looked like some kind of wide tank track.

"India's T55?"

"Is the Indian T55 glued? Hehe, you're mistaken." Yahini took the opportunity to tease.

As Yahini pointed out at a glance, it was indeed a strange mark, not one, but many. They did not follow the other wheel marks all the way to the east. In fact, this mark only ran through the road from south to north, more like Either avoid the rest of the convoy on the road, push it off the road, or simply maneuver north.

"Maybe it's their infantry fighting vehicles? The 28th Division has a BMP-1? Or... a T[-]?"

"It's not right. I have encountered various enemy tanks in the south, including the T90 of the White Tiger Division. They don't use this kind of double-pin track shoes. In fact..." He measured the width with his hand, "This is an Arjun The tank. Its traces were pressed against the tracks of the 28th Division, that is to say, at dawn, just after the rearguard of the [-]th Division passed, they passed here. At that time, we were building a bridge [-] kilometers away."

"Impossible. The Arjun tank is not in this area. After the Indians blew up the bridge over the Chenab River, it is impossible for it to appear in this generation." The reconnaissance platoon leader said, also stood up straight and looked north, it seemed that it was still Some nervous.

"I really can't convince such a stubborn person like you. I have destroyed several Arjun vehicles. I should have left a track shoe as a commemoration. Let me show you by the way." He stood up and patted the ashes on his hands. The village head on the side also stood up straight without saying a word. He insisted on leading Yahini here on crutches, just to prove that the enemy really ran away, but at this moment, the village head had a look on his face. A little stiff, he felt that things were not as simple as he thought.

"Didn't the intelligence say that the Arjun regiment has been wiped out?"

"I'm afraid the information is not true. I was there in the last encounter. They fought very tenaciously, but some of them broke down in the mountains and couldn't fight. This area is more suitable for this kind of tank activity."

After Yahini came to a conclusion, he hurried back with his men. They dropped the village chief at the entrance of the village. nearby.So the lively celebrations came to an abrupt end.

Yahini was very worried. He felt that the enemy should be coming towards his troops and the pontoon behind him, but he didn't know the number of enemies.Before they arrived at the headquarters, they heard explosions in the distance, and it was true that tank guns were firing.He hastened to radio the troops.Someone told him that he had just been harassed by a small group of Indian tanks, and the 2nd company stopped in place, waiting for him to command them, and did not move. However, the 80rd company equipped with T3 did not stand still, but sent out to chase the enemy.He immediately called the commander of the [-]rd company, but there was no response, apparently running out of communication range.The third company has not been very satisfied with the command of Yahini, and it seems that it has not obeyed the command very much.

Five kilometers away, nine T9UDs lined up in a single column, quickly chasing the Indian T80 tanks that suddenly appeared from the northeast.

The company commander was very surprised. The aerial reconnaissance really failed, and the enemy came back again, but it seemed that there were not many of them.This company commander has participated in all the battles of the 6th Armored Division since the start of the war. He is considered a veteran, so he doesn't take the Indian T55 seriously.According to the available information, it is not difficult for him to conclude that the Indians do not have decent equipment to fight against the T80, and it is easy to be shelled if they stay in place; so without informing Yahini, he acted without authorization and decided to teach the following Indian tanks, At the same time, give Yahini, who doesn't respect himself very much, a little insight and see how the 6th Armored Division fights.The tank rushed all the way into the preset ambush position of Colonel Sander, the commander of the Indian Armored Corps.

Pakistan's dispatch of T80UD also exceeded the expectations of Colonel Sander, the commander of Arjun's army. He thought that in such a secondary area, the enemy would only dispatch Type 120 tanks equipped with 59mm artillery.But since we hit it, we have to hit it.It is more than enough to wipe out an enemy company with a reinforced battalion in hand.

Colonel Sandel fought from the north to the south for half a year, and all the troops refused him, which inevitably made him feel bad.In the end, Lieutenant General Meneam, who was insatiable and never refused, decided to include this force in his theater as a reserve force for the secondary defensive area.

(End of this chapter)