Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 548 Accumulate Strength
"How's the bombardment going?" asked the general.

"The shelling started 5 minutes ago. Most of the frontiers of this defense area have reported being attacked by intensive rockets. Here, here, and here, we have also been attacked by heavy artillery with a caliber above 152." Minamiya finally calmed down. After coming down, he pointed out one by one on the map. He did lose his composure just now, mainly because he felt abandoned by his superiors.

"Don't panic. Have the enemy dispatched tanks?"

"No tanks have been observed yet. For the past two days, they have been aware that they have been using helicopters to transport troops to the starting position behind the mountain. Today, with the support of artillery fire, they launched an attack on our stronghold on the ridge. If the attack If you succeed, the main barrier east of Leh will be lost."

"Take it easy, this offensive of theirs won't last."

"However, their shelling has never been so violent. As for the tanks, they have never been seen in battle in this area."

"If they make up their minds to capture Leh, they will definitely deploy tanks, so today is just a preparatory offensive, in order to seize some starting positions and passages, or it may just be a bluff feint." The general said calmly.He is confident that he can see through some of the enemy's tricks.

"Can we hold on?"

"Your defense system is good. It is difficult for the enemy to take advantage of the loopholes. Their artillery fire can only destroy our surface positions, but it is difficult to attack the tunnels on the slope. Order the troops to calm down, resist one by one, and abandon the ridge stronghold if necessary. They are not gods , cannot continue to fight in such a harsh climate, nor can it penetrate too far."

"But ... they will stand on the high ground."

"Don't be afraid, when they come up, I will immediately mobilize the tornado rockets under the command of the group army to hit them hard." Pasade said.According to the command level of the Indian Army, Minamiya certainly couldn't adjust the long-range rocket launcher; the enemy launched an attack while Meneam was away, and his intentions were sinister, but now he finally has a stronger backer.

In the air, fighter jets of the Chinese Air Force unscrupulously passed over the Ladakh region and flew to deeper areas. Some of the fighter planes carried extra-regional weapons that would directly attack Jammu, where Meneyam had hoarded heavy troops. After the shelling began Within half an hour, not a single aerial bomb was dropped here.But the Chinese Air Force has not forgotten the Ladakh area. Three H-3 bombers are coming. Because of their slow speed, these planes coming from afar are far behind other formations.Each H-6 carries a 6-ton bomb. This 2.8-meter-long high-resistance bomb can only be mounted in the bomb bay.

Compared with the laser-guided KAB1500, these bombs do not have any precision strike capability, but are nearly twice as heavy.Similar to the previous use of KAB1500, the target of this bombing is the communication facility hidden underground between Srinagar and Leh.During Pasade's long time in power, he always buried all important facilities deep underground, resulting in extremely high construction and maintenance costs.However, it is difficult for ordinary tactical air forces to destroy these facilities.In the process of attacking the opponent's communication nodes, the Chinese Air Force gradually experienced the troubles caused by this rigid and stubborn strategy; the Air Force even felt that unless an earthquake was created, it would be difficult to solve the problem. Now these bombers carry the most exaggerated The conventional weapons of China are to create earthquakes.

These planes did not have special escorts, but they did not penetrate too much, and only carried out a horizontal bombing in shallow and deep areas.The target is a rectangular glacier crack with a length of 500 meters and a width of 80 meters. Poor accuracy will not have much impact on the result.

The determination of the target area is the general conclusion drawn by the drones of the intelligence department to regularly track the enemy's line maintenance vehicles.Obviously not very accurate, so some super-large bombs are needed to destroy the entire area. The Air Force did not report much hope for this relatively blind attack. It is just that after the H-6 was put into operation in Assam, it showed that it can still handle some Task.According to the analysis, the chance may be 10%, and it is obviously acceptable to calculate the cost of ammunition. .

Three clumsy bombers flew along the Shyok River, an obvious geographical mark, and turned along the river north of Pangong Lake, bypassing Leh.There are many anti-aircraft weapons in Leh, which must be avoided.

Most of the mountains visible below were covered in snow, the river was narrow and illegible, and the navigator relied on satellites for navigation.After entering the bombing area, the bombers began to lower their altitude and lined up in a line, with each one separated by one kilometer.Entering the target area one by one, the whole process was carried out slowly, without encountering any threat of ground firepower.

UAVs monitor this area for more than 20 hours a day, which is close to continuous reconnaissance, basically ruling out the possibility of secret deployment of Indian mobile air defense forces.

The bombing director on the old bomber is quite advanced, that is, in the absence of laser or smoke to indicate the target, the navigator can accurately grasp the bombing position, and in the bombing director of the shooter, you can see the projected image on the ground. Reference areas with different background colors.This heavy bomb is minimally affected by the airflow, as long as the standard mode of level flight/approach is followed, the point of impact can be predicted very accurately.

After the altitude is locked, the shooter opens the magazine and aligns the bomb aiming frame with the core of the target.He disengaged the trigger and pressed the automatic bomb button.The bomb director then took over flight control.From this moment on, the aircraft's speed, attitude, altitude, and final bombing timing are completely controlled by the commander.

A drone flew quietly from one side, and the H-6 did not have enough field of view to shoot the horizontal bombing effect, nor could it transmit it in real time, so it did it for it.

After the magazine was opened, the fuselage began to shake slightly.The shooter keeps his head down on the target, waiting for the radar to measure the change in ground speed, and from this to calculate the timing of the bomb.During the bombing, the pilot maintained a high degree of vigilance. After such a large bomb fell, the center of gravity of the aircraft would change somewhat.He must be ready to take over autopilot at any time.

When the first bomber dropped its bomb, the second bomber followed far behind, just beginning to prepare for the bomb, and everything was done step by step like a drill.They target slightly different areas so that they can damage a large area in segments.

After the 3.3-meter-long bomb was released, it screamed and fell by itself.The plane wobbled slightly, then closed its magazine and climbed away.

According to the assessment report attached to previous bombing exercises, the rocks covered by glaciers will inevitably weather and break up faster due to the effect of thermal expansion and contraction. Therefore, mountains in cold regions are usually built on gravel. The underground facilities in the area require a lot of maintenance because of course the Air Force cannot wait for the natural disintegration of geological structures to cause landslides, and the giant bombs are here to create deep damage.

The drone accurately recorded the power of the explosion. After the explosion, the huge ice layer collapsed. It seems that the destructive force was strong enough and deep enough. It is not known whether it can destroy the pipeline communication cables.

Pasad in Leh was on the phone with his old subordinates in Srinagar to coordinate fire support.Suddenly the communication was cut off.He knew that his opponent was always trying to sabotage the communication, and this time he seemed to have succeeded again.In desperation, he could only use the radio to call the rear.His chief of staff, Anuroni, persuaded him hard, hoping that he would not take any risks. After all, the enemy had complete control over the air and might drop a bomb at the vent at any time.But the troops in front were falling apart under the enemy's firepower display. The general knew the virtue of the Indian army, and he was full of distrust of his superiors from top to bottom. Only fire support could make the frontline troops feel that their superiors did not betray them.

Xu Jingzhe's huge listening force deciphered a suspicious telegram sent from the 10th Mountain Division of Leh within 8 minutes.

An unprecedented call sign appeared in the telegram - the mouse of the snow mountain.

The telegram required the artillery in the rear to cover and shoot the areas where the battle was taking place, as well as the lines of communication in China, according to the pre-marked areas.Xu Jingzhe immediately noticed something strange, the Mouse of Snow Mountain was obviously the code name of a high-ranking general; then the artillery radar detected a counterattack by the Indian artillery.Due to the long distance, the exact position of the artillery position could not be accurately measured. This is only a secondary matter. Xu Jingzhe is suspicious by nature, so it is inevitable to combine the intelligence of the Pakistani Intelligence Bureau. If Pasade is really here, it should be What should I do?
The defense of Leh is completely fortified and underground. It is known that there are 2000 soldiers and three underground command posts, and the positions of the command posts are not very accurate. I am afraid that a rash attack will not be effective, and it is easy to be self-defeating. His most precious Indian communication code , may be perceived by the opponent.

The information obtained after monitoring and deciphering cannot be put into use immediately. This is a rule set by Xu Jingzhe himself.So he decided to take it easy and let his superiors make up their minds.He knew that the helicopters taking off from Leh could easily hide behind the mountains where the radar could not see them, but he also knew that the top priority was not the personnel changes at the top of India, but whether the enemy could continue to make strategic mistakes. sentenced.

At the same time, Lin Huaisheng finally arrived at Husab's underground factory to inspect his tank unit.

This underground base, originally part of Pakistan's underground nuclear program, was used to house a large number of centrifuges.For the sake of secrecy, the base is remote and deep underground. There is a hidden mountain railway directly connected to the main railway line of Mijan Valley.There are also two military airports nearby, which can take off and land large transport aircraft.It is an ideal area for secretly gathering an army, but it is a bit far from the front line.

In order to avoid satellite detection, the transportation work has not been carried out at full speed.Today there are only about 50 Type 99 tanks and 150 Type 96 tanks, as well as some infantry fighting vehicles. Some of them will be transferred from Quetta in the next few days, but the total number is not enough to form a powerful group.

The terrain of Punjab is different from that of Assam, and it is very likely that a large-scale tank battle will break out.In Zhou Yaohua's plan, the main battlefield of the entire northern Indian military region will eventually be strangled, just north of Amritsar. Of course, in his plan, what needs to be invested is a fully mobilized and expanded group army, with a number of about 8 Ten thousand people, not the current military strength.

If time is short, this campaign will inevitably rely on the strength of several broken armored divisions of the Pakistan Army.Apart from the urgent need to solve the complex joint command issues, Lin Huaisheng doubts the actual combat capabilities of these rehabilitated Pakistani troops.

Since the occupation of Karachi, Pakistan has lost a large part of the import channel of external German weapons; after Meneyam captured the Fort, the national arsenal in Rawalpindi, which produced most of the guns, and the production of Khalid tanks Naturally, the Taxila Arsenal was not spared.

Today, the only main battle weapons of Pakistan's armored divisions that can be used to supplement the battle damage are the 59D tanks provided by China in large quantities, and other tanks based on the old 59 modified artillery.This is an outdated tank with decent firepower but very backward in other aspects.

In the Pakistani Army, recruits and old equipment became a helpless combination in difficult times. In the battle against the fortress, the combination of recruits and 59 tanks was not satisfactory. Opposite is only the Indian infantry division, and it is difficult to take advantage of it. It can only perform some fire support tasks as forts.During the entire campaign, as many as 70 tanks were hastily abandoned due to minor damage and malfunctions. Meneyam even gathered these captured equipment and a large amount of ammunition to form a temporary tank battalion to supplement the Indian T55 Loss of tanks.

Accompanying Lin Huaisheng to enter the underground facility was Colonel Younis, the deputy mayor of the Indian 1st Armored Division. Lin Huaisheng noticed his artificial leg, and his military rank did not match his position.After careful questioning, I found out that Younis said that he had fought against Spanga's army in the south. As a result, the battalion commander was hit by a car. He was blown off a leg and nearly blind in one eye.

Younis has been asking whether the intention of the upcoming Chinese-led offensive from the Punjab is to threaten the flank of the enemy occupying the fort.He really couldn't imagine that with such a force, he could directly challenge the 50 troops in northern India.Or, the Chinese army just wants to open up a secondary battlefield to show the steel alliance between the two countries. If this is the case, it should be a bluff. Why should it be kept a high degree of secrecy?
"I used to be the commander of a tank. I really want to go back to the tank and fight the enemy. Unfortunately, my left eye is blind and I can't aim." Younis suddenly stopped beside a 96 tank and said.

"The risk of tank soldiers is indeed not small," Lin said.

"The Indians are receiving the T90A, you have to ship some better equipment."

Younis took a picture of the sloping front armor of the Fear 96 tank, and seemed to think that it was not good enough. .

"I heard that Yahini used to be a commander of the 1st Armored Division?" Lin changed the subject, avoiding talking about military assistance that he could not decide.

"Well, I almost drove him to the cooking unit a few times before the war, because he likes to make his own decisions and misinterpret orders. But maybe such a person is more suitable for war. He can always find a way to win in a chaotic situation."

(End of this chapter)