Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 552 Attacking Leh
Directly above the venue where Safford Jones had a fierce quarrel, Major Rolle and Goya were waiting for the plane to leave.

As a front-line officer of the Air Force, the trip to be interviewed by the Prime Minister has been temporarily cancelled. The Prime Minister just sent a close aide to convey his greetings, which made the opportunity for the two majors to express their opinions directly lost.Kahan seems to no longer have the energy to meet with grassroots military officers, but instead focuses his main attention on winning foreign aid. The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Three Armed Forces) met with a not-so-high-ranking official, but Kahan has already noticed that this is truly reliable and pragmatic diplomacy. And the urgent desire to save India was born.These people were not invited from India, they were delivered to the door by themselves.If Western countries can take unified actions and become a powerful arsenal behind India, then he is confident that he can continue to fight.

But for Goyarol, it is inevitable to be disappointed, but fortunately their main task has been completed.Lani's show is taped and will be in post-production in a day or two.It is said that the program will add some shots of enemy planes being shot down interspersed in interviews, some of which are HUD records, and some are stunts.Such programs that distort the truth are at least useful for paralyzing the public.

Although it is the enemy's intelligence department's dream to have front-line officers appear on TV, they can read information including troop locations, equipment status, commander's psychological condition, etc. through the program; but now is not the time to worry about these, It is the primary political task to let the people know that this war is far from lost, and that India still has heroes who can stand up to a hundred.

When they were still in the studio of Hindustan State-run TV, Rolle and Goya did not have much communication, mainly because Dr. Rani went back and forth from time to time to explain his requirements, which imposed a great pressure on the guests. The pressure makes it impossible for them to talk.If there is a sentence that is not sonorous enough, the doctor will flatly ask to stop and re-record a part, so as to prevent the public from doubting what they saw on TV. He is always like a thieves, preventing the people from discovering the truth.

In the doctor's mind, the Indian hero should be introverted, confident, firm-eyed, and slightly withdrawn, but when talking about the enemy, the heroic task should become passionate, unrestrained, and disdainful And ridicule, a bit like in Indian movies, the lone ranger who dares to challenge the entire gang.

Of course, such people only exist in the stereotyped imagination of right-wingers like Lani. It is difficult for people who are really on the front line and have experienced disastrous failures to deduce such a rebellious face, so the whole The recording time becomes extraordinarily long.

"It's a pity that I couldn't meet the Prime Minister this time in the capital." Goya said, "I read the recent news, he is much older."

"The prime minister's secretary told me privately just now that the prime minister has done his best to get the whole world to help us. Soon, the situation will take a huge turn. And we must cooperate with such publicity. To be honest, I don't like Rani very much. Doctor, he keeps interrupting me."

"Turning point?" Goya shook his head. "I don't know if this kind of political propaganda is still meaningful. The enemy may use graphite bombs to destroy the power supply at any time, so the TV propaganda will become meaningless."

"It will get better." Rolle comforted, "I heard that your army will have new fighter jets soon?" He tried hard to find a slightly more positive topic.

"Yes, it is more advanced than the MKI. The Russians originally provided the model to Malaysia, and the Ministry of National Defense paid a high price to get it. It is more suitable for the climate in South Asia than other fighters. I just need a good plane, and I will report it with one stone. hatred."

"However, SU35 has appeared on their side, and there may be something invisible to the radar."

"Honestly speaking, I have a solid foundation in my heart when fighting the Chinese Air Force. Although they bully the few with more, they at least follow the path of probing/attacking/retreating, which is far less messy than that old lunatic. He always follows your expectations The places where you can’t reach suddenly pop up. The number of routes and even the landline are different every time.” No need to mention the name, Luo Er naturally knows who he is referring to.

"If it wasn't for her, the Pakistan Air Force would have ceased to exist."

"I have experienced his cruelty. After I parachuted, he shot and killed my companion with a machine gun. At that time, I was floating helplessly in the air." Goya subconsciously looked at his injured hand, but he recovered well. Don't delay using the throttle, "If it's not for publicity, I'd rather the enemy think I'm dead, so it's easier for me to attack him from the shadows."

"Maybe, we can cooperate to solve this scourge once and for all." Luo Er suddenly suggested, but from his appearance, it seemed that he had thought it through.

"Don't be kidding, he moves erratically, like a shark in the deep sea, he didn't show his dorsal fin until the last moment."

"But that ZDK03 can always be detected. The intelligence department believes that the command team of the Pakistan Air Force is among them. I can lead the battlefield to the northwest mountainous area. It will lose its vision and follow it. At that time, you can use the interception advantage to sneak attack." .”

"Sounds interesting."

Xu Jingzhe sat behind his desk, anxiously waiting for information from the enemy's military meeting, which would determine the direction of the enemy's deployment in the future.His confidential secretary is pasting on the wall the large identification map of the enemy's main equipment newly issued by the General Staff.As older weapons such as the MiG 27 have faded out of the front line, and new miscellaneous systems are constantly entering the series, updates are always in progress, and this is also a particularly headache for the intelligence community in fighting India. .In fact, Xu Jingzhe never took a look at these things. He is in charge of strategic intelligence and intelligence deception against the enemy. For these things at the equipment level, it is natural that someone with a lower rank will go to the government.

"Hey, have you figured out the situation in Leh?" He asked on the phone.

"Report. At present, it can only be confirmed that the person who mobilized the tornado rocket launcher was a fairly high-level general, but no convoy and large special service aircraft were found."

"Understood." He hung up the phone, not having much new information for several hours.What fascinates him is, if there is a big man, why not go to the Supreme Military Council.Of course, he easily thought of his old rival, Paisad. Perhaps he had been out of work for too long and was eager to grasp the situation on the front line, and he didn't bother to attend the military meeting.If Pasade becomes the Chief of Staff of the Army, he may not have much real power, but his influence cannot be underestimated.It seems that it is necessary to strengthen the offensive against Leh. No matter who this person is, the cost of strengthening his wrong judgment cannot be saved.

He picked up another phone, watched the phone tell the secretary to go out and close the door, and then spoke.

"Chief, I suggest strengthening the attack on Leh. If the enemy's defense collapses, I suggest that the main attacking force in Ali's defense area can be transferred to occupy it."

There was silence on the other side for a long time. It was rare for Xu Jingzhe to express his personal opinion on the command so clearly, which made the head of the military region very uncomfortable.

"Even if you don't take this area, you should light up the tanks. Just shooting them can't stop them. We have to hold Jean Meneam by the nose and make him turn his whole body so that we can kick his ass hard. .”

Xu Jingzhe took the initiative to propose a second-best solution and explained his difficulties in detail.In fact, using tanks to threaten Leh has always been a backup plan, but it is not the priority plan, because capturing there does not directly threaten New Delhi.

On several pontoon bridges on the Shyok River east of Leh, the dejected rearguard of the 3rd Indian Infantry Division is repeating the scene of Tawang's retreat.But this retreat was more organized than most of Assam's retreats.Under the snow-capped mountains on both sides, soldiers walked silently on the left side of the bridge, making way for the towed artillery on the other right.

The troops defending the river set up a zero-hour storage station on the west bank of several pontoons to provide pancakes and hot soup for the withdrawn troops. At the same time, there were also officers there to gather and reorganize the lost troops.

These measures were learned by Meneam from the lessons of Assam's defeat. In his view, the chaos in Assam's battle was the result of the enemy's deliberate chaos.

Various rockets fired by both sides flew across the sky from time to time, and the soldiers took no surprise and marched westward silently.In the past month, the Chinese army has completely occupied the area east of Pangong Lake, and the current battleground is on both sides of the Qiangchenmo River, which is still far away.After all, this area is a high mountain area. The main form of warfare is artillery battles and battles for hilltops. The comparison is logistics and patience, and there are very few mechanized troops interspersed at high speed.

Soldiers with good eyes noticed, to the south of the pontoon, small trees moving across the water, about a kilometer away.Someone reported a captain on the shore registering stragglers.He is the highest-ranking officer here, leading half of the engineering battalion of the 8th Mountain Division to cover the troops of the 3rd Division across the bridge.The captain raised his binoculars and looked at it for a while, then shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. He hoped to check the battle situation in the direction of Pangong Lake with the headquarters as soon as possible.

Suddenly, a mess of shells fell around the camp, and the first shot blew up the truck stacked with pancakes. Obviously, there were enemy eyesliners on the opposite mountain.

"They are coming, hurry up and dodge the gun!"

The officer yelled, jumped into the car and ran, no matter what else.His clumsy performance made his subordinates follow suit and began to flee in all directions.

Standing in the red light, He Fan could hear the sound of rushing river water hitting the armor.This is the most vulnerable moment for the tank. It can only stick to the bottom of the river, relying on the navigation instrument, and crawl in the general direction.

In principle, tank diving cannot be used as a means of assault. Tank diving needs a consolidated probe position for dismantling the snorkel and other diving equipment after landing. On the other side of the Shyok River, there is only one sneaking past in the dark. infantry company.Currently hiding in the junction area of ​​enemy forces.

Submarine crossing was originally his idea. Of course, he originally hoped to use a snorkel for training to cross the river at night, but the superior suddenly issued an order to quickly detour to Leh. With a relatively thin snorkel, it loses the ability of underwater observation and communication.Especially when there are ice blocks floating down the upstream, there is indeed the possibility of hitting the ventilation pipe.

After He Fan came here, he studied the enemy's defense and the local terrain. The Shyok River is undoubtedly the focus of the enemy's defense, but the main defensive force has not yet formed.

Meneam's echelon defense idea is to organize the retreating troops in an orderly manner, and then invest in new lines of defense again, so that troops can be saved and more lines of defense can be established.But for people like He Fan, there are indeed loopholes that can be exploited. For the Indian army, organizational skills are a big test.

"I don't know if the assault boats in Pangong Lake have been dispatched?" He was still thinking, but as long as he didn't hear the enemy mortar shells falling into the nearby water, the situation would not be the worst.After all, he is a person who has fought many battles. He knows that such a perfect surprise attack will definitely stun the enemy, and there is no reason why it should not be successful.

Sure enough, the Indians were confused by the sudden attack. The assault boat troops going up the Shuo River from Pangong Lake quickly stood on a rocky beach at the designated location. They and a company that crossed the river earlier completed a 500-meter-long narrow defensive zone.

During the entire process of crossing the river, there was no violent counterattack by the enemy in the plan. In fact, the enemy in the distance did not completely collapse in the first place, which is already commendable.The Indian troops insisted on waiting until He Fan's tanks rumbled out of the river, and finally lost the will to fight.They dropped their heavy weapons and began to retreat towards Leh with light vehicles. They were indeed in this area, and they could see that the enemy would have tanks.

Immediately after He Fan landed, he pressed the power supply of the detonating cord to blow up the gun barrel cover, and then climbed out from the gunner's entrance and exit to remove the snorkel.During this period, the tank fired a shot at a jeep equipped with anti-aircraft missiles on the pontoon bridge, and many Indian soldiers fell into the icy river.

"I'm 01, and I'm already standing on the west bank of the river. The enemy's resistance is minimal." He Fan said while holding the intercom.

"01 Act according to the plan, beware of the enemy's heavy artillery fire. You don't need to be close to the outskirts of Leh, just let the enemy see you."

"clear."

"Be extra careful with their mobile anti-tank missile units."

"clear."

Within 10 minutes, more than 40 tanks drove into the case from the water, and the extended firepower has been under the direction of the drone, shooting at people fleeing, hoping that they can bring the panic all the way to Leh, but it is a company operating several In an important town for ten years, the enemy is unlikely to abandon the city and flee.

The fighter jets in the air fired quickly and then turned, and the feeling of a general attack gradually became stronger.

Pasade was waiting for news in the basement, when suddenly it was reported that the enemy's tank troops had broken through the Shyok River.

In his mind, the enemy's dispatch of tanks is an extremely important sign, which probably means the direction of the main assault.During the Battle of Assam, the enemy set up various illusions, but in hindsight, their main attack route was guided by tank troops, and infantry troops were invested in the direction of feint attack.

(End of this chapter)