Chapter Thirty-Four: The Horseback Gun

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  In fact, from the very beginning, deciding to attack this helicopter base was a gamble-like battle. Even if it succeeded, it would not be possible to retreat completely, after all, this is a place heavily guarded by Soviet troops.

  Muhammad made up his mind to get rid of these does, and he knew the battle would be extremely cruel, which completely violated the tactics of guerrilla warfare. However, after being bullied by the does several times, Muhammad was really unbearable.

  Now the Soviets have withdrawn, and it's impossible for our side to drive this armored vehicle out of the encirclement again. Now wandering around the apron, the Soviets are afraid of hitting their own planes, and there is also concern that if they go out, they will not be able to enter the mountains and will be hit by armor-piercing shells.

  Even now, Muhammad is still gambling, and he himself drilled to the side of this doe, the Soviet tanks dare not open fire, fearing that they will misfire on this doe.

  This forward airfield had a total of twelve Il-2s, the size of one aviation regiment. As soon as Mukhammadov arrived, he destroyed six of them, half of the Il-2s were destroyed. The remaining ones, if there is another mistake, the base commander will definitely not be able to bear it. Even now, the loss is already great.

  It was precisely for this reason that the Soviets did not open fire, nor even shoot, as they approached the helicopter and climbed aboard. They were afraid of hitting the aircraft by mistake. It wasn't until they saw the helicopter's rotor start to turn, saw it wobble into the air, and saw the fuel truck's hose being pulled apart that they couldn't believe their eyes: the Afghan guerrillas, those illiterate peasants, could actually fly a helicopter?

  "Quick, fire! These guerrillas are going to escape!" The situation is now clear. If they continue to entangle with this helicopter, they will thoroughly lose their chance. If the guerrillas seize the helicopter and escape, the commander in Jalalabad will be even more furious about their failed action.

  The helicopter was swaying up and down, Muhammad's forehead was sweating, he kept operating the joystick, but the helicopter was moving back and forth, not listening to him, let alone flying away, it might crash again at any time, smashing them into a meat pie.

  He simply released all the operating rods, reached out and pulled off the armored soldier's helmet. Now, there was no need to pretend to be a Soviet person anymore, and the helmet could also be thrown away.

  Just as he released all the controls, the helicopter stabilized and hovered in mid-air. Suddenly, Muhammad realized that his instructor had told him about pilot-induced oscillation. When he felt the plane pitch forward, he immediately pulled back, but he pulled too hard, causing the plane to pitch backward again, and then he would push the control stick forward again, making the plane's amplitude larger and larger.

  Gently, it has to be gentle! Muhammad pushed the control stick gently forward, and indeed, this time the helicopter tilted slowly forward and then flew forward.

  "Fire!" All the weapons below aimed at the sky and shot towards the helicopter.

  The underside of the doe is armored, ordinary bullet shots are ineffective against it.

  Muhammad operated the helicopter, flying away from the air force base. The guerrilla fighters in the rear cabin were still like in a dream. Before, they had only seen Soviet people flying high above their heads with an arrogant attitude. Who would have thought that one day they could also sit on this iron bird and fly into the sky?

  The instructor is really great, and can even drive this iron bird!

  Right ahead was the mountainous region. If they flew directly into it, they would be completely out of danger. However, Muhammad gritted his teeth and pushed the control stick forward, turning the aircraft around to head back.

  There are five more planes on the airport, we must take them all down!

  On the short wings of this doe, rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles are hung, but Muhamed can't operate them at all. Originally, it should be operated by the weapon operator in the front cabin, but now the front cabin is empty, no one comes to operate, and even if someone does, no one will tinker with those things.

  What a pity about those weapons! Although the ones on both sides of the mounting can't be used, there are still some in the rear cockpit.

  The Soviets were also adaptable, after the Mi-8s entered Afghanistan, although formal modifications had not yet begun, Soviet troops themselves installed machine guns on the side doors of the rear cabin of the Mi-8. This allowed soldiers inside the rear cabin to operate these machine guns and attack guerrilla fighters from the sides when they could not be dropped off in time. Moreover, during landing, the machine guns on both sides could help clear a safe landing area, after all, the rear view of this wide helicopter was almost zero.

  Having heard Muhammad's order, looking at the helicopter turning around, the guerrillas in the rear cabin became excited again. They opened the sliding cabin door and pushed out machine guns on both sides.

  Dulani was originally a machine gunner, he grabbed the trigger of a machine gun and prepared to fire at the people below.

  The ground was constantly changing, and the airport was getting closer and closer.

  Several refueling trucks were quickly refueling the remaining helicopters at this time. The ground crew was hanging bombs, and their hearts were filled with anger.

  On the helicopter, the pilot was already seated there, waiting for the equipment to be completed and ready to take off in pursuit.

  This is a joke for the whole Jalalabad base, this is a joke for the entire Soviet Army, an armed helicopter base was visited by guerrillas and six helicopters were knocked out, and one more was taken away!

  The maintenance of the Mi-24 helicopters is very complicated, and after each flight, they need several hours of maintenance. These few helicopters were returning from a mission yesterday, and it was already dark at that time, so they didn't have time for maintenance or refueling and reloading. As a result, they could only watch as one of the helicopters was stolen.

  The helicopter pilots did not participate in the battle just now, they hid in the tower until the helicopter was snatched away and left, then they came out, running quickly towards their own plane. Each pilot is a national key talent, costing countless resources, their stage is in the sky.

  As soon as the refueling and arming are completed, wait for them to take off, then go and shoot down that hijacked helicopter!

  Just as they were about to finish refueling, another loud rumbling sound came from the sky, and that helicopter flew back again!

  Looking at the panicked Soviet soldiers, looking at those vehicles moving, looking at the few helicopters preparing to take off on the tarmac, Muhammad knew that he had arrived just in time!

  "Fire!" Durrani yelled, pulling the trigger of his machine gun.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat." The chain of bullets slid out of the machine gun's barrel, countless bullets flew out of the muzzle and shot towards the ground.

  A Soviet soldier named Ivan was immediately mowed down by machine gun fire, crying out as he fell. Duranni continued to push the barrel forward, bullets flying towards the apron in front of him.

  The armor of the Hind is mainly on the underside, when it flies over the battlefield, it is mainly to prevent anti-aircraft fire from below. If the entire body of the Hind were armored, it would be very heavy, so attacking from above, the Hind's resistance ability is weak.

  On the other side, Aga operated another machine gun, and both sides opened fire at the same time. The Soviet soldiers below simply could not withstand the firepower from both sides.

  "Boom." A fuel truck next to a helicopter was blown up, and in an instant, the helicopter next to it also burst into flames.

  "Soviets, let's give you a taste of the Afghan guerrillas' ferocity!" The rest of the guerrilla fighters didn't idle either; they pulled the safety pins on their grenades and threw them down from the sky.

  "Boom! Boom!" Explosions everywhere, machine gun fire sweeping across, the Soviets also got a taste of being struck from the air.

  The east began to turn white, and the sky gradually brightened.

  Several helicopters on the apron were destroyed, Muhammad pushed the control stick, planning to fly over again and make another round before flying away, but when his eyes looked out of the side window at the ground, they suddenly stopped.

  Several armored vehicles are rapidly approaching, judging by the direction, they came from the Kabul area. The chassis of these armored vehicles is very similar to that of ordinary tracked vehicles, but on top, there is a huge turret, with four not-so-thick gun barrels in front and a mushroom-shaped thing standing upright at the back of the turret.

  Grandma's, this thing is truly a deadly weapon, the nightmare of Afghan guerrillas!

  Shile River 23mm quadruple-barreled self-propelled anti-aircraft gun!

  The Shilka is the first all-weather, fully automatic, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system equipped by the Soviet Union. The system consists of an improved AZP-23 4-barrel 23mm autocannon, a closed turret and GM-575 chassis and radar fire control systems. It was the first self-propelled anti-aircraft gun in the Soviet Union and the world, with fierce firepower and advanced technology.

  On the battlefield of Bar-Lev, in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, according to the Arab coalition forces' statistics, among the more than 300 aircraft lost by the Israeli Air Force, one-third were shot down by SA-6 Gainful missiles.

  In later records, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Shilka played a multi-faceted role. The guerrilla forces did not have aircraft; it was not used to shoot down planes but rather to strike at guerrilla forces in mountainous regions.

  Due to its high and low firing interface, when encountering guerrilla ambushes on mountains, it can quickly open fire to counterattack, covering the guerrilla's position with intense firepower. At this time, the clumsy T-62 tank was still looking for a suitable shooting position to overcome the embarrassment of being unable to fire due to angle restrictions.

  If Mohammed could fully operate the armed helicopter, he could take out those self-propelled guns with the missiles on both sides, but now he only had one choice: run as far as he could. The 23mm anti-aircraft gun could easily tear through the armor of the Gazelle and blow it up in mid-air.

  Just as Muhammad was about to push the operating lever, those several Shilka self-propelled guns had already stopped, their turrets rotated, their muzzles raised, and four 23mm barrels suddenly fired a dense barrage of bullets, countless bullets whizzing towards the doe in the sky.