Chapter 45: Scorched Earth Attack

  Short and compact fuselage, long wings, round engine nacelles on either side of the fuselage, narrow cockpit, pilots seem to be nestled inside.

  This was an airplane that had never appeared on the battlefield in Afghanistan before. The guerrillas had a certain understanding of the female deer, but this new plane made them feel fearful, with bombs hanging under its wings.

  Muhammad stood on a high mountain ridge and caught sight of the two planes through binoculars, his heart skipped a beat.

  "Anti-aircraft machine guns ready, shoulder missiles ready!" Muhammad shouted, quickly jumping onto a machine gun position on the top of the mountain. If the Soviets flew over, he could open fire in the shortest possible time.

  This time flying over is the Soviet Union's latest T-8 attack aircraft!

  This is a specialized anti-tank ground attack aircraft, solid and durable, the key parts of the fuselage are all made of titanium alloy armor. At this time, it has not been officially finalized, and later will be called Su-25 attack aircraft, NATO codename Frogfoot.

  Development began in the 1970s and continues to this day. Two of the eight prototypes were sent directly to Afghanistan, where they fought alongside Mi-24s. During the entire Afghan War, it was repeatedly damaged, withstanding multiple hits from machine guns and Stinger missiles; sometimes its tail section was completely destroyed, yet it could still fly back to base. It's literally a flying tank!

  No matter which direction it is attacked from, there is armor protection, this aircraft is very difficult to shoot down.

  And the bombs hanging under the wings, falling down, will bring a sea of fire here. Although Muhammad was secretly calling for trouble in his heart, his face remained calm and expressionless. He is the core of everyone, if he wavers, the military's mind will be unstable.

  Those two attack planes slid over from a distant sky and did not come towards the guerrilla's main camp.

  Muhammad let out a sigh of relief. There was no leak here, the Soviets were supposed to be unaware of this place. Now they might just be making a routine flight, showing off their military strength.

  The assault aircraft flew away, and Muhammad stood on the top of the mountain, saying: "The crisis is over, continue training."

  Just as he was about to come down from the mountain top, Muhammad's eyes suddenly widened, and the wings of those two planes swayed gently, bomb after bomb fell.

  That direction is Ghost Village!

  "Quickly, assemble!" Muhammad shouted, his eyes starting to turn red, his fists clenched tightly. "The Soviets! They must all die!"

  The rest of the guerrillas followed Muhamad and ran quickly along the mountain road, at this time, a thick smoke had risen from the depths of the distant mountains.

  The mountain road was rugged and winding, after running for two hours, the guerrilla fighters were panting and out of breath, looking at the village in front of them.

  Everywhere was a raging fire, all the houses, those earth-covered houses were burning with big flames, thick smoke billowing, there were no more human cries in the fire, the whole village, not a single survivor.

  "Mom!" Aga shouted, wanting to rush into the village. He was a villager here, his father had passed away, and only his mother remained.

  "You can't go in." The two guerrilla fighters beside him strained to hold him back, knowing that if he charged in like this, he would only end up trapped in the inferno.

  On the ground, there were also some black things. Muhammad knew that these were special incendiary bombs thrown by the Soviets. As soon as you stepped on this black thing, it would immediately catch fire.

  Scorched earth policy! The Soviets adopted this policy to attack the Afghan guerrillas, and although they ultimately failed, it led to more Afghans being displaced and fleeing abroad.

  The Soviet people who have lost their conscience and gone mad, actually dare to use this method! Muhamed recalled the last time he came to Kostrov village, where the villagers were very supportive of the guerrillas, helping to transport ammunition. The village chief even got along well with Muhamed. But now, with this big fire, all these people have disappeared.

  This is a very cruel and inhumane means. In those years, when the Japanese invaded China, they implemented the Three Alls Policy in North China. Any village that supported the Eighth Route Army would be massacred, causing many villages to no longer accept the Eighth Route Army. Without the support of the people, it was like fish without water. That period was the most difficult for the soldiers to endure.

  Now the Soviets are also using this method, any village that dares to support the guerrillas will be bombed! Trying to make the Afghan people surrender through such means.

  Muhammad's teeth bit his lips, blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

  "The Soviets are bastards, they can do such despicable things!" James, who followed and ran over, was also stunned by what he saw in front of him: "Mr. Muhammad, when we return to Peshawar, I will report to the top, and the United States will fully support the liberation cause of the Afghan guerrillas!"

  "Mr. James, take a picture of everything here," Muhammad said: "This is the naked crime committed by the Soviet Union, and it should be known to the whole world."

  Although the Soviets were not afraid of world public opinion, when they sent troops to Afghanistan, they had already lost face, but this was still an effective way to make the Western world more supportive of the Afghan guerrilla fighters.

  "Sir, are we just going to sit back and watch our loved ones suffer from the Soviet's brutal attacks? They don't even spare civilians!" Khwaja exclaimed.

  This time the Soviets have thoroughly crossed the line. War has nothing to do with civilians, and occasionally injuring a few is forgivable. But now, brazenly bombing civilian villages like this is unacceptable.

  The guerrillas all came from surrounding villages, such behavior by the Soviets is unforgivable!

  "Of course not," Muhammad said. "Blood debts must be repaid in blood! Those two Soviet attack planes are the culprits of this raid on our villagers, we will kill the pilots on board and avenge the villagers!"

  The planes in the sky, Muhammad is helpless against them. Even if he sets up anti-aircraft guns, he doesn't know the flight route of the Soviet pilots. Even with poisonous arrow missiles, they are out of range and can only stare blankly.

  However, the plane will eventually return to base, and the pilots flying the plane also need to get off the plane to live a normal life, eat, sleep, although the ultimate enemy is those heads in Moscow, but now, the direct executioner is these two pilots.

  Muhammad's goal is clear, whoever dares to stretch out their hand to the villagers, no matter who it is, no matter what price they pay, will be killed! Blood for blood, tooth for tooth!

  "Sub-lieutenant Muhammad, the mountains are a guerrilla's paradise, you'd be mad to enter the big city, it's far too dangerous. Jalalabad is heavily guarded and the airbase is their main line of defense, a few heavy machine guns could wipe all of you out. How do you plan on finding those two pilots and taking them down?" James asked.

  "I need the help of American friends," Mohammad said. "I know your intelligence system is very complete, I need to know the exact news about these two pilots."

  Although Muhhamed had planted an informant in Jalalabad, Dana was still faithfully carrying out her mission. However, Dana's position wasn't high enough to infiltrate the airbase, something that only Americans could do.

  "Jamal, I need your help. The tragedy here, you've seen it for yourself. If we don't make a strong impression on the Soviets, they'll continue to use these extreme tactics that harm civilians, trying to force the Afghan guerrillas to surrender." Muhammad said: "Please."

  Muhammad's request was excessive, asking the Americans to provide them with intelligence, but Muhammad was also the most sincere, James knew that he couldn't refuse.

  "This is the world of Muslims," James said. "I don't know what level our intelligence has penetrated to, Lieutenant Muhammad, I can try, but you shouldn't have too high expectations."

  "Mr. James, you must be very interested in these two pilots. They are not ordinary pilots, they are test pilots. The value of a test pilot is worth more than his weight in gold. If these two test pilots were to be lost, it would also be a huge loss for the Soviet aviation industry," Muhammad said.

  Now, the Su-25 has not yet been finalized, and the prototype T-8 was sent to the Afghan battlefield, just to test the combat effectiveness of this aircraft through the most realistic battlefield. At the same time, this unformed, non-flight manual attack aircraft is not a general pilot can fly, must be a test pilot!

  Test pilots, originating from pilots, are more advanced than pilots. They fly many extreme states to detect the performance of the aircraft, and there is a risk of life at any time. For example, ordinary pilots, stalling tailspin is almost a tragic ending, while they have to intentionally enter the stall tailspin and then change it out to provide a basis for writing flight manuals.

  Americans may not care about the deaths of these villagers, it's all just a political show, but taking down two Soviet test pilots would be very interesting to Americans.

  As expected, when Muhammad mentioned test pilots, James's eyes lit up: "Good, I'll contact the Peshawar side immediately."

  Jalalabad outskirts, air force base.

  Originally, this was just a base for the Mi-24 helicopters. The soil runway was overgrown with weeds. The takeoff of the Mi-24 helicopter did not require a runway and only needed a helipad.

  At this time, the weeds on the runway had not been cleared yet. The Soviet soldiers lined up and only managed to clean up the empty tin cans, leftover shell casings and other things on the runway. Just as they finished, the roar of planes could be heard overhead.

  Two oddly-shaped planes appeared in the sky above the airport, flying low over the runway with a deafening roar, then making three turns before landing again, aligning with the runway and touching down.

  When the wheels touched the runway, it even flipped over, but the sturdy plane still landed successfully.