Chapter 91: Directed Explosion

  The Panjshir Valley guerrillas were active in the Panjshir Valley, controlling the land route into Afghanistan from the Soviet Union and periodically launching attacks that caused heavy losses to transport units. It was precisely for this reason that the 40th Army had decided to destroy this guerrilla force once and for all.

  Having learned from the previous lesson, they adopted a way of locking all mountain passes and closing the door to catch the thief, hoping to wipe out the Panjshir guerrillas at once. However, now they have opened up gaps and drilled out from the encirclement, and Badakhshan Province is full of mountains everywhere, heaven knows where the guerrillas will hide?

  And what about the Jalalabad guerrillas, when did they get around to surrounding us? They even rescued the Panjshir guerrillas and left us wandering aimlessly in these mountains for half a day!

  Thinking of this, Ji Ya Ke could no longer conceal his anger and looked at Kulinaeva: "Ava, you made us miss the opportunity!"

  Kurniawan can ignore the accusations of 40 military officers internally because it is not a system, she belongs to KGB, but GRU's special forces are under KGB, facing Tiako's accusations, Kurniawan must be serious.

  "Don't worry, Mr. Jiayue, they won't get away, they've gathered together again, which makes it more convenient for us to catch them all at once." Kuruni Aiwa said.

  "Do you know where they're hiding?" Chyako asked.

  "It's not known yet, but it will be soon. I need... Requesting HQ to dispatch a special aircraft." Kurniawan said quietly.

  A medium-sized helicopter took off from an airbase in Tajikistan, its five-bladed rotor stirring the air and making a loud whooshing sound. The large cabin looked like a flying hippopotamus. This was the Mi-8 helicopter, nicknamed "Hippopotamus" by NATO.

  Unlike the standard Mi-8, this helicopter has rectangular wire mesh screens on either side of the cockpit and an antenna array consisting of six cruciform antennas can be seen externally. This is a Mi-8PPA electronic warfare variant.

  The helicopter took off from the base, crossed the border and entered Afghan airspace in the northern mountainous area. It kept circling, with six cross-shaped antennas occasionally receiving electromagnetic signals.

  Damn the mountains! If it were in a plain area, wireless signal sources could be easily detected, but now, helicopters have to shuttle back and forth between valleys, searching for signals from even small wristwatch transmitters, not to mention ground troops' military radios. They often lose effectiveness due to mountainous interference.

  Inside the cabin, several electronic warfare officers sat in their seats, staring intently at the large circular display screen in front of them. Suddenly, one of the electronic warfare officers saw a bright spot on the screen.

  Target found! A valley fifteen kilometers away!

  "Ravens calling Gru U, ravens calling Gru U." The electronic warfare officer spoke into the headset: "Target found, five kilometers north of Shir Darwaza in Badakhshan Province's valley."

  Putting down the wireless radio, Chyakhov's face wore a cold smile: "Our task is to annihilate these two guerrilla detachments now. We will infiltrate from the eastern mountain valley."

  "Comrade Chiya, shouldn't we inform the 108th Brigade?" Kurinyai asked.

  "That bunch of trash can't even complete the task of eliminating the guerrilla forces in the encirclement, what's there to hope for? One special warfare brigade from us is enough," said Dyak.

  "That Muhammad is very cunning, be sure to be careful." Kuruni Aiva said.

  "Hmm." Chyakhov made a sound in his nose, leading his troops. Slowly disappearing from Kuruniya's line of sight, he had already obtained the enemy's accurate route, and Chyakhov no longer needed Kuruniya as a guide.

  Kurnia Awa had a bad premonition, that Muhhamed was too mysterious. Every time he could find out his own plan, however, the troops led by Zhyaako were all experienced soldiers who had rich combat experience, and they went to surround and annihilate the fleeing Afghan guerrillas, at most they just didn't catch up, what danger could there be?

  Ziai also thought so, a few years ago, when the Soviet Union decided to help stabilize Afghanistan, the troops that were first dispatched included the GRU, and many of the old soldiers in his unit had participated in the battles at that time. This time, in order to fight in the mountains of Afghanistan, a considerable number of Tajiks and Uzbeks who could speak Afghan languages and were familiar with mountain warfare were also included in his unit.

  If it weren't for the limited number of helicopters, he would have liked to mobilize them to quickly reach the mountainous area and annihilate the two guerrilla forces.

  Now, what he worries about most is that he will arrive too late and the guerrilla team will have left. However, as long as there are Mi-8 electronic reconnaissance aircraft overhead constantly intercepting wireless beacon signals, they can continue to obtain the guerrilla team's itinerary.

  Thus, Chyak's troops trudged through the mountains, along rugged little roads, advancing steadily.

  At the same time, Zhiake was also cautious and in order to prevent the Afghan guerrillas from playing tricks, he also contacted the Baghram side. More than a dozen female deer would arrive at the same time, and even if the Afghan guerrillas had any traps, under the joint attack of the two guerrilla forces, they would be quickly crushed.

  The rugged mountain road is impassable even for armored vehicles, and can only be traversed on foot or by local donkeys.

  After half a day's march, having crossed several mountains, the Gruot Special Warfare Brigade appeared in a valley at dusk.

  The Mi-8 reconnaissance helicopter has flown away, and the second replacement has not arrived yet. All Dyakova knows is that during the three hours in the afternoon, the guerrillas did not move at all, only leaving here in the last hour.

  Within an hour, they couldn't go far, waiting for the second Mi-8 to come and re-instruct their target, just in time for a night raid on Afghan guerrillas, enough to make them annihilated!

  "Traveling is long, here on both sides are high mountains, should we send someone to take a look?" A battalion commander next to Chia-kuei said.

  The terrain is too dangerous. If there are Afghan guerrillas ambushing on both sides, they will be at a high vantage point and put our side in a very passive position.

  "I was expecting them to pop out from both sides," said Jiayako, eyeing the peaks on either side with a cunning glint.

  If they really show up at this time, it's simply looking for death. Above their heads, the rumbling sound is getting closer and closer, several Apache helicopters are circling around here, and the Afghan guerrillas will be beaten to death as soon as they appear.

  Although this seemed like he had become bait himself, Ji Ya didn't feel even a bit afraid; instead, he completely took the upper hand.

  The slopes on both sides were quiet, the wind blew through the valley, making a low humming sound, and as the sun set in the west, the temperature began to drop again.

  Damn this place! Although the Soviet winter was also cold, it didn't change as drastically as here. At noon, it's hot enough to wear only a single layer of clothing, but by midnight, you have to wear a down jacket, the temperature difference is too big.

  Jiayue cursed and continued to move forward, the helicopter hovering above his head, the troops behind him forming a long snake several dozen meters long, quickly following.

  "Mr. Mohammad, the Soviets have indeed entered the valley." Masood whispered to Mohammad beside him, gazing through high-powered military binoculars at the opposite end of the valley.

  "It's all thanks to this watch," Muhammad said: "Otherwise, how would the Soviets have known we were here."

  When Muhammad saw the watch Masood was wearing, he knew there was a problem. He carefully opened the back cover of the watch and found the hidden battery inside. The watch chain was an antenna.

  In this era, there was no advanced positioning device like the one in later generations. The American GPS navigation satellite was still in the experimental stage, and the first satellite of the Soviet GLONASS system would not be launched until several months later, and integrated circuits had not yet reached the scale of later generations.

  This thing is just a simple wireless telecommunication beacon transmitter that continuously transmits signals to report its own location, and how to locate it still requires more equipment.

  When the Soviet helicopter with a cross-shaped antenna was found flying in the mountains, Muhammad knew that the Soviets were indeed looking for their own traces. There were two options in front of Muhammad: either to destroy this watch and let the signal disappear completely, or to use this watch to set up a huge trap for the Soviets.

  The Soviets had inflicted heavy casualties on Masud's guerrilla forces, and now, with a new plan in place, Masud agreed to Mohammed's scheme without hesitation.

  Now everything is going according to plan, and the Soviets have fallen into their own trap.

  Although Soviet helicopters were constantly patrolling back and forth above their heads, Masood was still full of confidence. This time it was not bullets or shells that would kill the Soviets, but... stones!

  "Let's get started," Muhammad said.

  "Good." Masood looked at the Soviet soldiers in the valley with hateful eyes and connected the wires in his hand together.

  "Boom! Boom, boom!" The explosion shook the sky and earth.

  The explosion did not occur on their route of advance, when they heard the sounds from both sides, Chyak's special warfare brigade immediately crouched down to the ground, pulled the bolt, and aimed at the mountain peaks on both sides.

  When their eyes looked past, they were suddenly stunned.

  Oh God, what is that?

  "Rumbling, rumbling." Countless boulders rolled down the mountain slope, crashing into the ground and causing intense tremors. Smoke was still rising from the slope, exactly where the explosion had occurred.

  This explosion wasn't near them, but its effect was far greater than if it had exploded right next to them!

  Their entire bodies began to tremble involuntarily, staring at the giant boulders rolling on both sides, and they even forgot to run. Those boulders completely occupied their retina.