Chapter Ninety-Five: High Cannon Truck

  Originally, according to Muhammad's plan, after he and Fahim destroyed each other's power supply, the two would jump from the power car onto the wall and climb onto each other's roof. Then, from top to bottom, they would violently enter, even if only opening a skylight and throwing in a few hand grenades, which would take out the main people inside.

  However, after Muhammad destroyed the locomotive and killed the two sentries on this side, he did not continue to act when he jumped onto the roof of the car.

  A few dozen meters away from the power generator truck, another big one caught Muhammad's attention. The overall outline was a off-road pickup truck with huge tires and a domineering appearance, which didn't differ much from the power generator truck. However, the things in the truck bed made Muhammad delighted.

  Two long tubes pointing towards the sky, what are they? Under the cover of night, those two long tubes were so conspicuous that Muhammad instantly changed his plan.

  Anti-aircraft truck!

  In history, the transportation troops of the Soviet Union suffered constant attacks from guerrillas and were miserable. Even now, when going to the Panjshir Valley, you can see the abandoned truck wrecks on the rugged mountain roads, still telling stories of past years.

  The tank's bulletproof capability is good, but the cannon's elevation angle is too small. Even if you see the guerrillas on the hillside, you can't reach them and can only stare blankly. Moreover, tanks are oil-drinking monsters, using tanks to protect the safety of transport troops is not cost-effective at all.

  The infantry fighting vehicle is fuel-efficient, but the armor is too thin and can be penetrated by 12.7mm machine gun rounds. The 73mm recoilless rifle on the infantry fighting vehicle also faces the same problem most of the time. The machine guns on the infantry fighting vehicle are often more useful than the recoilless rifle.

  As a result, the Soviets found another weapon to be most effective - the ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" self-propelled anti-aircraft gun! This self-propelled anti-aircraft gun adopted four 23mm high-speed guns as its weapons, with a high degree of automation. As an anti-aircraft gun, the elevation angle is very high, and when guerrilla fighters are found on the mountain slope, it can quickly change from marching state to combat state, which is actually stopping and firing immediately. The four 23mm high-speed guns have fierce firepower, and the shells fly over the mountain top, directly blasting the guerrilla fighters into smithereens.

  This high cannon protected their safety. However, there was still a problem - this self-propelled high cannon was too expensive, one Shilka River self-propelled high cannon cost as much as two T-62s, and undertaking the task of protecting transportation troops was simply a waste, and besides, there were so many transportation troops every day, the Shilka River was powerless to protect them all.

  So the Soviets came up with another simple and feasible method. They took out the old twin-mounted 23mm ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns from their own arsenal, mounted them on trucks, after all, there were plenty of trucks in the transportation troops, and they were very cheap. It was almost a waste utilization.

  This is a Katyusha truck. Once the Soviet transport troops were equipped with this homemade war chariot, the threat to the guerrillas suddenly became much greater.

  Now is exactly when the Soviets found that T-62 was very difficult to use, and at the same time they were looking for new weapons. This high cannon truck might just be one of the attempts by the Soviets.

  Muhammad thought as he ran towards the truck with Fahim.

  There were no Soviet soldiers on guard here. When Muhammad jumped onto the truck and lifted up the tarpaulin under which the long tube was hidden, he smelled a whiff of lubricating oil - it was indeed an overhauled 23mm anti-aircraft gun ready to go into battle!

  Muhammad jumped onto the operating position, skillfully turning the manual elevation and traverse wheels on the left side of the upper mount and the direction machine at the rear of the upper mount. This anti-aircraft gun was fully manually controlled, with direction and elevation adjusted by turning the handwheels. At the same time, Muhammad said to Fakhim: "Fakhim, start the car!"

  But Fakhim didn't jump down into the driver's cab; instead he said urgently to Muhammad: "I won't drive!"

  Afghan guerrillas, mostly illiterate, can learn to use weapons after training, but many people only know how to walk with a donkey and cannot drive this truck.

  So, Muhammad was speechless in an instant. If he had known earlier, he would have called Khwaja to come with him. Before they arrived here, Khwaja had already left the team and climbed onto the roof of a civilian house alone to undertake the sniping task.

  "Will you fire the cannon?" Muhammad asked.

  "Where is the trigger?" Fahim asked.

  Trigger? This isn't a gun! At this time, the battle on that side had already begun, and the situation was extremely urgent. Muhammad could only quickly tell Fahim: "This is the elevation machine and direction machine, which controls the direction and height through rotation. The two sides are ammunition boxes. Pulling the loading handle here can load the shell, and if there's a dud, it can also be excluded with this handle. This is the firing pedal. Stepping on the pedal will fire."

  Mohammed said, demonstrating to Fahim, this old-fashioned 23mm anti-aircraft gun is almost identical to the Type 85 23mm anti-aircraft gun equipped by Eastern countries. This is one of the weapons copied by Eastern countries, so Mohammed is also very familiar with the operation of this anti-aircraft gun.

  It all depends on Fahim's leadership ability now, time is urgent, how the front sight determines the target, Muhammad didn't explain, anyway it's not about shooting planes now.

  Then Muhamed jumped into the driver's cab in front and turned the key.

  What a good habit! During the war, all vehicles had their keys directly on them, making it convenient to start at any time. With dozens of cars in a convoy, the keys were easily mixed up.

  "Vroom, vroom." As Muhammad turned the key, the engine roared to life, emitting a few puffs of black smoke from the exhaust pipe, and the vehicle began to shake with a rhythmic vibration.

  It's on! Muhammad's heart leapt with joy, and through the rearview mirror on both sides, he could see that the battle was raging fiercely, their own side's attack had been temporarily repelled, while the Soviet counterattack was imminent.

  Before he could turn around, Muhammad stepped on the clutch, shifted into reverse gear, then pressed the accelerator while releasing the clutch with one hand and releasing the brake with the other.

  "Vroom!" A familiar sound of airflow came from the brake pump, and the huge high-pressure cannon truck roared to life.

  Driving is a skill that people of later generations must master, although there are many ruthless female drivers emerging, and also a large number of skilled and experienced old drivers.

  Muhammad started the truck, looking only at the rearview mirrors on either side, and relying solely on starlight, quickly reversing backwards before stepping on the brakes again.

  23mm anti-aircraft gun, roar!

  As Muhammad started the vehicle, Fahim continued to turn the elevation machine, and the high-raised barrel gradually became level. Then, after slightly turning the direction machine, it was already aimed at the command post in front.

  The guerrilla fighters who were guarding the place had cleared a path, and Fahim's foot came down hard on the accelerator pedal.

  "Boom, boom!" The double-barreled high cannon's muzzle continuously spewed out flames, and the 23mm shells flew out of the barrel, drawing beautiful trajectories in the air.

  In order to be easily used at night, the shells of the anti-aircraft gun were all tracer bullets.

  A 23mm flare ignited and hit the solid brick wall in front of it instantly.

  "Boom!" The brick wall was suddenly opened with a hole of more than one meter in diameter, and the bricks on top fell down. Then, the entire wall collapsed.

  "Boom, boom!" The 23mm grenade launcher continued to fire forward, the courtyard wall had collapsed, and three solid brick houses inside appeared with large holes.

  Kurikov hid in the corner of the wall, listening to the sound of high cannon outside, the only thing he could do was cover his ears.

  Damn it, this is a 23mm grenade!

  This wall can at most block 7.62mm caliber direct shots, and 12.7mm machine gun bullets will tear open a big hole, let alone 23mm high-explosive shells! Even concrete walls cannot withstand this kind of grenade!

  And it's a grenade! The warhead explodes, countless fragments fly around the room, and those who are hit scream as they fall to the ground.

  Damn guerrillas, how did they get their hands on that self-propelled gun? It was just brought in from the Soviet Union via Panjshir Valley less than two hours ago!

  Kurkov's gloom didn't last a second, and then he saw the brick wall in front of him. Suddenly countless bricks flew out, and he was shocked. Before he could retreat, he was blown up by countless bricks, mixed with shrapnel and the explosive airflow from the bullet head.

  He stared at his body in shock, from the shoulders down, nothing existed anymore, two arms still waving weakly, while his head was getting farther and farther away from his arms...

  A 23mm grenade can easily tear a person's body apart and turn them into pieces!

  "Commander!" a guard shouted from behind him.

  The words had barely fallen when the entire roof collapsed.

  Time passed very slowly, as if it were a century long, but in fact it was very fast, only one or two seconds. Fahim stepped on the foot pedal to fire and turned the direction machine, letting the shells fly from one side of the house to the other.

  This was Fakhim's most exhilarating battle, the houses in front of him seemed to be made of paper, a shell flew over and left a big hole, several holes later, the entire house collapsed before his eyes.

  "Soviets! This is the fate of aggressors!" Fahim shouted, not knowing that he had just killed the highest-ranking Soviet commander, the commander of the 108th Division. This was also the highest-ranking Soviet officer to die in combat since the end of World War II.

  When Fahim was enjoying his holiday, the rest of the guerrilla fighters climbed onto the truck. Muhammad shouted from the front, "Hold on!" Then he shifted into first gear and the truck took off with a jolt.

  Just then, "Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat..." With the sound of gunfire, countless bullets flew in from the side.