Chapter Eighty Fifteen Mountain Passes

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  Bagram was the most important military base of the Soviets, where not only could warplanes take off and land, but also tens of thousands of Soviet troops were stationed.

  It is impossible to launch a surprise attack on such an airport. The outer perimeter of the airport has several kilometers of barracks, one after another, making it difficult to cross this distance.

  But now with the advent of spring, the Soviets came out of hibernation again and mobilized their troops to encircle and annihilate the guerrilla forces in the Panjshir Valley.

  "The 682nd Motorized Infantry Brigade has already arrived yesterday." In the division headquarters, Belgrade said to Kurikov: "We can mobilize two brigades, the 177th and 682nd motorized infantry brigades, as well as a brigade of government troops."

  Kurkov's eyes were fixed on the sandbox in front of him, where small flags were stuck.

  "Panje Hill Valley, there are fifteen exits in total. These exits have high mountains on both sides that cannot be climbed. We will deploy heavy troops at these fifteen exits, guard the mountain passes, and then advance layer by layer to thoroughly eliminate the guerrilla forces entrenched here." The speaker was puffing on a cigar, with two small mustaches and eyes shining brightly.

  This man is not from the 40th Army. He came from Moscow and will coordinate with this person to encircle and annihilate the partisan detachment in the Panjshir Valley.

  This made Kurkov somewhat dissatisfied, as almost all the troops used were from the 108th Division. As the division commander, he had complete command authority, but this person kept interfering with his own battle deployment here.

  This man is the commander of the Spetsnaz brigade of the GRU, Colonel Dyakonov.

  Gruppa Upravleniya Razvedki (Control Group of Intelligence), a mysterious special forces unit within the Soviet military, only surfaced after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

  Although this person is just a traveler in front of him, he is deeply trusted by Moscow.

  As the Afghan guerrillas became increasingly brazen, frequently attacking transport convoys, the Soviet troops stationed in Afghanistan were under tremendous pressure. The high command back home was not satisfied with their performance, and now even a brigade commander could speak out of turn.

  Kurikov swallowed his discontent and said, "Fifteen exits, our troops can't all reach at once. When we advance, the guerrillas will probably retreat to deeper mountains like last year."

  These fifteen exits are not together and can only be blocked at the same time in order to trap the Afghan guerrillas.

  Last year, they had already carried out a siege of the Panjshir region. Unfortunately, the guerrilla troops who received the news hid in the deep mountains and disappeared without a trace. When they returned empty-handed after sweeping for half a month, those guerrillas suddenly emerged again.

  Kurkov would have liked to shut these mouths, to put the Afghan guerrillas in a bag and beat them, but now he simply cannot simultaneously block all those exits.

  "My troops will be responsible for these ten exits." Zhīyǎo said lightly, pointing to the mountain passes on the sand table with his hand holding a cigar.

  The cigar ash fell on the sand table, and Jiayue was straightforward and simply tapped the cigar to mark those mountain passes with the ash.

  Those were the mountain passes farthest from major transportation routes, and extremely difficult to reach. Now Afghan guerrillas are very sensitive to the sound of helicopters transporting troops in, likely to be detected by cunning Afghan guerrillas, and if they walk on foot, it will simply drive all the soldiers crazy.

  Looking at Zhyaiko's casual tone, Kurikov couldn't help but say: "Alright, then please have your troops control these ten exits, my troops will be responsible for the remaining five exits and the search in the mountains."

  The remaining five exits were all on the main traffic arteries at the bottom of the valley, and as long as a vanguard unit was dispatched to quickly infiltrate, they could be completely controlled. Since the other side had taken the initiative to undertake such an important task, Kurkov could only "reluctantly" agree.

  Mountain search requires more troops, and every cave must be thoroughly searched.

  "Alright, then on the 13th at dawn, we will thoroughly control these exits. I wonder if there's a problem with the 108th division?" Zhidkov asked.

  Today is already the tenth day, and by the thirteenth day at dawn, there are only about two days left. Looking at Zhidkov's complacent appearance, Kurikov knew that although they were still negotiating, Zhidkov's troops had probably already entered the combat zone ahead of time. This guy was acting on his own in his own defense area without even consulting him first!

  "All material preparations have been made, and we can act within two days without any problem," Kurikov said.

  "Alright, let's meet in Panjshir Valley then." With that, Jiayao strode out with big steps.

  "Pfft!" Seeing Chyako leave, the remaining officers couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of water. This guy had an arrogant attitude, not putting anyone in his eyes at all.

  "Those exits are impassable, let's see how he gets through!" a military officer said.

  Shcherbakov knew a thing or two about the situation, and the troops Dyak brought this time were all Uzbeks and Tajiks who could speak fluent Afghan, these people may have already mixed into the mountains, just waiting to block the mountain passes.

  Lofty mountains and steep ridges, easy to defend but hard to attack. A narrow mountain pass can be held by just one infantry squad with enough ammunition. The only problem is how to infiltrate it.

  For the men of the 108th Regiment, it was difficult to penetrate deep into the mountains without being discovered by local aborigines.

  The night color gradually deepened, in the mountainous area, the cool evening wind gently swept across the hillside.

  An Afghan guerrilla, rifle slung over his shoulder, stood at the mountain pass. For two days now, word had been circulating that Soviet troops would be entering the Panjshir Valley and everyone was on high alert. These passes were crucial to the safety of the guerrillas' entry and exit routes, and they guarded them closely.

  The guerrilla fighter vigilantly observed his surroundings, his eyes fixed on the mountain peaks in the darkness, occasionally rubbing his hands together, it was too cold here, and the mountain wind had penetrated through his thin clothes.

  Suddenly, a rustling sound came from behind, and the guerrilla fighter immediately turned his head back alertly. As soon as he turned around, a pair of big hands appeared on his back, covering his mouth.

  The guerrilla fighter knew he had made a serious mistake, he wanted to pull the trigger and fire a warning shot, but before his hand even touched the trigger, a sharp military knife was inserted into his chest.

  His body shook, trembled, and slowly fell down, with fresh blood constantly flowing out of his chest. As the blood flowed out, his body rapidly turned cold.

  "Report, the No. 3 mountain pass has been taken control of." After taking out a notorious guerrilla fighter, several small team warriors emerged from the darkness, all wearing local Afghan attire, blending in with ordinary mountain residents, and quickly occupying the advantageous terrain at the mountain pass, aiming their guns at the dark valley below.

  They are now completely under their control, and they seem to be able to see countless guerrilla troops rushing towards them, one after another, but unfortunately, they can't rush past here, this is the death place of the guerrilla troops.

  In the dark of night, one by one, the mountain passes far from the valley floor were quickly being taken control of. The Gru special forces played an efficient role. Cutting off these mountain passes, the roads for Panjshir guerrillas to go to Badakhshan, Baghlan and Laghman provinces were all cut off, they could only wait to die inside.

  Xinjiang Bayi Valley, Gurbantünggüt Desert.

  This is the southwestern stronghold of Panjshir Valley, with highways to Kabul and towns within the valley such as Rukha, Astana, Zenia etc. It is only 20 km from Bagram Air Base by road.

  The Soviets could not control the safety of transportation throughout the entire narrow valley, but at the entrance to the valley, however, there were heavy troops stationed, especially when the troops were about to enter the valley. Countless military supplies were transported from Bagram to Gurbahar.

  A forward detachment, a battalion of the 682nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, was guarding Gurbazar. At this time, transport convoys were still moving from Bagram.

  The headlights' rays pierced through the darkness, and the engine's roar startled the birds that had already fallen asleep.

  On a hill five kilometers away from Gurbahar, a group of people are staring at this ancient town as if they were watching prey.

  "There are our civilians in the town, we can't let artillery fire into the ancient town." A voice said quietly, it was Fahim: "How accurate is your rocket artillery?"

  The mountain road was too difficult to walk, Muhammad shattered the idea brought by those multi-barreled rocket launchers, he could only let his guerrilla fighters carry 107 rockets and come here.

  Along with Muhammad came a small squad of Fakhim's men, only ten in all.

  Muhammad proposed beating the Soviets hard, when Muhammad expressed his own idea, Masood was clearly very interested, but unwilling to participate.

  Mohammad knew that Masood did not believe he could take out the most important outpost of the Gulbahar sweep forces, where there were armored personnel carriers and tanks, raiding here would increase the casualties of the guerrillas.

  Masood continued to command the guerrilla warfare from a secret location in the mountains, and sent his most trusted Fazal Haq Mujahid to observe Mohammad's tactics.

  Looking at the rockets laid out, not even a launch tube, Fahim immediately kindly reminded that the people living in this town are all Tajik compatriots and cannot be bombed.

  "It's less accurate than a sniper rifle," Muhammad said, watching as Osama and the others quickly took aim. This time, thirty rockets were launched.

  At this time, the Soviet people had not yet realized that an attack was imminent and were going about their business.