Chapter Eighty-One: The Mouth of the Gurbahar Valley

  Military vehicles, one after another, came over. Both the 177th and 682nd regiments were motorized infantry regiments. Although the Soviet motorized infantry regiment was called, in fact it was a mechanized infantry regiment. However, many equipment still had to be transported by trucks.

  Especially this time entering the valley, many times, infantrymen can't stay in infantry fighting vehicles, they have to climb on foot to high mountain slopes, and material preparation must be more sufficient.

  And with the night falling, the real attack will come in a few hours, these are just the vanguard vehicles, behind them there are tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, rumbling from this pass, into the valley, quickly sealing off all the passes.

  As the trucks drove in, Colonel Mastrov, the garrison commander of Gurbahar, frowned. The town was too small and the supplies could no longer be stored there. He had to let the trucks stop on both sides of the road so as not to block it.

  Little soldiers holding red flags kept directing traffic, but there were too many vehicles. Outside the small town, as cars piled up, the roads became increasingly congested.

  "Get out of the way!" Mastrov shouted loudly, his voice almost inaudible over the roar of the engines.

  In the past, attacks always started during the day. This time I don't know whose idea it was to attack in the middle of the night. The Afghans are more cunning than foxes and may have already detected our movements.

  Mastrlov looked up at the sky above his head, still pitch black, with a distant rumbling sound, could it be that the helicopter troops had been dispatched?

  Just then, a bright flame appeared on the distant mountain slope, followed by another and another, just like fireworks on a festive day.

  "Enemy attack, alarm!" Masterlov shouted loudly, he recognized at a glance that the flames were absolutely rocket attacks!

  Damn it, when did guerrillas have rocket shells? And how did they transport rocket launchers in these mountains?

  All of this is no longer important, what's important is how to respond to these incoming rockets, they only have one choice, dodge!

  Dozens of rockets, trailing tongues of flame, drew beautiful arcs in the air as they flew over from that mountain slope nearby.

  Vehicles everywhere, where can we hide? The combat troops are still behind them, they're just transport troops. In an instant, they were at a loss.

  "Boom!" The first rocket projectile had already flown into their midst. When the rocket hit the ground, it emitted an even brighter flame, and the flying shrapnel hit the surrounding parked vehicles.

  "Boom!" With the explosion, several military vehicles closest to it caught fire.

  The nearest Soviet soldiers, wanting to rush up and put out the fire, hadn't waited for them to act, when this explosion sounded, they only then discovered that they had already been surrounded by raging flames.

  "Boom! Boom!" The explosion shocked the residents of the small town, and there was another battle outside! They tightly closed their doors at home and didn't dare to come out.

  Fahim rubbed his eyes, the range of these rockets was far enough to allow their own side to attack the Soviets at such a distance, it was really too useful! Better than sniper rifles, better than RPGs! And without a launcher, you can carry the shells and fire them directly, it's simply tailor-made for guerrilla warfare!

  Fahim's contempt for Muhammad's troops had vanished; his eyes were ablaze.

  "Run fast!" Muhammad shouted.

  The Soviet reaction was very quick and after their own attack ended they had to withdraw immediately.

  Upon hearing Muhammad's command, the guerrilla fighters quickly ran back along their pre-planned route.

  "Boom!" Just then, a fierce cannon shot came from afar, and shell after shell flew in from the distant road, accurately hitting the spot where the rocket had just been launched.

  The Soviet armored troops! Muhammad took a last look at the distance, where it could be discerned that there should be Soviet tank troops, this was the vanguard of the Soviet army entering the Panjshir Valley!

  Behind the military supply vehicles, the tank battalion of the 682nd Motorized Infantry Regiment followed closely. When they found out that the front had been ambushed, they started their first shooting on the highway.

  A 115mm shell shattered the slope in front of us.

  Seeing that the road ahead had been completely cut off, the regiment commander of the tank regiment, Feng Kefusiji, ordered on the wireless: "Turn around, go from the right side of the road and enter the valley!"

  It's still an hour before dawn, and our side hasn't even started yet, but we've already been ambushed by the guerrillas. This makes Feng Kefusky extremely annoyed. How was the rear division arranged? If they had deployed their own tank regiment at the front line at that time, they would have charged up long ago!

  The tank's tracks crushed the fields beside the road, here was the only flat land outside the mountains, and the Afghan residents of Gurbahar town were almost all farmers.

  Now, the crops in these fields have just sprouted, and the tank tracks have crushed them. After one tank after another has passed by, this place has completely become a wasteland.

  Walking between two high mountain peaks, T-62 has a big shortcoming, the elevation angle is too high, and the tank gun can't reach.

  However, Von Korfuski had no choice, the guerrillas attacked their supplies, he had to catch up, and the road was blocked, only by catching up first could he clear the way for the troops behind.

  He was not afraid of the guerrilla's ambush, behind his tank regiment, there was a special unit that specialized in cleaning up Afghan guerrillas.

  Crossing into the mountain pass of Gulbahar, a serene and majestic landscape unfolded before me. It was already late at night, with the moon shining brightly in the sky, casting an ethereal glow over the surroundings, amidst a tapestry of twinkling stars.

  The infrared spotlight on the T-62 turret kept shining around, even if there were guerrillas hiding in the mountains, they could be exposed under the illumination of the infrared spotlight.

  The surprise attack just now was an accident, Fongkovsky believed that once the Soviet army's main force moved out, those guerrillas would definitely hide and absolutely dare not launch a surprise attack again.

  In the valley, fifty kilometers of winding roads led to another valley exit, where tanks were used as fixed fortifications, blocking the exits! This was Fyodorov's task, which he had to complete before dawn.

  This is a simple task.

  There wasn't a single Afghan guerrilla in sight! After another sweep of the surroundings with the periscope, Fonkovsky relaxed. The guerrillas had either been blown away by his emergency order for rapid fire or had run off.

  "Boom!" Just then, an explosion sounded from ahead, followed by the shout of the lead driver in the earpiece.

  "Report, vehicle 312 has run over an anti-tank mine, its tracks are blown off!"

  Anti-tank mine! Did those Afghan guerrillas know in advance that we were coming?

  This landmine uses a pressure-activated fuse and only explodes when an object weighing over 180 kilograms presses on it, so it only blows up vehicles. Personnel stepping on it are safe, although the explosive force is not great, it can blow off the tank's track, making the tank difficult to move.

  "Sappers, clear the mines immediately." Fonkovsky ordered over the radio.

  When there's a mine threat ahead, continuing to advance is absolutely not a good idea. Even the most reckless commander can only wait.

  Two motorized brigades, plus a government army brigade, made up a very large force. The vanguard had already entered the Panjshir Valley, while the rear government troops were still waiting in their trucks without entering.

  Just between Bagram and Gurbahar, Lieutenant General Kurkov sat in a command vehicle. This time for the encirclement operation, he did not sit in the rear at Bagram to direct but came personally to the front line.

  Kurkov's blood was boiling with the same fighting spirit, he remembered his son's tragic death, and his hatred for the Afghan guerrillas had reached an unbearable level, he even wanted to personally pick up an AK-74 rifle and charge into the front line.

  The command vehicle suddenly stopped, Kurkov heard the report from the 682nd Motorized Infantry Regiment's independent tank battalion on the radio, just entering the valley mouth, and was hit by an Afghan guerrilla mine!

  It's definitely been surpassed by the Zhaya tribe! Thinking of the five mountain passes that need to be defended, two are already in their own hands, and only three more need to be sent troops to defend. Who would have thought that before even deploying troops, they encountered a counterattack from the Afghan guerrilla forces!

  "Order Baghram, move out with six female deer, escorting six infantry companies, to occupy the mouths of valleys Four, Six and Seven." Kurikov gave the order.

  The rear Bagram base was already a sea of lights, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter quickly started and drilled into the night sky.

  Each mountain pass only has two infantry companies, a bit short-handed, of course, this is just temporary, until dawn, the engineer platoon clears the landmines, and more soldiers can be reinforced at any time.

  Although equipped with infrared night vision devices, helicopters flying at night in mountainous areas are also very dangerous, Kurkov would not risk the lives of more soldiers.

  At the entrance, under the clear and quiet moonlight, the engineer is carefully checking the safety ahead.

  Anti-tank mines won't harm human bodies, but no one would believe that Afghan guerrillas buried only an anti-tank mine; if there were also anti-personnel mines, careless sappers would lose their lives.

  A full set of mine clearance equipment, sappers carefully searched for mines on the advancing road.

  The east gradually brightened into a pale white, and one night passed just like that.

  The area within a hundred meters ahead has been thoroughly searched, and except for that one landmine that was blown up, no other landmines can be found!

  Got cheated! This landmine blocked the way, struggling for half a night, finally found out that there was only one landmine!

  The long-awaited tank corps finally couldn't suppress its fire, the driver in front stepped on the accelerator fiercely, a black smoke burst out from the rear, and the tank quickly moved forward.