In an instant, crimson flames filled the entire field of vision.

Immediately, Situ Lin came back to his senses violently.

A deafening explosion was heard, and it was the T-72B that exploded!

What happened?

Before Situ Lin could figure it out, several explosions occurred in the north one after another, all of which were tanks and combat vehicles from Xiluosha, and they were also very sudden.

"Head—"

After being shoved a few times by Wuqi Tie, Situ Lin turned his head and looked at the night sky.

Overhead, some meteor-like rays of light flew from the south and smashed towards the north. That's not a meteor, that's a rocket fired from a helicopter gunship.

In addition, the initial explosion was also associated with a helicopter gunship, which fired an anti-tank missile that hit the enemy's tank fighting vehicle.

Because the anti-tank missile uses a rocket engine and runs for only a few seconds, it does not shine with the naked eye until it hits the target.

Although rockets are also propelled by rocket engines, they have a much shorter range than anti-tank missiles.

In the blink of an eye, the flames of the explosion swept over the positions already occupied by the enemy.

Then, several "Z-10A" flew over Situ Lin's head.

They didn't fly far, but after reaching the north of the defensive line, they turned back and began to strafe the enemy on the ground with machine guns.

One of them flew back and circled over the ZT-99B.

It was the captain of the lead plane piloted by Lian Mingyang.

After contacting his boss Tu Lin, Lian Mingyang only said one thing.

Let Situ Lin immediately organize the retreat of the officers and soldiers, and in about 30 minutes, the attack planes will be killed, bombing the enemy who has already attacked the position.

Because the position has been determined, the attack aircraft will not distinguish between friend and foe when dropping bombs.

Subsequently, the long-range artillery of Dongluosha will carry out mine-laying operations.

In addition, the western end of the line of defense had already been broken through by the enemy.

About half an hour earlier, the regimental guard company, under the personal command of Pavlov, had made the final battle, after which the signal for the fall of the position was given.

Below Pavlov, almost all of the 1,500 officers and men of the three battalions and three separate companies of the East Luosha were killed.

In addition, the two tank companies left by Situ Lin have also been exhausted, and all 22 ZT-99Bs have been damaged in battle, and only a few tankers have withdrawn.

In fact, after being wounded and incapacitated, he was sent by Pavlov to the rear support point.

Lian Mingyang had already sent several helicopter gunships over to block the enemy over there and buy time for Situ Lin and them to complete the retreat.

However, it is only half an hour at most.

No matter how powerful the helicopter gunships were, they could not withstand the tide of the enemy, and they had to evacuate before the indiscriminate bombing of the air force arrived.

On the side of the forward support point, Luo Youliang was already organizing a retreat, first of all, to send away the wounded who had difficulty moving.

Those who were sent to the support point were all seriously wounded.

To this end, the Army Aviation has arranged for transport helicopters to go to the support point.

All in all, this line of defense is finished.

It was only at this time that Situ Lin noticed that the eastern sky had turned white.

Before they knew it, they had been fighting here for almost 3 hours, and it was about to dawn.

It's late summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and it's in the middle and high latitudes, and it will be dawn around 5:30.

After fighting for so long, I still didn't hold it in the end.

Still, there's nothing to be frustrated about.

On this night, the enemy launched a fierce attack with at least three armored brigades, and only after paying a terrible price did it break through the line guarded by a reserve infantry regiment and an armored battalion. Counting the artillery used by both sides, the difference in strength is even greater.

For Situ Lin and them, they are actually defeated but still honored.

In fact, there are only 38 ZT-99Bs in the whole battalion, and the only one that can still be driven in the end is Situ Lin's.

After the helicopter gunship flew away, Situ Lin went to find the other commanders.

Of the 5 tanks that participated in the last battle, 3 were destroyed by the enemy, one of which was pierced through the hull from the side by armor-piercing shells, while the other 2 were incapacitated due to damage to the running gear and, after stopping, were destroyed by the enemy around the rear with armor-piercing shells.

Another one was burned with an incendiary grenade for fear of being captured by the enemy.

Of the 12 tankers of the four crews, seven survived.

Subsequently, Situ Lin and the others also found more than 20 officers and soldiers in Dongluosha.

All of them were wounded, and less than 10 of them were able to walk on their own, and several of them were already dying, and even if they were withdrawn, they might not be able to reach the field hospital alive.

Time was limited, Situ Lin did not dare to delay, and immediately arranged for officers and soldiers to send the seriously wounded down.

Fortunately, there were several infantry fighting vehicles in the back that were not destroyed.

If anything, the two infantry companies that fought together suffered the heaviest casualties.

Almost all of the 168 officers and men in the six platoons were killed in that shelling.

It was too sudden for the anti-tank groups, scattered at various firing points, to conceal at all, and there was no place to hide nearby.

After the shelling, many officers and soldiers were left with no bones.

Although I have not received any news from the first and second companies for the time being, according to Lian Mingyang, the two tank companies must have suffered heavy casualties.

A reinforced armored battalion, with the exception of the logistics support company, was almost wiped out.

This is Situ Lin's own battalion!

As they withdrew from their positions, a group of Air Force "Attack-9A" roared overhead.

Although it has the ability to fight at night, such as the ability to use television-guided short-range air-to-surface missiles at night, it is limited by electronic equipment, such as an overly rudimentary fire control system, and the "Attack-9A" rarely sorts out at night, and basically provides support to ground forces during the day.

To say, the Air Force cannot be blamed for this.

When designing the "Attack-9", the Air Force also consulted the Army, but the Army took it for granted that it was not common to fight at night, so it did not put forward the need to have the ability to fight at night, but only emphasized combat effectiveness in harsh environments.

The reasons are, first, that the army did not expect that night vision equipment would be popularized so quickly, and second, that it did not want to bear additional costs.

Because it is a special attack aircraft that mainly serves the ground forces, the "Attack-9" is a joint project jointly funded by the Air Force and the Army.

As a result, about one-third of the procurement and maintenance costs of the "Attack-9" are provided by the Army, and the other two-thirds are also included in the joint expenses of the armed forces, which will still crowd out the Army's funds. For the army, which has not had much military spending and has long been surpassed by the air force and navy, if it must develop low-altitude support forces, it is also willing to spend money on helicopter gunships under its direct control.

It is precisely for this reason that the "Tap-9A" was designed very rudimentarily.

Of course, on the "Attack-9B", all these shortcomings will be compensated.

Although only one set of optical sighting equipment has been added, the "Attack-9B" has the ability to fight at night and can provide fire support to ground forces at any time.

To say, the 40mm Gatling cannon is the real killer.

Because it was the main weapon of the "Attack-9", and there was no replacement for it for the time being, the Imperial Army retained ammunition of this caliber.

Don't forget that both infantry fighting vehicles and helicopter gunships use 30-mm machine guns.

In addition, the Imperial Navy's close defense system also uses a 30mm machine gun, which can also share ammunition with the army's machine guns.

As for the fighters of the Air Force, 20 mm guns were uniformly used more than 30 years ago.

In fact, 30 mm was not only the standard caliber of the Imperial Army, but also the standard caliber of the Eastern Bloc, which was adopted by all the member countries of the bloc. Because 40 mm is not a standard caliber, it is not included in the group's logistics support system, and it has to be borne by the imperial army itself.

40 mm ammunition, also dating back to the anti-aircraft guns of the Second World War.

According to the internal agreement of the Eastern Bloc, the "Attack-9" will be the last combat platform to be equipped with a 40-mm machine gun, after which weapons of this caliber will be phased out.

Even if medium-caliber ammunition between 30 mm and 100 mm is required, larger calibers will be considered.

As expected, the next generation of infantry fighting vehicles will be equipped with 60mm machine guns, and it is highly likely that they will opt for countersunk shells.

Only now, the 40mm Gatling cannon of the "Attack-9A" still has irreplaceable value.

To put it simply, this cannon can destroy any moving target!

The main battle tank is no problem.

Theoretically, a 40 mm sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile can penetrate 250 mm thick armor, while no main battle tank in the world has a top armor thickness of 250 mm.

Even the thickness of the top armor of the ZT-99B is within 100 mm.

Crucially, the 40mm high-explosive bomb is 5 times more lethal than a grenade.

As a rule, two-thirds of the ammunition boxes of the "Attack-9A" contain high-explosive shells, after all, in battle, there are not too many targets that need to be destroyed with armor-piercing shells.

Most of them are soft targets, and high-explosive shells are enough.

Although only a few "Attack-9A" flew in, Situ Lin only saw 4, maybe 6, but it was enough for the enemy in the north to drink a pot.

The key is that, in addition to the 40mm cannon, the "Attack-9A" can carry several tons of bombs.

At its limit, the Attack-9A can carry up to 16 500-kilogram aerial bombs, or other ammunition of comparable mass. In the ammunition depot of the Imperial Air Force, there are special ammunition such as cluster bombs and napalm bombs that can be used and matched at will.

Scope bombing is carried out, mainly using napalm bombs.

This special bomb, which was born in the last war and was "carried forward" by the Imperial Air Force, was a mass killer against exposed personnel.

In the Polish-Iranian war, napalm bombs were also used in huge quantities.

In addition, on the basis of napalm bombs, more powerful cloudburst bombs, commonly known as fuel-air bombs, were also developed.

Out of habit, the Imperial Air Force still used the term "napalm bomb" to refer to this type of ammunition.

The first thing these "Attack-9A" used was napalm bombs.

After dropping the bombs, they flew back and strafed the enemy outside the bombardment area with machine guns.

However, it was not only the "Attack-9A" that flew in.

There is also a plane to the south.

The same attack aircraft, the "Attack-2", was the last tactical combat aircraft to be propeller-driven developed and equipped by the Imperial Air Force after the war.

During the Polish-Iranian War, the Attack-2 was the main close-quarters support force of the Imperial Air Force.

However, shortly after the end of the Polish-Iraqi War, the Imperial Air Force decommissioned all the Attack-2s and handed over the last few dozen procured aircraft to the Army Air Corps.

However, the Army Aviation did not use it as an attack aircraft, but transformed it into a battlefield observation aircraft.

To be precise, it is a small reconnaissance aircraft.

In the army's tactical system, the task of the "Attack-2EG" is to carry the coordination command personnel to fly near the battle line, and the coordination command personnel will guide the rear strike force, such as long-range artillery, or command low-altitude assault troops to fight.

Of course, most of the time it was actually to command the artillery and coordinate with the attack aircraft of the Air Force.

If properly applied, it can greatly improve combat efficiency.

Now, the "Attack-2EG" is carrying out the coordination mission, that is, through observation, to indicate the enemy's position for the Air Force's "Attack-9A" group.

As expected, in the back row of that "Attack-2EG", a senior officer of the army sit.

Under the current command system, the observation and coordination officer has the supreme command authority and can directly issue orders to the combat units in the combat area.

As for guiding artillery into battle, it is not needed for the time being.

Lian Mingyang made it very clear that the defense line has been broken through by the enemy, and even if the air force's counterattack can delay the enemy, there is no force to defend this defense line, so it is definitely necessary to retreat, exchange space for time, and strive to organize and engage the enemy tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Apparently, the artillery in the rear has also begun to retreat.

Actually, there was not much artillery.

After fighting for one night, the Dongluosha artillery carried out several tactical-level counterattacks, and the effect was not very ideal, and the long-range rocket artillery unit showed its face once.

Of course, there is no right to blame the East Luosha artillery.

The artillery of the Imperial Army did not participate in last night's battle at all!

As for the artillery units of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Division, which have not yet reached Atyrau, it is still unknown whether they will be able to get to Astrakhan in time and participate in the battle to defend Astrakhan.

Thinking of this, Situ Lin was extremely bored.

Although he was mentally prepared before leaving for Astrakhan, knowing that this trip was to be a firefighter and would definitely suffer heavy losses, but thinking that the main forces were still in the rear, and the enemy was likely to put in reserve and continue to advance towards Astrakhan, and he had no available troops in his hands, not even a single extra tank, Situ Lin had a feeling that he could not use his strength.

If I had to say, it was a very bad fight.

In all the exercises I have participated in in the past, I have never been like this!

Even in exercises, there is often "total annihilation", it is only a drill, and no one will take it seriously.

Crucially, sacrifice always pays off.

But this time, the whole battalion was almost exhausted, but in the end it was still not able to complete the task, and it was not able to hold the vital line of defense.

So, what's the point of sacrifice?

After retreating, even if you get replenishment and have new tanks, will you have to make such a senseless sacrifice in the next battle?

It's not that Situ Lin can't figure it out, it's just that the war is too cruel.

In any case, the situation has been largely peaceful for almost half a century, and after the Polish-Iranian War, the empire has not experienced a baptism of war for more than a decade.

For an imperial soldier of Situ Lin's age, I am afraid that he has long forgotten the cruelty of war.

Nowadays, those young people in their 20s know most about war from movies and other works!

However, this discomfort is only temporary.

Maybe in a few days, when he drives the tank into battle again, Situ Lin will be back to normal and become a true veteran.