Of course, the mortar positions we have built will never be like field fortifications, just digging a round pit.

Because considering that Soviet helicopters had a high probability of suppressing these mortar positions...... Because the mortar position is located one or two kilometers in the mountainous area, and the furthest part of the mortar position will be four kilometers away, there is no need to worry about the Soviet tanks at all...... In a number of areas, the Soviets simply could not see it, and the direct fire of the tanks could not posefully pose a threat to our mortar positions. On the other hand...... Because these mortar positions are very scattered, there is no need to worry about the Soviet artillery coverage, unless the Soviets are willing to exchange a large number of shells for the possible casualties of one or two mortar positions...... However, this is unlikely for the Soviet army, which is not well supplied.

Another possible threat to mortar positions is the infantry...... Small groups of infantry sneaked into the mountains, relying on the cover of the stone forest to get close to the mortar positions, and then launched a surprise attack to pull out those mortar positions one by one...... This method is actually the most effective method, but it is unimaginable for the Soviet army...... Because this meant abandoning one's own modern equipment and going into the mountains to fight the guerrillas rifle-to-rifle...... And the guerrillas also had a geographical advantage.

So the Soviets had only one choice...... Helicopter gunships against the mortar positions of our army!

It should be said that helicopter gunships are a good option, and in some way they are better than infantry...... The reason is that helicopter gunships are completely unconstrained by the terrain...... No matter what kind of terrain it is, even if it's hundreds of thousands of meters of cliffs...... It takes a whole day for infantry to climb at great risk, and helicopters can easily cross it in just a few minutes. And the gunship also has a good line of sight in the air...... Where there is a mortar firing, there will be smoke, and it is clear from the top down. You can find your target with a light yì.

So...... Helicopter gunships are best used on terrain like Afghanistan. It's a good choice for any target and for most tasks. And because of that...... In the next battle, the Soviet army will withdraw a large number of tanks and armor-piercing vehicles that are not suitable for fighting in Afghanistan, but the number of helicopter gunships has been increasing.

Of course, I also have this in mind...... The air power of the Soviet army is the biggest threat to us, so it's okay not to take it into account?

However, helicopters, while a good option, are not the most effective...... The reason is that the helicopter is in the air after all, and it will never be able to go to the ground to completely clear some fortifications on the ground...... To do this, it is necessary to occupy it with infantry.

And it is not very difficult for mortars to protect against helicopters...... It is to dig a tunnel that can be used for air defense, and this tunnel does not need to be too long, more than ten or twenty meters deep. This pit is not straight, but in the shape of an arc...... The purpose of this is simple, you know that the helicopter can go up and down and hover, if the tunnel is straight...... Then the helicopter hovered outside the mouth of the pit and fired a volley of bullets inside...... The people in it are all finished.

But the curved pit doesn't have this problem at all...... Bullets don't follow the curve, so the fighters hiding inside are safe, even when the helicopter is hovering...... The fighters only need to run a few steps inside to be safe.

So this pit can solve the problem very well...... 60 guns 25 pounds, 82 guns 80 pounds...... These light mortars can be carried and run away, once spotted in the helicopter flying in this direction...... Then lift the mortar into the pit and hide for a while.

More troublesome are 100 mortars...... Although this thing has a long range and is very useful on the battlefield, it weighs 150 pounds...... This weight is also okay. It's about the weight of a person, and it's not a problem for two fighters to lift one after the other. The problem is that its barrel is too long, and it is very inconvenient to walk in the curved tunnel, and if you are not careful, you will get stuck.

But it's not insoluble...... It would be nice to widen the pit for 100 mortars a little and let the fighters practice it a few times! If you really can't do it...... My order to the fighters was if time did not allow, such as if the helicopter suddenly appeared in front of them without paying attention...... This is entirely possible, because the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan is rugged and there are many cliffs, and the sound of mortar fire will drown out the sound of the propeller, and the Soviet helicopter pilots are very experienced pilots, so they are often in front of them as soon as they appear...... There wasn't much time to escape.

In this case, I have repeatedly stressed that people should not be ...... That is, to save life.

This choice, of course, is right, considered in terms of combat effectiveness...... If people can't keep it, most of the guns can't be saved, and even if the guns are saved, no one can operate them, and it won't help the combat effectiveness.

Consider it from the aspect of material and equipment...... Our support is for the whole of China, and the U.S. government has paid for Chinese equipment to support Afghanistan, so this material and equipment can be said to be almost unlimited, and even ...... The more we consume, the better it will be for China...... The Yankees paid for it, let's say that there are also some wages!

So at this time, it is a very stupid thing to use human lives to protect equipment...... If the equipment is broken, next time you will ship it from Pakistan, you can have as many as you want...... That's basically a question of how far we can go. What's more, on the battlefield of Afghanistan, the value of our Chinese soldiers is far higher than the value of equipment.

It's just a little sad that ...... Our Chinese soldiers seem to have become accustomed to the "cannon is in the people, and the cannon is dead......

Although I have repeatedly emphasized this, this habit is the result of a kind of ideology...... If you talk about what kind of ideology this is, I am afraid that it will be traced back to the era of the Eighth Route Army's arduous war of resistance...... In the past few decades, our army has fought countless wars with insufficient equipment, such as the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea......

In these wars, it is correct to carry forward the spirit of "artillery is in the people, and the artillery is dead," and the reason for this is that our army is extremely short of equipment, and if there is one less gun or even a machine gun on the battlefield, it will affect our army's combat effectiveness in a large way, and this will directly lead to greater casualties and even affect the outcome of the battle.

So...... At that time, it was not too much to say that equipment was worth more than human life, and how many martyrs were desperate to protect their lives and have comprehensive equipment.

This idea has been passed down to the present day, and it is still deeply rooted...... So it's not like I can change it with a few words. (To be continued......)