In the early hours of the morning, as usual, the sun gradually brightened up before I saw it...... Mornings in Afghanistan are characterized by this, because four-fifths of the area is mountainous, so the sun is always seen half an hour after dawn.

The wind is still blowing, the water is still flowing, and the early birds are still foraging in the forest as usual...... All the qiē looked the same as usual, but I felt in my heart that today was a little different......

This difference is not only because today is the "early morning of the third day" as Captain Dezno said, but also because I smell a little bit of oil smoke in the air......

I looked in the direction of the wind outside and soon knew that the wind was blowing from Kabul at this time, so I knew that the information provided to us by Commander Dezno should be true.

Moreover, it is likely that the troops dispatched by the Soviet army this time will have many mechanized troops...... Otherwise, it would not be possible to smell the oil smoke without hearing the tank.

"All of them!" I immediately gave an order to the walkie-talkie: "Get ready for battle!" ”

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

……

The soldiers stationed in the mountain passes responded very simply, but after waiting for a long time and not seeing any movement, they couldn't help but have some doubts.

"Battalion commander!" Hassan's voice came over the walkie-talkie: "Is there any situation?" We don't seem to have much movement here! ”

"I'm not moving here!" Wadud also replied on the walkie-talkie: "No enemy situation found!" ”

Vadud was stationed at Pass No. 1, and his lack of awareness of the enemy almost meant that the enemy had not yet come.

"Wait!" I said, "It's coming!" ”

Sure enough, within a few minutes, there was a faint sound of spiral pulp in the air. It was only a little bit at first...... And then all of a sudden, it became a "whoosh" ...... Helicopter flights in the mountains of Afghanistan are just that. It wasn't loud when it was a mountain away. When you appear in the valley, the sound will echo between the mountains on both sides...... So the terrain is a good cover for helicopters, who will always fly low between the mountains and then suddenly pull up and appear in front of the guerrillas......

I lifted my binoculars in the direction where the sound came from...... I couldn't help but curse in my heart: Damn, the Soviet devils are only afraid that this time they are determined to give us a pot, this time there are as many as seventy or eighty helicopters, divided into two groups, one south and one north, appearing at both ends of the Xijieo Valley, and the black pressure is like two piles of mosquitoes rushing towards us......

It didn't take long for me to know that I had misunderstood...... Because I recognized that many of these helicopters were actually Mi-8s, which were not very powerful, and the Soviets called them "porters". That is, most of the time it is used to carry supplies...... Helicopters don't carry supplies as much as cars, and while they're expensive, they have the advantage of being fast and almost unaffected by the harsh terrain of Afghanistan. Of course, when necessary, it can also be mounted on the weapon to fight, but its combat capability is certainly not as good as that of the Mi-24.

This time...... Of course, the Mi-8 is tasked with delivering paratroopers, and I miscalculated it...... The two helicopter fleets each have 30 Mi-8s, each escorted by 10 Mi-24s......

The Mi-8 helicopter can pick up 24 heavily armed soldiers...... This is known from the guerrillas, many of whom have defected from the government army, and many of whom have flown in such helicopters. So it is clear that some of the basic parameters of these helicopters.

In fact...... If the Mi-8 can only intercept 24 soldiers, it is still a small number, because this is only the number of seats in its cabin...... 12 on the left, 12 on the right...... And the seat is still movable. Twelve stretchers can be placed when they are put down...... Needless to say, it is used to transport wounded soldiers.

Therefore, if you sit here a little crammed, or if you stuff a few more people in the middle, then a Mi-8 can transport 30 people...... That is, a platoon.

Then every 30 Mi-8 is ...... A battalion!

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but lean in my heart...... The last time they fought Pesur, it took four battalions of paratroopers to be transported in four days, and now they have brought us two battalions of paratroopers at a time, this Soviet army is really fucking generous!

Merely...... They may not know that it will not be so easy to get out again if they come in this time......

"Report to the battalion commander!" Almost at the same time, Vadud shouted over the walkie-talkie: "The Soviets are coming, a large field of tanks and armored vehicles, at least a hundred ......"

"Soviet troops appeared in the 15th pass!" Then came Ragil's report: "Hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles of the Soviet army, and five helicopters for cover!" ”

I couldn't help frowning, although I felt from the beginning that the Soviet army might use a large number of armored forces, but I didn't expect the Soviet army to use so many armored vehicles, it can almost be said that it was a mechanized infantry to attack......

Thinking about it, I quickly understood...... This is supposed to be due to the fact that the Soviet army had an offensive experience...... Although they failed to take the Shigio Valley last time, at least the Airborne Forces fought in it...... So it's clear that the valley is actually suitable for fighting with armored forces.

Of course, this will have to be if they take the mountain pass......

As a result, the plan of the Soviet offensive was obvious...... On the one hand, they used armored forces to launch a strong attack on the "mountain passes" at both ends of the valley, according to the imagination of the Soviet army...... With the fire of tank artillery and armored vehicles, combined with infantry mortars and helicopters in the air...... It was not difficult to take the mountain pass.

On the other hand, two battalions of paratroopers parachuted into the interior of the valley to blossom in the center...... It makes the whole Xijieo Valley a mess, and if you can take care of this side, you can't take care of that side...... Even many times the mountain passes of our army were faced with a two-sided attack by Soviet armored forces and paratrooper units at the same time!

That's a good idea, I'll admit...... If this is when Pesur is defending, the Soviets attack in this way...... Then it won't be long before this valley will soon be under the control of the Soviet army, but now ......

"No. 1, No. 15!" I ordered over the walkie-talkie: "Resolutely block the enemy's armored forces outside, and No. 2 and No. 14 provide fire cover!" ”

"Yes!" The commanders of the mountain passes answered.

"Air defense forces are combat-ready!"

"Yes!" King Chuang answered, and quickly conveyed the order.

Because many of the air defense forces are equipped with anti-aircraft guns, and King Chuang is an expert in using artillery...... So I simply let him take command of the air defense forces.

"Battalion commander!" After a while, King Chuang reported to me: "The enemy helicopter has entered my ambush position......

"Good!" I said, "Execute as planned...... Attention, hit the gunship first, then the transport helicopter! ”

This is common sense in air defense operations...... Transport helicopters are largely unarmed, because they have to transport soldiers and the equipment used by them, if they are equipped with weapons...... It will make them look clumsy, and as a result, they will be easily taken out by the enemy, in other words...... It's those Mi-8s that are basically harmless to us. That's why they need Mi-24 cover.

On the contrary, this Mi-24 is a great threat to us...... The rockets, machine guns, missiles and aerial bombs on the two wings...... Each of them can threaten exposed anti-aircraft equipment.

So of course it is necessary to hit the gunship first, once the gunship is killed, those Mi-8 who are responsible for delivering the airborne troops will be a flock of lambs to the slaughter.

"Yes!" After King Chuang answered, he immediately issued a series of orders.

The gunfire soon rang out...... However, the sound of the guns was not dense, and it was scattered from several directions......

This is a trap we have set for helicopter gunships...... It consisted of several anti-aircraft machine guns and an anti-aircraft gun...... Their targets, of course, are the helicopters that fly in the sky.

So the gunship quickly found its target...... They were originally there to escort the Mi-8, and this was the time for them to work, so they immediately divided a part and rushed to those firepower points......

What they didn't expect, however...... There is a saying in China that "the praying mantis catches the cicada and the yellow finch is behind", and more of our main air defense forces are actually arranged on the high ground on both sides of the valley...... Just when those Mi-24s slowed down and aimed at the point of fire...... In order to accurately hit the target, the gunship often needs to slow down or even hover in the air.

This is when the main forces of our army's air defense come into play...... Anti-aircraft guns were pushed out of the tunnels on the high ground, and anti-aircraft machine guns were lifted out...... Then, at the sound of an order, a round of bullets and shells was fired at the helicopters below!

Helicopter gunships, because most of the firepower they face in combat comes from the ground...... Therefore, their defense direction is below, and the upper part can basically be said to be just a layer of iron sheet, and there is not much protection at all...... At this time, our anti-aircraft machine guns and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns were all fired condescendingly, so we only listened to the "boom" of gunfire and bombing...... One by one, the helicopters burst into flames...... Soon after, black smoke rose and rushed to the ground.

Even more strange was being hit by an anti-aircraft gun...... The shell exploded directly inside the helicopter, and before the helicopter hit the ground, the pilot inside had been blown up into a bloody mess.

The pilots are gone, and the helicopter will not survive...... So the helicopter flew in the air for a while, and soon crashed into the cliff next to it, and then turned into a fireball with a "boom"!

Higio Valley...... Today it is destined to become a helicopter graveyard for the Soviet army! (To be continued......)