Chapter 5: The Afghan Guerrillas Are Invincible

  Several guerrilla fighters finally crawled close to the tank and suddenly ignited the bottles in their hands, throwing them out immediately.

  For guerrilla fighters, the simplest and most easily made weapon to counter tanks is the Molotov cocktail!

  A bottle wrapped in rags on the outside, ignite the rags and throw it over, the bottle hits the tank, shatters, and the gasoline inside will follow, bursting into a fierce flame.

  Just as they were about to throw their grenades, a tank behind them discovered them and suddenly a burst of bullets swept over.

  They immediately climbed down, covering their heads, but were still hit one after another.

  It's not that easy to throw accurately, most of the bottles thrown out fell to the ground, one hit the top of the turret and then ignited a fire on the turret.

  Success! The guerrilla fighters behind were very excited and eagerly awaited the tank crew inside to quickly open the cover and escape.

  But this tank was still moving backwards, as if it were playing with fire.

  This time, they made a great sacrifice, nearly twenty people died one after another, and not even one Soviet tank was destroyed!

  At two hundred meters away, the sniper, commander of the guerrilla squad Khvajak-Odiya, stood up in indignation, watching as the four tanks retreated calmly, occasionally firing machine guns, and he couldn't help but want to throw away the SVD rifle in his hand.

  "Captain, the Soviets are escaping!" a team member said.

  They all saw that the four Soviet tanks were about to leave the valley, and after leaving, the tanks would become powerful killing machines again.

  "There are two tanks ahead of us, let's go capture some prisoners!" another team member said.

  Anyway, now there are two Soviet tanks that have been immobilized, which is a pretty good result.

  Unfortunately, if it's really said, these two tanks weren't the ones they fought, there were still people ambushing over there, and that leading tank was blown up.

  Who is that person?

  The four tanks behind them have already been dealt with, but one of the two abandoned tanks has mechanical failure, and the tank crew is definitely still inside.

  Pull out the tank crew from there! Go back and mourn your dead comrades! A hint of madness flashed in Khwaja's eyes.

  "Comrade Commander, those guerrillas have run towards the 404th," reported the artillery commander standing beside Biryukov.

  There were four tank crew members in the tank. Just now, Berikov had called for support, but it wouldn't arrive immediately. Now those few tank crew members would face the risk of being captured by this damn guerrilla group at any time.

  "Grenade, prepare to fire." Berikov gave the order.

  Now, with the retreat to a sufficiently distant place, the tank gun can finally be aimed at a lower elevation angle and reach there, while those guerrilla fighters are just within the range of their tank guns.

  Let these guerrillas taste the true power of tanks!

  By Berlikov's command, the loader beside him inserted an OF-18 shell with a tail stabilizer into the breech and closed the breechblock.

  The T-62 can carry forty rounds of ammunition, normally it carries seventeen high-explosive shells, but now that they are on a mission to clear out guerrilla fighters, most of what they're carrying is high-explosive.

  "Target, 348, bearing 102, elevation 15, one shell!" Biryukov shouted.

  Just then, Byerikov suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the outside of his tank turret. The sound was hidden in the rumble of the engine and was almost inaudible.

  But he still heard it very clearly, and suddenly his teeth began to chatter, a terrible possibility filled his mind.

  It's those damned rocket shells again! He knew that the sound was the rocket shell hitting the turret, and in the next instant, molten metal would pour into the turret, and his tank would be done for.

  Trembling with fear, I waited for a second, but didn't feel that powerful heat flow.

  "Full speed retreat, return to the safety zone, go to area number three." Berezhkov, who had narrowly escaped death, no longer cared about the few people in tank 404. His company, with a total of seven tanks, had lost contact with one and two were destroyed. The losses were already staggering. To bring back these few tanks intact would be a great achievement.

  Four tanks accelerated and left the valley, turned around in an open area, then shamefully retreated to the rear.

  Dulani watched with his eyes wide open as the tanks ran away, and he couldn't help but want to slap himself twice. The rocket projectiles had clearly hit their mark, so why hadn't they taken out that tank?

  He didn't know he hadn't screwed the fuse onto the rocket propelled grenade.

  The battle on this side is temporarily over. Muhammad walked out of his hiding place, and Durrani didn't succeed on the other side of the valley. It seems that this subordinate still needs more training.

  This time, two Soviet tanks were also destroyed, which is a considerable gain.

  At this time, those guerrilla fighters had already run over, and here two tanks that were knocked out made them very interested.

  "Thank God, the damned Soviets were killed by our great Afghans and two of their tanks were destroyed." Just then a loud voice came: "I am Khwaja Odia, commander of this guerrilla force."

  Following the sound, he looked over and saw that the man's hand was holding a long-barreled rifle with a scope on it. On the back of the gun stock, there was a square hole. Muhammad only needed to glance at it to know that it was an SVD sniper rifle.

  It seems that this person used a sniper rifle to take out the tank gunner who was operating the high-caliber machine gun, causing all the other tank crew members to retreat back into the turret. This person played a huge role in today's battle. Otherwise, with just that high-caliber machine gun, they could have turned the guerrilla fighters into corpses. Moreover, if it weren't for the Soviet soldiers fleeing in disarray, we wouldn't have had an easy victory either.

  Hero recognizes hero, Muhhamed looked at the man and said: "Yes, God willing, our brave Afghan guerrilla fighters are invincible! I am Muhhamed-Kamran, nice to meet you, you fought very bravely just now."

  "Was it just you alone who took out these two tanks?" Khwaja asked, looking at Muhammad, as there was no one else around.

  "Not yet, there's another one over there," Muhammad said, as that Duranni was running towards them carrying a rocket launcher.

  Soon, Dulaney came over with a sheepish look on his face: "Reporting to the instructor, I just fired a rocket that hit the enemy tank, but it didn't destroy the enemy tank."

  "Sir? Looking at Muhammad, Khwaja was somewhat curious: 'May I ask, sir, where are you from, officer?'"

  "Pakistan, but it's a secret." Muhammad had a special identity and was not supposed to reveal himself, but now that he saw this guerrilla team, Muhammad had the idea of recruiting them. Otherwise, there would only be him and Durrani left, and it would be difficult to start a new team from scratch. So, he revealed his identity.

  "No wonder, these weapons of yours must have also been transported from over there?" Khwaja asked: "But how come you only have two people? Where are the others?"

  "Yesterday we had more than forty people," Durrani said. "But today during the day, we were attacked by Soviet troops and our base was destroyed. Only I and my instructor are left."

  Was besieged by the Soviets? What siege? According to Muhammad's tactics, it should be the Soviets who died. It must have been a large number of Soviets who came, they were outnumbered. Khwaja quickly convinced himself.

  Muhammad nodded and was about to say a few more words when he suddenly said, "No way, we have to hurry up and go, otherwise it will be too late."

  "Why?" Khwaja asked.

  Muhammad didn't say anything and pointed at the sky above his head.

  Having lost so many tanks, the garrison at Jalalabad must be in a state of shock. It won't be long before those armed Hind helicopters come flying over.

  If we don't run now, we'll soon be caught by the doe.

  Now, still in the early days of the Afghan war, tanks were completely unsuitable for this mountainous environment. Especially, the Soviets made a very serious mistake, their tanks had no infantry protection, otherwise, it would not have been the current result.

  However, the Soviets would not always make mistakes, and for the partisans, being caught off guard by a female deer would result in heavy casualties.

  Even without the doe deer, those four runaway tanks would bring a large contingent of Soviet infantry over, and at that time, our side would also be at a disadvantage.

  "Alright, we'll withdraw immediately," Khwaja said.

  After finishing speaking, he glanced at his own men in the distance, who were escorting two captives out of a tank, one of whom was still carrying a machine gun that had just been dismantled from the turret, looking very pleased.

  These fools are always doing useless things, picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons.

  "Second, are you willing to retreat with us?" Khwaja asked.

  It was clear that Khwaja had the same idea as Mohammad, and the two of them, with their own hands, destroyed four Soviet tanks. People like this were what he needed.

  "We still have some important things to do before we leave," Muhamed said.