Chapter 3: Sniper!

  Durrani took a last look at the Soviet tank disappearing into the distance, gritted his teeth and followed Mukhamad along the small road.

  In fact, Muhammad only destroyed one Soviet tank and it was already a great achievement. Now the Afghan guerrillas have had enough of the Soviet armored forces' bitter taste, otherwise they would not invite these Pakistani instructors to come.

  In addition to Pakistan, there are also instructors from a certain Eastern country.

  However, once you come here, that is, you are stateless. If something happens and you are captured, it cannot be acknowledged.

  As for Muhammad, it's even more so; if he died, his corpse would probably be left in these deep mountains and eaten by wolves.

  At this time, Muhammad was full of fighting spirit from head to toe.

  The six tanks of the 42nd Tank Brigade were continuing to advance, completely unaware.

  "Tank 413, hasn't caught up yet?" Battalion commander Biryukov said from the middle tank, asking about the one that had already been knocked out.

  "No, we can't contact them by wireless either." said the loader who was also in charge of wireless communication.

  "We're in the mountains, our wireless signal isn't very good," said the gun commander to Berlikov.

  Damn mountainous terrain, sometimes the wireless signal would suddenly disappear. The radio of this Type 62 tank was particularly old-fashioned, and they were originally only a second-line unit, their equipment wouldn't be updated in time. Now, however, they had to complete combat missions that even elite group armies could accomplish.

  Many people have become tired of life here.

  "Keep moving forward, after reaching Area Three, we wait for 413," said Berikov.

  That Puganov from the 413th, always liked to drag his feet. I knew it, he should have been put in the middle, not sent to sweep the battlefield. That guy is probably rolling corpses around right now. Biryukov remembered and felt very dissatisfied, but there was no other way, as the radio had no signal.

  They shook off the infantry during the pursuit and according to previous contact, the infantry would wait for them in Area Three, eighty kilometers from here.

  Inside a rumbling tank, even just sitting there will make people feel irritable. This tank is simply an iron monster.

  Beliakov could no longer hold back, opened the hatch on his head, raised his seat and exposed half of his body.

  The surroundings were all desolate mountains, barren and bare, without a single tree. The scorching sun shone fiercely on the earth. Bazarov turned his body around in a circle but didn't see anything pleasant to look at.

  It's still good to be stationed in the garrison as before, along the Caspian coast, where beautiful women can be seen everywhere, what a pity.

  "Be careful, there's a sniper nearby." The artillery captain reminded him on the side.

  As soon as they leave their garrison, they have to stay inside the tank all the time. This is an order from headquarters issued a year ago.

  No one would really carry out a run of several hours, completely staying inside the tank, no one could stand it.

  However, after hearing the warning from the gunner, he still retreated back into the turret and pressed the switch on the throat microphone: "Attention, we are about to enter a gorge area, be careful of ambushes by guerrilla forces on both sides. 402, 404, use high-angle machine guns to fire at the mountain tops on both sides."

  Although there is no need to be overly cautious, for this terrain, Bezukhov still needs to raise his vigilance.

  At his command, the two tanks in front of him opened their right hatches and formed a semi-shield behind them. Then, the loader reluctantly climbed out and began operating the anti-aircraft machine gun on top of the turret.

  This task is relatively dangerous, originally the -62 did not have anti-aircraft machine guns, in fact it was proven that using this thing to counter enemy armed helicopters was quite difficult. However, not fighting against armed helicopters, but also being able to fight other targets, still has an effect. Therefore, later on, all -62s were equipped with a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun. Now, this machine gun is useful for sweeping the mountain peaks on both sides.

  However, although it was installed, it could not be fired remotely and had to be operated by the loader who had to climb out of the vehicle to fire it, making him a good target for enemy snipers.

  Originally, if accompanied by infantry, the infantry could climb to both sides of the mountain slope, which can protect the advance of armored troops. Now, it can only rely on loading hands to solve.

  Load the chain, open the insurance, fill in the hand, and stare at the aiming device on top of the anti-aircraft machine gun, aiming at the bald mountain top in front.

  "Rat-a-tat." The firing circuit was triggered, and a burst of flame erupted from the muzzle of the anti-aircraft machine gun.

  The distant hillside was immediately beaten into a dusty haze.

  "Sir, have we been discovered?" As soon as he heard the sound of the machine gun, Duranni's heart tightened.

  "Of course not, now the Soviets are just randomly firing at both sides of the mountain peak, this is a probing fire," Muhamed said.

  "How did you know?" Duranni suddenly asked.

  Does this still need to be asked? Do you think we're in a TV drama? Muhammad continued to explain to Durrani: "Listen, the machine gun used by the opponent is a continuous fire, and when it goes out, at least 20-30 bullets are fired, forming an open area. This shooting method is just probing, if the target is really found, excellent marksmen will use three-point shooting to solve the enemy. Alright, go back to your side, get ready, bravely fight to drive away the Soviets, long live the true Lord!"

  Hearing Muhammad say this, Durrani felt at ease and bravely went into battle!

  "Yes, we will drive out the Soviets!" Durrani exclaimed as he quickly darted back to his own lines.

  If Muhammad's men had been a little more numerous, he would certainly have placed detachments on the peaks of the two hills, from which they could easily have struck at the weak roof of the tanks.

  However, Muhhamad now had only two men, while the other side had six tanks, so he had to hide at the exit of the valley, where he sought to destroy one of the Soviet tanks first.

  The valley is narrow and long, with the entrance and exit also very narrow. Several huge rocks block the entrance and exit, allowing only one tank to pass through at a time. So, as long as the first tank is knocked out, the mountain pass will be blocked, and then wait for the Soviets to retreat on the other side of the Duranni mountain pass. If another tank is lucky enough to be knocked out, the remaining four in the middle will not be able to escape either.

  This valley is a perfect place for an ambush, it's like tying up both ends of a sack, not one can escape.

  So now, listening to the increasingly close rumble of tanks, feeling the ground shaking, Muhamed reached the exit of the valley and hid behind a large stone on one side of the road. In a moment, after the arrival of Soviet tanks, it would be time to take action.

  Six Type-62 tanks were marching cautiously in the valley, with the two leading tanks having their right hatches open and loaders on top, firing a burst every few seconds towards the surrounding mountain tops. The sound of the machine guns was deafening, with flames constantly spewing out from the muzzles. The slopes were being pounded into dust, with even hard rocks sending sparks flying everywhere.

  Suddenly, the loader's hands on the machine gun stopped moving, and his body fell forward onto the machine gun.

  This time the gunfire stopped a few seconds earlier than before.

  "Hey, Nikolai, keep firing." The gunner below poked him.

  Suddenly, the gunner felt something wet on his hands and looked again to find it was red.

  Red liquid flowed down Nikolai's body.

  Sniper! There's a sniper from the Afghan guerrilla on this hillside!

  It's not that the sniper is using a silenced rifle, but rather that the sniper is very skilled and knows to fire when Nikolai is shooting, with the machine gun and engine noise covering up the sound of their shot. At this point, it can be said that the opponent is an old hand. In the opponent's hands, it's probably just an ACOG scope.

  "Report, there are Afghan guerrilla snipers on both sides." The squad leader immediately radioed the company commander to report.

  "Accelerate separation!" Biryukov yelled into the radio immediately.

  Now, they are in this valley, with potential snipers on both sides, which would make them very awkward, because the weapons in their hands, apart from anti-aircraft machine guns, have nothing else. Although the 115mm smoothbore cannon at the front of the tank can blast the opponent into smithereens, but it's too high on both sides and the elevation angle of the tank gun is too low to hit there.

  Anti-aircraft machine guns are possible, but anti-aircraft machine guns are not remote-controlled. The tank crew must be exposed outside, and in the presence of snipers, the tank crew is very dangerous. Just now, it was a vivid example.

  The terrain is unfavorable here, so let's leave first and use tank cannons to load shells and thoroughly bomb suspicious places later!

  Hiding in the tank, Berikov saw through the periscope that there were a dozen or so people rushing down from both sides of the mountain slope.

  It's indeed an Afghan guerrilla!

  What's going on? What happened up ahead? All the way here, Muhammad had no idea that another guerrilla team was ambushing at the top of the mountain.

  However, looking at the first one - 62 tanks almost in front of him, Muhammad did not hesitate, from his hiding place, he suddenly stood up, with an RP-7 on his shoulder, which concentrated all his hopes.

  That round turret, so clear, fitted into the sight, and then, pull the trigger!