Chapter 96

This level of impact is nothing to a tank; it's like a giant being tickled. The gunner continued to aim, but suddenly, everything went dark, and he couldn't see anything.

Damn! The gunner was almost ready to press the firing button, but at this moment, he had no choice but to reluctantly pull his eyes away from the periscope and look at the commander, who was also gritting his teeth. Clever guerrillas!

Anti-aircraft shells can't damage a tank, but they can damage the external components of the turret, such as the infrared spotlight on the side of the tank!

The T-62 has a wave guard plate on the front upper armor, with two headlights on the right side of the plate. The one on the left is a white light, and the one on the right is an infrared light.

The Soviet night vision equipment was relatively backward. Even now, they still used active infrared devices, which relied on the infrared spotlight to emit infrared light, which would reflect off the target and back to their sights, allowing them to see the target and launch an attack. At this time, NATO had already entered the passive night vision era, using infrared imaging devices to obtain images and relying on the infrared light emitted by the target itself, without needing the infrared spotlight. Although the infrared spotlight couldn't be seen with the naked eye, in a passive night vision device, the infrared spotlight was like a live target.

Muhammad had just aimed at the position of the infrared spotlight under the night vision and fired several dozen shells, destroying the infrared spotlight. This would certainly make the target appear pitch black in the enemy's sights.

Sure enough, the tank slowed down. Not only could the commander and gunner not see the target, but the driver was also using an infrared night vision device to observe.

The driver immediately pressed the button to turn on the headlights, but everything remained dark. The previous shell had destroyed both the white light and the infrared light.

The commander opened the hatch on his head and climbed out, looking forward. There was no sign of the truck! The enemy had already run far away!

Run, run, run! Khvaja stepped on the gas, and the truck sped through the streets, past the checkpoints, and continued to race forward.

There were originally pursuers behind, but after Muhammad fired the anti-aircraft gun as a warning, the Soviets wisely did not follow.

The truck entered the valley ahead, and everyone relaxed.

The eastern sky slowly turned a pale white, and it was a new day.

"Mr. Muhammad, you are truly great." A voice came to Muhammad's ears.

After fighting all night, they were now temporarily safe in this open area, and the guerrillas were resting.

Fahim's admiration for Muhammad was genuine. Fighting with Masud made Fahim happy, but fighting with Muhammad, in addition to the joy of striking the Soviets, also gave him a sense of exhilaration. For example, using the anti-aircraft gun to shoot at the Soviet command post made Fahim feel like he was blasting the Kremlin.

"Victory belongs to our entire guerrilla force," Muhammad said. "It is your brave fighting that has achieved such results. Moreover, the two guerrilla groups outside continuously confused the Soviets, making their command post so relaxed."

This operation was a raid on the Soviet base, and Muhammad had prepared for sacrifice. Bringing back half the people would have been good enough. Now, seeing that everyone was still around, with only a few lightly wounded, he felt even more relieved. Thanks to this anti-aircraft truck!

"Mr. Muhammad, can we take this anti-aircraft truck back?" Fahim asked Muhammad.

The power of this thing had opened Fahim's eyes. No matter what they encountered, as long as they fired, they could clear the way. Even tanks were afraid to follow. Fahim had seen the T-62 immobilized, which was incredibly satisfying.

Muhammad shook his head.

The guerrillas' strength was not enough. Even if the truck reached the guerrilla base, it would be difficult to move it. In this mountainous area, many places could only be traversed on foot. Muhammad had not even brought horses this time, as they couldn't cross the cliffs.

Fahim was reluctant to let go of the anti-aircraft gun. He sat in the right seat of the aiming device, and he had already learned how to fire the gun, but he was very interested in the wheels on the right.

"Mr. Muhammad, what are these?" Fahim asked Muhammad.

"ZAP-23 vector aiming device," Muhammad said. "This is the slant range dial, slant range setting wheel, azimuth dial, speed setting device, and course indicator."

Muhammad spoke a bit quickly. This thing wasn't easy to understand, even for the old M1938 DShKM heavy machine gun used by the guerrillas, which could be used as an anti-aircraft gun, only had a simple aiming ring.

The aiming device of this anti-aircraft gun was very complex, consisting of a course device, slant range device, parallel aiming device, and optical sight. It used the principle of similar triangles to proportionally reduce the firing position, the current target position, and the target's lead position to the aiming device.

All the secrets were in this aiming device. The spherical device below set the target's course and speed, the setting wheel on the right set the slant range, and the dial displayed the settings. After setting the target's course, speed, and slant range, the crosshairs of the sight would point to the target's future position, which was the most important part. The shell needed time to fly, so to hit the target, there had to be a lead. Thus, the shooter just needed to press the crosshairs on the target to fire.

To explain these principles, even with a high school education, it would take several days. Muhammad only briefly told Fahim what the devices were.

Fahim looked at the devices, his eyes becoming somewhat blank, and his mind raced.

"Rumble, rumble." At this moment, a black dot appeared in the distant sky.

Hind! A Hind from Bagram Air Base! When Muhammad saw the black dot, he was immediately alarmed.

"Quick, retreat!" Muhammad said.

The Hind was still a few minutes away, and Muhammad could lead the guerrillas to quickly escape through the mountain paths. As for the truck, it had to be abandoned here.

If they continued to drive the truck, it would become the best target for the Hind. The Hind would fire from a distance, and a single rocket could destroy the truck.

Hearing Muhammad's order, the guerrillas quickly moved towards the mountain path.

Muhammad ran a few steps forward and suddenly felt something was wrong. He turned his head and saw Fahim still studying the aiming device of the anti-aircraft gun, occasionally turning the slant range setting wheel and watching the dial move. He was so engrossed in his study that he didn't even hear Muhammad's order.

Damn! Muhammad shouted, "Fahim, retreat!"

Fahim remained in his seat. When a person is deeply engrossed in studying something, they lose their perception of the outside world.

Fahim had a fascination with weapons. When he first used the Aifield MkIII rifle, he had already figured out that to hit a target, he needed to consider wind speed, temperature, and other factors. When he captured the SVD sniper rifle, he could easily hit targets 500 meters away. When he obtained the RPG, he destroyed several Soviet armored vehicles.

Now, this anti-aircraft gun was amazing, and Fahim was enthusiastically studying it. The thought of having to abandon it made him feel reluctant.

Take this opportunity to study it quickly!

Fahim looked at the anti-aircraft gun with affection, caressing it, his attention entirely on the gun, and he didn't hear the rumbling in the distant sky.

"Possible target detected ahead." The weapon operator in the front cabin of the Hind calmly said.

They were searching the mountains for a small group of Afghan guerrillas who had entered the town of Rukha, destroyed the division headquarters, and even killed the division commander. All the soldiers of the 40th Army were enraged.

Bagram Air Base had dispatched all available Hinds to search the Panjshir region, combing through every mountain and river.

Finally, this Hind detected the target, the anti-aircraft truck!

The flight altitude was still high, and the distance was far, so the weapon operator couldn't clearly identify it. There were many vehicle wrecks in the valley that had been attacked by the guerrillas, and what he had found might just be an abandoned vehicle.

The pilot lowered the altitude and flew over the valley, while the weapon operator switched the weapon to the rocket pod, ready to strike at any moment.

As they approached, the outline of the anti-aircraft gun became clearer, but the weapon operator was puzzled. Where were the people?

They only saw the anti-aircraft truck, not the guerrillas. There was only one possibility: the guerrillas had abandoned the truck before dawn and fled into the mountains.

The mountains were their territory, especially for small groups of guerrillas, who could easily slip through the gaps in the search.

Thinking of this, the weapon operator continued to watch the anti-aircraft gun and pressed the communication switch: "Bagram, Bagram, Hunter has detected the anti-aircraft truck, Hunter has detected the anti-aircraft truck, in area 732."

The signal in the mountains was poor, and the weapon operator's headphones were filled with static, but he finally heard Bagram's voice: "Received, immediately dispatch infantry."

The pilot pushed the control stick, intending to circle the anti-aircraft truck and continue observing.

At this moment, the barrel of the anti-aircraft gun suddenly rose quickly. (To be continued...)