After listening to what Ragiel said, my first feeling was that the Soviet army didn't seem to know how to fight!
No... Even I, who have never been to Afghanistan, know that it is not suitable to use armored troops or other mechanized troops in mountainous areas, but the Soviet army used them in large quantities.
It can be said that the previous use is somewhat reasonable... Their goal in the first stage is the Afghan government forces, which is to control the cities and traffic in Afghanistan. At this time, tanks and armored vehicles are necessary.
But at this point... they still relied on armored units when carrying out mopping up the guerrillas... This is a bit strange.
But when I think about it, this doesn’t seem strange... The Soviet Union is a country that accounts for 60% of the country’s total area, and they rarely engage in mountain warfare or guerrilla warfare... Whether it is World War I or World War II,
The Soviet Union fought traditional wars... Even now, although the Soviet military industry and technology are top-notch, they haven't fought a war in decades.
So a surprising but very normal phenomenon emerged... They relied too much on modern equipment, were not adapted to mountain warfare like Afghanistan, or were unwilling to abandon modern equipment and enter the mountains to fight with the Afghan guerrillas.
On the contrary, we troops from China... are the ancestors of guerrilla warfare, so as long as we look at the terrain data, we know that we cannot carry too much modern equipment or even overweight equipment.
Facts also proved that my idea was correct... In the subsequent battles, the Soviet army showed various discomforts. Later, they even hired consultants from Vietnam to guide the Soviet troops in dealing with the Afghan guerrillas...
This may sound ridiculous. Vietnam is the little brother of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union actually wants to hire military consultants from Vietnam to guide them in fighting... But the reality on the battlefield is like this. No matter what position you are in, as long as you have no experience, you will not be able to adapt to the battlefield here.
, you must bow your head. Otherwise, you will have to face more casualties, or the war will make no progress.
"Battal Commander!" After listening to Lajier's words, Zhao Jingping frowned and said, "It seems... we don't seem to have much room for performance!"
I understand the meaning of Zhao Jingping's words... It is obvious that the Soviet raids are just a blind attack without understanding the situation... The only damage they can cause to the guerrillas is their air power and the search for food.
We don't need to worry about food collection at all... we only need to buy food and deliver it to the guerrillas through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Americans will definitely spare no effort to do this... they have plenty of money!
As for the air power... on the one hand, the damage of this style of fighting to the guerrillas is extremely limited. At this time, the Soviet air power is still very weak... The main reason is that air power will bring a very heavy load to the logistics supply.
For example, helicopters...the bullets, missiles and fuel fired by this thing all require logistics
For supplies, it is roughly estimated that a helicopter regiment needs nearly 400 tons of supplies every day. Since Afghanistan has no railways and is a landlocked country... landlocked countries cannot use sea transportation. Therefore, supplies are completely transported by cars, so they can be transported from the Soviet Union every day.
It would be good if the supplies delivered could reach 1,500 tons.
So naturally, in order to maintain a large number of armored vehicles, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, vehicles and soldiers, the Soviet army must minimize the burden on logistics, that is, reduce the use of air power.
This is also in line with the national conditions of the first stage of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan... In the first stage, the Soviet Union will face the Afghan government forces. It will capture, occupy and then garrison Afghan cities and transportation lines. Therefore, of course, the army must be the main force.
So at this time, the total air power of the Soviet army and the Afghan government army was only a few dozen sorties... I have no way of knowing how many aircraft there were, because even Ragir didn't know. What he knew was that the Soviet Union's helicopters equipped with the Afghan government forces were still there.
Less than ten.
There are 100,000 Afghan government troops...with less than ten helicopters. You can imagine how weak this air force is.
On the other hand, we have no anti-aircraft weapons of our own... all we carry are rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and the like. Even if we want to use the Soviet air power, there is nothing we can do.
In other words... although the Soviet army was called a mopping up force, it could be said to be powerless against the guerrillas.
On the other hand, the guerrillas are powerless against the Soviet army... Just kidding, the Soviet army has a lot of artillery, armor and various heavy weapons. As long as the guerrillas leave the mountains, they will never have a chance to go back.
Then why are we still entering Afghanistan...
What we want is to fight a war to establish our prestige, right? But if we enter Afghanistan in such a situation... I'm afraid we will end up like the guerrillas, who are hiding from the Soviet army in the mountains and dare not confront the Soviet army head-on.
.
The cadres in the conference room also knew this... so everyone was discussing this issue, but after repeated discussions, no one could come up with a feasible plan.
"Battal Commander!" Zhao Jingping persuaded from the side: "Given the situation... I don't think the Soviet raids pose a big threat to the guerrillas. In addition, the training of Hassan and others has only been more than a month. In all aspects,
There is still room for improvement, so...should we...wait a little longer!"
"Yes, battalion commander!" Zhang Zuoliang also agreed with Zhao Jingping's point of view: "We won't join in the fun. Even if we go, I'm afraid we won't be able to find the fighter plane..."
"No!" I shook my head.
I know that Zhao Jingping and Zhang Zuoliang are looking for a step down for me. They just said they wanted to fight but now they don't have to... But I have other considerations.
"Comrades also know..." I said: "The best training is on the battlefield, so this battle is not only for establishing prestige, but also good for training. What's more... we have never entered the battlefield in Afghanistan.
… What I’m talking about here is the battlefield in Afghanistan. Although we have all fought in the war, the war
But the place is Vietnam, it is humid Vietnam... Different battlefields will lead to different tactics... Even if this change is just a little bit, it may have a big impact. If we ourselves are not familiar with the battlefield...
How can you train your Afghan brothers or give them advice?"
"The battalion commander is right!" the instructor nodded in agreement: "Although the Vietnam battlefield and the Afghan battlefield have many similarities, such as mountains, harsh environment, and guerrilla warfare, which we are good at, there are also many differences. For example,
Vegetation, such as water sources, etc... these all determine the
The differences in the battlefield, tactics, and strategies will not be static. They will always change with changes in terrain, climate and other external factors... If we ourselves are not familiar with these, then when we guide the Afghan guerrillas in future operations,
It's very possible that mistakes will be made, so we have to take it seriously!"
"That's right!" I said: "So it is urgent to enter Afghanistan to fight, and now we have this opportunity... Even if we can't catch the fighter plane, we can still experience the environment of the Afghan mountainous area immersively, so that we can be better in the future.
Be targeted in the battle, and don't give random instructions without understanding the situation..."
"Yes!" Liang Lianbing added from behind: "Just like during the counterattack...many commanders just didn't understand the situation and commanded randomly. We can't make this mistake and let the Afghan brothers suffer losses!"
"That's right!" Company Commander Luo also nodded and said: "A mistake we make may very well lead to the sacrifice of many lives of guerrilla comrades. We must not be careless!"
…
When the soldiers said these words, I could clearly see the eyes of the Afghans, including Hassan, flashing with emotion... I knew what their eyes meant. In Afghanistan, the law of the jungle is a survival of the fittest.
In this place, it can be said that no one has ever cared about their life and death, not even themselves... But now, there is a strange team, which can almost be said to have nothing to do with them... not only provides them with
All kinds of help, and real concern for their lives...
This made the Afghans bow to us frequently to thank us. Hassan came up to me and pressed his chest and said: "May God bless you... Battalion Commander Yang, only now I am sure that choosing you is the right one. Thank you An
Ra bring you before us!”
I also said a few polite words to Hassan and others, which made the atmosphere in the conference room more harmonious.
"Battal Commander!" Zhao Jingping continued: "Since comrades all believe that this battle must be fought, then I also support it... But how should we fight this battle well?"
After thinking about it, I asked Ragir: "What is the situation of the Soviet army at night?"
My idea is very simple... it is difficult for air power to work at night. Although night vision devices are already available at this time, the distance that night vision devices can observe is still very limited, that is, on long-distance and high-speed aircraft in the air.
It's difficult to be effective. So... when night falls, maybe we will have a chance to make a sneak attack.
But Ragir’s answer quickly disappointed me…
"The Soviet army is very well-prepared at night!" Ragir said: "Under normal circumstances... they will take a car or armored vehicle back to the city before nightfall. If it is not convenient to return to the city... they will also return to the nearest base.
, the Soviets occupied some commanding heights and important places during the first sweep,
And built fortresses in those places and transformed them into bases, where there will be complete defenses... Sometimes if they rush back in a hurry and have to camp, then they will form a circle with tanks and armored vehicles and put up barbed wire around them.
If we lay mines and use searchlights to set up open and hidden sentries, it will be difficult for us to make a sneak attack!"