northernbook Chapter 222: A surprise attack from heaven, taking down the Xiangtang Town forward base
Chapter 222: A surprise attack from heaven, taking down the Xiangtang Town forward base
"Damn it, this cowardly leader! The other regiments were still fast asleep, but ours was the only one who had to work overnight to clear these broken rocks.
Is our commander crazy? What's the point of cleaning up this shabby place?
By the time we've cleaned up, the Fusion Army planes will be coming again. Aren't we just waiting to be bombed?"
In the ruins of the Xiangtang Town Railway Transfer Hub, an old soldier was cleaning and cursing, full of resentment.
A younger soldier whispered, "Stop cursing! The commander is here with his men!"
The veteran was shocked when he heard this, and immediately started to clean up, throwing a piece of building debris into the bucket truck next to him.
The regiment commander looked at the thousands of soldiers clearing the rubble at the train station and nodded with satisfaction.
"It's already daybreak. The Restoration Army's planes will appear at any moment. Let the soldiers go into the woods and sleep!"
Now they are terrified of airplanes.
I was really scared by the bombing.
As soon as they saw a plane, they ran as fast as they could, fearing that they would run too slowly.
So even if I wanted to sleep, I didn’t dare to sleep in the barracks in the town.
Instead, they found a forest nearby to set up their tent.
This way you can sleep more peacefully.
Just as the captain turned around and was about to leave, a faint roar suddenly came from the distance.
He looked up in confusion, only to see a dazzling red sun. The sunlight was so blinding that he couldn't help but squint.
After getting used to the light, he opened his eyes again, and his pupils shrank slightly at this moment.
Because he saw a group of black spots rising slowly in the red sun.
Although he didn't know what these black spots were exactly.
But he was sure that this was definitely something from the Renaissance Army.
"Enemy attack!"
The whole audience went into an uproar when the team leader roared.
The soldiers nearby who heard it immediately looked around in panic.
"Plane, the Restoration Army's plane is coming!"
This sound was like dropping a depth bomb onto the surging water, directly blowing the scene upside down.
The soldiers on the ruins scattered like birds and beasts, throwing down their tools and running out madly, as if there was some ferocious beast behind them.
The planes of the Restoration Army were like a scourge to them, very terrifying.
“When you spot the enemy, one squad will engage them, scatter them, and then immediately return to the rest of the group.
The rest of the team continued to advance towards the enemy camp in Tangzhen."
When approaching the ruins of the train station, the formation commander issued a combat order after seeing the crowd of people as small as ants at the train station.
Eight WZ-8 'Double Blade' attack helicopters from the first squadron of the attack helicopter group left the formation and accelerated towards the ruins of the railway station.
The Twin Blade attack helicopter has a narrow, slender, and streamlined fuselage.
It is equipped with a turboshaft engine with a power of 1800 shaft horsepower.
Moreover, the fuselage, engine, fuel tank, hydraulic system, etc. are all armored and protected, making it a professional armed helicopter.
The maximum take-off weight is 4.5 tons, the maximum flight speed is 270 kilometers per hour, and the range is 600 kilometers.
The turret in the nose is equipped with a 7.62mm six-barreled Gatling gun and a 40mm grenade launcher.
There are four external attachment points on both sides. The inner attachment point carries a 7-tube 70mm rocket launcher, and the outer attachment point carries a 19-tube 70 rocket launcher.
It is not equipped with anti-tank missiles.
The eight double-blade attack helicopters roared over and pulled the trigger without hesitation when they saw the fleeing crowd on the ground.
“Whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…”
Rockets whizzed into the ground and exploded among the crowd.
Some Southern Alliance soldiers who were rushing forward seemed to be hit by a huge force when the explosion occurred, and were directly blown away by the shock wave.
The dense fragments also pierced their bodies with bloody holes one after another. Blood spurted out like a fountain, dyeing the ground bright red.
“Sizzle, sizzle…”
"boom......"
The Gatling gun of the attack helicopter whizzed through the air, emitting blue light, and dense bullets poured down like heavy rain. The scene was extremely tragic.
Eight double-edged attack helicopters killed and injured more than 8 SAARC soldiers in just a few minutes.
There was no one standing in the ruins of the entire train station, only corpses scattered all over the ground.
Among them was the commander of this infantry regiment.
This was just a small episode in the capture of Xiangtang Town.
Hundreds of helicopters arrived over Xiangtang Town and headed straight for the 97th Division's camp.
“Boom boom boom…”
The helicopter propellers rolled the air, making a loud roar.
One after another, the Hind general-purpose helicopters and Nighthawk medium-sized transport helicopters rapidly lowered their altitude and hovered at an altitude of less than 1 meter from the ground.
Fully armed air assault soldiers jumped down from above, carrying rifles and machine guns.
After the helicopter dropped off the crowd, it ascended to altitude at the fastest speed and began to return to load the next wave of soldiers.
The soldiers who landed quickly approached the camp three kilometers away in a skirmish line and completed the encirclement.
Soon thousands of soldiers appeared on the ground.
Take the 24th Air Assault Division's 200 Hind general-purpose helicopters and 150 Nighthawk medium-lift transport helicopters as an example.
Each of the 200 Hinds can carry 11 fully armed soldiers at a time.
Each of the 150 Nighthawk medium transport helicopters can carry 28 fully armed soldiers at a time.
These more than 300 helicopters alone can carry more than 6000 soldiers at a time.
This time, a total of two airborne infantry brigades with more than 4000 people and an artillery battalion with 18 105mm howitzers were transported.
The 105mm howitzer equipped by the Air Assault Brigade is precisely the M101 105mm light howitzer.
Its weight of 2260 kg poses no problem considering the 3-ton lifting capacity of the Nighthawk medium transport helicopter.
The new generation Nighthawk medium transport helicopter is equipped with two turboshaft engines with a power of 2200 shaft horsepower.
The maximum take-off weight reaches 15 tons, the internal load is 4 tons, and the external load is 3 tons.
The maximum range can reach 1200 kilometers, and it has the ability to refuel in the air.
And the tanker is the KC-130.
Within ten minutes, the 18 M101 105mm howitzers deployed in the rear were deployed and began firing shells at the camp.
"Boom...boom..."
One shell after another whizzed across the sky and landed in the camp, causing a violent explosion.
The buildings in the camp were like paper-mache under the bombardment.
"Stop shooting! There's no one in the camp!"
The Twin Blade attack helicopters that served as advance troops also served as reconnaissance helicopters.
So they took the lead and flew over the camp.
However, they did not encounter any obstruction, and no trace of people was found in the camp, which seemed a bit strange.
"This is strange. Is there something wrong with our intelligence?"
"Never mind that for now. Let's just occupy this camp first. Build defensive fortifications around the camp and wait for follow-up troops to arrive.
The armed helicopters were divided into two groups to form reconnaissance teams to expand the search area.
At the same time, contact the Air Force and have them send reconnaissance here. The enemy is not in the camp and must be hiding in the surrounding area. We must find them."
A hidden enemy is a time bomb, so you must find it.
The deputy division commander in charge of on-site command then sent another telegram to the division headquarters.
"The landing area has been cleared and the airborne troops can land safely."
In a dense forest 7 kilometers away from Xiangtang Town, the commander of the 97th Division was pacing back and forth anxiously like an ant on a hot pan.
"Hasn't the military been contacted yet?"
"No, there's no way to get in touch. It seems our radio station is being jammed."
"Interference? Then fix it quickly!"
The signalman had no idea how to respond to this order because he had changed channels many times but it was still no use.
Seeing the signalman's expression, the division commander cursed him as a waste and turned away.
Now he faced a very serious situation.
"Plane, Commander, there's a plane coming!"
A guard ran up to the division commander in a panic, pointing to the sky with a terrified look on his face.
The division commander suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction the guard was pointing.
Sure enough, two Hind attack helicopters flying in formation were flying at an altitude of about 500 meters, searching for any suspicious traces nearby.
The woods, in particular, were their key search areas.
Due to the backward performance and large size of current infrared sensors, we can only rely on the naked eye for searching.
"Damn it, this battle is such a fucking shameless one."
Then the division commander looked at the surrounding soldiers and officers, his eyes flickering as he asked, "Do you want to live?"
The officers surrounding him immediately understood the division commander's subtext.
After several officers looked at each other, one of them nodded and said, "Commander, we will follow you no matter what you want to do."
The division commander nodded heavily and said, "The Southern Alliance is a broken ship that is about to sink. There is no need for us to risk our lives for it. Let's just walk out of the forest and surrender to the Renaissance Army."
The surrender of the 97th Division was beyond the expectations of the deputy division commander. He did not expect that not only would Xiangtang Town be captured without any effort, but also that a division commander would surrender with the entire division.
He also obtained more detailed information from the surrendered division commander.
"It turns out that there is only a ragtag army left in Hongcheng."
In the afternoon, the news of the fall of Xiangtang Town had not yet reached Hongcheng.
Because the radio could not be transmitted at all due to the interference of the EB-66 electronic warfare aircraft.
At this moment, a number of C-130 tactical transport aircraft and C-124 strategic transport aircraft have appeared in the sky.
Hundreds of transport aircraft of various types flew at an altitude of more than 300 meters.
As they flew over the landing site, parachutes began to float in the sky.
More than 19 soldiers of the th Airborne Division completed the airborne landing in just one hour.
Their landing also meant that the operation was half successful.
At the same time, a temporary helicopter base has been built in Xiangtang Town.
Large amounts of fuel, ammunition, supplies, etc. are being transported in via Nighthawk and C-130 tactical transport aircraft.
It was not until nightfall that Hongcheng realized that Xiangtang Town had lost contact and sent cavalry to check the situation.