Chapter 1051 Night Battle
The Indus Plain, located between India and Pakistan, is mostly a vast Thar Desert. Irrigation agriculture is well developed along the Indus River, and it is one of the main population centers in Pakistan. The Indus Plain is flat and vast, with an alluvial layer of 300 meters. The coastal plain is the birthplace of Indian civilization, with developed agriculture, dense population, and cities everywhere. The estuary delta covers an area of about 57,000 square kilometers, with dense river networks and fertile soil. It is an economically developed area in Pakistan.
The two plains are connected into a piece, with a small slope and a watershed of only 250 meters in the middle.
The entire Indus Plain covers an area of 266,000 square kilometers, making it one of the largest alluvial plains in the world. It extends from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, with a length of 1,280 kilometers from north to south and a width of 320-560 kilometers from east to west.
It is customary to divide the upper and lower Indus Plains by the 29° north latitude line. The former is the Punjab Plain, which belongs to the Khalistan State, and the latter is the Sindh Plain and the delta area. What India wants to seize is the lower Indus Plain. India's strategy is to at least seize the plain on the east bank of the Indus River, with the Indus River as the boundary with Pakistan.
However, the Indus Plain is the economic and cultural center of Pakistan, with a population of about four-fifths of the country. Cities with a population of more than 500,000 include Karachi, Lahore, Lyallpur, Hyderabad, Multan, etc., with dense railways and roads and developed transportation. Pakistan simply cannot give up this rich, fertile and ancient land.
The India-Pakistan demarcation line has also been operated by Pakistan for many years, and the defense line is quite stable.
Since the outbreak of the war, the Indian army has never been able to break through the Pakistani army's defense line and enter the Indus Plain.
After all, the Indian army has to cross the natural barrier of the Thar Desert, and the attack itself is not good for the Indian army.
The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, has a desert area of about 200,000 square kilometers and is located in Rajasthan in western India. The humid air currents of the summer monsoon pass not far to its east, but no rain falls on this desert, forming a large desert here.
The Thar Desert is also known as the smallest desert in the world. It is located in western India and southeastern Pakistan. It is bounded by the Indus River and the Satluj River in the west and the eastern side of the Malwa Plateau in India in the east. It is an extension of the Indian Desert.
The entire Thar Desert is composed of sand dunes, sandy plains and steep barren hills, with undulating terrain.
In the evening, several Su-25 attack aircraft began to attack the Pakistani army's border posts.
The resistance of these posts was very fierce. They were on the front line of the battlefield and had been prepared for a long time.
The Pakistani army deployed elite troops on the defense line between India and Pakistan.
Anti-aircraft machine guns kept spitting out flames from the post. Two Pakistani soldiers guarded the post tightly, with the ammunition belt rattling and bullets shooting forward.
As for the planes in the air, they were handed over to their own air force or air defense forces.
What they had to face was the Indian army's offensive forces.
Since the Indian aircraft came to support, it meant that the Indian ground forces were also launching an attack.
The entire defense line became a meat grinder for both sides. One side wanted to break through the defense line, and the other side wanted to defend the defense line.
The pilot of the Su-25 attack aircraft in the sky aimed the nose downward, and then a laser-guided bomb began to make final preparations for throwing.
The pilot pressed the crosshairs firmly on the firing point and pressed the button.
The laser-guided bomb fell from the sky and flew toward the firing point along the laser beam.
"Da Da Da~~ Da Da Da~~" The anti-aircraft machine guns in the air defense position fired frantically.
The laser-guided bomb suddenly exploded in the sky.
"Boom!" The fire was bright and the shrapnel flew.
The pilot of the Su-25 attack aircraft frowned. He didn't expect that the other side would hit the flying bomb with an anti-aircraft machine gun. He was really lucky!
Another one!
The pilot controlled the plane and fired again soon.
The laser-guided bomb mounted under the wing received the laser beam.
As the pilot pressed the launch button, the laser-guided bomb swayed and fell along the laser beam.
"Boom!" The 500-kilogram bomb fell and completely flattened the outpost.
The two Pakistani soldiers in the outpost were directly killed. Then, the Su-25 attack aircraft pilot blew up another outpost.
Just as the pilot was maneuvering the plane to fly to the other side, on the ground, a Pakistani soldier with hatred in his eyes aimed at the Su-25 attack aircraft with a "Vanguard" air defense missile, and then the missile was launched.
The Su-25 attack aircraft pilot was horrified and hurriedly manipulated to release the metal foil to lure the missile.
But the missile was not lured and hit the Su-25 attack aircraft. The Su-25 attack aircraft was burning with smoke. The pilot did not parachute immediately, but flew to his own territory.
It is easy to be captured by the Pakistani army if you parachute here.
Once they become prisoners, their lives are not easy. It is not uncommon for both sides to abuse prisoners.
The night battle was very fierce.
The Pakistani army fired flares, making the Indian ground forces visible.
"Da Da Da~~~"
The Pakistani bunkers were strafed by machine guns.
Some Indian soldiers were shot by machine guns and turned into a hornet's nest.
In the sky, after three planes were shot down, the Indian planes also left.
But the war on the ground continued.
The Pakistani army can quickly get supplies from the rear, while the Indian army's supply line is much longer and has to pass through the desert.
If the Indian army had not been preparing before, the problem of supply alone would have prevented the Indian army from continuing to fight.
But the Indian army must also break through the defense line as soon as possible, otherwise the longer the war drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for the Indian army.
With the military assistance from the United States, the Indian army has a lot of advanced weapons and equipment.
But this is not enough to change the situation on the battlefield.
As the defense line on the northwest line was torn apart, the Indian army was also mobilizing the reserve forces and sending the reserve forces to the battlefield to fight.
The northern line must also be on guard to avoid giving the Nepalese army another chance. Although there was no major fighting on the eastern and southern lines, the Indian army did not dare not send troops to garrison.
After fighting for more than a month, the Indian army also suffered heavy losses on the western battlefield, with more than 40,000 people killed and more than 100,000 injured.
Although the Indian army announced that it had lost more than 3,000 soldiers and wiped out more than 50,000 Pakistani soldiers, this was only for propaganda and to get better assistance from the West.
And India is also trying to get donations from Indians working overseas. After all, Indians who can make a living in Europe and the United States are often not doing badly.
Besides, as long as they are willing to remit money back to India, India will make a lot of money according to the exchange rate.
India cannot support this war with its foreign exchange reserves alone.
Because as a country with a long-term trade deficit, India has a lot of foreign debts and has long been insolvent. India does not have much foreign exchange.
Even the gold mined is often used to purchase weapons and equipment.