"What! How many tanks did they come?"

Hearing this, William Joseph Slim hurriedly asked.

"More than a thousand tanks and armored vehicles!"

McDowell, the operational staff officer, said worriedly.

"Impossible! With the poor logistics and supply lines of the German army, they can only transport 900 tanks to Iran! How could they be more powerful than the maritime power of the British Empire outside? ”

William Joseph Slim didn't believe it at all and responded.

"But that was the German army in the past, and now the German army has a powerful aircraft carrier fleet and air transport forces, and their aircraft carrier fleet didn't quietly and suddenly appear here in Iran, where we are stationed, and carried out landing operations? Commander! ”

"And now the number of tanks of our allies in the Soviet Army is also more than a thousand deployed in Iran and Iraq!"

"Of course, the last time we jointly attacked the Iranian army led by Iranian King Reza Khan, the number of tanks that the Soviet army participated in combat operations was already 1,000 T-26 light tanks, so now it will only be more, not less!"

In response to William Joseph Slim's disbelief, Operations Staff Officer McDowell just shook his head helplessly and replied.

After listening to McDowell's explanation, William Joseph Slim was speechless for a while, opened his mouth, and didn't know what to say for a while, and was stunned in surprise.

But at this moment, his heart was quickly calculating how many troops he could still command to attack, and what their current situation was.

The 10th Anglo-Indian Army Group, now the British forces stationed in Iran against the Germans, included the 8th and 10th Indian Divisions, the 2nd Indian Armored Brigade, the 9th Armored Brigade and the 21st Indian Infantry Brigade; As for the Soviet Army, a large number of troops from the 44th, 47th, and 53rd armies of the Transcaucasian and Central Asian Military Districts were transferred to Iran and the British for joint operations, and of course nine army divisions and a small number of tanks and ships of the Iranian army that had already defected to the British, American, and Soviet Unions.

As for the air force and navy, neither the British nor the Soviet troops were stationed here in Iran, or their naval and air forces were pitiful, not even a tenth of the German army.

Because when Guderian led his troops to carry out a surprise attack, the number of British planes was less than 200, and there were less than 100 pilots who could even really go out into battle.

Moreover, William Joseph Slim now needs to negotiate with Sir Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, General Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in the Middle East, and Lieutenant General Quinan, the former commander-in-chief.

Although Churchill has promoted him to the current new commander-in-chief of the Middle East, the original commanders and generals have not completely left the place, because the current situation in Iran is getting worse and worse, so they are reluctant to leave.

Because they all know very well that once they lose the oil in the Middle East, not only will the British mechanized forces lose their combat effectiveness, but also in order to counter the landing operation crisis of Germany and Turkey that threatens the British and Soviet armies.

Moreover, Britain could not easily give up Iraq and Iran if it was able to continue to completely control and protect the security of the Middle East and the Suez Canal, as well as ensure the control of the Anglo-Polish oil company over the oil fields in southwest Iran.

In addition, in 1941, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union decided to put into use the only route to support the Soviet army's weapons and equipment and all kinds of military supplies, that is, from the ports of the Persian Gulf, through the Iranian railways, to Baku and the Caspian Sea, and then to be transported to the Soviet army.

In other words, Iran has become a strategic channel connecting the Soviet Union with the British and American forces, so once Iran is occupied by the German army, then the secret railway transportation channel of the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union will be destroyed, so that the Soviet army will lose the military support of the British and American forces.

Therefore, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union would never want to see their vital strategic transportation lines destroyed by the German army, so Iran gradually became the key place to determine the direction of World War II.