Despite successive setbacks and huge losses, it must be admitted that Major General Giannini was a very capable commander.

After several battles on the outskirts of the city, Major General Giannini had already recognized the situation.

As the saying goes, prepare for the worst and work hard for the best.

For the rebels, the best outcome would be to capture Nasiriyah within the planned time, and at worst, Nasiriyah would not be captured in time.

For this reason, Giannini withdrew the brigade of the "Holy Land Heroes" from the battle in advance.

According to the original plan, before advancing to the city of Nasiriyah, the brigade of the "Holy Land Xiongshi" would carry out the main attack, ensuring that the other brigades would have enough troops to sweep the city.

Subsequently, Giannini expanded the scope of the attack.

Obviously, this is a very smart move.

If the advance is carried out according to the original plan, that is, along the road, not to mention the lack of the "Holy Land Xiongshi" brigade, even if all the main forces are used, the rebels may not be able to advance outside Nasiriyah in just a few days, and will inevitably waste more time on the outskirts of the city.

The point is that if the rebels concentrate on attacking in one direction, they will not be able to give full play to their superiority in troops.

What's more, the defenders were reinforced by special forces and had enough anti-armor weapons to be able to make the rebels pay dearly in positional defensive battles.

And that's exactly what happened.

In order to give full play to the superiority in troops, it is necessary to expand the frontal width of the offensive and thus devote more troops.

In fact, this is also the death hole of the defenders.

Don't forget, the biggest problem for the defenders is the lack of troops.

There is no problem at all in concentrating forces to defend a section of the defensive line, and no matter how many defenders are insufficient, they can withstand the attack of the rebels by virtue of the favorable conditions of the defenders.

What if you want to guard several lines of defense at the same time?

It is clear that with the strength of the defenders, it is absolutely impossible to hold the line of defense in several directions at once.

It was for this reason that Giannini had a mechanized infantry brigade cross the upper Tigris and attack Nasiriyah from the north bank.

The force that had previously made a detour to the south also turned north, attacking Nasiriyah from the south.

Plus was the mechanized infantry brigade that advanced along the road, and Giannini used three brigades at once, and an infantry brigade as a reserve.

No matter how good the defenders were, they could not withstand an attack launched in three directions at the same time.

Even so, Giannini still had two brigades at his disposal, including the "Holy Land Heroes" brigade under his direct command.

If he can take Nasiriyah, it will naturally be great, even if he can't, it doesn't matter, Giannini can lead two brigades to advance eastward.

The premise is to complete the encirclement of Nasiriyah.

As long as Nasiriyah's defenders can be trapped, there is little problem in advancing eastward.

The problem of logistical supply can actually be looked at from another angle.

That is, to the east of Nasiriyah, there is no longer the main force of government troops, and the highway from Nasiriyah to the south of Basra is only 200 kilometers.

With the strength of the "Holy Land Xiongshi" brigade, an assault of 200 kilometers is only a matter of a few days.

By the time the "Holy Land Heroes" brigade reaches the outskirts of Shuaibai, the Razakh regime in Basra will crumble, and then the government forces will disarm and surrender.

It was clear that Giannini had found a solution that worked.

Three mechanized infantry brigades, attacking in three directions at once, the government troops guarding Nasiriyah did not see even the slightest hope.

In the morning, the rebels made a breakthrough to the west and south and entered the city.

Entering the stage of street fighting, the situation has eased somewhat.

It's not that the rebels don't have enough troops, but in a city with a complex environment, it's difficult to deploy offensive forces, and it is impossible to give full play to the advantage of forces.

After capturing a few blocks, the rebels from the west first stopped their offensive.

Soon, the rebels who had invaded the city from the south also stopped.

Comparatively, the situation is better in the south.

Quite simply, the rebels from the south had long since left the road, and could only use small military vehicles to deliver supplies to the front line, and it was difficult to get fire support from the rear.

At that time, only tanks and tanks were supporting the rebels in the south.

Obviously, these direct fires are not very valuable in urban warfare, far more than not howitzers, and it is difficult to destroy the enemy hiding in buildings.

At about 4 p.m., the rebels launched a widespread artillery bombardment of the city, announcing the end of the day's offensive.

It must be admitted that these troops, who were transferred from the north and participated in the battle between Mosul and Taylor Afir, had extensive experience in urban warfare.

During the daytime battles, the defenders suffered hundreds of casualties, while the rebels suffered much smaller casualties.

It was only in the battle for a bazaar to the west of the city that all the officers and men of a company of the defenders were killed, and the rebels suffered less than twenty casualties.

This also reflects the lack of combat experience of the Iraqi government forces, and the lack of capable junior officers.

In many cases, the defenders lost their positions due to a lack of effective command and suffered greater losses, without making the rebels pay the price.

The government army may only have the morale to never surrender.

Quite simply, the rebels did not take prisoners of war all the way from Semavo.

Not to mention surrendering to the rebels, even if you take off your military uniform and mingle with the civilians, as long as the rebels find out and confirm that you have worked in the government army, you will be executed on the spot.

It's just that the most tragic battles took place not on the south bank of the Tigris, but on the north bank.

That morning, the rebels carried out massive artillery shelling of residential areas on the north bank and used incendiary bombs, burning almost all buildings.

After the shelling, less than a hundred officers and men of the infantry battalion guarding the residential area escaped alive.

In addition, almost all of these officers and men who escaped were burned, and some were very seriously injured, and most of them lost the courage and ability to continue fighting.

After the shelling, the rebels successfully advanced the front to the vicinity of the bridgehead.

Subsequently, the rebels launched a powerful offensive.

Only then did the rebels' intentions come to light.

That is, first of all, to capture the city on the north bank, try to seize the bridgehead, cross the Tigris River, and attack the main city on the south bank from the north.

Even if they were not able to capture the bridge, the rebels on the north bank would be able to continue their advance eastward.

In other words, the first goal of the rebels was to seize the bridge over the Tigris River and complete the encirclement of the main city of Nasiriyah on three sides.

To this end, the rebels threw in a reinforced mechanized infantry battalion in the first offensive.

14 M1A1 main battle tanks, 22 M2A3 infantry fighting vehicles, and more than 300 infantrymen in coordination, supported by at least 20 large-caliber mortars, launched the attack.

It's just that the rebels failed to capture the bridgehead in one go.

Don't forget, the bridgehead was guarded not only by the infantry battalion that had been sent in the past, but also by more than a hundred operatives led by Redon and Churkin.