Thirty kilometers west of Nasiriyah, on the south bank of the Tigris River.

About five kilometers from the riverbank, there are abandoned vehicles scattered around, and there are some tents on the side of the road that have not had time to be collected.

To the west, a convoy is heading east.

No, not a convoy, it's an army.

At the front are three M1A1 main battle tanks, with the muzzles of the first vehicle pointing forward, and the two behind pointing to the left and right, respectively, in a standard offensive queue.

Behind the tanks were four M2A3 infantry fighting vehicles, and a dozen more army vehicles further back.

Just a small detachment, about the strength of a mechanized infantry company.

Obviously, this is the vanguard of the vanguard.

The team does not advance very fast, only a few kilometers per hour, and has to stop from time to time to let the tanks or combat vehicles push away the vehicles on the road.

Tanks and combat vehicles can travel off-road, but the wheeled military vehicles behind them cannot.

In addition, an off-road march consumes more fuel and also increases the rate of wear and tear of the tracks, so the commander will definitely advance along the road.

What's more, it's just strikers.

There must be more tanks in the back, as well as supply vehicles carrying supplies such as fuel, which can only be driven on the road.

It was already afternoon and the temperature was as high as forty degrees Celsius.

Heat is secondary, and the biggest threats are those that cannot be foreseen.

Just a few hours ago, a tank was blown off by a mine and its tracks were broken, and since the armored repair vehicle did not follow, it could not be repaired until tomorrow at the earliest.

Who can guarantee that there are no mines on the road ahead?

For the officers and men of this army, they are more willing to encounter the enemy, because when the enemy appears, at least they know which direction to fire.

Ahead, a bus sits across the middle of the road.

The commander of the lead vehicle immediately gave the order to stop advancing, it was also a command vehicle, and the two extra whip-like antennas at the rear of the turret were identity symbols.

The next two tanks immediately drove off the road and lined up on either side of the long car.

The bus looked like it had broken down and been abandoned, but it wouldn't have been in the middle of the road without a special reason.

With a few kilometers to go, the team had to move on.

The lead car moved on, and the equipment pushed away the bus in the middle of the road, clearing a passage for the vehicles behind to pass.

Four M2A3 infantry fighting vehicles also left the road, only the infantry on the vehicles did not come down.

After that, more than a dozen military vehicles stopped one after another.

Everything was calm, but the officers and men in the ranks, especially the officers and men of the tanks and combat vehicles, were on high alert and watched the situation around them.

If the bus had been placed in the middle of the road, there must have been an enemy nearby.

However, most of the officers and soldiers paid attention to the east and southeast, and few people paid attention to the northeast, after all, there was the Tigris River.

As far as the eye can see, there are several hills less than 50 meters high just two kilometers away.

If the enemy is lying in ambush nearby, the rugged southeast will certainly be preferred, and heavy forces will be deployed in the east, that is, in front of the road.

Obviously, no commander is going to put his troops in the northeast direction, where there is not much cover.

This is indeed an ambush circle.

"Boom-"

In the midst of the violent explosion, the turret of the head car erupted into scorching flames.

Without warning, the lead car was destroyed.

"Boom-"

"Boom-"

There were two more extremely violent explosions, the two M1A1s lined up next to the lead car were hit almost simultaneously, and the shells in the turret were killed.

At this time, the officers and soldiers on the chariot saw the dust raised in the distance.

Not to the east, nor to the southeast, but behind two hills to the northeast.

"Boom-"

It was also at this time that the fourth explosion occurred, and an M2A3 on the left side of the road was hit, and the violent explosion swept the entire turret.

The remaining three M2A3s were immediately at full throttle, and the vehicles on the road were also activated.

After the destruction of three tanks and one infantry fighting vehicle, the officers and men on the other vehicles realized that it was tanks that attacked them.

Quite simply, there was no warning before the explosion.

If it is an anti-tank missile, then it will definitely be detected when it flies over, and most of the anti-tank missiles do not fly faster than the speed of sound.

That is, it was an armor-piercing shell fired by a tank gun.

You know, what can destroy the M1A1 main battle tank from the front is either a heavy anti-tank missile, or a tail stabilized shell-out armor-piercing projectile.

A few seconds later, the sound of artillery confirmed this inference.

The sound of artillery is familiar, and it is four M1A1 main battle tanks that are firing.

Not to be heard, because four main battle tanks lying in ambush behind a small hill had already rushed out, and the muzzles were directed towards the chaotic convoy.

Four tanks opened fire again.

It's just that the three M2A3s are already at full power, and the three commanders are staring at the tanks that have been killed.

Seeing the muzzle flame of the tank's fire, three M2A3s braked sharply at the same time.

At a distance of more than 2,000 meters, a shell-piercing projectile with muzzle velocity exceeding 1,600 meters per second flies just over a second.

In such a short time, the infantry fighting vehicle brakes sharply and is capable of deflecting by a maximum of several meters.

Luckily, it was enough to avoid the incoming shells.

Three M2A3s did not fire back, and the shells fired from the 25-mm guns did not pose any threat to the M1A1 tanks, not even tickling.

The theory is that 25-mm armor-piercing shells will be able to penetrate crops in the rear of the tank.

It's just that, more than 2,000 meters away, the commander of the tank did not think that he would be able to go around the back of the tank alive, after all, the maneuverability of the tank is not under the tank.

Of course, it's not that there is no ability to fight back.

The turret of the M2A3 is a twin ceramic missile launcher with a range of 4 km, which exceeds the range of tank guns.

That is, the M2A3 can strike back with missiles.

The premise is to distance yourself from the tank.

Although it is equipped with the latest generation of Tao missiles, which use radio command guidance, the combat vehicle can maneuver and evade immediately after launching the missile, without stopping in place, but it must always aim at the target when guiding the missile, and the combat vehicle cannot perform violent maneuvers.

Obviously, launching a missile while driving fast off-road is tantamount to waste.

At the critical juncture, three M2A3s fired a missile almost simultaneously.

No commander expected to be able to hit a tank, and firing missiles was just a threat to the tank, leaving the four tanks unattended.

Quite simply, the infantry in military vehicles also carried anti-tank missiles, which could attack tanks when they had the chance.

It must be admitted that all three commanders had a lot of experience in actual combat, reacted very quickly, used the right tactics and did what needed to be done.

The question is, the enemy has only four tanks?

"Boom-"

In the violent explosion, the bus in the middle of the road was immediately engulfed in flames.

Immediately afterwards, other vehicles on the road exploded one after another, and there were fires caused by explosions everywhere, and the black smoke from the burning of vehicles quickly covered the sky.