South of Rifay, on the outskirts of Teloch.

Just after seven o'clock in the evening, the government forces besieging Rifai began shelling, only about half an hour behind the Allied forces on Guais's side.

Due to troop constraints, government forces used only a few dozen howitzers.

The shelling was not intense, but it was enough to suppress the rebels on the outskirts and remind them that they were ready to engage government forces.

Shortly before eight o'clock, the first A-5PGs on night bombing missions arrived.

At the same time, Wang Dong gave the order to set off.

When more than a dozen A-5PGs took turns dropping bombs, the assault force under the direct command of Wang Dong opened the road and began to advance north.

Although there was only one brigade, the ranks were very long.

After the last batch of armored vehicles departed, Wang Dong got into his own car, an armored command vehicle "Piharan" with several radio stations installed.

There really is only one brigade, but a reinforced one.

Wang Dong did not trouble Faisal or the commanders of other Arab League countries, but transferred an armored brigade of government troops from Nasiriyah.

This brigade has been training in Nasiriyah before.

The officers and men are all militiamen who participated in the defense of Nasiriyah, personally selected by Xie Chuyue, but now they have been recruited by the government army.

There are more than 4,000 officers and men in the brigade, and the grassroots officers are personally trained by Xie Chuyue.

In accordance with Wang Dong's request, even the troops at and above the level have arranged operational personnel to command the troops to fight together with the grassroots officers in the capacity of instructors.

Including the operatives, the brigade has a total of about 4,500 officers and soldiers.

The main force is two armored battalions, one with 40 Khalid main battle tanks and the other with 32 M1A1 main battle tanks.

The main thing is that there are a lot of "khaleds" that have not been repaired, so they can only draw M1A1 from other troops.

Otherwise, Wang Dong will remove all M1A1 and replace them with "Khalid".

It's not that "Khalid" is better than the M1A1, but the M1A1 is not suitable for long-distance travel, that is, the fuel consumption of the gas turbine is simply too high.

Even on the road, the M1A1 travels about 400 km, while off-road is only 200 km.

Because it is impossible to wait until the fuel is burned out to stop and refuel, all the fuel must be refueled after more than 200 kilometers of road driving.

Obviously, such a problem does not exist with "Khalid".

With two additional oil drums, Khalid traveled more than 700 kilometers on the road and more than 350 kilometers off-road.

In addition, the fuel tank of the M1A1 is much larger.

Refueling 32 M1A1s once will allow 48 "Khaleds" to eat and drink!

Because he didn't have a choice, Wang Dong could only bring 32 M1A1s.

The two armoured battalions were assisted by two mechanized infantry battalions each with 40 M2A3 infantry fighting vehicles and more than 400 officers and men.

According to Wang Dong's arrangement, the mechanized infantry battalion acted together with the armored battalion.

Relatively speaking, the M2A3 does not have the problem of high fuel consumption, and it performs much better than the M1A1 in the war, which can be said to be a very good combat vehicle.

Of course, the problem is not nothing.

That is, the "Tao" missiles used by Iraq's M2A3 are second-hand goods transferred by the US military, and to be precise, the initial model that was eliminated by the US military.

It's not bad to deal with extremists, but it's too backward to use against tanks and combat vehicles.

Fortunately, these M2A3 have not shrunk, have the ability to use the "Tao" 3, and do not need to be modified, only missiles are missing.

Obviously, missiles are very good to say, and Saudi Arabia has quite a few of them.

Now, these infantry fighting vehicles use all "Tao" 3 anti-tank missiles supplied by Saudi Arabia.

In order to allow Wang Dong to obtain these missiles in time, Saudi Arabia used two C-130 transport planes to airlift hundreds of missiles to Nasiriyah.

In addition, there is an infantry battalion.

Strictly speaking, it is also a mechanized infantry battalion, except that there are no tracked infantry fighting vehicles, only wheeled armored vehicles.

This infantry battalion belonged to the reserve, and its main task was not to charge into battle, but to follow the movement of large forces, which was responsible for covering non-combat units.

The main support unit was an artillery battalion armed with 30 M109A3s.

Others include a reconnaissance company, a communications company, a logistics support company, an engineering maintenance company, a transportation company, a medical company, and a guard company directly under the brigade headquarters.

Under the five combat battalions, there are also reconnaissance platoons, communications platoons, logistics platoons and medical platoons.

The artillery battalion has a logistics transport company equipped with 30 ammunition delivery vehicles, specializing in the delivery of artillery shells.

It can be seen that this was originally a reinforced armored brigade.

In general, an armored brigade has a maximum of only one armored battalion, one mechanized infantry battalion and one artillery battalion, and some two armored battalions and one artillery battalion.

Purely in terms of armored strength, it is already equivalent to two armored brigades.

It's just that Wang Dong is not satisfied.

In Wang Dong's hands, the real elite is not this armored brigade, but the four additional reinforced battalions.

The most eye-catching is the armored battalion with 60 "Salman".

Of course, in terms of size, it is actually equivalent to two armored battalions, but it is organized into one battalion, and only one battalion headquarters has been established.

Secondly, naturally, in conjunction with it, a mechanized infantry battalion with 60 M2A3s.

Although also M2A3, these infantry fighting vehicles are from Saudi Arabia and are not only in better condition, but also equipped with additional armor.

In fact, the 60 "Salman" vehicles of the armored battalion are also covered with reactive armor provided by Pakistan.

The other two are artillery battalions, one with 48 PLZ-45Gs and the other with 48 AH-4s, the same guns that Kuwait lent to Wang Dong.

There are also 12 M2A3s, which were left by Wang Dong's side, that is, provided to the brigade headquarters guard company.

The three reinforced battalions have a total of more than 1,800 officers and soldiers, two-thirds of whom are operational personnel and the other one-third are selected elite officers and soldiers of the government army.

That is, the total strength of the assault forces reached 6300 people.

It's just that in terms of troops, it is more than the two brigades of the government army.

You must know that an armored brigade of the government army generally has only 3,000 officers and soldiers, and mechanized infantry brigades and infantry brigades have only 3,200 officers and soldiers.

There is no way to bring so many officers and soldiers.

Quite simply, if Wang Dong refuses to agree, Nanijel will say that he will not let him command the assault.

According to Nanijal, it is better to bring a few more infantry battalions to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

When you go to the battlefield, can you ensure that nothing goes wrong?

Wang Dong didn't dare to guarantee it.

Besides, if this unit, which has hundreds of tanks, nearly 200 infantry fighting vehicles, and more than 100 large-caliber guns, is unable to complete the task of assaulting the Kut, even if a few more infantry battalions are added, it will be useless, and it will have the opposite effect.

Quite simply, the key to assault is speed.

In order to ensure the speed of the assault, Wang Dong got so much main battle equipment, and minimized the logistical support forces that would delay the retreat.

Now, this assault force is a sharp knife that pierces the soft belly of the rebels!