On the night of July 11, the fifth night of the outbreak of the war, ground fighting began.

Indian Army artillery preparations began at about 6.30pm and continued until just after 8 pm, after which ground troops deployed near Jalandar crossed the border.

This time, the Indian army still adopted a pincer offensive, and there was no innovation in tactics.

Why?

Lahore is right next to the border, and how the Indian Army will capture the city is not a secret to the Pakistani Army.

The point is that the Indian Army must occupy Lahore.

Crossing Lahore and marching directly into the fort?

If it were the U.S. military, it might have fought like this.

It's just that for the Indian Army, Lahore is a hurdle that cannot be overcome.

Why?

The Indian Army is only the Indian Army, and it does not have the combat strength of the US military at all, let alone rely on helicopters and transport planes to transport combat materials to the frontline troops like the US military.

That is, logistics alone limits the tactics of the Indian Army.

No matter how it will be fought next, or what it will be, as long as the intention of the Indian Army is to advance in the direction of Fort Lahore, it must first occupy Lahore and then use Lahore as a base.

With the combat effectiveness of the Indian Army, how much effort will it take to take Lahore?

In fact, the battle was not smooth from the start.

While the Indian Army was preparing for artillery fire, the Pakistan Army began to counterattack, and then the Pakistan Air Force also killed it.

Obviously, "artillery preparation" itself is an outdated concept.

If there is absolute superiority, it is reasonable to prepare artillery fire before the attack, after all, this is an effective means of damaging the enemy's morale, killing and wounding the enemy's living forces, and it is still an opportunity to demonstrate the great strength of the attacker.

The question is, does it still make sense to prepare for artillery fire when fighting an evenly matched opponent?

You know, with the advancement of technology, the tactics of ground warfare have been improving, and the value of artillery preparation has been decreasing.

Modern ground warfare emphasizes suddenness rather than the intensity of firepower.

Of course, not that the fire strike is not important, but the effectiveness of the fire strike.

What effect can be achieved by firing indiscriminately?

These theories have already been proven in the Iraqi civil war.

The most typical is the battle against Kut commanded by Wang Dong.

The government forces did not prepare for artillery fire before the attack, but instead used the tactics of running long distances, and only began to carry out fire strikes after the engagement.

Apparently, the Indian Army did not pay attention to the Iraqi civil war.

In addition, the Indian army did not have much artillery at its disposal.

Artillery has always been the biggest shortcoming of the Indian Army.

Why?

Until the outbreak of the war, the Indian Army did not have a self-propelled howitzer in the true sense of the word, and its large-caliber artillery was almost exclusively towed howitzers.

In fact, there are not even many vehicle-mounted howitzers.

What's worse is that almost all of the few advanced artillery pieces of the Indian Army are deployed in Kashmir and the disputed areas with China in the east.

If there is not enough artillery, what kind of artillery preparation is carried out?

In addition, it was bombed by the Pakistani Air Force for several days, and the Indian army lost a large number of artillery.

On the contrary, the last thing the Pakistan Army lacks is artillery.

Why?

Aid from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

After the end of the Iraqi civil war, Saudi Arabia and other Arab League countries began to update their arsenals, and self-propelled howitzers were the focus of attention.

Although Saudi Arabia did not immediately purchase PLZ05G, several countries such as Kuwait purchased a batch and then handed over the returned PLZ45G to the Pakistan Army at an almost complimentary price, which then modernized the artillery.

In addition, the Pakistani Army originally had some self-propelled howitzers of the 109 series.

Of course, it's still a towed howitzer.

It's just that on the frontal battlefield facing India, the main artillery of the Pakistan Army is self-propelled howitzers, and the towed howitzers are almost all in Kashmir.

Crucially, the Pakistan Army has much better long-range rocket artillery, and these rocket launchers are capable of firing guided rockets.

Although this rocket is extremely expensive, it is quite cost-effective to use against the Indian artillery.

In fact, precision-guided rockets are mainly used for artillery suppression, that is, relying on the advantage of range and extremely high hitting accuracy to hit the enemy's artillery.

In a large-scale ground war, to be more precise, against the enemy's attacking forces, such high-level precision ammunition is not used.

Whether it is against armored troops charging in clusters, or against infantry on a position, ordinary rockets are enough.

Of course, if necessary, rockets equipped with sub-warheads can also be used.

For the Pakistan Army, the last thing to think about is ammunition.

Why?

Not only does it have China as its backer, but Pakistan has long established its own ammunition production line, which is able to produce almost all artillery shells and rockets on its own.

Of course, the key equipment for precision-guided rockets still needs to be imported, mainly because Pakistan does not have the necessary technical strength to produce such equipment.

Since there is no need to worry about ammunition, the artillery units of the Pakistan Army naturally have nothing to worry about when it comes to combat.

And what about Indian artillery?

Not only was there a lack of artillery, but also ammunition.

Although India's arsenal has been launched and its production efficiency has been improved, with India's industrial strength and the style of state-owned enterprises, I am afraid that there is still a question mark about how high this production efficiency is, and it is absolutely impossible to reach the desired level of the Indian authorities.

In addition, product quality is also an issue.

You know, after exporting the 777 to India, BAE Systems made it clear that if it uses shells made in India, it will no longer provide warranty.

Why?

During the tests, the Indians "destroyed" 2 prototype guns sent by BAE Systems, and the problems were all with domestic shells.

In an artillery battle with the Pakistani Army, will the Indian Army be able to take advantage?

What's more, the Pakistan Army also has the support of the Air Force.

As a result, in the preparation of artillery fire for an hour and a half, the artillery units of the Indian Army did not complete their tasks, and the losses were very huge.

According to the war report released by Pakistan, at least five Indian artillery battalions were annihilated at that time.

When the ground forces of the Indian Army launched an attack, it was discovered that the Pakistani Army on the opposite side had not been defeated at all.

Of course, it is impossible to be defeated.

However, the Pakistan Army did not put up stubborn resistance on the border line either.

This situation has given the Indian Army the illusion that the Pakistani Army is vulnerable and has no confidence in fighting the Indian Army on the ground battlefield.