Chapter 673: Mediterranean Confrontation

"That's it!" President Nixon interrupted irritably, then fell into deep sorrow before he began to consider the advice of the two men, who had recently been under tremendous pressure because of the Watergate scandal. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info but at this time had to fight hard to deal with the sudden outbreak of war in the Middle East.

From the outbreak of the Watergate scandal to the present, although Nixon has used many means to protect himself, all signs are developing in his unfavorable direction, and he always has a feeling that he really can't survive this time. It may make a name for itself in history as a negative teaching material among American presidents.

In any case, Nixon is still president, and Kissinger and Slesinger must respect him, and only he can mobilize the American Air Force for such tasks, because from European companies to American companies. No company would take on such an air freight task, and private companies would not take such a big risk.

"Is there any country willing to take on the transfer mission?" Nixon fought hard and got out of his decadent side for a while.

"Portugal has expressed its willingness to act as a transit airport." Kissinger was immediately pleasantly surprised, knowing that Nixon had finally agreed to intervene in the war to help Israel survive the crisis of national annihilation.

"Fly everything you can fly to Israel!" Nixon, who picked up the phone, commanded at the Pentagon. As the president's order was issued, one order after another was issued from the Pentagon, and the formations of American transport planes in the United States and at air bases in Europe began to enter a tense busyness, plunging into intense loading, unloading, and loading. The mission, known as Operation Penny Rescue, began, and over the next nine hours, a large number of C-141 and C-5 transport planes were already flying to Israel.

In Moscow, Kremlin Ustinov, Defense Minister Grechko, Central Committee Secretary Andropov, Foreign Minister Gromyko, Serov are expressing their opinions, and just now Serov asked the chairman of the Soviet radio station, Meshatsev, to poke out the matter of the United States supporting Israel by air.

"What air transport, the real big head is sea freight, the United States' air transport not only costs a huge amount, but also the capacity can not transport much things at all, can only help Israel withstand the attack in the past few days, supply Israel's consumption, it must be sea freight, but now the United States has no time, so it temporarily uses air transport to solve the problem." Serov yawned, "It's basic common sense, but airlift may be able to scare the Arab countries." ”

Compared with air freight, the freight is relatively low, but the cycle is longer, if you choose to be large and heavy cargo, it is better to choose sea freight, but air freight is faster, relatively high freight, you can book space every day. Air transport is generally the customer's goods and documents on the same day to the same day of customs declaration, so the space arrangement is more troublesome, if possible, try to declare more space, less space is difficult to add, more can find a way to pick up the goods.

The cost of air and sea freight is about ten to one, and the United States cannot afford to ship it by air for a long time. The more sophisticated the tool, the more likely it is to break down, otherwise why would the life of an airplane be measured in hours, and the ship would be scrapped according to the year?

Ustinov glanced at the Minister of Defense, Marshal Grechko, raised his head and looked at the chandelier on his head, and after careful consideration, a smile leaked, and he lowered his head and said, "You say, what will happen if we divide the Eastern Mediterranean Sea as a combat zone for exercises and prohibit the passage of ships of any country." ”

"As long as the war continues, American airlift will not stop." Serov suddenly put down the pen in his hand and suddenly realized, "As long as the Arab coalition forces are undefeated, the US airlift will never stop." ”

"Then we'll see how long the U.S. can last." Andropov clenched his right fist and said, "Look at the strength of the US Air Force." ”

"Good!" Ustinov, Defense Minister Grechko, Foreign Minister Gromyko, Serov shouted at the same time.

The results of this discussion were then sent to General Secretary Brezhnev, who was certainly supported by the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, Sherepin, and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Kosygin, had reservations, which did not surprise Brezhnev. It was this difference in foreign policy that allowed Brezhnev to play the role of mediator of the middle course.

He himself was inclined to interfere, and this was again the opinion of several major departments. The KGB, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Central Liaison Department, and the military-industrial complex all mean this, and that is certainly true. In the end, he made a decision to allow the Red Navy to conduct operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Sergey who received an order? Georgievich? Marshal Gorshkov could not hide his excitement and, when giving the order, shouted, "Comrades of the Red Navy, we have been waiting for this moment for too long, now let us fulfill our duty." The Cuban Missile Crisis will not be repeated, Red Navy, move forward ......"

The captains of the major ships who received the telegram from the commander of the navy issued orders for combat readiness one after another, and the atmosphere on the calm Mediterranean Sea seemed to suddenly become solemn.

The Soviet Union did not win the Cuban Missile Crisis, there was a consensus within the Soviet Union, and the consensus was that the Red Navy was too weak, so it did not let the Soviet Union achieve its goals, so in the past ten years, the Soviet Red Navy has been supported by the central government, but it has also been under tremendous pressure. Georgievich? This is true of Marshal Gorshkov from the captains of major ships to even ordinary Red Navy soldiers, and today the time has come to shame.

The U.S. Sixth Fleet has benefited from a large number of naval bases and facilities, including Rota in Spain, Maddalena in Italy, Souda Bay in Naples, and Crete in Greece. In addition, because the Sixth Fleet has a strong replenishment capability at sea, it is often possible to extend the time it can deploy at sea without docking.

At this time, in the Eastern Mediterranean, since the outbreak of the Middle East war, the US Navy and the Soviet Red Navy have been constantly sending additional ships, and the density of warships in the Eastern Mediterranean, which was originally small, has exceeded that of World War II.

The abnormal design of the Soviet surface ships densely packed with various types of artillery, missiles, rockets, torpedoes, radars, and electronic warfare devices can be seen, because the layout of such ships is not conducive to concealment, and it is clear that this alternative ship was born from a specific combat idea. In other words, the Soviet Navy did not intend to survive the engagement in the first place, and their mission was to launch as many missiles as possible before they were sunk.

At the same time, Defense Minister Marshal Grechko, after a meeting of the Ministry of Defense, ordered three airborne divisions in the south of the USSR to go on alert and rush to the battlefield if war broke out. The United States in the Mediterranean is the Kennedy aircraft carrier battle group, and it only takes a day for the Fifth Fleet to reach the Eastern Mediterranean.

While the navies of both sides were gearing up in the Mediterranean, the airlift of the Soviet Union and the United States began to heat up. Air force transport planes from both sides are constantly taking off from their airports to provide assistance to their allies. The news of the official involvement of the United States in the war between Israel and the Arab countries is also known to the vast number of Arab countries.

Demonstrations against the United States broke out in Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and other major cities in Arab countries. The 11-nation coalition command in Cairo issued a tough protest, "No one can save Israel now, we have the support of hundreds of millions of compatriots, millions of troops, and more than 11 countries' military forces, and the air force cannot save Israel." ”

"This group of stupid idealists, without our interference, it is really not difficult for the United States to clean them up." Serov asked, "How is the situation at sea now?" ”

"I don't know how to assess it, but it's dangerous." Morikin, the head of the First General Bureau, shook his head and smiled bitterly, the distance between the two sides was too close to react, the Arabs and Israelis on land were in the middle of the war, and the Soviets and the United States at sea were on the verge of war.

The Soviet Airborne Forces were also on alert, including seven airborne divisions of 50,000 men and 100,000 support units, more than the U.S. Marine Corps deployed in the Mediterranean. Soviet pilots flew MiG-25 "Flying Foxes" from Egyptian airfields to carry out aerial reconnaissance missions over the battlefield. The orders of the Ministry of Defense are always more intense than expected, and when it comes to being tough, no one wants to be left behind.

In the days that followed, the Soviet Red Navy and the U.S. Navy began to send ships to the Mediterranean Sea in a big way. The United States mobilized three aircraft carrier battle groups, while the Soviet Union continued to accumulate anti-ship missile warships, all of which appeared not to retreat.

In the diplomatic arena, Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger criticized each other, with Kissinger accusing the Soviet Union of intervening in the war at an early stage and taking unshirkable responsibility for the outbreak of the war. Gromyko refuted Kissinger's viewpoint, saying that as early as when General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev visited the United States, he put forward an initiative to let the United States and the Soviet Union play a role in resolving the issue of peace in the Middle East, provided that Israel maintained its status as a newly established state.

While the two were attacking each other, the Soviet Red Navy announced military exercises, and the salvo of anti-ship missiles made the US Navy feel like it was going to hell at too close range, a distance that was too dangerous.

During the 10 days when the United States and the Soviet Union continued to send military forces to the Mediterranean, the Arab countries were also engaged in a heated debate, if the reconquista was counted, Egypt and Syria achieved their goals, although their own side suffered much more than Israel, originally they were discussing whether to stop the war, but then the United States in support of Israel angered them.

"We have to come up with a decision, no one can guarantee that the United States or the Soviet Union will retreat, we can't put our hopes on the Soviet Union, and we have to fight for our own dignity." The Iraqi Foreign Minister banged on the table. (To be continued.) )