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The southern Syrian city of Damascus. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

After the Fifth Route Army under the Southern Front Cluster captured Amman, the capital of Transjordan, in early February and ignited the war on the Sinai Peninsula, Yin Jinan moved the theater command from Baghdad to Damascus so that he could command operations nearby.

At 11 o'clock at noon on 21 February, staff officers and communications personnel were from time to time entering and exiting a large room of more than 100 square meters on the second floor of an ordinary two-story Islamic building in the northwestern part of the city, which had been set aside as a military administrative zone.

Yin Jinan and Zhang Chengzhu stood in front of the large map, listening carefully to the report of the battle situation of the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Li Jun.

“…… On the battlefield of the northern front, the 84th Division of Yang Lie's 28th Group Army under Wu Liheng's group successfully captured the city of Doubayazet after a day and a night of hard fighting, while before that, the 82nd Division had overcome all difficulties and successively captured the cities of Fan, Callahan and Muradiye on the eastern shore of Lake Fan.

"Although it is already late February, the mountains are still covered with snow in the east-central plateau of Turkey, and with the capture of the city of Doubayazit, we have successfully controlled all the passes on the plateau leading to the east, and the Germans can only accept the situation of confrontation with us in the mountains on the eastern highlands of Armenia."

Yin Jinan said regretfully: "It's a pity, because of the weather and other reasons in southwestern Turkey, we only took Schernak, Sirt, Kozluk, Sassoon and other places at the southern foot of Tavr Mountain, and it is expected that it will take two to three months in the future for us to fully control all the traffic arteries in the area and block the roads for the German army to go south." In this way, I am afraid that until the end of the war, the three group armies under the command of Wu Liheng can only be used for this line of operations. ”

"Wu Liheng has lived up to the thick tomb placed on him by the war zone!"

Zhang Chengzhu, who was on the side, looked at the map marked with altitude and said with emotion: "Our troops are fighting in a completely unfamiliar area, and they do not have the support of the local people, and most of the altitude there is more than 2,000 meters, the mountains are undulating, the roads are rugged, and the climate is extremely harsh, so tanks, armored vehicles, and heavy artillery cannot be used at all, so they can only stay in the rear, and the most powerful firepower of the troops is pulled by tracked vehicles, pack horses, and donkeys." Millimeter mountain grenades and four-millimeter rocket artillery, while the opponent waits for work, sticks to the fortified city, and occupies the right time and place, it is really difficult for Wu Liheng!

Fortunately, the officers and men of the three group armies led by Wu Liheng are all from China's great southwest region, and they have grown up in the mountains since they were children, and they are no worse than the professional mountain soldiers of the mountain clusters, and this is why they have now won a series of victories. To a certain extent, the reason why the cluster here dares to let go of all the burdens and march all the way to the north is that Wu Liheng's cluster has made a great contribution. Ji Nan, we have to give Lao Wu a good credit......"

Seeing that Yin Jinan was thoughtful and did not express his position, Zhang Chengzhu was worried that Yin Jinan was prejudiced against Wu Liheng, and added: "Wu Liheng will not have much of a problem there, after all, the plateau terrain is inconvenient for the transfer of troops, and it is unlikely that the German army and the Turkish army will use troops there on a large scale." Under the current circumstances, I think that other battlefields must hurry up, and the chairman sent a telegram saying that the Indian Ocean war will soon be launched, and the material allocation in our theater will definitely be affected to a certain extent in the future, after all, it is too far to transport food and ammunition from the Indochina Peninsula to here, and we cannot afford to consume the war if it continues to fight for a long time, so it is best to fight a quick battle and completely break the confidence of the Germans! ”

"Lao Wu is indeed doing well, but the Germans are also a bull to fight!"

Yin Jinan woke up from his contemplation, praised Wu Liheng with a smile, then pulled Zhang Chengzhu over, walked to the side, and asked quietly: "The Germans are much more tenacious than we imagined, it stands to reason that the German troops in these plateau areas should retreat to the central and western regions of Turkey in time, how can they fight so hard?" Lao Wu's troops have sacrificed more than 2,000 people so far, and we were prepared to take over the undefended city!

"I have heard that our diplomatic department is engaged in secret negotiations with the Germans, and that many preliminary agreements have been reached, why is the German resistance still so fierce? Whether it's Turkey or the Middle East, we have all the way over, and we haven't picked up much bargain at all! We had lifted the radio blockade as early as the beginning of January, and the German troops everywhere should have received orders from their superiors long ago! ”

"It's a bit weird!"

Zhang Chengzhu touched his chin with his hand and pondered for a while before he said in an uncertain tone: "I guess the conditions have not been negotiated yet, and the Germans want to be tenacious so that their diplomats can take the initiative!" And we certainly didn't specifically emphasize that if the Germans retreated without a fight, and now that foreign journalists are gathering in the Middle East, if they know that we are making deals with the Germans, it will definitely cause an uproar and trigger public criticism!

"In the end, neither the Germans nor we want to hurt the feelings of our allies, so we can only try to be as natural as possible on the battlefield to avoid arousing suspicion from the outside world...... When the front advances to the ceasefire line agreed upon by both sides, a new order is expected! ”

Yin Jinan groaned slightly, immediately understood something, and smiled faintly: "There is another aspect, although we have publicly promised not to enter Europe, the Germans don't know if we are emitting smoke, so we can only let the troops resist as much as possible to slow down our progress and strive for enough Shi Feng for the formation of new troops and the layout of the battle line" In addition, we also need to make a fuss on the Western Front and seek enough benefits for the country and the nation! For example, the eldest brother personally called us, asking us to launch a fierce offensive on the Western Front, and draw the attention of the whole world to the Middle East. ”

Zhang Chengzhu nodded and said, "Judging from the meaning revealed by the Military Commission and the General Staff, the war against Ceylon Island should be in the next two days. Something must have happened over there, and I don't want people to notice, that's why this vague order is passed on..."

"Good news!"

Major General Ding Jiahu, the chief of operations, hurriedly walked into the room with a telegram, strode up to Yin Jinan and Zhang Chengzhu, and reported: "Commander, political commissar, Yang Jiuxiao sent good news, they launched an offensive at six o'clock in the morning, and after four and a half hours of continuous fighting, at the cost of more than 500 casualties, they took the defense line of the Bakhce Pass in one fell swoop, which was praised by the Germans as 'insurmountable', and the commander of the 49th Infantry Division of the German Army, Major General Valgen von Hastein, led the remnants of more than 6,000 people to surrender to us. The passage of our troops into the plain of the Seyhan River has been opened. ”

"Not necessarily good news!"

Yin Jinan looked solemn, took the telegram and handed it to Zhang Chengzhu: "The battle was fought very well, but it was so easy to take down this natural risk, what else will you use to attract the attention of all countries in the future?" How do we fulfill Big Brother's request? ”

Zhang Chengzhu hurriedly examined, and said to Yin Jinan with a smile at the end, "Should it be praised, but it must be praised...... Yang Jiuxiao's performance this time was quite dazzling, tsk, four and a half hours to praise the Germans as being able to hold on for at least a month to break through the defense line in one fell swoop, I think this kind of performance is enough to deter all opinions that question the strength of our army. The Germans, to avoid an even greater defeat, had to give up something on their own initiative!

"Moreover, reporters from various countries will certainly be very curious about how quickly we have taken this twenty or thirty-kilometer-long defensive line, so let's simply invite people over with great fanfare to give a good publicity to our officers and men, as well as our advanced weapons and miscellaneous equipment. I heard that the Americans are already trying to produce helicopters, and I think it's time to sell our four-type and drunken helicopters to the outside world, after all, between mature technology and current research and development technology, reasonable people know how to choose, so that it can play a role in striking at the scientific research strength of the Americans!

"As long as we set off a wave of public opinion, it is not difficult to attract people's attention!"

Yin Jinan instructed Ding Jiahu to forward Yang Jiuxiao's telegram of victory to the Central Military Commission and the General Staff Officer, and then said to Zhang Chengzhu: "We must do a good job of propaganda and do everything possible to create an impression to all countries in the world that our powerful army cannot match!" I think that political leaders and military experts from all over the world will definitely come to West Asia one after another, so that not many people will pay attention to the actions of our army in other directions! ”

While talking, the two returned to the map, and the chief of staff, Li Jun, also finished reading the telegram at this time, with a smile on his face, and briefly discussed the situation on the lower middle line with Yin and Zhang, and then continued to pick up the baton and pointed to the northwest corner of the area: "Yesterday afternoon, the German 20th Motorized Division retreated to Port Said in embarrassment under the continuous harassment of our air force, and it is estimated that at least one-third of its troops have been lost in the entire retreat operation. In addition, the German troops deployed in the Red Sea and on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez also withdrew through the Suez Canal one after another during this period, and now the Hejaz and Sinai Peninsula are already in a vacuum, and mobs have appeared in some areas, such as smashing, looting, and burning.

"Allied forces, which were shrinking in Yemen's Aden and nearby areas, were actively moving northward, but were attacked by armed Arab tribal forces armed by the Germans, and heavy exchanges of fire broke out in Jeddah, Yanbu and other cities. The garrison command stationed on the coast of the Persian Gulf called to inquire about our position. ”

Yin Jinan waved his hand: "We don't have any position on this. The Arabian Peninsula now already has the Sultanate of Oman, the Kingdom of Najd, the Kingdom of Riyadh, the Kingdom of Rubkhali, and the Kingdom of Sijaz, while the eastern coast of the Red Sea belongs to the planned Kingdom of the Hejaz. ”

Zhang Chengzhu put it more directly: "The Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East are ethnically complex, and because of our close cooperation with the Jews, there have been hundreds of suicide attacks so far. Ethnic hatred has proven to be the most difficult to resolve, so we don't have to get too involved, we just need to control our turf. ”

"Report!"

Colonel Jiang Yunhe, director of communications, walked up to the three of them: "Half an hour ago, the Third Route Army successfully captured the heavily defended city of Tel Aviv by the German army, and with the cooperation of the air force, sank the four transport ships that had not been evacuated in time. ”

"What a great day today!"

Yin Jinan was very happy: "It seems that our expectation of resolving the war in West Asia by the end of April is too conservative, and according to the current progress, we will be able to complete the tasks assigned by the Central Military Commission and the General Staff at the end of next month at the most."