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Chapter 1775 Desert Walk

The sun is shining, and the dry air is exposed to the sun, and the temperature rises rapidly. Although www.biquge.info is a cold winter in the traditional sense of China, in the Middle East, where the sun is strong, the temperature during the day still makes people feel unbearable. What is particularly inconvenient is that the temperature difference between day and night here is very large, and the night is still cold and bleak, and there may even be frost, so you must wear thick clothes to keep out the cold, but from the morning, as the sun rises in the sky, you have to constantly undress, and by noon there are generally only thin coats left, resulting in a general bloated backpack among officers and soldiers.

On Highway 37, which traverses the Persian Khuzestan region, huge convoys of the 9th Tank Division and the 6th Armored Infantry Division are moving forward.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the green military jeep produced by the Karaganda Automobile Factory, Major General Zhu Zhen, commander of the Sixth Armored Division, looked around at this exotic landscape, and saw that on both sides of the highway were all dense farmland divided into blocks, in which wheat and barley, the traditional crops of Persia, were grown, and near the river there were some waterholes, which were rice paddies during the winter break.

Having traveled so many places in Persia, Zhu Zhen felt that Khuzestan was the most like China's farming.

Along Highway 37, most of the plains along the Diz and Karon rivers, it is a well-known agricultural region in Persia due to the construction of water conservancy facilities and a long history of farming.

At this time, a motorcycle drove quickly from the front, and Zhu Zhen saw that Lieutenant Colonel Dai Xu, the chief of the communications section, was sitting in the side bucket, and hurriedly ordered to stop.

The motorcycle stopped next to the jeep, and Dai Xu, who was soaked in sweat, jumped down, saluted Zhu Zhen, and then handed over the message.

Zhu Zhen took the telegram and signaled the guards to quickly bring the kettle to Dai Xu, and then read it carefully, and then said to Bai Xiaochuan, the political commissar standing beside him:

"According to the air force's reconnaissance, the enemy in Khairabad in front began to retreat to the port city to the south yesterday, and the army group command wants us to speed up our march and strive to take Ahvaz, the capital of Huzestan, before sunset tomorrow."

"Map!"

Bai Xiaochuan raised his hand, and the guard quickly took out the map from his satchel, Bai Xiaochuan took it and unfolded it, his fingers slid over the map, nodded and said:

"From here to Ahvaz, there are asphalt roads all the way, and the total distance is less than 100 kilometers. Now that the Japanese have fled without engaging a fight, we have beaten the water dogs and arrived at Ahvaz on time! ”

"It's a pity!" Zhu Zhen said with some regret: "Commander Yang's two group armies were blocked on the eastern front, otherwise Highway 86 would go straight to the port of Maheshahr and Abadan, and the Japanese troops in Huzestan would be like catching turtles in an urn, and none of them could escape, and now they can only watch them retreat south, helpless!" ”

"I can't run away, right!?"

Bai Xiaochuan pointed to the map: "Division commander, you see, our air force has been stationed in Bandar Abbas, and it can attack and harass the enemy's transport fleet entering and leaving the Persian Gulf at any time. Do you still remember a Northern Expedition bombed by the air force of the Zhilu coalition army in Jiangbei? The Independence Division suffered almost as much as it could behold...... At that time, we were still small soldiers, and in the blink of an eye we were all division-level cadres!

"Alas, I still clearly remember the tragic scene at that time, I think, maybe it was stimulated that the commander worked hard to vigorously develop the air force, and now, it is finally our turn to be majestic, let the little *** enjoy it......"

Bai Xiaochuan and Zhu Zhen were both veterans of the independent division back then, and due to their low level of education, although they fought bravely, their promotion was slow compared to other brothers. If it weren't for the large-scale expansion of the various armies last year, there was a serious shortage of military and political cadres, and it is estimated that they would have retired from the position of cadres at the battalion and regiment level.

However, before they were promoted, all of them entered the National Defense University for more systematic training, and in particular, they paid attention to professional skills, such as mechanized troops, and all of them studied Germany's "blitzkrieg" and the Soviet Union's "great depth" tactics, understood air-ground coordination, and infantry and tank coordination, and were assigned to the troops to fight in command of the troops after passing the unified examination.

Suddenly, there was a roar of an airplane engine in the sky.

A few people looked up, and a silver-gray fighter plane swept through the sky. During the Anti-Japanese War in North China, Zhu Zhen once led his troops to garrison Qingyuan Airport in Baoding, and he was more familiar with some of the older fighters of the An Jiajun, and he could clearly judge from the model of this fighter that it was the S3 high-altitude reconnaissance plane of the Air Force.

After the plane flew over, Zhu Zhencai said: "I heard that due to the typhoon that landed in Karachi, it will rain heavily here tonight, and under this kind of weather conditions, the plane cannot take off." In addition, the aircraft cannot carry out *** and bombing missions at night, so it is difficult to plug the gap in the Strait of Hormuz, and we can only hope that the typhoon will pass through and the navy will arrive in time, otherwise it is very likely that the bamboo basket will hit the water! ”

Bai Xiaochuan was stunned for a moment, and then nodded: "Also, the restrictions on the plane are still relatively large now." It's a pity that this typhoon came at an inopportune time, so the little devils took advantage! ”

"It's not necessarily how much we have suffered!"

Zhu Zhen smiled faintly and pointed his finger on the map: "Look, here, the main forces of the Japanese army are basically concentrated in northwest Iraq and southern Syria, and most of the troops we are facing are the garrisons of the Japanese army and the colonial army formed from the colonies, and it is of little significance to destroy them." When we take Khuzestan and south-central Iraq, it's not too late to slowly find the bad luck of *** people! ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Zhen said to Dai Xu, who had finished drinking the water: "Record my order: all regiments accelerate their advance and strive to enter Ahvaz City at noon tomorrow!" ”

"Yes!"

Soon after Dai Xu got on his motorcycle and left, the tanks, armored vehicles, military vehicles, and self-propelled guns on the road all picked up speed, and the mighty mechanized army advanced towards the southern region of Khuzestan.

......

On 19 January, the tropical storm finally subsided, and the aircraft carrier group of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the South China Navy sailed out of the Karachi military port and headed for the Khuzestan Strait.

In the eastern area of Huzestan, the engineer brigade directly under the Yang Jiuxiao Corps carried out a mountain blast at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 17th, and nearly 50,000 tons of explosives were detonated at the same time, blowing up a hill more than 500 meters high for more than 100 meters.

The flood water continued to dilute the concentration of the burning oil along the bottom of the trench, and a spectacle appeared on the turbulent surface of the river - a large number of burning oil blocks rushed down the river to the downstream area, forming a river of fire. Slowly diluted in this way, adding up to a lot, and heavy rain fell on the night of the 17th, the fire in the trench was finally extinguished.

At this point, the two group armies of Yang Jiuxiao's division finally broke into the territory of Huzestan as they wished, and advanced along Highway 86 towards Abadan in the south of Huzestan.

At the same time, the 9th Tank Division and the 6th Panzer Infantry Division captured Ahvaz in the rain at noon on the 18th, bringing the most important industrial center city in the Khuzestan region under their control.

Looking at the war in Iraq again, on the morning of 18 July, the 1st and 2nd Tank Divisions and the 1st Armored Infantry Division appeared under the city of Baghdad.

Unfortunately, as early as the first two days, the Japanese troops in Baghdad and the surrounding areas, who had been notified in time, withdrew along the railway line to the Syrian border in the northwest.

Before the Japanese army withdrew, it completely destroyed Baghdad, a city known as a "gift from God", about 10,000 tons of explosives, and blew this thousand-year-old ancient city into ruins. By preventing the Japanese from destroying their homes, a large number of Baghdad citizens were subjected to a brutal massacre, and the entire city was littered with corpses.

Under these circumstances, the An Jiajun did not enter the city, but lived in the Mujari Hill in the southwest of the city and the towns of Fallujah and Ramadi in the west, blocking the road for the Japanese army to move south.

Heavy rainfall in Samawa in southern Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and heavy rainfall have not penetrated deep into the interior of the Middle East, so the climate here remains hot and dry.

Just after nine o'clock in the morning, a sandstorm suddenly attacked a unit of the Sixth Tank Division, which was heading south, and by noon, the storm gradually subsided, and the fine grains of sand falling from the sky seeped into almost everything, blocking the filters of tanks, armored vehicles, military vehicles, and motorcycle engines, stuffing people's eyes and noses, and covering the windshields of vehicles like heavy rain.

Xiao Zonghua, commander of the 3rd Tank Division, stood on the open top of the armored command vehicle and kept observing the surroundings with a telescope. Because the sandstorm flooded the road, Xiao Zonghua was a little unsure of which direction to march, so he had to take out a compass from his arms, and then looked at the map a few times to roughly confirm the direction.

Due to dryness and lack of water, the cheeks of this Anjia military veteran were covered with stubble, and his face was blistered by the scorching sun, and the whole person looked extremely haggard.

Three days earlier, after the capture of the city of Kut, the 3rd Tank Division and the 2nd Armored Infantry Division had parted ways, and Xiao Zonghua led his troops to the west to capture Numaniyah, and then turned to the southwest, capturing Diwaniyah, Rumaisai, and Semavo.

Last night, when he was camping in Semavo, he received an urgent report from the air force that a group of Japanese troops was operating in the desert area in the south, so Xiao Zonghua ordered the main force of the tank division to continue to march eastward and join forces with friendly forces in Basra, while he himself led a tank regiment and armored infantry regiment to pursue this Japanese army to the south.

In the carriage, Colonel Li Qiang, the head of the operations department, who was very dry-mouthed, was also observing another map, and after a long time, he found nothing, and asked weakly: "Division commander, on my map, there is a well in this area...... Did you find out? ”

"I wonder too!"

Xiao Zonghua lowered his head and licked his lips: "Damn sandstorm, blowing all the roads away, now there is trouble!" ”

"Buzz—"

The sound of the motor of the plane attracted the attention of Xiao Zonghua, only to see a S3 reconnaissance plane with the flying fox logo from high to low, circling a few times over the desert, Xiao Zonghua saw that the plane flew almost from a height of more than 20 meters above his head, swept up a piece of wind and sand, and couldn't help but say strangely: "Flying so low, what kind of fame?" ”

The S3 reconnaissance plane almost grazed the roof of the convoy and swept again, followed by a piece of paper floating onto the sand.

A soldier went over and picked it up and gave it to Xiaozonghua.

Xiao Zonghua took a closer look and found that it read: "There is an old Turkish-style fortress seven kilometers to the southeast, and the well was built in the fortress, but now a Japanese army has retreated there." ”

"There's water!"

Xiao Zonghua cheered, and then took the compass and checked it with the map again.

As soon as Li Qiang heard that "there is water", he hurriedly stood up, leaned next to the division commander, read the note, and then determined the location of the well on the map, and hurriedly said: "This Japanese army may be the enemy we are pursuing, just annihilating the enemy to find water, killing two birds with one stone!" ”

Xiao Zonghua nodded and quickly gave an order, instructing the troops to set off to the southeast. Soon, tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and motorcycles were rolling forward in a cloud of smoke.

The climatic conditions in the desert are harsh, and they are extremely unsuitable for the growth of organisms.

In the desert, tanks are the best weapons and trucks are the best means of transport. In desert operations, a tank is almost as tall as a battalion of infantry, an armored vehicle is as good as a company, a truck is equivalent to a platoon, and a motorcycle is equal to a squad.

For the infantry, walking in the desert, feeling boundless, the whole person seems to be integrated into the earth, feeling small and helpless, and after a long time, he will suffer from serious mental illness because of loneliness.

The desert is tantamount to a nightmare for the infantry, fighting hard in the endless flying sand and rocks, digging bunkers in the extremely hard sandy ground, due to the limited weight on their backs, after finding the water source, they can only carry two or three pots of water at most, fighting on the barren land that never ends, sleeping exhausted in the sand at night, attacked by scorpions, spiders, poisonous snakes and ants, if they are unlucky enough to encounter poisonous insects, they will go to the Yellow Springs in a few minutes.

And for mechanized troops, the desert is not invincible. Tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, etc., can easily rumble for tens of kilometers, and as long as the road is strong and there is enough gasoline, they can easily cross any area.

However, everything was not perfect, and the tankers were also troubled, and when the hatch was lowered, the tank was filled with the stench of fuel, gun oil, and sweat, and the heat was almost suffocating. The metal burns under the blazing sun of the desert during the day, and when combined with the heat of the engines and guns, the temperature tends to rise to unbearable levels.

In general, fighting in the tropical desert, tankers must be shirtless, wear shorts, and expose as much skin as possible, otherwise they are very prone to heat stroke.

Leopard tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and military trucks rushed across the sand like a tidal wave, wisps of thick sand fog stirred up by tracks and wheels, and the noise in the cockpit was deafening.

As the driver lowers or lifts the lever, the high-powered diesel engine roars and roars.

At this time, the Japanese troops in the fortress estimated that they also discovered this sudden appearance of the unit, and even sent tank troops to meet the battle.

Xiao Zonghua was in the command vehicle at the rear of the team, carefully observed through the periscope, and found that it was not the familiar *** Type 95 light tank and *** type medium tank tank, and couldn't help but wonder: "Ah, it's actually our wolf tank ......"

Li Qiang hurriedly leaned over to the periscope and took a closer look: "Sure enough, it's a wolf tank, and it's also painted with a plaster mark, what's going on?" ”

Xiao Zonghua thought for a while, and suddenly said, "It must have been captured from the British...... We sold so many tanks to the British, and the Japanese fought in Malaya, India and the Middle East, and captured a lot of ...... Fortunately, the wolf's armor and artillery fire are relatively weak, and it is not a leopard-type opponent! ”

As he spoke, thick smoke came out of the guns of the Leopard tanks, and the Japanese tanks that went out to fight were quickly shrouded in smoke and dust and burned one after another.

The battlefield was full of tanks and armored vehicles, the desert was filled with smoke, and the sun was faint and faint.

Like a battleship, the tank dodges enemy fire while spewing flames in the hope of delivering a fatal blow to the enemy. The tank melee lasted for half an hour, and one tank of the An Jiajun army was wrecked, and three other tanks were damaged to varying degrees. Correspondingly, the 36 tanks of the Japanese army were either flaming torches or reduced to a state of parts, the cannons became twisted scrap metal, and the rubber on the wheels was gone, leaving only clumps of black gelatinous matter burning on the sand, emitting a pungent stench.

The ensuing attack became simpler, and the Anjia army, with a large number of tanks covering the armored infantry, quickly pounced on the enemy's fortress and fired at all moving targets.

By evening, more than 2,000 Japanese troops had finally been wiped out.

The prisoners were later interrogated and learned that a separate infantry wing of the Japanese troops stationed in Semavo and the surrounding area had been ordered to evacuate too late to withdraw to the southern port in the early morning of the 19th to board the ship, so they simply retreated into the desert and quietly hid themselves with the supplies stored in advance. When the time is ripe in the future, suddenly rush out of the desert and respond to the attack of friendly forces.

This Turkish-style fortress is very large, and the warehouse stores a large amount of food and materials looted by the Japanese army, as well as many gold and silver jewelry, some of which still have traces of blood on it, which shows the tyranny and cruelty of the devils.

There is an underground river under the fortress, which has plenty of water, so I don't know who it is, and there are five wells dug here in one go for people to use.

After receiving the report that all the Japanese troops had been wiped out, Xiao Zonghua and Li Qiang, who were already thirsty, rushed to the water intake room and saw many soldiers filling iron buckets with water and going to the bathroom next to them to take a cold shower comfortably, while more soldiers were untying the aluminum cylinders and greedily scooping water from the wooden barrels placed by the well.

"Sure enough, it's water!"

Xiao Zonghua licked his dry lips, looked at the surrounding environment, and sighed: "*** people really know how to find a place, if it weren't for our air force reconnaissance, it is estimated that no one would have imagined that there would be such a place with sufficient water in the desert area fifty or sixty kilometers away from the main highway." According to the state of the Japanese army's reserves, it is absolutely no problem to nest in the desert for three or five months, and then come out and make trouble when we are not paying attention, and then it will be a big trouble! ”

"Yes! We're in luck! ”

Li Qiang said as he climbed to the edge of the well and looked down the well, only to see that it was dark and he couldn't see anything, but he could clearly smell the moist breath, and at the same time, a cold feeling came straight to his face.

Li Qiang was overjoyed, and threw the empty wooden barrel by the well into it, and only heard an echo after a while. He hurriedly dragged the rope, felt the sound of the bucket churning the water, and suddenly felt that it was the most beautiful music in the world.

A bucket of water came up, and Li Qiang motioned to the guard to take the kettle, filled a pot, and handed it to Xiaozonghua.

Xiaozonghua was not polite, took it and drank it beautifully, until a pot of water was drunk, and then handed it to Li Qiang with satisfaction.

Li Qiang had already drunk water with his hands for a while at this time, but there was no kettle to drink freely, so he hurriedly filled the kettle, and then drank it mouth to mouth.

......

Fort St. George, Mumbai.

An Yi was in the concert hall, sipping Indian coffee, while discussing with Ye Ziquan and Nalan Piaoxue the classification of military and civilian production of the newly received enterprises in West India.

At this time, Shen Fengdao walked in and whispered in An Yi's ear.

An Yi was taken aback, stood up and said, "Restore the call immediately, I will rush back to Xinjing immediately and arrange this matter in person." Immediately instructed the submarine fleet to send capable forces to the waters near Luzon to stand by and obey my orders at any time! ”