Chapter 188: U.S. Military Observer Mission

A DC-3 flew in the sky, and the cabin was full of American ** officers, led by Marshall, and the members were mainly officers of the American armored forces, including the incoming commander of the second armored division, Patton.

How to form an armored force capable of fighting, the Americans did not have much experience. The Germans swept through Europe with armored forces, and the United States saw it in its eyes and took it to heart, and began to form its own armored forces. At this time, war broke out between China and the Soviet Union, and the Chinese armored forces swept through the Soviet army in Siberia and Central Asia, and the US military observation group had a practical inspection target.

The U.S. military observer group set off a little late, and by the time they flew to Almaty, the Bishkek counterattack had ended, and the squadron had formed a north-south attack on Tashkent. In other words, the U.S. military observer missed an important opportunity to investigate the course of the campaign on the ground. This result was caused by the inefficiency of the US Army, and both Marshall and Patton complained in their hearts, because it was only an observation group that came to China from the United States in more than a month, and they had finished all the battles.

Before he began to investigate, Marshall mentally denied some of the US Army's work rhythm that affected efficiency, and that the efficiency of the army must be improved during the war, and some unnecessary steps could be saved. Marshall, who was in a state of introspection, was not even in the mood to care about the fact that the person sent by the Chinese side to see him off was just a colonel surnamed Lin Hu.

Patton was more concerned with the armored tactics of the Chinese, looking at intelligence provided by U.S. intelligence about Chinese mechanized forces along the way. However, the efficiency of the US intelligence services is not very high, and Patton does not know much from intelligence. I know that China has fifteen mechanized armies, according to this formation. The Chinese Army has at least 45 tank brigades. In this way, the number of tanks is staggering, completely subverting the past impression of the Chinese Army. China has quietly built an army equipped with the most tanks in the world, which you would never have imagined before coming to China, China actually has more than 10,000 tanks. And judging from the newspapers, the tanks of the Chinese are still very advanced, although their tank production is said to be not very high, but the fact that they have been forming mechanized troops for a long time is not difficult to deduce.

"Damn the intelligence services. We don't know anything about the exact number of Chinese tanks. Barton withdrew his eyes from the intelligence and spoke to Marshall, who was sitting beside him.

"The Chinese attach great importance to the formation of mechanized troops, and this aspect has always been highly confidential to the Chinese side. As China's traditional allies, we are not as good at understanding the strength of the Chinese army as the Germans. Intelligence suggests that it was about fifteen years ago. The Chinese and German armies began to interact, and the tactics adopted by the German army in Europe were formed during the Sino-German military cooperation, and then the German army supplemented and perfected them, forming a whole new set of tactical systems. We don't know much about this tactical system. One can only learn something from the mouths of the French and the British, who, as the vanquished, could not even figure out how they had failed. Isn't it ridiculous? ”

"No, I don't think it's ridiculous at all, a lot of losers come down from the battlefield and lose their souls. They don't want to reminisce. ”

Marshall took out a pamphlet from his bag, handed it to Barton, and said, "You can take a look at this." This is the theory of the Soviet army on how to use mechanized troops from the hands of a lieutenant ** officer. After the Chinese conducted research, combined with their own research, they came up with some completely new tactical systems. After Barton took it, he glanced at the name, and there was a line of English handwritten translation of "Great Depth Strategic Exploration and Reflection" underneath.

After opening the title page, Barton saw a quotation from Fang Jianxiong, also with a handwritten translation between the lines. "Since the electrical revolution, the rapid development of science and technology has promoted the transformation of the mode of warfare from simple ground warfare to three-dimensional warfare. The integration of sea and air and land and air has become an inevitability. China has fallen behind, and it is our responsibility to make it no longer lagging behind. ”

Patton's face was solemn and he looked at it very seriously. Because it is theoretical, there is not a lot of content, but there are only 100 pages or so, and Barton reads it very carefully, as if every word needs to be carefully pondered. When the plane landed, Barton was still reading carefully, until Marshall tapped him on the shoulder, and then looked up and said, "Great stuff, please allow me to read it." ”

Marshall pointed to the open cabin door and said, "Let's go down first, don't make the master wait for a long time." There is time to take a slow look. ”

The person who came to pick up the plane was only a major general, who introduced himself and said: "Fang Xianjue, chief of staff of the Central Asian Front Army Command of the Chinese National Defense Forces, was ordered to accompany the US ** delegation to Central Asia. ”

After the simple formalities were handed over, Major Lin completed the task, and then Major General Fang Xianjue led a group of Americans to Kuzhan where the temporary headquarters of the Central Asian Front Army was located.

"General Fang, I heard that you have completed a beautiful counterattack, can you tell me about the process?" Patton wanted to share a car with Fang Xianjue, and took the initiative to talk to him after driving. Fang Xianjue had a very good attitude and said with a smile: "The front army calls this battle the Central Asian counterattack, or the Bishkek counterattack. The exact process is still a military secret, and I have not been authorized to explain it to you. So, I'm sorry for your understanding. "Fang Xianjue is very proficient in English, and he didn't even bring a translator.

"Oh, it doesn't matter. I am very interested in the tanks in your country, can you tell us about the specific performance and numbers? "Barton really wasn't that easy to get rid of, and continued to stalk. Fang Xianjue pondered a little before he said, "I didn't say that I want to keep it secret, but I can say something I know." There are two main types of tanks in service in China's mechanized troops, one is the Great Wall-4 and the other is the Great Wall-5, and the specific number of tanks and equipment is unknown. The Type 4 tank was developed earlier, and the official large-scale equipment was about ten years ago, and the Type 5 tank was mass-equipped later, about three years ago. ”

"Can you tell me the specific number? For example, tank gun caliber, speed per hour, etc. Barton saw that he meant to stop, and hurriedly asked. After Fang Xianjue hesitated again, he looked very embarrassed before saying: "Okay, I don't know much, I know that the Type 4 tank gun is a 75mm rifled gun, the Type 5 tank is a 105 rifled gun, and there seems to be a Type 4b equipped with an 88mm gun." The machine guns were all one 12, 7, two 7 calibers. These models of tanks are guaranteed to travel continuously for three thousand hours at a speed of 45-50 kilometers per hour. The frontal armor of the Type 5 tank, which has proven in real combat to be able to block the 76-mm cannon equipped by the Soviet army. Type 4 tank with frontal armor capable of withstanding Soviet-made 57mm cannons. Actual combat tests have found that the Soviet anti-tank guns pose a great threat, and the losses of our tanks are basically caused by the anti-tank guns striking from the side. It is said that the Ministry of Defense has ordered the development of a special anti-tank gun with a caliber of 88 mm, after intelligence services have learned that the Soviet army is armed with a heavy tank. ”

Fang Xianjue's voice became quieter and quieter, and he kept looking up at the major in the co-pilot seat in front of him. Barton nodded somewhat understandingly, the people in the intelligence department are not good to talk nonsense. The Chinese are guarding against the United States, and the topic is a little discordant, but it is inevitable. As a soldier, Patton didn't care about political issues, but he had heard that the U.S. government had done something unpleasant about China. If it were not for these, the Chinese side would not have chosen Germany when choosing a partner, but the United States, which has many joint ventures in China.

"The Americans came to make trouble at this time, how can they have the time to receive them now?" Zhang Zizhong in the front army headquarters looked unhappy, and was called back from the Syldaria front, of course, he was very unhappy.

"The General Staff has approved the implementation date of the Thunder Plan, and you, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, should not mind the affairs of the Americans. This is Lieutenant General Yang Zui, and the success or failure of the Thunder plan is largely determined by him. Zhang Zhizhong smiled and introduced the two to each other, Yang Zui stepped forward and stretched out his hand, the two were not very familiar, in terms of qualifications, Yang Zui was above Zhang Zizhong.

"General Yang will personally lead the 1st and 2nd Mountain Divisions and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Paratrooper Divisions to carry out large-scale parachute operations in the vicinity of Urgench and Nukus. The purpose of the operation was to cut off the route of the Soviet troops to flee westward, and in order to achieve this operational goal, the Air Force transferred all the 200 C-49 transport planes recently delivered by the Americans, as well as all the transport planes in the Siberian theater. This was not enough, the first parachute was only three paratrooper divisions and some heavy equipment, and the mountain troops were the second. As the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, I must tell you that the first of the two important links in this plan is to concentrate firepower to break through the Soviet defense line and ensure that the mechanized troops can quickly carry out a surprise advance after they are put into operation. The second important link was that the mechanized troops had to occupy Dushanbe within a week and block the only way for the Soviet troops to move south. The battle was personally attended by the President and paid close attention to it, and everyone weighed the importance in their hearts. Liu Mingzhao stood up first when he mentioned Fang Jianxiong, and the participants stood up one after another. In the Wehrmacht, President Fang Da is so weighty.

The meeting continued, and the U.S. military observer group came to Khujand, but there was not a single big guy, and the official reply was that a very important meeting was being held, and there was time to receive the U.S. military observer group in the evening.

The U.S. military observer group was arranged in a manor house in Khujand, surrounded by many soldiers, which made the U.S. military very unhappy and felt like they were under house arrest. While everyone else was complaining, Barton approached Marshall and whispered, "I think the Chinese are planning a huge campaign." Marshall frowned: "Reason." ”

"Quite simply, I've been observing along the way, and I've found a lot of tank tracks running over along the road. During this period, I asked for ease of getting out of the car, and carefully observed these traces, at least they were formed by the repeated crushing of thousands of tanks. ”