…… On the afternoon of July 7, the Fangtou unit of the infantry division left Yayazhanger, and spoke. [] did not meet Pei Chengyi's expectations. In his view, Duchway had no choice but to defend Diyarbakir and buy time to adjust his defensive deployment by actively counterattacking.

After contacting Yuan Chenhao and asking him to pay attention to the actions of the 7th Infantry Division, Pei Chengyi answered Jiang Wancheng's phone.

The 5th combat unit has already arrived in Aleppo and is preparing for a rush to the theater of operations.

According to Pei Chengyi's deployment. When the 5th Combat Unit arrives on the battlefield, it will fight alongside the 8th Combat Unit, first to capture Osmaniye and then to the south, forcing the American forces to hold on to Iskenderun. Although when deploying the task to Wang Xueping, Pei Chengyi did not require the fighters to take Iskenderun, but considering that the 7th Infantry Division had already taken the initiative to attack in the east, Pei Chengyi changed his mind and decided to storm Iskenderun.

Of course, before the 5th combat unit reached the battlefield, the decisive battle in the east had already begun.

The 10th battle was fought individually against the Le Infantry Division.

On 7 July in Baghdad, the vanguard of the 7th Infantry Division and a single reconnaissance unit of the 10th Combat encountered a reconnaissance unit near Bismir, about a kilometer west of Battman, and the battle began. The first shot of the battle of the first decisive battle in the movement.

Although this skirmish was not very intense, both sides realized how powerful the other was through this.

In fact, the protagonists of the battle were the long-range artillery of the warring sides.

According to the deployment of Li Dongshi. The most advanced reconnaissance unit immediately released a small unmanned reconnaissance plane after the US military took over, and sent battlefield intelligence to the military information platform. Because it belongs to combat information. Therefore, long-range artillery deployed hundreds of kilometers away does not need to consult superiors at all. It is only necessary to get in touch with the reconnaissance unit and confirm the request for a fire strike, and the artillery strike can be carried out according to the data provided by the reconnaissance unit. If it weren't for the fact that the 1st Battle, a single artillery was supporting the battle in the Syirt direction, I am afraid that the vanguard of the 7th Infantry Division would never have reached Baartman. Even if only one artillery brigade participated in the battle, the American troops were still caught off guard by the rapid artillery bombardment in the first minute.

After the shelling, the American troops quickly dispersed and called for artillery support.

It is a pity that the long-range artillery of the US army cannot cope with the single artillery brigade of the 10th Combat deployed in Mosul, even if it uses extended-range shells, and when supporting the vanguard of the 7th Infantry Division, it has to use extended-range artillery shells with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers.

The mother is undoubted. Extended-range shells are not as powerful and accurate as ordinary shells.

Unlike traditional artillery. The caliber of the electromagnetic gun is not measured by size, but by mass. The reason is simple, the "barrel" of the orbital electromagnetic gun is that several rails were originally Lynn parallel rails, and later 4 or even more parallel rails were exhibited. When firing a shell, it is not impossible to make the shell spin, but the shell is in direct contact with the rail, if the shell is allowed to rotate in the barrel. The barrel will be severely worn and the service life of the barrel will be shortened, so in order to improve the accuracy of shelling. In addition to the adoption of attitude control rocket motive. You also have to control the quality precisely. In fact, electromagnetic guns have very high requirements for the firing quality of the shells, often accurate to milligrams. As a result, when installing an extended-range rocket motor to increase the range of the projectile, it is necessary to reduce the payload of the projectile and even change the aerodynamic shape of the projectile. According to the standards of the Republic Army, the payload of extended-range ammunition is only one-third of that of ordinary artillery shells, and the striking effect is less than half of that of ordinary artillery shells, and the purchase price is twice that of ordinary artillery shells, so the artillery of the Republic Army rarely uses extended-range ammunition in battle, and only the navy with deep pockets will use extended-range ammunition on a large scale, mainly because the navy's electromagnetic guns can only be deployed on large warships, and the value of large warships far exceeds the army's electromagnetic cannon system, and the navy cannot afford the loss of large warships, Large ships cannot be allowed to risk in battle.

What's worse is that. The US artillery did not have a clear goal.

In other words, the artillery counterattack of the American army did not find the right target, and could only fire at the place where there might be an ambush of the Republican scouts.

I have to admit that when the US military fights a war, it rarely considers the issue of consumption.

In the face of the artillery bombardment of the Republic Army, which lasted only a minute, the artillery "counterattack" of the US army lasted for nearly a minute. It doesn't end until it is true that no "suspicious" target can be found.

According to the US Army's war report, in this shelling. The 7 artillery brigades that provided artillery support to the 2 Infantry Division consumed a total of 2 red stewed ammunition.

It was a great pity that the artillery bombardment of the American forces could not be sustained, because the two artillery brigades belonging to the 1st Fighter Armored Division and the 3rd Infantry Division received a request for artillery support on the way to Sivass, and in order to reach the destination in time according to the order of the joint commander, the two artillery brigades had to speed up the march, so in the early morning of July 8. He also walked in front of the artillery position. 2 artillery brigades could not again provide artillery support to the 7th Infantry Division.

Damn it. The artillery brigade of the 7th Infantry Division was not able to complete the deployment in time.

According to the original plan, the artillery brigade of the 7th Infantry Division was also to be deployed in Diyarbakir. With the Republican Army attacking from the east, Diyarbakir was about to become the front line, so when Duchway decided to have the 7th Infantry Division counterattack, he also moved the artillery brigade of the 7th Infantry Division to the rear. Although compared to the artillery brigades of the 1st Fighter Armored Division and the 3rd Infantry Division. The artillery brigade of the Bully Infantry Division did not run the wrong way. The transport group received an order before it arrived at the province of Trabzon, which is located in Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast, and is one of the famous deep-water harbors in the Erer District, but Trabzon did not have a position that could allow the artillery brigade of the Le Infantry Division to be stationed, so after arriving at the destination, the US troops had to spend a lot of effort to build a position, and they could only enter the battle on the morning of the 8th at the earliest.

Of course, the shelling, which lasted for minutes, had a very immediate effect.

After defeating the reconnaissance unit of the 10th Battle, the American troops continued to advance.

Probably did not expect such a fierce artillery fire from the US army, so in the next operation, Li Dongshi appeared a little too cautious. Artillery suppression of the American forces was not continued. Of course, the events of later life proved that Li Dongshi was not afraid of the artillery attack of the US army, but wanted to achieve a greater victory.

In the evening. The vanguard of the 7th Infantry Division reached about a kilometer west of Batman.

Faced with the line of defense of the 10th combat unit, the American troops did not move on.

In fact. The 10th Combat Unit did not build a defensive line in the sense of a play, or even build a sufficiently strong defensive position or fortification.

At the time of the adaptation. The tactical thinking of the Army of the Republic has also undergone great changes.

Strictly speaking. The reform of the establishment is based on the innovation of tactics. Without new tactical thinking, it is impossible to have a new army formation.

The greatest improvement of the Republican Army compared to several departments ago is undoubtedly the ability to fight in concert. This includes not only the coordination between the various arms of the army, such as the cooperation between armored troops and artillery, army aviation, reconnaissance troops, and other units, but also the cooperation between the army and other branches of the army, such as cooperation with the air force. Anyway. The scene of the army fighting alone will never be seen again. In the context of coordinated operations, unless the situation is extremely unfavorable. Otherwise, there is no need for the ground forces to conduct defensive operations in the traditional way. According to the experience summed up by the Army in many wars such as the Indian War, mobile defense is the most effective form of defensive operations. Along with the Airborne Forces are also armed with powerful armored combat vehicles. The theory of mobile defensive operations is becoming more and more perfect. Thus. The basis of tactical innovation is technological progress. In reality, the core idea of mobile defensive operations is to make full use of the troops' powerful mobility capability and counterattack and disintegrate the enemy's offensive with highly efficient tactics, that is, to use offense to counter offense and achieve the goal of defense.

At first, Li Dongshi was very uncomfortable with the new defensive tactics.

Anyway, he is a general from the Airborne Forces. Better at positional defense.

In fact, the officers and men of the 10th Combat Unit were not very accustomed to the new defensive tactics.

Exactly. Since its establishment, the 10th Combat Unit has been conducting high-intensity scraping exercises in the southwestern region of the Republic. For this arrangement, in the words of the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republic. It is much more difficult to train a unit that is good at attacking than it is to train a unit that is good at defense. That's why the Airborne Forces were allowed to familiarize themselves with offensive tactics. Tang Yinglong's words were not wrong. After all, in the Republic Army, there are only 3 airborne brigades that are really good at positional defensive operations, and the rest of the troops are good at attacking. Instead of letting other troops learn how to fight positional defensive warfare, it is better to let the Airborne Forces learn how to fight armored assault warfare.

As a result of the high-intensity training, the 10th combat unit is the most comprehensive combat unit of the Republic Army.

In the face of the attack of the 7th Infantry Division of the US Army. Li Dongshi was not careless about underestimating the enemy. Nor did he overestimate the strength of his opponent.

At that time, the strength of the vanguard of the US army was about four, and the main force expected to arrive in the early morning of 8 July was about Tian Ming officers and men. And Li Dongshi left only 2 combat battalions on the front. In addition to the troops assisting the 1st Combat Unit in the Silt direction, Li Dongshi had at least 6 combat battalions and a support battalion at his disposal that could participate in the battle against the 7th Infantry Division at any time.

Thus. Li Dongshi left a very strong reserve of concubines.

In fact, the strength of the 7th Infantry Division was not weak.

Among the many ace units of the US army, the 7th Infantry Division did not have the greatest reputation. But in terms of combat strength, the 7th Infantry Division was strong enough. During the Peninsula War, it was the blocking action of the Le Infantry Division in the 38th parallel that forced the Republic Army to slow down the pace of its offensive and "retreat with dignity" for the US authorities. Enough time was gained. And it's this battle. The 7th Infantry Division gained fame and was retained in subsequent reorganization. Became one of the most well-formed infantry divisions in the U.S. Army.

Just like the tasks undertaken by the U.S. Army in the U.S. military forces. The largest number of infantry units in the U.S. military is actually ground forces that pay more attention to defensive capabilities.

According to the military thinking of the US military, even if it is at war with a powerful opponent like the Republican Army, it is not the Army that bears the heavy responsibility, but the Air Force and Navy. It is precisely for this reason that the 7th Infantry Division was reorganized to further strengthen its defensive combat capability. According to the US military's operational thinking, defensive combat capability is definitely not the ability to dig and build positions, but to pay more attention to the combat capability of armored forces. In fact, since the war in Iran, the US authorities have been learning from the lack of offensive capabilities. In the Peninsular War. The shortcomings of the US Army's lack of assault capability have been thoroughly exposed. For example, when attacking Wulao, if the offensive capability of the US ground forces had been a little stronger, the two marine divisions would not have been completely annihilated. By the time the Republic Army fought a hearty offensive war on the South Asian subcontinent. The U.S. Army finally came to its senses. In a certain sense, allowing Buchancher to carry out organizational reform in the European Corps is an action taken by the US Army to explore new tactics, but the effect is small.

In general, the 7th Infantry Division did not lack assault capabilities.

For the US military. All that was missing was the ability to support the assault one by one firepower.

Because the US ** team was the first to open up the situation in joint operations, the US Army gave up firepower prematurely. In other words, the fire support is pinned on other branches of the military. Although the artillery of the US Army is not weak, and in some respects it is even in the lead, for example, the United States has a much higher level of technology in guided munitions than the Republic. However, relative to the overall combat effectiveness of the US army, as well as the strong enemy faced by the US Army, the construction of its artillery still seriously lags behind, especially in terms of artillery tactical thinking. The U.S. military is too far behind. In many cases, the U.S. military uses artillery support as a means of assisting in attack or defense, rather than as the main means of striking the enemy.

Another problem is that the US military attaches too much importance to precision strikes.

Although at some point, precision strikes are of irreplaceable importance, especially in local wars against weak and small countries, precision strikes are the main means of avoiding civilian casualties. However, in a large-scale war, the main significance of precision strikes is that when striking the enemy's high-value military targets, it can reduce the sortie volume of combat aircraft and the consumption of ammunition, thereby improving the strike efficiency and reducing one's own losses. In a head-to-head battle. Especially in ground battles where armored clusters are inhabited, the significance of precision strikes is not so obvious.

All in all, the offensive force of the 7th Infantry Division was too weak in front of the individual defensive line of the 10th Battle.

It was precisely because of this that Li Dongshi dared to use 2 battalions to hold the frontal defensive line. Put the main force on the counterattack.

After nightfall, the American troops took the lead in preparing for artillery fire.

It has to be said that Li Dongshi's deployment made the artillery strikes carried out by the US troops before the offensive meaningless. It's not that the U.S. artillery attack was not fierce enough, in order to support the attack of the 7th Infantry Division, Duchway asked the artillery brigade of the 2nd Armored Division and the 4th Infantry Division, which had just entered the artillery position in Iskenderun, to shell the defensive positions of the 10th combat unit, because the 2 artillery brigades were deployed near the port and could easily obtain ammunition, so in about a minute of shelling, the 2 brigades' electromagnetic artillery systems poured about a stewed shell on the front line at the fastest degree, Repeated shelling of the defensive positions of the 10th combat unit was carried out several times. The main reason for the inconspicuous effect of the artillery bombardment was that the individual defensive deployment of the 10th Battle was too sparse, with only 2 battalions in the defense zone with a width of nearly 1,000 meters and a depth of more than the old 1,000 kilometers, while the 10th Combat Unit had built fortifications before that. Enough to cover the defense of the old battalion. Other words. The two battalions that were tasked with frontal defense were not only able to be as dispersed as possible. Also got the best protection. According to the individual battle records of the 10th battle, in the shelling of the 10th Minute, only the officers and men of the Goo were killed, all of which were hit by the thugs' heavy shells, and 22 people were wounded. Compared to the amount of ammunition consumed in the stew, and the preparation time for artillery fire of several minutes, this casualty is nothing at all.

It was only when the U.S. military went on the offensive that they realized what the most effective defense was.

In any case, the artillery bombardment of the blade minutes provided Li Dongshi with time to prepare for a counterattack.

When the American forces attacked, the counterattack of the 10th combat unit also began.

This "pressing" defensive counterattack tactic. It was summed up by the 10th combat unit in the training. Although in the eyes of the vast majority of people. When the offensive force network first starts attacking, the morale is certainly high and the fighting spirit is high, and the defending troops are very likely to be crushed on the front line of the attacking troops when they start a counterattack at this time, but when the morale and fighting spirit of the defending troops are no worse than those of the attacking troops, and their combat effectiveness is not worse than that of the attacking troops, only a resolute and resolute counterattack can nip the offensive action in the bud. To put it simply, the enemy's attacking forces did not have time to deploy. Counterattack when you can't effectively swing your strength advantage.

It's easier said than done.

Such a simple tactic, no one used it before, it's not that no one thought of it, but no army has such strength.

You're welcome to say an episode. None of the other nine combat units of the Army of the Republic possessed such strength.

This time, it only took a few minutes for the 10th battle to prove itself.

The battle is fought to the point of the lead. That is, when the American artillery preparations were over, the attacking unit of the 7th Infantry stopped its advance under a single counterattack in the 10th battle.

The problem is that the battle did not end there.

The best defense is to go on offense, and the essence of defensive counterattack is not to block the enemy's attack. Rather, it is to disrupt the enemy's next offensive through counterattacks, and even to regain the initiative on the battlefield from the enemy's hands, turning from defense to offense.

Li Dongshi left enough reserves just to attack.

With the 10th battle moving from defensive to offensive alone, long-range artillery, which had not been fully launched before, came in handy. According to the operational report of the 10th combat unit. Li Dongshi did not use artillery strikes excessively in the defense, mainly because the transportation capacity of the communication line from Mosul to Basra could not be guaranteed, and the artillery unit of the 10 th combat unit could be "cut off" at any time.