“…… Now there are some people who call the Battle of Khorais in the Second Middle East Battle a battle that broke off the hegemony of the United States in the world, as if those of us who fought hard against the Soviet tank units on the battlefield of Khurais are the sinners of the United States! In fact, those who hold this view have no way to imagine how brave the Americans and the British on the battlefield of Khorais were, we braved the powerful firepower of the Soviets to launch one offensive after another, no one was afraid, no one flinched, and every British and American soldiers who came down from the battlefield of Khorais were the best and all heroes.

Some people may say, 'But you still beat it, and 1,200 tanks were defeated by 200 tanks!' This accusation has plagued me for 10 years, and now I have decided not to remain silent, and I want to refute this ignorant view with facts, not for the sake of me, who is dying, but for all the British and American soldiers who gave their lives for their country on the battlefield of Khurais.

Yes, our 1200 tanks were defeated by 200 tanks of the Soviets. But those who put forward this point of view ignore a key point, our enemy does not use ordinary tanks, but a special tank called a 'tank destroyer', which is used against ordinary tanks as the name suggests, in fact, the US Army at that time also had the same weapons, we have 500 Stalker tank destroyers imported from Germany, in addition to the drawings and production licenses we have from the Germans, we can build 2,000 of these tank destroyers. But the Chaser tank destroyers also have obvious shortcomings, such as their maneuverability is very poor, the working environment in the compartment is extremely poor, and it is difficult for tall American soldiers to move and work in it...... It is for these reasons that we did not use this weapon in the Middle East, where the road conditions are very bad. Now it seems that this was a serious mistake, the main reason why we lost the Battle of Hurais, but this mistake has nothing to do with us, the front-line soldiers of the United States who fought on the battlefield of Hurais. - The above is an excerpt from Lieutenant General Stilwell's memoir "The Wrong War".

In what would become a bestseller, The Wrong War, Lieutenant General Stilwell blames the Anglo-American tanks for the defeat of Khorais, which is a very simple way of looking at the events that affect the course of world history, but this is true if it is taken as facts.

At exactly 2:30 p.m. on May 17, the shelling of the Anglo-American forces came to an abrupt halt, and Lieutenant General Auchinleck, who was the commander-in-chief of the armored assault group, issued a message to the entire assault force: "Crusaders, Crusaders, Crusaders!" "Assault signal! The sound of artillery, which had just subsided, was quickly replaced by the rumbling roar of Anglo-American tank engines.

The commanders of the 39th Tank Army of the Soviet Red Army had anticipated in advance that the British and American forces were about to launch a tank cluster assault that was the largest in the Middle East theater. Therefore, as soon as the British and American shelling ended, they ordered the Soviet sappers to risk their lives to lay anti-tank mines in front of the Soviet tank cluster. Since the decisive battle site was chosen temporarily, the Soviets did not build a strong anti-tank position in advance and did not dig anti-tank trenches, so they could only rely on temporarily planted anti-tank mines to protect their tanks. However, the British and American tank clusters did not give them much time, and soon a large cloud of dust appeared in front of the positions of the Soviet tank clusters, which meant that the hand-to-hand combat between the two sides was about to begin.

The tank charge of the British troops was fast, reaching almost 20 kilometers per hour. Soon, the tank crews of the Soviet Red Army will be able to see their opponents and nervously look at the tanks that are constantly pouring out from the top of the sand dunes in the distance and on both sides, the number is almost endless! Many years later, the famous Soviet general Chuikov, who commanded the Battle of Hurais, also mentioned in his memoirs that "their tanks poured in like a tidal wave, as if there were as many as 1,000 of them, and so many tanks were spread out on a frontage of less than 20 kilometers, it was so dense that even I was taken aback." ”

The British threw in 600 tanks, 180 self-propelled guns and 255 tracked armored vehicles at one time, and discharged a dense wedge formation, dragging the sky full of battlefields, roaring like mercury! The 39th Tank Army of the Soviet Red Army still had 181 Su-75s to fight at this time, and Chuikov lined up these tanks and pulled out a long snake formation of more than 10,000 meters. These Su-75s were flanked by cover positions consisting of infantry and anti-tank guns of the Indian Red Army. In addition, two divisions of Indian Red Army infantry were deployed alongside Soviet tanks, tasked with protecting the Su-75 from the anti-tank grenade launchers of the British and American infantry, which in fact did not exist in the hands of the British and American infantry. Neither country is equipped with such weapons, and the only anti-tank weapon in the hands of the American infantry is the anti-tank grenade, a 1.6-kilogram anti-tank grenade with a conical charge. Because it's too heavy, it can't be thrown far at all. The British infantry, on the other hand, fared a little better, as they were armed with bostan anti-tank rifles in addition to anti-tank grenades, but they did not play much role on the battlefield either.

At 2:45 p.m., both sides crossed 1,000 tanks (181 Soviets; 600 British troops) began the first round of steel collisions in the desert outside the town of Hurais!

At the forefront were the British Matilda 2 tanks, whose mission was to "attract the attention of the Soviet Su-75" - Lieutenant General Stilwell's exact words, but Auchinleck did not understand correctly. The order he gave to these Matilda 2 tanks was to charge forward! Approaching the Soviet Su-75 and then solving each other with 40mm guns. But the reality in front of the British tank gunners was that their 40mm guns could only penetrate 545mm of armor at a distance of 51 meters, while the Soviet Su-75 had 60mm of armor, and if you take into account the bevel angle of 60 degrees, the actual protection of this armor is equivalent to 90mm! The Matilda 2 40mm gun simply could not penetrate armor of this thickness. So such a charge is actually to send to death!

Because in the previous encounters, he already knew the reality of the British tanks, so Chuikov did not adopt the tank defense tactic of fighting and retreating to maintain an "ideal distance". Instead, all the Su-75s were left in place and acted as a fixed point of fire. Use the powerful 75mm gun to fire accurately at the onrushing British tanks. The advancing British tanks were shot one after another, and they were powerless to fight back, but they still rushed forward one after another. It really seemed like suicide, which made Lin Zuoda and Barton who were watching the battle feel unbelievable.

……

"Attention all Su-75, free fire! Free Fire! ”

"Artillery fire!"

"Death squad, go on, go up!"

The British tanks here followed suit and looked at death as if they were at home, the Soviets' Su-75s and a variety of other anti-tank weapons and suppression guns were also firing at full fire, and the Indian infantry fighting with the Soviet 39th Tank Army also carried anti-tank grenade launchers, anti-tank grenades and Molotov cocktails to launch a surprise attack. In an instant, the two armies on the battlefield were in a battle.

"1 o'clock, at a distance of 520 meters, Matilda Type 2, armor-piercing shells, fire!" Yermakov, the commander of the Su-75 self-propelled gun No. 569, poked out half of his body from the open roof of the compartment, holding a telescope to look for targets on the chaotic battlefield. Because the cabin of the Su-75 was too stuffy and the viewing angle of the observation port was not good, the Soviet tank crews liked to lean out to find targets. According to the coordinates and distance reported by Yermakov, the muzzle of the 48-caliber 75mm gun immediately flashed with orange-red fire. At the same time as the body of the car shook, the Matilda 2 that was being targeted suddenly turned into a huge fireball and exploded suddenly.

The 75mm anti-tank gun of 46 times caliber equipped by the Chinese National Defense Forces can penetrate 116mm of homogeneous armor steel at a right angle at a distance of 1,000 meters when using ordinary steel-core armor-piercing shells. You can imagine how powerful this 48-caliber 75mm tank gun is at a distance of 520 meters! Although the craftsmanship of British armor steel plates is good, the most advanced case hardening process at that time was adopted, and it has stronger bulletproof ability than ordinary steel plates. But the 78mm frontal armor still could not withstand the blow of the Su-520 at a distance of 75 meters, and at the same time, the projectile of Matilda's 40mm anti-tank gun hit the frontal armor of the Su-75 and was no different from tickling. So the British tanks, which had a numerical advantage several times, became the object of slaughter!

"At 11 o'clock, at a distance of 660 meters, Matilda Type 2, armor-piercing shells, shooting!" On the order of Yermakov, another 75mm armor-piercing shell was fired from the muzzle of this Su-75.

On another hit, a Matilda 2 exploded, turning into a pile of burning scrap metal. There are more and more such scrap iron, and in less than half an hour, the entire battlefield is spread.

……

"Oh God! The loss is too great! The loss is too great! We've been defeated......" Wavell, who was watching the battle from behind, put down the binoculars in his hand, and his voice trembled a little.

Stilwell shook his head and said, "Not yet, Admiral, as long as the Crusader tanks outflanked from both flanks can succeed, we can still win!" ”

"General, Your Excellency!" At this time, a staff officer ran from behind with an anxious face, still holding a telegram he had just received: "General, navy! Telegram from the Navy, they are annoyed by **! ”

"What's the matter?" Stilwell's face froze, and he hurriedly took the telegram from the staff officer's hand, gasped at a glance, and gritted his teeth: "The two aircraft carriers of the Navy have been severely damaged!" Ernest. Admiral King has already decided to withdraw from Boss Bay and prepare for a second landing near Muscat. ”

"Two or two aircraft carriers were heavily damaged? How can it be? Wavell almost suspected that something was wrong with his ears.

"The Soviets threw at least 500 planes into a raid on the fleet, and 200 of them were suicide planes!"

"Suicide planes? What is it? ”

"It's to ram our aircraft carrier with an Il-16 loaded with bombs!"

"Impact? So how do pilots escape? Is it skydiving? ”

"No, the pilots don't escape, they want to die with our warship!" Stilwell gritted his teeth and added, "Admiral, Lieutenant General Fredendor has asked us to cross the Rub Khali Desert to Muscat, where our landing force is ready to take it. ”

"Muscat!" Wavell thought for a moment and said, "It's almost 1,200 kilometers, how do we get there?" ”

"I don't know," Stilwell smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Let's finish the battle first." ”

"Attention all Crusader tanks, I am Lieutenant General Auchinleck, and now the victory or defeat of the battle depends on your table! Charge with all your might and smash into the enemy's flanks! God bless my king, charge! Auchinleck, who was directing the battle on the front line, was already a little angry, and from the location of his armored command vehicle, the entire battlefield was full of Matilda 2 tanks that were burning or turning into wreckage! At least 300 of them! Due to the failure of the tank assault, the infantry, armored vehicles, and self-propelled guns that accompanied the tanks had lost their backbone and began to retreat one after another. However, Auchinleck was not willing to be defeated, and instead of ordering the Crusader cruisers on both flanks to retreat, he asked them to speed up and attack.

At the same time, he shouted to the staff officers around him: "Order the reserves to attack, let Major General Patton's reserves attack immediately and stabilize the center of the battle line!" ”

"General, the first crusader tanks should be allowed to retreat, and then launch a third charge with the American and Arab armored divisions." Major General Holbart of the 1st Armored Corps of the British Army on the side hurriedly reminded.

"No, the Crusader tanks can't give up, we paid 300 Matilda 2 to give them the opportunity to attack the Pursuer (referring to the Su-75) is flank, and now we can't give up!"

At this moment, seeing that the center of the British armored cluster had collapsed, Chuikov quickly adjusted his deployment and ordered the Su-75 cluster to change its formation, from a long snake formation to two independent phalanxes, and at the same time align the front on both wings. However, it has not yet waited for the Su-75 of the Soviet army to complete the change of formation. The firefight unfolded on both wings!

"Quick, load, aim!" Two anti-tank guns under the command of Sherka, the commander of the 3rd Company of the Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion of the 18th Army Artillery Regiment of the Indian Red Army, were lying in ambush on the top of a sand dune, and at this moment he was in front of at least 120 Crusader tanks. However, these tanks did not find anti-tank guns covered with khaki camouflage cloth, and are now turning to prepare to attack behind the Su-75 that is going around the Soviet army.

"12 o'clock direction, Crusader tank, 680 meters, fire!" With Sherka's command, two anti-tank guns fired at the same time. "Boom! Rumble! "One of the cannons hit the target, and with a loud bang, the whole tank burst into flames, turning into a fireball.

"Reload! In the direction of 11 o'clock, enemy tanks, 660 meters, fire! "Two more bangs, and a British Crusader tank was again reduced to a ball of fire." Boom Boom Boom ......" More roars rang out, on this seemingly ordinary sand dune, the Indian army ambushed at least anti-tank guns, 42 45mm anti-tank guns, in the preparation of the British and American artillery just now, another 3 45mm anti-tank guns were lost, and the rest of the artillery was all unharmed. This will take advantage of the opportunity of the British tanks to turn to the flanks and fire desperately, hitting the tank with anti-tank guns is a head pinned to the belt to do a fucking job, the British and American artillery groups are not vegetarians, these anti-tank guns once the target is violated, at most two or three minutes will attract artillery coverage, so you can only use this precious two or three minutes to destroy as many opponent's tanks as possible.

But these two or three minutes are longer than two or three years for the British tank crews!

Their Crusader cruiser tank is a mess of goods, weighing more than 19 tons, two or three tons heavier than the famous Stalker tank destroyer, but the armor is thin, the firepower is weak, except for the speed is not good, and it is big, easy to aim! Even Indian artillery can do it at a distance of several hundred meters! And 45 anti-tank guns can fire at least 400 to 500 shells in two or three minutes, and even a third of the hits can wipe out all 120 Crusader tanks here!

This battle is so lost that it can't be lost again!

"Order the artillery group to bombard the enemy's front line fiercely, order the armored group and the infantry to start a counterattack, give me a hard blow! We must let these imperialists understand the power of the Soviet Red Army! ”

Chuikov has realized that he has achieved a great victory! However, he did not intend to accept it when he saw it, but decisively gave the order to counterattack. The offensive and defensive form on the battlefield suddenly reversed, and the Su-75 self-propelled guns, which had not yet completed the change of formation, immediately gave up the change of formation and launched a counterattack on the spot. The Soviet and Indian infantry, who were responsible for covering them, also charged. The panicked British and American infantry pressed towards their starting positions, but the three or four hundred artillery pieces of the Soviet and Indian armies opened fire desperately, creating a wall of fire in front of the starting positions of the British and American forces. The retreating British and American infantry were driven by the Su-75s into the sea of fire, either killed by piles of scattered shrapnel or killed by Soviet and Iranian tank and infantry fire, with at most a third of the lucky ones retreating to their own positions.

"Fire! Fire! Blockade the frontier! Seeing that the armored clusters of the Soviet-Indian forces were about to storm his front line, Stilwell could no longer care that some infantry did not retreat, and hurriedly ordered the artillery to open fire. At the same time, the reserves under the command of General Patton were ordered to hurry up and plug the gap.

At this moment, another unexpected disaster befell the Anglo-American coalition forces!

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