“…… In the next 10 years, until I was lying in my hospital bed waiting for God's call, I asked myself whether the catastrophe that occurred in the Middle East in 1935 could have been avoided -- if we had found the eight Indian armies lurking in the Hejaz Mountains, perhaps the lives of hundreds of thousands of young Americans would have been saved, perhaps the outcome of the Middle East battle would have been rewritten, and perhaps the United States would have become the most powerful country in the world and the leader of the 20th century! Obviously, this possibility existed, and at that time our eight divisions were passing from the foot of the Hejaz Mountains, which was only 20 kilometers at most from the area where the Indian Red Army was lurking, probably closer. If we had sent a reconnaissance unit into the mountains to search at that time, we would have certainly found hundreds of thousands of Indian Red Army troops in the mountains. However, the Chinese and the caliph did not allow us to do so, and a cavalry division they sent seized Medina on March 22, and deployed there to prevent our troops from entering the city. This is a serious provocation to the prestige of the United States and Britain, and if we do not immediately drive these despicable people out of that city, then our prestige in the Middle East will be lost. So the most important task before us at that time was to seize the ...... Medina" - the above excerpt from Lieutenant General Stilwell's memoir "The Wrong War".

To digress a bit, the later chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, George Brown. Admiral Patton, when he saw this passage from Stilwell's memoirs, said only one sentence: "I think he is the biggest mistake!" ”

……

"Damn! What a damn one! Why did you still let these Ms Lines take the lead? ”

On March 23, 1935, Stilwell couldn't help but curse when he heard his subordinates' report that the city of Medina had been occupied by the Caliphate, and he was still a little discouraged. The 8 divisions he commanded did not dare to delay for a moment. But in the end, he was one step slower than his opponent. As for what was in the mountains to the west of their march, no one had thought about it at all, not even Stilwell's deputy. None of the famous British generals in history, Montgomery, thought about this kind of problem.

"Lieutenant General, what should we do now? Would you like to ask the Middle East Theater Command? Montgomery asked after reading the report sent by the communications corps.

"Don't ask for advice yet," Stilwell thought to himself, for this kind of thing would not be easy to deal with when it was brought to the top, and what order could Sir Marcin Bent give? Attack the Caliphate? It seems that this is not something that the commander of the Middle East Theater can decide, and can only report upwards, so what can the British Prime Minister and the President of the United States do? He took a breath and said, "First send a representative to negotiate with the caliphate in Medina." Let them withdraw from the city of Medina. ”

"What if they don't agree?" Montgomery said: "Is it really going to attack the Caliphate? Shall we return to Tebuk first? The British general was notoriously cautious, he paused, then furrowed his brow and said, "Lieutenant General." I always had a bad premonition. ”

"What hunch?" Stilwell said to himself: "There is such a thing as a premonition in the world? How come I never had? ”

"We seem to be rejoicing too soon." Montgomery shook his head: "The battle in the Middle East has just begun, and it is still too early to defeat the Indian Red Army!" ”

"General Montgomery, what do you mean?" Stilwell knew that the skinny British general in front of him had fought in India for two years, and had fought against the Indian Red Army. And in the end, he tragically let India Ah San be defeated.

"The Red Army of India is not so weak." Montgomery thought for a moment. After a slight hesitation, he said: "And the commander of the Indian Red Army is the famous Soviet general Blyukhel, who is a very remarkable general, scheming, and rarely defeats battles. ”

"Do you think he's deliberately showing weakness to lure us into the bait?" Stilwell lifted his gold-rimmed glasses. "Major General, where do you think he will wait for us?"

"It should be near the Persian Gulf, where all the oil producing areas of the Middle East are concentrated, so we have to seize it, but our logistics base is in Egypt. It is almost 2000 kilometers to the Persian Gulf, and there are no good roads along the way. There were also no railways, and shipping was difficult to recover due to the destruction of the Suez Canal. ”

Stilwell understood what Montgomery meant, the Anglo-American Allied forces had more firepower but were less numerous than the Indian Red Army in the Middle East. If the firepower cannot keep up, it will inevitably fall into a predicament, and the strength of the firepower depends on the logistics line, and the 2,000-kilometer-long logistics line is definitely a trouble, especially if the British and American forces are in a hostile state with the Caliph, the leader of the gods of the Middle East.

"Okay, then try to avoid conflict, we will first surround Medina on three sides, and then give an ultimatum to the caliphate army in the city, if they still refuse to retreat, then hand over the problem and let London and Washington figure it out." Stilwell nodded, partially agreeing to Montgomery's request, but he also wanted to threaten the caliphate in Medina again.

……

"Can't retreat! Sue Ma Zhongying to stick to Medina! ”

After receiving the news that the British and American troops were surrounding Medina and asked Ma Zhong's British troops to retreat, Lin Zuo categorically refused without thinking about it. It's not because he wants to make things bigger, but because Nanjing has come with instructions. Order him not to show weakness to Britain and the United States, and if necessary, he can choose a war! He also told him that Britain and the United States would not fight with the Caliphate until they had settled the Indian Red Army in the Middle East.

"Chief, do you really want to fight? In case Yingmei is ruthless, I am afraid that one of Zhongying's divisions will suffer. Ma Bufang, who had just arrived at the port of Jeddah with his troops, persuaded, and then said worriedly: "Now that the British troops in Egypt and North Africa are also approaching step by step, the caliph is very worried and wants to ask Nanking to intervene." ”

"There is not much danger in Port Sudan, Ma Zijing still has 4 armies in his hands, and there are strong defensive positions to rely on, and there is Chen Shukang's fleet on the Red Sea (nominally the caliph's Red Sea fleet, in fact all the officers and men are Chinese)." Speaking of this, Lin Zuoda paused, thought for a while, and said, "Zijing, how much time do you have for your armored cavalry division to go ashore?" ”

"They were all disembarked two hours ago." Ma Bufang asked rhetorically: "Commander, do you mean to let the armored cavalry division support Ma Zhongying?" ”

Lin Zuoda nodded: "That's right." Go and show it to Eimi! ”

The 1st Armored Cavalry Division of the Caliphate Army, of which Ma Bufang was the commander, had three armored regiments and two divisional self-propelled artillery battalions, with a total of 285 tanks and self-propelled guns. However, instead of a Stalker, it was equipped with a more mobile C-type tank, but with weak firepower and armor.

However, such an armored cavalry division is not something that 8 lightly armed infantry divisions can withstand, and there are many tall and strong religious buildings built during the Ottoman Empire in the religious holy city of Medina, as well as more than 10,000 former jihadists commanded by Ma Zhongying.

Ma Bufang was a little worried at first, but after careful consideration, he figured it out. Britain and the United States have made it clear that they want to take the caliphate's regime! Either now, or after the Middle East, a unified Arab empire would not be conducive to their colonial rule. Who let the Arabian desert be full of valuable oil! So you can't hide. It's better to put on a posture of a dead fish and a broken net for Britain and the United States to see! Maybe it can also stir up the great shape of Britain and the United States on the battlefield in the Middle East......

The 1st Armored Cavalry Division of the Caliphate Army is also a Jīng Rui, and more than 15,000 people in the division participated in the defense of Mecca in 1933 and fought against the Soviet Red Army. Of course, I don't have to worry about the American recruits of a few divisions. As for the British Sealers, they are synonymous with tofu scum here in the Middle East, and no one will take them seriously. Now with the order, the armored cavalry division, which had been gearing up for a long time, immediately mobilized the whole division, and it took more than an hour for the whole division to assemble, and more than 280 tanks, self-propelled guns, and more than 800 trucks and armored vehicles full of soldiers sped towards Medina.

At this time, there were already many reporters from Western countries in the port of Jeddah, mainly from Germany and Italy, but there must have been British and American intelligence officers mixed in. The port of Jeddah has been ruled by the Hejaz GCD for many years, and naturally there are many underground workers lurking. That's why the caliphate's armored cavalry division was dispatched. Baghdad and Alexandria, as well as Haifa, all three got the news.

When the news reached Haifa, Marshall was in his headquarters overwhelmed by the long-term inability to capture Damascus and Amman. Not so much because of Mr. Marshall's poor patience, but because his British allies seemed to be on the verge of taking the lead in this "race" for the oil fields of the Persian Gulf.

It turned out that the British did not make much effort to attack the Indian Red Army in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, and did not dismantle the armored division and put it into the battle like the Americans. In the end, they have been fighting on the battlefield of World War II for more than two years, although most of them are the beaten side, but being beaten is also a learning process, and if they are beaten more, they will naturally know how to beat people.

It seems that the Soviet Red Army's craft of large-depth assault operations has been secretly learned by the British. While the Americans were busy attacking the city, the 8th Army of the British Army, with 6 armored divisions and 10 motorized infantry divisions, had already moved to the Suvan Plain; British sappers in the Middle East theater also built a large airfield on the wasteland of the Suvan Plain; Hundreds of Gladiator fighters, Hurricanes, and Blenheim bombers have been deployed; Tens of thousands of trucks are busy on the road between the Suez Canal and the Suvarn Plain, thousands of tons of supplies are being transported every day to the warehouses of the 3rd Middle East Military Station on the Suvarn Plain, and the British have even laid a temporary oil pipeline from Port Said (at the entrance to the Suez Canal) to the Suvan Plain!

Looking at the orderliness on the side of the British, and then looking at the chaotic deployment of his own here, Marshall finally knew that the British did not know how far ahead of the United States in the level of large-scale campaign organization. As a matter of fact, although the current US Army has formed 16 armored divisions and is equipped with 5,000 or 6,000 tanks of various types, their thinking and campaign organization methods are all at the level of World War I, and they are using the line combat mode of World War I to command the mechanized troops of World War II. Therefore, they only gave full play to the advantages of the powerful firepower of the US military, and did not give full play to their superiority in mobile warfare at all.

"Admiral, an armored division of the Caliphate has just left the port of Jeddah, probably to reinforce Medina." Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who replaced Stilwell as chief of staff of the US Eighth Army, handed the telegram to Marshall, his tone full of concern.

"An armored division!" Patton, who had become the commander of the bare-bones division because his armored division had been dismantled and used for siege of the city, hurriedly asked, "Do you have any exact information about this armored division?" ”

Eisenhower thought for a moment and said: "It seems to be organized according to the standards of the armored cavalry division of the Chinese National Defense Forces, with 3 armored regiments. Each armored regiment consisted of 1 armored battalion, 1 panzergrenadier battalion, 1 self-propelled artillery battalion. Theoretically, the division should have 195 Type C tanks and 90 Type C self-propelled guns. ”

"Admiral, let Lieutenant General Stilwell withdraw to Tabuk and stand by." As soon as Patton heard about the formation of this caliphate's armored division, he knew that Stilwell's eight divisions were no match. For more than two years, although he has not been on the battlefield. However, most of the battles that took place on the Sino-Soviet and Soviet-German battlefields with the participation of armored troops have been studied. Knowing that 8 lightly armed infantry divisions, in the absence of a solid anti-tank defensive position to rely on, could not stop the assault of 1 fully equipped armored division in any case, not to mention that there was also a Jīng sharp cavalry division in the city of Medina.

Marshall was stunned for a moment, then immediately shook his head: "George, you can't let Stilwell withdraw, it's not just a military issue. It is also a matter of politics. If we retreat, the caliphate's prestige throughout the Middle East will be even greater. ”

"What if you don't back down?" Patton said disapprehantly: "Did we let us and the 8 divisions of the British be defeated by the armored division of the caliphate?" ”

"No, the caliph doesn't dare!" Marshall interrupted Barton with a wave of his hand. Then he said to Eisenhower: "Ike, call Lieutenant General Stilwell and ask him to temporarily relieve the siege of Medina and first build a defensive position north of Medina." Then report the situation in Medina to Washington. Let the State Department figure it out. ”

"But the Admiral. As a result, 8 of our divisions were pinned to Medina and could not move. Barton reminded.

"The most sharp troops of the caliph can't move either!" Marshall waved his hand impatiently and motioned for Eisenhower to immediately deliver the order. Then he looked at the huge map hanging on the wall of the headquarters, his brows furrowed, and now the British were ready to launch a large-depth armored assault, 16 divisions and more than 1,200 tanks were already in place, and they could strike Kuwait just when the logistics were ready. Moreover, the way from the Suwan Plain to Kuwait was an endless desert sand, and the Indian Red Army had no danger to defend at all, and their light infantry would certainly not be able to withstand the British armored forces...... It seems that they have found a shortcut into the Persian Gulf!

And now the US military is in an awkward position. It was to the north of the British army, even if it could capture Damascus in time. Then cross the Syrian desert into the Euphrates River valley, capture Baghdad, Basra, and pass through large densely populated towns along the way, where it is expected that there will be heavy forces of the Indian Red Army, and the American army will have to guard against the Soviet army in the direction of the Anatolian plateau and the Indian Red Army in the direction of Persia. It is equivalent to covering the flanks of the British, and at the same time taking on the main combat mission. It's a bit of a point for Americans to gnaw hard bones and let the British eat meat!

By this time, Eisenhower had returned to the war room with the order, and Marshall called both him and Barton to his side. "Ike, George, we're not going to Iraq for the time being, but we're going north along the Mediterranean Sea to the Turkish border, where we're building a defensive line."

Marshall's deployment stunned the two US major generals at the same time, which seemed to be completely contrary to the overall strategy of seizing the oil resources of the Middle East. Patton couldn't help but ask: "Admiral, will the British preemptively occupy the Great Burgan oil field in Kuwait first?" ”

"No, we don't fight Iraq, and they don't dare to fight in Kuwait because there is no one to cover their northern flank." Marshall said unequivocally: "If they dare to march alone, the Indian Red Army will teach them a lesson, after all, there are only 16 divisions with more than 200,000 troops, and the Indians in the Persian Gulf will not have less than 1 million troops!" ”

Eisenhower looked at the map for a while, and suddenly asked: "General, the Indian Red Army that we encountered with the British in Palestine, the Sinai Peninsula, Transjordan, and Syria may have only three or four army groups, that is, less than 300,000 men. If there are still 1 million in the Persian Gulf, where will the remaining 1.7 million be? ”

Barton had been thinking about it as well, and he looked at the map and said, "Ike, what do you mean...... Are they in the Anatolian highlands? Blyukhel is waiting for us to march eastward, and then rush down from the plateau and sweep across the Mediterranean coast to cut off our back road? He thought for a moment, then turned back to Marshall and said, "General, I think Ike's analysis is very reasonable, we seem to have forgotten that the Soviet Union and India are the main opponents for this time!" ”

Marshall pressed his temple, and Patton was right, there were too many messes during this period, and most of his mind was on the issue of grabbing territory with the British, so he didn't think much about the possible deployment of the Indian Red Army. Now after listening to the analysis of the two subordinates, I remember that the Indian Ah San has not been defeated. Blyukhel is a famous general of the Soviet army, and he has 3 million Indian Red Army and hundreds of thousands of revolutionary troops in the Middle East, no matter how you look at it, you should not be as passive defense as now, the biggest possibility is to deploy a trap for the US and British armies, wanting to eat the main forces of the United States and Britain in the Middle East in one bite! (To be continued......)