On 9 May, a large eastern army from the Qajar dynasty crossed the eastern border of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, hundreds of kilometers into uninhabited desert areas, and advanced to Baghdad on the western edge of the desert, where tanks and armoured vehicles rolled up the sand.

Four tanks side by side, a long line, the front is an armored personnel carrier, the back is a tank, the top of the armored car and the tank are full of soldiers, although it is only May, but the weather in the desert is very hot during the day, in order to block the hot sun, the soldiers on the top of the armored car and tank set up tents to block the sun, and because of the rapid movement of the tank and armored vehicle to the soldiers sitting on it bring a trace of cool breeze, very cool.

Most of the soldiers of the 54th Division followed the armored division on horseback, a few officers followed in off-road jeeps, and trucks and pack horses for carrying baggage followed.

On 12 May, the 201st Panzer Division and the 54th Infantry Division crossed the desert and arrived on the outskirts of Sadr City, northeast of Baghdad.

In the early morning, the local women and men who had come to the river to wash their clothes and the men who were fetching water were frightened when they saw so many huge monsters appearing on the riverside, and the men and women by the river were scattered in a panic, and their clothes, buckets and water bags were thrown all over the riverbank.

The river is not wide, only a few tens of meters, and the lower reaches of this small river connect the Tigris. Although the creek is not wide, its basin is wide.

The Ottoman defenders in Baghdad were soon reported. But when they arrived, they were subjected to head-on fire from the tank guns of the Panzer Division. Stunned on the spot, the army immediately broke up in the direction of Baghdad, and shortly after the withdrawal of the defenders of Baghdad, the pontoon bridge was built, because the armored vehicles and tanks were too heavy, this pontoon bridge could only pass people and livestock, and artillery could also cross, so the panzer division was stranded on the east side of the creek, and the large force of the 54th Division quickly launched an attack in the direction of Baghdad through the pontoon bridge.

Three o'clock in the afternoon. At 3:30, the infantry of the 54th Division launched an attack, and several Ottoman troops who had suffered heavy casualties from the shelling could not withstand the attack and retreated into the city of Baghdad, and the first part of the 54th Division immediately followed and attacked the city.

From the afternoon of the same day until about ten o'clock in the morning of the 13th, a major battle broke out between the two sides in the city, during which the 54th Division dispersed its ranks. The Ottoman Turks, who were the opponents of the well-trained and well-armed 54th Division, lost most of the city of Baghdad overnight, and the remaining defenders of more than 1,000 people retreated in the direction of Taji to the north at about 10 o'clock on the morning of the 13th. The 54th Division sent a company to pursue and monitor.

Straddling the banks of the Tigris River and just over 30 kilometers from the Euphrates, Baghdad is a historical and cultural city in the Islamic world. Iraqis basically live along the banks of these two rivers.

After a day's rest in Baghdad, the 54th Division. Leaving one regiment and one battalion to garrison Baghdad, the division commander Feng Yushen led most of his men and horses along the Tigris River to the southeast. Flanking the Ottoman army on the southeastern border with the 29th Division.

On May 17, after five days of emergency repairs. The engineering units of the two divisions borrowed a large amount of material from the city of Baghdad to build a bridge over each of the two major rivers and one of the smaller rivers, barely enough for tanks and armoured vehicles.

The 201st Panzer Division and a regiment of the 54th Division quickly advanced westward after passing through two large rivers and carrying sufficient supplies and ammunition, leaving one battalion to garrison Baghdad, while the 54th Division mostly attacked rapidly southeast under the leadership of Feng Yushen.

Before the Ottoman Turkish army in the south could react, the two Ottoman cavalry divisions of Kutjmara were routed, and in terms of cavalry tactics, the Ottoman army was much stronger than the Chinese army, but the Chinese army had a large number of machine guns, and in modern warfare, heavy machine guns and light machine guns happened to be the nemesis of large-scale cavalry.

Although the 54th Division is also cavalry, Feng Yushen is unwilling to use cavalry tactics to face the Ottoman army, he deployed a large number of heavy machine guns and light machine guns in front of the troops, when the Ottoman army rushed up to carry out all-round coverage strafing, a large number of cavalry fell off their horses, and in the open space in front of the 54th Division's position, there were countless corpses, and blood stained a large area of sand.

In just an hour's charge, the two cavalry divisions of the Ottoman Army, totaling more than 8,000 people, lost 6,000 people in this charge, and the remaining more than 2,000 cavalry were all scattered.

The capital, the presidential palace.

"President, the General Staff has sent a battle report from the First Army of the Expeditionary Force!" The secretary reported to Xiao Zhenlei.

"Read!" Xiao Zhen raised his left hand, holding the pen in his right hand and writing something on the text all the time.

"Yes!" The secretary opened the text and read: "Our army's 201st Armored Division and the 54th Cavalry Division broke through the Great Desert to conquer Baghdad five days ago, after the 54th Division left a regiment and a battalion, the division commander Feng Yushen led most of the troops south to attack the two Ottoman Turkish cavalry divisions in Kutjmara, eliminating more than 6,000 people, and the remnants of the second division of more than 2,000 people were scattered, the 54th Division is continuing to move south along the southeast direction a few days ago, and a regiment of the 29th Division has captured Nasiriyah a few days ago, and the two troops are expected to meet within two days. Most of the 29th Division has moved south into the Arabian Peninsula."

"At 9 o'clock yesterday morning, the engineering units of our army have completed the construction of bridges on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers respectively, and at 13 o'clock in the afternoon, the 201st Armored Division and the 1st Regiment of the 54th Division have set off from Baghdad to the west, and it is expected to arrive in Rutbay tomorrow morning!"

At 10 o'clock this morning, the 57th Division of our 19th Army, the 75th Division of the 25th Army, the 87th Division of the 29th Army, and the **114th Division have launched fierce attacks on the Ottoman troops in the border areas of Jerula, Mehran, Amara, and Mandeli. The rest of the forces are now advancing at full speed towards Baghdad, and the 55th Cavalry Division of the 18th Army has arrived in Baghdad, and after a day's rest, it will follow the pace of the 201st Panzer Division and support the 201st Panzer Division, completed".

Xiao Zhenlei stopped after listening, he put down his pen and lit a cigarette, and after thinking for a few minutes, he said: "Call the General Staff and order Wu Shiyou, let the follow-up troops advance at full speed, and wait until they arrive in Baghdad to rest and recuperate, now it is necessary to provide the largest and fastest support to the 201st Armored Division, let him give the 55th Cavalry Division a death order, and the distance between the 201st Armored Division and the 201st Armored Division cannot exceed a day's journey!" ”

"Yes, President!"

Xiao Zhenlei thought of the naval fleet again, if the army could not support in time because it could not keep up with the pace of the armored division, then it would have to rely on naval aviation, so he asked: "Where has the naval fleet led by Shen Shoukun arrived?" ”

Secretary Xiao Gao flipped through the folder of the text, looked up and said, "The war report sent by the General Staff two hours ago shows that the naval fleet led by General Shen has arrived at the Sultan section of the Red Sea!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei frowned and said: "According to the marching speed of the armored division, you can enter the Jordan area within two days, and then the 200,000 troops deployed by Ottoman Turkey in Israel to defend the military forces of the Entente in North Africa will get the news, at that time, if they don't want to be attacked by the enemy, they must divide their forces to attack the 201st Armored Division and destroy it, and the 201st Armored Division has only one infantry regiment to protect, and the number of troops is too small, so immediately give Shen Shoukun an order to order his fleet to speed up and cross the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea within three days." , aircraft carrier naval aviation is ready to support the 201 Panzer Division at any time! ”

"Yes, President!"

?????? Western Iraq.

It was already mid-May, and in this vast desert, the weather was much hotter than before, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees for seven or eight hours during the day, and the highest temperature reached 50 degrees, and the engines of tanks and armored vehicles were heating engines, and the armored divisions could not march during the day at all, but could only march in the morning and evening hours and at night.

"Company commander, you said that this ghost place is really evil, the temperature is so high during the day that it almost roasts people dry, and at night it is so cold that it is terrible, I wipe it, this ghost place is really not a place for people to stay!" Li Xiaobei, the tank driver, complained to the company commander sitting next to him while driving the tank.

Company commander Bao Datou smiled: "You say this is a ghost place, but the people here have fought for thousands of years for this ghost place, the land, no one will ever dislike it is barren or rich, we are here for the first time, we are not familiar with the road, thanks to finding some guides, otherwise it is basically impossible to accurately find the oasis and the city in the desert in this vast desert!" ”

At this time, the tank stopped, and the lookout saw a platoon-level officer standing under the light in front of the tank, and an off-road jeep parked next to it. ”

Na Lei platoon commander said: "Company commander, the guide said that we will enter the Jordan area after walking about ten kilometers, do we want to continue to advance?" ”

This decision is not the master, he immediately said: "Maintain the current marching speed, send people to go ten miles forward to reconnoiter the situation, and wait for orders!" ”

"Understood!"

Bao Datou immediately reported the situation to the above through the wireless intercom in the tank, and the armored division headquarters quickly conveyed the order to advance at full speed, and asked the reconnaissance troops to carry wireless communication equipment to go 10 kilometers forward to reconnoitre, and quickly report the situation. (To be continued......)