"These British and Americans, I really don't know if they have the string of war in their heads, and more than a million troops are just like this and scattered on the shores of the Mediterranean, without even a single order, and send eight divisions to Medina! Are these guys going to war? Tukhachevsky threw the telegram on the table, laughing and crying on his face. High-speed updates //

The train's whistle roared twice, and Tukhachevsky's carriage was attached to the end of a train carrying munitions, and he had gone to Baghdad as a representative of the Red Army High Command to supervise the war. However, he did not fly on the TB-3 transport plane, because this plane had several air crashes in February '35 and killed several Red Army generals, so it was temporarily grounded under Trotsky's instructions. So Tukhachevsky had to take the train all the way from Moscow to Baghdad.

By the way, in the more than two years since the Soviet Union liberated the Middle East, the Soviets still engaged in some construction. Railways connecting Baghdad, Basra, Kuwait and Tehran were built, the Great Burgan oil field was expanded, an oil refinery was built in Kuwait City, and Kuwait Port was built at great expense. Of course, the role of this port is not only to export oil, in the planning of the Red Army High Command, this will be the station of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Japanese Red Navy!

It's a pity that the Japanese Red Navy refused to send the main force to the Indian Ocean, otherwise this Middle East battle would have been much easier to fight. The General Staff of the Red Army led by Tukhachevsky had drawn up several plans for counteroffensive by land and sea, and even planned to spread the flame of world revolution on the African continent.

Now the Japanese are unwilling to send a navy, so these plans for joint operations on land and sea will not work. At the same time, Blyukhel's plan to lure the enemy deep into the country and shut down the door and beat the dogs also encountered some minor setbacks -- Comrade Blyukhel obviously overestimated the military qualities of the British and American commanders! Although the military deployment has been put into the water, the progress of the Anglo-American allies is still much slower than Blyukhel had predicted.

To tell the truth, the performance of the Anglo-American allies in this Middle East battle was so disappointing that Tukhachevsky, as an opponent, was a little unsightly, how could the commander of the 150,000 or 600,000-strong army be amateur to such a deed?

If the military commanders of China and Germany had been so amateurish, the world revolution would have been victorious long ago!

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff," Pavlov hurriedly walked in. He was demoted after the defeat of the Nizhne-Uginsk counterattack and now holds the post of chief of training of the General Staff of the Red Army, an assistant to Tukhachevsky. "Comrade Blyukher called that an armored division of the Caliphate had left the port of Jeddah for Medina and was expected to arrive in three days. In addition, eight divisions of the Anglo-American Allied forces, which surrounded Medina on three sides, also retreated 10 kilometers and set up camp. ”

"So there are 10 enemy divisions in Medina?" Tukhachevsky walked to the front of the map, his face slightly solemn. The eight armies under the command of Ubolevich were located in the mountains less than 100 kilometers from Medina. Their target was Aqaba at the southern tip of the Arabian Valley, and after capturing Aqaba, they would go around to the west of the Arabian Valley, sweeping across the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine, cutting off the Anglo-American allies. But now there are 10 enemy divisions, including 1 panzer division, in the vicinity of the Ubolevich cluster, and if the Ubolevich group starts attacking Aqaba, they are likely to chase Ubolevich's ass and fight. If it's 8 infantry divisions, it's nothing. But if you add an armored division, I'm afraid it will be a bit of trouble.

"Did Comrade Blyukhel propose any countermeasures?" Tukhachevsky asked.

"Nope." Pavlov paused slightly, and said: "I have two ways, one is to let Comrade Ubolevich move in advance, and attack while the Caliphate Panzer Division has not yet arrived in Medina, and the front line deployment of the British and American allies is somewhat chaotic; The second was to have the Belov cluster, which was lurking in the Buraidah oasis group, send a cavalry army to attract the attention of the Anglo-American allies and lead them to the Najd plateau. ”

Tukhachevsky thought for a moment. I think Pavlov's two methods are good, and they can be used together. It seems that his right-hand man is the material of a chief of staff, and he should not be placed in the position of commander of the army.

"Go and call Blyukhel, build a cluster to expose Belov, attract the attention of the Anglo-American allies, and at the same time build a cluster of Ubolevich to prepare for an early attack." Tukhachevsky tract.

"Expose the Belov cluster? Is there too much movement? Pavlov was stunned and asked rhetorically.

"The movement should be bigger, otherwise it won't have the effect of luring the enemy!"

……

"Comrade Commander. Comrade Tukhachevsky advised us to expose the Belov cluster, and at the same time prepare the Ubolevich cluster for early action. Berzin handed over the telegram he had just received to Blyukhel and reminded: "Comrade Tukhachevsky is now a representative of the High Command, but he does not have military command. ”

"But his building is good, isn't it?" Blyukhel took the telegram from Berzin and glanced at it: "Although the deployment of the Anglo-American allies is now chaotic, their main forces are crowded near the Mediterranean. It is not conducive to our annihilation, if we can lead their main forces to the Nedev desert, Comrade Ubolevich will have a chance to copy their back path! ”

"Using Comrade Belov's 8 army groups as bait?"

"That's right, just use 8 armies. In this way, the decoy is big enough, hoping to attract all 10 armored divisions of Britain and the United States! ”

Blyukhel pondered for a moment and instructed Berzin: "Farewell to Comrade Love, the plan has changed, and he is ordered to command the whole army to leave the Buraidah oasis group and advance in the direction of Medina, with the goal of encircling and annihilating the enemy forces around Medina." ”

"Inform Comrade Yakir that the 10th Army of the Indian Red Army in Homs, the 11th Army of the Indian Red Army in Deir Zuer, the 12th Army of the Indian Red Army in Aleppo, and the 13th Army of the Indian Red Army in Tibni are now under the unified command of the Yakir cluster, and it is necessary to contain the main force of the US forces in front of them until the end of March."

"Inform Comrade Ubolevich that the troops will concentrate on Bayra, Ainunnay, Sola and other places by day and night, and be ready to launch an attack on the Gulf of Aqaba at any time, and at the same time be ready to build a pontoon bridge in the Gulf of Aqaba."

Listening to Blyukhel's latest deployment, Berzin frowned slightly, the Indian Red Army in the Middle East has a total of 33 group armies, and there are also 5 group armies of the Persian People's Army, which have strong combat effectiveness. With only 23 of these armies now in force and less than 2 million troops in total, Blyukhel seems too weak to deal with more than 1 million Anglo-American Allied forces. He couldn't help but ask: "Comrade commander, are we going to send the four armies of the Baghdad cluster, the Kuwait cluster and the Turkish Front?" ”

"There's no need. It's too late to make adjustments. Blyukhel smiled contemptuously: "The results of the engagement since March show that we have overestimated the combat effectiveness of the Anglo-American allies!" ”

"But there are still two more of the Caliphate's armies in the port of Jeddah, and at least two more armies waiting to be shipped in Port Sudan."

Blyukhel sneered: "Caliphate? Hehe, Comrade Berzin, do you think they will do the Anglo-Americans a favor at a critical moment? ”

……

The intelligence of the sudden large-scale mobilization of the Indian Middle East Front flew like snowflakes, and the air in the Anglo-American Middle East theater suddenly became tense. The Red Army in India moved faster than the British and American commanders had anticipated. And as soon as the movement is the north and south acting together, the whole battle situation suddenly becomes extremely weird.

"Did General Lin Zuo call back? Did they agree or not to allow Stilwell's 8 divisions to enter Medina for defense? Sir Macint asked the same question again. Just a few days ago, the Anglo-American allies were secretly planning to destroy the caliphate's regime after the victory in the Middle East battle, but now they have to ask the chief of the general staff of the caliphate's army, Lin Zuoda, for help!

The innumerable number of Indian Ahsan suddenly rushed down from the Najd plateau and was rapidly rushing towards Medina! Stilwell's 8 lightly armed divisions will definitely not be able to resist, that's an army of 100,000! If you take a bite and let the Indian Ah San eat it. Both Sir Matsin and Marshall must have had to retire early and go home with their children.

Lieutenant General Alexander, Chief of Staff of the Middle East Theater of Operations, shook his head: "No, General Lin did not reply. ”

Masin frowned: "Then go and put pressure on the caliph to give orders to that Chinese!" ”

Lieutenant General Alexander hurriedly turned around and went to call the British Governor's Palace in Khartoum. Britain does not recognize the Arab Empire of the Caliphate, so there are no British diplomats officially stationed in Port Sudan, only officials sent by the British Sultan Governor in Khartoum have opened a small office in Port Sudan. I really don't know, how did that low-ranking director of the colonial office go to put pressure on the monarch of the Arab Empire?

As soon as Alexander went out on the front foot, Major General Slim, the chief of staff of the British 8th Army, hurried in. He gave a military salute and then handed a stack of pieces to Sir Massint: "Lieutenant General Wavell sent me to submit a battle plan to Your Excellency, and Lieutenant General Jian Yì assigned all the 4 armored divisions of the US Army to the 8th Army to form a powerful assault group and go south to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Indian army......"

Sir Masimt took the piece from Major General Slim's hand, flipped through a few pages, and asked, "Does the 8th Army now have enough fuel for so many armoured divisions?" It's more than 600 kilometers from the Suwan Plain to Medina! ”

"No problem, we've stockpiled 3 million gallons of gasoline at our military station in the Suwan Plains." "Lieutenant General believes that the key to the success of the campaign is that Lieutenant General Stilwell must hold on to Medina for more than a week. Now there is a cavalry division of the Caliphate in the city of Medina, and an armored division of the Caliphate is coming, if you add Stilwell's 8 divisions. With a total strength of more than 130,000 troops, more than 200 tanks and hundreds of artillery pieces, it should be enough to hold out. ”

It seems that I have to ask the Chinese and Msling for help! Sir Macinte's brow tightened. At this time, Lieutenant General Alexander walked in from the door with a smile, and a telegram was still in his hand: "Sir, a telegram from the Imperial General Staff in London, the Allied General Headquarters in Berlin has agreed to settle the dispute over Medina." The representative of Commander-in-Chief Ludendorff, Lieutenant General Rommel, is now in the port of Jeddah. ”

"That's great!" Sir Massint knew that the Chinese could ignore the pressure of Britain and the United States, but they could not ignore Germany as well, otherwise they would isolate themselves. That Chinese prime minister would never make such a mistake and confront the whole white world!

"Harold," Sir Macint handed the piece to Lieutenant General Alexander, "this is a battle plan submitted by Lieutenant General Wavell, and he wants to concentrate 10 armored divisions of Britain and the United States to crush the Indians who have emerged from the Najd plateau, what do you think?" ”

……

Kingdom of Hejaz, Port of Jeddah.

The old-fashioned battlecruiser "Northern Xinjiang" was leaning against the dock, the gangway had been lowered, and the neat caliphate officers and men were silently disembarking in formation. The battlecruiser, which was still fueled by coal, now served as a makeshift ferry, plying between Port Sudan and Jeddah, carrying half a regiment of infantry and all the equipment to the Arabian Peninsula at a time. In addition, the mechanical crane provided by the "Northern Xinjiang" (for transporting coal and artillery shells) is also the best tool for unloading heavy equipment; some time ago, the "Northern Xinjiang" and "Southern Xinjiang" ships also temporarily served as "tank landing ships" and transported more than 200 tanks and self-propelled guns from Port Sudan.

The officers and men of the caliphate, who had disembarked, were forming a formation on the docks. Lin Zuoda and Lommel from afar were standing side by side on the balcony of a European-style building next to the pier, looking at these caliphate officers and soldiers wearing red hats and dressed a bit like the Ottoman Army.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant General, Commander Ma is calling. The Guards Cavalry Division had all withdrawn from Medina. "Second Lieutenant Li Zuopeng, a communications staff officer of the General Staff of the Caliphate Army and a graduate of the 12th phase of the Central Military Academy, came over with the telegram he had just received.

Since Lommel was here, Li Zuopeng reported to Lin Zuoda in German, and the foreign language he majored in the Central Military Academy was German for a long time, and Li Zuopeng, who was a top student of the Military Academy, was very fluent in German. Lommel said "oh" and turned his head to look at Lin Zuo: "General Lin, your Guards Cavalry Division has retreated from Medina?" And what about the Panzer Division? Has it also withdrawn to the port of Jeddah? ”

"Yes. It's all been withdrawn. Lin Zuo nodded. Of course, he would not tell Sù Longmeier that the armored cavalry division under the command of Ma Bufang had not left the port of Jeddah far, and on the second day of their mighty departure, he himself ordered them to stop advancing and stand by.

"That is, the British and Americans had to deal with the siege of the innumerable Indian Red Army with 8 infantry divisions that did not carry many heavy weapons?" Lommel shook his head, his face full of incredulity.

Lin Zuoda didn't feel that his deployment was too wrong, and raised his eyebrows and explained: "Actually, I don't think Stilwell's 8 divisions have much risk. Blyukhel's target is not them, they are decoys and are very safe until the real target is eliminated. ”

"The real goal? Is it a siege to send reinforcements? Lommel frowned and said, "Britain and the United States are estimated to send an armored cluster to relieve Stilwell, do you think this armored cluster is the target of Blyukhel?" ”

"Maybe bigger!"

"Bigger?!" Rommel took a breath: "General Lin, what do you mean...... Blyukhel wanted to swallow the Anglo-American allies of the entire Middle East in one gulp! That's a million or hundreds of thousands of people! ”

Lin Zuoda shook his head slightly: "It can't be said to be swallowed in one bite, I don't think the Indian Red Army has such an attack power, and they can't destroy the more than one million well-equipped Anglo-American allied troops." His real purpose may be...... Consume the lives of the British and Americans with Indians! ”

"Consume lives? General Lin, you're not kidding, are you? Rommel was a little confused. Although fighting a war is to kill people, killing people is not the root purpose of war, after all, killing a thousand enemies will cause you to lose eight hundred!

"I'm not kidding, that's how Blyukhel fought when he was in India!" Lin Zuoda's tone was unusually solemn: "I think what he has never pursued is to win a battle or a battle, he just wants to use cheap equipment and inferior Indian Red Army to consume our lives!" Even if he traded 3 or even 5 Indians for 1 enemy's life, he would fight ...... Every battle we fought in India was tactically victorious, the Indians suffered several times more casualties than us, but in the end we couldn't afford to admit defeat! ”

"But...... Isn't China the most populous country in the world? Lommel asked rhetorically.

"yes. We have the largest population," Lin Zuo said with a wry smile, "but our prime minister needs votes, and our voters will not support millions or even tens of millions of casualties in exchange for India, although they are more willing to suffer casualties than British and American voters." But the cost of seizing India is still more than they can afford psychologically, so we lost India. ”

Lommel seemed to understand, and now his face turned ugly: "General Lin, do you think that Blyukhel will still use the same tactics in the Middle East?" ”

"Yes," Lin Zuoda nodded: "General Lommel, I know that you will be the future commander of the German Army in the Middle East, can you tell me how many German lives President Hitler is prepared to pay for the Middle East, and how many troops are the Wehrmacht ready to invest in the Middle East?" ”

Rommel frowned slightly, Lin Zuoda's question was a little sensitive, involving German military secrets. I can't answer it myself. And he himself did not know how many troops Hitler was going to send to the Middle East. However, just look at the rank of lieutenant general on his shoulder, the number of the German Middle East Corps will not be too much, and it is estimated that between the army and the group army, it may be around 100,000! In Hitler's calculations, European Jews were the main providers of cannon fodder, but how many of them could they produce? If you don't count the Jews of the Soviet Union, the total number of Jews in Europe is only 6, 7 million. The Jews in the territory of the Greater German Confederation are now in German possession, at most 5 million, and the Jews on the territory of the former Poland have been mobilized by the Polish GCD, and most of the Jews in Germany (including the Czech Republic and Austria) who are suitable for serving as soldiers have also worn Wehrmacht uniforms. Although Hitler had asked the Wehrmacht to mobilize these Jews into the Jewish Legion, the officers below were not enthusiastic about it. Up to now. The total strength of the Jewish Legion does not seem to exceed 200,000, so that the commander of the Middle Eastern Legion can command 300,000 troops at most...... Before coming to the Middle East, I didn't think that 300,000 people was too little, but seeing the scale of British and American troops and the combat effectiveness of India's Asan, I am afraid that these 300,000 people will not be able to defeat the Middle East, right? When I returned to Berlin, I must ask Hitler to send more people.

Seeing that Lommel didn't speak, Lin Zuo sighed. He smiled bitterly: "There is oil in the Middle East, so our people must be willing to pay a little more, even if a million people die, there is no problem." However, the Middle East is far away from China's dirt routes, and the South Sea-Indian Ocean route is threatened by the Japanese Navy and Soviet submarines, and the strength of China's Navy is also limited, and it is impossible to maintain a logistics and transportation line for millions of Wehrmacht forces to fight in the Middle East. So we won't send too many troops to the Middle East, maybe only a few hundred thousand! "He was telling the truth, and he was planning. After the defeat of the British and American forces in the Middle East, the Chinese defense forces will send troops again, but only one army group.

Lin Zuoda accentuated his tone: "General Rommell, since the main enemy of the Soviet Union has not yet been defeated by us, the forces that our two countries can send to the Middle East are limited, and they are definitely not enough to defeat the millions of Indian Red Army troops in the Middle East. So I think the only way for us to defeat the Indian Red Army in the Middle East is to use the Arabs. After all, they are the main ethnic group in the Middle East, and there are tens of millions of them, and it is not difficult to mobilize two or three million troops. ”

"Two or three million Arab troops?" Rommel was surprised to hear the number. "General Lin, don't you have no way to maintain the logistics supply of millions of squadrons? Could it be that two or three million Arab troops would require less logistics than a million squadrons? ”

Lin Zuoda paused slightly. Looking at Rommel with burning eyes: "General Rommel, I think you should already know by now how difficult the future Middle East campaign will be. Our opponents are very, very strong, and they don't care about casualties...... This can be found in the war against the Soviet Union. You must know that the Soviet Union had no more than 1.5 billion people, while India had 3.5 billion! So we have to unite a force that can be united, such as the Arabs, and as for providing them with weapons and ammunition or something, that's not a problem. Because the Arabs have wealth, and there is oil under their land, although this oil has not yet been developed, but as long as we win, this oil will sooner or later become a rolling source of wealth. So we don't have to worry about not being able to get paid for the weapons that are now being supplied to the Arabs, don't you think? ”

Longmel was stunned for a moment and looked at Lin Zuodao: "General Lin, you said we?" May I understand that you intend to let the Arabs buy weapons from Germany in order to arm themselves? ”

Lin Zuo shrugged his shoulders: "General Longmeer, do you think this is bad?" Let the Arabs buy weapons at their own expense to help us fight the war, and all we have to pay is to ship first and then collect money. (To be continued.) If you like this work, () vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. For mobile phone users, please go to M to read.