“…… The Middle East battlefield in April 1935 was different from the Middle East battle battlefield shown in various research reports and research materials today. Because we did not know the deployment of the Indian Red Army at that time, everything about the enemy seemed to be shrouded in fog, and we could only glimpse the vague outline, but not all the details. This is the real battlefield, and there is no way to see your opponent's cards, and sometimes you can't even know your allies, including the British......

So at that time, none of us knew that Blyukhel had a heavy army lurking in the northern foothills of the Hejaz. We can only judge based on the situation on the battlefield at that time, and this judgment is that we are likely to win! For while the enemy is encircling Medina, their main forces are actually pinned down by us. As long as we can hold Medina, the armored cluster under the command of Lieutenant General Wavell will tear them to pieces, and the final victory will be ours. At that moment, the British and American forces in the entire Middle East theater of operations were fighting for the same goal, and we almost succeeded. - The above is an excerpt from Lieutenant General Stilwell's memoir "The Wrong War".

While Lieutenant General Stilwell and his eight divisions were fighting for victory, Lieutenant General Wavell was battling the poor state of the roads in the Hejaz Kingdom. This road from Amman to Medina was built in the glorious era of the Ottoman Empire, and was used by the Ottoman Sultan when he went to Medina and Mecca to worship the gods, and I don't know how old it is hundreds of years, and it may not have been maintained after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, so the road condition is naturally not ideal. However, it was not so bad that it was impassable, anyway, an American armored group under the command of Major General Patton had been unimpeded all the way, and had broken through several lines of Indian Red Army defense one after another. But the British army behind Patton crawled slower than a tortoise.

"William! How far is it from Tabuk now? When can I arrive? "Lieutenant General Wavell sat in an American-made military jeep. While whispering to Slim, the chief of staff sitting next to him, he took a cup of milky milk tea and drank it in small sips. Unlike the armored forces of China, the United States and Germany, the British armored forces now use more delicate tanks, so they have no way to travel long distances on their own tracks, so they can only be dragged by flatbed trucks. If in Western Europe where the road conditions are good. There's nothing wrong with that. But in the Middle East, especially in the Hejaz Kingdom, which is also a poor mountainous area in the Middle East, the off-road performance of flatbed trucks is very tested. Every now and then, a truck gets stuck in a pothole and can't move, or a car engine breaks down because it has absorbed too much dust. As a result, the road was blocked, and the whole army had to stop and have a leisurely cup of afternoon tea while patiently waiting for the front to be dispatched.

"Mr. Lieutenant General," after looking at the map, Major General Slim, who was sitting next to him, immediately spoke: "Our vanguard, the U.S. 2nd and 4th Armored Divisions under the command of Major General Patton, are less than 10 kilometers away from our first target, Tabuk. A fierce battle was underway with the Indian army defending the perimeter of Tabuk. It is estimated that it can break through to the city of Tabuk before the early hours of tomorrow morning. ”

"Well, did Patton find out the other side's forces and deployments? How many people are there? What about armament? Wavell asked as he gently turned the milk tea cup in his hand and deliberated.

According to General Patton's report, the Indian troops there were probably units of the 10th Army of the Indian Red Army, estimated to be about 15,000 men, and not very well equipped. However, he fought tenaciously and belonged to the Belov cluster. ”

"Belov?" Hearing this name, Wavell's brows furrowed: "Is it Ivan Panfilovich Belov?" ”

Slim looked at the report in his hand and replied: "This is this Belov, he is the commander of the first army group of the Soviet Red Army, who once defeated ...... in India"

"Beat me once!" Wavell drank the milk tea in his cup in one gulp. "He was the number one general under Blyukhel, and he defeated all the British generals who fought in India! Sue Sù Barton, this Belov is particularly good at night fighting. It's going to get dark soon, so let him be careful, if you're not sure, don't attack at night, you can guard first. ”

At the time of Wavell's telegram, Patton was observing the enemy on a hill close to the Indian defensive position. The Indian defense line in front of him was very thin, with no anti-tank trenches, no anti-tank strongholds, not even barbed wire, deer barricades, and possibly no mines. There were only a few hastily dug trenches and communication trenches, and probably a few thousand Indian cannon fodder holding anti-tank grenade launchers, Mosin Nagant rifles, Maxim machine guns, grenades and Trotsky cocktail bottles (Molotov cocktails). In addition, up to 12 field guns are providing fire support for them. Such a line of defense Barton broke through at least four in those two days. Naturally, I knew that I couldn't stop the tracks of the American armored forces. So he ignored Wavell's warnings and decisively gave the order to launch a surprise attack at 8 o'clock in the evening.

And his opponent tonight, Khrulev, commander of the 10th Army of the Indian Red Army, also knew that he could not hold it. In the past two days of fighting, his army group had lost more than 20,000 men under the combined strangulation of American aircraft, artillery and tanks, but his superior, Commander Belov, ordered him to continue to fortify the road from Amman to Medina, and to delay the use of British and American mechanized troops at any cost.

Of course, it must be the Indian Ah San who pays this price at any cost!

"Comrade Desai." Khrulev called Lardse, the political commissar of the 10th Army, to his side. The system of the Indian Red Army was based on that of the Soviet Red Army, and theoretically the commissar was the supreme commander of the troops, the one who made the final decision on the military level. However, in front of the internationalist fighters sent by the Soviet Union, Comrade Desai appeared to be as obedient as a schoolboy.

"Comrade Commander. What do you have to command? "Desai has just returned from the front line to the army group headquarters in the city of Tabuk, and he has gone to mobilize the 110th Division on the front.

"How is the love of comrades?" Khrulev asked.

"Very good, the morale of the comrades is very high, and they all express their willingness to shed their blood for the defense of the Soviet Union and the defense of the Middle East!" Desai then said: "Comrade commander, the supervision team composed of political workers and security cadres has also been put in place, please rest assured, the casualty rate of the 110th Division is less than 7 percent, and it will not retreat!" ”

Khrulev smiled slightly, he was very satisfied with this assurance: "Comrade Desai, please give orders, the 110th Division will be replenished soon after this battle." Recruits have already left India and will be with us within a month. Moreover, all the formations below the 110th division, as long as there is one person left, will be retained! If there is only one person left in a company, this person is the company commander! If there is only one person left in a battalion, this person is the battalion commander! And so on, even if the 110th Division fights the last man left. This person is the teacher! ”

"Okay, I know, I'll go and convey it to my comrades." Desai nodded, turned around and went to give orders to the troops. In fact, what Khrulev said had always been carried out within the Indian Red Army. Unlike the armies of China, the United States, Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Japan, the Indian Red Army did not have a complete and systematic system of officer education, and all cadres were promoted from among the soldiers. The advantage of this is that it is easier to fight fiercely, no matter who it is. As long as you dare to fight and fight and are lucky enough, you may be promoted, so the morale of the Indian Red Army has always been relatively easy to maintain, even in the case of heavy casualties. As for the shortcomings, the officers of this army are generally poor, and it is not easy for them to master the latest combat skills, and they prefer to work roughly. These two characteristics of the Indian army were quickly noticed by Patton. Before the attack that night began, he said to his three regimental commanders:

"Remember, our opponents are the most tenacious soldiers, they are very brave, not as good as the Americans, but definitely better than our British allies! But let's not be brave with them, that's what they want, they want to trade the lives of worthless Indians for the lives of us Americans. Let's not exchange human lives for human lives, but for ammunition! Don't rush to break through their positions, that will only give their death squad a chance to attack. You should keep your distance from them. Then shoot at them with overwhelming firepower! If the Indians are determined to exchange 10 lives for 1 of our lives, then you go and exchange 1 ton of ammunition for 1 Indian life, don't worry about not having enough ammunition, the United States has the most powerful industry in the world, and it can produce our used ammunition as quickly and best as possible! And to produce a living Indian to replace a dead one, at least a fucking 20 years! I don't believe that Indians can't be killed! ”

Less than half an hour after Patton's speech, the first wave of American attacks began. Under the night sky. The flares shimmer with white or yellowish light, dyeing the bare mountain wasteland with a strange hue. On a frontage of less than 10 kilometers, Patton committed 122 M3 Grant medium tanks, 65 M3 Stuart light tanks and 28 M7 Priest self-propelled guns, as well as 15,000 American infantrymen. At the forefront was the M3 Grant medium tank, a thin-skinned tank that made the US military extremely dissatisfied. There was also a nickname for the American version of the T-28. In fact, this tank is still stronger than the T-28, at least its power and suspension system are more reliable, and the production is high enough, and now 1500 M3 Grant tanks are off the production line every month, so the American GIs on the front line can consume this iron coffin at will.

However, this time, Patton did not let the M3 Grant tank directly attack the defense line of the Indian Red Army, but stopped at a distance of 1,000 meters and fired wildly at the Indian position with the 75mm gun mounted on the body of the M3 Grant tank, using countless shells to consume the lives of the defenders.

Dense firepower swept across all fronts. The Indians were completely unable to raise their heads, and their anti-tank grenade launchers, anti-tank grenades, and incendiary grenades were of little use because of the distance of their opponents. As for the Indian army's 45mm anti-tank guns, they were covered by the overwhelming fire of the Americans after only a few shots, and even the cannon and gunner were blown to pieces. Later, the Indian Ah San organized several waves of death squads, trying to rely on the sea of people offensive to deal with the American tanks, but in the end they only left a pile of corpses in front of the American tank cluster - the same tactics The Soviet Red Army has already tried to come back, and now it is the turn of the Indians......

At the same time, the fatigue offensive of the Indian Red Army on Medina was still going on, and the onslaught of five days and five nights finally took effect, and the defensive range of the American and British troops was greatly reduced, almost retreating to the edge of the Medina wall, and the casualties of the American and British troops under the command of Lieutenant General Stilwell exceeded 10,000.

In Amman and Damascus, the offensive and defensive battles between the US army and the Indian Red Army have also reached a fever pitch. Damascus City has been captured by the American army, the walls of the old city have also been breached by the Americans, and fierce street battles have unfolded in the center of this thousand-year-old city, and every street and house has become a battlefield. In urban street fighting, the Americans' firepower and air superiority were completely useless, and they could only rely on the bravery and tenacity of the infantry to fight the enemy, and the casualties between the attacking and defending sides were almost identical. The situation was similar in Amman, where the U.S. 82nd Infantry Division under Bradley's command had occupied more than 90 percent of the city, although several thousand Indian Red Army troops were still putting up their last stand at the Colosseum, amphitheater and Roman palace ruins in Amman's Old City.

However, the battle of the American army on the northern front of the Middle East theater is far from the time of final victory, because the counterattack of the Indian Red Army has already begun, and a large number of Indian Red Army infantry have appeared near Beirut, in Naibk northwest of Damascus, and in the Syrian desert west of Damascus, and the number may be as many as hundreds of thousands! Marshall, who felt that the situation was severe, hurriedly deployed his troops and prepared to meet them.

At this time, there was even more alarming news, aerial reconnaissance found that a large number of Indian Red Army troops had left Baghdad and entered the Syrian desert, and were killing Damascus and Amman! The Middle East battlefield seemed to have entered the supreme dynasty overnight, and in the face of the coming Armageddon, the British and American allies were not to be outdone, and well-equipped troops were transferred from Egypt and Palestine behind the battle line to the front line, and the roads to Syria and Transjordan were full of rolling military vehicles and marching columns. (To be continued.) )