"The wind and clouds rise, the mountains and rivers move,

Fujian and Guangdong built an army,

The revolutionary warrior Ya Jingzhong.

Jin Ge Iron Horse, a hundred battles on the battlefield,

Ann is a pioneer inside and outside.

Sweep vertically and horizontally, revive China,

Invincible, honorable.

The flag is shining, the golden drum is sounding,

The dragon and tiger leap mighty,

Loyalty, leanness, and discipline.

Mobile offensive, brave and composed,

Surprise attack initiative and resourcefulness.

Treat each other with all sincerity, unite and be self-reliant,

Annihilate the enemy, Kai sings. ”

On several improvised roads along the Polish-Iranian border, military flags were flying, military vehicles were flying, and the impassioned and majestic Wehrmacht military songs fluttered in the Persian mountains. The Persian people living in the Zagros Mountains saw these black-haired and yellow-skinned squadrons for the first time, and were shocked by their powerful military appearance, the motors roared, and the endless trucks dragged heavy artillery along the road, and the trucks were piled up with military supplies wrapped in green canvas, and hundreds of light tanks accompanied the rumbling of these military vehicles. On either side of the road were marching columns of infantry on foot or cavalry on horseback, all dressed in khaki uniforms with short-sleeved shorts and steel helmets wrapped in canvas, striding north.

Since the military expenses for this expeditionary force in the Persian Gulf were borne by Britain, Chang Ruiqing was also happy to be generous, and the main force of the expeditionary force, the 11th Infantry Corps, has now achieved "semi-motorized", all the baggage and artillery are loaded and towed by trucks, and the four infantry divisions are also equipped with a wheeled armored vehicle brigade, equipped with a 13-year-old wheeled light armored vehicle produced by the Pukou Tractor Automobile Manufacturing Plant. The 2nd Cavalry Corps also began to follow the path of armoring. The three subordinate cavalry divisions were likewise armed with a battalion of light armored vehicles.

Among them, the Sixth Cavalry Division, which was commanded by Major General Pan Wenzhao, who studied armored troops in France, was also attached to a light tank regiment and equipped with 120 Type A tanks. It is envisaged that it will be used for operations in Central Asia and Siberia. This time, the 6th Cavalry Division was sent to the Middle East, in fact, with the intention of gaining experience in the use of armored cavalry units through actual combat.

Wang Junhao's expeditionary force headquarters also marched with the main force, and he and Lieutenant General Xu Haoyu, who was sent by the armored corps command to serve as deputy chief of staff, rode in a command vehicle converted from a Min-13 wheeled light armored vehicle, chatting about the latest military information while marching.

"Provincial Princess, our marching speed seems to be a little slow, and the 100,000 army stops and goes, I don't know when we will arrive at Andy Meshk."

Xu Haoyu is right. The Chinese Expeditionary Force's march was indeed slower than expected, not because Wang Junhao was dissatisfied with Hamilton's arrangements and deliberately delayed. Rather, it was because the army was harassed and blocked by the local tribal forces as it crossed the Zagros Mountains. These tribes have lived in this mountain range for thousands of years, and although they are no match for the expeditionary force in a head-on battle, they can destroy a road, fight a cold gun, or something. It's still more than enough. As a result, the advance of the expeditionary force was greatly slowed down.

As the two of them spoke, the march came to an abrupt halt again. After a while, a fast horse ran from the front, and the signal soldier on the horse grabbed the reins in front of the command car that Wang Junhao was riding, and reported loudly: "Sir, the road ahead has been damaged by the Persians, and the sappers are rushing to repair it!" ”

Wang Junhao waved his hand and sent the signal soldier away, turned back to Xu Haoyu and smiled bitterly: "Yunfei." If you see it, it will be delayed for a long time. At this rate, it is difficult to let the Italians get to Andy Meszk first. ”

Xu Haoyu snorted twice: "If that's the case, I don't know what those Italians should become?" ”

"I don't care if they're proud, I'm worried about what the Soviets and Persians are up to." Wang Junhao's expression was indifferent, and he said unhurriedly: "The intelligence is that there are 100,000 Soviet volunteers and 250,000 Persian regular army...... This is a chance for them to break through! ”

"Governor, do you think that these Persian tribal forces were delayed by Tehran's command?"

Wang Junhao smiled coldly: "Then it goes without Tehran's instructions, they will delay us so desperately?" Yunfei, don't look at us, our opponent this time is Tukhachevsky, who is the most outstanding military strategist of the Soviet Union, and the raid on Poland was his handiwork! This time it's a bit of a ......."

Compared with the all-pervasive intelligence network of the Soviet Union, China, Britain, and Italy were very ineffective in their intelligence work against the Soviet Union, and it was not until they found out that the commander of the Soviet People's Volunteers was Tukhachevsky. The British and Italians did not take this "red Napoleon" too seriously. But Chang Ruiqing in Nanjing was a little panicked, worried that his brother Wang Junhao would not be able to beat the other party, so he urgently telegraphed Wang Junhao, asking him to use his troops carefully and avoid going deep alone.

But Wang Junhao is now reluctant to let the army put on wings and fly to Andy Meshke. Because only by blocking this important pass in the Zagros Mountains could the safety of the Italian expeditionary force on the southern route be ensured, if Tukhachevsky's army had been allowed to get through to Guò Andymessek first, the Italians would have to engage in a battle with the superior Soviet-Persian forces on the plains of Khochistan, and given the appearance of the Italians on the battlefield in the past few hundred years, Wang Junhao really did not dare to be too optimistic about the outcome of the battle.

However, the report of the Italian Expeditionary Force from the Allied Command in Basra was clearly full of optimism.

The Italian troops sent by Mussolini to invade Persia this time are said to be elite, with eight divisions, including the 1st Blackshirt Division, the 2nd Blackshirt Division, the 4th Blackshirt Division, the 1st Libyan Division, the 1st Infantry Division, the 1st Mountain Division, the 25th Bologna Division, and the 27th Brescian Infantry Division. The equipment level of these Italian divisions was also comparable to that of the British and Chinese armies, equipped with a large number of artillery, trucks and a small number of light tanks, but the light tanks of the Italian army were not concentrated into a tank regiment, but scattered in various infantry divisions. In addition, the training and morale of the Italian army looked good. Although it is a little loose compared to the squadron, it is much better than the British army in the Middle East.

The eight Italian divisions were attached to the First and Third Italian Corps, respectively. Lieutenant General Caballero and Lieutenant General Bastico served as commanders, respectively. The first army crossed from the lower reaches of the Shatt al-Arab to capture the Persian border city of Abadan and attack the port of Mahshaher, while the third army marched from Basra to Ahvaz, the capital of the province of Kheuchistan.

The Italian attack went smoothly, with the Italian First Army forcing its way across the Shatt al-Arab on October 11 and breaking through Abadan, which was garrisoned by a small number of Persian troops on the 12th. This was followed by a storming of the road from Abadan to the port of Mahshahr, which was captured on the 14th. On the same day, the Italian Third Army, which had been advancing all the way, captured Ahvaz, the capital of the province of Hochistan, almost without bloodshed. A day later, the last king of the Persian Qajar dynasty, Muhammad, under the protection of the British. Shah leaves Basra, the place of refuge, and enters Ahvaz. Announce the return to the Persian throne!

Faced with this situation, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces in Basra, Field Marshal Hamilton, became even more determined to make the original decision of "the Soviet Union and Reza. Khan would give up part of his territory in order to lure the enemy deeper", believing that a decisive battle with the Soviet-Polish forces would take place around Isfahan or Tehran. Therefore, the Chinese expeditionary force did not take into account the slow progress of the Persian tribes in the Zagros Mountains. Just ordered the Chinese expeditionary force to rush to Andy Meshke as much as possible.

"Sir. Telegraph. Sun Yuanliang, a staff officer of the Expeditionary Force Headquarters, took a telegram and trotted all the way to Wang Junhao's command car, Xu Haoyu took the telegram from his hand and looked at it and handed it to Wang Junhao, which was sent by Chang Ruiqing, Chang Ruiqing reminded him again that he must be vigilant against Tukhachevsky! And don't have any illusions about the combat effectiveness of the Italian allies!

"Call back, just say Jun Hao understands." Wang Junhao paused for a moment, and then said to Sun Yuanliang: "Call Chief of Staff Sun." ”

When Sun Zhen came to Wang Junhao, the road ahead had been repaired. The army began to march rapidly again, and Wang Junhao let Sun Zhen get into his command car. Sitting in the passenger seat, he looked worried.

"Brother Decao, it seems that we can't capture Andy Meshk along the way." As soon as the vehicle started, Wang Junhao suddenly threw out this sentence.

Sun Zhen was stunned for a moment: "Brother introspective, now our army is only a day's journey from Andy Meshke, if you let the Fourth Cavalry Division catch up, you can arrive in half a day." ”

"It can't be reached," Wang Junhao shook his head, "there will definitely be an attack, Andy Meshk is an important military town, and Tukhachevsky can't give up lightly." And...... I'm afraid he's laying a trap and we're drilling into his trap! ”

Sun Zhen and Xu Haoyu exclaimed: "How can you see it? ”

"If you smell it with your nose, you can smell something wrong!" Wang Junhao's eyebrows furrowed tightly, "We have too little enemy information in this battle!" The most basic number of Soviet volunteers is not known, the number of 100,000 is nothing more than the number published in Pravda, who knows whether it is true or not? As for the information that the Soviet volunteers were holding their ground around Tehran, it is not necessarily accurate...... It was too dangerous for the coalition forces to rush into such a rash march when the enemy situation was unknown. Before, the chairman of the committee proposed to send 500,000 coalition troops to have the certainty of victory, but now that I think about it, it makes sense, but unfortunately the British refused to listen, and the chairman did not insist on it......"

Just when Wang Junhao was worried, a few messengers on fast horses galloped over in front of him, inquired about the vanguard of the headquarters column, and then rode his horse to the command vehicle and reported loudly: "The headquarters of the 4th Cavalry Division reports to the commander that the vanguard of the 4th Cavalry Division encountered the enemy's regular army west of Dehloran, and the opponent's combat effectiveness is very strong, and it is suspected that it is the Soviet Volunteer Army!" ”

"Soviet volunteers appeared in Dekhloran!?" Wang Junhao's eyes widened and he looked at the three sweaty signal soldiers, his pupils contracted slightly, the area around Dehloran is the edge of the Zagros Mountains, although the terrain is not dangerous, but it is not particularly easy to break through, if there is a Soviet volunteer army above the division, it is always no problem to block the Chinese expeditionary force for a few days with favorable terrain. This also means that the Italian army on the southern front must be independent and resist the Soviet-Polish coalition army independently for a period of time, in case they can't withstand it, the Soviet army may counterattack into Iraq, and then the logistics line of their 100,000 troops will be broken!

Of course, it is also possible that the Soviets made their own unit a primary target, in that case. Can you count on the Italians to come to the rescue?

……

"Did the Soviet Volunteer Army appear?"

The bad news from the headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force immediately diluted the cheerful atmosphere in the headquarters of the coalition forces in Basra. A hint of surprise flashed across the face of Field Marshal Hamilton, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, but it was quickly disguised.

"Colonel, what do you think?" Hamilton set his sights on his chief of staff, Colonel Wavell. This Wavell is Archibald, who was once a field marshal in history. Wavell. He was one of the few Russian experts in the British Army, having studied in Russia for two years and serving as an intelligence officer in the Russian section of the War Office. During World War I, he served as a liaison officer to Grand Duke Nikolai, the commander of the Russian Caucasus Army, and knew the Russian army well, of course, he knew the Russian army as the Tsarist army, not the current Soviet Red Army.

"For now, Your Excellency. The Soviet-Polish forces were preparing to block the coalition forces south of the Zagros Mountains, and their purpose in blocking the squadron was to set up a defense in Andymishk. I immediately ordered the Italian Expeditionary Force to advance to Andymiszk and besiege the Soviet-Polish forces around Andymisk together with the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Wavell spoke out unhurriedly.

In his opinion. The sudden appearance of the Soviet Red Army south of the Zagros Mountains was not a bad thing, which meant that the coalition forces could start a main battle with the Soviet-Polish forces in the Andyšsk area! According to the information now available, the number of Soviet volunteers was only 100,000, and at most 150,000. And the Persian army though there were 250,000 men. However, if they were stationed in various places, at most 50,000 people could be concentrated in the Battle of Andymessek, and even if they had half of the combat strength of the Soviet Red Army, the coalition forces still had an absolute advantage in the Battle of Andymashk.

"But why didn't the Soviet-Polish coalition put the battlefield in Isfahan or Tehran?" Hamilton frowned and asked: "Now that the main forces of the coalition forces have not been dispersed, and Andy Meshk is a long time away from Basra and the port of Mahshahr, the coalition forces are easily supplied and can advance and retreat freely, and the battle in Andy Messk seems to be unfavorable to the Soviet-Polish coalition forces......"

"Maybe it's out of political considerations." Wavell tried to analyze: "Reza. Khan's regime was newly established. Tribal leaders throughout Persia would most likely not buy his account if the coalition forces were allowed to advance into Isfahan. I am afraid that it will cause instability in Persia. ”

This explanation was barely plausible, but Hamilton still felt unsafe and hesitated: "Will Tukhachevsky want to play all kinds of tricks?" ”

At this moment, the staff officer came in to report that the Italian expeditionary force had sent an urgent telegram that a large number of Soviet-Polish troops had appeared in Shushtar, north of Ahvaz, and that there seemed to be an attempt to move south.

Hamilton was shocked, and hurriedly took the telegram from the staff officer, read it carefully, and then ordered to find out the number and strength of the enemy's troops.

"Your Excellency Marshal, it now seems that the target of the Soviet-Polish alliance is also likely to be the Italian Expeditionary Force." Wavell frowned, and repeatedly calculated the true intentions of the Soviet-Polish coalition army in his heart, judging from the current situation, the main force of the Soviet-Polish coalition army must have moved south, and occupied Andy Meshk, which was in a favorable position for internal operations. However, the position of the Chinese and Italian armies is not disadvantageous, they present a pincer offensive situation, and they are not far from each other, if they can launch a fierce attack at the same time, it is likely that the opponent will be in a hurry to deal with it.

"Your Excellency, we may be able to order both the Chinese and the Italians to launch an onslaught on Andy Meshk at the same time." Wavell said in a low voice: "Now that the Soviet-Polish coalition army is on the inner line, it will inevitably choose various tactics to break through, and our best choice is to launch an attack first, so that they will be exposed to the enemy on their backs and unable to carry out various breaking operations." ”

"But the Italians and Chinese......" Hamilton stood up, thinking in his heart, if he was commanding 200,000 British Army, then Wavell's disposition plan was undoubtedly the most correct, but now he was commanding the armies of other countries!

"Your Excellency, we must give the most correct order in time." Wavell's implication seems to be that if this battle is messed up, we must not bear the responsibility for defeating the battle!

"Order the Chinese Expeditionary Force to attack Dehloran, and order the Italian Expeditionary Force to launch an offensive against Shushtar," Hamilton ordered with a frown, understanding what Wavell meant. "Also, let our troops immediately deploy along the Shatt al-Arab."

Sure enough, His Excellency the Marshal was thoughtful, so it should be foolproof. Thinking of this, Wavell gave a military salute to Hamilton, and was about to turn to leave, when Hamilton added: "Send electricity to London, and build yì for them to carry out 'Operation Baloch'." ”

Operation Baloch was a secret operation jointly carried out by the British War Office, the Indian Office, the Viceroy of India, and the Colonial Office, which was launched almost simultaneously with the joint invasion of Persia, with the aim of cutting off the Soviet Union's aid to India by supporting Balochistan independence in the event of an unfavorable Persian war.

"Yes, Your Excellency." Wavell sighed inwardly, he knew that Field Marshal Hamilton had smelled the unfavorable smell of war, and that this old soldier had been on the battlefield all his life, and sometimes he could make the right judgment by instinct.

Hamilton nodded and said nothing, and when Wavell was out, he turned and walked to the huge map hanging on the wall, and looked at Andy Meshke on the map, staring at it for a long time. (To be continued.) )