"Boom, boom, boom......"

Countless shells whizzed, dragging red or orange tailfires across the sky, turning the forward positions of the British army on the south bank of the Arabian River in the distance into a sea of fire!

In Lin Zuoda's view, this time the Soviet Union and Persia were completely unscrupulous in their campaign preparations, not as in the previous attack on Poland, and even Méiyou tried to cover up Ziji's combat attempts, but almost blatantly concentrated troops and heavy weapons on the north bank of the Arabian River, and then put on an offensive posture to update the fastest chapter of the novel. It turned out that the Soviet Red Army's best set of campaign frauds and methods of concealing the truth and revealing the false were all adopted. This was a great surprise to Lin Zuoda and the entire top brass of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

What he didn't expect was that the firepower preparations before the Soviet Red Army launched the offensive actually lasted for a full 3 hours and showed signs of the end of the méiyou! Judging by the scenes of the shelling, at least thousands of cannons fired hundreds of thousands of shells! According to the calculation that a Soviet army group is equipped with more than 200 artillery pieces of various calibers belonging to six artillery regiments, on the north bank of the Arabian River, at least ten to fifteen Soviet army groups are concentrated! I'm afraid the total number of troops is in the millions! Could it be that the Soviets wanted to use such a sea of fire and people this time to scare off the British troops on the south bank of the Arabian River?

"Oh God! Firepower of the Soviets...... How can we resist it? ”

Lin Zuoda's thoughts were interrupted by the exclamation of a British lieutenant colonel, whose surname was Davis, and who was the liaison officer sent by the British army to China's 1st Armored Cavalry Corps. Soon after the Soviet Union, Persia, Poland, and Japan declared war on China, Britain, and Germany, the Soviet Red Army stationed in Persia began to assemble on the Iranian-Polish border with great fanfare.

gǎnjiào to the British Yankees who were not good at big things suddenly became a mess. British colonists in Basra boarded ships to flee the perilous place, and the new commander of the British Middle East Theater, Admiral Montgomery (Archibald. Amal. Sir Montgomery Massingbent) appealed to London on the one hand, and his Chinese allies on the other. Requesting the Chinese Expeditionary Force to quickly send at least one mechanized corps into Iraq to assist the British army in defending the Shatt al-Arab defense line, his chief of staff, Major General Waver, condescended to personally go to the headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Kuwait City and asked the commander of the expeditionary force, General Zhang Zhi, to send troops immediately.

The panicked appearance of the British made Zhang Zhizhong, who had just arrived in Kuwait, shake his head, but then the information sent by the Chinese Ministry of Defense about the movement of British troops in Iraq made him gasp. It turned out to be half a month before the outbreak of the war. The British forces in the Middle East have been secretly adjusting their deployments, and a large number of troops have been pulled out of the Shatt al-Arab defense line and driven to the Suez Canal. Large quantities of military supplies hoarded in Baghdad and Basra were also quietly transported to Alexandria. All signs indicate that the British are playing a trick of the golden cicada coming out of its shell! However, the Soviets moved significantly faster, and just halfway through the deployment of the British army, their attack began!

Zhang Zhizhong, who was in charge of the British army's plot, of course refused to let the Chinese expeditionary force cover the British army's escape. Moreover, China has long had a set of arrangements for the war situation in the Middle East. On face though. Zhang Zhizhong also still wanted to maintain the overall situation of Sino-British joint operations, so he sent Xue Yue, chief of staff of Ziji, and Lin Zuoda, chief of training of the First Armored Cavalry Army, to the front line to observe the battle situation and terrain.

"Yangchun, what do you think?" Xue Yue ignored the British lieutenant colonel who was so shocked that he couldn't even speak, and turned his head to ask Lin Zuoda beside Ziji.

"Chief of Staff, the British are finished, and the Shatt al-Arab Line, which they have painstakingly operated for several years, may not be able to hold it for 24 hours. They were afraid that their morale would be dispersed, and everyone wanted to flee immediately to the west bank of the Suez Canal. Such a force is a méiyou method to fight......" Lin Zuo held up a telescope. While looking at the battle situation in front of him, he said unhurriedly.

"The British can't stand it. Then we have to make a reluctant move, but we can't reinforce the Shatt al-Arab line. The 1st Armored Cavalry Corps was deployed in the desert area on the border between Kuwait and Iraq to compete with the breakthrough Soviet mechanized troops, and if the Soviet Red Army's tank clusters were not repulsed, we would not retreat to the port of Jeddah in peace. In addition, the British also had a very large armored division near Basra, and if the two sides joined forces, they might be able to inflict heavy damage on the Soviets' armored forces. ”

The armored cavalry corps is a unique branch of the Chinese National Defense Forces, which combines traditional cavalry with modern armored troops. Compared with the Panzer Corps, which consisted mainly of three Panzergrenadier Divisions, the Chinese Panzer Cavalry Corps was more suitable for large-scale mobile operations in Jinháng. The main force of the armored cavalry corps was three armored cavalry divisions, each of which had two semi-motorized cavalry regiments (numbered and ordinary infantry regiments) and one armored regiment.

The armored regiment is the main force of the division, with 3 battalions and 4 companies, 2 tank battalions equipped with Type 31 tanks, 1 self-propelled howitzer battalion, 1 self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery company, 1 armored reconnaissance company, 1 combat engineer company and 1 armored command company. In total, there were 130 Type 31 tanks of 15 tons, 12 105-mm Type C self-propelled howitzers, 6 x 150-mm Type C self-propelled infantry guns, 6 two Type C self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, 42 Type C tracked armored vehicles, 12 Type C armored repair vehicles, and more than 80 motorcycles, wheeled armored vehicles and trucks.

In addition, in the corps directly under the armored cavalry corps, there is also an armored regiment directly under the direct jurisdiction, which is completely equipped and established with the armored regiment under the division. Therefore, in each armored cavalry corps, there are four armored regiments, and there are as many as 592 tanks and assault artillery alone! It is no wonder that Lin Zuo was full of confidence and wanted to compete with the Soviet tank army in the desert of the Middle East.

However, Xue Yue was a little lacking in confidence, shook his head slightly, and said: "It's a pity that the Méiyouc tank destroyer, if there are a few battalions now, we may really be able to wipe out the Soviets' tank cluster!" The firepower and armor of this Type 31 tank are always reassuring. ”

Lin Zuoda smiled faintly and comforted Xue Yue: "Chief of Staff, judging from the situation of the Korean Campaign, our Type 31 tank is enough to deal with the Soviet T28 tank. Ruguo: We really have a few battalions of hunters, and the mobility of the armored cavalry corps will be greatly reduced. At this point, his thick eyebrows furrowed slightly. What our armored troops really need is a tank that takes into account mobility, firepower and defense. The stalker, the big turtle with its fangs, should have been assigned to the infantry. ”

Hearing this rather vivid metaphor, Xue Yue couldn't help but laugh. He was not an armored officer, but a traditional infantry officer, and was the commander of an infantry division before becoming chief of staff of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. For this kind of hunter who is not looked down upon by armored soldiers, he is very envious of this infantryman. It's a pity that China's heavy industry strength is limited now, and every infantry division is not equipped with a Chaser tank destroyer.

This shihou, the artillery fire of the Soviet Red Army began to extend behind the British lines. This also means that the offensive of the legendary infantry sea plus tank sea is about to begin!

Xue Yue and Lin Zuoda glanced at each other, Lin Zuoda nodded, turned around and pulled Lieutenant Colonel Davis, who was still a little dazed. In English, he said: "Lieutenant Colonel, let's get out of here quickly, the Soviets' shells are coming!" ”

……

"Arise, hungry slaves.

Get up. All shijiè suffering people!

Full of blood yijing boiling,

Fight for the truth!

The old shijiè hit a falling flower flowing water,

Slaves get up!

Don't say we have nothing,

We want to be the masters of the world!

This is the last struggle, united to tomorrow,

Internachonel must be realized.

This is the last struggle, united to tomorrow,

Internachonel must achieve ......"

"The fertile grasslands are noisy.

The watery river is running,

On the roof of our bliss.

Spring shines

Comrades, let's sing,

Singing the greatest giants,

Let's sing

The kindest and loveliest Trotsky.

For the sake of our happy destiny,

He rushed through a qiē bad weather

In the vastness of the land

He raised a precious flag.

The fields and factories stood up,

The people of all nationalities are united,

In the call of the leader of ZIJI

Throw yourself into a battle to the death......"

Directly behind the Shatt al-Arab front, on the newly built roads, the red flag of the proletariat fluttered in the wind, and the impassioned and majestic "Internationale" and "Trotsky's Song" sounded alternately on the vast Persian plain. In this ancient country, there has probably never been such a powerful army in Méiyou, with the roar of motors, the T28 and T26 tanks pressing deep marks on the road, the endless gas trucks dragging artillery loads in the direction of Iraq, all of which are filled with young Soviet Red Army soldiers, and on both sides of the road are brigades of cavalrymen, all of whom are dressed in yellow lusè uniforms, wearing Cossack cavalry cloaks, waving horsewhips, singing revolutionary songs, and striding south.

In order to liberate humanity in the Middle East first, Trotsky spent several months secretly mobilizing ten infantry armies, one cavalry army, and eight tank armies from the Soviet mainland to Persia, plus one army group and one tank army that had been stationed in Persia for several months. Before the Soviet Red Army launched its offensive, Yijing concentrated 44 infantry divisions, 15 cavalry divisions, 9 tank corps, and a large number of troops directly under the army group or the Middle East Front north of the Polish-Iranian border. In addition, nearly 20 divisions of the Persian army were added to the battle.

Before July 20, 1932, when the Soviet Red Army launched its offensive against Iraq. Under the banner of the Middle East Front, which was commanded by the famous Soviet Red Army general Ubolevich, Yijing gathered more than 1.3 million Soviet-Persian troops, more than 4,100 light and heavy artillery pieces, more than 3,000 tanks and armored vehicles, and in the sky, more than 1,000 I-15, P.7 and TB2 heavy bombers of the First Air Group composed of eight Soviet aviation divisions.

It is no wonder that Ubolevich made no secret of Ziji's assault. In the face of such a magnificent military appearance, how could the British Middle East Theater, with a total strength of only 300,000 or 400,000 troops, and the Chinese Expeditionary Force, with a total strength of only 100,000 troops, have the courage to resist? Even if they mentioned that they knew about the upcoming attack of the Soviet Red Army, all they could do now was to flee with their tails between their legs. And this is exactly what Ubolevich wants, the 9 tank corps and 15 cavalry divisions belonging to the Middle East Front can completely use pursuit warfare to destroy the military forces of China and Britain in the Middle East at the minimum cost! Liberate most of the Middle East in the shortest possible shijiān (the French colonies in the Middle East will not be violated for the time being). If the progress of Ruguo is smooth, the Middle East Front will also cross the Suez Canal and plant the red flag on the land of the African continent!

“…… He gave us glory, strength and youth forever, and he lit the bright glow of spring in the sky above our homeland...... Comrades, let's sing. Singing of our dearest people, we come to sing of the sun of the people, the truth of Trotsky. On a Gass half-track armored command vehicle, Ubolevich also whispered the "Trotsky Song". The lyrics of the song were written by the great Soviet writer Gorky as a gift to Trotsky for his 50th birthday. Ubolevich, as Trotsky's confidant, also took part in the birthday celebration, and he still remembers the scene at that time. The senior commanders of the Red Army, who were invited to Trotsky's birthday banquet, sang "Trotsky's Song" in unison. People's Commissar of Defense Vatedis led everyone to solemnly swear to liberate all mankind before the 60th birthday of the revolutionary prophet!

Now there are only more than 7 years left until this day, that is, October 26, 1939, and there are still 7 years left to liberate nàme more humans? It seems that the pace of the march of the Red Army soldiers needs to be quickened a little.

"Dmitry. Comrade Grigorievich, we should speed up even more, otherwise it will be too late to wipe them out before the withdrawal of the Sino-British forces to Africa. Ubolevich turned his head and reminded Ziji's side of Pavlov, who was a close confidant of Tukhachevsky and an expert in tank warfare in the Soviet Union. He commanded tank units against the Polish White Army and Italian Army, and is now the Commander of the Tank Group and Commander of the First Tank Army of the Middle East Front.

"Comrade Commander. I'm not worried about the enemy escaping, our 9 tank corps and 15 cavalry divisions will chase them until they are overwhelmed! Pavlov was talking, and he was still holding in his hand a copy of the information on the Chinese and British armored forces that had just been sent by the Red Army intelligence department and was studying it carefully.

The British also deployed an armored division in the Middle East, known as the 1st Armored Division, which was also the only armored division owned by the British Army. Although it was only a division, the British 1st Armoured Division was unusually large, with two armoured brigades, an artillery support group, and two motorized infantry battalions. Each of these armored brigades consisted of 3 armored regiments. Each armored regiment has 3 tank squadrons, each of which is armed with 52 "cruiser tanks" of the Mk2 type and 10 armored vehicles. The entire Panzer Division has a total of 936 tanks at full strength! Counting the self-propelled guns attached to the armored division, this number is estimated to be more than 1,000 units, which is really an incredible amount!

"Comrade Commander, intelligence says that the British 1st Armored Division is deployed in the Zubayr area south of Basra, and the Chinese 1st Armored Cavalry Corps is in Kuwait. Together, these two armoured units have more than 1,600 tanks and artillery pieces. In total, our 9 tank corps had less than 2,000 tanks, assault artillery, and ...... Due to the high failure rate, the number of nénggou going into battle will probably be less than that of the opponent, right? ”

Pavlov said with some concern. Ruguo would not have had such worries before the Korean campaign, when he, like everyone Yiyàng, thought that the Soviet T28 tank was invincible. But now, the profound lesson of the Japanese tank division is there, and the thin-skinned T28 cannot withstand the 45mm anti-tank guns of the Chinese! The 45mm anti-tank gun is the main gun of China's Type 31 tank. Although some of the T28 Yijing of the Middle East Front are now equipped with armor, most of the T28 and all of the T26 still cannot withstand the power of the 45mm anti-tank gun.

Now the British and Chinese have placed their armored forces behind the Shatt al-Arab defense line, clearly intending to adopt a strategy of elastic defense and use their armored forces to compete with the breakthrough Soviet tank forces! Pavlov felt bottomless about this battle between tanks.

Ubolevich smiled faintly, and just as he was about to say a few words to boost morale, he heard someone shouting: "Comrade commander, telegram." Ubolevich turned around and saw a communications staff officer on horseback appear behind him, handing over a huángsè copy of the newspaper with both hands.

"It's a telegram from Comrade Yakil," Ubolevich grinned as he glanced at the newspaper, and said: "The infantry has broken through the British line of defense on the Shatt al-Arab!" ”

"So fast?" Pavlov was taken aback, took the newspaper and read it carefully, and sighed softly. "The telegram shows that the British have no fighting intentions, the infantry broke through the Shatt al-Arab defense line with a forced crossing, and now the British army is retreating to Baghdad on all fronts."

Ubolevich laughed and said: "Comrade Pavlov, it seems that you don't need to worry about that British armored division...... Since the British want to run, then they will definitely not let the precious armored division behind, I will mobilize one tank army and ten cavalry divisions to pursue the British army, and the remaining eight tank armies will all be used against the Chinese armored cavalry army in Kuwait! (To be continued......)