“…… On May 6, 1935, after a five-day delay, the Middle East Theater Command finally issued the decision to continue the operation in the Persian Gulf - a decision that was criticized for the next 10 years and was considered the most wrong decision in the entire Middle East war! However, I don't think so, and in my opinion, continuing to fight in the Persian Gulf is the only right option, the only chance we have to reverse the defeat. As for what happened later, it was indeed somewhat unexpected, especially the sudden emergence of the Soviet and Indian air forces, and the poor performance of the British armored forces, which no one could have imagined on May 6, 1935. Even if someone had ever proposed abandoning the idea of fighting in the Persian Gulf, I think that would be irresponsible and completely wrong. As a soldier, you should never give up the opportunity to fight for victory at any time, and you should not have the idea of being discouraged. If I had made any serious mistake in the course of the entire Persian Gulf operation, it was that I failed to contain the defeatism in the troops in a timely manner, and I also handed over the main forces of the Stilwell-Wavell cluster, three American armored divisions and one armored division of the Caliphate, to George Jr., who was full of defeatist sentiments. General Patton commands! Perhaps this is the most fundamental reason why we lost the war in the Persian Gulf! - The above is an excerpt from Lieutenant General Stilwell's memoir "The Wrong War".

Thunderous artillery fire swept through the desert west of the small town of Al-Hareban about 180 kilometers southwest of Riyadh. Turning a blocking position of the Indian Red Army there into a fiery dragon. Looking from the top of the sand dunes where Major General Patton and Lieutenant General Ma Bufang were located, less than 6 kilometers away, the smoke and dust were billowing and the flames were rising to the sky, just like the legendary Shura Hell, and heart-rending shouts and screams could be faintly heard.

The dusty 700 tanks, self-propelled guns, and armored vehicles lined up under this dune are the intact tracked armored vehicles of the US 2nd Armored Division (which combines all the tanks and self-propelled guns of the 4th Armored Division, and all the intact tracked armored vehicles of the US 5th Armored Division and the 1st Armored Cavalry Division of the Caliphate Army). Among them, there are 109 M3 Grant tanks, 112 C-type tanks, 122 M3 Stuart light tanks, 45 C-type self-propelled guns (including 105 self-propelled howitzers and 150 self-propelled infantry guns), 61 M7 Priest 105 self-propelled howitzers, and 275 tracked armored vehicles. More than 700 tracked armored vehicles seem like a lot, but they are about a third less than when they left the port of Jeddah! Of course, not all the equipment that did not arrive in time for Halleban was destroyed in the battles along the way, although the Indian Red Army set up several blockade lines on their way to the Persian Gulf, but they were easily broken through by the surprise attacks launched by the three armored divisions, and the equipment lost in the battle was only a few dozen vehicles. However, the harsh climate of the desert region of the Arabian Peninsula, the inaccessible fine sand and the terrible roads left more than 500 armored vehicles of all kinds lying on their stomachs in the middle of the road!

As for the British tanks towed in flatbed trucks. Now I am still slowly climbing forward on the simple road more than 7 or 80 kilometers away! In order to ensure that these precious tanks are not attacked by the Indian Red Army, which may be lurking in the desert somewhere, Lieutenant General Stilwell also specially transferred an American armored division to protect them. Hopefully, the performance of these British tanks in the Persian Gulf will not disappoint him.

And the commander of this joint U.S.-Afghan armored force, Major General Patton, as Stilwell later revealed in his memoirs, was adamantly opposed to the continuation of the Persian Gulf operation. His reason was simple, to express doubts about the combat effectiveness of the 6 armored divisions of the United Kingdom. In the previous operations south to Medina, these six British armoured divisions had hardly been on the battlefield. It has been crawling slowly behind the Americans. The four American armored divisions that fought hard all the way were already exhausted, and they also lost more than a third of their tanks and self-propelled guns, and in the end they could only be combined into three armored divisions. Patton feared that if the Soviets deployed one or more tank armies in the Middle East and were to work in the Persian Gulf, the Stilwell-Wavell cluster would be beaten to pieces.

But Patton's arguments against him failed to convince Washington. Moreover, after Washington's diplomatic efforts to assign the Caliphate's Panzer Division to the Stilwell-Wavell cluster, Major General Patton changed his mind and agreed to take the lead in the armored forces again. But he ignored the question that the armored division of the caliphate army is not the armored division of the Chinese Wehrmacht, not the armored division of the German Wehrmacht! Although there are many tanks and self-propelled guns, they are all C-type tanks with insufficient combat power. And not the famous stalkers. The trouble was that the Caliphate's armored division was poorly trained and lacked good enough mechanics to do little to deal with the various vehicles that broke down on the way, and in the end Patton had to send American mechanics to help them repair them. However, the American mechanical type is not familiar enough with the German-style (Chinese-style equipment, and cannot understand the Chinese and Arabic on the drawings, so the maintenance efficiency is not high, and therefore the troubleshooting time of the US military in the repair equipment is also extended.

In this case. Patton, the commander of the American armored forces who was known for his boldness in another time and space, has now become extremely cautious and stingy with the use of armored power. When encountering the Indian Red Army's resistance, the infantry was always asked to repeatedly conduct fire reconnaissance, and only after finding out the details of the opponent did the armored troops launch a surprise attack.

"It seems that the US-British coalition is very careful......"

At the same time that General Patton was observing the positions of the Indian Red Army, on a small hill east of the town of Haleban. There were also several Soviet officers in khaki tweed uniforms who were watching the battle with binoculars, the first being Berzin, the chief of staff of the Indian Red Army. He muttered under his mouth as he held his binoculars to observe the front line.

The Middle East War has been divided into two battlefields, one of which is the Mediterranean coast battlefield where fierce battles are raging. The Indian Red Army had committed the main forces there, and had already gained the upper hand, and a resounding victory seemed only a matter of time. Another battlefield is the upcoming Persian Gulf Battlefield!

To be honest, the refusal of the US-British allies to give up the Persian Gulf war to this point really made Blyukhel, Berzin and others overjoyed.

At the end of the road below the hillside, a cloud of smoke and dust flew up, and several Soviet officers dressed as soldiers of the Indian Red Army galloped down the hillside, and then dismounted and strode up the hill. When Belzin saw them coming up, he threw the telescope in his hand to the staff officer beside him, and beckoned to one of them: "Comrade Chuikov, what do you think of the American and British armored forces?" Do you have the confidence to defeat them with a tank army? ”

Chuikov is now the commander of the 39th Tank Corps of the Soviet Army, and this time it was the tank corps under his command that was transferred to the Middle East. This tank corps was also considered elite among the Soviet armored forces, with 3 tank brigades and 1 self-propelled artillery regiment, and a total of 195 Su-75 strong guns and 36 Su-122 self-propelled guns. In addition, in addition to 1 tank battalion and 2 motorized infantry battalions, each tank brigade also has an anti-aircraft artillery battalion, equipped with 18 45mm wheeled self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, which are dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns, and the anti-tank power is no less than that of 45mm anti-tank guns. As long as an officer who has some knowledge of tank warfare in this era, he will know from looking at the establishment table of the Soviet tank army that the combat thinking of the Soviet tank units has now shifted from offensive to anti-tank defense. However, even with extremely strong anti-tank combat capabilities. It was still quite a struggle to use one tank corps against ten armored divisions.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Chuikov gave a military salute and frowned slightly: "I still haven't seen the British tank, but I have seen the American M3 Grant, which looks worse than the T-28, and the body is too tall." Poorly armored, the 45mm anti-tank gun could also destroy it lightly, and this tank was definitely no match for the Su-75. As for the C-type tank of the Caliphate, it is easy to deal with, and in the Chinese, this tank is just a tool for the pursuers, and cannot be used to fight the main force at all. He paused and said, "But there is another problem, the air superiority of Britain and the United States is very obvious. At war with China and Germany, we did not suffer less from the loss of aircraft. ”

Berzin smiled slightly, waved his hand and said: "Comrade Chuikov, you don't have to worry about the enemy's planes. Comrade Narumi Inoue of the Japanese Red Navy has already thought of a way to deal with it. According to what he knew, neither the British Air Force nor the US Army Aviation had specialized dive bombers and attack planes, and they used fighter planes to bomb them on a suspended basis. Moreover, their fighters do not have a large range, and the requirements for airfield facilities are high. Unlike the Germans, the HS-123 can take off and land on just a piece of flat ground. So all we have to do is completely destroy a few airfields near Riyadh, and then look for an opportunity to fight them before the United States and Britain repair the airfields. ”

"Then there's no problem!" Chuikov nodded and saluted again: "The 39th Tank Army of the Red Army resolutely completes the glorious task entrusted by the organization!" ”

……

"Prime Minister. This is Shi Zhizhi's telegram. President Roosevelt will send Hopkins to China to visit Wèn, and hopes that Chinese officials of the same level will visit Wèn in the United States. At the weekly meeting of the Tangshan Prime Minister's Office in Nanjing, Foreign Minister Wang Jingwei squinted his eyes and smiled as he put a telegram from Shi Zhaoji, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, on the table: "Zhizhi also said that the U.S. government is ready to recognize the results of the referendums of the Republic of Indochina, the Republic of Myanmar and the Republic of Malays as part of the Great Chinese Federation." ”

"Hmph, can we use them to recognize the housework of the Great China Federation? Indochina, Burma, and Malaya have long been in our pockets. Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom recognized it as soon as the referendum results came out, and only the United States has been dragging its feet and not recognizing it! Sun Yuexun, Minister of National Education, said with a sneer. It's not that she has any dissatisfaction with the United States, but she knows that Chang Ruiqing doesn't want China and the United States to get too close now.

Sun Yuexun's words can almost represent Chang Ruiqing, so Wang Jingwei, Song Qingling, Liao Zhongkai and other "pro-American factions" present frowned slightly. Song Qingling took the question and asked, "Yaoru." How are you going to reply to Roosevelt? After all, he has good intentions, and it's not good for us to refuse people thousands of miles away, right? Moreover, the United States has also helped us a lot in the past ten years, and I am afraid that our post-war construction will also be indispensable to the help of American capital and technology. ”

Chang Ruiqing shook his head and frowned: "We must be cautious in the affairs of the United States, the Middle East battle is like this, the British Empire will collapse, and there is no longer any difficulty for Germany to integrate Europe...... The number one power in the world in the future will be the Germans! However, with its strong industrial strength and unique geographical location, the United States has no problem dominating the Americas and occupying the world's No. 2 power. Although China has a large territory and a large population, its foundation is thin after all. No matter how he rises, he is still a third, but since ancient times, the life of the third child is always better than that of the second! I think you know what I mean, right? ”

In this way, there is still something that a few of you here don't understand, how to say that everyone is familiar with the master of the game of thrones. When the boss is always the most jealous of the second, he will definitely spare no effort to suppress it, and the pressure on the third chair is much lighter in comparison. The struggle between the eldest and the second is divided before the superiority is separated. No one will take the initiative to trouble him, the premise is naturally that he can't clearly stand in line between the eldest and the second.

But it's not okay to keep wavering, otherwise once the struggle between the eldest and the second boss is decided, the winner will definitely regard him as the target of suppression. So the best option is to maintain a balance between the two powers...... But Chang Ruiqing also knows that the balance technique of the post-war world is not easy to play! If the United States is strong and Germany is weak, then this balance will not be difficult to maintain, and the struggle between the United States and Germany will most likely follow the path of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the previous life. But now it is clearly the Germans led by Hitler who have the upper hand! It's like letting the Soviet Union rule the continent and creating the atom first. Comrade Stalin will use the Cold War to contain or something against capitalism?

Therefore, the distance between China and the United States cannot be too far, and the relationship with Germany cannot be too close, so that Hitler knows that once he is ready to solve the United States by force, China will definitely fight side by side with the United States! As for the United Germany against the United States, it is absolutely impossible -- because this is tantamount to self-defeating for China!

"Prime Minister, what do we do to the Americans? Do you want to decline Hopkins' visit? Foreign Minister Wang Jingwei asked in a low voice.

"It doesn't have to be. Now that the world war is not over, we are still allies with the United States after all! Chang Ruiqing thought for a while and instructed Wang Jingwei: "Zhaoming, call Shi Zhizhi and say that we welcome Mr. Hopkins to visit China to inspect business." In addition, we will arrange for Zeng Qi, Secretary of Commerce of the Federation of Greater China, to visit the United States. He looked at Zeng Qi again: "Mu Han, you can go to the United States hard." ”

"Got it." Zeng Qi nodded and asked, "Prime Minister, which route should I take to the United States?" ”

There are now two routes to the United States. One is to take the Indian Ocean, Europe, and the Atlantic Ocean; The second is to go to the United States through the Indian Ocean, South Africa, and South America. In addition, the Pacific trade route between China and the United States has not been completely stopped, but there is no air route from the Pacific.

"Let's go to Europe, and visit Germany, Italy, and England by the way." Chang Ruiqing thought for a while and said, "Let's go and discuss with Hitler the issue of entering the Middle East." I estimate that Britain may defect to Germany after the defeat in the Middle East, so that the German power will be greater, and I fear that Hitler will have the ambition to dominate the Middle East. Mu Han, you go and help me find out his tone. ”

"Understood," Zeng Qi asked again, "So what did the ministry talk about with Roosevelt after he arrived in the United States?" ”

"On Japan and the South Seas." Chang Ruiqing said: "These two pieces of land must belong to us!" As for the post-war interests of the United States. I think we can encourage them to enter Australia. ”

"Agitating the United States to enter Australia? What does the Prime Minister mean? Zeng Qi didn't seem to understand.

Chang Ruiqing smiled slightly and winked at this great thinker: "Mu Han, you can tell Roosevelt clearly, he will understand the meaning of this." ”

Zeng Qi nodded and didn't ask any more questions. After that, Chang Ruiqing asked Zhang Junmao, who was in charge of the wartime economy, about wartime production and finance.

Zhang Junmai replied: "Prime Minister, wartime production has been on track in 33 years, and we have begun to see results in the construction of combat readiness from 31 years to the beginning of this year. From the beginning of the Third Five-Year Plan to the present. With a total investment of nearly 60 billion yuan, a total of 2,260 factories have been built and expanded, mainly belonging to important industries such as steel, machinery, aviation, automobiles, tractors, non-ferrous metals, mining, power generation, special alloys, chemicals, electronics, instrumentation and complete sets of equipment. Most of these factories would be completed and put into operation by the end of 1935. At that time, our steel production capacity will exceed 26 million tons, and the electrolytic aluminum production capacity will exceed 200,000 tons. 1 million tons of refined copper, 500 million tons of coal production capacity, 50 billion kWh of electricity, and even the total production capacity of oil will exceed 9 million tons! If the Fourth Five-Year Plan can achieve the same results, we may be able to surpass Germany and the Soviet Union in industrial strength and rank second in the world! ”

Hearing Zhang Junmai triumphantly mention the world's second, Chang Ruiqing just smiled and shook his head, China is not the real second, Germany has mastered most of the industry in Europe, and in the western territory of the Soviet Union that Germany will conquer, there is still a considerable amount of Soviet industrial strength waiting for them to receive. The position of the world's boss is settled. Moreover, the United States' industrial and technological strength is far ahead of China's, and its second-ranking position is not something that China will be able to catch up with in the short term. Besides, it is pointless to simply surpass the United States in terms of production capacity, China's scientific research and innovation capabilities are much worse than those of the United States, and we will have to find some ways to catch up in the future, especially to find a breakthrough in the system...... In short, the victory of the world war is just the beginning, and there are still many things to be done if you really want the Great China Federation to dominate the East. To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the www.biquge.info of Biquge (qidian.to vote for recommendation votes, monthly passes, your support is my biggest motivation. For mobile phone users, please go to m.qidian. )

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