At the same time, on the Western Front, the PLA was also showing its strengths.

At 4 a.m. sharp, reconnaissance units of the French 6th Light Armoured Division entered Iraqi territory. The main force of the 113th Division, the ace division of the 38th Army of the PLA Army, followed closely behind, and with the support of two brigades of the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army, penetrated directly behind enemy lines, targeting the small Salman airfield 130 kilometers from Iraq.

Yan Chenghai, commander of the 113th Division, spoke at the mobilization of the whole division before the war: "The 113th Division came with the glory of the Long Live Army. In this battle, we must play the prestige of the Banzai Army and the momentum of the Banzai Army, any enemy in front of us is a paper tiger, and it will be broken with a poke! ”

A team with tradition, history, and a glorious spirit can often produce more powerful combat power than ordinary teams. The 113th Division is also a 2 division after several organizational reforms with Qi Yiming's participation. A large division-level unit of 20,000 people. It implements a relatively standard three-brigade and four-regiment system, with three mechanized infantry brigades of about 5,000-7,000 people, supplemented by armored regiments, artillery regiments, air defense regiments, and army aviation regiments. Each infantry brigade has jurisdiction over three regiments, and each regiment has jurisdiction over 3-4 infantry composite battalions, each battalion is about 500 people, equipped with 12 main battle tanks, 24 wheeled or tracked infantry combat vehicles, 10 Dongfeng Mengshi air defense missile vehicles, and 2 helicopters belonging to the battalion.

After the completion of this organizational reform, some people in the military even boasted that a combined battalion of the PLA could face at least one regiment of the army of any country in the world.

This war is an excellent opportunity to verify how strong the PLA synthetic army is after the establishment reform. (The 310th Division is a Blue Army unit, and its organization and training are close to those of Western countries, so it does not have pointing significance)

When approaching the target Salman small airfield, a mechanized infantry battalion under the 113th Division was the first to encounter the enemy, and a part of the 45th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Iraqi Army blocked the way of the 113th Division. Fighting broke out between the two sides immediately, and the Iraqi army was still brave, and their T-72 tanks, after discovering the enemy, immediately started to rush closer to attack the enemy, but their opponent was PLA's ace land weapon, the Type 99 main battle tank.

At a distance of 3000 meters, like a sniper's precise point kill, with the assistance of laser observation and fire control, the hunt of 99 Tan is as easy as child's play, and the 125mm tungsten core armor-piercing bullet that pierces the chamber easily penetrates the frontal armor of the T-72 and causes a martyrdom, the design of the T-72's automatic loader is not reasonable, and the ammunition is under the turret, so when the tank is broken, there is a very high chance of causing a martyrdom.

It was a completely two-level battle, and the 99 Tan fired artillery shells as if they were strolling through the march for a few moments, and when the Chinese tanks crossed the battlefield, they were flanked by the wreckage of Iraqi tanks. It's like a knight with strong martial arts who casually wields a sword and slaughters a few minions, and he doesn't even have the interest to take a second look, and floats away.

After eliminating this group of Iraqi armored troops, the composite battalion of the 113th Division faced the fortification front laid by the Iraqi army, and the Iraqi armored troops still kept a certain number of tanks, but they did not stand out this time to fight to the death with the Type 99, and actually sacrificed their mobility and hid in the fortifications to attack the Chinese troops.

Seeing this scene, the synthetic battalion did not rashly attack, but called the army aviation unit of the 113th Division. Three Wuzhi-10 helicopters armed with AKD-10 missiles quickly arrived at the scene. They fired rockets and anti-armor missiles from airspace, but the Iraqi army had limited air defense means in this fortification, with only a few anti-aircraft heavy machine guns firing into the sky. The helicopter gunships tilted ammunition towards the fortifications, and it didn't take long to make a gap in this defensive line, and taking this opportunity, the composite battalion of the 113th Division immediately attacked and attacked both sides through the gap, and finally wiped out the Iraqi troops here.

It is worth mentioning that after the unfavorable situation of the Iraqi army, the resistance was not very strong, and they surrendered one after another, and on this occasion alone, the 113th Division captured as many as 2,500 people.

At 12 noon, the 113th Division successfully captured Salman Airport without the expected resistance, thus protecting the left flank of the entire multinational force offensive, and the 113th Division left a battalion here to defend and continue to attack north.

The remaining two brigades of the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States followed up behind the 113th Division of the PLA, and its mission was to clear the Iraqi army from a road leading to southern Iraq to ensure the safety of its own troops. The two-lane highway was referred to as the "Texas Supply Line" in the multinational force's offensive plan, and was intended to be used to transport troops, equipment, and supplies to support the 18th Airborne Army's northward movement.

Also on the Western Front, at 5 a.m., the US 101st Air Assault Division, supported by the 18th Air Brigade of the 18th Airborne Army, used its AH-64 and AH-1 attack helicopters as cover, and used 60 VH-60 and 40 CH-47 transport helicopters to carry its 1st Brigade directly into the "Cobra" forward operating base about 140 kilometers deep in Iraq. In this operation, the division flew more than 300 helicopter sorties, not only quickly and accurately transporting 4,000 US officers and men and their equipment into the target area, but also capturing about 400 officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the 82nd Brigade of the 49th Infantry Division of the Iraqi Army. Of course, the capture of all the officers and soldiers would have meant that the other side surrendered without resistance.

The 101st Air Assault Division mainly transports troops by helicopter landing, and its equipment is relatively light, so the targets selected are not as hard as those of the 113th Division. The two armies were also largely complementary, and with the addition of the French 6th Light Division, the offensive on the Western Front was well underway.

At the beginning of the air assault operation, the combat support unit of the 101st Air Assault Division dispatched a convoy of 700 vehicles of various types to the north along the "New Market" supply artery built by the division's engineering units in the desert in order to deliver the necessary supplies to the forward operating base of the "Cobra". After seizing the "Cobra" forward operating base as stipulated in the plan and filling the helicopters with the fuel that had just been brought in by the combat service units, the division immediately advanced further northward. By dusk, the 101st Air Assault Division had penetrated into Iraq about 280 kilometers deep, successfully cutting off Iraq's Highway 8 and blocking the most important of the roads connecting Baghdad and the Kuwaiti theater of operations.

Due to the great success of the initial offensive of the Chinese 113th Mechanized Infantry Division, the French 6th Light Armored Division, and the US 101st Air Assault Division, the US 24th Mechanized Infantry Division crossed the offensive starting position about five hours ahead of schedule, assaulted with three brigades side by side, and carried out reconnaissance and cover operations in front with the division's cavalry battalion. Since the launch of the offensive, the division has advanced rapidly, maintaining a speed of more than 40 kilometers per hour. Thanks to the use of long-range electronic navigation systems, imaging intensifiers and night vision goggles, infrared and thermal imaging systems, and global positioning systems, as well as the weak resistance of the Iraqi army, the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division of the US Army was able to advance at high speed after nightfall.

With great success on the Eastern and Western Fronts, with the units performing excellently, and the resistance of the Iraqi army being much weaker than expected, the commander of the Joint Operations Command, Schwartzkov, made a decision to launch the main offensive of the Central Front campaign ahead of schedule and carry out large-scale interspersed operations to the north.

At about 1 p.m., the U.S. 1st Mechanized Infantry Division on the center line began to open a path through the complex area covered with barbed wire and mines, and like some friendly forces on the other two lines, they did not meet resistance from the Iraqi army. By the time the division crossed the offensive line, the vanguard detachment of the 2nd Panzer Cavalry Regiment, which was on the left flank and guided the advance of the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions of the US Army, had penetrated more than 30 kilometers into Iraqi territory. By nightfall, the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division of the U.S. Army had broken through 50% of the Iraqi barrier. Schwartzkov was quite dissatisfied with such progress, and at this time, the engineering units of the 127th Division of the PLA Army took the initiative to ask for orders and went to the obstacle area to assist the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division of the US Army in clearing the road.

The engineering units directly under the 127th Division carried a large number of construction machinery, and for things like barbed wire, barricades, engineering tanks with large shovels could be solved by plowing back and forth. To the surprise of the US military, the equipment of the Chinese army's engineers is unimaginably strange and complete.

PLA even has a walking excavator that uses four wheels for normal travel, but can stand on its rear wheels like a monster and ride over obstacles when needed. This kind of thing doesn't see much benefit in the desert, but a discerning person can see at once how useful it can be for clearing up in the mountains or in complex ruins.

With the help of the 127th Division's engineering units, the speed of clearing the obstacle zone increased dramatically.

In order to enable the British 1st Panzer Division to attack in depth through its breach, the US 1st Mechanized Division strengthened and adjusted its artillery deployment and carried out the necessary coordination. Later, as the British 1st Panzer Division passed through the breach that night, the 7th Army ordered the rapidly advancing central line units to suspend their advance.

After the launch of Operation Desert Sabre, the multinational forces did not give up air strikes, and in the face of a large-scale ground offensive, the Iraqi army became even more nervous, and those Iraqi troops who had been well hidden had to come out to assemble at this time to prepare for their defense work, and this gave the multinational air force an excellent opportunity to strike.

Attacking these assembled Iraqi troops can not only make their defensive preparations more chaotic, but also cause greater psychological pressure on the Iraqi army, making it easier for the Iraqi army to break up.

On the day of the opening of Operation Saber in the Desert, it was the day when the PLA mobilized the most bombers for bombing. Sixteen H-8 strategic bombers and 16 H-6K medium-range bombers took off from the airport in Kashgar, the mainland, and after an in-flight refueling near Gwadar, they flew directly to the Persian Gulf region. The Iraqi army's air defense has almost been exhausted, so when a large number of bombers volley, the Iraqi army can only dodge in a panic.

Not only bombers, but also the navy on the sea also tried to launch a cruise missile offensive against the Iraqi army's assembly area under the guidance of forward drones and reconnaissance satellites, and on this day alone, the navy launched 34 Changjian-15 cruise missiles, and the Iraqi army suffered a heavy blow.