"God, I'm afraid that only the whip of God and the Mongols have ever created such a scene!" When a German reconnaissance plane flew near the Huaxia armored forces, the situation on the ground gave him a heartfelt shock! Thousands of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks were marching in columns toward the west. From the air, the dust raised on the roads and the wilderness can be seen from more than a dozen kilometers away. Through the dust, the pilot could see what was like a matchbox-sized vehicle in a column that stretched out like a dragon as far as the eye could see. In the air, formed fighter jets are constantly circling, providing cover for the vehicles below. The other party did not hide his whereabouts, and exposed all his strength in front of the other party as a dignified teacher!

If the marching Huaxia armored forces are just shocking, then when these dragons attack, it feels terrifying! The pilot of another long-range reconnaissance plane witnessed the scene of a vanguard unit in China breaking through a line of Austro-Hungarian troops.

Even though the distance between the two sides is more than ten kilometers, the scene is still terrifying when the other side's rocket artillery volleys are fired, and countless shuttle-shaped tail flames rise from the ground, forming waves of flames. The shells arced in the air, and then smashed into the positions of the Austro-Hungarian troops like a waterfall of flames, and for a time, the flames and smoke screens from countless explosions covered the entire position. The other side did not seem to need much precision, because they had plowed almost the entire position with artillery fire. The amount of instantaneous projection is simply beyond imagination. After a full ten minutes, long-range artillery located behind the line tried to return fire. But it was quickly suppressed by attack aircraft hovering in the air. After waiting for the smoke to clear, he looked from the air to the ground, and a black belt ran through the entire defense line. The original Austro-Hungarian minefields, anti-tank trenches, various trenches and pillboxes were destroyed by intensive artillery strikes. The subsequent onslaught of the Chinese armored forces became insignificant, and almost in the posture of an armed march passed through the entire line of defense. The German pilot reported with trepidation.

Although the Huaxia Air Force tried its best to drive away those approaching reconnaissance planes. However, with the help of the Luftwaffe at any cost, the army still had a certain understanding of the speed of the Chinese advance. While the Chinese Army was advancing wildly, on the line of Baghdad to Kivri in the south of the Two Rivers Valley, the four armored divisions of the Germans were also advancing in echelons, and finally the German troops under the command of Manstein and Rundstedt would spread out on the line of Kivri and then launch an attack on the flank of the Chinese army.

What is different from what outsiders think is that the main force of the German armored forces on the southern front is not in a hurry to take the initiative, and the Germans have calculated that the two armored divisions on the northern front will invest a little later, and the Austrian and Turkish armies in Kirkuk will have more than enough defense and insufficient mobility. Limited offensive capabilities. Then Huaxia can completely concentrate a Huaxia armored division from the middle and southern routes. With one Iranian armored division and about two mechanized infantry divisions against the Germans, plus the current air force is not strong, it is really difficult to say who will have the advantage if the two sides meet.

"If the opposing forces Kirkuk attack, then the only battlefield where the opposing forces can be dispersed is in Sulaymaniyah. This place is stuck on the transportation line of Huaxia. If left unchecked, their rear will be very unstable. Rundstedt said, staring at the map. So our only chance at the beginning of the campaign was that the Austro-Turkish forces in Sulaymaniyah could entangle a part of the Chinese army, and then the four German Panzer Divisions on the Southern Front would attack.

One might say, why not wait until the two German Panzer Divisions on the Northern Front were ready to go on the offensive? The reason is very simple, the Germans have reinforcements, and China also has them, as long as China is given time. At least two more armored brigades can be transferred to the battlefield in Iran, and from the current point of view, the German army may not have a greater advantage over time within a month, plus if the German army does not move. What if Kirkuk's Austrian-Turkish armies can't stop it? Although the tank unit is known to be mobile quickly, the tank itself also has a travel limit. Supply lines were also limited, although there were more German tank vehicles. But there are more transporters needed. In the case that the air umbrella was not so stable, the Germans still chose to fight steadily. Don't try to defeat the opponent at once, take advantage of it slowly!

The Germans calculated well. It is indeed impossible for Huaxia to let Sulaymaniyah not fight, and it is true that some troops will be temporarily dispersed, but on Huaxia's timetable, Huaxia will use the fastest speed to eliminate this fish bone that is crossing the throat of Huaxia! The speed is beyond the imagination of the Germans! So much so that it is unlikely that the Germans would like to use this time to make a time difference.

"Although the battle will be dominated by field battles, Sulaymaniyah in the border area between the two countries is a city that must be breached, which is also the largest heavy group of Austrian and Turkish armies except Kirkuk, with about one division of Austro-Hungarian troops and three regiments of about 6,000 Turkish troops, with a total strength of about 20,000 people, and they have established a deep and wide defense line based on the city. Xu Huaide and Zhou Xuan's armored forces will continue to advance and occupy suitable starting positions. Tian Yong's 4th Mechanized Infantry Division and General Gallen's Russian Division will be responsible for capturing the city, and you only have 4 days to get to Kirkuk with Zhao Sicheng's 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division and Iran's 1st Armored Division. "While the other troops are marching all the way to the west, Tian Yong's troops need to fight a tough battle!

Although on paper, the main force of both sides in the Battle of Sulaymaniyah was a mechanized infantry division, and in terms of equipment level and soldiers, the other side was in a defensive state and waited for work. Moreover, one of the three Turkish regiments that assisted in the defense was an anti-aircraft artillery regiment with a large number of anti-aircraft guns. What's more important is the need to lay the city in 4 days. There can't be too many casualties, and at the same time, time is also very short, and it can't be consumed slowly with water grinding effort. This would have been difficult to do before.

But this time, Tian Yong got the hint from above that he didn't have to think about some moral matters when attacking the city. If the attacking side does not take into account the destruction of the city or civilian casualties, then a lot of things are saved. Of course, such a thing will not be touched by the troops directly under Huaxia as much as possible, aren't there still Russians? The main task of these Russian regiments, which were considered Iranian units in terms of formation, was to fight street battles. Huaxia after sweeping away the outer obstacles. Mainly provide fire support for the attacking forces. The troops sent by General Gallen were specially designed for street fighting, and were heavily equipped with automatic weapons, mortars, and various lightly armored vehicles equipped with machine guns. The worst plan is to completely bulldoze this small city with artillery, anyway, the distance from the rear is not too far, and the supplies are still relatively sufficient.

And so the first tough battle of Operation Babylon began in Sulaymaniyah!

"What the hell are the Austrians up to?" After repeatedly verifying the information provided by the reconnaissance unit and the aviation unit, Tian Yong discovered a very strange thing, that is, where did the heavy weapons and vehicles of an entire division of the Austrian mechanized infantry division go. The scale of Hillmania is not very large, although aviation reconnaissance can only look at the surface, but the scale of several hundred tanks of various types in a division disappears like this. It is also difficult to hide such a large-scale installed fleet in time, and compared with the intelligence gathered before the war, the layout of the buildings in this city has not changed much. In other words, unless the other party quietly dug a large garage that could accommodate hundreds of chariots in the ground, these chariots could not be hidden at all, and it is obvious that this assumption is not valid. Then the only possible reason is that a large number of combat vehicles of the other side are not in the city, the only possibility is that they are outside the city, or this mechanized infantry division is just a crippled division. Only anti-tank guns were left for defense.

It was also possible for the Austrians to use the second tactic, after all, there was no air supremacy in the Central Powers of Hillmania, and any vehicle movement during the day would be exposed to the blows of the air force. If you are only carrying out pinning and defensive tasks, you really don't need a lot of vehicles. It is enough for a limited number of armored forces to be used for gagging. The rest of the tanks may have been transferred to other units. According to Tian Yong's understanding, the outer defense line is just to consume the opponent, and the really difficult thing to fight is the street battle.

But this time. Tian Yong's judgment was very different from the actual situation, and Tian Yong underestimated the position of the Austro-Hungarian Empire towards Hilmania, which wanted more than just a point of support. It was also intended that the defenders of Hillmania could take the initiative to attack at the right time, so the combat vehicles of this mechanized infantry division were not only not reduced. Instead, there is proper reinforcement! And what Tian Yong didn't expect even more, the Austrians actually dug out tank bunkers on the position. Then let the tank drive in and camouflage! At the same time, because camouflage operations were carried out at night and in the early hours of the morning, and the tank bunker had been under construction for several months, the movement was not very large, and even if some clues were found, it was treated as a reinforcement support point, completely ignoring the fact that there would be a tank inside.

Schrager is not a mediocre person, after carefully studying the actions of the armored forces after breaking through the defense line in previous battles, and combined with the experience of actual combat exercises, he found that there is a gap between the armored troops after breaking through the opponent's first line of defense and the follow-up troops to consolidate the position, the tank troops need to expand the results of the battle on the one hand and reorganize the formation, and the follow-up troops have not yet been deployed in place, which belongs to the kind of combat troops are already exhausted, and the follow-up troops have not yet been in place, and this is the time when the attacker is the weakest. If your armored forces can attack suddenly, then it is easy to inflict heavy damage on the exhausted opponent, or even launch a short assault to attack the follow-up infantry. Because according to the standards of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the general German infantry divisions, the anti-armor weapons of the infantry units were relatively few, and most of them were towed artillery, and the combat effectiveness in the state of movement was extremely poor.

It's a good idea, but the most important question is how to get your armored forces into the battlefield at the right time when the opponent is regrouping? Especially when the other side still has air supremacy? It is important to know that the distance between the battle lines is 5 to 8 kilometers, and even if the armored forces feel the breakthrough point from the second line of defense from the moment the opponent enters and recuperates, then the actual distance traveled will be more than 8 kilometers. After all, you can't walk in a straight line, and in off-road situations, by the time your troops arrive at the battlefield, the opponent may have already gathered and reorganized.

At that time, what awaits the counterattack troops is a combined strike by anti-aircraft artillery and tanks. In order to shorten the attack distance, Schrager took a trick when deploying defenses, hiding a certain number of tanks and assault guns in the interval of the defensive line, which should have been empty. Fortunately, due to the limited terrain, the place where the armored troops can be deployed is not large, and the circular defense line is not a long linear defense, so the vehicle at an ambush point can take into account several defense positions.

Compared with the more balanced performance of German tanks, Austria-Hungary preferred tank destroyers, and they did better than their German counterparts in terms of firepower, in this battle they took out a trump card that had been hidden for a long time, that is, the Vespa tank destroyer equipped with the 88MML56 gun and the No. 3 tank destroyer with the 75MML48, the latter was an original German product, and the former was made by Austria-Hungary itself, but because this gun was too big, Therefore, the Vespa tank destroyer is very similar to the historical German Rhino tank destroyer, both of which are open-topped, strong attack and weak defense vehicles. Although the front of the vehicle and the gun shield defense are sufficient, the lack of a roof still makes the actual protection of this vehicle not as strong as it appears on paper.

"All the Europeans were well maintained, and their tank bunkers not only hid their tanks well, but also had some shelters around them for the infantry, which were directly connected to the tank bunkers, and had ample reserves of supplies and ammunition. It can almost be seen as a well-established line of defense, except that this line of defense is not used for defense, but as a starting point for attack. "After the war, Tong Guò inspected the defense line of the Austro-Hungarian army, and the Chinese military gave a high evaluation of the Austrian fortifications. And Schrager's ingenious deployment did cause some trouble for Huaxia in this battle, and in all fairness, in the absence of long-range firepower and air force, the Austrians fought very well. But in the actual battle, the miscalculation of the Austro-Hungarian defense forces had an even greater impact on the Allied command!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward ~~~~~, as well as the book friend Bold 100, Dragon Tiger 987654321, njluyujiang, Big Fat Bookworm, and Kongchen's monthly ticket support ~~~~~. (To be continued......)