Chapter 154: The General Retreat

Relatively speaking, the pace of fighting on the battlefield of Iran is not fast. First, the Chinese army is troubled by logistics supplies, and second, the command of the US-Russian coalition forces is disordered.

In the three days after September 18, Jiang Bowen did the most, which was to encourage the Iranian army to participate in the war.

Without a reserve team available, Jiang Bowen could only attack the Iranian army.

According to the order he issued to the Iranian army on September 18, when the Chinese army restrained the main force of the US-Russian coalition, the Iranian army put pressure on the US-Russian coalition from three directions in the southeast and west, compressing the US-Russian coalition defense line with steady advancement, and striving to divide and annihilate small groups of enemies.

Encouraged by the victory of the Chinese army, the Iranian army immediately entered the battle.

The focus is on the southern front, that is, the Iraqi army deployed in Khuzestan Province advances northward and attacks towns in the Zagros Mountains that are still occupied by the US-Russian coalition forces.

It can be said that this Iranian army is the real main force.

At that time, there were as many as 30 divisions of Iranian troops stationed in Khuzestan Province, with a force of about 300,000 and sufficient logistical support. In addition, there was a "jihad army" composed of Shiite Iraqis, with a force of about 100,000, and was assisting the Iranian army in combat.

Relying on ports in the Persian Gulf, especially the Port of Khomeini, the Iranian army obtained a large amount of weapons and equipment.

Unfortunately, the obstacles that the US-Russian coalition forces need to face have also become obstacles to the Iranian army.

Climbing over the Zagros Mountains is definitely not an easy task, especially after the US-Russian coalition forces decided to retreat and blew up all the bridges and tunnels in the mountainous areas, it became a huge problem.

Later, this also became a reason why some people accuse Jiang Bowen.

In the eyes of these people, if the Iranian army headed north from Khuzestan Province on September 11, it would definitely be able to cross the Zagros Mountains before the US-Russian coalition destroyed the road infrastructure, so as to share the pressure for the Chinese army when the US-Russian coalition retreated strategically.

The problem is that these people overlook an extremely important factor. If the Iranian army launches an attack in advance, the US-Russian coalition is likely to not make a strategic retreat decision, but will fight an encirclement and annihilation battle against the Iranian army somewhere north of the Zagros Mountains.

Judging from the information disclosed after the war, it is very likely that the US-Russian coalition forces will first remove the Iranian army.

First of all, if you are bitten by hundreds of thousands of Iranian troops, it is impossible for the US-Russian coalition to retreat smoothly, and it is even difficult to organize enough troops to break through the defense line of the 13th Army in Tehran, and it is very likely that the US-Russian coalition will solve its worries first.

Secondly, the materials reserved by the US-Russian coalition forces can be consumed for about three months. Strategic retreat only avoids being encircled and annihilated, which does not mean that the US-Russian coalition forces have lost their combat capabilities. Especially the seven US military divisions in the encirclement have sufficient combat capabilities, so they are very confident that they will encircle and annihilate the Iraqi army heading north.

Finally, encircling and annihilation of the advancing Iraqi army is also the best way to hit the morale of the Iraqi army, and even an effective means to turn the war and change the passive situation. Jiang Bowen looked down on the Iraqi army, and would not allow the Iraqi army to be annihilated, because behind the Iraqi army is the Khuzestan Province facing the Persian Gulf.

It can be said that Jiang Bowen delayed the attack of the Iraqi army in Huzistein Province by one week and did nothing wrong.

You should know that at this time, the US-Russian coalition forces had begun a strategic retreat. Even if the Iraqi army crossed the Zagros Mountains, the US-Russian coalition forces would not turn back to deal with the Iraqi army. More importantly, the strategic retreat seriously hit the morale of the US-Russian coalition forces and made the US-Russian coalition forces unwilling to fight.

The only thing that Jiang Bowen made a mistake was that he overestimated the combat effectiveness of this Iraqi army.

You should know that this army is definitely Iran's ace force. Not only are the personnel mainly officers and soldiers serving before the war, but even the main combat weapons are provided by China. Although most of the main combat equipment is relatively old and belongs to the old-fashioned equipment sealed before the outbreak of the war, it is definitely not much worse than the main combat equipment of the US-Russian coalition, and is more advanced than most of the main combat equipment of the Russian army.

As a result, three days later, the Iranian army was still circling in the Zagros Mountains.

For Jiang Bowen, in addition to disappointment, he was disappointed.

As a result, he had to ask his former superior, Yu Shihui, commander of the Middle East War Zone, for help, and asked Yu Shihui to send engineering troops to Iraq to fight.

It was not until September 24, after the Chinese engineers opened the road, that the Iraqi army crossed the Zagros Mountains.

Obviously, the role played by the Iraqi army in combat at this time can only be said to be better than nothing.

By September 21, the Chinese army occupied Yazd, and the two land divisions joined forces and began to march towards Isfahan, the largest city in central Iran.

This is also the most critical transportation hub in central Iran.

By occupying Isfahan, you can connect the Port of Khomeini and Bushere to the north to solve the logistics support problems of the Marines when they march towards Khomeini. Advancing towards Khomeini has become Jiang Bowen's biggest expectation, that is, to open up the transportation line to Tehran.

You should know that on September 21, the First Third Army was still fighting with the US-Russian coalition forces near Imam Rud, about 400 kilometers east of Tehran. Moreover, Jiang Bowen didn't know when he could occupy this city controlled by a US military division, four Russian divisions and two pseudo divisions.

At that time, there was a third force on the battlefield of Iran, namely the Iranian puppet army armed by the US-Russian coalition forces.

These puppet troops are mainly composed of ethnic minorities in Iran, such as Kurds, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and other "pagans" with different religious beliefs. The leader is General Aland, an Iranian army major general who defected to the United States in 2034. The main officers are members of anti-government organizations in Iran, and are mainly members of non-Shiite secret political organizations.

In nature, the Iranian puppet army is equivalent to public security forces.

The task assigned by the US-Russian coalition forces to the Iranian puppet troops is also to maintain public order, and only occasionally assists the US-Russian coalition forces in sweeping away guerrillas entrenched in the mountains.

It can be said that it is not strange that the US-Russian coalition forces support the puppet army.

At that time, on the mainland battlefield, the Chinese army also supported a large number of puppet troops and used the puppet troops to maintain public order in order to free the combat troops from the rear of the front line. According to official Chinese records, by the end of 2053, in the Far East and Siberian battlefields, a total of about 400,000 Russian puppet troops were serving the Chinese army, and these puppet troops were later converted into new government troops.

But in Iran, the situation is a bit special.

The puppet troops supported by the US-Russian coalition were actually some "pagans" and were a typical minority in Iran.

The result was that during the occupation of the US-Russian coalition forces, the Iranian puppet troops did a lot of sensational things, and even caused the root cause of Iran's national conflict.

This is also understandable why Iran executed almost all the puppet army officers and soldiers after the war.

In any case, supporting hostile opposition, ethnic minorities, and dissidents on the battlefield is definitely not an individual act during the war, but a very common practice. As for the consequences caused, at least during the war, neither side of the war did not consider it.

Judging from the situation of the war, by September 21, in addition to continuing to compress the defense zones of the US-Russian coalition forces, Jiang Bowen's offensive launched did not receive much substantial results and failed to achieve a critical breakthrough. The problems he faced still existed and were deteriorating.

In Tehran, the 13th Army's material reserves have reached a dangerous level.

Faced with waves of fierce attacks from the US-Russian coalition forces, the Thirteenth Army fought extremely hard, and limited logistics support could only provide the most urgent combat materials, such as ammunition from the anti-armor platform, while other materials that could be obtained on the battlefield were delayed in transporting.

The result is that the infantry of the Thirteenth Army often had to fight with captured individual weapons.

Fortunately, the situation of the battle will change soon.

As the fact that the US-Russian coalition forces were surrounded was already a fact, Qi Kaiwei no longer restricted Jiang Bowen, and asked the Air Force to send 200 additional fighter jets to Iran on the same day. On September 22, after having won the battlefield air supremacy, the Air Force dispatched 120 large electric transport aircraft and transported nearly 30,000 tons of combat materials to the 13th Army in Tehran in one breath, completely solving the logistics support problem.

These 30,000 tons of materials are enough for the 13th Army to spend a week.

There is no doubt that the US-Russian coalition forces will definitely not last a week.

More importantly, the Marines rushed to the vicinity of Isfahan, and the First Third Army also made a major breakthrough in Imam Rud. The offensive troops on both lines were less than 400 kilometers away from Tehran. The long-range artillery deployed from the front could directly provide artillery support to the 13th Army. In other words, the 13th Army no longer had the problem of insufficient artillery support, and no longer had to worry about insufficient artillery shells.

This is definitely a disaster for the US-Russian coalition.

You should know that this means that all the US and Russian coalition forces in the encirclement are within the range of attacks of Chinese long-range artillery.

According to the traditional tactics of the Chinese Army, the next step is not to expand the ground attack, but to consolidate the encirclement and defeat the enemy with long-range artillery fire.

As long as the ammunition is sufficient, the US-Russian coalition forces will be defeated if they cannot fight back.

Obviously, at least for the two Marine Divisions, there is no problem of insufficient ammunition supply, because the ammunition transported to Port Khomeini and Port Bushere can be delivered to Isfahan by road, and the Iranian army has used nearly 200,000 troops here to provide logistical support to the Marine Corps.

In fact, on the 113th Army, the logistics problems were also solved. The Iranian army transported materials from Zahedan to Mashhad by road, and then transported by railway to Imam Rud. Although the transportation efficiency was not very high, the huge human resources began to play a role.

For the US-Russian coalition, the current problem is: if you don’t escape, you may be wiped out.

On September 23, under the attack of artillery fire from the Chinese army, the US-Russian coalition command first retreated to Rasht. That night, while the Russian Chief of General Staff Brushilov remained silent, the US-Russian coalition commander and Russian General Ivanshenko issued a general retreat order.

This means that the US-Russian coalition forces will abandon all the equipment and supplies that cannot be taken away and try their best to withdraw their personnel.

Chapter 154: The General Retreat

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