The Xungong said that the whirlwind attack of the fallen army turned the Xijiao operation from a plan into an army, and the difficulties encountered when advancing to Surat once again brought the Xixiang movement back to reality. [No pop-up novel network]

In the early morning of the old day, the sword army took the place of the army and began to advance westward from the exit position on the opposite bank of Shilpur.

I have to say that Pei Chengyi made a small mistake at this time, that is, ignoring the serious impact of two-front operations on logistics support.

At the time of the attack, the 24th Army's combat operation to sweep the railway line was still going on. That is, the supply of combat materials for the sword army was carried only by road transport. As early as the stage of the campaign, Yuan Chenhao made it clear that road transportation could not provide sufficient logistical support for the front-line attacking troops. The reason is simple: the Burmese transport force, which had assisted the Republican ** team in the war, has left the front line and returned to the rear to deliver humanitarian supplies to the refugees. Less than half of the combat materiel can be provided only by the transport convoys of combat units. It is precisely because of this that Pei Chengyi made the decision to let the army fight the first half and the ten thousand troops to fight the rear means, and after the army successfully seized the bridgehead on the south bank of the Dabuti River, he urgently called a stop, and asked Luo Shaopeng to turn back and clean up the Indian army on the rear railway line and open up the railway line. Only when the railway line is opened to traffic can the front-line troops be recommended to provide sufficient combat materials and enable the attacking forces to attack Surat.

Here's the problem, that is, the fastest way to sweep the railway line can be done in the old days.

If you wait until after the old days, the sword army will advance towards Surat, and it will obviously not be able to keep up with the progress of the battle.

Of course, it is not that there is no solution, Pei Chengyi's first thought is airdrop and airlift.

Because the Knife Army is a strategic reaction army, and the Zhimo is much smaller than the Knife Army, it is enough to make up for the lack of road transportation through airdrop and airlift, and provide sufficient combat materials for the Knife Army.

The problem is that Pei Chengyi did not think that the troops attacking New Delhi would also need airdrop support.

What is even worse is that by this time, because the support aviation unit had not received sufficient rest for a long time, one-third of the villa thugs had already been turned into nests, and about one-third of the army aviation force's Tian Yifu was unusable due to mechanical problems. In fact, it's even worse. Although the Air Force and the Army Aviation have organized a large number of ground crews to carry out emergency repairs to the malfunctioning transport planes, and have even hired a number of engineers from aircraft factories, the rest of the transport planes that have not been lying on their stomachs have to be repaired one after another, and it is difficult for the air transport capacity to be restored quickly. According to the reports submitted by the Air Force and the Army Airlines, even if all transport aircraft are immediately grounded and fully repaired, the airlift capacity will not be restored until the beginning of the old month at the earliest. If the airlift intensity is not reduced, only two-thirds of the airlift force can be guaranteed before the moon knife day, and the airlift force will drop to one-half on the old moonday and then begin to recover, and the full airlift capacity will not be reached until the old moon.

The impact of reducing the airlift force by one-third on combat operations is self-evident.

You must know that one-third of the airlift force is equal to the logistical support force of the thug's army.

If it had been expected earlier that the main airlift forces would have been put into the direction of New Delhi, the problem would not have been very big, and at most the departure time of the 7th Army would have been delayed to 2 days, giving more time to the logistics troops. The problem is that before the sword army came out, Pei Chengyi did not expect that so many airlift forces needed to be invested in the direction of New Delhi. To be precise, Pei Chengyi should have imagined it, but at that time he was too concerned about the battle in the direction of New Delhi and did not realize that the knife army was attacking from the south bank of the Dabti River to the west when the supplies were not sufficient.

Two days ago, the problem was not very big.

On the night of the old days, the sword army struck westward and captured Nendhubar, which was located on the south bank of the Dabuti River.

According to Pei Chengyi's instructions, the Wan army did not continue to advance at night, but stopped at Nendubal, in addition to allowing the officers and soldiers to sleep well, but also allowed the engineering troops accompanying the attack to repair the Nendubal railway station, laying the foundation for the future transportation of war materials by railway line.

It's just that the main reason why Pei Chengyi asked the Dao Army to stop at that time was not to let the Dao Army repair the train station.

In the evening, the long-range support forces were all concentrated in the direction of New Delhi, and although the artillery units of the fallen army and the Wanjun army could provide artillery support for the assault troops, in the absence of air support, it would be much more difficult for the sword army to assault at night.

According to Pei Chengyi's idea, waiting for the air support force to turn around before attacking can reduce the difficulty.

Asking the engineering troops to repair the Huofeng station is only to let the engineering troops who have no combat mission do something, lest the Fufu troops stop at Nendubal and have nothing.

Of course, Pei Chengyi didn't know that this unintentional move ended up playing a big role.

Because the fighting in the direction of New Delhi was fierce, air support was always limited, so it was not until the thugs were divided that the 10,000 troops left Nendhubar and continued to advance westward.

In the evening, the vanguard of the Sword Army reached a distance of about a kilometer from Surat, but was stubbornly resisted by the Indian army.

By this time, the Sword Army had reached the outside of the Surat Line.

The sword army failed to break through the Indian army's defense line quickly, in addition to the logistics support did not keep up, and the Indian army's defensive deployment also had a lot to do with it. As a necessary passage for the Indian government to move the capital, after the loss of Bhopal, the Indian army began to comprehensively strengthen the defensive position of Surat, expanding the scope of the defense area from the initial field kilometers to the thug field kilometers, and the defense force has also increased from the initial four divisions to the old divisions. If you count the other Indian troops in the adjacent areas, the Surat defense force is more than a division, and the total strength is close to 10,000.

And that's not the main problem.

About a kilometer south of Surat is Mumbai, India's shipping center with a population of more than 20,000. Although in terms of strategic importance, Mumbai is not as good as Surat, in any case, it is impossible for Pei Chengyi to obtain a port on the Arabian Sea by occupying Mumbai, not to mention anything else, the troops needed to attack Mumbai have been invested in Pei Chengyi's hands, from a military point of view, after the occupation of Surat, it is debatable whether to capture Mumbai, but as a large city with a population of more than 40,000, Mumbai has not many defenders, and Mumbai is also the war mobilization center in the region.

When attacking Surat, the sword army had to keep an eye on the Indian army that was on the upward slopes of Meng Mai.

In fact, the only force that the Knife Army can use for a frontal attack is the thug brigade.

According to Pei Chengyi's plan, the task of the sword army is to fight outside the city of Surat, prevent the Indian army from expanding the scope of defense, and wait until the main force comes up, and then concentrate on attacking Surat.

If everything goes well, around the end of the month, you will be able to lead the army and guide the concave army.

The problem now is that it's not going well.

While the Sword Army was fighting hard east of Surat, the army was still sweeping the Indian army on the railway line.

In the early morning of the battle, when the supply of materials could not keep up with the consumption of the battle, the sword army had to stop the offensive and build a defensive line opposite the Indian position.

It is precisely because of this that Pei Chengyi turned his attention to the southern battlefield in Kouri.

There are two choices in front of Pei Chengyi: one is to invest more troops on the battlefield of sweeping the railway line, let the knife army confront the Indian army on the front line, and wait until the railway line is opened, and then attack again; The second is to invest more troops on the front line, strengthen the delivery of materials, and provide more support for the sword army.

Two options, one for the long-term goal and one pound, to solve the current problem.

After discussing with Yuan Chenhao, Pei Chengyi decided to take a two-pronged approach.

In the afternoon, he ordered the leading army and the Hongjun army to leave the garrison and march to the front line. Although the problem of dispatching the two armies in advance was not very big, the spirit of leading the army was very strong, the officers and men were very active, the state of the concave army was also good, and the officers and men were very eager to seek war, Pei Chengyi made special arrangements for the two armies, that is, all combat units carried combat materials to the maximum extent, and the logistical support units of the two armies were also all engaged in the work of transporting materials, and they must arrive at the defensive positions of the sword army before the evening to support the sword army's operation.

There is no doubt that the officers and men leading the army cannot figure it out, you must know that they are also the main field army.

Regardless of whether the officers and men of the two armies wanted to make sense or not, Pei Chengyi did not change the combat order.

After arranging the introduction of troops and the Hong army, Pei Chengyi gave an order to the medicine army that had just arrived in Bhopal, asking to send at least one brigade of thugs to advance southward, with the support of the Nu army, mainly with artillery support, to strengthen the Narmoda River, and after occupying Khoshengabad on the opposite bank, advance south along the railway line, and as soon as possible join forces with the concave army advancing in the opposite direction, and open the railway line.

Because the Wawa army had just arrived in Bhopal and had been fighting along the coast of the Bay of Bengal before, the fatigue of the officers and men was very serious. In order to alleviate the combat pressure of the Mi army, Pei Chengyi put all the two artillery brigades of the Fei Army into battle. The transport line to Bhopal has long been opened, and supplies are not a problem.

Of course, Pei Chengyi did not forget the most important thing, which was to let the engineering troops follow the Mi army, and immediately after the Mi army occupied Khoshenabad, he began to repair the railway bridge over the Narmoda River. Because the railway bridge over the Dabuti River in the south was also blown up by the Indian army, Pei Chengyi arranged more equipment and materials for the engineering troops, and asked the engineering troops to go south immediately after sending out the army to join the army.

This time, Pei Chengyi gave a death order to the army, the army and the engineering troops, and the sweeping operations on the railway line must be completed before the old day of the moon, and before the day of the moon, the first train carrying supplies will get Danendubar. In order to attract the attention of the three armies, Pei Chengyi clearly mentioned in the order that if he could not complete the task on time, he would definitely change the general.

It's just that the problem is more serious than Pei Chengyi imagined.

On the night of the mouth, the Indian army in the direction of Surat counterattacked.

Receiving the news, Pei Chengyi immediately went to the tactical command center.

"How's it going?"

"It's still fighting, I've already let the artillery brigade leading the army be deployed in Indore, and in thirty minutes it will be able to provide artillery support for the ten thousand troops."

Pei Chengyi nodded and let out a sigh.

The Indian army's counterattack was very resolute, and Yuan Chenhao also sighed and said, "The sword army has returned three battle reports, and the battle is very fierce, and the preliminary judgment is that at least two main divisions participated in the counterattack."

"When will I receive battlefield information?"

"AWACS aircraft are rushing over, and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft are also on their way over." Yuan Chenhao smiled bitterly and said, "The Indian army chose to counterattack when our army's early warning aircraft were rotated

"It's very targeted and prepared."

Yuan Chenhao nodded and said, "Fortunately, it only takes fifteen minutes to change shifts, and you will soon receive battlefield information."

"First find out the scale of the Indian army's counterattack, especially the number of main divisions. The artillery brigade that led the army was deployed in the future, and the sword army was asked to send reconnaissance troops to guide the artillery strike. ”

"It's been arranged

Pei Chengyi glanced at Yuan Chenhao and said, "Did the Indian army on the upward side of the Meng buyer move?" ”

"Not for the time being, the Navy has just received news that carrier-based AWACS aircraft have been monitoring the Indian army near Mumbai

"That's good, where is the fleet now?"

"It's heading north, and the carrier-based aviation has begun to take off, but the fleet is seven hundred kilometers away from Su Renxing, so don't count on the fleet's artillery support tonight

Air support is enough Pei Chengyi touched his chin and said, "Have you contacted the Air Force and the Army Aviation?" ”

"I contacted, but I couldn't send any reinforcements, and all of them were trapped in Changqigar

"It's really hard to fight on two fronts."

When Pei Chengyi sighed, the communications staff officer displayed the battlefield information of the early warning plane's return on a three-dimensional theater map.

The battle was indeed fierce, and the Indian army, attacking from several directions, had already broken through the sword army's defensive line in several places. Fortunately, because of the electromagnetic suppression, the Indian army commander failed to seize the opportunity in time, and most of the Indian army was still attacking the defense line of the knife army step by step, and did not take the opportunity to expand the breakthrough.

As the Artillery Brigade remained in Indore entered the battle, the tide of battle began to turn.

About a minute after the shelling began, carrier-based aviation arrived and carried out a focused bombardment of the Indian troops on the west side of the battle line, preventing the Indian troops from throwing offensive troops into the front line.

It can be said that the two rounds of fire strikes came very timely.

If the artillery strike arrives in the evening, it is very likely that the knife army will retreat voluntarily in the event of too many casualties. As long as the Knife Army shrinks its defensive line, the Indian commander will be able to seize the opportunity and commit more offensive troops. In the case of being forced to retreat, it is difficult for the sword army to hold the second line of defense. To be precise, there is no second line of defense at all. As long as they retreat, they must disengage from the Indian army, retreat a few kilometers, and then establish a defensive line. If you really want to retreat a few kilometers, as long as the burden of the Indian commander is a little bigger, he will use the cover of night to hit Nendhubar in one go.

Even if the Swords were able to gain a foothold in Nndubbar, they would have suffered heavy losses, and more time would have to be spent in Nndubal to establish an advance base in Nndhubar, and the attack on Surat would have been delayed for several days.

Using firepower to provide reinforcements, the army first plugged the loopholes in the defensive line.

Pei Chengyi did not let the sword army fight back, but in a persistent way, with the help of fire support, to eliminate the living forces of the Indian army.

Although he didn't go to the front line, Pei Chengyi knew that the damage to the sword army would not be too small. Besides, whether it is defensive or offensive, it is necessary to destroy the living forces of the Indian army in battle. Defensive warfare is much less damaging to your own troops, and it would be nice to be able to wear down the enemy through defense.

After the setback of the rotational offensive, the Indian army did not give up immediately.

The battle lasted until the early hours of the morning before the Indian army took the initiative to retreat and disengaged from the knife army.

At this time, Yuan Chenhao suggested that the sword army immediately counterattack, taking advantage of the retreat of the Indian army to defeat Surat's outer defense line in one fell swoop.

Pei Chengyi vetoed the suggestion because there were numerous indications that the Indian army's counterattack was carefully planned.

When the AWACS aircraft returned the defensive deployment of the Indian army, Pei Chengyi's guess was confirmed that it was the reserve of the Surat defenders who attacked the knife army, not the Indian army on the outer defense line. That is, the Indian army retreated on its own initiative and did not have an impact on the outer line of defense. If a counterattack is launched according to Yuan Chenhao's suggestion, the sword army is likely to hit its head and bleed on the outer defense line of Surat. More importantly, the Indian army chose to retreat in the early hours of the morning, about a certain time before dawn, clearly wanting to induce the sword army to counterattack, so as to break through the defense line of the sword army before dawn.

When the Indian army retreated, Pei Chengyi asked the Knife Army to send a reconnaissance unit.

In addition to monitoring the movements of the Indian troops, another task of the reconnaissance unit is to direct fire strikes.

The inability to fight back does not mean that it cannot be attacked with firepower.

Before dawn, artillery strikes and air strikes were staggered, so that the Indian troops on the defensive positions outside Surat did not even have a chance to breathe, and the Indian counterattack troops that had withdrawn before ran all the way for dozens of kilometers and only stopped after leaving the air strike range.

As the sky brightened, the fleet reached the sea area of shelling.

After asking the 1st Artillery Brigade to stop the shelling, Pei Chengyi handed over the heavy responsibility of the fire strike to the fleet.

Of course, with the artillery strike capability of the fleet, it would be a waste of valuable military power to deal only with the outer defensive line of Surat. According to Pei Chengyi's order, the fleet will carry out a round of focused strikes on the Indian army in the entire Surat area. To ensure the accuracy of the shelling, the fleet also sent several carrier-based AWACS aircraft.

It was only at this time that Pei Chengyi asked the sword army to report the battle damage at night.

It was not much different from what he expected, because the defensive preparations were seriously insufficient, the Knife Army was not an airborne army, there was no portable engineering equipment like the Airborne Army, and the engineering troops built an offensive position in Nendubar, and they could not build a perfect defensive position in the old hours of the day, so when the Indian army suddenly counterattacked, the Knife Army could only use armored troops to fight a mobile defensive war. Because the people participating in the defensive battle were all combat units, the combat effectiveness of the sword army was reduced by about a quarter.

Fortunately, the logistical support units and engineering units did not suffer losses.

After ordering the sword army to be stationed on the spot, Pei Chengyi asked the leading army and the Hong army to speed up the march, and asked the Hong army to put the thugs and an artillery brigade to deploy positions in Hilpur. Since Hilpur was only a few kilometers away from Surat, the artillery brigade did not have to move on.

After completing this series of deployments, Pei Chengyi began to reconsider the combat operation of attacking Surat.