However, in only Kistan, during the period. Pei Chengyi has developed the habit of watching TV news posts, but after becoming the commander-in-chief of the front line, Pei Chengyi no longer has time to settle down and watch thousands of hours. The news program of the time.

Back in Wozerabad, Pei Chengyi first adjusted the construction tasks of the engineering troops.

The establishment of a front-line air base can be said to be a top priority. During the assault on Surat, the lack of air support was exposed. Although the combat radius of most tactical fighters is more than 1,000 kilometers, in the case of the maximum combat radius, tactical fighters can only carry a pitiful amount of ammunition, and the time spent in the sky over the battlefield is also calculated in minutes. In general. Only when carrying out long-range key strike missions and battlefield interdiction missions should fighters be considered to attack with the maximum combat radius. If the task of battlefield support, especially the support mission of assisting ground forces in attacking, the combat radius of tactical fighters must be strictly limited. This is usually two-thirds of the maximum combat radius, so that the fighter can carry more ammunition or more time to patrol the battlefield.

Other words. The combat radius of a tactical fighter should be controlled within a kilometer.

According to the operational situation in the early stage, because the ground forces rely heavily on air support and often need air support forces to accompany their operations, it is best to control the combat radius of tactical fighters within kilometers. Only then will a tactical fighter be able to stay over the battlefield at least much more with blunt ammunition, but the problem of combat radius is just as serious and even more acute. The combat radius of the low-altitude attack aircraft of the Army Aviation represented by the army was originally inferior to that of the tactical aviation represented by the small fighter Xu. And when the Army Aviation is performing battlefield support missions. Affected by the operational airspace and basic tactics, the time spent in the air is much more than that of tactical fighters. According to the statistics of previous combat operations. The average airtime on anti-armor missions is 10,000 minutes longer than that of tactical fighters. The average airtime for auxiliary offensive support missions is twice that of tactical fighters, and the average time in the air for large-scale bombing missions is twice that of tactical fighters. That is, the low-altitude attack aircraft of the Army Aviation must be deployed even more forward. This disadvantage essentially negates the advantage of the Army's dependence on bases.

Needless to say, the importance of air support is that no matter how powerful the artillery is, ground forces cannot do without air support.

Of course. Air support is more than just fire support.

In the early stage of combat operations, the role of airlift support even exceeded that of fire support.

In Pei Chengyi's summary after the war: without a powerful airlift force, the Republic Army would not have been able to defeat India in an imaginable "blitzkrieg". It is even more impossible to occupy the whole of India in a month; It is not the advance of the armored forces or the extension of the supporting firepower that determines the offensive degree of the ground forces, but the maximum support that the airlift forces can bear. Only when the airlift force is strong enough can the ground forces launch a large-depth strategic assault without worrying about logistical support; Without a strong airlift force, the Republic Army could only fight a ground war like the Peninsula War, and it would be very remarkable to be able to end the war in a fighting year, or even a fall.

Arguably. The last sentence is a very straightforward reflection of the importance of airlift power.

Peninsular War. It took more than half a year for the republic. The area of India is dozens of times that of the Korean Peninsula, and if India is attacked according to the method of the peninsular war, it will definitely be the republic that will fail. It was for this reason that before the outbreak of the war, almost no one believed that the Republic Army would be able to achieve victory in India. Similarly, before the outbreak of the war, the Republic spared no effort to establish the world's largest support aviation and army aviation; In the case that the "lightweight" has not yet been fully completed, the Army of the Republic took the lead in proposing "airborne." exhibition strategy.

Although the war in India has not yet ended, "empty vehicles" has become the vane of the future army.

In the words of Western military experts: The war in India was a war to test the air-based army, and it was this long war. It proves the feasibility and strength of the airborne army, and in order to win future wars, it is necessary to have an airborne army; The Army of the Republic is once again at the forefront of the world.

Of course. In the history of the Army Exhibition, there is no strict distinction between "lightweight." With "Air."

According to the more common viewpoint, "lightweight" is the first stage of "airborne," the second stage of "airlifting" is to expand the airlift force and establish an army aviation unit represented by vertical take-off and landing transport planes, and the third stage of "airlifting" is to distinguish the airlift force according to strategy and tactics, and the army has gained an independent airlift capability.

In any case, when considering air support, Pei Chengyi must consider the rational distribution and utilization of air forces.

Among strategic transport aircraft, tactical transport aircraft and vertical take-off and landing transport aircraft, the first thing that should be considered is vertical take-off and landing transport aircraft and tactical transport aircraft. Because the range of strategic transport aircraft is large enough to often undertake the task of transporting war materials, it is not greatly affected by geography, and even if it is deployed in the Republic itself, it can participate in combat operations. The problem of tactical transport aircraft is a little more troublesome, although the adaptability of tactical transport aircraft is far greater than that of strategic transport aircraft, and the servant ratio can even take off and land on a sandy runway with a length of less than one meter, but due to the limitation of range and combat mission, tactical transport aircraft are often deployed in advance, and the transportation radius is shortened as much as possible, preferably a railway station, to reduce the pressure on ground transportation; This requirement greatly limits the deployment range of vertical take-off and landing transport aircraft, and also brings corresponding troubles; It is important to know that most of the train stations are located within cities or towns, and there is a lack of deployment nearby. The space required by the fleet of 10,000 machines.

Like tactical aviation, airlift units are deployed in three levels.

After making the request, Pei Chengyi handed over the work to a staff officer who was in charge of logistics. Although this makes people feel that he is a little irresponsible, Pei Chengyi does not have much experience in logistics management, and basically only knows how to make requests, and does not know how to solve problems, especially details. If he is allowed to arrange it randomly, the result will definitely not be much better, and it is better to let the staff officer who knows how logistics work be responsible.

After arranging this matter, Pei Chengyi began to formulate a battle plan.

According to his original idea, he first concentrated his forces on attacking Bala of the Sea, and then moved southward, advancing in both eastern and western directions, and finally occupied the southern part of the Indian peninsula. According to this plan, large-scale combat operations can only end before the Spring Festival at the earliest. Of course. The advantage of this is very obvious, that is, in the early stage of the campaign, we can concentrate our forces on the sea to reduce the operational burden of the ground troops, so that more troops can get ample opportunities to rest and recuperate, and when we advance south, we can put in more ground troops and speed up the progress of the advance. This scheme is the most feasible and has the lowest requirements for each combat unit if the combat time is not taken into account.

The question now is that the timing of the operation must be taken into account.

To end large-scale combat operations within the year, it is necessary not to make a fuss in just one direction.

The attack on Bala of the sea could not be changed, and the time for the southward attack had to be brought forward.

As a result, the biggest problem was that the support forces were again dispersed, and the air force, army and navy had to provide support to the attacking forces in both directions.

As a direct consequence of the dispersal of support forces, more ground forces must be committed.

Like arranging logistics support, Pei Chengyi handed over the details to Yuan Chenhao.

In the early combat operations, Yuan Chenhao's performance was very eye-catching, and his ability to deal with details was the most commendable. Some of the time. Pei Chengyi couldn't help but sigh. If it wasn't Yuan Chenhao who was selected at the beginning, but an officer similar to him, I'm afraid he would have to be personally responsible for many things.

According to Yuan Chenhao's calculations, if the support forces in the direction of Hyderabad are weakened, they will have to invest in the air assault brigade.

There must have been a correction in the 3 field armies. And according to Pei Chengyi's meaning. The other two field armies are strategic reaction armies. Either it is to lead the army and leave the army, or it is the Mi army and the immediate army, and Pei Chengyi prefers to choose the latter, because the Mi army and the blade army have combat experience in this direction. The air assault brigade is easier to arrange, no matter which brigade it is, it is not a big problem.

After determining the strength of the attack on Hyderabad, Pei Chengyi led Yuan Chenhao to disagree on the direction of the main attack in the south.

According to Yuan Chenhao's meaning, since heavy troops have been invested in the direction of Hyderabad, the main direction of the southward attack should be placed in the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea, and two heavy armored armies, three strategic reaction armies, and at least two air assault brigades should be used to form a large-scale assault force, with the heavy armored army responsible for sweeping the areas of the coastal plain, the strategic reaction force responsible for sweeping the inner mountainous areas, and the air assault brigade responsible for the forward assault mission. In this way, only the deception that only needs to invest in support forces can make a breakthrough in that direction and reach Thiruvananthapuram as quickly as possible. According to Yuan Chenhao's estimate, Thiruvananthapuram can be occupied at the beginning of the month of the mouth at the earliest and the middle of the mouth at the latest.

Look. Yuan Chenhao's suggestion is very reasonable, but Pei Chengyi does not agree.

When analyzing the battle situation, Pei Chengyi only raised two issues, one is logistics support, and the other is the frontal width of the assault.

Ground forces moved south from Surat and assaulted Thiruvananthapuram. Along the way, it is necessary to capture dozens of towns including Mumbai, Khubli, Talwar, Mangalore, Calicut, Cochin, etc., many of which are large cities and strategic locations, and even if you invest in one army and two brigades, the advance will not be fast. What's worse is that when the troops go south, they are followed only by the logistics support units of the Republic Army, and the troops of Bangladesh and Nepal will not go south, while the Pakistani troops are basking in the sun in the northwest of India and can only receive assistance from the Sri Lankan Army after occupying Kochi. In other words, on the logistics support line that is thousands of kilometers long and persuaded by thugs, they have to rely on themselves.

In response to this problem, Yuan Chenhao believes that it can be solved by occupying the port. After putting forward this idea, Yuan Chenhao also felt that it was untenable, because every time a port was occupied, it meant that a force would have to be left to guard the port. Although there was a force of one army and two brigades at the time of departure, by the time they arrived at Thiruvananthapuram, I am afraid that there would be very little left. If you really want to fight according to Yuan Chenhao's method. It was necessary to mobilize the strength of 7 armies and 1 brigade. With only the old army in total and the airborne brigades of the three airborne corps unable to participate in the initial stage of the campaign, Pei Chengyi had no reason to put more than half of the combat troops in one direction.

If the logistics are said to be post-assured, the assault front is wide, and it really blocks the way

The problem of the frontal width of the assault is more pronounced than the logistical support.

The Indian peninsula is high in the west and low in the east, and the western mountain ranges that traverse the peninsula from south to north form an invisible barrier that separates the plains on either side. Comparatively speaking, the eastern plains are more expansive, and the western plains are very narrow. If you follow Yuan Chenhao's proposal. Dispatch 2 heavy armored corps and 3 strategic reaction corps to the width of the western coastal plain of the peninsula, let alone let 2 heavy armored corps advance at the same time. Even a thug with a heavy armored army can't accommodate it. It is even more outrageous to make the strategic response force sweep the inland mountainous areas. The Strategic Response Army is not a mountain force, and the most suitable for mountain operations is the air assault brigade, while Pei Chengyi only has 6 air assault brigades in his hands. You can't waste it at will. Because the front cannot be opened and the flanks are difficult to break through, the troops put into the front line are very limited, so more troops are used. It also equals waste.

According to Pei Chengyi's view, the focus still has to be on the east.

During the attack on Bala in the sea, two Strategic Reaction Forces and two Air Assault Brigades were dispatched south from the coastal plain to Chennai as quickly as possible and to occupy the port of Chennai. Hereunto. The Assault Force split up and the Fighter Strategic Response Force continued southward to sweep the southeastern part of the southern tip of the Indian Peninsula. The initial phase of the campaign was aimed at capturing Chennai for a simple reason. According to the secret agreement between the Republic and Sri Lanka, after the Republic occupies Chennai, Sri Lanka will send ground troops to assist in the operation, that is, to provide logistical support for the Republic's army.

Of course. Pei Chengyi is not the kind of person who likes a fight.

The Eastern Front was the main direction of attack, and the Western Front was abandoned. According to Pei Chengyi's idea, before the assault on the Eastern Front began, it was necessary to send at least one strategic response force from Surat to the south. The task of the assault force was not to storm the city along the way, but to move south as quickly as possible from the coastal plain area, and to reach Mangalore when the eastern front forces captured Chennai and encircle Bangalore from the west. Because the operation to attack the sea of Bala will not be too easy, so when the two assault forces encircle Bangalore, the battle in the direction of the sea of Bala may not be over, or it has just ended. When expounding on the idea of the campaign, Pei Chengyi mentioned it very clearly. If the fighting in the Hyderabad direction is not over when the siege of Bangalore is encircled, it is necessary to fight Bangaluru first. Without giving the Indian army any way out, when the time comes, the Hyderabad will be the finale of the Indian war. If the opposite is true, then get around Bangalore as quickly as possible. Then concentrate forces to sweep the surrounding districts. Adjust the reinforcements before storming Bangalore. That is, the war will end either in Bala of the Sea or in Bangalore, thus avoiding falling into a long sweep.

Arguably. This is the only way to end a large-scale war within the year.

For this. Pei Chengyi must leave enough reserves. According to his plan, only 6 corps and 3 brigades were put into combat at the beginning of the campaign, and those who served as reserves were more than 3 corps and 3 catties and brigades. Because only a heavy armored army was used, it was when attacking Bangalore or other strategic locations. Pei Chengyi also has 3 heavy armored armies in his hands, which is enough to ensure the smooth capture of any big city.

It can be seen from the campaign deployment proposed by the two that Pei Chengyi pays more attention to the flexible use of troops, while Yuan Chenhao prefers to fight large-scale battles. In other words, Pei Chengyi prefers to leave enough reserves and then decide how to use the reserves according to the actual battle situation, while Yuan Chenhao likes to defeat the enemy as soon as he comes up and not give the opponent too many opportunities.

There is no superiority or inferiority between these two different types of military thinking, but only how they are applied.

To put it simply. Playing smoothly, Yuan Chenhao's playing style is more effective. If the game is not smooth, Pei Chengyi's playing style is more ideal.

The difference between the two can also be seen from this.

When Pei Chengyi took up the command post, the military strength of the Republic was not as strong as it is now, and the East China Sea War, the South China Sea War, and the Peninsula War were all very difficult, so that he developed the habit of leaving more room when commanding troops to fight. Yuan Chenhao and Pei Chengyi were younger, and when he took up the command post, the military strength of the Republic was already strong enough, and the Japanese war and the conflict in southern Tibet were fought very easily, so that he developed the habit of fighting fiercely when commanding troops to fight.

Different experiences have created a strong conducting style, and it is understandable.

After determining the overall campaign idea and campaign purpose, Pei Chengyi began to be lazy again and threw the work of formulating tactical plans to Yuan Chenhao. Of course, Yuan Chenhao has no complaints, this is a good opportunity to learn. Not to mention the hardship and tiredness, other people don't have a chance to learn if they want to.

In fact, Xi Chengyi is not lazy.

3rd of the old month. He left Wauzirabad and took a few guards with him to inspect the troops.

As the general headquarters of the front, Pei Chengyi must be well aware of the situation of each unit. Although before that. The fact that he did not inspect the troops does not mean that he does not pay attention to the situation at the grassroots level. During the early combat operations, because all the troops were sent from China and were in an ideal state, Pei Chengyi did not need to worry too much. More than half of the war has been fought, and the casualties of all units are very serious, and it is normal for the officers and men at the grassroots level to have some ideas. If Pei Chengyi remains at the front-line command, only rely on the reports submitted by the troops. It is certainly not possible to accurately grasp the situation at the grassroots level.

Only by going to the grassroots level can we know what the officers and men are really thinking.