The top brass of the Luftwaffe can seriously sum up the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides in the air battle that has just ended, and adjust their own deployment in this way, while the German Army has no leisure to deal with these things, because at this time the Chinese offensive has already begun, and the attack like a hammer is aimed at the Austrian and Turkish teams blocking the front. "Don't look at the Austrian and Turkish ** teams with 150,000, but I still think they can't complete the set task!" At the German high-level meeting, Guderian said with a gloomy face. The so-called established task is not to let Austria-Hungary and the Turks block the Chinese offensive, but to use the fortresses of bunkers to delay the Chinese offensive in the early stage of the war, and in the middle of the war, rely on the city of Kirkuk to attract the main Chinese forces near the city to facilitate the general offensive of the German army.

"The Turks may not be able to do it, but General Schlager's Austrian army is still relatively strong, and its performance on the Italian battlefield is also obvious to all." Rundstedt on the side said that combat effectiveness cannot be determined by winning or losing alone, although the performance of the Austrians in northern Italy cannot be said to be excellent, but it is also the level of the general units of the German army, not to mention their numerical superiority, even if the armored forces can quickly break through the defensive line, they need a large number of mechanized infantry to completely eat these troops. According to the analysis of the intelligence collected by the Germans, the number of mechanized infantry in China is not abundant, in this way, if Huaxia wants to break through these fortresses, it can only be slowly sharpened with long-range artillery, and it is okay to finally defeat it, but the consumption of Huaxia will also be very large, if it is not allowed to fight, it will leave a few thorns on the rear front of Huaxia, so Rundstedt believes that no matter how Huaxia fights, the Allies seem to be sure to make a profit.

Together with Schrag, he had studied how to deal with an armored attack, and when his own armored mobility was insufficient, the best way was to use static defenses and fortifications to attrition, and then identify the enemy's weak points and concentrate on counterattacking. Considering that Austria and Turkey were not fighting independently, their task was only to delay the opponent's offensive, and it was the two German Panzer Divisions in the North and the four Panzer Divisions in the South that could really play a decisive role. Although the transportation hub in the north has blown up Huaxia once, and there will be some obstacles in transportation, it is definitely not a fatal problem. The four armored divisions in the south can attack at any time, so Schrager's troops don't need to think about taking the initiative at all, as long as they can hold on in the early stage, they can attract the opponent's troops. And wait until the Germans launch an offensive and then a middle flower.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Turks were also deployed in this way, and the outer line of defense could be abandoned except for a few well-prepared support points. The main forces of the two ** teams are concentrated within a radius of 30KM centered on Kirkuk, where the troops of the two countries have built a relatively complete system of trenches and fortress groups. And it is equipped with anti-aircraft artillery and long-range artillery at key support points. Coupled with minefields and various obstacles, as well as a large number of tank destroyers and other mobile forces, as well as relatively sufficient reserves, Schrager once confidently said that if Huaxia wanted to break through these lines, then they would march on waist-deep blood! The Austro-Hungarian forces were mainly responsible for the perimeter, and when the opposing side broke through the defenses outside the city, the Turkish and Austro-Hungarian infantry could still use barricades, sewer lines, and fortified houses to continue the defense until the attacking side had exhausted all its forces. Don't look at the level of equipment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is a grade lower than that of the Germans, but after all, it has also participated in the trench confrontation in World War I, and the repair of fortifications and defense are still relatively level.

If only that's all there is to it. Schrager's tactical level is already acceptable, but in fact Schrager has done more than the average person thinks. As a defender, in addition to taking care of bunkers, sufficient troops and supplies, you also need to make it impossible for the attacker to go all out. Although the Germans promised to attack on the periphery, in line with the principle of self-reliance, Schrager drew on the experience of the British in raiding German transport lines, and Schrager also divided some mobile forces to attack the fragile supply lines and small forces in China. After some arrangement, not only Schrager was very satisfied with the entire battle plan, but even the German ** officers represented by Rundstedt also agreed with this plan. With a powerful decoy and the German tanks' numerical superiority, it is impossible to lose this battle!

At the same time that the Germans were full of confidence. Huaxia is also full of confidence. If the confidence of the Central Powers is based on historical experience, then China's self-confidence is based on the help of the travelers and the transcendence of historical experience. The Germans proved that the staff officers always had a foolproof plan for the last war, and the Huaxia proved how important vision and new strategies really were.

In the presence of tanks, the coordination of armored units and other units will be the main force to break through the opponent's defenses. The Germans did the same. The Huaxia side did the same at first, but after many exercises and demonstrations, the Huaxia commanders found that there were many problems with the simple armor breakthrough tactic. First of all, the first problem is that the tank needs to face the enemy's layers of fortified defenses, minefields, buffer zones, and the opponent's armored fire brigade. The opponent's main line of defense will be preceded by several lines of defense, with large gaps between them and various obstacles. Tanks are more troublesome to destroy completely, but paralysis is not too difficult. A broken track, a damaged running gear, or a shell hitting the hull and turret junction can put a tank out of combat. Even the strongest tank will still lose its effectiveness if it is constantly attacked.

When the armoured forces penetrate several layers of the opponent's defense, the available tanks on the front line will be reduced to a very low standard, and at this point you may run into the opponent's armored reserves, and then collapse under the blows of the opponent's superior forces and firepower. If the other party knows the direction of your attack, then congratulations, you are even worse, and the other party will concentrate terrifying firepower and forces to stop you. Faced with this situation, Xu Jie finally put forward a point of view, that is, if the mechanized infantry can also have a certain ability to attack fortifications, and at the same time tear several holes in the opponent's front, with the rapid attack of the armored division, will the attack effect be better.

Mechanized infantry does not need to penetrate the opponent's defense line as quickly as tanks and then develop in depth, but uses a large number of assault guns and flat-fire artillery to smash the defense of a position one by one, and then create a gap that the opponent cannot block, and the forces on the defensive side are generally very scattered, (it is said that a division in the Soviet-German battlefield in World War 2 needs to be responsible for a defense line of 20 to 30KM.) The defense line alone cannot stop the opponent's attack, the defense line is only a lag effect, and the key is to see the blocking of counterattack troops and artillery fire. For a mechanized infantry division with a large number of assault guns and tank destroyers, it may not be easy for the opponent to repel it, while the infantry can quickly build a defensive line and consolidate the breakthrough after occupying the position. In terms of defense. Mechanized infantry divisions, which are relatively inexpensive, are no worse than armored ones. This attack is slow, but effective.

In this battle, codenamed Operation Babylon, the Huaxia troops equipped the rest of the mechanized infantry divisions with a large number of Type 29 assault guns, which were equipped with 122MML35 guns, although not as popular as the Type 29 tank destroyers, but still had a very good evaluation among the grassroots troops. The 24.5KG high-explosive grenade fired by this tank can completely dispose of most of the fortifications with one shot. And because of the relatively large elevation angle, this gun itself can also perform the task of long-range suppression. The actual effective range is about the same as that of howitzers. And according to the range tests, if armor-piercing shells are used, it will be enough to deal with the German tank No. 4. In addition to the excessive weight of the shells and the slow rate of fire. This assault gun has almost no drawbacks in combat performance! (Well, because it comes with 2 loaders, the body space is a bit cramped.) In addition to the Type 4 assault gun, the Chinese Army also increased the number of truck guns and other improvised self-propelled guns, the only thing that decreased was the number of heavy mortars. According to the attack plan, in addition to the use of mortars to suppress the enemy's forward positions during fire preparation before the attack, the number of mortars accompanying the breakthrough of the troops was significantly reduced.

"Why did the Chinese Army, which has always liked to use mortars, reduce the number of mortars in the offensive by a large amount?" This was a puzzle to the Allied army officers who came to watch the battle. "The key issue is the amount of ammunition carried, the accuracy and the damage effect." In the end, Zhou Xuan explained it like this. Mortars are much less accurate than long-barreled rifled guns, and even if you change the mortar to rifled, it still won't work. Hitting a target requires more ammunition than a barreled gun, and mortars are not very destructive, so this is not a big fight. WE ALL KNOW THAT THE TOP DEFENSE HAS BEEN INCREASED, ALTHOUGH THE MORTAR HAS THE ADVANTAGE OF A LARGE FALLING ANGLE, BUT THE MUZZLE VELOCITY OF THE ARTILLERY IS TOO LOW, AND IT IS A LITTLE WEAK IN THE FACE OF THE FORTIFICATIONS THAT HAVE STRENGTHENED THE TOP, BUT IF YOU WANT TO BLOCK THE 122MML35 GUN ON THE FRONT OF THE FORTIFICATION, I AM AFRAID YOU NEED TO GET A LAYER OF VERTICAL ARMOR OF ABOUT 100MM! The last problem is that the firing range is not enough, in the face of the opponent's howitzer suppression, the mortar, which has a range of about 5000 meters, is difficult to play, but it is not as good as the assault gun, and it can be used as a long-range artillery after the elevation angle is raised. Leveling can hit tanks and pillboxes. What's more, if you want instant fire suppression, rockets can do better than mortars. Not to mention the firing range, and the super-large projection definitely exceeds the instantaneous projection of the mortar.

In this campaign, there were two Chinese assault forces. One is a fast and mobile assault armored division, while the other is a slower, but steady, mechanized infantry division with a large number of self-propelled guns and a strong defense. "Let's be honest. The difference between the two is not very big, except that there are fewer tanks and tank destroyers, and there are more assault guns and infantry fighting vehicles and anti-aircraft guns. An American, after learning about the difference between the two divisional units, once commented.

"Xu Huaide's department took the northern route, Zhou Xuan's department took the southern route, and the Iranian 1st Armored Division took the middle route. Zhao Sicheng's 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division and Tian Yong's 4th Mechanized Infantry Division followed. And by the way, the opposing strongholds along the way were destroyed, and the Iranian 2nd Panzer Division and General Gallen's Russian Division were used as general reserves. The air force is in charge of General Qin Yue, and will concentrate 2 air corps, 9 air wings, and about 800 planes to provide us with air cover and ground support. The first was to complete the siege of the Kirkuk region, to destroy some important outposts on the outskirts of the other side, and to establish a solid supply line. The second stage is to continue to develop the offensive and cut off the entire Eastern Railway. The third stage was to use this as a bait to inflict heavy damage on the German armored forces that came to relieve the siege. Peng Yi briefly described the entire campaign plan for the last time, as for what to do after the end of these three stages, not to mention that Peng Yi didn't think about it, Xu Jie couldn't be sure, if the Germans were willing to negotiate peace after the end of this campaign, then they would negotiate, if not, then they could only further expand the war. The entire attack group will turn south and attack the southern part of the two river basins.

When this plan was first proposed, some people questioned whether it was enough to see the more than 100,000 Austrian and Turkish teams in Kirkuk with a strength of less than two divisions. As a result, before Peng Yi could answer, the Russian ** officer who attended the meeting said that it was enough, among the Russian veterans, Austria-Hungary was not afraid, and the Turks were even softer like a puddle of mud, an officer who had participated in the Dönitz Guards once said that a division of the Guards could block the attack of 2 Austro-Hungarian divisions or 4 Turkish divisions, plus this time there was air force support, just look at it and it is really not a big problem. At the same time, the Russians' statement was supported by Zhou Xuan, who had participated in the campaign in northern Italy, and although the latter did not quantify it, he believed that the Austro-Khalinarian army had some combat effectiveness in a defensive state, and that the Austro-Hungarian army, with its heavy logistics and lack of motor vehicles, would be disorganized by itself.

So after unifying the mind, the largest tank Armageddon in history is about to kick off, and the total number of tanks, tank destroyers and assault guns invested by both sides has exceeded the 3,000 mark! Although the absolute number of troops participating in the war cannot be compared with the major battles in World War 1, the material power invested by both sides for this war is far greater than any other battle in history! And the highly mobile armored forces and the three-dimensional battles of a large number of air forces have also fundamentally changed the war situation!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~, as well as the book friend mingplus, magic jack, sleeping animal, Tianlong 999, and the monthly pass support of the near crush ~~~. The author's subscription the day before yesterday hit a record low, not only lower than the average subscription, but also only one-fifth of the highest subscription this month! Tears run in the side position. (To be continued.) )