After roughly explaining the most severe crisis faced by the Anti-Japanese Union, Yang Zhen looked directly at the British Army general in front of him, and said in a rather unpleasant tone: "Admiral Wavell, as a senior officer who has commanded the British army in the entire Middle East Theater and has abundant experience in commanding synthetic armies. You should know that without ammunition, without fuel, the only thing we can do to do it, whether we like it or not, is to put an end to this battle. ”

"Without fuel, the tank cluster is a pile of scrap metal. What's the use of our more artillery without shells? And without the support of tanks, artillery, and aviation, should we use our fists and teeth, and our rifles, to fight the heavily armed Japanese army? ”

"We, with our weak industrial base, have no way to compare with your British Empire. Your Excellency has never been sufficiently armed in the North African theater. However, the number of tanks and planes is always equal to that of your opponents, and you can get a constant supply of the mainland. ”

"You burn a gallon of fuel, and the local can give you ten gallons. You have knocked out one tank, and Britain, which has a strong industrial base, can replenish you with ten. And this qiē for us, so far can only be unthinkable. ”

"Whether it's fuel for tanks and automobiles, fuel for airplanes, or artillery shell steel, shell copper, smokeless gunpowder and high explosives for ammunition, we will have to rely on outside support and imports until a limited industry is built. Without the supply of foreign materials, we simply cannot meet the needs of the war. ”

"It is true that we have built a number of modern industries of our own thanks to the assistance of the United States. But Admiral Wavell, you don't think that these factories can be built in a short period of time, do you? When the equipment arrives, we will be able to produce the corresponding war materials immediately? ”

"To put it bluntly, the reason why we took the initiative to stop fighting is because we have already fought this battle. In addition to light weapons and ammunition, we are now unable to meet the huge material consumption required to continue the war. You are a military strategist, and you should know that you cannot fight a war for a long time without adequate logistical supplies. ”

"Of course, the reason for the termination of this battle is not only that the materials are no longer able to meet the consumption. Moreover, after nearly three months of fierce fighting, although our army has achieved considerable results on the eastern and western fronts, we are powerless to replenish the astonishing consumption of equipment. ”

"We can't produce our own artillery, all of which are captured Japanese-made artillery, as well as second-hand guns bought. Some of these have been produced for a long time, and even some of them are some shoddy artillery, and after long-term and high-intensity use, there have been many explosions in this battle. Coupled with the attrition in battle, the number of our artillery has dropped to a rather dangerous level. ”

"There are also tanks and armored vehicles, and in the last three months of the offensive, half of the tanks that were originally small have been lost under the stubborn resistance of the Japanese army. Now we are expanding several armored divisions, and the strength of the equipment is not even a third. With all your might, even those tanks that are not tanks, at most they can meet the needs of an armored division. ”

"According to our establishment, an armored division has no more than 200 tanks. In other words, after three months of war attrition, we now have only more than 200 tanks available for combat. There are also a large number of tanks that need to be overhauled after long-term use before they can be put into service. ”

"Add to this the fact that we have suffered nearly 100,000 casualties after three months of fierce fighting with the Japanese army, and we can say that we have fought to the point of exhaustion. Not to mention the offense, even maintaining the existing front is quite reluctant. You must know that even if we have the lightest casualties, it is now less than 60% of the original establishment. ”

"And that's not counting the hundreds of trucks, hundreds of planes, and other supplies such as food and medicine. If General Wavell had replaced your British army, would you have risked continuing the offensive in the face of such a large proportion of casualties, high battle-damaged equipment, and almost empty logistics warehouses? ”

"The Japanese army we are facing, although mechanized and well-equipped, is not as good as your current opponent, the Germans. However, in terms of infantry tactics and the use of some artillery tactics, it was still higher than the German army. The most fundamental thing is its tenacious will to fight, as well as its fierce fighting style, which is far from being comparable to your Western armies. ”

"Admiral Wavell, I hope you don't underestimate the Japanese army. This is an army as cunning as a wolf, as fierce as a lion, and as greedy as a bear. The spirit of traditional Japanese bushido has instilled the spirit of fearlessness from soldiers to generals. And in terms of hardship and hard work, it is far from being comparable to Western armies. ”

"After several years of fighting with the Japanese army, we have seen Japanese soldiers who died of exhaustion because they ran dozens of kilometers non-stop in one breath. I saw the Japanese army with only one person left and one gun still desperately resisting. I have seen Japanese soldiers who insisted on fighting for nearly a week with just a handful of rice balls and a few rice balls. I have never seen the Japanese army who voluntarily surrendered if they couldn't fight, and I haven't seen the Japanese army who cowered because of difficulties. ”

"Although the Japanese army could not compare with the Germans in terms of equipment and armor tactics, they were superior to the Germans in some respects. In particular, in terms of infantry attack tactics, dealing with harsh combat conditions, and the tenacity and tenacity of the fighting spirit, they were far from being comparable to the Germans. ”

"As your future ally, I don't want you to suffer a crushing defeat on the battlefield of the future, when you fight such an opponent. If the Germans were tigers, then the Japanese were cunning wolves. I hope you will take this experience that we have paid for with our blood. ”

After satisfying these American and British officers to get to the bottom of the matter, albeit reluctantly. However, for some reasons, Yang Zhen solemnly issued a rather stern warning to everyone present in view of the current situation in Southeast Asia, reminding them not to despise their future enemy.

However, although Yang Zhen gave a certain warning to the US and British military delegations, the answer to this question that everyone in the US and British military delegations, including General Wavell, wanted to know, could only say half-truths. Indeed, by the time Yang Zhen took the initiative to terminate the offensive, the oil reserves and military raw material reserves had indeed bottomed out.

Especially the oil reserves, all the remaining reserves combined, even less than a hundred tons. If the offensive and the logistical supplies at that time were continued, it would only barely last three days at most. This is still to compress all unnecessary consumption before it can be maintained.

The reserve of aerial bombs can only last for three to five days of low-intensity combat at most. Although the reserves of aviation gasoline are still somewhat rich, they can only last for a month of low-intensity combat at most. The entire reserve of military raw materials is no longer able to produce any kind of artillery shells except for light weapons ammunition and mortar shells.

There is indeed a certain shortage of artillery shells of various calibers, large-caliber artillery shells and rockets. In particular, the shells of the Japanese-made cannon, which has the longest range, and the 122 rocket shells, which have the most complex production technology, can be used for up to five days. But with a reserve of seventy-five mm caliber mountain artillery and a hundred mm grenades, there is no problem in maintaining high-intensity use for another month.

As for mortar shells of various calibers, in addition to the large gap in Japanese-made mortar shells, the reserve of mortar shells of 120, 82 and 60 calibers produced by the Anti-Japanese Federation itself is larger. The reserves of recoilless guns, anti-tank rockets, and various anti-aircraft artillery shells are also quite abundant. There were only fourteen-mm anti-aircraft machine gun bullets, which were consumed too much on the battlefield, and the reserve was slightly insufficient.

It's just that despite the number of shells in reserve, there is enough to support it for some time. But without gasoline, all transport trucks would have to be taken out of service. Without modern means of transportation, it is simply impossible to transport the large quantities of materials needed in a short period of time by relying on human and animal power alone.

Large quantities of artillery shells and other required ammunition cannot be delivered, so what is the use of stockpiles, even if they are large? The troops at the front, aren't they the same as no ammunition available? And as the battle line grows longer, the number of supply vehicles required to maintain the needs of the troops for firepower and other supplies is also increasing.

In order to maintain the gasoline needed for such large-scale transportation, the amount of gasoline reserves at that time could not be satisfied in any case. Not to mention that there are only a hundred tons left, even if this number is doubled, it will not be able to meet the needs of two armored brigades and several thousand trucks.

By the end of the campaign, when it comes to adjusting the new deployment. Due to the lack of gasoline, many vehicles are evacuated to the railway line. Even hard towing can only be used to drive a car and tow at least one truck to save limited gas. As for the infantry units, all but the wounded were evacuated on foot.

In addition to the half-truths about the situation of materials and ammunition, Yang Zhen did not tell the truth about the proportion of tank battle losses. It can be said that all the forces were mobilized to participate in this battle, and the losses in this battle were indeed not light. The number of tanks lost on several battlefields is more than 200 combined.

However, only half of these battle-damaged tanks could not be repaired and completely destroyed. The remaining half is not irreparable. Moreover, the battle-damaged tanks that could not be repaired were all stolen by Wang Guangyu from the warehouses of the Soviet army in Mongolia, future tanks with additional armor, and French tanks that could not be equipped with additional armor due to the overall structure of the turret.

As for the original Soviet-made tanks of the Anti-Japanese Union that had been installed with additional armor, they could not be repaired except for more than 40 tanks that were completely destroyed by the flat fire of the Japanese 75 field guns, or burned by the Japanese meat bullets with Molotov cocktails. The rest of the battle-damaged tanks can be returned to the battlefield after repairs.

However, although the remaining number of tanks in the two armored brigades is still enough for the two armored brigades to retain a certain amount of assault capabilities. Even the 2nd Brigade, which suffered relatively large losses, was able to regain a certain amount of vitality in a short period of time thanks to the adjustment and replenishment of the 1st Brigade.

However, a large number of tanks, due to long-term high-intensity use, have huge losses of parts and components, and they urgently need to be repaired before they can continue to fight. The lack of maintenance manpower, especially the number of technicians, makes it difficult for these tanks to be repaired and put back into the battlefield within time.

Battle-damaged tanks that can still be repaired cannot be completely repaired in a short time because of the lack of supplementary parts and the shortage of technicians. In this way, by the end of the battle, the number of tanks in Yang Zhen's hands that could be used to continue the attack had been reduced to half of what it was at the beginning of the war. Most of them can be repaired, but this is not something that can be done in a short period of time.