66_66280 But these are things to think about later, and now Guderian needs to think about what to do next. In the presence of reinforcements, a forced siege was clearly the next resort. Even if I can knock it down. The Germans will probably have to trek waist-deep in blood too. The city was defeated, and the troops were exhausted. If you want to continue to cut off the opponent's support line and pontoon. Then you need to transfer the heavy artillery, and then slowly grind the opponent to death with the support of the air force, which is time-consuming and laborious, and as long as the opponent's Type 29 tank destroyers exist, then their own armored forces will definitely bleed. This style of play doesn't take advantage of anything!

"I don't know what happened to the Austrians." Guderian said to himself, saying that when people are unlucky, if they find that others are more unlucky, then his heart will be more balanced. After suffering an unexpected defeat, Guderian, who continued to seek comfort, naturally thought of the Austrians and Turks who had to face the Chinese soldiers at this time. But when he looked through the recent war reports from other war zones, he found that Manstein was playing hide-and-seek with the British in the east. And the war in the west is the calmest! This unusual dynamic sent a chill through Guderian.

"It's so abnormal." Guderian muttered to himself while using a slide rule to measure the distance from the Chinese army to the battlefield. And after calculating, he found that the other party's goal was to aim at himself! Judging from the map, even if the other party uses a tank precious motorcycle hour to drive directly over! The distance between the two sides is not far, since Huaxia's war knife is not aimed at Austria and Turkey, then this knife will be cut on his head! As soon as I thought of this, a chill rushed from the soles of my feet directly to my head!

In terms of the level of equipment and the quality of officers and men, the blade of the regular armored units in China is much stronger than that of the unit that has just beaten itself to the ground today. Even if the other party doesn't do it with all his strength, but only invests in the strength of an armored division, then his greatest wish may be to retreat with his whole body! Although there is no definite intelligence to confirm their speculation. But preventive action must be taken. The number of new tank destroyers of the Americans was not numerous, and this tank was not suitable for the offensive, so it could be difficult for the Germans to storm it. But if you defend it, it will not be easy for the other side to break through.

Guderian may have been immature in some ways. But his strong mind and versatile tactics have made him an extremely difficult character to deal with. The fiasco that just happened can be attributed entirely to the battlefield environment and the opponent's overly sharp weapons. And if he is given a battlefield where he can give full play to his talents, then his deployment is enough to impress any attacker!

If the Chinese troops go south, then the Germans will not even be able to guarantee numerical superiority! In the face of the opponent's armored torrent, the result of a hard encounter can only be death. Even the flanking Americans will come out and beat the water dogs. Even if you want to retreat, you must block the opponent's first wave of attacks before retreating. "Even if we successfully retreat this time, I'm afraid it will be difficult to launch another attack in a short period of time, right?" Guderian said to himself leisurely that the first time he encountered this kind of thing all the way, it was indeed a setback for the arrogant Guderian. Unlike his colleagues, who think he focuses only on tactics. He stood taller and saw farther. Because of this, he knew what kind of situation he would face after retreating.

The Middle East theater was different from Europe in that it was too far from the German mainland, and it was difficult to replenish supplies and equipment, especially if the Atlantic route was still harassed by the opposing navy. The consumption of ammunition and fuel in this battle was not too great, but the consumption of armored troops and experienced commanders was terrifying. The troops have been deployed, and it is not easy to gather them, and God knows when the other side will come over! A vicious battle is inevitable, even if you eventually exit the battlefield with your troops. The heavy losses also made it difficult for him to regain his strength in a short period of time. Today, 40 tanks were lost in the first battle, and the loss of 150 after this battle is not too much, right? This is not to say that these tanks will be completely destroyed, but because the Germans, as the retreating side, will not be able to recover the wounded or immobile tanks. If you want to attack again. You'll have to wait a long time. When the time comes, when the troops are replenished, it is difficult to say whether he will be able to continue to work in this position. So in the face of this situation, Guderian is now thinking about how to successfully withdraw.

Guderian is not the only one who realizes this, in the base camp of the German Middle East Theater in Basra, Hindenburg is also making arrangements, but unlike Guderian who has just entered the battlefield, Hindenburg is not only thinking about how to save Guderian's troops on the left flank, but thinking about whether he can give the Chinese army a heavy blow from the west when China is moving south! After all, in terms of numbers, the Allies still had an advantage, and the reason why the Chinese troops dared to attack Guderian in the south. The fundamental reason was that they expected that the Austrians and Turks would not dare to take the initiative, or that they thought that their remaining forces were strong enough to attack even if the other side attacked. They can also block the extent! But don't forget, behind the Austrian-Turkish team. And a whole German panzer division!

Hindenburg was not worried about the Iranians, even if they were using Chinese equipment, they were trained by the Chinese. But in his eyes, these people are at most just fighting a good fight. As for those infantry divisions, they lacked mobility and were inferior to the armies of Austria and Turkey, and although they were large in number, their actual combat effectiveness was limited. The remaining two Huaxia armored divisions would send at least one entire division south. So how can the remaining less than one armored division be able to block the full blow of a full German integrated division and the elite Austrian troops?

Hindenburg had some knowledge of General Schrager's troops, although the general's record was superficially modest. But he knew that at least half of these failures were due to the poor equipment, physique, and other problems of the Austro-Hungarian Army. In the battles on the Italian Northern Front, his strategy was actually feasible, but it was unlucky. And the later remedies were okay, at least he and some of his subordinates escaped and ascended to heaven. And this time, Austria-Hungary specially put together a fairly elite force, which was at the middle and upper level even by the standards of the German Army, and the armored force of Schrager's troops was at least the size of a semi-German standard armored division!

If this were the case, the Allies would be able to concentrate at least 3 armored divisions in the west (counting the Turkish troops. If you play with a 3-1 advantage. The other party can't stop it no matter what! In Hindenburg's eyes, Huaxia's idea was indeed bold, although it was also effective. They have already won the first move. Guderian's troops were delivering the final blow to the US Army. And Huaxia suddenly came from behind. But unfortunately, the disadvantage in strength stretched the Chinese army. It's like a glass of water in two cups. No matter what, you can't fill it up. Experienced hunters can find holes in each other's layouts!

"The battle has just begun, tell Guderian about our plans. The other side took the lead. But the final victory must be ours. Hindenburg said confidently. At the same time, Hindenburg did not know what had happened to Guderian.

As Hindenburg estimated. The Chinese Army had indeed taken the lead, long before Guderian launched an attack on the American army, the Third Panzer Division commanded by Zhou Xuan, who was in charge of the southward attack, had already prepared for the southward attack, and when Guderian was frustrated north of the city of Kermanshah, the rolling iron flow of the Third Panzer Division had already moved south. Now even if the former realizes Huaxia's intentions, then it has become a luxury for him to want to evacuate immediately! Unless Guderian wanted to turn the retreat into a rout!

However, one thing that Peng Yi and other high-ranking Chinese generals did not expect was that the Austrians and Turks actually left their defense line and took the initiative to attack! "When did the jackal dare to challenge the lion?" When he received the aerial reconnaissance information, Xu Huaide's first reaction was unexpected. The so-called leniency of the enemy. Although Peng Yi and others believe that the probability of the other party taking the initiative will not be higher than 30%. However, a well-developed defense plan was still in place. And Xu Huaide, as one of the top defensive war masters in the Chinese Army, took on the important task of being responsible for the security of the flanks of the Zhou Propaganda Department. After receiving this information. Xu Huaide was not thinking about how to arrange troops to repel the opponent's attack, but thinking about what made the Austrian and Turkish teams so active?

"The plan is exposed?" Xu Huaide's first reaction was to guess the crux of the problem, there is not much difficulty in intelligence collection, Huaxia can get the situation of the large-scale dispatch of Austria and Turkey's ground forces through aerial reconnaissance, then the allies can also get the information of Zhou Xuan's southward movement from various ways, the importance of intelligence lies in the timeliness, and large-scale operations will be discovered sooner or later. However, from the current point of view, the other party's sense of smell is very keen, and it is obvious that he has gained insight into Huaxia's deployment in advance. Well, Guderian's troops may be in trouble. And the Huaxia Fifth Armored Division under his command will also face the opponent's stormy attack!

At this time, Xu Huaide's troops were facing the same predicament as Guderian, the deployment of troops had been completed, and it would probably take a long time to adjust again. Even if Peng Yi wants to change his plans. Then Xu Huaide also has to command the Fifth Armored Division to block at least one wave of attacks from the other side! But unlike Guderian, Xu Huaide's forces did not have much depth to retreat. Because as long as he withdraws, it is equivalent to leaving Zhou Xuan's back to the opponent, then Zhou Xuan's ending will be very, very miserable!

Xu Huaide, who is good at defensive warfare, encountered the most tragic defensive environment when he first went to the battlefield. Without strong fortifications, insufficient depth, and lack of troops, it is difficult to maintain even a stable defensive line under the attack of the opponent. To make it clear now, your comrades are about to slap bricks behind the other side, and you suddenly find that there are several people who want to sneak up on your friends from behind you, you only have one person, and the other party is 3 people, and there is very little room for maneuver. So now here's the problem, before your friend slaps the target down. How do you hold off your opponents!

"We've got to keep the other side out of the line! We can't be passive and wait until the other side is deployed. We will be attacked from all sides. The opponent is the most weak, and he can drag us down and then calmly copy Zhou Xuan's back road. While defensive warfare provides the defender with a solid line of defense, it also deprives the defender of other tactical possibilities. Therefore, we must not simply defend passively, we must take the initiative to attack and destroy at least one of the opponent's armored forces at a very fast speed. ”

"We have found a new armored unit to the south of the Turks, presumably the one that the Germans had originally used to assist the Turks in defending Kirkuk. Their goal does not seem to be us, but they intend to move south at the right time to launch an attack on Zhou Xuan's department. Just when Xu Huaide was thinking about the future battle plan, a new piece of information was sent in time.

"Let the Turks and Austrians pester me, and then the Germans go south? That's a good idea. Regardless of whether I took the initiative to fight the Austrian-Turkish troops or chose to defend, the Germans' southward movement would not be hindered, at most it would only be a circle. Xu Huaide looked at the three alliance* teams attacking from north to south on the map, Schrager's troops on the northern front, the Turks in the middle, and the Germans on the southern front, the Germans reached the battle line the shortest, the Turks were the second, and Austria-Hungary was the longest. The Germans had the most vehicles and the shortest attacking distance, and they could get around them very quickly. The other party's goal is already clear, but it is difficult for him to deal with it. However, although the situation is urgent, Xu Huaide is not confused by the superficial phenomenon, he knows very well what he wants to do, not to maintain a complete line of defense, but to ensure Zhou Xuan's safety.

"In addition to me, there is an Iranian armored division, and it is not realistic to repel the opposing side, but at least it can be delayed for a while." Xu Huaide planted a small flag on the front of the Austro-Hungarian army. This means that this force can be stabilized for the time being. "The Turks are moving slowly, they are already lagging behind on the wings. If there is the help of the Air Force and the cooperation with other troops, it should be possible to delay a bit. I'll come and clean you up later! ”

"Now, the Germans are the most important ones! If I can crush the German troops, then the Turks will not dare to move on, right? By that time my sword will be nailed to the fragile waist of the Turks. If they want to give it a go, I'm happy to accompany them. As for Schrager on the northern front? And even if the Iranian armored division is routed? You can't hold a position, you can't go any further, your motorized time is up, the wear and tear of the fuel and engine will make it difficult for you to move an inch, I don't believe your tank motorized march for so long will be nothing! A cruel smile appeared on Xu Huaide's face!

Thanks to book friends zhouyu1976, kk Zhao Peng's tip~~~, and book friend ranky's monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued).