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Text 402 Khafji (Part 1)

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    Khafji, chosen by Saddam as his target, is a coastal town in Saudi Arabia near the Kosha border.  Before the outbreak of the war, it was a commercial and fishing center with 60,000 residents and an important oil storage base in Saudi Arabia.  Although it is not large in scale, it has an important geographical location and is an important link in the Saudi oil industry chain. Like many cities in the Gulf coastal areas, although the population is small and the city is small, it is extremely prosperous and wealthy.

    After the Iraqis invaded Kuwait and invaded the Kuwait-Saudi border, Saudi Arabia declared Khafji a "dead city" on February 6, 1933, and formulated a corresponding evacuation plan.  Saudi Arabia believed that Khafji was most likely to be the first city to be attacked by Iraq, but it did not expect that the Iraqis unexpectedly chose Khaf al-Batin, which was larger but had less strategic significance.  After the fall of Haf al-Batin, Saudi Arabia worked harder to evacuate civilians from Khafji. Before the multinational forces launched the "Desert Storm" air operation, the last batch of residents evacuated this once prosperous town.

    After the outbreak of the Gulf War, Khafji became a favorite target of Iraqi artillery shells, rockets and missile attacks, and almost every one of them was bombarded several times.  Some oil production facilities in Khafji were damaged, and oil storage tanks in the southern suburbs were hit and caught fire; the desalination plant located in the north of the city is less than 7 kilometers away from the Kuwait border and is within the range of Iraqi artillery.  Before the Iraqi army launched Operation "Iceberg Top", the city was already devastated and no trace of its former glory could be seen.

    At first glance, Khafji, which has become a ruins, has no population, and its economic facilities have been destroyed. It seems that it has no great use value.  However, for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, the city of Khafji has important strategic significance and is an important place that must be paid attention to.

    Khafji itself may not be much, but Khafji is an important node on the coastal highway that runs through the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. She connects Kuwait with several Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.  The coastal plains and adjacent sea areas that the highway passes through are the richest areas and essence of the Gulf countries. The oil wells, oil pipeline terminals, loading ports and major harbors here are the bottleneck for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to obtain huge wealth.  Therefore, once Khafji is occupied by the Iraqis, it will undoubtedly pose a threat to this coastal corridor. Along this coastal corridor, the Iraqi army can march straight in, directly threatening Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other countries, thereby triggering changes in the war situation.  and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have a strong sense of crisis.

    In fact, strategically speaking, it is quite wise for Iraq to choose to take this step. Doing so has three main benefits:

    The first is to drag multinational forces into ground combat as soon as possible.  After the "Desert Storm" air strikes were launched by China and the United States, Iraq was completely in a passive position. On the one hand, the aviation power of China and the United States was too strong, and on the other hand, Iraq's own defense was passive. This resulted in not only the command structure, but also the air defense system.  and other strategic targets suffered devastating blows, and the Iraqi ground defense forces deployed in the Kuwait theater were also subject to continuous air strikes.  In particular, the Chinese Air Force, which has strong intelligence collection and research and judgment capabilities, used a large number of precision strike weapons, causing the Iraqi troops to cry without tears and suffer heavy losses.  If Desert Storm continues, the Iraqi ground forces will no longer have to fight. Living in this endless and extremely terrifying air raid, it will not take long for them to collapse on their own.  More importantly, Iraq is now occupied by Haf al-Abatin, and it is obvious that multinational forces will take action here. However, Saddam has no idea of ????letting Haf al-Abatin out, and constantly opens up new battlefields and stirs up conflicts among multinational forces.  The ground strength of the troops also helps Iraq control the rhythm of the war.

    The second is to undermine the morale of the Arab coalition and boost the morale of our own side.  The reason why Saddam chose Khafji as the main attack point for this counterattack is because this defense area is mainly garrisoned by troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.  In the eyes of the Iraqis, the troops of the Gulf countries are the weakest in combat effectiveness among the multinational forces.  Of course this is true to some extent.  The bombings for many days have dealt a huge blow to the morale and morale of the Iraqi army. If this force can be defeated, it will not only restore and improve the morale of the Iraqi army, but also attack the morale of the other side, making the Saudi-led forces  The Arab coalition suffered psychological setbacks, weakening its combat effectiveness and cohesion. It would be better if some countries could not bear the huge losses and withdraw their troops

    The third is to plunder soldiers from multinational forces and use them as bargaining chips in post-war negotiations.  If the war goes smoothly, Operation "Top of the Iceberg" can enable the Iraqi army to capture soldiers from multinational forces. Compared with dictators who are cruel and do not care about human life, multinational forces, especially Western countries, are very concerned about the safety and lives of soldiers.  In order to reduce casualties, multinational forces often spare no expense and material resources to reduce the sacrifices of their own soldiers as much as possible.  Sometimes they even go to great lengths to rescue a soldier or a team.  Therefore, if multinational troops can be captured through this attack, it will undoubtedly bring more allies to the Iraqi side on the negotiating table.The team's bargaining chip.

    Based on the above factors, Saddam issued an order requiring the Iraqi Republican Guard and other military forces stationed in Kuwait to start launching exploratory attacks on Khafji and surrounding areas.

    Located 80 kilometers west of Khafji and about 30 kilometers southwest of Wafra, Kuwait, it is the camp of the Chinese PL Army Blue Army Corps-10 Mechanized Infantry Division.  Here we look to the east at Khafji, which Saudi Arabia hopes to defend, and to the west at Khaf al-Batin, which the coalition has lost. This is a very important tactical node.  Whether it is the multi-national forces launching the battle to recapture Khaf al-Batin, or Iraq launching the offensive battle of Khafji, you can choose to participate here to ensure the favorable situation of the battle.  Originally, this key node was guarded by the U.S. Marine Corps, but China requested to send forces to participate in more intense battles on the front line, so the Joint Operations Command transferred it to the pLAR10 Infantry Division.

    Li Chen and his comrades are at the forward observation post. This is the place closest to the Kosha border. If the enemy makes any changes, they will be the first to be hit. However, they will also buy enough time to attack the enemy.  The message was sent back to the camp behind, and then a counterattack was launched.

    "Remember, our mission is not to hold the line of defense, but to send out the message when the enemy comes. Without my order, no one is allowed to engage in active exchanges of fire with the enemy." The officer in the observation post said seriously.  Everyone was wearing a camouflage cloak, and there was even a layer of sand on it.

    "When we find the enemy, we report it, then we leave, find a suitable place to hide, and then decide whether to continue hiding or wait for the troops in the rear to pick us up." The officer said this many times, but he always said it.  was repeated endlessly to his soldiers.

    "Nothing is more precious than our lives" the officer pulled the trigger of the CP26 automatic rifle in his hand -

    The 10th Division is a Blue Army unit built entirely in accordance with the NATO army. Not only are their weapons and training closer to the Western army, but their military management concepts and some principles are also very different from the real Red Army units.  The mainstream ideology of the PLA still emphasizes the role of people, and still mentions the spirit of sacrifice from time to time, but the Blue Army has instilled in their soldiers a completely different thinking. It is not a shameful thing to surrender and save oneself after the situation cannot be solved.

    "Did you hear that?"

    "I heard it, sir." Their titles are also different from ordinary ones. Generally, they are not called comrade or chief, but military rank or chief.  When many pL¡Í army units were conducting exercises with the Blue Army division, they often privately ridiculed them for being a unit of capitalist small bosses with an old KNT style and nothing like a revolutionary army.  The leaders of the Blue Army believed that the Red Army was weak, with a rough style and lack of new thinking, a rigid system and old-fashioned thinking.

    But fortunately, everyone still remembers that they are Chinese and PLA, so although there is a slight conflict, it is not irreconcilable.

    Li Chen pointed at the sky, smiled and said to the officer: "Actually, there is nothing to worry about. That big guy in the sky will definitely see the enemy's movements earlier than us. Maybe we can withdraw first without facing danger.  ¡±

    The officer's face turned dark and he said: "Sir, although I am ashamed of your words, you may be telling the truth." As he spoke, he also looked at the sky behind the observation post, where there was a huge shadow floating among the clouds.

    This is a Kirov airship, not affiliated with the Air Force, but affiliated with the Army, named Qingyun.  Having mastered Kirov airship technology, the base can manufacture airships of different specifications ranging from 70 to 80 meters long to more than 200 meters long. This one is 75 meters long, 2 meters in diameter, and 19 meters high. It uses more  For safe helium, it is a rigid airship.

    The role of this Kirov airship is definitely not bombing. It serves the army mainly for reconnaissance/electronic intelligence collection, warning and guidance tasks.  The outside of her huge helium airbag has been specially treated, and a large number of lightweight TB components are adhered to it. Simply put, this airship is a huge airborne phased array radar station.  Because she is floating in the air and maneuverable, and has good downward-looking reconnaissance capabilities, she has a strong grasp of enemy ground targets within a radius of two hundred kilometers.

    ¡°Even in order to enhance its intelligence acquisition capabilities, the Army also specifically requested the scientific research department to develop a small rotor reconnaissance drone that can be retracted and deployed on an airship, specifically used to assist this huge intelligence collection station in reconnaissance work.

    This thing similar to an AWACS is not suitable for use by the Air Force, because it does not have the speed of an AWACS and its survivability is even worse. However, it has the ability to stay in the air for more than 3 hours and detect ground activities in low-altitude areas that AWACS does not have, so it is more  Suitable for Army requirements.

    At the same time, in order to protect this fragile big guy, Qi Yiming also painstakingly designed multiple self-protection capabilities for it. First, strong electromagnetic interference can destroy the tracking ability of some active and semi-active missiles, and then it can launch effective heat decoys.  Damn, actually this thing worksIt also does not generate too much heat, so thermal decoys are very effective against infrared missiles.  Finally, multiple 6mm six-barreled Gatling machine guns were installed on the airship, connected to the autonomous close-in defense system, for final defense against incoming targets.

    With this powerful air tower, the Army's frontline control capabilities have been greatly improved.
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