When Li Chen and others withdrew from the forward reconnaissance post, they also reported Li Chen's judgment to the battalion headquarters. In fact, the command and staff groups of the -10th Division are all of a high level. Naturally, they understood the intentions of the Iraqis when they received the news, but no one minded the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level expressing their thoughts -
The 10th Division is still a member of the multinational force, so although it has strong autonomy, when it wants to conduct defensive operations, it still has to report to the joint operations headquarters. Division Commander Zhang Wanquan quickly communicated with Schwartz, the commander-in-chief of the multinational force, through a dedicated line. Cove got in touch.
"Our department has detected that two enemy armored battalions are approaching our department. Our department will launch a self-defense counterattack and request air support." Zhang Wanquan actually said this very skillfully. In theory, he should report to the Joint Operations Command It was only right to ask for instructions, but he told Schwarzkov bluntly that the -10th Division would counterattack on the spot, blocking Schwarzkov's opportunity to issue orders to the -10th Division. However, he still asked Schwarzkov Cove called for air support. According to the unspoken rules established since the war, if it is to support the Chinese army, the air power dispatched should also be Chinese fighter jets.
Schwarzkov himself did not expect to be able to command the Chinese army as well as the US military. The battle broke out at the -10th Division station. Although it was not unexpected for him, it was somewhat unexpected. If the US Marines were stationed there, he would definitely pay more attention, but the Chinese army was stationed there, so his requirements were naturally lowered. He just had to hold the line and prevent the Iraqi army from breaking through.
For the Chinese Army, Schwarzkov only has a simple concept, that is, it is probably very strong. Legend has it that during the Sino-Soviet border conflict in 193, China's PL Army's ace unit Sanpei swept across the entire Soviet military region with one division, frightening the Soviets and shocking the Americans. Now the -10th Division is said to be formed according to the Western standardized army. Schwarzkov also went to inspect it once and felt that it was indeed very similar to the US military. Naturally, he did not think deeply that this was an imaginary enemy force, because following the same approach, China formed a legion (group army) with a total of nearly 100,000 people. Schwarzkov did not think that it was necessary for any country to form such a large-scale imaginary enemy force. force.
¡°As long as the -10th Division can have 70 to 80% of the combat power of the ordinary US Army, he believes that there will be no problem in resisting the Iraqi attack. Moreover, the Iraqi army's offensive is composed of two armored battalions. The -10th Division has multiple camps in this area, with more than 20,000 troops. The Iraqi army wants to use two battalions to shake their defense in this area. , that is absolutely impossible.
After Zhang Wanquan finished his report, he did not wait for support or let the Iraqis come to him, but took the initiative to ask for a fight. The reconnaissance posts placed at the front of the 10th Division were all lightly armored vehicles, and they were relatively scattered, mostly in platoon units. . Because of the existence of Kirov reconnaissance airships, the actual mission of these reconnaissance posts is to open the defense line and hunt down targets such as Iraqi reconnaissance soldiers crossing the border. Once a large-scale land battle breaks out, these reconnaissance posts, like Li Chen and others, will quickly leave the front in Dongfeng Warriors and NIP infantry fighting vehicles and join the supporting troops at the rear.
After these reconnaissance light troops merged with the first wave of armored battalions, they formed an assault force roughly the size of a strengthened battalion, with twenty-two tanks and nineteen infantry fighting vehicles, forming a combat force. The division commander Zhang Wanquan also urgently dispatched the Army Aviation Force of the -10th Division to support. About four Wuzhi-10s merged with this ground force. It is worth mentioning that the cannons and rockets of these four Wuzhi-10s It is basically the NATO standard.
Although the -10th Division assembled quickly, there was someone faster than them, and that was the Air Force's strike force. After the Joint Operations Command received the movement of the Iraqi army, Lieutenant General Horner, Commander of the Multinational Forces Air Force, also wisely handed over the command to Deputy Commander of the Air Force, Major General Han Ruijie of the Air Force.
Han Ruijie immediately ordered the Air Force's multi-purpose fighter jets stationed at Al Udeid Base to take off for combat. The Air Force did not bring attack aircraft into the theater this time. The main ground strike missions were performed by the all-powerful Shadow Leopard. Bomber troops from the mainland. Using only one aircraft model but suitable for multiple missions also simplifies the workload of the Air Force's ground operations. However, the Air Force has also established two pilot teams for each fighter. Under normal circumstances, those conducting air combat will not conduct ground attacks. Or electronic warfare assignments.
An entire annihilation brigade immediately flew to the front line, and even these winged ones found two armored battalions of the Iraqi army preparing to attack before the first wave of troops of the -10th Division came into contact with the enemy.
Just when these fighters carrying AR2, LT2- and other attack weapons were preparing to "enjoy", they discovered that they were not the only ones who liked to "grab monsters".
A rumbling explosion sounded from near the armored troops of the Iraqi army rushing south. The sand and gunpowder smoke that was blown up instantly enveloped the Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles that had come with iron blood.
"Damn it, it's artillery." A pilot unluckily took off his oxygen mask and stretched his neck to observe the effect of the attack.
This round of artillery strikes naturally came from the artillery unit of the -10th Division, with 3 Pei as the standard.Judging from the Qin Infantry Division template, the artillery of the Blue Army Division is actually relatively weak. In order to make up for this shortcoming, Qi Yiming also specially formed a red police independent artillery regiment to be mixed with the -10th Division. The artillery is also one of the few units in the -10th Division that is different from the NATO army, because the technical level of the pL6(0) is not even a bit advanced compared to the Nl09 self-propelled artillery currently used by the US military. First, the bottom row of extended-range ammunition can reach With a terrifying range of 75 kilometers, the pL6 is even more advanced than the M106 Paladin self-propelled artillery that the US military has not yet equipped on a large scale in any aspect, from electronic equipment, three defenses, digitization, firing rate and ammunition types.
In the early days, the -10th Division had some second-hand self-propelled artillery from the United States, but later found that they were very uncomfortable to use, so in the end they were equipped with their own artillery.
With the addition of the Red Alert Artillery Regiment, the -10th Division can gather a 2-pL6 self-propelled artillery unit. Of course, in addition, they also have the 10m assault gun version of the multi-functional infantry vehicle, the 2Um mortar version, and the 2m four-armed artillery unit. Ten-barreled Dragon Tooth rocket launcher and other artillery equipment.
The self-propelled artillery used to bombard Iraqi armored forces is actually an artillery battalion with a total of 18 artillery pieces. Under the guidance of Kirov airships, they launched artillery attacks on the enemy at a distance of more than 60 kilometers. The Iraqi army was stunned by the sudden artillery bombardment. They found no sign of the presence of artillery nearby, but suddenly they were hit by fierce artillery fire. Terrifying high-explosive artillery shells continued to fall around their marching column. Two tanks and an armored vehicle were destroyed in the first wave of shelling.
Perhaps it was found that the efficiency of attacking moving armored targets was too low. Of course, this may also be related to the relatively long shooting distance. After trying to launch a short but fierce offensive, the artillery battalion stopped the artillery attack. Each artillery fired approximately 2 shells, resulting in the destruction of three tanks and four armored vehicles.
When the Shadow Leopard Air Force of the Air Force discovered that the artillery had stopped, they immediately flew down from the sky like vultures snatching food. The two armored battalions of the Iraqi Army had just experienced a mindless bombardment and appeared. It was definitely damaged. Just when I wanted to calm down and stabilize it, I didn't expect the enemy's air strike to arrive again.
Although it is not a full-time attack aircraft, it is not sloppy at all when it comes to anti-armor work. Their main anti-armor weapon is the AR-2 missile. However, due to problems with the pylon and launch method, the AR2 can only be mounted on the main pylons under the wings using a two-in-one composite pylon, and it cannot hang auxiliary fuel tanks. Since the front line is only 60 kilometers away from Al Udeid Air Base, the internal fuel of the heavy fighter aircraft is enough to go back and forth and even play in the air for a while.
The pylon under the belly of the aircraft mainly carries Feiteng and Thunder series guided bombs, and the 20-kilogram joint attack bomb carries six and sometimes more. Although these guided bombs are not as accurate as AR2 and have strong armor-piercing capabilities, the power of the explosion is enough to destroy things like T2 and BNP-l.
It was the first time for some pilots to participate in actual combat, but they were not unfamiliar with it. The strict actual combat training allowed all Shadow Leopard pilots to blow up at least a few targets personally, and some were even real vehicle targets, so when they started When besieging Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles, they seemed to be familiar with the road.
Various weapons were continuously thrown down from the sky, exploding over the heads of the Iraqi armored troops who had not yet recovered from the previous shelling. Especially after the AR2 hit the tank, it was bound to set off a huge explosion of light and fire, shooting out of the sky. Looking down is like a blooming rose, which is intoxicating.
When the leading armored troops of the -10th Division arrived at the battlefield, they only saw the wreckage of armored vehicles billowing with thick smoke, including 40 tanks, 2L armored vehicles and 15 other vehicles that were destroyed in the front and rear artillery bombardments and air strikes. Completely destroyed, the Iraqi army suffered heavy casualties. The two armored battalions sent to harass the -10th Division camp were completely annihilated. Only a few Iraqi soldiers survived and became prisoners of the -10th Division.
This Iraqi armored force had no time to evacuate after suffering heavy losses. The Chinese Air Force's strikes were really too effective and precise, and Chinese pilots who were accustomed to playing this game also knew very well what kind of attacks to use and which targets to attack first. , was able to prevent these tanks and armored vehicles from retreating calmly. In the end, not a single tank escaped from this cemetery, and everything turned into a series of battle results for the fighter planes.
The platoon leader of Li Chen's reconnaissance platoon said with a bit of resentment: "You are still talking about a large-scale land battle. We who have wheels have not yet seen the enemy, and we have been taken over by those with wings. Are we? Specialized in catching prisoners? "
However, before he finished complaining, the armored battalion received new intelligence instructions - the other two Iraqi troops were turning around and seemed to want to cooperate with the leading troops to complete the outflank of the Chinese armored battalion. However, they did not know what they were doing. The expected first wave of troops had been beaten into scrap metal.