When the telegram from the commander-in-chief of the coalition commander Hamilton reached the headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the front line of Dehloran had already become a pot of porridge. The gunshots were crackling like fried beans, and there were also the roar of mortars and light mountain cannons from time to time. On the southern foot of the Zagros Mountains, after the day on October 15, the Soviet Union, which defended Dehloran, turned into an offensive, dispatched a large number of infantry and cavalry units, divided into company-level scales and fought with the power search screen of the Fourth Cavalry Division, the vanguard of the Chinese army. The Chinese Expeditionary Force also held the belief that he would win the first battle, so how could he easily show weakness? The small troops of both sides launched an offensive battle on the front line before their respective main forces completed the development!

General Wang Junhao, the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, who felt that the situation of the war was likely to be unfavorable, also went to the front line to observe the situation in person on the 15th regardless of the obstruction of his aides. In any case, he had to grasp the situation on the front line and judge whether the Su-Po coalition forces on the front line of Dei Heloran were the main force of the other side, and then report to the coalition command in time.

Looking into the distance from the telescope in Wang Junhao's hand, this barren and desolate mountainous land located on the southern foot of the Zagros Mountains is all in your eyes. The Subo Alliance has built fortifications around the small town of Dehloran, deer fortresses, barbed wire mesh, and trench defense systems. Judging from the scale of the Subo Alliance's positions, the opponent must have more than one division.

On the Chinese side, an infantry division and a cavalry division have also been completed. They occupy more than a dozen high and low hills west of Dehloran as support points and are building fortifications with all their might. Between the two armies, small groups of troops on both sides are fighting fiercely. A stream of blue and black smoke columns are constantly rising, which is the artillery of both sides. Occasionally, cavalry wielding sabers galloping past the battlefield, bringing waves of dust all over the sky. A Chinese infantry company is retreating to its side with wounded soldiers. Behind are there Red Army cavalry shouting "Ula" to chase, and a team of Chinese cavalry launched a counterattack under the cover of several civilian 13-year-old armored vehicles to respond to the retreat of their infantry companies. The war horses neighed, the motors roared, the sound of gunfire and the screams of the wounded resounded through the sky.

The staff around were also Major General Li Hanhun, the commander of the 32nd Division, and Major General Zhao Zongyang, the commander of the Fourth Cavalry Division, all of them looked heavy, holding the telescope in their hands and staring at the battlefield attentively.

Wang Junhao was the first to put down his telescope: "What do you think?" The senior officers around him looked at each other. Zhao Zongyang, the commander of the Fourth Cavalry Division, was the vanguard of the army. He arrived at Dehloran first and understood the situation best. He frowned and said, "I am not very optimistic, I am the minister. We are likely to have encountered the main force of the Soviet Volunteer Army! Our army has invested two divisions of troops, but still has no advantage. We are still fighting for control of the battlefield with the other side. From the captured Soviet Volunteer Army prisoners of war, they belong to the 55th Infantry Division of the 14th Army of the Red Army. The army has four infantry divisions and one cavalry division. It seems that the situation is different from what the British intelligence agencies have... "

He paused, and the Chinese officers present frowned tightly. Due to the iron curtain of GCism, it was difficult for the outside world to detect the virtual and realities of the Soviet Union, and even the most basic Soviet Red Army troops were not well understood. The intelligence provided by the British side previously said that the Soviet Volunteer Army had three armies, but now it has found an army number with 5 divisions!

Wang Junhao smiled bitterly and said, "Since the China G international delegation to GC was driven back to China by Trotsky, we have not received much information from the Soviet Union, let alone the British? You should know that in the Soviet Union, arresting spies and preventing spies are top priority! If you fight with such a country, you have to get used to being blinded."

These words suddenly aroused a burst of breath in this simple cover department. Although these Chinese Defense Forces officers were young, they had experienced a lot of battles over the years. They knew the importance of intelligence work and now they couldn't even understand the most basic unit number and organization of the other party. It was unrealistic to fight a "smart battle". The only choice was to fight steadily, and the Italians and their own side had to fight hard wars together.

Thinking of this, Wang Junhao took a deep breath, frowned and ordered: "Bohao (Li Hanhun), the 32nd Division and the 4th Cavalry Division are commanded by you. For the time being, turn to the defensive moment, strengthen defense, and wait for the main forces to gather together to launch an offensive." He paused for a moment, and said to his chief of staff Major General Sun Zhen, "De Cao, call back to the coalition headquarters, saying that our army encountered the main force of the Soviet Volunteer Army on the front line of Dei Heloran, and the opponent's strength has at least two divisions!"

...

Tehran, Soviet People's Volunteer Army Command.

"Comrade Commander, call from the 14th Army Command, the 55th Infantry Division of the Red Army and the 14th Cavalry Division have repelled the Chinese offensive, killed and wounded more than 1,000 enemy officers and soldiers, and captured 106 people. Our army won the first battle!" Pavlov, chief of staff of the Soviet People's Volunteer Army, stood in front of Tukhachevsky and Borotin, with a little excited expression. All soldiers knew how much encouraged the morale of the troops by winning the first battle!

Tukhachevsky was lying on the map table and studying something. This one-fifty-thousand map he used for himself was covered with a huge map table. Around Andymeshk, the symbols were marked with dense marks, not only red symbols representing the Subo army, but also black symbols symbolizing the invading army of China, Britain and Italy. Moreover, the number and specific position of the three Chinese, British and Italian teams were completely consistent with the actual situation! The reason for this situation is that the internationalist fighters lurking in the British and Italian troops provided the Soviet intelligence department with the full set of communication passwords used by the Three Kingdoms coalition forces!

Listening to Pavlov's report, Tukhachevsky straightened up and said to himself: "Kill and wound 1,000 enemies, capture 100... This is not a victory, but a draw."

"It was a victory, and the Chinese army had turned into the defensive after being frustrated."

"Nonsense! The Chinese army is waiting for the subsequent troops to arrive, and the other party is very cautious in their actions." Tukhachevsky glared at his chief of staff. This young Bolshevik soldier was a proud student who was promoted by him. He performed outstandingly in the civil war and the Polish Liberation War, but after fighting too many battles, he was a bit of a blind optimistic habit.

"What is the reaction of the Italians?" Tukhachevsky asked as he looked at Pavlov.

Pavlov said: "According to the intercepted enemy General Command's telegram with the Italian Expeditionary Force Command, Hamilton ordered the Italians to approach Andy Meshk with their main force, and seemed to want to fight with our army in Andy Meshk."

Tukhachevsky nodded and said to Borotin, who was frowning and thinking, "Comrade Borotin, what do you think?"

Borotin put his hands on his waist and slowly pondered: "Hamilton wants to fight us in Andy Meshk, but Bardoglio will definitely disobey. The Italians have always been like this. It's just a jackal who follows the tiger and will never use his own strength to fight a tough battle. I think we can concentrate our main force to defeat the Chinese invading army on the front line of Dehloran. Then turn around and deal with the Italians!"

"Concentrate troops to fight the strong first?" Tukhachevsky's tone was lukewarm, not sure whether he agreed or opposed it. He walked back and forth in the combat room with his hands behind his back, and Borotin and Pavlov's eyes followed him closely.

"Comrade Pavlov. How much supply is there in the warehouse of the General Logistics Department of the Red Army?" Unexpectedly, Tukhachevsky suddenly asked such a question.

Pavlov was stunned. He didn't know the specific data on the reserved materials in the hands of the General Logistics Department of the Red Army, but he still knew a little about the general situation.

"There are not much supplies." He shook his head and said: "In order to send troops to Persia this time, the People's Committee of Labor and National Defense has transported a large number of ammunition from the Western Front's reserve warehouse."

"How much supplies are there in the enemy's warehouse?" Tukhachevsky asked again.

Pavlov sighed: "I'm afraid it's as much as you need. Even if the arsenals in China, Britain and Italy are too late to produce. There are also arsenals in France and Germany!"

"Will Chinese revisionism feel sorry for the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of people?"

Pavlov and Borotin shook their heads at the same time: "I'm afraid not. They have a population of 50 million, and they will increase by more than 10 million every year!"

Tukhachevsky shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "Then what's the point of killing tens of thousands of Chinese people? Chinese revisionism will soon send more troops, and Germany and France will work hard to produce weapons for them as long as they can kill our people! So defeating the Chinese Expeditionary Force will not win the war for the Soviet Union, but will only delay the war endlessly. This is quite unfavorable to us!

The result of defeating the Italian expeditionary force is completely different. Mussolini's power is not as solid as Chang Ruiqing, and the Italians' ability to bear casualties cannot be compared with the Chinese! If the Italians withdraw from the war because they cannot bear the losses, then Britain will negotiate with the Soviet Union because they are worried about letting the Chinese become the only main force in this war."

After saying this, he was silent for a moment and shouted: "We want to attack the Italians and hurt them so that they will never dare to be enemies of the Soviet state again!"

Borotin and Pavlov both gave thumbs up in their hearts. No wonder Trotsky believed Tukhachevsky so much. This person who looked at the problem was indeed different from his own. But the Italians were still huddled in Avas. With the personalities of these old Italian foxes, how could they rashly go into the trap of the Soviet Volunteers? You can't leave Dai Heloran and the Chinese army alone and go south with the main force, right? It would be awful if the Chinese army broke through to Andymeshk and seized their own way of retreat.

Pavlov thought, "Will you use one army to block the Chinese expeditionary force, and then use two army and one tank army to go south?"

Tukhachevsky waved his hand and smiled: "Attacking the enemy's strong fortified positions is not the best way to do it. Let the Italians get into our trap!"

Pavlov was stunned for a moment before speaking, "Do you want to trick the Italians into Andymeshk? This is not easy. Although Hamilton has given the order, the Italians will always find reasons not to execute them. Unless... unless... unless they feel that there is a big victory that is easy to win in Andymeshk waiting for them!"

After hearing this, Tukhachevsky laughed and blinked at Pavlov and Borotin: "I think the Italians will find that there is a huge bargain in Andymeshk, waving to them."

...

After determining the Italian Expeditionary Force as the primary target of the Battle of Andymeshk, the 14th Army of the Soviet People's Volunteer Army on the front line of Dehloran launched a fierce attack on the Chinese army in front of him on the afternoon of October 15!

The Red Army's artillery fire swept through the hills and mountains on the southern foot of the Zagros Mountains like the cold wind in Siberia. In an instant, smoke pillars of all sizes rose up on the Chinese army's front at the same time. The scale of this artillery was beyond the expectations of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. The Soviet Volunteer Army not only used five division-level artillery regiments and one army (army)-level artillery regiment under the 14th Army, but also invested in the artillery troops directly under the Volunteer Army Command. A total of more than 430 artillery regiments of twelve artillery regiments participated in the artillery, and each cannon was equipped with three base ammunition. The position of the Chinese Expeditionary Force immediately turned into a sea of ​​fire!

The focus of the Red Army's artillery was the position of the 32nd Infantry Division of the Chinese Army, because the location here was very important. It just guarded a highway built along the southern foot of the Zagros Mountains. If the Soviet Volunteers wanted to advance westward to fight the main force of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, they had to break through here first. So in just 30 minutes, tens of thousands of Soviet-made high-explosive artillery shells plowed the division's position over and over again!

Of course, the Chinese Expeditionary Force's reaction was also very timely. The artillery group composed of two military artillery regiments and seven division artillery regiments reacted immediately and began a rumbling counterattack. Observer balloons also rose on the Chinese positions at the same time. Observers guided artillery fire to cover them alternately, and there were also black and humiliating aircraft groups of the British Royal Air Force in the air. They braved high-fire firepower and dropped bombs on the exposed Soviet artillery positions, which immediately caused the Soviet artillery to suffer considerable losses. However, with the advantages of quantity and level of artillery use, the Soviet artillery still firmly occupied the advantage of artillery battle.

During the intervening artillery battle between the two sides, the Soviet ground troops launched a series of battalion-level offensives. The current arrival of the Soviet Red Army was a powerful brigade that had experienced great wars, and had fought a "sitting war" with the French and German coalition forces on the Western Front battlefield for several years. Although the intensity of the battle was not high, the Soviet Red Army also explored a positional warfare tactic for commandos to increase artillery in actual combat. Therefore, their current infantry offensive mode is not the "human sea tactic" four years ago. Instead, the elite commando infiltrated the weak links of enemy defense to guide their artillery to conduct precise shooting.

The infantry attack was not large in scale, but the attack was extremely powerful. After several waves of offensives, the 33rd Division of the Chinese Army, who participated in the Sino-Japanese War last year, was unbearable.

"This Li Hanhun really doesn't know how his 33rd Division fought. He couldn't stand it so quickly. His face was thrown away by his National Defense Forces!" Wang Junhao threw the 33rd Division's telegram to ask for help on the map table, his tone was full of anger.

Hearing this, Lieutenant General Tang Shengzhi, the commander of the 11th Army, turned red. This army is his old army. He has been leading troops in the 11th Army since the Northern Expedition in 1918, and it has been seven years since now! It is said that the 11th Army's incompetence is to beat him to Tang Shengzhi's face.

"Superior Duke, the 33rd Division has tried its best, but the Russians have strong attack power, especially the level of artillery step coordination, which is far beyond all the opponents we encountered before!" Xu Haoyu, the deputy chief of staff, spoke for the 33rd Division. He had just returned from the front line and was covered in smoke, but he also witnessed the power of the Red Army's offensive tactics with his own eyes.

"So it's because the Russians are too strong?" Wang Junhao asked in a strange tone. "Isn't it the assault soldier tactics used by the Germans in the positional war in World War I? Haven't our National Welfare infantry received similar training?"

After signing an anti-Soviet treaty with France, Germany and Italy last year, France and Germany sent a large number of military advisers to China. After the Sino-Japanese War, these advisers did not return home, but stayed to continue to train the Chinese National Defense Forces, and of course they also taught the "assault troops tactics" to their Chinese students. But similar training has just begun, and the officers and soldiers of the National Defense Forces have learned some superficial knowledge. How can they compare with the Red Army veterans who fought with the Germans in the trenches in Poland for several years?

Xu Haoyu was stunned for a moment, and then immediately suggested: "San Gong, now the main force of the Soviet Volunteer Army is pressing on us. Andy Meshk's southern line must be empty. We should urge the Italian army to go north and attack the Soviet army with us."

"Urgent?" Wang Junhao smiled coldly: "What's the point of urging us? We are not Mussolini! These Italians have a good idea! I'm afraid that the more urgent we urge, the more they will delay... Only when we fight here and consume the Soviet volunteers almost all, will they come north to pick peaches!"

Wang Junhao's analysis made Xu Haoyu speechless, not knowing what to say. Sun Zhen, who had been lying on the map table to study military information, suddenly straightened his back and frowned and said to Wang Junhao: "Brother Ziying, we should fight and retreat to Iraq."

"Retreat?" Everyone in the war room looked at each other in surprise, "Why should we retreat?"

Sun Zhen said: "From our experiences when we advanced along the southern foot of the Zagros Mountains, the Persian tribes in this area do support Reza and Khan. In other words, with their cooperation, the small and elite Soviet troops crossed the southern foot of the Zagros Mountains and penetrated the roads behind our army to destroy the roads. It is not difficult to attack our logistics line. If the Italian army can cooperate with us, then we still hope to defeat the enemy in front of us and seize Andy Meshk before the logistics line has problems. Otherwise, we should give priority to self-protection."
Chapter completed!