Wild North America 1846

more than a month later
Basra suburbs

The rumbling sound of artillery was deafening, and on the second day of the Battle of Basra, on the Gobi Desert in the outskirts, the defending German and Austrian forces fought fiercely with the attacking Tang Empire troops.

There are many undulating hills on the long Gobi Desert, with sporadic date palm trees growing here, bringing a little green to the withered yellow Gobi Desert.

The intensive artillery shells blasted the positions of the German-Austrian Allied Forces into craters. Broken limbs and broken arms could be seen everywhere, as well as blown-out barbed wire fences and collapsed trenches.

The Tang Empire's expeditionary force in the Middle East consisted of more than 8.6 people, including about 2.6 people from some local Arab tribes, plus nearly 4 Jordanian tribal prisoners brought there.The 15-strong army swept through Jordan and Kuwait unstoppably, all the way into Basra.

Here they hit a hard nail.

Hassan Datrik Pasha, who was stationed in Basra, led an urgently recruited and expanded army of more than 6.2 troops. Together with more than 2.1 troops of the German Desert Corps, they formed a suburban defense line to block the attacking Imperial Middle East Corps.

As soon as the two sides met, real fire broke out.

After the fierce bombardment of artillery fire, the Middle East Corps drove the Jordanian Servant Army to attack. The German-Austrian Allied Forces' defense was very tenacious. As expected, the Servant Army dropped a large number of corpses and retreated in embarrassment.

With another heavy artillery barrage, the servants attacked, but were repulsed again.

This was repeated several times, and the casualties of the servant army reached more than 7300, and there were faint signs of instability.

"The Germans' defense is really strong. After joining the German army, these local Ottoman troops have a backbone and become more difficult to defeat." Lieutenant General Zhu Guosheng put down his telescope, shook his head and sighed.

The barren Gobi Desert outside Basra is unobstructed, with only gentle hills standing in between. The German and Austrian allied forces relied on these hills to form trench defense lines.

The German army with rich combat experience set up artillery positions on the reverse slopes on the top of hills, so that they could pour artillery fire in the offensive direction from a high position and extend the range.

If armored troops were sent to attack, the German army would push the artillery to the top of the hill and cover the armored attacking troops with direct artillery fire. This move was very effective against the British and French forces.

Because the British and French tanks were large in size, had many malfunctions, and were slow in movement, their survival rate in the face of direct German artillery fire was very low. They were simply moving targets.

After more than a day of fierce fighting, Lieutenant General Zhu Guosheng basically figured out the strength of the enemy's firepower. He held his hands in front of his chest, stretched out his left hand and rubbed his chin to think.

He must find a weak side that is conducive to breakthrough, open a gap, and tear apart the enemy's defense line.

The tragic battles of World War I so far have proved that in trench warfare, frontal breakthroughs must bear a huge cost of casualties.

The combination of barbed wire and trenches, coupled with the mixed firepower of artillery and heavy machine guns, became the defensive means of suppressing the enemy.

Natural advantage, which has been tried and tested in war.

The German army was extremely experienced in similar trench warfare and shared it with its allies in the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was the most troublesome part.

From the current front

On the 13.8-kilometer-wide frontal front, the enemy deployed about 2.8 troops in front-line positions, of which about 7000 German troops were assigned to the east and west wings.

Use fierce heavy machine gun firepower and precise artillery firepower to support the frontal battlefield on the center line.

There are second-line positions in the rear and city defenses based on Basra, which are not easy to chew.

The German nation is the nation most adaptable to war. They have learned valuable experience from the Battle of Falden and the Battle of the Somme. They pioneered the concept of heavy machine gun fire and diagonal cross-fire, which can destroy the enemy's attacking forces to the greatest extent. .

The British paid a heavy price of more than 6 casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, which verified the correctness of the German firepower theory.

From the perspective of troop allocation and firepower allocation
The troop strength and weapon configuration of the defense line on the outskirts of Basra cannot even reach 1/10 of the density of the Western Front battlefield. At best, it can only be regarded as a rookie version of the European Western Front battlefield, and it is full of moisture.

But this does not mean that the offensive problems faced by Lieutenant General Zhu Guosheng are 1/10 of those on the European battlefield, because his troops are not the Anglo-French coalition forces that regard death as home, and nearly half of the 15-strong army are Arabs.

Its combat ability is also that of a novice, unable to be entrusted with important tasks.

Not to mention those prisoners, the allies' army is mainly from the Montafik tribe north of Basra, which belongs to the Adnan Arabs.

They entered Iraq with the conquest of the Arabs in history and settled in the Ajam Kassab area between Basra and Kufa, living a free and nomadic life.

In 1546, there was a fierce battle with the army led by Ayasi Pasha of the Ottoman Empire in Basra. The Arab tribes were massacred, and only one branch remained, the Bani Said tribe.

Therefore, the Montafik tribe had a bloody feud with the Ottomans.

The tribe historically belonged to the Shabib family of the Bani Mai'aluf clan of the Prophet's family and is now the largest tribal confederation in Basra Governorate.

In 1910, it had about 8 families and 3 cavalry. Now a few years have passed, and the size of the tribe has grown even more.

Its tribal rulers, the Sadun family, are Sunni and were contacted through channels in Kuwait City. The Tang Empire's Middle East Corps promised to allow the family to rule Basra after defeating the rulers of the Ottoman Empire.

It was under such attractive conditions that the Montafik tribe sent out all its troops to help the Middle East Corps defeat the decadent and brutal feudal rule of the Ottoman Empire.

However, these Arab cavalry are not capable of attacking tough targets, and they play the role of cannon fodder.

The family knows their own affairs.

Lieutenant General Zhu Guosheng knew that if he wanted to break the defense line of the German-Austrian coalition, he would eventually have to rely on the sharp attacks of the Tang Empire's own armored divisions. Everything else was just a mirror image.

Think carefully

He decided to use his ace light armored division to open a large gap on the left flank of the battlefield and completely defeat the enemy's defense line.

The order was issued quickly, and the artillery fire from behind the position roared again, and dense shells hit the enemy's position, flashing with fire.

The field artillery of different calibers equipped by the Tang Empire are all new artillery using hydraulic reset technology, with fast firing rate and fierce firepower.

The Middle East Corps has an abundant supply of artillery shells. Arms ships can transport ammunition very close to the battlefield along the convenient river in Basra to ensure offensive firepower.

from the scene

The German-Austrian coalition forces have been under pressure from their own artillery fire. As long as they dare to expose their artillery positions, they will soon be destroyed by the roaring artillery fire.

Lieutenant General Zhu Guosheng knew that the enemy must have hidden some artillery positions, and was prepared to take them out suddenly at a critical moment to catch them off guard.

But he also has his own trump card, which is the T-1 "Gray Wolf" modified light tank, commonly known as the Type 96 tank, which is about to attack on the left.

The Type 96 T-1 tank, nicknamed "Gray Wolf", was officially named by the Tang Empire's military. It was first developed and successfully equipped with troops in 1896.

The Gray Wolf armored vehicle was originally an open tank, surrounded by a steel armor enclosure about 1 meters high, with a total of four crew members.

The total weight is 5.12 tons, and the off-road speed can reach 23 kilometers per hour. The crawler chassis is light and flexible, has good durability and has strong off-road capability.

After more than 20 years, the Gray Wolf light tank has been continuously improved in use, and an improved version has been derived. A light turret and a machine gun have been added. The weight has increased to 6.325 tons, and the performance is more reliable.In particular, the "Gray Wolf" modified tank is equipped with a 6-cylinder high-horsepower diesel engine, which has more power and can reach an off-road speed of 36 kilometers per hour. It is a lightning-fast steel monster on the battlefield.

The fierce bombardment lasted for a full hour before it came to an abrupt end.

The sharp whistle sounded, and a new round of all-out attack began.

On the main frontal battlefield

The Montafik tribe soldiers used their guns to drive the Jordanian servants to charge. These ragged soldiers rushed out of their positions and attacked the enemy like a tide.

Among the Jordanian servant soldiers, only those in front had guns, and each gun fired 5 rounds of ammunition. The soldiers behind had to follow with empty hands.

The man in front fell down, and the man behind picked up his rifle and continued to charge.

They can also pick up weapons from corpses on the battlefield, and can only move forward without hesitation. Those who retreat will be mercilessly shot by the machine guns behind them.

Attacking on the right are the Montafique tribesmen. Their equipment is slightly better. At least everyone has a gun.

The ones attacking from the left were the soldiers of the Tang Empire's Expeditionary Force. These soldiers all wore steel helmets and leather boots and launched the attack in full force.

view from above

On the 3-kilometer-wide left-wing front, the two attacking regiments, consisting of approximately 3600 soldiers, basically formed a loose offensive formation in company units, and quickly pressed toward the enemy positions.

Between companies, there is a sufficient gap of three to forty meters wide.

At this time, I heard the roar of the rear engine and could feel the ground shaking. Nearly 20 light tanks came from the rear at high speed and plunged into the attack gap.

These Gray Wolf light tanks were very fast and quickly crossed the line of attacking skirmishers and rushed to the front, approaching the front of the enemy's position in just three to four minutes.

This sudden move caught the enemy off guard and caused chaos on the German position.

The German officers had a look of fear in their eyes, and they shouted desperately for the soldiers to come out of the artillery holes and quickly enter the position. The heavy machine gun team was immediately in place.

The staggered German soldiers who were shaken by the artillery fire staggered into the trench. The heavy machine gun team carried the machine gun assembly and hurriedly entered the position. Time was too tight.

Generally speaking

It takes at least more than 600 minutes for the infantry to attack across the open wilderness and reach the firing range of five to 10 meters from the forward position.

During this gap, well-trained German soldiers were ready to defend.

Unexpectedly, these hateful Orientals did not follow common sense and reached the door in just three or four minutes.

These light tanks approached rapidly, and soon came within a range of 200 meters. Then they braked suddenly, slowed down, and began to use artillery to target heavy machine gun points at close range.

One shot at a time, it’s as easy as eating and drinking.

The tank shells blew the German heavy machine gun group into parts. Then the tank crew fired the machine gun and began to suppress the German troops in the trenches with firepower. The dust was flying "Puff-Puff-Puff".

These tanks approaching the front of the battle line slowly advanced, stopped more than 100 meters away, and began to act as suppressive heavy machine gun fire points.

The German troops on the left-wing front were completely stunned. They could not raise their heads under the close-range firepower and could only hide in the trenches and linger.

Those German soldiers who dared to raise their guns to fight back were soon covered in blood splatters. Their corpses, like blood sieves, fell over weakly, and the strong smell of blood filled the air.

The soldiers of the expeditionary force who launched the charge arrived quickly. They quickly crossed the tank with guns and charged within 50 meters, and then quickly lay down and threw out the grenades.

Black grenades smashed into the trench like raindrops, and the blood and flesh splashed with "bang bang", mixed with gray and black dust, making the battle more bloody.

Then the soldiers of the expeditionary force approached the trench with their guns, quickly fired at the German soldiers who could still move, and then jumped into the trench one by one to mop up the remaining enemies.

Seeing from the telescope that the soldiers of the expeditionary force successfully occupied the left trench, Lieutenant General Zhu Guosheng smiled with relief, and then ordered the reserve troops to continue to invest their troops, quickly expanding and tearing a large hole.

Trucks from the rear also went up, and they took out steel rails and laid them on the trenches to allow the Gray Wolf light tanks to cross the trenches.Continue to attack the German second-line positions.

The attack of the Imperial Expeditionary Force is like a violent storm, leaving no breathing room for the enemy.

More and more soldiers poured into the enemy positions, and the sound of gunshots and shouts of killing resounded.

The defense line established by the German-Austrian coalition forces outside Basra finally collapsed, and enemies scattered all over the mountains and plains.

At this moment

It was time for the Montafique tribe's cavalry to perform. Tens of thousands of cavalry covered them, and in conjunction with the tank troops, the sky was dark and the sky was dark.

The main force on the southern front led by Lieutenant General Zhu Guosheng took two days to break through the Basra defense line of the German-Austrian coalition, and it took the remaining four days to clear out the remaining enemies in Basra city.

In this battle, 1.73 German and Austrian troops were killed and wounded, and nearly 4 were captured. The rest fled.

The Middle East Corps itself suffered more than 1.1 casualties, 623% of which were Jordanian servants. The Montafik tribe suffered more than 249 casualties. The imperial soldiers suffered [-] casualties, including [-] killed in action.

Casualties were mainly caused by the frontal attack and the subsequent urban battle of Basra, which were inevitable losses.

The victory in this battle greatly inspired the Allied Powers and was hailed as a "vital victory" and "exciting good news" in the Middle East battlefield.

The Allied High Command issued a commendation order, praising the Imperial Middle East Corps in enthusiastic terms and hoping that it would achieve further meritorious service.

at this time

Montafik tribe soldiers are entering Basra in large numbers, while the officers and soldiers of the Middle East Corps are engaged in a carnival.

They looted the houses of Basra's nobles, wealthy businessmen and wealthy people, and piled the collected gold, silver, property and antiques into hills, and then loaded them into trucks and transported them to the dock.

In addition, there are young and beautiful Arab women, and pure-blooded Arab horses are loaded and shipped to Fubo City, Sana'a and Kuwait. It's all money.

The army also sent troops to raid the surrounding towns, plundering them as if they were scraping the ground, including cultural relics of great historical value, scriptures, carpets and women.

Anyway, the empire is no longer prepared to expand its power to the Mesopotamia. According to the agreement, Basra will be handed over to the control of the Montafik tribe in the future.

The tribe's nearly 9 households and about 30 people are migrating to Basra on a large scale. This is also to make room for the new powerful forces.

Otherwise, how can we accommodate so many people? (End of chapter)