The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Day 5 of the Iraq War.

The coalition forces did not launch any more cruise missiles into Iraq.

In the first four days, the joint forces consumed tens of thousands of missiles of various types, setting a record for the largest-scale use of missiles as a means of attack since World War II.

Even in the Gulf War, the number of missiles used in the first four days of the war was far less than what it is now.

The number of missiles used by the joint forces shocked the world.

This looks like a missile, but it’s actually money!

What is being fired are missiles, but what is actually being burned are money, specifically US dollars.

The first battle of the fifth day of the Iraq War took place in the early morning. When a Los Angeles attack nuclear submarine was about to launch a sneak attack on the Iraqi Navy, it accidentally hit a minefield and triggered multiple mines, causing the Los Angeles attack nuclear submarine to be severely damaged. When it broke out of the torpedo array, the Los Angeles attack nuclear submarine had already lost its combat effectiveness and its ability to drive, and had to be tugged away.

It was more than a month later when the Los Angeles attack nuclear submarine was towed away from the battlefield.

On this day, the number of missile launches by the United States dropped significantly, and the number and frequency of fighter jet sorties also dropped significantly. The ground forces are currently in the stage of large-scale shelling.

So far, the joint ground forces have not completed the repair of the transportation roads.

Every time emergency repairs were carried out, they would be bombarded by the Iraqi army, causing heavy losses and forcing them to suspend repairs.

Even if we use the night to repair the damage, we will still be attacked by the Iraqi army.

While the intensity of the war in Iraq has dropped significantly, the intensity of the war in Afghanistan has suddenly increased to a higher level.

The guerrillas launched their attacks!

Since the outbreak of the Iraq War, the number of coalition air force aircraft in the Afghan battlefield has been greatly reduced, and many aircraft have been transferred to the Iraqi battlefield to make up for the war losses.

The Iraq war model is completely different from the Afghanistan war model.

The Iraq war model is because Iraq's military strength is much stronger, with more air forces, more air defense weapons, and a stronger army. Currently, the two sides have launched electronic warfare, information warfare, air warfare, naval warfare, artillery warfare and other aspects and dimensions.

The Afghan war model started with guerrilla warfare at an early stage. The Afghan local armed forces mainly used guerrilla warfare and did not care about the gains and losses of a city or a place.

Various guerrilla warfare tactics such as sparrow warfare, tunnel warfare, mine warfare, ambush, raiding, siege warfare, etc. are constantly being staged on the Afghan battlefield, and guerrilla warfare is gaining new vitality on the Afghan battlefield.

This has also attracted the attention of countries around the world, especially small and weak countries. When facing invasion from a powerful country, guerrilla warfare will be a good choice.

The guerrilla warfare of the guerrillas exhausted the coalition forces.

Tanks and armored vehicles can hardly play a big role in mountainous areas. When helicopters and airplanes provide air support in mountainous areas, they have to be careful of the threat of individual air defense missiles.

The Afghan interim government and government forces supported by the United States are of little use. The government forces often encounter guerrillas and collapse without a fight!
Faced with the massive counterattack launched by the guerrillas, the coalition forces had to abandon some counties.

In just a few days, the territory controlled by the coalition forces was reduced to 25%, while 75% of the territory was under the control of the guerrillas.

On the mountain roads, an infantry regiment of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force was ordered to retreat strategically and marched in a mighty manner.

This infantry regiment is a mechanized infantry regiment, equipped with 108 Type 89 armored vehicles and a total of 1000 people.

The Type 89 armored vehicle was developed by Japan. The prototype was made in 1984 and was equipped to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces in 1990. The vehicle body is made of aluminum alloy welded structure. The front of the two-person turret is equipped with an automatic machine gun and a parallel machine gun. There is an anti-tank missile and three smoke grenade launchers on each side. The turret uses sandwich armor and 1mm thick side skirts are installed on both sides of the vehicle. The vehicle has a combat weight of 1 tons, a crew of 1 people, and a load capacity of 3 people.

On the rugged mountain roads, the Type 89 armored vehicles moved slowly, and the soldiers inside were very uncomfortable because it was too bumpy. On both sides of the mountain road were hillsides, which were good places for ambushes.

At this time, on the hillside on the right side of the mountain road, the guerrilla fighters were hiding, watching the Japanese Self-Defense Force mechanized infantry regiment enter the ambush circle.

The mountain road was winding and narrow. Once you entered the ambush circle, there was no place to turn around.

Just then——

"Boom~~"

A shocking explosion was heard, and it turned out that the Type 89 armored vehicle in the front ran over an anti-tank mine and was directly destroyed.

This is like a signal.

The guerrilla fighters on the hillside fired their aimed rockets and anti-tank guns toward the ground below.

Armored vehicles are okay against automatic rifles, light machine guns or heavy machine guns shooting at long distances, but their armor defense capabilities are not strong in themselves, and they cannot defend against anti-tank mines, rocket launchers, or anti-tank guns.

The armored vehicles that were hit exploded one after another.

The soldiers of the Japanese Army Self-Defense Force are well-trained and have rich experience after more than a year of war. The commanders are able to command operations as soon as possible.

The terrain here is narrow and the armored vehicles cannot even be mobilized, so the soldiers immediately get out of the armored vehicles one by one and fight the guerrillas with weapons in hand.

They were just at a disadvantage in terms of terrain. What they were facing at the moment was an ambush by an Iraqi mountain brigade. This Iraqi mountain brigade was an elite force with complete weapons and equipment.

The fierce artillery fire suppressed the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force to the point where it could not raise its head.

The battle lasted only an hour and then it was over.

Three of the Japanese armed helicopters that came to support were shot down, and the others left in disgrace.

The guerrillas quickly cleaned up the battlefield and withdrew.

55 Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner. As for the more than wounded soldiers, the guerrillas did not shoot them at all. They would not live long if they were kept alive. Even if they were rescued, it would be a waste of the coalition forces' medical resources.

The guerrillas sang cheerful songs. This time, the annihilation of this Japanese mechanized infantry regiment was undoubtedly a great victory. The casualties were not heavy, and they would receive a huge reward.

There are rewards for guerrillas to eliminate coalition soldiers.

For the same military rank, the biggest reward is not for killing American soldiers, but for killing Japanese soldiers.

The 55 captured Japanese soldiers were dejected. They were ambushed and defeated this time.

Afghanistan did not sign the agreement, and the Afghan guerrillas do not have any such thing as preferential treatment for prisoners.

If the Afghan guerrillas do not receive the ransom, their fate will be very miserable. Being shot directly is the best outcome. If things are worse, they will be castrated, and the video will be filmed and posted on the Internet. A special copy will even be made and sent to their families.

If we say that the Japanese came to the Afghan battlefield with high morale at the beginning, now not many Japanese want to come to the Afghan battlefield to fight.

In order to retaliate against the guerrillas, the Japanese initially implemented the Three Alls Policy in the Afghan area, but they were met with even more severe retaliation from the guerrillas and al-Qaeda.

As a result, the Japanese are now afraid to use the Three Alls Policy again. (End of this chapter)