Big Time 1958 - Chapter 1018

   Currently, the Southern Theater is still under secret preparations. The general scope is the Hongqi North Caucasus Military Region, the Hongqi Transcaucasus Military Region, and the Hongqi Turkestan Military Region, with a total of about 600,000 people. But not the Internal Affairs Forces and the KGB Border Guards. There are more than 13,000 tanks, more than 8,000 armored vehicles, and 1,200 helicopters. As for air power, the deployment of the Air Force is not urgent because of the extremely fast mobilization of the Air Force.

After the National Defense Committee meeting, Serov and General Bagramyan left side by side. The two men in military coats looked at each other silently. Serov deceived people again. The reason why this military meeting was passed is that there is no argument. It is very normal. . To prepare for the worst in everything, Serov passed the resolution to appoint General Bagramyan in case the United States would expand the war, which is completely understandable in terms of reasons.

   “When the showdown came, I was still a little nervous. On this day, I couldn’t suppress the idea of ​​worrying about gains and losses.” For a long time, Serov said such a sentence.

General   Bagramyan paused for a moment, before saying, “Actually, I also have a point in my heart!” The two looked at each other and suddenly laughed at the same time, which made the Kremlin guards behind him wonder why.

   “Maybe the United States will stop the war when it sees us sending troops!” Serov reassured General Bagramyan. This possibility is actually very low. There is a saying that it is difficult to ride a tiger, which is similar to the current situation.

After sending Bagramyan to the train station, Serov, who watched the train leave, returned to the Kremlin. All relevant plans had to be started. Prepare for the worst. This sentence cannot be just used to say that there is no United States or the Soviet Union in history. The example of direct confrontation allowed him to corroborate and judge the situation this time. The future is unknown.

In this case, since the decision has been made, all the Soviet people will bear the risk. The worst result is the start of a nuclear war, and some preparations still need to be improved. “Check the underground fortresses and subway stations in various places to confirm whether they are in good operation. A You can’t let it go, and as for the remote mountainous areas, let’s just let it go, and it is estimated that there will be no risk.”

General    Chebrikov nodded, and immediately prepared a secret investigation team to inspect the defense facilities of cities across the country. The entire Soviet Union began to undergo a subtle change under the surface calm. Due to confidentiality reasons, the official document has not been issued. It is important to know that once the scope is too large, it is likely that the United States will notice the changes.

While the United States used its influence to increase troops to Saudi Arabia, General Bagramyan arrived in the municipality of Baku and began to perform his duties as the commander of the Southern Theater. Of course, his commander is still a secret now. Commander’s identity to inspect the work.

   Then General Bagramyan quickly entered the state and went to inspect the troops. The 14th Guards Combined Arms Group of the Red Banner Turkestan Military Region: 28th Guards Motorized Infantry Division, 59th Guards Motorized Infantry Division, 86th Guards Motorized Infantry Division, 1st Guards Motorized Infantry Division 180th Motorized Infantry Division, with 810th Independent Naval Infantry Brigade and 5th Air Force Air Group

The 38th Combined Arms Army of the North Caucasus: 70th Guards Motorized Infantry Division, 128th Guards Motorized Infantry Division, 24th Guards Motorized Infantry Division, 51st Guards Motorized Infantry Division The Infantry Division, the 26th Artillery Division and the 81st Artillery Division of the 66th Artillery Corps and the 14th Aviation Army of the Air Force.

Transcaucasus 6th Guards Tank Army: 17th Guards Tank Division, 22nd Guards Tank Division, 42nd Guards Tank Division, 75th Guards Tank Division 41st Guards Tank Division, 9th Motorized Infantry Division, 14th Tank Division, 110th Guards Artillery Division.

   In half a month, General Bagramyan ran half of the combat troops in the three military regions, and had a certain understanding of the combat troops he would lead at that time. The number of subordinates, the number of tanks, the fuel supply, the deployment of defense, and how long it will take to fight once it enters the first-level combat readiness state.

In general, General Bagramyan was quite satisfied. One-third of the combat troops were the northern cluster originally stationed in Poland. As a western cluster to attack Western Europe, as a second wave of cover, the combat troops of the entire southern Soviet Union were Generally not weak.

   “If I enter Iran and Iraq through two highways, the question is how much time do I have to prepare!” General Bagramyan was somewhat unaware of how the United States would fight a war. Only the Vietnam War can be used as a reference for the last World War, which is also a reference commonly used in the world to evaluate the combat effectiveness of the US military. However, from the usual communication with Serov, General Bagramyan concluded that in his younger brother’s mind, the Vietnam War did not have the conditions for reference.

With this doubt, General Bagramyan sent a telegram to Moscow, and Serov soon called back, “Because the lessons of the Vietnam War are too painful, the United States will try its best to avoid ground war, so it will definitely use air superiority to the largest city in the early stage. Solve the ground forces in Iraq. The air strikes may take a long time, and this time is enough for you to calmly mobilize your troops.”

   Actually, Serov knew that the superiority of the US Air Force in the Gulf War was exaggerated by the US itself. Throughout the Gulf War, Iraq lost 3,800 tanks, 1500 armored transport vehicles, 2,900 guns, and 300 aircraft. In the 100-hour Desert Sabre ground operation conducted by the US Army, 2,000 tanks, 500 armored vehicles, and more than 1,400 artillery pieces were destroyed. If only from the perspective of eliminating Iraqi field forces, 100 hours The results of the Desert Sabre ground operation were comparable to, and possibly higher than, the 38-day air strikes.

   This shows that the Army is still not outdated. As a decisive military service, no matter how advanced the technology is, it has a meaning of existence. When the United States was fighting Yugoslavia, because the Yugoslav air defense system was running all the time, the efficiency was greatly reduced. After the technological progress, the United States has nothing to do with Yugoslavia.

General   Bagramyan didn’t know this, but if the Vietnam War was to be avoided with heavy losses, it might really be as Serov’s book says. The problem is that he also received Iraq’s response method, taking a passive response to the air strikes of the multinational forces, using the ground to dominate the air and preserving strength. Relying on the defense line, the infantry divisions of the first echelon are used as consumables to delay the progress of the first attack of the multinational force as much as possible. To this end, three corps, twenty-two infantry divisions, two mechanized divisions and three armored divisions were deployed on the border from west to east. In order to prevent the multinational forces from landing in Kuwait, three infantry divisions and one mechanized division of the Iraqi Second Army were deployed around Kuwait City.

“It’s just waiting for the US Air Force to bomb, but things may not be too bad. Among the armaments in Afghanistan, there are many anti-aircraft missiles!” General Bagramyan seriously considered that Moscow focused on the prevention and control system. The two countries have been strengthened, and at the same time, the two countries are strictly ordered to use the full set of the Soviet system to prevent incompatibility caused by the electronic equipment of Western European countries.

While Bagramyan was thinking about when to intervene, Serov was also stepping up his deployment. Even if it was not to help Iraq, he was really helping the Soviet Union. The satellites are guaranteed to pass overhead every forty-five minutes, providing uninterrupted reconnaissance of Iraqi army positions. Photographic signals were transmitted to the Soviet General Staff in Moscow, where they were classified, interpreted and organized, and the Soviet Southern Theater Command in Baku. The right to information was important. The Soviet Union’s own steel torrent was not the same as the Middle Eastern countries. Simply stacked tanks.

“The mission of the Mediterranean Fleet returning to the Greek home port is to organize the Sixth Fleet to approach the Eastern Mediterranean, especially to prevent and deter the Israelis!” Shelov ordered categorically, “Isolate the Sixth Fleet’s plan to support the Fifth Fleet, of course we have Egypt It’s not difficult to do that.”

The disadvantage of    the United States is that it has received far less support than the historical Gulf War period. Several airstrike routes basically pass through the allies of the Soviet Union, such as the Turkish air base, which must pass over the Kurdish sky. As long as the Kurdish airspace is not open, American fighter jets will have to detour, and the effect of the airstrike will naturally be greatly reduced.

  The air force bases of the United States are concentrated in the Gulf countries. These air force bases are not all very safe. Of course, the heavy aircraft carriers of the United States are not available to Iraqi and Iranians.

“According to our intelligence, the seven aircraft carriers that the United States participated in the war are the “Midway” of the “Midway” class; the “Saratoga” and the “Raider” of the Saratoga class; the Kitty Hawk USS America, USS Kennedy; Nimitz-class two aircraft carriers. “General Chebrikov introduced the situation to the members of the Central Presidium in detail and said, “War may break out at any time, and the heavy equipment of the US military has already arrived in Saudi Arabia. “

“They are all conventional aircraft carriers with relatively old service age. Bush is still more careful. If this is Reagan, it is very likely that he will be desperate and we will use three ships to fight a Libya.” Shelov asked, “I can be sure that the United States is ready. Is it? The more than 40,000 people of the British army and the Royal Ark, plus the troops of Saudi Arabia and some Gulf countries, are all ready?”

“Yes, General Secretary! There are about 680,000 people, including 440,000 in the US military. There are 1,100 fighter jets, eight aircraft carriers, and sixteen cruisers. No one can organize them except the United States itself. this fleet.”

   “Then just wait, if you can sink the aircraft carrier, I believe the Ark Royal should be the easiest.” Shelov turned to say easily, “Maybe it will follow in the footsteps of the Invincible.”