Chapter 25: Stop the flag

Li Pingko personally came forward to "stop", and Najaf was not a fool, so he immediately ordered the front-line troops to stop the attack.

Although the Egyptian military was very dissatisfied with the president's decision and the Chief of Staff also believed that it should not stop. The combat troops at all levels on the front line did not fully implement the president's orders, the armored assault forces of the Third Army took the lead in stopping their pace, and the subsequent battle turned into a pursuit operation.

The Israel Defense Force retreated very quickly, and the Israeli Air Force also made its money at this time.

By dawn on the 28th, about 100,000 Israeli soldiers had already withdrawn from the Sinai Peninsula and returned to the Gaza area, and other troops would also be withdrawn within eight to ten hours.

The Egyptian army did not give up. The Second Army took the lead in reaching Route Zero, but was about fifty kilometers west of the Israeli army. The First Army arrived on Route Zero at around 8 a.m. and was attacked by the Israeli Air Force. The Third Army wanted to clean up the battlefield and send the captured equipment and materials and captured prisoners of war to the rear, so it left Route No. 2 at around 10 o'clock.

The biggest problem is that the Egyptian Air Force is only responsible for providing air cover for ground forces according to the president's orders, and does not bomb the retreating Israeli army.

The pursuit was not smooth. By noon on the 28th, most of the Israeli troops retreated to the Gaza area.

It was not until the evening of that day that the vanguard of the Egyptian Army arrived near the border line, and the Israeli army had already deployed defense lines along the border line.

By this time, the Sinai War was declared over.

Although the Egyptian army did not give up the idea of ​​invading Israel, it still deployed defense lines along the border in a short period of succession.

According to Qi Kaiwei's deployment, the main forces of the three armies retreated thirty to fifty kilometers from the border line. As the second echelon on the defense line, the reserve infantry division guarded the front line. This can firstly allow the main forces that have fought for several days to be repaired and supplemented, secondly, they can act as reserves to expand the defense depth, thirdly, they can set up offensive positions in the rear, and finally reduce the burden of logistics support.

For the Egyptian army, the biggest problem is logistics support.

Relatively speaking, the Egyptian army's supply problem is even more serious than that of the IDF.

From a geographical perspective, the Israel Defense Forces attacked the Sinai Peninsula from the local area, so there is basically no logistical support problem when crossing the border. Only when it is pushed near the Suez Canal will you encounter trouble because of the long and long support line. The Egyptian army attacked eastward and was far away from the core area of ​​the local area when it arrived at the border line. Therefore, before crossing the border line, it will encounter logistical support trouble. After entering Israel, every step forward, the logistics support burden will increase by one point.

Obviously, this problem is difficult to solve.

Although by this time Egypt had mobilized more than one million reserve soldiers, 70% of which were engineering troops, it would take at least one week to repair three horizontal roads from the night of the 28th day, and it could only support 100,000 troops to fight on the front line.

It is almost impossible to improve the traffic capacity of the road within a few days.

Of course, highways are just one of the means of replenishment.

Before leaving Cairo, Qi Kaiwei mentioned to the Egyptian General Staff that if he attacked Israel's mainland, he would first seize the Port of Eilat, send supplies to the front line by sea, and then use the vertical Highway No. 5 to increase the supply capacity by one third, and then use the high-level highway in Israel to support the front line forces in combat. If everything is ideal, the Egyptian Army can invest 150,000 main forces on the front line.

But, this is still not enough to conquer Israel.

You should know that under the circumstances of full mobilization, Israel can arm more than one million soldiers and fight inside, and has enough ability to block the Egyptian army.

To this end, Qi Kaiwei mentioned that we should not try to capture the entire territory of Israel, nor do we try to occupy the core areas, but focus on the southern part of Israel, namely the Negev Desert west of the Arab Valley, and the Arabian region of Gaza, mainly to control the Egyptian-Egypt border areas.

In order to make his suggestions valued, Qi Kaiwei also submitted a report to Najaf through Mu Haoyang.

In this report, Qi Kaiwei clearly mentioned that the next stage of combat operations will be centered on the Golan Heights. The main task of the Egyptian army is to restrain the main forces of the IDF and reduce the offensive resistance of the Syrian army. Therefore, it should actively launch limited offensive actions in the border areas. Politically speaking, capturing the Arab region of Gaza and the Negev Desert can maximize the encroachment of Israel and force the Israeli army to deploy enough main forces on the southern front, so that it can use this as a main bargaining chip after the war.

As long as Najaf has a little political mind, he can understand what Qi Kaiwei means.

The problem is, understanding this does not mean that you can do this.

At that time, in the face of the most significant victory achieved after the founding of the country, all the Egyptians, including Najaf, were a little fluttering and a little proud. It can be said that the whole country of Egypt was not only celebrating this great victory, but also having beautiful dreams. Almost all Egyptian soldiers and civilians believed that it only takes a few days to cross the border, eliminate Israel, and completely end the war in the Middle East.

On the afternoon of the 28th, Najaf said through a TV speech that the Egyptian army would cross the border and launch a defensive and counterattack attack on Israel. On TV, Najaf also called on all Arab countries to join this "jihad" and eliminate the enemies of the Arab world.

Celebration is right, but it shouldn't be forgotten.

In the past week, the Egyptian army turned defeat into victory. Not only did it recover the Sinai Peninsula, but it also annihilated eight main Israeli brigades in the strategic counterattack, killing and capturing nearly 60,000 Israeli officers and soldiers, and wiped out and seized more than 27,000 tanks, tanks, and military vehicles of all kinds. In the air battle, it also shot down and destroyed 478 Israeli fighters. Compared with previous Middle East wars, this was definitely a great victory.

The problem is that the Egyptian army also suffered huge losses.

On the ground battlefield, the Egyptian Army suffered nearly 90,000 casualties and missing (including captured) officers and soldiers, and over 30,000 were killed in battle alone, losing more than 14,000 tanks, tanks and military vehicles. On the air battlefield (including those that were blown up on the ground), 632 combat aircraft were lost. In addition, eleven missile boats and a small frigate were lost in the Mediterranean direction.

Relatively speaking, the Egyptian army suffered even heavier losses.

By the evening of the 28th, the reduction rate of the three main armies of the Egyptian Army was more than 30%, of which the Third Army reached 42%. Even if Egypt mobilized enough reserve soldiers, it would take at least half a month to restore its combat capabilities to the three main armies. The combat effectiveness of the Egyptian Air Force has declined more significantly, and there are only more than 300 fighter jets left to take off to fight. As for the Egyptian Navy, under the threat of the US aircraft carrier battle group, and the Israeli naval ships have already entered the war zone, they have basically done nothing.

It can be seen that the Egyptian army almost fought over its old capital and achieved such a major victory.

Although Israel's situation is also very bad, and the main force is second to the next, it is almost impossible to destroy Israel in one go.

Just as Najaf was speaking on the TV, the first batch of twenty strategic transport planes of the US military arrived in Israel and sent the urgently shortage of ammunition and medicine supplies and spare parts used to repair damaged equipment. In the next few days, hundreds of transport planes will fly to Israel every day. It is expected that on October 5, the US fleet will send thousands of tanks and tanks and other main combat equipment to the Israel Defense Forces.

Obviously, Egypt has no advantage in this regard.

Even if China will lend a helping hand to provide Egypt with ammunition, medicine and weapons and equipment, the quality of the Egyptian army is far inferior to that of the IDF. Without sufficient technical officers and soldiers, it will be difficult to master advanced weapons and equipment immediately. For example, Egypt's reserve troops are all infantry, with almost no skilled troops such as armored soldiers, artillery, communication soldiers, etc., so it is difficult to expand the scale of the main force in the short term.

If the war continues, it is only a matter of time before Israel turns defeat into victory.

Of course, this is absolutely impossible to do within a short while.

In fact, this is the main reason why China and the United States are unwilling to intervene.

In China's view, Egypt and Syria have the opportunity to further expand their victory, such as regaining the Golan Heights and exchanging the Egyptian-occupied area for the Palestinian region, forcing Israel to recognize Palestine. In the United States' view, after the aid operation begins, Israel will soon be able to turn defeat into victory, so there is no need to negotiate peace with Egypt and Syria at a relatively unfavorable time, and there is no reason to lose something that has not yet been lost on the battlefield for this.

Military-wise, the next main battlefield is the Golan Heights.

To this end, on the morning of September 29, Qi Kaiwei left Cairo and traveled to Damascus through Amman to serve the Syrian army as a military adviser.

Because he helped the Egyptian army win the battle before, Najaf personally wrote an introduction letter for him.

Of course, this is a bit redundant, because before the war broke out, Qi Kaiwei was the consultant of the Chinese military advisory group in Syria, and had a good relationship with the Syrian military.

Before leaving, Qi Kaiwei did not forget to instruct the Egyptian military to not be blinded by victory.

As for whether it was useful, he was not very clear, because the incident that happened on the night of the 27th day had shaken his trust in the Egyptian army.

As a military adviser, Qi Kaiwei has fulfilled his responsibilities.

On the way to Damascus, Qi Kaiwei spoke with Mu Haoyang on the phone and raised his concerns that the Egyptian army was likely to be confused and took reckless actions at critical moments, hoping that Mu Haoyang could come forward in person, at least to ensure that when the Syrian army attacked the Golan Heights, they did not hold back.

In fact, this is also Mu Haoyang’s most worried issue.
Chapter completed!