Of course, the situation on the northern battlefield is not much the same.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Indian army temporarily stopping the attack, the armored forces of the assault cluster replenished electricity, and four power supply stations were set up near the front line.

Shortly after dark, the Indian army launched another attack.

In the eyes of the Indian army, it seems that night is more beneficial to the attackers.

This is not the case in reality.

The Chinese Army's main combat equipment has more outstanding night combat capabilities, and is less affected by the reduced visibility at night, but the Indian army is more affected.

More importantly, the continuous combat capability of the assault cluster is significantly far exceeding that of the Indian army.

You should know that the power and firepower supply of the anti-armor combat platform are integrated together, so when conducting positional defense warfare, the sustainability of firepower can be greatly improved. For example, without considering the power consumption of maneuver, the power reserve of the anti-armor combat platform is enough to launch 120 armor-piercing bombs in a full-equipped state. Even if one-third of the remaining motorized power is left, one hundred armor-piercing bombs can be fired. Only in maneuver combat, power supply must be given priority to the power system, so that the base of firepower will be reduced to about 60.

When designing, the anti-armor combat platform fully considered this point, so under normal circumstances, there are 120 ammunition bases, of which three quarters, that is, ninety armor-piercing bombs. If necessary, the number of armor-piercing bombs can also be increased by reducing the number of grenades. Because armor-piercing bombs are sub-caliber ammunition, the storage method is different from grenades, and the space occupied is only two-thirds of the grenades, so when all armpiercing bombs are carried, the ammunition base of the anti-armor combat platform reaches 130.

Of course, in actual combat, no tank hand will choose armor-piercing bullets.

You should know that when dealing with some ordinary targets, even armored combat vehicles, grenades are enough, and there is no need to use armor-piercing bombs.

At that time, front-line troops also strictly prohibited the use of armor-piercing bombs, because armor-piercing bombs are much more expensive than grenades.

Relatively speaking, the base of ammunition of the Indian Army's main battle tank is only one-third of that of the anti-armor combat platform. Of course, this is not a big problem in combat, because all Indian tanks cannot last until the moment they consume all their ammunition, and many tanks do not even have the opportunity to use tank guns.

At that time, the continuous combat capability of the anti-armor combat platform left a profound impression on the US military advisers who visited the front line.

According to a US military adviser's recollection, during the night of the 12th, the Chinese Army's anti-armor combat platforms fired more than 80 times, and some anti-armor platforms facing the Indian army's main attack direction even fired more than 100 times, and the firepower strikes were never interrupted.

What is this concept?

If the hit rate of the anti-armor combat platform is 80%, then the defense line composed of more than 40 platforms is enough to resist all the main battle tanks in India in the northwest region, and there is no need to replenish ammunition or replenish electromagnetic guns before the battle is over.

Obviously, it is impossible for the Indian Army to send all the main battle tanks in the northwest region.

On this narrow battlefield, the Indian army could not invest so many main battle tanks.

Until dawn on the 13th, the Indian army had to stop the meaningless counterattack and voluntarily withdrew Chandigarh under heavy losses.

At the end of the battle, the Indian army left behind 1,200 main battle tanks, wreckage of 1,800 armored combat vehicles, and the remains of thousands of officers and soldiers on the battlefield. Opposite the front, hundreds of officers and soldiers in the assault cluster had just worked hard for one night.

In this battle, the only casualties were an infantryman close to the anti-armor combat platform, who was seriously injured by an interceptor bomb fired by the anti-armor combat platform's active defense system.

This battle proves that the anti-armor combat platform is not only an offensive weapon, but also a very excellent defensive weapon.

Of course, this is not just the credit of the anti-armor combat platform.

During the battle, the long-range artillery of the 13th Army successfully suppressed the Indian artillery, otherwise the assault cluster would definitely be hit by artillery fire. In addition, the multi-purpose combat platform also effectively dealt with the Indian army's infantry anti-tank team and covered the anti-armor combat platform.

It can be said that this is the victory of the "future ground war platform".

In this battle, the systematic army combat platform showed combat capabilities that were beyond the reach of any main combat equipment in the past.

In a sense, the battle on the 12th day also completely changed the direction of this war.

Before this, the Indian army was confidently planning to turn the situation around.

After this, even the US military advisers believed that the Indian Army was no match for the Chinese Army at all. It was only a matter of time to lose New Delhi and lose the war, and the results would be seen soon.

From a strategic perspective, this battle has completely changed the face of the Army and will even completely change the Army tactics.

The tactical changes brought by new equipment have already made the Chinese Army taste the sweetness and will soon make the US Army realize the direction of future ground wars.

It can be said that the army is no longer a military branch that relies on its strength to decide the outcome.

Chapter 103 Problems outside the battlefield

On March 13, the 13th Army still did not advance towards New Delhi.

At that time, it was not that the Thirteenth Army was not ready to attack New Delhi, but that the Pakistani Army was in trouble when attacking Kashmir.

Although the Pakistani Army did not admit that the attack was blocked, because the Pakistani army's main battlefield was in the Kachi area and only left four infantry divisions in the direction of Kashmir, on the 12th, the Pakistani army only advanced one kilometer and did not break through the Indian army's defense line on the military ceasefire line.

Affected by this, Qi Kaiwei had to reconsider the battle in the north.

You should know that according to his deployment, after entering India, the 27th Army will mainly face the south, that is, deploy a line of defense along the logistics supply line to prevent the Indian army from heading north. If the Pakistani army can successfully complete the combat mission, it is not necessary to consider the Indian army on the north side of the supply line. The current situation is that the Pakistani army is likely to be unable to complete the combat mission.

The Thirteenth Army was very capable, but without logistical support, it would not last long.

Not to mention, in the battles in the first three days, the Thirteenth Army consumed 35,000 tons of fuel and about 12,000 tons of ammunition every day. If we count the daily necessities consumed by the officers and soldiers, as well as the materials used to conquer the city, we need to transport 50,000 tons to the front line every day.

In a sense, the biggest enemy of the Chinese Army is logistics support.

As an army general, Qi Kaiwei could not have no idea of ​​the importance of logistics support, and it was impossible to have the 13th Army attack New Delhi regardless of the risks borne by the logistics supply line. You should know that after capturing New Delhi, the problem of nearly 20 million people needed to be solved.

In this way, before entering New Delhi, the Indian army in the north must be wiped out first.

That night, the Thirteenth Army dispatched twelve assault clusters and began to sweep the northwest region of India.

In order to speed up the sweep, Qi Kaiwei used more than 800 tilted rotary wing aircraft from the Army Aviation to transport ammunition and medicine materials for assault clusters. Strictly speaking, it mainly transports fuel for power generation equipment, because this is the most consumed by the assault clusters.

At that time, the large ammunition consumer, that is, the long-range artillery troops, were all centrally deployed near Pertinda, without any assault cluster operation. The reason is very simple. From Pertin to any place in Northwest India, the straight-line distance was within the effective range of the electromagnetic gun. Even the Indian-controlled Kashmir area was deployed in Pakistan or within the strike range of long-range artillery in Northwest China.

It can be said that as the range of strikes increases, artillery no longer just tactical fire support forces.

If he wanted, Qi Kaiwei could even order the Thirteenth Army to shell New Delhi. He did not do so because of political reasons.

According to Qi Kaiwei's deployment, the sweep operation will last for three days.

The main purpose of the sweep was not to annihilate the Indian army, but to attack the Indian army's command system, focusing on eliminating the Indian army's armored troops and artillery units. That is to say, the main purpose was to disperse the Indian army. As long as the Indian army could not be organized, it would be difficult to pose a threat to the logistics supply line of the 13th Army.

Besides, with the combat effectiveness of the 27th Army, it is no problem to deal with the scattered Indian infantry.

At this point, the Indian army no longer considered defending the northwest region, but how to defend New Delhi, or whether it was necessary to defend New Delhi.

At that time, no one among the senior Indian generals believed that they could defend New Delhi.

If the Indian Prime Minister had not insisted on staying in New Delhi, I am afraid that the Indian General Staff would have issued a strategic retreat order in the early morning of the 13th.

In a sense, guarding New Delhi is no longer a military task, but a political task.

However, on the fifteenth day, even the Indian Prime Minister could not hold back.

On the 14th and 15th, the assault cluster of the 13th Army defeated eight Indian divisions, including three ace armored divisions, and did not suffer much damage. For example, in the battle outside Jalandar, an assault cluster defeated the 83rd Indian Army's 83rd Armored Division within two hours, destroyed more than 400 main battle tanks and more than 600 armored combat vehicles, seized hundreds of artillery pieces, killed, wounded and captured more than 10,000 Indian officers and soldiers, and the assault cluster was also held and injured and captured more than 10,000 Indian officers and soldiers.

Only three anti-armored combat platforms and seven multi-purpose combat platforms were lost, and three of them were destroyed by roadside bombs buried by the Indian army, and none of them were destroyed in battle. For example, after the assault cluster in Hoshiapur attacked the city, the commander of the defending army took the lead in fleeing the battlefield, and then the defending troops surrendered collectively. The Chinese army did not even waste a shell and captured the city with a population of more than 500,000.

In fact, the 13th Army at that time did not fight smoothly, not because the attack speed was not fast enough, but because it was too fast.

On the morning of the 15th, Qi Kaiwei had to directly call the front-line combat troops to slow down the advancement speed and concentrate on rectifying and maintaining the social order in the occupied areas.

Although Qi Kaiwei had been prepared before this, such as calling the tilted rotary wing aircraft of the Land Airlines to transport supplies, the logistics supply speed still could not keep up with the needs of the combat. Not to mention, by the early morning of the fifteenth, the population in the occupied areas of the Thirteenth Army had exceeded 40 million, and at least 30% of the civilians needed the occupation forces to provide rations, and the daily delivery of grain alone was as high as thousands of tons.

Obviously, the logistics support is seriously insufficient.

At that time, the transportation problem was mainly concentrated in the last few hundred kilometers, that is, the materials hoarded in Lahore, Pakistan were transported to the front line. By the morning of the 15th, three million tons of grain had been transported to northern Pakistan through railways. More than one million tons of grain were hoarded in Lahore alone, which not only filled the warehouses, but also occupied several open-air hoarding sites. Due to the limitation of road transportation capacity, these grains could not be delivered to the war zone in time.

If the social problems in the occupied areas cannot be solved, it will be impossible to ensure that the civilians in the occupied areas can accept reality and the combat troops will not be able to act smoothly.

It can be said that these problems exceeded Qi Kaiwei's expectations.

What he could do was to allow the 27th Army to open up major highways and railways as soon as possible, and to send air transport forces to the front line.

To this end, the Thirteenth Army was able to repair airports and air bases in the occupied areas.

If the air force's airlift power can be used, the logistical support problem will be solved.

You should know that a large transport aircraft can transport 70 tons of cargo at a time. If it takes off from Pakistan, it can fly four to six times a day, transport 280 to 420 tons of cargo. A truck with a load of 20 tons will take two days to run a round trip between Lahore and the front line. That is to say, the transportation efficiency of a transport aircraft is dozens of times that of a standard military truck with a load of 20 tons. The Chinese Air Force has 180 large transport aircraft, and 480 tactical transport aircraft with a load of 40 tons. If only half of it is used, its transportation capacity is equivalent to 10,000 military trucks. At that time, the total number of military trucks deployed by the Chinese Army to Pakistan was only 5,000.

Of course, in this way, the offensive speed must be slowed down and a large number of engineering troops must be used.

In fact, this is also the main reason why Qi Kaiwei believes that it will take half a year to defeat India, because the main problem of attacking printing is not to defeat the Indian army, but how to stabilize more than one billion Indians. You should know that if the settlement work in the occupied areas is not in place, it will definitely have a much greater impact than the threat of the Indian army, and it will also cause China to be condemned politically and morally.

On March 16, on the seventh day of the ground war, the Indian Prime Minister made the decision to move the capital.

On the same day, the main functional bodies of the Indian central government began to transfer, with the destination being Bangalore, at the southern end of the Indian Peninsula.

Although it is also within the attack range of the Chinese army, especially the Chinese navy, in the short term, at least there is no need to worry about the Chinese army coming.

The move of India's capital has shown that the Indian authorities have lost confidence in winning.

On March 17, after obtaining China's consent, the Sri Lankan authorities declared war on India on the grounds that India had supported the Tamil separatist group.

A few hours later, the Chinese Air Force sent two fighter squadrons to Sri Lanka.

These fighters do not perform combat missions, and their main mission is to symbolically cover Sri Lanka's homeland, because Sri Lanka has no advanced fighter jets that can fight, and they do not even have local air defense capabilities. This is mainly to encourage other South Asian countries.

In the afternoon of the same day, China reached an agreement with Bangladesh, which opened all ports and domestic transportation facilities to the Chinese army, that is, allowed the Chinese army to attack India through the passage.

Bangladesh's position is crucial to the opening of the Eastern Front.

If it had not been through Bangladesh, the 42nd Army, which had been deployed in place, could only advance south along the Yarlung Zangbo Valley, and combat materials would either be transported by land or transported to Myanmar and then to the front line. The former had very limited transportation capacity, while the latter had the problem of too long supply passages. Only through Bangladesh can the logistical support problem be effectively solved and the worries of the 42nd Army would be eliminated.

Because the offensive operations on the Western Front battlefield encountered some difficult problems to solve immediately, Qi Kaiwei had to consider opening the second front in time. Although politically speaking, capturing New Delhi is enough, if the pro-China regime is recognized by the international community, it is necessary to control India's densely populated areas, namely the Ganges Plain. Obviously, the Chinese army must launch a ground attack on the east.

However, there were two solutions at that time. One was to let the 42nd Army launch an attack, and the other was to open a landing field on the west coast of the Bay of Bengal. Although Qi Kaiwei insisted on the former and believed that even if he was involved in the Marines, the army should play the main force, but Pang Yuelong did not think so. Mu Haoyang also supported the launch of a large-scale landing operation, and the Marines were entirely responsible for the main combat mission.

Don’t forget that the current Marine Corps was created by Mu Haoyang, and the relationship between Pang Yuelong and Mu Haoyang is also extraordinary.

Chapter 104 Proof of Promise

On March 20, Qi Kaiwei returned to China to discuss the opening of the Eastern Front battlefield.

The day before, Pang Yuelong had already arrived at the General Staff Department and reported to Mu Haoyang about the preparations of the Marine Corps, and submitted a letter of request for battle on behalf of the 200,000 Marine Corps soldiers.
To be continued...