Chapter Twenty-Four: The Radiance of Duler Khan

  Awas District, Susaanggerde Region.

  One by one, the tanks have been equipped with camouflage nets that are the same color as the marshes. Once they enter the marshes, they blend in seamlessly and become almost indistinguishable from the air.

  Yesterday, an Iraqi plane flew over the sky here, which surprised and frightened General Sharaf that this action would be discovered by the other side.

  Fuel supplies are in place, the other several divisions on the southern line have assembled, just waiting for action to begin here, after crossing the swamp, the troops in the Abadan area will be withdrawn to defend, and then start with a thunderous blow, turning defense into offense, thoroughly driving the Iraqi army out of the national border.

  Abel Hasan rallied the officers at headquarters one more time, and this surprise crossing of the Susangird Swamp marked the beginning of the operation.

  This half of the swampy area has almost been explored, Rajavi led his own armored strike group, with a total of 180 Chieftain tanks, 230 M113 armored personnel carriers, and 200 off-road trucks, carrying sufficient fuel and ammunition, to start this operation, code-named: Dulahan's Radiance.

  Each vehicle carried a sufficient number of bundles of reeds, and when they came to places where carts could not pass, they would put the bundles of reeds into them, thus making a road that was passable.

  After the tanks and armored vehicles passed by, two ruts had been pressed out. The off-road military vehicle behind them, with its wide tires and deep treads, plus the reeds that had been previously laid down, surprisingly also passed through smoothly.

  Although the tank's maximum road speed is over sixty kilometers per hour, in this place, off-road speed is most important. And the tank's passing speed in this area is less than fifteen kilometers per hour, and it takes two or three days to walk through these hundreds of miles of swampy terrain.

  Driving in this swampy area during the day is fraught with danger, and one unlucky driver has already strayed from the road. As a result, one of the tracks started slipping sideways, and by the time the leading tank was ready to pull it out, half of the track had sunk into the mud.

  One tank couldn't pull it, and adding another one didn't work either. Two tanks together at full power still couldn't pull it out, instead they both became thoroughly stuck in the mud, with only their turrets remaining visible.

  Helpless, Rajavi ordered the abandonment of this tank. By the time the convoy passed by later, even the turret was submerged. The power of the swamp can be seen at a glance.

  The tribal-style tank, with its powerful firepower and thick armor, has its advantages, but it also leads to the problem of being too heavy. What's more deadly is that this tank uses narrow tracks, making it almost impossible to pass through this terrain. If not for repeated aerial reconnaissance to determine a viable route, plus constant padding with reeds, this impossible feat would not have been accomplished.

  The part of a tank with the greatest structural strength is not the front armor, but the track. The track is like the shoe of an armored vehicle, and it's usually subjected to the worst treatment. If its structural strength is not enough, when making a turn, the track will be torn apart by the huge force exerted on it. Each tank's track weighs at least five tons, accounting for one-tenth of the vehicle's total weight.

  It's not that the British didn't know how to widen the tracks, but they had different purposes.

  Wide tracks gave the tank a relatively strong ability to pass through complex terrain. However, wide tracks must have brought trouble to the tank in terms of steering and acceleration, as the excessively wide tracks resulted in too much traction, leading to discomfort during steering.

  Narrow tires, on the other hand, have a very obvious advantage in that they are much quicker to start and turn, with high maneuverability, but this maneuverability is based on a very good foundation, such as cities, roads, or flat desert areas.

  At the same time, too narrow tracks will greatly reduce the terrain adaptability of the tank. For example, in swampy areas, T-62 tanks can drive without any auxiliary means, as long as they don't make that stupid turning action like Ari Len Long did, generally nothing happens, but for the Abrams tank, this is a matter of life and death, if not handled properly, it will get stuck.

  Within three or four hours, the tank had already run out of oil.

  L60 type 2-stroke inline 6-cylinder opposed piston water-cooled multi-fuel engine, although it produced a powerful 720 horsepower, but it was absolutely a big oil drinker, consuming over 200 liters of fuel per hour, especially in swampy terrain. The tank driver basically had to keep the accelerator pedal pressed down, and the initial 1000 liters of fuel added before departure were already completely consumed.

  Before departure, an additional fuel tank had been tied to the back of each tank, which contained extra fuel that would allow the tanks to run for several more hours and reach a solid ground found ahead, where they could spend their first night in the marshes.

  It is absolutely impossible to move at night, and during the day, according to the pre-planned route, a tank has already been lost. If it were at night, the loss would be even greater. This loss is not worth it.

  And where to camp was also a difficult problem, if you stop at some place casually, the tank would be swallowed by the swamp and disappear without a trace the next morning.

  This route has been planned for many days and was finally confirmed, which shows the risks involved.

  A road that can withstand the passage of tanks, a hard surface where tanks can stay, and cannot be discovered by enemy aircraft. All this is giving Rajavi trouble, but fortunately, everything is fine for now.

  Today, I've only walked 100 kilometers.

  Apart from the most difficult Chieftain main battle tanks, other vehicles passed relatively smoothly, and the M113 armored personnel carriers behind did not encounter the difficulties of the Chieftains.

  The M113 is a lightweight, amphibious tracked armored personnel carrier capable of transporting soldiers and cargo, with a high speed and good mobility on rough terrain.

  Due to its armor being made of aviation aluminum alloy, it reduced weight while maintaining a certain strength, with a combat full load of only 10.26 tons, and a 275 horsepower diesel engine driving this body is very fuel-efficient.

  Inside the vehicle, there are 2 crew members: the driver and the commander. The driver sits in the front of the hull, while the commander sits at the front of the troop compartment. The power pack is located in a separate compartment to the right of the driver, similar to the Type 63 armored personnel carrier. Inside the troop compartment, there are two benches that can accommodate up to 11 soldiers (10 soldiers sitting on either side and one behind the commander). These seats can be easily removed to free up space for other uses.

  The off-road trucks behind them were loaded with sufficient fuel and began to refuel the tanks and armored vehicles. The fuel they carried could meet the fuel consumption of the troops for five days, especially since they would establish a supply base fifty miles west of the swamp to provide the tanks with the last necessary replenishment before the attack, meeting the needs of the tank's attack on the enemy position.

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