Chapter 16: The Thirty-Fifth Armored Brigade

  Due to the heavy rainfall in recent days, the Susangerd region in Khuzestan province has turned into a swamp.

  When it comes to the Middle East and North Africa, Zhang Feng's impression is a desert landscape stretching as far as the eye can see. However, upon arrival, he discovered that this was not the case at all.

  Baghdad and Basra are places with abundant water sources and lush vegetation. This is the famous Two Rivers region, which gave birth to a great ancient civilization.

  But like Southwest and Northwest China, the neighboring country of Saudi Arabia is mostly desert, while southeastern Iraq has several lakes, and water sources are not particularly scarce.

  Along the border with Iran, in the Susangerd region, vast expanses of water grass are growing. Due to the recent rainfall, the land around the confluence of the two rivers near the sea is muddy and impassable, and the swamps here are even more inaccessible.

  Off-road vehicle? No matter if you are two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, no matter how much horsepower you have, all will be killed. Come as many as you want, get stuck in the mud pit as many as you want.

  Only tracked armored vehicles can barely pass through.

  At the beginning of this tank battle, more than 400 tanks from both sides participated in the war. However, in the end, more than 200 tanks were trapped in the swamp and never climbed out again.

  Here is also a nightmare for tracked vehicles.

  Most of Iran's weapons are American-made, except for its main battle tank, which is British-made Chieftain.

  The Chieftain tank weighed 55 tons, much heavier than its contemporaries, the greater weight providing a thick armour and a powerful 720 horsepower engine, a 120mm calibre rifled gun, and advanced sighting systems gave it a first round hit probability of 80% at 1500m against moving targets.

  The only drawback is that it's too heavy and not very suitable for swampy areas.

  And Iraq was equipped with Soviet T-62 tanks, which were exported in large quantities to the Warsaw Pact countries but were only simplified models used within the Soviet military. Although they had a 115mm caliber gun, their fire control system was very simple and equipped with infrared lamps!

  During World War II, tank aiming was mostly done by feel. In the 1950s, a more popular method was to use a coaxial machine gun, which is a machine gun mounted on the same axis as the tank's cannon. First, the machine gun would fire tracer rounds to get an idea of where the target was, and if it hit, then the cannon would be fired. Later, optical devices were introduced for aiming, using infrared lamps to illuminate the target and periscopes to observe and determine its position, with an effective range of up to 1,000 meters.

  The current Iraqi army's tank is equipped with this fire control system.

  The commander's tank had already used a laser rangefinder, crosswind sensor and ballistic computer integrated together, almost having the prototype of a modern tank fire control system. The best fire control system of the German Leopard tank, no matter how the body shakes, the gun muzzle can always aim at the target.

  But even with the inferior fire control system, the brave Iraqi tankmen did not feel ashamed. They didn't have the idea that they would be beaten just because of their backwardness. What they liked most was to abandon this outdated system and shoot directly at their targets. They trusted their own eyes more.

  The only advantage of the T-62, perhaps, is its light weight, with a combat weight of only 44 tons, and also has wider tracks, which gives it much better mobility in swampy terrain than the Chieftain tank.

  Zhang Feng was recalling the combat effectiveness of the Iraqi tank troops while arriving at the command post of the 35th Armored Brigade, 13th Armored Division. The brigade commander was a middle-aged man named Mohammed.

  Mohammed is one of the most commonly used names in Iraq, just like Zhang Ming and Li Qiang.

  For these marshlands, the Southern Military Region Command was very reassured. These places were a natural barrier that enemy tanks could hardly cross, which means it was very safe here. It was precisely because of this that Zhang Feng was transferred here.

  If they knew that the largest tank battle since the Fourth Middle East War was about to take place here, Izzat probably wouldn't be so calm.

  Zhang Feng became a row of four people, in addition to Waleed and Ghasal, plus one Izat sent him a guard: Marwan.

  Malwan is Izzat's personal bodyguard, tall and sturdy, with divine marksmanship, one of Izzat's trusted men, sent to Zhang Feng's side, not only to protect Zhang Feng, but also with a deeper meaning that Zhang Feng has not thought about.

  The most important thing for him now is to integrate with the soldiers of this armored brigade, see how their combat effectiveness is and whether they can withstand the Iranian tank attack.

  "Welcome, General Kusay, to our 35th Armored Brigade for inspection. This is the honor of all officers and men in our armored brigade." Muhammad stood at the door of the command post and saluted as soon as he saw General Kusay's jeep approaching, saying.

  "God is above, and can see our mighty war chariots, I feel deeply honored." Zhang Feng returned the salute, saying this as his gaze turned to a tank parked on the empty land beside them.

  "Kusay has traveled a long distance and must be tired. Let him rest at the inn first, then inspect the troops later. I have arranged for Kusay to participate in a shooting practice." Muhammad said.

  "Alright." After walking for such a long time, Zhang Feng was indeed getting a bit tired.

  "How many tanks does our armored brigade have in total?" Zhang Feng asked as he walked.

  "We have three tank battalions, one artillery battalion, and one mechanized infantry battalion. Each tank battalion has thirty-six tanks (each battalion has three companies, each company twelve vehicles), the artillery battalion has forty guns, the mechanized infantry battalion has sixty-four armored vehicles, totaling seventeen hundred fifty-three people."

  After hearing Muhammad's reply, Zhang Feng nodded his head. These people will be the main force defending the Susangayrd region.

  The Iranians want to occupy this place for a reason, it is located in the weak point of the southern military region's defense. If the other side occupies this place, they can go south and take down Khorramshahr which has been occupied for almost a year and besieged Abadan, or go north and attack Baghdad directly.

  "Do we have armed helicopters?" Zhang Feng asked, armed helicopters are the natural enemies of tanks. The front armor of the tank is the thickest, followed by the sides and rear, and the thinnest is probably the top armor.

  "We have about fifty Mi-24s in our military zone, but they are all deployed in the military zone. In the Susangerd area, we don't have any Mi-24 protection," Mohammad said.

  Zhang Yang knew that although the Iraqi army was equipped with armed helicopters, they were not assigned to frontline troops. When needed, they had to be requested from the military region, which would undoubtedly waste time. He had to think of a way to get a batch from the Military Region Command.

  The Mi-24 is the first specialized assault helicopter in the Soviet Army, which has been heavily equipped with the Soviet military and exported to many countries. The main tasks planned for the design of the Mi-24 include: providing cover for friendly tank clusters, suppressing ground enemy forces and air defense firepower, forcibly parachuting small infantry units, and suppressing the vanguard troops of the enemy in the landing area. However, after long-term training and use, the Mi-24 has taken on more anti-tank tasks and has certain anti-helicopter capabilities.