Chapter 47: Departure

  Rajavi received the order from General Sharaf: immediately withdraw from combat, retreat to a safe area, wait for nighttime helicopter resupply, and after resupply, look for opportunities to counterattack.

  Withdraw from the battle? Rajavi was somewhat hesitant, now that both armies were stuck in a stalemate, either side withdrawing would give the other an opportunity to pursue and attack. Moreover, having fought to this point, both sides had already become enraged.

  In front of the position, at least 70-80 tanks were hit by the enemy, except for one tank battalion that was completely destroyed from the start, most of them were stuck in the swamp and unable to move, and were eventually finished off by nearby T-62s.

  While their own commander, relying on the advantage of long-range shooting, also took out at least seventy T-62s. Now, the number of enemy tanks has clearly become scarce, after all, they only have a tank brigade scale, and are not superior in numbers.

  Only, the chieftain behind him had almost fallen into a desperate situation, otherwise, he would have come up with a thunderous momentum and wiped out the opponent completely. However, this swampy terrain greatly increased the difficulty of his own attack. Damn this swamp!

  At least this large-scale armored battle confirmed one fact: the Iraqi T-62, inferior to their own equipped Chieftain firepower, as long as they broke through the swamp and reached the flat land, their armored division could still complete its pre-planned mission.

  "Order Fourth and Fifth Armored Battalions to alternate cover for withdrawal." Rajavi issued the combat order.

  At this time, Muhammad's 35th Armored Brigade was also exhausted.

  Practice has proven that when a unit suffers casualties of more than one-third, it will appear war-weariness, and when the casualties exceed half, it will face the danger of collapse.

  While the rear mechanized infantry regiment has not suffered any losses, the three armored regiments in the front have lost half of their tanks.

  Morale can be boosted but not diminished, what supports the tank soldiers to fight bravely is a conviction, the rear is just a flat ground, we must stop the enemy here, otherwise, once broken through by the enemy, the situation that has been exchanged for countless deaths and injuries of brothers in the past year may be lost completely.

  Those who can become tank soldiers are the elites of the army, and with these days of training, they have gained a strong defense. Today's battle is a great test for them.

  Now, the situation on the battlefield is in a stalemate. Our tank soldiers, although their formation has been disrupted, are still daring to fight and charge forward. Especially Ali's company, they have not disgraced the heroic company flag, they charged to the front line, and the number of tanks they destroyed is also the most.

  Muhammad also saw the array, and for his armored troops, the biggest threat was that the tribal chiefs could open fire at a distance of one thousand eight hundred meters. Kusay had been training his men in long-range shooting skills all along, just for today's preparation.

  Muhammad felt a pang of sadness, and with no news from Kusayy's tent, he feared that they might have met with disaster.

  Due to the distance and the intense battle, Muhammad did not know that Zhang Feng led his newly formed special forces unit, which had been established for less than half a month, to blow up the enemy's ammunition and fuel depot.

  "Report to the commander, the enemy is showing signs of withdrawal." The frontline tank soldiers sent back a report.

  Retreat? Ali calculated that the other side's fuel must have been exhausted. He wanted to order his armored regiment to continue pursuing, but thinking that his subordinates' blood had already flowed enough today, he dispelled this idea.

  Since the other side wants to withdraw, then we will also withdraw. Muhammad ordered: "Tank regiment, contract defense line, prepare to retreat, armored reconnaissance vehicle, go forward and reconnoiter."

  If Zhang Feng were here, he would absolutely not let the armored brigade relax, pursuing to the end in one breath. Even if they were annihilated and only one tank regiment was left, as long as the opponent's fuel was exhausted, the opponent had no choice but to surrender or be annihilated.

  Conservative thinking, lacking the spirit of active attack, this is the bad habit that many officers had during the Iran-Iraq War. They were not qualified to command modern warfare, so in the Gulf War, the US military gave Saddam a profound lesson.

  The tactics of armored troops are simple: attack and keep attacking!

  In fact, there was another reason that forced Muhammad to order a retreat: his tankers were simply not capable of fighting at night. Although they had the TKH-3 type periscope for nighttime use, combined with the OU-ZGK infrared searchlight installed on the front of the command tower, with an effective range of 400 meters, however, the tankers even had problems using the fire control system during the day, let alone at night.

  If they really rush up, maybe none of them will come back.

  Muhammad didn't want to exhaust all his armored troops, he had already blocked the Iranian sneak attack in the swamp, and the military region would not sit idly by, soon they would send air support, and being able to hold off an enemy division with just one brigade was a remarkable achievement.

  The sound of gunfire grew smaller and smaller, fewer and fewer, until finally, the two sides that had been fighting each other left the battlefield.

  Able to break away smoothly without being stuck by the opponent's tank, Rajavi sighed that his luck was really good, and also felt sorry for the commander of the opponent. It seems that there is a problem with their intelligence communication, and their logistics base has been bombed, they probably still don't know.

  A CH-47 can transport ten tons of supplies, so in one night, it's enough to bring fuel and ammunition, tomorrow, you won't be able to fight like this again.

  Using helicopters to transport supplies for armored units is a very wasteful way, but now there is no other choice. The logistics base has been destroyed, and it would take at least three to five days to transport again from the rear with off-road trucks. By then, all the tanks will probably be unable to move due to lack of fuel, and the tanks have become turkeys.

  In Iran's armored sequence, the Chieftain is the most powerful type of tank, equipped with about four tank divisions. The rest are US-made M60 and M48 tanks, which have almost been eliminated. The only one that can withstand the Iraqi army head-on is this Chieftain tank.

  If the tank corps were to be destroyed in the marshes, it would greatly reduce the Iranian army's ability to attack. Sharaf consulted with Abolhassan who was still in Ahvaz and he immediately ordered that no matter what the cost, the trapped tank corps should be rescued.

  In the darkness, one after another CH-47 Chinook helicopters, fully loaded with ammunition and fuel, took off.

  As an all-weather, day-night helicopter, CH-47 pilots were equipped with Starlight scopes. The Starlight scope was a first-generation passive night vision device that amplified reflected infrared light in the environment using the moon and stars as ambient light sources, relying on vacuum tube technology to amplify it. This made the Starlight scope's lifespan very short, so except for nighttime training flights and special missions, few pilots wanted to wear this thing.

  Tonight, this thing will play a huge role.