Chapter 350 The war begins!

Chapter 350 The war begins!

Chapter 350 The war begins!

The Red Army's pre-war meeting lasted more than two hours, and it was basically the Russian officers who were discussing the matter. Chen Jun and Man Guangzhi only listened but did not speak.

It was already past lunch time when the meeting ended, and it seemed that the Red Army cadres were all working diligently.

I'm so busy that I don't have time to eat!

But in the opinion of Chen Jun, who listened to the whole process, the regimental cadres of the Russian Army were just "dawdling". They spent a lot of time discussing the plan, which only showed that their work efficiency was low and had nothing to do with their ability to perform their duties.

The reason was that the final combat plan was too ordinary in Chen Jun's opinion.

It was so ordinary that, let alone asking Chen Jun to think about it, even if it was thrown to the domestic regimental-level cadres for discussion, it would probably take less than half an hour to figure it out.

Chen Jun really couldn't understand this group of Russian soldiers. Why did they take so long to discuss such a simple tactic?

Man Guangzhi, who had originally thought that he could come here to learn something and see the world after going abroad, became more and more confused the more he listened and at one point suspected that he had come to the wrong place.

After all, the Russian army was once a super-developed country, and it is a behemoth that inherited most of the "legacy" after its disintegration.

In Man Guangzhi's opinion...

Not to mention that the speed of Russia's modernization construction can catch up with the US military, which is also a super-developed country, and is at least above the level of European armies.

But after actually standing there and listening for a long time, he was greatly disappointed.

Not only is the Russian Army's thinking still very old, it is basically a continuation of the traditional combat concepts of World War II. Even in its increasingly important tactical style of play, it is still severely constrained by the old ways, and is almost no different from the Soviet Army in World War II.

Just like the current Russian army, the process of modernization reform is extremely slow.

China's field forces completed the transformation from motorization to semi-mechanization many years ago, and have almost completed the comprehensive mechanization reform process.

Now we are pushing forward reforms again, evolving from mechanization to informatization.

The Central Division participating in this exercise is an elite force of the Russian Army, but it is still only a motorized infantry division and is still a long way from being mechanized.

The funniest thing is that the main forces of the Russian army are not mechanized, not because the level of military technology has not been reached.

During the Cold War, the Russian army developed a lot of high-tech military equipment under the Soviet-American arms competition, and the army's weapons and equipment were also updated.

Among them are BTR-80 wheeled armored vehicles, BTR-90 armored personnel carriers, BMP infantry fighting vehicles, Tornado rocket launchers and T80 tanks, etc.

These fully mechanized combat vehicles are considered to be the best items in this era.

If the Russian army wants to develop mechanized forces, at least it can support it in terms of armament technology, and it can even support it in the form of a combined battalion.

However, the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union was so severe that Russia could not bear it.

First, the transformation from a planned economy to a market economy led to severe turbulence in the domestic economy. The economy fell into trouble and the government's finances were inevitably tight.

The national defense budget, which originally accounted for a large proportion of the gross domestic product, has had its aorta cut off in one fell swoop.

The military does not have enough personnel and financial support to purchase more equipment, let alone maintain existing equipment and update basic systems.

They had to rob Peter to pay Paul, give up selectively, and barely support the operation of the army.

Without the support of military demand and the injection of large amounts of capital into the military-industrial system, Russia's military-industrial enterprises will suffer greatly.

The collaboration chain was broken, funds were scarce, a large number of military-industrial enterprises went bankrupt, and military research and development capabilities were directly regressed.

The Russian military's economy has never recovered, and its military-industrial system has basically collapsed. Without sufficient capital injection, there is no ability to carry out reforms.

Being able to maintain motorized operations for most of the troops is already the limit of the Russian army today.

You can't do anything without money.

Even with technology and skills, we can only watch helplessly.

It's just so cruel.

Fortunately, Russia's savior has now arrived. Putin served as acting president last year and was officially elected president in March this year.

It was only under the leadership of Putin that the Russian army avoided falling completely into the quagmire.

Still maintain a certain voice in the international arena.

Russia has replaced a tough leader with a new one, which has brought a great opportunity for the development of the army. The senior Russian officers in charge of the exercise have smelled something different and clearly have the idea of ​​changing the traditional way of fighting.

That is why at the last moment before the exercise, the red and blue armies with the same arms were formed, and they were also a "pseudo-combined regiment" that is rare in the Russian army nowadays.

The three regiments were merged into one reinforced regiment, which already has the meaning of a combined brigade.

The emergence of the Vostok 2000 strategic exercise may seem like a flex of muscle for Putin's ascension to power, but in reality it is most likely a path-breaking exercise for the reform of the Russian Army.

The performance of each unit in this exercise will affect the Russian army's subsequent military reforms.

It’s a pity that reform cannot be achieved overnight.

It's not that you can just say it.

Although the Russian military top brass are willing to reform, they still need someone to implement it, someone to step up and provide leadership, as well as sufficient military funding.

Unfortunately, the Russian army does not have a genius like Chen Jun, and the regimental officers participating in the exercise are all "old antiques."

The tactics they formulated are enough to give us a glimpse of the whole picture.

The tactics finally decided upon by the Red Army may seem very practical to a group of Russian officers, but to Chen Jun, who was already at the forefront of the times, it was simply unbearable to look at.

The core of the Russian army's fighting style is actually "infantry-tank coordination"! !

To put it in detail, the whole process is to leave one battalion of the motorized infantry regiment as a reserve support force, and the remaining two battalions will move to the front of the position by truck.

(PS: Motorized troops do not ride motorcycles, but soldiers can ride trucks, get off the trucks when they reach their destination, and fight on foot.

Mechanized troops fight in armored vehicles and can fight under the cover of armored vehicles.)
Then let the tank regiment send out the main tank to serve as a shield for the infantry in front and provide a certain amount of firepower to cover the infantry's attack on the blue army's position.

If the Blue Army's resistance is very fierce, the tanks and infantry should retreat first.

Let the artillery regiment's heavy artillery come into play, set up the heavy artillery and aim at the blue army's position, give them a good blow, and then the infantry will continue the attack.

After the artillery shells exploded, the infantry coordinated to charge upwards, and after the artillery shells exploded, the infantry coordinated to charge upwards.

Isn't this the standard way of fighting in World War II?
Chen Jun and Man Guangzhi really couldn't figure out such an absurdly simple tactic. Was it necessary to discuss it for two hours? Shouldn't it be a matter of minutes?
Even if there are just a few small details.

For example, the reconnaissance company of the motorized infantry regiment went out to the front to collect intelligence on the Blue Army;
For example, where should the artillery regiment set up its heavy artillery? After all, it is not the heavy artillery of a mechanized force. It can be mounted on a vehicle and run at any time. It is a complicated task to set up and move the towing artillery.

If you can't find a safe place, block the enemy's artillery's range and firing range, etc.

Once exposed, the consequences will be serious.

For example, the commanders of the motorized infantry regiment and the tank regiment have different fighting styles and ideas from the commander-in-chief, so they must be unified.

There are all kinds of small things in it, which take a lot of time to solve. But this old way of playing World War II is really nonsense.

"With their outdated fighting style, they only know how to charge forward from the front. The forces of both sides are equal. If it weren't for the exercise script, the Red Army would win. Let alone a week, I'm afraid the Red Army won't be able to defeat the Blue Army even if they were given a year."

Man Guangzhi couldn't bear to watch it anymore and couldn't help but complain to Chen Jun in a low voice.

"That's why we, the Seventh Steel Battalion, need to take action. It's time to let these old-fashioned Russian soldiers who lived in the last century feel the terror of the new century."

As Chen Jun spoke, he began to laugh, revealing two rows of sparkling white teeth.

"Hey, now that you mention that, I'm excited."

Thinking about being able to beat up these self-righteous Russians who played tricks on them, Man Guangzhi's fighting spirit couldn't help but burn.

"What's going on with these two Chinese officers? Why are they laughing so strangely?"

Commander-in-chief Dmitry thought that the battle plan they had formulated was perfect and he himself was not under too much pressure, after all, he knew that the Red Army would win.

Just act out a scene in accordance with the requirements of the exercise and have the troops go up and move around.

But when he saw Chen Jun and Man Guangzhi laughing, he always felt that something was wrong. After all, they were people who had lived for decades and had certain social experience.

But he couldn't guess what was wrong.

"Are they going to do something?"

A light bulb went off in Dmitri's head, and the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. In keeping with the principle of striking first, he decided to start with the 7th Steel Battalion.

"My two friends from China, the 7th Steel Battalion is a mechanized unit with better mobility than our motorized infantry regiment. I hope you will fight in the front and explore the enemy's strength first. Can you do it?"

Dmitri deliberately flattered Chen Jun, fearing that he would refuse, and then provoked him: "If your Chinese army is not good enough, that's fine. I can find another way."

Dmitry seemed to have given Chen Jun a choice, but in fact he had blocked all his retreat routes.

The 7th Steel Battalion could either accept the mission and become the vanguard to lead the Russian army's subsequent attack, or refuse to accept the mission and admit that it was not capable of it.

And taking the lead has always been the most dangerous, which is tantamount to deliberately pitting the 7th Steel Battalion.

If it was a regular combat battalion, and the commander was not a "veteran" like Chen Jun, something would definitely go wrong if Dmitry did this to them.

Unfortunately, the 7th Steel Battalion is not an ordinary battalion.

Dmitri had hit a wall.

Before Chen Jun came, he told Man Guangzhi that he wanted to use the Red Army as bait to attract the attention of the Blue Army so that he could secretly eat the Blue Army.

If they want to secretly eat up the Blue Army, they must first get out of the Red Army's sight.

Chen Jun was still thinking about what excuse he could use to completely break away from the Red Army and become a free man, so that he could fly freely in the sky in this mountain forest.

Unexpectedly, Dmitry came to the door on his own initiative and gave Chen Jun an excuse.

"Okay, we will launch the attack from the left side before dawn tonight." Chen Jun was smiling in his heart but had a reluctant expression on his face.

It was like he was being forced, and it made him very angry.

Dmitry really thought that his plan had succeeded and that the 7th Battalion of China's Steel Corps would serve as the front line for them, further depleting the Blue Army's manpower. The smile on his face suddenly became more intense.

Although the script of this exercise was fixed, the fact that the exercise was won at a lower cost indirectly demonstrated that Dmitry had strong command capabilities.

Dmitry was naturally very happy that fewer Russian soldiers died on his side.

As for how much loss the 7th Steel Battalion would suffer, Dmitry didn't care at all. After all, they were foreign support forces and had absolute freedom of action. They were not under the jurisdiction of the Red Army's commander-in-chief, so the number of sacrifices had nothing to do with his command.

The sound of this calculation was so loud that it could be heard clearly across the Atlantic Ocean.

The army is definitely the most xenophobic place. When other Russian officers saw the Chinese army suffer a defeat, they felt very happy at this moment.

The leaders at the regiment level did not have much strategic vision, and they did not know the purpose of inviting the 7th Steel Battalion.

Fortunately, I don’t know.

If they knew, they would still be dismissive. The arrogant Russians would not bother to learn from the backward Chinese soldiers.

Russia and the United States are in opposition. The two sides have been engaged in the Cold War for decades, but what is ridiculous is that the Russian society has been seriously infiltrated by the United States, and American culture is popular in the country.

Naturally, the Russian people also accept all the smears against China by the United States.

This led to the Russian army in the late 1990s being influenced by various slanderous remarks and always thinking that China was very backward and still had long braids.

The overall exclusion of the 7th Steel Battalion of the Russian Army in this exercise was actually influenced by this kind of thinking.

A backward country that needed their help and didn't even have an air force at the beginning, actually sent mechanized troops to participate in exercises in just a few decades.

The most frustrating thing is that they don’t have them yet, and can only dream of having a combined force out of reach.

This is indeed difficult for the Russian army to accept.

If you can't accept it in your heart, you will reject it. Once you have the idea of ​​rejection, you will find faults and make trouble, which will lead to the current disharmony.

Now that Chen Jun has taken on the hot potato, all the Russian officers are ready to watch the show.

There's nothing else to do next.

Chen Jun and Man Guangzhi returned with the order, and the commanders of the Russian regiments also returned to their respective units to convey the combat plans to the companies below.

After receiving the order, the Russian troops immediately took action according to the combat plan.

The soldiers of the motorized infantry regiment lined up and climbed onto the trucks with supplies, ready to maneuver to the front line and prepare to attack the Blue Army's positions.

The tanks of the tank regiment were filled with fuel, emitting black smoke and rumbling towards the front-line positions.

The only ones to retreat were the artillery regiments.

In order to avoid being counterattacked by the Blue Army's heavy artillery, the Red Army's artillery chose to limit the range.

Both sides were equipped with the same artillery, and the Red Army's firing range was just right to hit the Blue Army's front-line positions, so the Blue Army's artillery could not counterattack the Red Army's artillery.

Even knowing the exact coordinates is useless.

After all, it was impossible for the Blue Army's heavy artillery to move forward and be placed on the high ground of the frontline position, forcing the artillery of both sides to be within the same range.

The last remaining 7th Steel Battalion also started to move after Chen Jun returned.

The war has begun!

(End of this chapter)