the world is at stake

The truck drove to a temporary military depot by the river, and a submerged pontoon bridge was pulled up by a winch.

The small officer of the Iraqi army who led the team waved his pistol and shouted sharply: "Brothers, I know you are afraid, but no one is allowed to retreat, because we have no choice but to fight to the end. I will take the lead across the river, and you will follow me .”

After finishing speaking, the little officer really strode onto the pontoon bridge, and went to the West City of Baghdad, where the war was raging, without looking back.The thirty or so death squad members were terrified, pushing and shoving, unwilling to move.

Only a few fanatics followed with guns.

Habshi felt his calf throbbing when suddenly he heard a gunshot.He shrank his neck and turned his head, only to see smoke from the muzzle of the supervisory team driving them - a 'volunteer' tried to escape and was shot dead on the spot.

The war supervisor shouted loudly: "Cross the bridge quickly and hide in the ruins of the opposite city. Otherwise, the Jewish drones will immediately call for artillery fire to cover this place.

The shells may have come from twenty or thirty kilometers away, and you only have two minutes to run over. After two minutes, you will either be killed by the Jews or by us.

To be a fallen hero or a shameful coward, depending on your choice? "

The Tigris River is not a big river, and its surface is only more than 200 meters wide.Under normal circumstances, 2 minutes will definitely pass.

Under the gunpoint, the death-death team members bite the bullet and ran across the pontoon bridge one after another.When most of the people passed by, the winch on the river bank was relaxed, allowing the pontoon to sink underwater to avoid shells.

But there are really a few 'volunteers' who refuse to cross the bridge.They dropped the weapons in their hands, knelt on the ground and begged, saying that they didn't know how to fight, and now they just wanted to go home.

The supervising team had seen this a lot, and when the time came, they shot several cowards to death with a few shots, and then drove away quickly.

Not long after they left, more than a dozen shells landed on the temporary ferry, blasting the river bank into potholes.Even the winch was blown up.

Habshi carried the bazooka and ran across the pontoon bridge behind Said.Hearing the explosion of the shell, he looked back and saw the corpses blown up on the bank falling into the river.

Although it was dark night, the flames of battle in the city were reflected in the sky and reflected on the river.The tattered corpse floated up and down under the firelight and was washed away by the current.

Several people had just spoken to Habshi and cried and said they wanted to go home, and now they could never go home.

Said also looked back, and whispered with sympathy: "Their families will not know how they died, let alone where they died."

No matter how naive Habshi is at this moment, he understands that the so-called "death squad" is not a certain team, but only refers to the cannon fodder team.The twenty or so people who crossed the river were organized into six combat groups under the leadership of the small officer.

A team leader who looked calmer led four or five rookie team members and marched towards a certain block under the leadership of the junior officer.Each group will have a walkie-talkie made in China, the kind that costs dozens of dollars.More than 100 people were scattered over a distance of more than [-] meters, slowly advancing through the ruins of the city.

The small officer took an individual radio station to receive orders from his superiors, and when he advanced to a certain block, he squatted down, did not take the initiative to attack, and simply defended—the quality of the soldiers was too poor, so they could only fight silently.

Habsch with the bazooka is the only heavy firepower in the group, and he only has two rockets.The whole team fought around these two rounds of ammunition, and it was up to him to kill the Jews on the opposite side.

In an instant, whether it was a fanatic who came willingly to die, a young cynic who came with fantasy, or an unlucky person who entered the battlefield in a daze, they all understood that they were not important.

Everyone is just cannon fodder used to delay time, or corpses to lubricate the track, or at worst, just a few names vaguely recorded in the notebook to consume the enemy's ammunition.

That's the cruelty of war—you're the darling of your parents, you're loved.But on the battlefield, you are just a number, not even as good as a number.

Only one-time consumables.

The small officer leading the team had some experience, and from time to time reported the situation on the walkie-talkie, or reminded the teams to observe the battlefield, or at least told a few jokes, so that the cannon fodder would not feel too frustrated because they were abandoned.

Habshi, who didn't know where he was in Baghdad, wept as he leaned against the wall of a collapsed building.

The team leader slapped the kid several times and ordered him to recall the steps of using the RPG rocket launcher and practice it.Sometimes Habshi forgot how to use it and had to ask the small officer leading the team on the walkie-talkie.

Said became the vanguard of the group, holding '81-1', lying in a pile of rotten bricks more than ten meters forward.His role is to either discover the enemy and instruct his companions to attack; or be attacked by the enemy and also instruct his companions.

Now the whole city is full of gunfire, gunfire and flames.Unrelated residents have been ordered to evacuate long ago, foreigners have slipped away long ago, and even journalists have been ordered to evacuate.

The neighborhood where Habshi's group was located was not immune to the flames of war.They had just chosen their respective hiding places when they heard the creaking sound of crawlers rolling over the ruins bricks from behind the ruins about a hundred meters away.

The Jews came, and there were figures swaying behind the ruins, and it seemed that there were quite a few of them.

The atmosphere in the group immediately became tense, and the group leader trembled when speaking on the walkie-talkie.On the other hand, the little officer, who was somewhere, was still in a stable mood. After asking about the general location, he said that he would find the artillery to shoot a few rounds.

Habshi set up his bazooka and aimed it into the dark corner.

The team leader put his hand on his shoulder and ordered him not to fire indiscriminately.But in fact, his mouth was dry, his heart ached, his chest was tight, his head was dizzy, and he wished he could throw the bazooka and then fall to the ground and pretend to be dead.

A few minutes later, the artillery group on the east bank of Baghdad responded, and several shells hit behind the ruins reported by Habshi's team, deflecting by about a hundred meters.

After the coordinates are corrected in the radio, the subsequent shells will become more and more accurate.Until the walls of a collapsed building were blasted to the ground, it was obvious that someone was buried underneath.

The enemy seems to have withdrawn.

The atmosphere in the team was obviously relaxed, and even Habshi himself felt that his breathing was much easier-everyone felt that if the battle was to serve as an artillery observation post, it would be safer and acceptable.

"Don't be too happy, the artillery is being transferred. We may not get support in the future." The small officer reminded everyone on the walkie-talkie not to relax their vigilance. "Hide better, the enemy will immediately retaliate with artillery fire."

As soon as these words were finished, the Israeli army's artillery shells fell down overwhelmingly, as if they didn't want money.Its scouts probably knew where the opponent was, relying on their own guns and ammunition, they smashed them abruptly.

The shelling lasted for more than ten minutes, and Habuxi felt that his internal organs were all displaced by the shock, and he could not avoid being stunned by covering his ears tightly.When he woke up faintly, he was shocked to find that he was the only one alive in the group he was in.

The team leader who had just held Habshi's shoulder fell in a pool of blood to protect him, and several other team members were buried under broken bricks.Said, who followed him all the way to Iran and then to Baghdad, disappeared immediately, leaving only a bomb crater where he was.

The battlefield in the distance is extremely lively, but it is very quiet in front of you.The teenage Habshi sat among the ruins, looking at the dark ruins, his mind was buzzing, and he was dumbfounded.

Chapter 42 Coward

In the dark night, Baghdad is as bright as a fire, reflecting half of the sky.

The 'Tiger' heavy armored vehicle rumbled over the collapsed houses and slowly moved forward along the slope of the ruins.

The large-caliber machine gun on the roof is aimed at a distance. Once the shooter catches any suspicious bright spot in the night vision device, he will shoot without hesitation.

Seven or eight infantrymen followed behind the armored vehicle. Lieutenant Hassan of the armored reconnaissance company controlled the drone in the vehicle to search the nearby streets. The modified remote control console displayed the images returned by the drone's night vision camera.

The Israeli army did everything possible to give full play to its technological advantages and tilt the balance of the battlefield in its favor.The application of UAVs is one of its powerful weapons. Whether it is obtaining battlefield information or destroying living targets, it is extremely efficient.

But when the drone controlled by Hassan was flying at low altitude, the picture on the remote control station suddenly spun, followed by a signal interruption.He cursed angrily and punched the table heavily.

Siege warfare in ancient times often ended in massacres, and modern urban warfare has always suffered heavy casualties.

The harsh environment on the battlefield makes it easy for soldiers to lose control of their emotions, and complex and brutal street fighting will amplify negative factors and trigger uncontrollable rage.

The interruption of the signal was due to the use of strong electromagnetic interference by the Iraqi army.

But where does this interference come from?Just ask the Chinese - the PLA has been figuring out for a long time how to counter the electronic superiority of the US military.

During the Zhu Rihe exercise, the director department was able to drive the electronic jamming vehicle directly in front of the Red Army's electronic equipment to start it-knowing how to fight, you also know how to suppress the confrontation.

In order to offset the electronic advantages of the Jews, North Korea provided the Iraqi army with multiple sets of PLA electronic jamming and anti-jamming equipment.What just worked was a set of strong interference equipment.

By scanning the radio frequency spectrum on the battlefield, find out which frequency bands are being used by the enemy, and then interfere with them - easier said than done, advanced radio stations have anti-jamming measures.

But ordinary drones just don't have it.The Iraqi army not only released electromagnetic interference, but also created a strong electromagnetic pulse. Electronic equipment that has not been specially reinforced will be burned directly.

The micro-drone that Hassan is using is difficult to strengthen in this regard, and it is easy to be killed by strong electromagnetic pulses that appear from time to time-this impact comes without a trace, and it is hard to guard against.

If there is no drone to clear the way ahead, it will be difficult for the Israeli army to take advantage of its equipment, and the advancement speed in street fighting will be very slow.It can only be opened by the heavy thermobaric bombs thrown by the Air Force from time to time.

But Baghdad says whether it is big or not, and whether it is small or not.The Israeli Air Force has only a few dozen F-15Es that can carry heavy thermobaric bombs, which is already too busy.

Hassan came out of the cockpit of the 'Tiger' armored vehicle, his nose full of gunpowder smoke.After the drone he controlled crashed, he heard an emergency call from the friendly army on the radio, followed by the sound of track crushing and the sound of gunfire.

The gunfire was not far away.

The sound of the 54mm rifled gun of the T-3 is completely different from the 120mm smoothbore gun of the 'Merkava [-]'.The Israeli army is already very experienced, and you can tell by the sound that there is big trouble.

"Damn it, why did T-54 appear in the cleared urban area?"

Hassan told his subordinates to take out a few B300 anti-tank rockets from the cockpit of 'Tiger', "A team will go around from the left side, don't face hard."

No matter how bad the T-54 is, it is still a tank, and it cannot be dealt with by the "Tiger".The 'Merkava 3' that had just entered the city was not nearby, and Hassan had to rely on the infantry to go up by himself except calling for rescue on the radio.

Just waiting for Hassan's men to walk a hundred meters away, the ruins of the street suddenly exploded.Numerous building fragments crashed into the sky, turning into deadly fragments to harvest nearby Israeli soldiers.

The smoke and dust raised by the air waves covered the sky and the sun, and covered up the fires in the city, making people feel like a dark cauldron was pulled down.

Hassan stayed away because of his thigh injury two days ago, which made him unable to move.The shock wave of the explosion hit him in front of him along with the smoke and dust, blowing him up easily, flying five or six meters away, and falling heavily to the ground.

The severe pain made his eyes go black, and he passed out on the spot.When he regained consciousness again, his whole body was weak and his headache was splitting.

It's 'Black Widow', or some other suicide attacker.

"Street fighting is too difficult. The neighborhoods that have been suppressed with thermobaric bombs may not be safe." Hassan woke up with this in his mind.

The Iraqis had long expected that the Jews would frenziedly carry out explosive attacks in urban areas, so they built strong bunkers underground in many residential areas.

The power of thermobaric bombs is released through the air, and there is nothing to do with these underground semi-enclosed and solid bunkers.

There may be a squad of Iraqi soldiers in the underground bunker, or a black widow who may detonate tons of explosives at any time, or even hide an old T-54 in it.

The amount of work required to dig an underground bunker is not large, and a few civilians can dig a bunker for a black widow.The bunker where the T-54 is hidden can be built in three to five days with at most one excavator.

Multiple bunkers can also be connected with each other through telephone lines to coordinate command.The Israeli army can occupy the ground, but they can't do anything underground for a while.So this approach is impossible to guard against.

Hassan got up from the ground and found that his night vision goggles had been disabled.He took off the equipment from the top of his head, and under the light of the fire at night, there was a huge pit tens of meters away from him.

"At least two to three hundred kilograms of TNT were detonated, and one of my squads was scrapped." Hassan sat on the broken bricks of the ruins and panted.Looking back, I found that the 'tiger' that had just carried me had also suffered a disaster.

'Tiger' is modified from 'Merkava 1' tank. It has good hull defense, but lacks firepower.When encountering a real tank, it can only run for its life.

The tail compartment of the 'Tiger' in front of me was hit by an armor-piercing projectile, the cockpit was pierced, and the car body was completely scrapped.Not far away, there are more flaming T-54s, but if you look closely, the turret has infrared headlights, and it looks like a Chinese-made Type 69 tank.

A 'Merkava 3' stopped at the intersection, and the 'plywood' armor on the left side of the turret was broken into several pieces. It was obviously shelled, but not penetrated.

There were several accompanying infantry beside the 'Mekava 3', and one of them found the dizzy Hassan and ran over to confirm his rank according to the gun, and then shouted: "Lieutenant, are you okay?"

It's no wonder it's good.

The shock made Hassan's brain not functioning well and his body uncoordinated.The accompanying infantry called for medical soldiers to clean up the wounds on his head and face.

"What happened?" Hassan asked after regaining some energy after being transferred to the field ambulance station.

The medics cleaned Hassan's wound with alcohol and said, "This is the area where senior Iraqi officials live. There is a large underground parking lot under the nearby buildings, and an Iraqi armored company is hidden in it."

Hearing the word 'armored company', Hassan knew that his side's losses would not be small.This powerful force suddenly appearing behind one's own back poses a major threat.

The medical soldier continued: "After the Iraqis reinforced the parking lot, they resisted our thermobaric bombs. They also deliberately blocked the entrance, so that the troops who searched here failed to find any abnormalities.

When our troops searched in depth, they reopened the entrance with bulldozers, and a dozen tanks and two self-propelled anti-tank guns appeared behind us. "

Only then did Hassan realize that it had been two hours since he was blown unconscious.

In order to eliminate this armored company that appeared suddenly, the Israeli army had to shrink its defense line and transfer a battalion from the surrounding area.What Hassan saw was only a part of the losses. The medical soldiers said that hundreds of people including a battalion commander were killed or injured.

"Modern urban combat is too cruel." Hassan lamented inwardly. "It's all Saddam's fault. He suddenly became an Arab hero, turning a coward into a dead man. If this is the case, Israel will be in danger."

After resting for half an hour in the field ambulance, the military doctor determined that Hassan had no major problems, but he could not continue to fight.But now there is a shortage of people everywhere in the army, and it is no longer possible to let an experienced grassroots officer leave casually.

"Lieutenant Hassan, we captured an Iraqi 'jihadist', you come and pry his mouth open." The Israeli scouts sent a 'easy' job, and took a thin 'jihadist' Lost it.

Hassan has a mild concussion and walks crookedly, making him unsuitable for the battlefield.He found a broken door panel to lean against outside the ambulance where people were coming and going, and saw the life captured by the scouts.

"Where did you get this kid?" Hassan asked.

The Israeli scouts had no time to interrogate the prisoners, and simply stated: "We found this kid behind the ruins of a shelled street. He was lying with several 'jihadist' corpses, trying to play dead.

But he pretended not to be, his eyes were closed but his whole body was twitching.

We thought it was a suicide attacker at first, but it turned out he was just scared.After being caught out, he demanded to surrender, saying he wanted to go home, to Paris. "

"Back to Paris?" Hassan was delighted, reaching out to wave to the thin captured 'jihadist', "boy, come here, let me see your face."

The thin 'jihadist' looked around at the wolves and tigers of the Israeli soldiers, and stepped forward tremblingly, letting the bandaged lieutenant in front of him touch his face with rough hands.

"The one with thin skin and tender meat is indeed not a local." Hassan turned to ask, "Boy, what's your name?"

"Habshi." The thin 'jihadist' cried.

"How big?"

"17 is old."

"What's your home address?"

"The 93rd arrondissement of Paris."

"Paris is a good place, boy. You shouldn't have left home to go to war. Tell me, how did you end up in Baghdad?"

"I'm flying to Iran..."

"No, no, no, I mean how did you get into Baghdad? How did you get to West Baghdad? This place has been blocked by us."

"Come over on the pontoon."

"pontoon?"

Hassan looked up sharply at the Israeli scouts who hadn't left yet, "Is there a pontoon bridge between the east and west of Baghdad?"

The scout immediately shook his head, "Impossible. All the bridges over the Tigris River were blown up by the Iraqis themselves. Even the pontoon bridges will be blown up by our air force."

Before the scout finished speaking, he grabbed Habshi by the collar and asked viciously, "Where is the floating bridge? How did you hide it from our drone?"

Habshi was so frightened that he was trembling, his lips were trembling all the time, and tears flowed out, like a little chicken.But he also knew that the pontoon bridge was related to the "jihadists" transporting personnel and supplies from the east city to the west city, so he could not tell the Israeli army.

The Israeli scouts waited for a few seconds without receiving any information, and furiously drew a sharp paratrooper knife from his ankle, forcing it on Habshi's throat.