Today in the history of Sasha.
Author: Sasha
This article is Sasha original and is not reprinted by any media
Why was the Iraqi army vulnerable in the Gulf War? January 18, 1991: Iraq begins a counterattack after Operation Desert Storm.
This is because the US military's informationized operations have destroyed Iraq's combat capabilities.
At that time, the Iraqi army was generally organized according to the Warsaw Pact army model, and it also used the Warsaw Pact combat model.
In the eighties, the Warsaw Pact troops emphasized the Soviet Union's strategy of great depth, mechanized combat concepts.
In short, the Warsaw Pact forces, with a large number of tank armored vehicles as the main force, carried out a rapid impact with control of local air supremacy.
Mechanized troops broke through NATO defenses and quickly advanced from the breakthrough point. The torrent of red armor bypasses the enemy's heavily fortified large cities and quickly destroys enemy resistance with blitzkrieg. In specific battles, armored forces operate with numerical superiority, under the cover of limited air force and anti-aircraft missiles.
This mode of operation was the magic weapon of the Soviet victory in World War II.
For this, the USSR studied a large number of modern weapons. For example, the T72 main battle tank we know well, it only has 3 tankmen, instead of the 4 people common in the West. This is because the T72 is equipped with an automatic loader and does not require a loader. Don't underestimate this reduction of 1 member, which is equivalent to a 25% reduction in the consumption of tank troops.
Among the mobility, defense and attack power of the tank, the T72 is the strongest in mobility, followed by attack power, and the worst is in defense.
It is not that the USSR could not develop more advanced tanks, but that this is in line with the Soviet mode of operation.
The USSR needed highly mobile tanks, fast interspersion and breakthroughs in the enemy's hinterland, the T72 had a maximum range of 460 km, and a maximum cross-country speed of 45 km per hour, all of which met the needs.
The USSR needed tanks with sufficient striking power to destroy enemy tanks, as well as almost all land targets. The T72 is armed with 1 125 mm gun, which can shoot through 500 mm armor at 1500 meters. The M60 main battle tank of the United States, a contemporary, had a frontal armor thickness of only more than 100 mm, and could not block a blow at all.
However, the T72 was less defensive, with the strongest turret with less than 400 mm of frontal armor, which could not hold off its own 125 mm gun.
In addition to poor defense, the T72's attack power also has shortcomings, such as poor night vision and a relatively backward fire control system, which is suitable for close-range artillery combat during the day.
Why is this?
Soviet armored torrent tactics dictated that the T72 was just a consumable. During the storming of NATO troops, certain losses are bound for the T72. The Soviet Union believed that such losses were irrelevant as long as they were contained within acceptable limits.
Since it is a consumable, it seems unnecessary to equip expensive modern fire control systems, as well as night vision systems. It is better to tactically bring the T72 close to the enemy or try to avoid night combat with the enemy.
In addition to the T72 tank, the Soviet MiG-29 and Su-27 are also interesting.
The MiG-29 is known as the most garbage fourth-generation fighter. Since its birth, the MiG-29 has produced more than 1600 aircraft, participated in many air battles, but did not shoot down a single Western fighter.
NATO once checked the MiG-29 in the GDR and came to the conclusion that the aircraft was practically unusable. Although the MiG-29 belongs to the fourth generation fighter, it also has decent maneuverability and over-the-horizon combat capabilities, but it is only a clumsy air fulcrum.
The MiG-29 airborne equipment is old and unreliable in technology, must operate under the guidance of the ground command system, and has almost no independent combat capabilities. Once the ground system is destroyed or interfered with by the enemy, the MiG-29 becomes a live target.
What is even more frightening is that the combat radius of the MiG-29 is only 600 kilometers, that is, the distance from Beijing to Jinan, which can barely maintain inter-provincial operations.
Why is this like this with the MiG-29? Or because of its positioning.
In the Soviet combat mode, the Su-27 is a long-range fighter that penetrates deep into the territory of the enemy for air combat and sabotage. The MiG-29 was merely a front-line air superiority fighter, that is, a group of aircraft protecting over the torrent of Soviet armor. The USSR simply did not need the MiG-29 to have too long range, too advanced performance. It only needs to be guided on the ground, conducting limited air combat, and it is also a cheap consumable. The MiG-29 only needs two or three for 1 NATO fighter and completes the task.
This model of the Soviet Union was very practical in the sixties and seventies of the Cold War era. At that time, NATO assessed that they could not withstand the impact of the Soviet armored corps, and even prepared to use nuclear bombs for self-defense.
As the US military entered the information age, the Soviet Union's mechanized combat model was no longer an opponent at all.
The Soviet Union was fortunate not to fight the United States, and Iraq was unlucky.
Here is just one example, which is the performance of the final stage of the battle at Khafji.
Hafji was personally ordered by Saddam Hussein to carry out a counterattack to attack Saudi territory, introduce war into Saudi Arabia, and intimidate Arab countries to withdraw from the coalition.
This is also to change from passive to active, and no longer blindly be unilaterally beaten by the coalition forces.
Saddam believed that even if the coalition had air superiority, as long as the Iraqi armored forces dared to fight close combat and urban warfare, they could deal with the Americans. Thus, the battle at Khafji took place on the night of January 29, 1991.
The two elite Iraqi units, the 3rd Armoured Division of the 3rd Army and the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division, mobilized several battalions and regimental armored main forces and fought four consecutive battles overnight.
Let's take a look at these 4 battles.
In the first battle, the Iraqi 3rd Panzer Division dispatched more than 40 T72 and T62 tanks to cover more than 40 infantry fighting vehicles and began a surprise attack on Al Khafji.
Unexpectedly, before approaching Hafji, it was discovered by an E-8A battlefield joint surveillance aircraft, the fulcrum of the US military's informationized operations.
It wasn't long before F18 fighters, A10 attack aircraft, AH-1W gunships and even AC-130 gunboat planes flew in to the air strikes.
Before the Iraqi battalions could see Khafji, they lost more than half of them and retreated in embarrassment.
The second battle was the onslaught of more than 40 T72 and Chinese Type 69 tanks in the other direction. U.S. forces were also attacking Iraqi forces in the first battle, which were able to approach the town of Al Khafji.
Interestingly, at this time, the US Marine Light Armored Infantry Battalion in the outlying positions of Khafji had only six M60A3 main battle tanks, as well as some LAV-25 armored transport vehicles, AAV7A1 amphibious armored vehicles and Humvee off-road vehicles.
It is clear that the Iraqis are superior, but the night combat capability of the T72 is not good. After losing only one T72 to the U.S. counterattack, the Iraqi commander timidly ordered a retreat, mistakenly believing that there were a large number of American tank troops in the town of Khafji.
In the third battle, at 11 a.m., before the end of the first two battles, an Iraqi mechanized infantry battalion and a reinforced tank company stormed some 40 BMP-1 and BTR infantry fighting vehicles and 12 Type 69 medium tanks.
They were lucky and stormed the positions of the Saudi army. The Saudis have only some infantry and a small number of military jeeps armed with recoilless guns and have no anti-tank capabilities. The Saudi army had to retreat hastily and abandoned the town of Hafji. Iraqi forces successfully occupied the town of Khafji and made good progress.
The fourth battle, after learning that the third battle was relatively successful, the Iraqis immediately launched a fourth round of offensives. A mechanized infantry battalion and an armored company armed with Type 69 tanks attempted to storm the town of Khafji for reinforcements.
They were stopped by the fire of the American light armored battalion, bombed, and also routed before approaching the town of Hafji.
After defeating the three attacking Iraqi forces, the American army figured out the situation in the town of Khafji and began to launch a counteroffensive.
In the first wave of air raids, the Iraqi army in the town of Khafji lost 13 tanks and armored vehicles, but the infantry had already disembarked and built defensive positions.
At 2 a.m., U.S. troops, Saudi troops and Qatari troops began a counterattack on the town of Khafji. At the same time, American fighters continued to carry out air strikes in the town.
At this time, the Iraqi army in the town of Hafji did something jaw-dropping.
They immediately abandoned all tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and trucks, and the infantry retreated on foot through the night, during which 160 men surrendered. The coalition easily recaptured the town of Khafji, with only 19 killed and 36 wounded by Saudi forces.
In the town of Hafji, the coalition captured more than 100 trucks and dozens of intact Chinese Type 69 tanks and Type 63 armored vehicles.
The coalition climbed into the captured 69 tanks, started the engines casually, and the fuel tanks and ammunition were also plentiful.
Here's the problem. Why did the Iraqi infantry abandon these heavy weapons and retreat on foot?
Quite simply, they already understand that it is impossible to win.
Iraq's backward mechanized tactics are vulnerable to the US military's information warfare.
The U.S. military has absolute air superiority, and armed forces, attack aircraft, fighters, bombers and even gunboat aircraft are active 24 hours a day.
The A10 attack aircraft alone destroyed thousands of tank armored vehicles in front and behind.
In the face of attack aircraft, the Iraqi armored forces had no room to fight back, and were completely unilaterally slaughtered.
Take 1 A10 of the 23rd Fighter Company, for example, fired Maverick missiles in 10 minutes, destroying 6 tanks, and 2 more with 30mm machine guns.
In the Gulf War, the US military participated in the battle with 144 A10s, carried out 8,100 attacks and patrols, and destroyed more than 4,000 tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and trucks.
The results were so brilliant that the A10 lost only 4 in battle.
And the 4 that were shot down were almost all shot down by the pilots in a hurry to grab the power and reduce the altitude too much.
That is to say, if the Iraqi army relies on tanks and armored vehicles to defend the town of Al Khafji, it will inevitably receive precision strikes from all sides, heavy weapons will be destroyed immediately, and there will be no trucks left. In the absence of heavy weapons, Iraqi infantry collided with coalition tanks and armored vehicles, amounting to death.
Taking a step back, even if the coalition forces do not attack, as long as they cut off the Iraqi supply line in the town of Khafji, they will surrender in a few days.
In this case, the Iraqi army simply cannot win, and the smart way is to withdraw immediately.
So why did the Iraqis abandon tanks, armored vehicles and trucks and opt for a slow retreat on foot?
This is because the primary target of coalition air strikes is heavy weapons. The Iraqis retreated in tanks, armored vehicles and trucks, they would not be able to walk at all, they would all be blown to pieces.
On the contrary, it is safer for the infantry to break through on foot scattered, after all, their targets are relatively small and are not the target of key air strikes.
The battle of Khafji is the epitome of the Gulf War, a one-sided hanging.
The Gulf War stimulated our military greatly.
Previously, our army also recognized the thinking of the Continental Army. That is, the air force only needs to seize local air supremacy as much as possible and rely on the huge conventional army to win the war.
At that time, the mainland believed that even if the enemy controlled most of the air supremacy, at most it would weaken the strength of the ground army, and the remaining combat power would be enough to inflict heavy damage on the enemy. This kind of thinking is similar to Saddam's thinking.
Who knows, the US military relies on the air force to annihilate as much as 50% of the Iraqi front-line offensive forces, and it is even more exaggerated that the Iraqi army cannot even carry out basic movement, as long as it moves, it will be bombed, and it is impossible to fight effectively.
After the war, the PLA embarked on drastic reforms.
Statement:
Reference to the text
The picture comes from Baidu pictures on the Internet, if there is infringement, please notify to delete.