Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 18 4157B
Army Chief of Staff Aspad thinks more long-term. He thinks that Pakistan will not use nuclear bombs, and it is not under Indian surveillance as Singh said. That is a lie. The only reason is that India has more nuclear weapons.From a pragmatic point of view, since war is inevitable, the most worrying thing at this moment is the defense of Assam, which is disputed with China. He believes that this is more realistic than the threat of Pakistan's nuclear bombs.

"Mr. Minister of Defense, then ground combat must also occur?" Aspad changed the topic.

"If within the time limit we set, the Pakistani side cannot hand over all the participants in the terrorist attack, disband all the behind-the-scenes organizations involved in the attack, and dismantle the strongholds near the line of control."

Singh's answer is tantamount to affirming the chief of staff's question. Since India has determined that Pakistan's intelligence agencies are behind the scenes, according to this logic, there will be a large-scale ground attack in the end. The so-called deadline is nothing more than leaving a period of time. It is time for the air force to weaken the Pakistani military first.

"One more question, have you fully considered the military threat in the Northeast?" When the chief of staff questioned the character of the Minister of Defense, he looked at Prime Minister Kahan. This question was what he wanted to test Singh's plan. core.

"I think there will be some mobilization, some enhancement of aircraft and missile forces," Singh said evasively.Obviously, according to Singer's vision, the army in the east will definitely be mobilized. He is so arrogant that he has forgotten his authority, and has completely taken over the professional work of the Army Staff Department, but he is being favored, and Aspad does not want to offend him. But a limit must be set for him in advance, lest Singer bet too much at once like a gambler who has never seen the world.

"As chief of army staff, I can only say that any weakening of the ground forces in Assam and Uttar Pradesh is unacceptable," Aspad said.

"At least, the 21st Mountain Division must be assigned to the Kashmir theater and strengthen the defense in that area." Singer said vaguely.Sure enough, he already had a comprehensive plan in his stomach, down to the transfer at the brigade level, completely forgetting that he was only a colonel when he retired.

"At least?" Aspad wanted to tighten his pockets.

"Maybe there is also the 57th Infantry Division of the Third Army." Singer felt a little impatient as if he was being interrogated by his subordinates.

The 57th Infantry Division was an understaffed division, which was the bottom line Aspad could accept.He also knew that the theme of today's meeting was war, and the prime minister would not tolerate him talking too much about command issues, but he had to let the prime minister understand that things were not as simple as imagined.

"Your Excellency, as the Chief of Staff of the Army, I am opposed to drawing too many troops from the Eastern Military Region to join the war in the West. I have the responsibility to remind you that China is the biggest threat." This is my opinion as always.

"In Assam, we have an advantage of ten to one, what else?" Singh said disdainfully.

"I'm sorry, I can't accept it. My staff and I will immediately start to formulate a new plan for Pakistan, but we must not weaken the forces in the east. This is the only prerequisite." Aspad began to show his toughness.

"I think that if we want to win the war, we must use all the main force in the main breakthrough direction." Singer began to get impatient, and he shouted to his current subordinate, the former commander, and it sounded like After studying some of Clausewitz's war theories, Aspide was a little bit embarrassed, and the two stalemate for ten seconds.Kahan sat aside with an ugly expression on his face. He glanced at the most trusted intelligence chief, hoping that he could persuade Aspad. He knew that Singh could not be relied on to persuade senior military officers. He was just a member of the civilian system and had no actual command. A unit above the regiment, so professional soldiers may not really buy his account.

Director Charmain closed his notebook and slowly stood up from the corner. He was tall and thin, with a slightly hunched back, and stood still like a cobra dozing off.

"Your Excellency, I would like to add some observations based on our intelligence gathering efforts."

"Please." Kahan nodded in agreement.Charmain signaled to turn off the lights, and then began to play the projection, the first one was a map of the northern border.

Why are there pre-prepared image materials?The participants were a little puzzled, and then gradually realized that there seemed to be a dress rehearsal among Kahan's cronies before this mobilization meeting aimed at persuading everyone to join the war track. If it is revealed.

Charmain walked slowly to the map, with one hand on his waist, as if trying to remember something, and then said:
"Everyone, please look at the area bordering my country and XZ, which is the area that General Aspide fears that China will attack while our army is fighting in the west," he pointed with his hand on the 1:10000 map refer to.

"There are only two seasons in this region, the period of ice and the period of heavy rain. No army can fight in these two periods of the year."

Aspide waited patiently for Charmain to go on, to see how much he knew.

"Between these two terrible seasons, there is only a very short period of time for combat, that is, from late September to the end of October every year, not to say that this period is sunny and very comfortable, just that the rain is slightly less. General Aspide, having been in the 9rd Army, must have known that in that area, even the maps of the division-level staff headquarters had to be changed frequently, because most of the rivers in each defense zone had no regular channels, and the riverbeds were always The roads are constantly changing, and the roads have been changed beyond recognition by endless mudslides. For the attacking side, the logistics are undoubtedly a disaster. This is why the Nehru-era border road organization still exists in the area.”

Aspide nodded, Charmain's words seemed quite reasonable.

"The Indian soldiers are always talking about the battle in 1962, and they are still deeply in the fear of that war; so let me talk about 1962. That war was launched in September and October, and it snowed heavily in November Before the closure of the mountain, the Communist Party withdrew from the battle, not because of the voluntary withdrawal of their propaganda, they were not so kind, and it was not that the Communist Party suddenly remembered the friendship with Prime Minister Nehru, but because they had no supplies to support the continued fighting. I According to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when they crossed the Kejielang River, they had already consumed more than half of their supplies. At this time, the day when the mountains were blocked by heavy snow and the transportation was finally cut off was very close. This is why they did not attack the chaotic Sigurd The real reason for the region. The 9 offensive, they secretly prepared for 10 months, but the fighting was over in a few dozen days." Charmain put his hands in his pockets and paused for a moment.

"The current situation has not changed fundamentally. If they want to attack, it will not be now. It may only be half a year later, and it is very short. It must be completed before the approximate date of the first heavy snow this year."

"That was half a century ago, Mr. Commissioner. Now they have highways and railroads," said Aspide.

"That's right, they have a railway. According to us, the capacity of this railway is very limited. It can only transport 150 tons of supplies to LS every day, and the ones that can be transported to the control line will not exceed 15% of this number. That's 10 tons. It can barely support the daily supplies of a division, and we have [-] divisions in this area."

Aspide said nothing. Charmain was harder than Singh because he was not a man of paper.

"I have more than one source of intelligence. We even know their combat plan. The Chinese General Staff has a 4157B plan."

The venue fell into a deathly silence, and everyone present, including Aspide, had never heard this code name before.

"This plan was formulated in the 60s. For the time being, we only know that it is an offensive plan. The details are unknown, but we know that its principle part is when the Indian Army is caught in a situation where Pakistan cannot extricate itself." Chaman's face was blank Said with an expression, the speed of speech was as slow as ever.

"Gentlemen, look at this plan. Its framers are more cautious than anyone here. The facts are clear. As long as our Army can get out of Pakistan before October comes, the Army Staff is most worried. won't happen."

"Very well, our offensive against Pakistan will come to an end in July and August. Then we will come back and strengthen the defense in the east." Singer suddenly spoke and brought the topic back.

Aspide did not express further objections. He knew that Charmain's information was completely true. Even if the 4157B plan was false, it cannot deny the rationality of the plan itself. Any staff member would formulate a similar plan. If he was in China Army service does the same.Now it seems that things have become simpler, India will devote all its efforts to the battle against Pakistan, and Kahan, Singh and Charman assured that the war will end before October, at least the army will not be entangled.

(End of this chapter)