Since the Armistice was signed, both those armies were pulled off the line, refit with more modern equipment, and then he had swelled with pride when he was summoned to the General Staff conference room in Beijing and told he was to command a most important expeditionary mission to the Middle East. China was going to back its allies there, and the armies of the Western Theater would do the backing. 13th and 21st Armies were ordered to make the long strategic move immediately, and 47th Army would stand ready to move as a general reserve if needed.
Before the Siberian war, the forces of these armies existed as combined arms brigades, containing about 5 battalions each. After the war, several of these brigades were expanded and built out to nine battalion division structures, and now the armies selected for the move had three of these, the 37th, 149th and 61st Divisions that had moved into Iran. They were then supported by 12th and 17th Armored Brigades, and the 62nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade. Four more brigades composing the 47th Army stood ready in Xinjiang Province. This would commit three of the five armies in the Western Theater to this operation, designated Da Feiyue, or “Great Leap.”
There was certainly no lack of manpower in China, and in the interval after the armistice was signed, the Army had replaced all its losses from the fighting with the Siberians easily enough… but the inverse was not true. China had an inexhaustible pool of manpower to draw upon, but Siberian soldiers came at a premium, and were never easy to replace.
The Americans want a ground war, thought Wang Fanlong. So that is what they will get. As long as we can preserve that long line of communications back to China, and keep my armies supplied, then they will find the PLA will not be bested so easily. We are not the Iraqis, and God forbid, the Iranians. Yes, their men are brave and determined, but not well equipped. I was given all new Type-99 tanks for my armored brigades, and so we will see how they fare against the American tanks now.
My mission is to protect and preserve China’s national interests in Iraq, and that means the oil under those deserts. I am to take and hold both West Qurna and Majnoon, the two fields where we have signed the contracts for future development. So be it. I am told the Americans are already fighting the Iraqis in the West Qurna Fields, so my first official act will to invite them to withdraw. Should they decline… then I get all the rest of my official acts in a long line that will not end until I have obtained my objectives.
Beijing suggested it may be necessary to intervene in the fighting for Baghdad, but then more reasoned thinking prevailed. There is no oil under Baghdad, and we have no great interest in seeing Qusay Hussein remain in power in Iraq. So I have been ordered to commit both 13th and 21st Armies to the south, for that is where we can guard all those billions and billions of barrels of oil, and keep them from the greedy hands of the West.
General Bergman took the podium to lay out the latest intelligence and get the senior combat crew officers in the loop. “Gentlemen,” he said gruffly, “we’re about to have some uninvited dinner guests. The Chinese crossed the border into Iraq just after sunset, and they’re heading our way. Intel has two divisions moving now, a third in reserve at Ahvaz up here, and those mobile columns are each being led by a full armored brigade.”
The General put up a slide, showing the Type-99 main battle tank. “This is what they’re bringing, China’s most modern third generation tank, with modular composite and reactive armor, and a new 125mm smoothbore gun that can fire both regular ammunition and ATGM rounds. These brigades might normally field up to 134 of those each, but in this case, the Air Force says they think the companies are lighter. That said, we think we’re going to be facing about 200 of those goblins on the field, and as early as mid-day tomorrow.”
“Sir, why doesn’t the air force just clobber them?”
“Good question, but there’s a simple answer—the Chinese brought an air force too. General Goldman says the F-35 patrols have been mixing it up with J-20s since 18:00 this evening. The airspace over the battlefield has now been officially declared as contested, which means our own close air support is going to get thin, and the F-15’s may have to be grounded until we change that situation. So those tanks are going to have to be taken down the old fashioned way, but that’s a fight for the 1st Provisional Division.”
That was what they were now calling the two mobile brigades of the 1st I.D. combined with 3rd BCT of the 1st Armored Cav. That was where the muscle was when it came to dealing with heavily armored or mechanized forces, and the Leathernecks would be somewhere else, as Bergman explained.
“Alright, 1st Marine Division will clear As Zubayr and secure those oil fields tonight. Tomorrow we move on Basrah, which is work for infantry. Make no mistake, that isn’t going to be the cake walk we had today. We caught the Iraqis out on open ground, and kicked their ass today, but tomorrow, whatever they managed to salvage from that fight is going to be heading for Basrah, the second most populous city in Iraq. Once we get in there, we’ll be the uninvited guests, and there are over 2.5 million people in that city.”
The silence in the room told the story on that one. No one looked forward to urban warfare, but the Marines had trained for it, and they would get the appetizer tonight in Zubayr. That said, Bergman clarified what he was planning.
“Now we don’t want a block by block clearing of that city. The mission will be to envelop it on this side of the Shatt al Arab, and control key objectives that will be assigned to all brigade commanders. Our main effort will be west of the city in this gap between Basrah and the Al Jaz’ir marshland. There are three bridges right here, and we want them. If necessary, the engineers will also bridge here, west of the University. Once we get over that water barrier, we’ll be looking at our primary objective, the Nahr Umr Oil Field. If anybody knows how to pronounce that, clue me in, but you’ll smell it when we get close. There’s 6.6 billion barrels of oil in the ground up there. And further north at Majnoon, there’s more than twice that, though that field is not yet developed. I’ve no doubt the Chinese can quote those same numbers, and that’s is certainly why they’re here. They hold the development contracts on those fields, so that makes this personal.”
The General paused, hands on his hips, taking a moment to think. “I don’t have to tell you that this could now represent a major escalation in this war. Up until now, it’s been an air/naval war, but this is different. This is the kind of fight the history books record as real war, and don’t underestimate your opponent. The Siberians tangled with the Chinese Army, and gained ground, but most of it was taken before the defending armies were fully mobilized. After the armistice was signed, the Siberians counted their losses at 30% casualties, and that’s a lot of body bags. Chinese took worse, but here they are, 2000 miles from home, just like we are. That should tell everyone in this room one thing—these guys are coming for a fight, and by God, that’s exactly what we’ll give them. 1st Corps is going to engage, and prevail.”
1st Corps was the new designation for all US forces in the SOUTHCOM area of operations. With 1st Infantry, 1st Armored Cav, and 1st Marines, it was an easy handle to assign.