Chapter 253 The Advantage is in Me
The western front of the Siliguri Corridor.
Three field divisions transferred from the Deccan Plateau in southern India, plus the half-crippled 36th Field Division, the 21st Garrison Division, and another 34th Field Division from West Bengal.
There are a total of six divisions, with a total force of 76,000.
In addition, there were three fighter squadrons and one bomber squadron of the Indian Air Force, all of which appeared near the Xikou front line.
The person in charge of commanding this group operation was Army Lieutenant General Vichy Volvo, who was also the elder brother of Will Volvo, the commander of the 36th Division who was killed some time ago.
Having learned from the lesson of the previous command headquarters being bombarded, Vichy did not set up the command headquarters on the front line, but instead set up the command headquarters near the city of Burnia, about 115 kilometers away from the front line.
This is also one of the frontline airports.
The Vichy headquarters is located at the foot of a small hill on the outskirts of Burnia. In order to avoid detection of electromagnetic wave signals, communications here are all wired, and the radio communication station is set up 2.7 kilometers away.
However, this kind of strict defense is obviously ineffective against the cockroaches and flies that can penetrate any hole.
Vichy looked at the sand table in front of him, on which Chief of Staff Shah Abad was sticking small flags.
Looking at the western entrance of the Siliguri Corridor, that long and narrow location, Vichy's face looked very solemn and helpless.
In that area which is only about 20 kilometers wide, hundreds of scouts have been blown up into the sky in the past few days, using their flesh and blood to find out part of the situation for the Indian army.
The head of the reconnaissance department reported with gritted teeth: "Now the entire area around Siliguri is full of various mines, and there is a drone . Our reconnaissance troops can't penetrate it at all."
"Where are the Air Force's reconnaissance planes?" Vichy turned and looked at Luke, the head of the Air Force Intelligence Department.
Luke replied awkwardly: "There are no residents in the entire Siliguri Corridor now, and there are very few large moving targets that can be detected on the ground."
The Assam branch actually didn’t care too much about the Indian Air Force’s reconnaissance aircraft. If they could intercept them, they would intercept them. If they couldn’t, they would just let the reconnaissance aircraft watch at will.
After all, the Assam branch is on the ground and there are no facilities at all.
"Are they hiding underground?" Vichy looked at the sand table with a headache.
Chief of Staff Shah Abad finished planting the flag and said: "Based on the current reconnaissance situation, the Assam rebels are very likely to use the entire Siliguri Corridor to delay our attack."
Vichy knew very well that Assam's sinister intentions were clearly shown on the map.
The core area of the seven states of Assam is surrounded by the five countries of China, Hunsavadi, Dongba, Zhuyu and Nepal. Only the Siliguri Corridor, a small passage, has a land border with India.
"General, can we consider taking the route through East Pakistan and going directly to the Assam region?" Shah Abad suggested.
"Borrowing the road?" Vichy shook his head.
He had actually considered this possibility, but the risk of doing so was very high.
If the Air Force merely passes through East Pakistan's airspace to bomb Assam, East Pakistan may be angry but not dare to speak out.
However, it is basically impossible to directly mobilize several field divisions and pass through East Pakistan to Assam.
And even if they succeed in forcing their way through, how will the logistics be guaranteed?
Vichy finally made up his mind: "We can only force a breakthrough from the Siliguri Corridor. Otherwise, logistics cannot be guaranteed. Prepare a saturation attack with rocket artillery to directly blast out a safe passage."
"Okay! I'll arrange it right away." Shah Abad also knew that this was their only option.
As the command from the headquarters was issued.
The 26th Division, one of the three field divisions, quickly pulled out a large number of rocket launchers .
Fortunately, Assam relocated all the population of the Siliguri Corridor, which allowed the Indian army to attack with unscrupulous intent.
24 minutes later.
Dense rocket launchers, emitting sharp whistling sounds, smashed into the western defense line of the Siliguri Corridor like a meteor shower.
Boom boom boom…
Fierce explosions extended from the border defense line to near the city of Siliguri.
at the same time.
The highly mechanized 28th Division, under the cover of rocket launchers, quickly rushed towards Assam's western defense line.
The vanguard was the mine-clearing armored vehicles and engineering regiment, as well as a tank battalion and a motorized battalion responsible for guarding.
After the defense line was swept by rocket launchers, there were not too many mines left. With the efforts of mine-clearing armored vehicles and engineers, they advanced towards the city of Siliguri little by little.
The Siliguri Regiment of the Assam Division, however, did not react in any way, not even with a drone raid.
This did not make Vichy too happy. He ordered the front-line troops to strengthen their vigilance and the air force to be ready for support at any time.
The advancement work is going very smoothly.
For three days in a row.
The 28th and 30th Divisions of the Indian Army successfully controlled the city of Siliguri and several surrounding towns.
The 26th Division also rebuilt its defense line at the west entrance to facilitate support for the 28th and 30th Divisions, and also served as a logistics base.
Inside the command room on the outskirts of Burnia.
Weixi stared at the sand table intently. The smooth progress before him made his inner uneasiness even stronger.
This was also the reason why he did not continue the attack, and he specifically ordered the 26th Division to stay on the west exit defense line to build defensive positions and logistics bases in order to avoid going too deep at once.
Just then, Shah Abad came running in.
"General, the Delhi dispatch."
"Hmm?" Wei Xi frowned, then opened the letter. After reading it, his face looked very ugly: "..."
Shah Abad saw that Vishi looked unwell and asked, "General, is there any accident?"
"Look for yourself!"
After receiving the letter, Shah Abad's face also became uncertain after reading it: "General, if we continue the attack now, our ammunition consumption will accelerate. Even if the supplies arrive tomorrow, it will not be enough to support us to enter Assam within a week."
Now they can control the city of Siliguri by clearing the land with rocket launchers. Otherwise, with such dense mines, it would be impossible to advance more than 60 kilometers in three days relying solely on engineers and mine-clearing armored vehicles.
But Delhi kept urging him to intensify the offensive, asking him to enter Assam within a week and completely put down the rebellion within two months.
This is simply asking too much.
Vichy took a deep breath and sent a telegram to Delhi, hoping that they could change their minds and buy more time.
Unfortunately, Dharma and others in Delhi also had their own considerations.
The reason why they hurriedly asked Vichy to quell the rebellion as soon as possible was that the economy was almost unable to sustain it. After all, it would cost a lot of money to purchase fighter planes from Russia, and it would also cost a lot of money to repair the airport.
With so many troops on the front line, the ammunition and various supplies consumed every day also cost a lot of money.
The loss of control in the Assam region caused India to lose a large oil field and coal-producing area.
If the Assam War cannot be ended in a short period of time, India's finances will definitely not be able to sustain it.
After all, India is not America, which runs a nuclear-powered money printing machine. Every day the war lasts is burning money, and what is burned is the foreign exchange reserves.
Therefore, in response to Vichy's telegram requesting for leniency, Dharma personally called Vichy and asked it to immediately concentrate its forces to quell the Assam rebellion as soon as possible.
In Bodhidharma's opinion, the Indian army now has a huge advantage. If they don't take the opportunity to expand their victory, then what are they waiting for?
In a word, the advantage lies in me.
Faced with Dharma's mandatory order, Vichy had no choice but to carry it out.
the next day.
After receiving the supplies, he immediately ordered the 21st Garrison Division to take over the western defense line, and then ordered the 26th and 36th Divisions to move north to join the 28th and 30th Divisions in Siliguri City.
A full-scale attack was launched on the Darjeeling area and the seven states of Assam.
