Chapter 1074 US military combat plan
Uruzgan Province, capital city of Tarinkot.
Coalition headquarters.
John is holding a combat meeting.
There are 18 counties in Uruzgan Province, all of which are located in mountainous areas. The county towns are not large, with a population of only 10,000 or a few thousand people, and the rural areas are much larger.
But these county towns must be attacked, because if the coalition forces do not occupy the county towns, the county towns will be under the control of the guerrillas, and the guerrillas can more easily obtain supplies and recruit soldiers.
But now the coalition forces have only 5,000 people in Tarinkot, and it is impossible to send all 5,000 people to attack these county towns.
So after occupying Tarinkot, John supported the locals to form a government army.
By now, the US military has realized the problem, that is, with the coalition forces' 150,000 ground forces, it is not a big problem to occupy the capital cities of 34 provinces in Afghanistan, but it is almost impossible to occupy those county towns.
There are almost 700 counties in Afghanistan, most of which are located in mountainous areas.
Therefore, the United States decided to learn from the Soviet Union and support a pro-American government in Afghanistan, help this pro-American government to form a regular army, let these regular troops perform auxiliary combat tasks, help garrison cities, counties and even attack rural areas.
The United States has actually been eyeing Afghanistan, a strategic location, for a long time.
Because Afghanistan is located at the intersection of West Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, with an area of 647,500 square kilometers, it is a key point of transportation between the north and the south. Its geographical location is very important. It borders Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north, China to the northeast, Pakistan to the east and southeast, and Iran to the west.
It can be said that Afghanistan is located in the heart of the Eurasian continent, and is the intersection of the four major geopolitical forces of East Asia, South Asia, West Asia and Central Asia. As long as Afghanistan is controlled, it will help the United States gain an advantage in geopolitics.
Occupying Afghanistan is like holding a knife and stabbing the polar bear's sphere of influence in Central Asia. It can slowly pull Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan in Central Asia into the US camp, control the Eurasian land artery, and threaten the polar bear's hinterland.
Another thing is that it can strategically form a pincer attack on a certain major power from the east and west, and constantly force a certain major power.
There is also Pakistan, which can influence Pakistan and turn Pakistan into a pro-American country again, expanding the influence of the United States in South Asia. Now the influence of the United States in South Asia is only India, which is obviously far from enough.
Of course, it can also threaten Persia directly at the door of Persia, forcing Persia to make major concessions, and even pave the way for attacking Persia in the future.
"Lieutenant Colonel Thomas, how is the government army now?" John looked at Thomas.
Thomas, a lieutenant colonel, is responsible for helping the local forces in Afghanistan to form an army.
In order to help the local forces form a government and an army, the Americans also took great pains and bleed a lot.
Not only do they have to help set up a provisional government and appoint the main personnel of the Afghan provisional government, but they also have to teach the Afghan provisional government how to operate, how to set up properly, how to hold elections, and how to change the country's name, and how to hold national and local parliamentary elections.
It can be said that the American model is almost copied to Afghanistan.
As for the Afghan government army, the Americans have to help set up and train them, and they also have to pay salaries and military expenses, etc.
After all, Afghanistan is too poor, extremely poor, and has been bombed into ruins. The Americans cannot do without money.
"Now we have formed a 3,000-man force, barely reaching the standard of a regiment. Now we have all the weapons, but we are not yet combat-ready!" Thomas said. The salary given by the United States is quite good, and now there is chaos and chaos, so it is always easy to recruit soldiers.
John frowned: "Not yet capable of fighting?"
"These Afghans are malnourished and have poor physical fitness, so they can't be trained too much!" Thomas said helplessly, "But it shouldn't be a big problem to help maintain law and order and garrison the city."
"Next, we will use troops against Dahra Ward and attack Dahra Ward. We will leave 1,000 of the 3,000 troops in Tarinkot City and draw 2,000 to follow us to attack Dahra Ward!" John said.
Dahra Ward is located to the west of Tarinkot City, in the middle of the Helmand River, where the Tarinkot River, a tributary of the Helmand River, and the Helmand River meet. The geographical location is very important. Occupying Dahra Ward can control this important place, and it is also beneficial for the coalition forces to control Kandahar Province, Helmand Province, Nimruz Province, and Charb Province. These areas are all relatively flat.
"In addition, we will divide our troops into two groups and attack Zinartu at the same time!" John was very ambitious and wanted to capture two counties at the same time.
The coalition headquarters only gave him two months to capture all the counties in Uruzgan Province within two months, so as to basically control Uruzgan Province.
Dahraward is located downstream of Tarin Kort City, and there is only one road along the river, about 47 kilometers long; Zinartu is located upstream of Tarin Kort City, and the connection between the two is also only a mountain road along the river, about 49 kilometers long.
Although the total strength of the coalition forces in Uruzgan Province is only 5,000, which is not a large number of troops, John is very confident that he can capture these two counties. He believes that the guerrillas have lost their courage and dare not fight against the powerful coalition forces. They will only sneak attack like a thief.
The troops are divided into two routes, which is enough to capture the two counties of Dahraward and Zinartu.
Afterwards, John made a battle plan, leaving one thousand coalition troops and one thousand government troops to garrison in Tarin Kot, and two thousand troops were almost enough. Then two thousand coalition troops and one thousand government troops attacked Dehra Ward to cut off the guerrillas' retreat from the plains to the mountains; another group of the same number of troops attacked Zinartu.
Three days later, the two groups of troops left Tarin Kot.
But John didn't know that the news had been secretly sent out by the guerrillas' undercover in the government army before the command of the operation reached the government army.
After Amir, who was in the mountains, got the intelligence, he held an emergency meeting and decided to ambush the coalition led by the US military halfway.
Halfway through, there were high mountains on both sides of the river, and the mountains were relatively steep. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the coalition forces could be stopped directly.
The guerrillas buried mines on one side of the road, and then built a defensive position on one side of the mountain and placed a mortar position.
Because of the lack of troops, the guerrillas could only build a defensive position on one side, with a length of 500 meters.
On this morning, when the guerrillas were eating dry food and drinking water in the trenches, there was an American reconnaissance plane in the sky.
However, there were mountains and forests below, and the vision was limited, so even the reconnaissance plane could hardly detect it.
This kind of terrain cannot be detected by reconnaissance satellites in space or reconnaissance planes in the air.
And this is the advantage of the terrain!