The War of Resistance: My Expedition, My Country

Chapter 273 Desperate German Army

Lieutenant General Paulius Yeneumans was stunned by the sudden attack, awakened by the approaching artillery fire. He quickly ordered all units to withdraw their forces, concentrating whatever tanks they could, and preparing to break out and quickly link up with elements of the 3rd Tank Corps in the direction of Yebaisiya. By then, the German Chief of Staff had gathered intelligence from various reports: the attack from behind was being carried out by the newly landed Chinese 28th Armored Corps, while counterattacks from Kuwait Harbor were being carried out by British and Australian forces and the Chinese 17th Division. The counterattack from Kuwait City was being led by the Chinese 2nd and 13th Divisions, as well as the US Marines. In the direction of Farwaniya, the German 7th and 17th Divisions had been pinned down by Chinese forces.

"Where did the Chinese arrive from? They seem to be planning to surround and destroy us."

Lieutenant General Bovis Yeneumans had no time to think, and hurriedly boarded an armored vehicle with the headquarters guards. He hurriedly joined the headquarters guards to join the remnants, desperately broke through the encirclement of the 28th Army, and rushed towards Yebaisiye.

Under the command of General Du Weihan, the 28th Army quickly broke through the unprepared German defenses, linking up with the British, Australian, and 17th Divisions counterattacking from Kuwait Harbor. They then turned to sweep away the scattered German forces. The 28th and 28st Mechanized Brigades of the 81th Army encircled the German forces in Kuwait City from the perimeter. The SS-Pfizer-Waffen-Urgen Division put up a desperate resistance, but its opponents were not Soviet forces but the 13th Division, specially trained for urban combat, and the 2nd Anti-Tank Division, along with the US Marines under the guidance of the 13th Division. Under these multi-pronged attacks, the German positions were broken one by one, leaving them with less and less room for maneuver.

In Farwaniyah, the German 7th and 17th Divisions were like frightened birds. Upon receiving reports of their complete collapse, they launched an all-out counterattack against the 34th, 43rd, and 44th Divisions without hesitation or hesitation. They exploited the enemy's weak points, forcing a breach and madly fleeing towards Basra Province. However, they could not have imagined that in the semi-desert region bordering Basra and Kuwait, the elite Chinese 1st and 11th Tank Divisions were lurking, quietly awaiting their arrival.

Lieutenant General Paul Neumann led the remnants of the German army, after untold hardships, finally breaking through the Allied encirclement and successfully linking up with the 3rd Tank Army in the direction of Yebashiyah. They then immediately launched a counterattack against the US 7th Army. With superior numbers and firepower, the Germans attempted to break through the 7th Army's positions, then zigzag northward through western Kuwait, attempting to link up with the main force of the 1st Tank Army in the southwest.

The US 7th Army, already well-prepared and having received orders, used its carefully prepared positions to hold the Germans back. The US and British air forces, imminently arriving, unleashed a torrential, ferocious bombing blitz on the defenseless German forces. The 28th Army and other units also arrived in time, surrounding the remnants of the German force attempting to assault Kuwait.

By this point, the outcome of the battle was in sight. Like a deflated ball, the German 1st Tank Corps, 3rd Panzer Corps, and a small number of SS troops, including Lieutenant General Paulius Yeneumanns, had lost both the courage and willpower to continue fighting. Finally, in despair, Yeneumanns ordered his surrender and then, with a pistol, ended his own life.

The destruction of the German fast column on the southern front immediately brought huge shock to both sides fighting in Iraq. The first was the German 1st Tank Army on the southwest front. They mobilized more than half of their troops to form a fast column to assault Kuwait, but were defeated and destroyed. Although the remaining troops had more heavy tanks and armor, they were weak after all. General George Patton's 5th Army, in accordance with Kuang Zhengqi's advice, adopted an east-west advance and surrounded the remnants of the 1st Tank Army in the area around Nasiriyah with a huge pincer. In the decisive battle, the 5th Army used the M5A1 light tank as an assault column, which broke through the German rear defense in one fell swoop and destroyed all the German baggage and supplies. The column took the opportunity to destroy the German transportation supply line, making the 1st Tank Army a turtle in a jar.

Relieved of their worries, the Allied forces received a steady stream of reinforcements arriving through Kuwait, particularly the arrival of a large number of Luftwaffe bombers, which dealt the Germans the heaviest blow. General Hans von Salmuth, the supreme commander of the German Middle East, saw the situation dire and immediately ordered the 25th Army to withdraw rapidly toward Baghdad, using the defensive zone established along this front to block the Allied offensive.

In Nasiriyah, General Hoepner tried many times to break out but to no avail. Ammunition, fuel, and food were in short supply, and the soldiers had lost their will to fight. Despite repeated orders from the High Command and the Führer to fight to the death for his country, Hoepner finally signed the order to surrender for the sake of tens of thousands of soldiers' lives.

The German 1st Tank Army was arguably the earliest and most elite of the German Army. Campaigning in Africa from 1941 onward, it repeatedly defeated US and British forces several times its size, becoming a legend in German armored forces. This was particularly true of the 1st Tank Division, the 5th Tank Division, the 15th Panzer Division, the 17th Light Panzer Division, and the 21st Panzer Division. Rommel, known as the "Desert Fox," initially relied on the 15th, 15th, and 21st Divisions, with the 1st and 5th Divisions being expanded from the elite tank regiments within these divisions. As the Soviet-German War progressed, some of these tank and grenadier battalions were transferred to the Soviet front and upgraded to become elite tank and grenadier regiments, becoming a vital force in the German battlefield. However, their unit surrendered or was destroyed in this inconspicuous town on the southwestern border of Iraq, a devastating blow to the morale of the entire German army.

For the Allies, obtaining so many German heavy tanks and tank destroyers could provide more reference, which had a far-reaching impact on the later American M21\M23 series tanks and tank destroyers.

Of course, the Chinese army and Chinese generals such as Kuang Zhengqi, Wang YW, Pu Zhengsong, Du Weihan, and Zhang Lingpu were also renowned. Together with Wei LH, Peng DH, Huang Wei, Liu BC, and Lin B on the Soviet-German battlefield, Zheng Dongguo, Yang Hong, and Liao Yaoxiang in the Pacific, and Sun LR, they have become the most dazzling generals of the flower-growing countries.

The Third Reich High Command suddenly realized that since the Chinese Expeditionary Force participated in the war against Germany, the German army had suffered defeats on many important battlefields. The Führer also privately complained that the damned Japanese had activated the Asian lion. At this time, no one doubted that the flower-growing country, once the "sick man of East Asia", had become an indispensable backbone force in the world!