Empire Conquest-Chapter 727 - 37 Ground Forces

As early as August 5, at the press conference, Shi Shouliang announced to journalists from around the world that a joint force of troops from over 20 countries would deploy an army of 400,000 to liberate Kuwait and eliminate all enemies entrenched in, and those who had invaded, Kuwait.

Of course, that "400,000" was a number with considerable padding.

It included 150,000 from the Saudi Army, a 50,000-strong Kuwaiti army formed with Saudi assistance, and about 100,000 troops from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Clearly, these troops were mainly responsible for the protection of Saudi Arabia, and they essentially would not participate in ground combat operations.

In addition, one must deduct the air forces committed in the first and second phases, as well as the naval fleet that was already in deployment.

With that calculation, the actual ground forces involved didn’t even reach 100,000.

According to the Empire Army’s deployment, only parts of the 7th and 17th Armored Divisions reached Saudi Arabia on August 6.

To be precise, it was their main battle equipment.

The troops from the 7th Armored Division had already arrived in Saudi Arabia on civil flights commandeered in the preceding days, and they stayed in Daman and Jubail.

After the equipment’s arrival, the division was to be deployed near the border by August 10.

The troops of the 17th Armored Division were still in transit and were all expected to arrive before August 15; thereafter, they too would be dispatched near the border.

Together, these two armored divisions had a total force of only 43,000.

Not a large number of troops, but their combat power was tough enough.

The 7th Armored Division had always been the Empire Army’s ace, which, during the last great war, advanced from the Northwest of the Empire to west of the Ural Mountains and stopped only once they reached the eastern bank of the Volga River. Afterward, they participated in the Boi War and were the last armored troops to withdraw.

Besides, this division was the only Elite Armored Division in the Empire Army that was always at full strength.

It comprised two armored brigades, one mechanized infantry brigade, one artillery brigade, one divisional long-range rocket artillery battalion, one divisional independent reconnaissance company, one divisional field air defense battalion, one divisional logistics support battalion, one divisional NBC protection (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) battalion, and one divisional medical company, often reinforced by an independent air brigade.

In terms of equipment, the division possessed 480 main battle tanks, 360 infantry and cavalry fighting vehicles, 240 self-propelled guns, 36 rocket launchers, and more than 2,000 various types of wheeled vehicles. If an air brigade was added for reinforcement, that would be an additional 400 to 450 helicopters.

To put it bluntly, the 7th Armored Division didn’t have ordinary infantry!

For the past several decades, the 7th Armored Division had always faced the West Continent Group on the Giant Continent, and its equipment and construction were centered around assault operations.

The division also served as the backbone of the Northwest War Zone and was Shi Shouliang’s Direct Lineage force!

Of course, Shi Shouliang himself emerged from the 7th Armored Division, only entering the rapid promotion track after serving as division commander for 12 years.

In reality, the 17th Armored Division from the West Battle Zone was not inferior to the 7th Armored Division.

In terms of troop strength, the 17th Armored Division had 21,000, only 1,000 fewer than the 7th.

However, out of these 21,000 officers and soldiers, approximately 8,000 came from Reserve Forces, meaning the 17th Armored Division’s regular force was only 13,000 strong.

In comparison to the 7th, what the 17th Armored Division lacked was artillery, as it had one less heavy artillery battalion and no divisional long-range rocket artillery battalion.

Additionally, there were differences in the main battle equipment.

Only one armored brigade was equipped with the "ZT-99B" model main battle tank; the other brigade had the "ZT-99A."

This difference was not a matter of favoritism.

The 17th Armored Division faced the Caucasus area, mainly responsible for the strategic defense of Anatolia, which is on the Ter Republic side.

Because its primary operations were in mountainous regions and it was also dispersed across a dozen military bases, the 17th Armored Division did not need too much heavy equipment.

According to the Ministry of Defense’s arrangement, the 17th Armored Division would be converted into a rapid reaction force with the next round of force restructuring.

In fact, the difference in equipment did not have a significant impact.

Given the assault power demonstrated by the Marine Corps’ armored battalion on the night of August 1, the two armored divisions of the Empire Army were enough to liberate Kuwait.

As Shi Shouliang put it, as long as the logistics could keep up and one more air brigade was added to each, he was confident that these two divisions could fight all the way to Baghdad.

This was not bragging.

Not to mention anything else, including the Marine Corps’ two armored battalions, there were more than 1,000 "ZT-99" series main battle tanks, and the Iraqi Army didn’t have as many T-72Ms in total. Even on the Giant Continent battlefield, more than 1,000 main battle tanks could launch a major campaign-level deep penetration operation.

The key issue was logistics support.

This was also the primary reason the Empire Army had not sent more ground troops to the war.

Without adequate logistics, sending more troops to Saudi Arabia would only mean they’d be spectating from the rear.

Relying solely on the Empire’s Army, it was certain that the logistics issue could not be solved.

The crux was that right there in the New Moon Region’s deserts, there were no traffic facilities necessary for logistics support, especially railways.

Whether in the Northwest War Zone or in the Western Battle Zone, the Empire Army’s logistics support system was built upon infrastructure developed over decades; and since they were always in a state of strategic defense, there was no issue of logistics not keeping up.

Take the Northwest War Zone as an example, after the last Great War, the Empire provided billions of Gold Yuan in aid to the Luosha Federation Republic through the "Lian Xusheng Plan" in the name of post-war reconstruction. Over the subsequent decades, the Lusha Federation Republic constructed tens of thousands of kilometers of railways and tens of thousands of kilometers of highways.