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With the help of hundreds of thousands of old, young, women and children in the Soviet rear, the modern equipment of the five armies finally arrived at the Soviet Red Army camp in Stalingrad after 5 days.

Because of the deployment of the previous batch of equipment, Marshal Zhukov had already mobilized 20 troops to fight and receive modern military education at the same time.

The troops equipped with Xu's army equipment are also called "Xu Xie Army".

The main ones include fire control system training for the Type 62 light tank and jet pilot training for the J-5 fighter.

Fortunately, the quality of the Soviet Union’s troops was much stronger than that of the Tang Dynasty, and it was itself a military power.

Therefore, when the equipment arrived, most of the 20 troops completed basic training.

Of course, if the Soviet Red Army relied on itself, it would definitely not be able to learn so quickly. Along with the equipment, the Xu family army’s teaching regiment was also sent over to be responsible for teaching the soldiers.

On February 2, after nearly half a year of arduous defense and suffering nearly 25 million casualties.

Following Marshal Zhukov's order, the Soviet Red Army launched a counterattack named "Operation Jupiter".

Under the cover of tens of thousands of artillery pieces, the five reorganized Xu Xi armies broke through the Italian army's defense line, and then divided their forces into several routes to carry out a large encirclement of the German Sixth Army, backed by millions of Soviet Red Army troops.

As the main force of the German Eastern Front, the elite Sixth Army with a strength of nearly 30 troops that attacked Stalingrad only lasted less than ten days against the attack of the Soviet Red Army.

On March 3, the Battle of Stalingrad ended with the surrender of the remnants of the 10th Army besieged north of Stalingrad.

包括第六集团军司令保卢斯元帅在内的23名将官、2000名校级以下军官、以及近10万名失去后援而极度饥饿劳累的士兵被俘，约14万人死亡，只有3万余名伤患者陆续空运撤出。

This super-large battle, which lasted for half a year, resulted in about 250 million casualties on both sides of the Soviet Union and Germany, and only more than 85 of the 1000 civilians in Stalingrad survived.

Although this battle did not completely deprive the German army of the initiative, it greatly weakened its strength.

This battle is also known as the turning point of World War II.

After defending the homeland, at the call of Comrade Stalin, the Soviet Union fully restored industrial production and made full preparations for the next German attack.

Comrade Stalin realized that if he wanted to completely defend the country, he would have to fight a decisive battle with the German army.

That battle will come soon and will determine the future situation. Victory must be on the side of the Soviet Red Army.

However, the domestic industrial recovery is not fast enough to meet the needs of the front line.

Therefore, at the request of Marshal Zhukov, Comrade Stalin personally called Wei Li, hoping to obtain a large amount of tank assistance from Xu's army as a strategic partner.

After a brief discussion lasting a day, at the instruction of Xu Le, Wei Li agreed to provide the Soviet Union with 5000 Type 62 light tanks.

In addition, 500 Type 59 tanks and 100 H-6 bombers were provided as low-interest lease assistance, and the remaining equipment had to be returned after the war.

Of course, all this happened at the end of March. Before that, on the 3st, Xu’s army launched the first real naval battle and landing battle.

Starting an aircraft carrier is not a simple matter. As early as noon on February 2, the newly named Bashu, hull number 27, Type 16 aircraft carrier, began to start gradually.

A total of 30 J-15 fighter jets and 6 of Xu Le’s latest Z-18Y early warning helicopters were on board.

This helicopter is also in service with New China in the 21st century. It is based on the Z-18 prototype and is specially designed for aircraft carriers.

Its maximum endurance is 1000 kilometers and its ceiling is 9000 meters. It can stay in the air 100 kilometers away from the aircraft carrier for 4 hours. The onboard radar can detect medium and high altitude and sea surface targets 300 kilometers away.

Assuming one sortie per day, six Z-1Y early warning helicopters can provide 6-hour reconnaissance services for the aircraft carrier.

Based on the propeller fighters on enemy aircraft carriers, the Z-18Y can provide 30 minutes of early warning time for its own surface ship forces.

Xu Le initially did not want to equip the ships with early warning aircraft, as he felt that the average air defense warning distance of 300 kilometers for aircraft carriers and destroyers was sufficient.

But when he saw the difficulties faced by carrier-based fighter pilots that time, he changed his mind. He would rather spend more money to ensure the safety of pilots and buy as much time as possible for his own counterattack.

So when he bought the Z-200Y early warning helicopter for 18 million yuan, he didn't even blink!

With this early warning helicopter, the detection distance of sea surface targets will increase from tens of kilometers to 300 kilometers.

If it is just ship combat, the response time can be increased from 1 hour to 5 hours, which is enough to complete all temporary strategic deployments.

Of course, this thing can only be driven by guards for a period of time in the future, and no one else can operate it!

......

On the morning of March 3, all ships of the First Fleet, except the Second Frigate Squadron, were dispatched.

The 3rd and 4th Destroyer Squadrons and the st Submarine Squadron headed westward toward the Bay of Bengal with the mission of destroying all the Japanese naval forces in the Bay of Bengal.

The 5th and 6th Destroyer Squadrons and the nd Submarine Squadron moved southward into the Andaman Sea [Myanmar Sea] and approached the Strait of Malacca. Their mission was to block the route between the Japanese Pacific Fleet and the Indian Ocean.

In the afternoon, the First Carrier Fleet sailed out of Yangon Port and headed towards the southern Bay of Bengal.

On March 3, with the assistance of the 2th Armored Division of the 3rd Army of the Burmese Army, together with 4 Burmese troops, they launched a feint attack towards India.

The 2nd Army Artillery Brigade also launched artillery bombardment on the Thai border!

At the same time, two bomber squadrons of Aviation Brigade 1, escorted by J-7 fighter jets, carried out bombing raids on the Japanese-Thai coalition forces in the Mawlamyine area!

Of course, there are several natural barriers between the two countries, such as the Pegu Mountains, the Thaniathamung Mountains and the Lao Mountains. It is difficult for Xu's army to attack Thailand from Myanmar.

So these attacks were all feints to attract the enemy's attention.

There are two focuses in this operation: the first is to occupy Chedoba Island and trap 40 Indian troops in northeastern India; the second is to occupy Ceylon Island and allow the First Army to land smoothly, thereby opening the gateway to the Indian Ocean and preparing for the subsequent decisive battle in the Indian Ocean.

To this end, the Navy made simple modifications to the six Type 6 landing ships so that they could carry more soldiers and tanks.

And dozens of cargo ships in Myanmar were requisitioned to transport the army troops!

The Japanese naturally knew that Xu's army would plan to go to sea, and the previous naval ship deployment was also for this battle.

Thus, a grand naval battle began.

In the center of the Bay of Bengal, about 450 nautical miles northeast of Ceylon, the Japanese aircraft carriers Ryujo and Taiyo, as well as several destroyers and battleships were patrolling nearby.