92: Chapter 89 Iraqi Commander

At 12:00 PM, the Iraqi commander called off the attack.

In less than three hours, he had lost over thirty tanks and two hundred soldiers, yet the Pump Station remained in the hands of the Iranians, completely unmoved.

He sent a telegram to Baghdad: "The attack has been thwarted; we need more support."

Saddam Hussein's reply consisted of only four words: "Continue the attack."

It was not because he thought the attack could succeed, but because he had no other choice. He could not afford to lose the Pump Station, he could not afford to lose the Zubair Oilfield, and he could certainly not afford to lose this war. If he backed down at this moment, his prestige in the Arab world would plummet.

At 1:00 PM, Iraq launched its third wave of attacks.

This time they had learned their lesson—they no longer took the easy paths, but the most difficult ones. They launched the attack from due south of the Pump Station, where there was an expanse of open salt flats. The ground was soft and tanks easily got stuck, but the Iraqis used a "swamp traversal device" provided by the Soviet Union—a type of wide track pad attached to the tank tracks that could distribute weight and allow the tanks to travel on soft ground.

Reza had not laid mines in this direction because he judged that the Iraqis would not choose this route.

But he had not completely ignored this direction either—he had deployed an anti-tank company at the edge of the salt flats, with twelve anti-tank guns, all Soviet-made D-44 85mm cannons.

At 1:30 PM, the Iraqi tanks appeared on the salt flats.

The first wave consisted of twenty tanks, arranged in a skirmish line, slowly advancing forward. The ground was too soft; even with the wide track pads added, the tanks' speed could only reach five to six kilometers per hour—barely faster than a person walking.

The commander of the anti-tank company waited until the Iraqi tanks entered the 800-meter range before ordering them to open fire.

The twelve anti-tank guns fired simultaneously, and the shells kicked up a cloud of dust on the salt flats. The first round of fire hit four tanks, the second round hit three, and the third round hit five.

The Iraqi tanks attempted to fire back, but their artillery accuracy was very poor when firing on soft ground, and the Iranian anti-tank gun positions were well camouflaged, appearing almost as one with the salt flats from a distance.

In the next forty minutes, the anti-tank company destroyed another seven tanks. The third wave of the Iraqi attack was repelled once again.

At 3:00 PM, the Iraqi commander finally gave up on the frontal assault of the Pump Station.

He reported to Baghdad: "It is impossible to capture the Pump Station with current force levels. I suggest adopting a siege tactic, cutting off the Pump Station's supply lines to force the Iranians to retreat due to exhaustion of supplies."

Saddam Hussein approved this suggestion.

At 4:00 PM, Reza received intercepted intelligence from Karimi: "Iraq will switch to siege tactics, with the goal of cutting off the Pump Station's supply lines."

"A siege," Hassan said, "they want to starve us to death."

"Not to death," Reza said, "how much longer can our existing supplies last?"

Najjari flipped through the inventory list: "Food for seven days, water for five days, and enough ammunition for two medium-scale battles. If the Iraqis stop attacking and only besiege us, we can hold out longer—but once the supply line is cut, time will be on their side."

"So we must open a passage before the supply line is cut," Reza said, "Karimi, help me contact Tehran. Tell the Supreme Defense Council that the Pump Station can be held, but I need three things: reinforcements, supplies, and air cover. All are indispensable."

At 6:00 PM, the reply from Tehran arrived.

Rafsanjani made the call personally: "Your Highness, the Ayatollah has already signed the order to draw two brigades from the Revolutionary Guard to reinforce the Pump Station. At the same time, the Air Force will provide full escort for the supply convoy. The supplies are already being loaded and will depart by dawn tomorrow at the latest."

"What about Bani-Sadr?" Reza asked.

"He objected, but the Ayatollah overruled his objection. The Ayatollah said one thing: 'Victory on the battlefield does not require the approval of Parliament.'"

Reza hung up the phone and walked back to the control room.

He took out that dark blue notebook and wrote a line on the newest page:

"Today, three waves of attacks, all repelled. Tomorrow, reinforcements will arrive. The Pump Station, held."

He closed the notebook and looked out the window.

In the western sky, the sunset was like blood.

The Pump Station was still burning, but it was still in the hands of the Iranians.

Tomorrow would be a new day.

...

At 3:00 AM, Zubair Oilfield Pump Station.

The first night of the siege was quieter than Reza had anticipated.

The Iraqis did not launch a night raid, did not shell, and did not even send out scouts. They simply set up camp five to eight kilometers outside the Pump Station, using tanks and armored vehicles to form an irregular semicircle, cutting the Pump Station off from the outside world.

"They are really planning to besiege us to death," Hassan said, his voice carrying a complex emotion—both vigilance towards the enemy's tactical shift and uncertainty about the days ahead.

"They won't," Reza said, "Tehran's reinforcements will arrive this afternoon. Before that, what we need to do is hold the Pump Station and don't let them wedge themselves between us and the reinforcements."

"What if they launch an all-out attack before the reinforcements arrive?"

"They won't," Reza said, "The premise of siege tactics is to cut off supply lines and let the defenders run out of ammunition and food. If they wanted to launch an all-out attack, they would have done it yesterday; they wouldn't have waited until now. They chose a siege, which shows they know they can't break in. Now they are betting that we won't be able to hold out."

"Then can we hold out?"

Reza glanced at Hassan and said something that left a deep impression on him: "It's not a question of whether we can hold out, but a question of the fact that we must hold out."

At 4:00 AM, Karimi intercepted an internal Iraqi communication.

The content was the commander of the Iraqi Southern Military Region reporting the siege progress to Baghdad: "The Iranian defenders have been completely surrounded, the supply line has been cut, and they are expected to run out of ammunition and food within three to five days."

"They are very confident in their encirclement," Karimi said, "but in reality, there is a gap in their encirclement on the north side."

"Where is the gap?"

"On the north side, the section close to the Iranian border. The Iraqis only stationed one company of troops there because they think it's a swamp, and no unit could possibly pass through there."

Reza walked to the map, looked at it for thirty seconds, and said: "Swamp, people can't pass, but shells can."

"What do you mean?"

"Notify the rear, tell Fatima to change our mortar shells to air-burst fuses. The soil in the swamp is soft, so shells that explode on impact have limited lethality, but air-burst shells will be much more effective over the swamp. We want the Iraqis to know that their encirclement is not safe anywhere."

At 8:00 AM, the Iraqis began to build fortifications.

Their intention was very clear—not to attack, but to hold firm. They used bulldozers to dig one anti-tank trench after another around the perimeter of the Pump Station, built sand walls behind the trenches, and deployed tanks and artillery behind the sand walls, forming a semi-permanent siege position.

Reza saw all of this through his binoculars and formed a judgment in his mind: The Iraqis didn't not want to fight, they were waiting. Waiting for his supplies to run out, waiting for his morale to drop, waiting for a crack to appear in his defensive line.

"Karimi," Reza said, "help me contact Tehran and ask when the reinforcements will arrive."

At 9:00 AM, Tehran replied: "The first batch of reinforcements, two thousand men, has departed from Ahvaz and is expected to arrive at 4:00 PM today. The second batch of three thousand men will depart tomorrow morning."

Two thousand men.

Added to the existing two thousand one hundred and twenty men, the total force strength was four thousand one hundred and twenty men. Although the number was still far less than Iraq's thirty thousand, four thousand men in a defensive battle, if commanded properly and with sufficient firepower, were enough to hold the Pump Station.

But the prerequisite was that these two thousand men could successfully pass through the Iraqi encirclement.

"Hassan," Reza said, "your men are responsible for meeting the reinforcements. From the Pump Station northwards, along the edge of the swamp, mark out a safe passage for them. If the Iraqis try to intercept, fight back."

"What should we use to fight?"

"Use mortars and RPGs. Don't get entangled with them; hit and run. Your mission is not to annihilate them, but to bring the reinforcements in safely."