afterglow

Chapter 431 The strategy of the fleet to destroy the country; promotion on the eve of defeat

Since the [-]th Infantry Division had lost its combat effectiveness, the Australian Corps Supervisory Headquarters could only order it to be temporarily stationed in Darwin to rest and recuperate.

The total number of Australian regiments is [-], but only half of them have arrived in Java so far. The Division Supervisor ordered the [-]th Infantry Division to set off for Darwin to consolidate the Ming Dynasty's foothold in Australia.

The Battle of Darwin seriously exceeded expectations - the Ming army originally estimated that it would take just three days and a thousand casualties, but it ended up like this.

Therefore, the next step of landing in Moresby was urgently stopped, and the Supervisory Division decided to hold a meeting of senior generals to discuss how to adjust the action plan.

Since the airport had not yet been repaired, a Type [-] seaplane landed at Darwin Port to transport Zhou Changfeng and Ding Yiping to Surabaya.

Six Type [-] carrier-based fighter jets were ordered to escort it, and one after another accelerated from the deck of the Tianshi Zuoyuan.

After all, he was the commander of the army-level troops, and he was very capable. The commander of the Australian Corps of the Ming Dynasty was commanded by Nan'an Hou Pang Lingqi, who was also an old acquaintance of Zhou Changfeng.

The elegantly decorated Surabaya Naval Base Headquarters now gathers dozens of generals from the army, navy and air force. Everyone seems a little impatient because there are still many things waiting for them to deal with.

As everyone gathered, Pang Lingqi immediately knocked on the table and announced the start of the discussion without any delay.

Naturally, the Navy was the first to speak, followed by the Air Force. After all, the Army cannot compare with the two in terms of importance. Army officers and soldiers cannot swim to the east coast of Australia.

"...It cannot be ignored that since the 21st, the frequency of American Pacific Fleet radio communications has been significantly higher than before. Due to difficulty in estimation, the coordinates we can roughly locate are locked within a radius of [-] kilometers, [-] kilometers southwest of Hawaii. between."

A naval intelligence officer explains some recent intelligence.

Hu Zening, chief officer of the Nanyang Fleet's First Air Assault Fleet, said calmly: "Obviously, the Americans will not sit back and watch us send troops to Australia. They should have determined that our army will seize Moresby next."

"Yes, but there's no way to tell where they will intercept. It's possible on both the north and south fronts." said an air force commodore nearby.

After that, he added, "The fleet battle should be as close as possible to our land base, but I am afraid that the airports in La Baoer and Tulaji will not be built in a short time."

On the northern front, the Third Marine Brigade is moving southward in leaps and bounds. It first captured Guam and Saipan on October 10, and then occupied Truk Island, which was more than a thousand kilometers to the south, on October 14.

They will then march to the Solomon Islands, dividing their troops into two groups to seize Rabaul, the port city of New Britain Island, and Tulagi Island, the capital of the Solomon Islands.

[picture]

The southern route started from Darwin, passed through the Torres Strait, and launched a landing operation at Moresby.

The strategic deployment of the Ming army can also be called a conspiracy. The US military can see clearly what the Ming army wants to do next at a glance, and there is no secret.

Historically, the IJN also hoped to seize Australia, a key strategic location for the Allies. However, this plan was flatly rejected by the Army as soon as it was proposed, on the grounds that there were no excess troops to deploy.

Subsequently, the IJN made concessions and proposed a more compromise plan for limited southward expansion, also known as the "U.S.-Australia Interdiction Strategy."

The idea of ​​this plan is to cut off the connection between the United States and Australia by occupying several strategic locations in Solomon, Fiji, and New Caledonia.

The IJN at the same time in history faced such a dilemma and had to settle for the next best thing, because at that time the IJA had only 51 divisions in total, but a full 35 of them were contained in the vast China.

These are things that the Ming Dynasty does not need to worry about. Although the Ming Dynasty's army currently has only a little over a million troops, the pressure on defending the homeland is very small. In fact, it has a large number of troops that can be deployed overseas.

截止十月初，大明陆军现在共有56个步兵师、2个战车旅、4个机动步兵旅、21个野战重炮旅、3个攻城重炮旅、10个工兵旅以及若干其它支援单位，不含基地军营机构的勤务人员，合计恰好超过百万之众。

The ocean delivery capacity is also quite abundant. The total tonnage of registered merchant ships at the turn of spring and summer was 971 million tons. Now, half a year later, this number has reached four digits.

Some shipowners in Annan, Korea, Ryukyu, and Lanfang like to register their ships in the Ming Dynasty. This number is somewhat watery, but it is equivalent to nothing. What's yours is mine. If China wants to requisition your merchant ships, will you not agree?
  There are no problems with the two key factors of available troops and delivery capabilities, making Ming's efficiency in radiating military influence to the Pacific region several times that of Japan.

"... When the Type [-] shore-based lightning strike aircraft is fully loaded, the combat radius is only [-] kilometers, and it cannot cover much sea area. If the engagement position is too far away, the Air Force will have no choice but to stare blankly."

The maximum range of the Type 3800 torpedo bomber when lightly loaded is 250 km. The range when carrying a 3600 kg aerial bomb for reconnaissance patrol is 3000 km. However, if a torpedo is mounted, that is, when fully loaded, the range is only [-] km. .

Although this type of aircraft has excellent performance, the Navy and Air Force have always been dissatisfied with its range. Therefore, the Model B, which is about to begin mass production, has increased its full-load range by 500km.

The generals present looked at the huge map hanging in front of them. Several staff officers worked together to draw a circle on it, indicating the combat radius of air force units taking off from Guam and Saipan - barely enough to reach the Bismarck Sea.

Hu Zening said: "The construction of Truk's airport must be stepped up, otherwise the constraints will be too great."

The air force brigadier general nodded and replied: "The Seventh Engineering Brigade will arrive in Truk in the near future, and I think we will be able to complete the repairs and the first phase of construction by the end of the month."

"How long and wide is the runway?"

"The first phase of the plan is to expand a simple runway that is [-] meters long and [-] meters wide."

Historically, Truk became a Japanese mandate after the European War. But it is different now. The Ming Dynasty, which did not participate in the European War, did not claim these islands located deep in the ocean, so Truk fell into the hands of the United States. .

This is a very, very, very superior natural fleet anchorage. There are six channels between more than a dozen islands and reefs, and the average water depth is more than [-] meters.

[picture]

However, the Third Marine Brigade still captured it easily. Most of the hundreds of American troops were non-combatants, and the resistance was very light.

But before the Ming army landed, they planted all the explosives at Weno Airport, almost blowing up the runway.

The result of this was that after disarming them, the Third Marine Brigade drove them to the airport that they had destroyed with their own hands and asked them to fill in the holes and repair the runway.

Interestingly, because the US military is accustomed to using construction machinery, such as excavators and bulldozers, when building airports, they also destroyed more than a dozen Caterpillar R-4 bulldozers when blasting the runway, so they initially refused to use it. Manual digging and filling of pits.

And then...then I was ridiculed, punched and kicked, but I still had to swing the shovel honestly.

The navy and air force generals discussed for a while, first considering moving the battleship Longshuo and the light aircraft carrier Fomalhaut to the northern front, and then hesitating whether to leave the latter.

Since consensus could not be reached, the matter could only be shelved for the time being.

It was the turn of the first echelon in charge of ground operations to express their opinions. Zhou Changfeng, who had been waiting for a long time, said: "Everyone should know the result of the Battle of Darwin. The Australian army's combat effectiveness on the mainland is higher than estimated, so the originally formulated The landing strategy for Moresby must be changed." "How many more troops will be needed?" asked a rear admiral.

"It's better to use the first marine brigade with one army division. If you add too many troops at once, you can't deploy it. But the time is expected to increase. Let's estimate it from ten days to half a month. During this period, one regiment will be reinforced. .”

"We need to adjust the ship again... OK."

Although reluctant, the Navy agreed directly.

Previously, the extremely optimistic Ming army expected to capture Moresby in just three days in the Operation False Daze plan. However, the Australian army's heroic and deadly battle in Darwin made the Ming army realize that they could not underestimate the enemy and must carefully examine the Australians' intentions. determination.

The generals of the Nanyang Command did not reach a consensus and could only feedback intelligence and opinions to the Home Command, leaving it to their superiors for decision-making.

Because it was fighting against the most powerful opponent expected, the entire Ming Navy went all out. They made significant adjustments to the existing naval sequence and formed an unprecedentedly large fleet.

The original Eastern Fleet and Nanyang Fleet almost existed in name only, leaving only some old-fashioned destroyers, cruisers and other offshore defense forces.

The main battleships from each fleet were mobilized to form a strike fleet codenamed A-[-] Special Agent Fleet, which included all high-speed capital ships.

甲字三十一炮击舰队（A31-BBF）：4艘高速战列舰、2艘重巡、3艘轻巡、9艘驱逐舰。

In addition to the Kaihuang and the Longshuo, which will be ordered to join the fleet later, two new high-speed battleships, the Yongle and the Xuande, which were recently commissioned, are also in its sequence.

Looking at the whole world, this is also second to none - the British currently don't have a single high-speed battleship, the Americans are all iron bastards except for the North Carolina class, the Italians' Veneto class has not yet been completed, and the Germans' Max class We are also preparing for sea trials.

A32-BBF: 5 low-speed battleships, 3 light cruisers, and 9 destroyers.

A38-BBF: 4 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers, and 12 destroyers.

C-20 Air Attack Fleet (A2-CVF): 1 aircraft carriers, 5 light cruiser, and [-] destroyers. This aircraft carrier formation is centered on two Taiweiyuan-class aircraft carriers.

C-22 Air Attack Fleet (A2-CVF): 1 armored aircraft carriers, 5 light cruiser, and [-] destroyers. This aircraft carrier formation is centered on two Ziweiyuan-class carriers.

C-24 Air Raid Fleet (C3-CVF): 2 light aircraft carriers, 6 light cruisers, and [-] destroyers. This aircraft carrier formation is centered on three Fomalhaut-class light carriers.

C30 Lightning Strike Fleet (C4-DDF): 12 light cruisers and [-] destroyers.

C-34 Lightning Strike Fleet (C2-DDF): 2 light cruisers, 12 super destroyers, and [-] destroyers.

C-36 Lightning Strike Fleet (C2-DDF): 3 light cruisers, 18 super destroyers, and [-] destroyers.

A34-SSF: 1 submarine carrier, 1 destroyer, 5 heavy artillery cruise submarines.

In the [-]s, the French were keen on large cruise submarines. Their masterpiece was the Sucuff. The Ming Dynasty Navy was also very interested and began to build five Qingming-class ships, which were specifically responsible for cooperating with the fleet operations and providing the opponent with fleets in decisive battles. Surprise attack.

A36-SSF: 2 submarine carriers and 8 ocean-going submarines.

The Ming Navy believed that a small number of submarines would be miraculous in the decisive battle of the fleet, so it gathered several cutting-edge submarines to form a formation and follow the fleet.

In addition, there are some sentry fleets and support fleets, including seaplane carriers, maintenance ships, and supply ships.

This huge fleet has set sail from Hangzhou, Dagu, and Guangzhou one after another, heading to Guam, which was just captured, to anchor and wait for opportunities.

The strategy being planned by the Ming Navy can be summarized as "forcing the United States to save Australia and encircling Australia for reinforcements." This can greatly reduce the difficulty of our own reconnaissance and tracking, and facilitate the positioning of the enemy fleet.

On the same day, the Ming army's general attack on the Bataan Peninsula officially began.

After these days of preparation, the field heavy artillery brigade and the siege heavy artillery brigade were all deployed, and a large amount of supplies were also stocked up.

The commissioner appointed by the Ministry of War to inspect the scene recorded in a report sent back to the court: "...all the units of our King's Division have formed their positions, with the positions connected to the left and right, with flags covering the sun, and thousands of heavy artillery roaring through the sky..."

The US-Philippine coalition forces trapped in the Bataan Peninsula were now demoralized - Marshal Mai and Quezon's escape with their families dealt a heavy blow to their morale.

In the civil bunkers and semi-permanent fortifications on the front line, soldiers in ragged clothes and haggard faces were so embarrassed that they slaughtered horses to satisfy their hunger. They looked no different from beggars.

Malaria and dengue fever are widespread, with about [-] new cases every day. Although medicines are sufficient, there is a large shortage of frontline troops.

Everyone thought they had been abandoned by the shameless Uncle Sam. From officers to soldiers, they all used Marshal Mai's famous quotes before escaping to make fun of themselves.

The soldier reported to the officer: Sir, I need to use the restroom, but I will be back.

The officer replied to the other soldiers: OK, I also need to go to the toilet. You all stay where you are, because I will be back too.

From dawn to sunrise, the Ming army used hundreds of large and small artillery pieces to bombard the positions of the U.S.-Philippine coalition forces indiscriminately, and then launched a large-scale attack with the cooperation of tank troops.

The U.S.-Philippine coalition forces were on the verge of collapse and either fled or surrendered.

Some of the surrendered soldiers took leaflets airdropped by the Ming army and plucked up the courage to ask the Ming army soldiers who escorted them if they could give them a can.

The Bataan peninsula's defenses collapsed within three hours. Brigadier General Justin sent out the only two battalions of reserves on hand to try to save the defenses, but it was futile.

The army was defeated like a mountain, and there was no room for recovery...

That night, in the command post on Corregidor Island, the staff were at a loss and didn't know how to mark the situation between the enemy and ourselves on the map.

Wainwright, who had just been promoted to major general for two days, looked at the map with confusing markings. He was so upset that he could no longer concentrate.

damn it! To hell with Washington!
  What is the use of simply being promoted to military rank? Even sending a box of Spam luncheon meat is better than this!
  He spoke with difficulty and said feebly: "I agree to Justin's surrender request, and then...we will be the only ones left."

(End of this chapter)