afterglow

Chapter 445 Annan Elite Soldiers? This is a hundred tigers running together

Hundreds of officers and soldiers gathered into a surging crowd. Under such an offensive, the defeated remnants of the 25th Militia Battalion were like ants in a storm, being washed away in a blink of an eye.

The "vicious" Ming soldiers used submachine guns and automatic guns to knock down any Australian militiamen who tried to fight back, but deliberately spared those enemies who were rushing around.

The latter only died a little late, and was quickly caught up, and then stabbed from the back with a wet bayonet!

A light machine gun team deployed on the flank suddenly launched an attack. The panicked machine gunner had forgotten the skills he had learned during simple training and just pulled the trigger and fired, as if this could dispel the fear deep in his heart.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-"

"what!"

"Lie down!"

"Side fire!!!"

"Li big glasses, rifle grenade!"

The side fire was so terrifying that four or five people were killed by 7.7mm machine gun bullets in the blink of an eye. Other soldiers fell to the ground one after another, covered in mud and water from their faces to their feet.

Then, a rifle was set up diagonally, and the grenade placed at the muzzle was pushed out with a bang by the gunpowder gas generated by the blank ammunition.

The grenade landed next to the light machine gun team and exploded. The Lewis light machine gun that had been firing wildly just now became mute in an instant.

Major Enoch, the commander of the advance detachment of the militia battalion, was hit in the waist by a 9.6mm pistol bullet and staggered to the ground in a puddle of mud.

Someone tried to help him up, but was immediately knocked down by bullets.

Immediately afterwards, the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers with rifles swarmed forward and stabbed their bayonets down hard, even stabbing them through and getting stuck in the ground...

The Kokoda Airport was captured in this way. The blood flowing from the corpses was quickly diluted by the mud and water, and disappeared without a trace under the heavy rain a few minutes later.

This simple, small airport has a very poor appearance - the runway is just flattened land, now covered with mud; the tower is made of logs; there are more than a dozen canvas tents next to it, with scattered empty wooden boxes stacked underneath.

"Report, sir, forty-two of the enemy were killed and three of the officers and soldiers were killed. Nineteen of the enemy were captured, including one of the officers and soldiers. Ten of our troops were killed and thirty-four were wounded."

"Has the ammunition been counted?"

"If I tell you sir, there is still 30% left."

Youzi Tao waved his hand and said: "Dig a trench and defend it. We need to airlift some supplies to generate electricity."

The next day, noon.

Five Type 29 service planes that took off from Rabaul flew over the Papua Peninsula, then descended and flew through the mountains, and finally landed in this ghost place.

As soon as the pilot got off the plane, he complained a lot - he was actually going to fight in such a barren mountain and wilderness? It's really difficult for all the soldiers.

These five service planes did not carry any supplies and were only loaded with prefabricated paved runways.

Confederate soldiers were assigned to remove these perforated steel plates and then splice them one by one on the runway, so that Kokoda Airport could have the ability to take off and land transport planes loaded with supplies.

During this period, Zhou Changfeng urged the partial division led by Youzi Tao, hoping that they would speed up their actions and cross the mountains as soon as possible to launch an attack.

Youzi Tao refused to set off again due to insufficient supplies. He stated that at least the troops should be equipped with seven days of dry food and one and a half basic ammunition.

This is a reasonable demand. An attack without ammunition and food is tantamount to seeking death.

So Zhou's inquiry telegram was sent to Rabaul, asking them to immediately organize an airdrop of supplies to Kokoda Town.

As a result, the air force stationed in Rabaul acted in a leisurely manner, thinking that with the help of perforated steel plates, the airport runway could be strengthened quickly, so why be anxious?

You can take off and land directly at Kokoda Airport a day or two later, which is much more efficient than airdrop.

"...Mogang's frontal attack should be slow rather than fast, and the flanking attack should be fast rather than slow. Airdrops and transportation must be organized immediately, as quickly as possible without delay."

Zhou Changfeng pressed again with power, and the reluctant Air Force finally agreed to organize an airdrop of supplies.

The first transport plane flew over the town of Kokoda on the morning of December 12. Black dots fell from the cabin and then bloomed into dandelions.

There are two types of airdrop supply boxes standard for the Ming army. One is a cubic wooden box with a load of 250 kilograms, which is often used to hold food; the other is a rectangular wooden box with a load of 500 kilograms, which is often used to hold ammunition.

Eleven Type 35 transport planes dropped a total of more than a hundred supply boxes, mostly ammunition.

Despite going through a series of battles, the soldiers actually did not consume many bullets. Most of the riflemen only fired a few dozen rounds of bullets, and the machine gunners only used two to three hundred rounds of bullets, which is almost half the base number. ammunition.

Artillery shells are the most consumed. Although they have been saved, there are still very few left. On average, each 64mm mortar can only be allocated eleven rounds.

Therefore, most of the ammunition supplied by this airdrop are 64mm and 80mm anti-explosive bombs.

The supply boxes weighing 250 kilograms were filled with all kinds of food. Each box contained 50 kilograms of flour and 200 kilograms of rice.

In some special boxes were one hundred boxes of chocolates, sixty canned fruits, one hundred packs of ten cigarettes, three kilograms of tea, three kilograms of sugar, and even the gaps were filled with newspapers and magazines.

Soldiers were like opening treasure chests, eliciting cheers whenever they found such supply boxes.

It can be said that the ground staff and quartermasters at Rabaul are quite humane, despite the reluctance of their superiors.

On the same day, in addition to the morning batch of supplies, a second batch of eight transport planes also arrived leisurely in the late afternoon.

This time we mainly focused on food, not much ammunition, only a dozen boxes in total.

After fighting for days in such a difficult environment, it is so pleasant to be able to eat some fruit to improve the food, and then everyone smokes cigarettes and reads the newspaper together.

Youzi Tao always had an expressionless face. He inspected the entire army from beginning to end and was quite satisfied. He could keenly feel the subtle changes in morale.

Although several previous battles had ended in victory, the soldiers had gradually become numb due to hardship.

Now, everyone's expressions are finally a little more relaxed, and there is truly... light in their eyes!

In this case, it is time to make a vigorous effort, otherwise it will decline again and again.

The next day, dawn.

The steamed buns freshly baked from the oven were steaming, and the aroma wafted into the air, making the hungry soldiers feel extremely uncomfortable after sleeping all night.

This night's rest was particularly effective. Except for two infantry platoons and the wounded and sick who were stationed in Kokoda town, the rest of the officers and soldiers once again embarked on the muddy and bumpy road south.

The frightened advance detachment of the Australian militia battalion only had two or three kittens that escaped back. Their descriptions made the main force of the 25th militia battalion extremely uneasy.

Are those Chinese really that powerful and scary?

The uneasy mood quietly infected most people, and it was in this atmosphere that the 25th Militia Battalion ushered in the attack of the Annan Royal Army.

The Southern Army was very expressive and had good fighting spirit. At least Youzi Tao couldn't find much fault with these Annan elite soldiers. Many Confederate soldiers carefully camouflaged themselves using leaves and grass bundles, and wore such camouflage nets to penetrate Australian positions from all directions.

Others nimbly climbed trees to get the best view. They sat on tree branches and shot exposed Australian machine gunners or officers with sniper rifles.

Later, mortars were used from time to time to support company and platoon-level attacks, and they even suddenly launched an attack with roars.

When the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Terrence, went to inspect the position with the battalion personnel, he was suddenly ambushed. It turned out that a class of Confederate troops had penetrated the front without being noticed at all.

"Bang! Bang!"

"Enemy?! Where are they?!"

"I can't see, I can't see!"

"Get back quickly! Protect the Lieutenant Colonel!"

"boom!"

Several officers were shot dead on the spot, and Terrence was also wounded in the arm by a grenade.

The panicked soldiers could vaguely identify a few figures from the nearby trees, and the two sides immediately started shooting fiercely.

Good camouflage and qualified tactical literacy are undoubtedly the magic weapon for infantry to win. Half of these dozen Confederate infantrymen managed to escape after a quarter of an hour of fighting, and they killed and injured at least thirteen Australian troops.

The non-stop penetration attacks left the opponent at a loss. It can be said that the 25th Australian Militia Battalion was stunned by this cunning and cunning tactic.

One day and two nights of fighting made Lieutenant Colonel Terrence and his men terrified, and the entire front was penetrated like a sieve.

No one knew where the Confederate infantry was quietly infiltrating in the bushes. Sometimes, out of nowhere, they would see a smoking grenade rolling under their feet.

Some Australian militiamen at the forward positions even dared to put excrement in empty cans and throw them out with all their strength, because several unlucky guys had been shot by snipers while going to the toilet and died in their own excrement.

As a last resort, the 25th Australian Militia Battalion chose to retreat, hoping to get rid of this ghostly place that made them dare not close their eyes while sleeping.

In the middle of the night, although the Australian army was aware of the retreat, the Confederate army did not take it seriously and naturally did not choose to pursue it.

"What?! Are you waiting for your head to be made of stone?!"

By the time Youzi Tao learned of the situation, it was already too late. It was already three o'clock in the morning, and more than six hours had passed since the Australian army retreated.

He was very angry. Why did he wait until now to report the situation he discovered tomorrow night?

"My brave soldiers have killed many enemies in the past two days. I killed four of my officers and subordinates alone..."

The commander of the infantry battalion of Annan's Royal Army was somewhat complacent when claiming credit, and this made Tao even more annoyed.

"What a shame! You let the enemy escape and you still have the nerve to claim credit? A great achievement will turn into a small effort, and a small effort will turn into nothing. Get out of here!"

Wandering Tao felt deeply regretful and blamed himself. Two days ago, he found that the Confederate army was fighting well and decently. He even praised it a few times, but he did not expect that these guys had no correct tactical thinking at all.

What's the use of rout! Even a small-scale annihilation battle involving just one enemy unit is better than this.

"We can't delay any more, quickly clear the battlefield and pursue!"

"Order."

At about the same time, on the front battlefield at Moresby...

The junction between the 8st Infantry Brigade of the Australian 21th Infantry Division and the neighboring troops was broken through by the th Infantry Division of the Ming Army. The artillery fire continued. Hundreds of infantrymen, supported by nine Type medium tanks, shredded the weak position. joint.

The tank guns continued to bombard the civil engineering works where the enemy's heavy machine guns were located, and the parallel machine guns and directional machine guns fired fiercely. Some Australian infantrymen hiding in foxholes were even buried alive by the tanks twisting their tracks from side to side!

The Australian anti-tank artillery used the QF 2-pounder gun to fire at the Ming army tanks. At least three cross-arranged anti-tank guns fired at the same time.

The frontal armor of the latest Type 30 medium tank A has been thickened to mm, and many minor problems have been corrected, such as unreasonable ammunition rack layout, easy overheating of the engine, slight resonance under certain working conditions, etc.

Although this level of armor is still unable to withstand a 37mm anti-tank gun, the combat effectiveness and driving experience of the entire vehicle are very good.

So front-line units took matters into their own hands to enhance protection for their vehicles in various ways.

Some put aside a lot of sandbags, some hung up spare tracks, and some crews dismantled destroyed armored vehicles from both the enemy and ourselves, cut steel plates and welded them to their own vehicles.

In this way, the Ming army tank crews can confidently and boldly shoot at each other when facing the QF2-pound gun.

Was there a joint that was broken through by the Ming army's massive attack?

This news made Major General Vernon Sturdy anxious. The first line of defense collapsed yesterday, but only one day later, the second line of defense was about to be penetrated?

"This situation is critical. We can no longer hesitate. The reserve team should be put in immediately!" He walked to the artillery mirror and continued to order: "Tank company action."

The Kurong Regiment (battalion) and the 3rd Light Tank Company were ordered to engage in counterattack to block the breach.

More than 500 officers and soldiers of the infantry battalion quickly rushed to the front line along the trench. They quickly arrived at the second-line position to regroup, and immediately launched a counterattack as soon as more than a dozen of their own tanks were in place.

At this time, a reconnaissance plane ejected from the battleship Yuan Ding flew slowly through the sky.

The Australian officers and soldiers quickly lay down to hide, and the nearby anti-aircraft machine guns immediately opened fire to drive them away. As they flew away in a hurry, the rear seat gunner of the reconnaissance plane still noticed a clue.

He thought there might be a supply depot or reserve headquarters in that area, so he sent a telegram back to the fleet.

A group of naval staff members discussed the situation with each other based on the map, and even called Zhou Changfeng at the headquarters.

"Signs of activity, at least a hundred people? Zhao Hanfeng, take a look."

Zhou Changfeng tilted his head, holding the microphone between his legs, and walked to the map, while Zhao Hanfeng and another staff officer had already begun to draw the map.

"It's more than three thousand meters away from the front. It's probably an artillery headquarters or assembly area." Zhao Hanfeng turned to look at Zhou Changfeng, "Jin Zuo, give it a try?"

The latter nodded yes.

In fact, Zhou Changfeng agreed with the mentality of giving it a try and doing it casually. Anyway, he didn't lack this little ammunition.

As a result, the four destroyers and three fire support ships quickly coordinated the firepower plan and seized the time to complete preparations.

The Type 144 mm rocket has a range of meters, but it is not recommended because the spread of the rocket will be too large to be seen.

The support ship modified from the Taiping-class destroyer is equipped with seven fifteen-mounted 7mm rocket launchers. A single ship can launch more than a hundred rockets per wheel, which is very dense.

"咻咻-咻咻-咻咻——"

The sailors clung to the railings to watch this magnificent scene, and an orange-red picture seemed to be outlined in the sky by the tail flames of rockets.

"Dear boy, this posture is so scary."

"What is this called? This is called a hundred tigers running together."

(End of this chapter)