afterglow

Chapter 455 I sincerely recommend burning it first; the Forbidden Army will kill people in the first battle.

After the fall of Moresby, the Australians knew that Cairns and Townsville would be the next places to be invaded, so they did their best to strengthen their defenses.

By the time the T-39 Squadron appeared off the coast of Cairns, the Queensland Military District had received a large number of troop and material reinforcements.

这些部队包括第2步兵师、第4步兵师、第11步兵旅（团）、第12野战炮兵团（营）、第14轻骑兵团（营）、第8独立防空炮连、第55独立防空探照灯连、第2独立轻型坦克连。

However, because of the limited railway transportation capacity and the fact that the upper echelons of the Australian army believed that Townsville was more important, most combat units were deployed in Townsville.

The Ming Army's landing force actually faced only the 4th Infantry Division, the 8th Independent Air Defense Artillery Company, the 55th Independent Air Defense Searchlight Company, the 121st Heavy Artillery Company, and some coastal defense units, with a total strength of more than people. .

In addition, the local people also formed several armed forces - the 11th Militia Battalion, the 12th Militia Battalion, and the 20th Field Supplementary Battalion.

These defense forces are under the unified command of Major General Edward Partick, commander of the 4th Division.

Since capturing Moresby, the Ming army has been conducting uninterrupted reconnaissance and air strikes in northeastern Australia.

In half a month, the Ming Dynasty Air Force organized more than 50 aerial reconnaissance sorties, and the Navy also organized more than 20 sorties, capturing a large amount of first-hand information about the Australian army's coastal defense artillery positions, railway shunting yards, and airports.

Brigadier General Ren Zhiquan, commander of the 1nd Guards Division, served as the landing commander. He set the landing date for January 5, with the nd Guards Division taking the lead as the first echelon, and a complete st Field Heavy Artillery Brigade as reinforcement; the th Division served as the reserve team. On call in Moresby.

Normally, a field heavy artillery brigade would be split in half and assigned to two infantry divisions. It can be said that it is a rare luxury treatment to all be concentrated into one division like this.

那可是两个重山炮营和两个中野炮营共36门144㎜榴弹炮和36门112㎜加农炮！须知德军步兵师独自作战时也不过只有12门150㎜榴弹炮。

The T-39 Squadron was still commanded by Liu Zaiyao. Although he was injured in the Battle of Torres Strait, he recovered quickly and was qualified for this mission.

In fact, many people were looking at the position of the fleet commander, thinking that Liu Zaiyao had earned enough military exploits in the last naval battle, so he should take advantage of the opportunity to get injured and recuperate this time, but as a result, this guy actually refused to leave!

The D-39 Squadron suffered heavy losses in the last naval battle, and Yuan Feng was sunk in the battle. The battleship Yuan Ding is now used as the flagship.

The entire fleet also includes an aircraft carrier Tianshi Zuoyuan, a heavy cruiser Yanshan, two light cruisers, ten destroyers, three fire support ships, six landing ships, thirty-one troop transports, and ten Several minesweepers, supply ships, hospital ships, and amphibious command ships.

Starting at 1:4 on January 12, the Ming fleet began to prepare firepower for Cairns.

In the previous days, the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces stationed at the airport launched four strikes against the Ming fleet, but all air attacks used medium-altitude horizontal bombing.

The "Song" fighter fleet of the Tianshi Zuoyuan completed the task of protecting the fleet very well - after accumulating rich experience in a series of previous battles, the Ming army pilots were already familiar with harassing enemy bombers.

The first three air strikes did not cause any damage due to poor accuracy, but some near-misses caused damage to the hulls of some battleships.

However, the last air strike carried out by the B-17 fleet achieved unexpected results-two troop transports were sunk, more than casualties were caused, and cannons from the fourth battalion of the st Field Heavy Artillery Brigade were sunk along with the ships.

The purchase price of each Type 112 4.3mm medium-sized field gun was yuan. The eighteen cannons and the transport ships carrying them sank into the deep Coral Sea. Hundreds of thousands of tons of high-quality alloy steel and manganese steel were just like this. Return to nature.

However, as the Ming fleet approached, the aviation forces of the US-Australia coalition were forced to divert and evacuate.

The battleship Yuan Ding and the heavy cruiser Yanshan launched a ferocious bombardment of Cairns Airport, severely damaging the airport's runway, apron, and tower.

In addition, the light cruisers Xiangjiang and Liaohe fired a total of 144 rounds of 1432mm anti-explosive bombs at beach targets, and ten destroyers also fired 128 rounds of 4215mm anti-explosive bombs, destroying most of the exposed enemy fortifications.

"...In view of this, a small amount of white phosphorus arson bombs can be fired at shallow depths and near depths, preferably with timed fuze air explosions, to burn the surface covering camouflage to expose it..."

Someone Zhou specially sent a telegram from the mainland and put forward his sincere suggestions.

The Australians may be very clever at camouflaging bunkers, artillery positions, and shelters, so they can try to roughly cover them with incendiary bombs.

No matter what, let’s burn it first and then talk!

After finishing browsing, Liu Zaiyao couldn't help but "tsk tsk tsk" a few times, nodding and sighing: "It's so smart and ruthless. With someone like Zhou Kexing as an opponent, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well."

After adopting Zhou's suggestion, the naval staff held an impromptu meeting to discuss how to organize such a special fire reconnaissance.

Finally, after several test firings to determine the optimal altitude fuze timing, the three destroyers fired 47 rounds of 128mm smoke grenades (white phosphorus) from west to east.

Because white phosphorus not only ignites spontaneously but also produces a large amount of smoke in the process, it has been widely used until later generations. It has both the functions of producing smoke and burning, and it is relatively cheap.

The smoke bomb that exploded in the air bloomed into a gray-white smoke cloud, and then suddenly stretched out shining tentacles all around, floating to the ground.

【Picture】

Those white phosphorus particles burn and release dense white smoke, which ignites the combustibles on the ground...

The branches and leaves used to camouflage the fortifications were also ignited, and a sweeping fire broke out deep in the beachhead.

"Be a good boy, the sky is filled with fire!"

"After burning it again... I feel like I have burned all the Australian devils."

The fire burned from the evening of that day to the morning of the next day, and the rolling flames turned half of the sky red. It was burning brightly in this way at the beginning of the new year.

After the fire subsided, the Ming fleet indeed discovered some targets that had not been discovered before and were exposed, and then fired fiercely.

More than a dozen bunkers were collapsed and destroyed by the bombardment, and an area suspected to be a reserve gathering place was also bombed into craters.

"Boom!!!"

A dull roar came from the distance, and a large group of white waves emerged from the sea.

From the morning of this day to sunset, the 60th Special Agent Battalion of the Ming Navy began to conduct underwater blasting at three planned landing sites, blowing up all the coral reefs and prefabricated concrete obstacles that were in the way, creating a foundation for the army's follow-up operations. Landing cleared the way.

When the First Marine Brigade added a new beachfront selection battalion, the Ming Navy also experimentally established two special agent battalions, namely the 60th Battalion and the 61st Battalion.

These two units are roughly similar to the beach front selection battalions, except that they are directly affiliated with the navy. They are mainly responsible for clearing obstacles and creating better conditions for the large forces before the landing operation begins.

The start of the operation was postponed for one day. In the early morning of January 1, thousands of officers and soldiers from the 6th and th regiments of the nd Guards Infantry Division had descended onto the landing craft through rope nets.

For them, who had never been in a battle before, they felt mixed emotions at this moment, including nervousness, apprehension, excitement, anticipation...

Looking back, it seems like there has never been such a chaotic time.

"Listen up, there is no way out at this point. Deserters who are afraid of death in the face of battle will lose their heads!" "As long as you don't mess up your position, don't run around no matter how chaotic it is. It'll be okay if you stay steady. scary!"

"Look, there are so many ships in the entire fleet behind us. If we are driven into the sea to feed the fish, do we still have the dignity to go home?"

At this time, the rumble of cannons sounded again.

All warships in the fleet began to prepare firepower for the first and third landing points before the battle.

The shelling was extremely violent, and as far as the eye could see, there were constant explosions on the entire beach.

A flash of light appeared, and the clouds of smoke did not dissipate for a long time, because every time they were about to dissipate, more smoke and dust burst out.

The Sixth Light Bombing Detachment of the Air Force stationed in Moresby also came over to help. Dozens of Type 36 light bombers flew over the suburbs of Cairns at medium and low altitudes. More than 300 aerial bombs fell one after another, and the sky was almost covered with dust caused by the serial explosions. half of the city.

At the same time, the Ming Navy also tried to adopt a new sea-air coordination tactic - it stipulated that the ballistic height of naval guns should not exceed 400 meters, aircraft were prohibited from strafing, and the bomb-dropping height should not be lower than 450 meters. The two would attack the same target together. Target.

At 1:6 on January 8, the first batch of Ming troops embarked on landing craft and began their assault on land.

The 1st Battalion of the 4th Guards Regiment landed at Holy Trinity Bay in the north. After landing, they could directly rely on the Barron River as a barrier; Cairns Airport was just two kilometers south of the landing point.

The 3rd Battalion of the 5th Guards Regiment landed at Luoling Bay in the south. It was relatively wide, but the terrain was undulating. Overall, it was a barely acceptable landing point.

[Picture - Offensive Map]

The landing in the north started very smoothly, and the intensity of Australian resistance was extremely low and insignificant.

The landing site at Luoling Bay in the south was completely opposite. The small landing craft carried by the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers and the large landing craft carrying tanks were still more than 900 meters away from the beach. The shells fired from the shore hit them head-on.

"Puff! Boom! Crash--"

The grenade fired by the MkV 18-pound field gun fell into the sea and splashed a small water column, but when it hit the landing craft, it exploded with a dazzling flame, and the torn steel plates and wood chips flew into the water.

In six minutes, more than a dozen landing craft, large and small, were destroyed. The soldiers who were missing arms and legs choked on their water and stopped moving. However, blood was still gushing from the wounds, quickly turning the sea water red.

As a unit stationed in Shuntian Prefecture all year round, some members of the Second Guards Division did not even know how to swim. It was not until just before departure that they hastily organized several intensive swimming trainings.

The standard weight of a fully armed Army Infantry Category B is up to 40 kilograms. Many people who fell into the water panicked and scrambled. As a result, they were dragged underwater by the heavy weapons and equipment and drowned alive in the sea.

There were a total of five landing craft in the first batch of ships that safely docked. About 200 officers and soldiers were hit by bullets fired from multiple directions as soon as they stepped onto the beach.

"Take cover!!!"

"Lie down!"

"Don't be stupid! Get to the pit on the side!"

"Someone is coming! Someone is coming quickly!"

"Come here and help!"

The 4th Brigade (Regiment) of the Australian 16th Division made good use of the undulating terrain here to build a large number of fortifications. Although most of the positions had been destroyed by the Ming army's naval and air firepower, the remaining parts still suppressed the guards who lacked actual combat experience. Second Division.

In fact, because the position was severely damaged, the Australian machine gun firepower was inconsistent, the heavy machine gun position and artillery position were incomplete, and various firepower could not form a tight blockade.

If it were an experienced force, they would immediately look for weaknesses in the enemy's position, and then organize a breakthrough team to actively attack, disrupting the enemy's position into pieces.

However, even as more and more follow-up troops landed ashore, the Third Battalion of the 5th Guards Regiment still did not dare to take the initiative to attack. They chose to release smoke screens and continue to huddle on the beach, hide in bomb craters, and bear the constant falling grenades of various calibers.

If Zhou Changfeng witnessed such a scene, he would probably be so angry with the performance of the Fifth Guards Regiment that he would stamp his feet.

It was not until the tanks landed that the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion of the Fifth Regiment seemed to have the courage to take the initiative. However, the terrain was rugged and complex, full of large and small craters, and it was very difficult for infantry and tanks to advance together.

In more than three hours of fierce fighting, half of the tanks were destroyed by the QF2-pound anti-tank guns deployed by the Australian army, or their tracks were blown off by mines.

Only two tanks played a relatively good role. The two fought side by side with more than a hundred infantry, tearing apart the two lines of defense of the enemy in front of them.

The two Type 38 medium tanks destroyed four anti-tank guns in a row and killed and wounded dozens of enemy soldiers with artillery and machine guns, successfully opening a passage for the large force.

In comparison, the situation of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Guards Regiment in Holy Trinity Bay in the north is better.

The Australian army resisted lightly, and hundreds of officers and soldiers easily landed and completed the battle.

The tanks of the second battalion and two platoons also arrived shortly after, and the regiment headquarters followed them ashore and took the time to set up a front-line headquarters.

By noon, all the officers, soldiers, vehicles, and artillery of the Fourth Guards Regiment had landed on the beach. Although shells fell from time to time on the beach, the place was in good order - someone guided the passage of vehicles, someone directed the unloading of supplies, and someone organized first aid for the wounded...

At 14:45 that afternoon, the Fourth Guards Regiment began to forcefully cross the Barron River, intending to capture the airport on the south bank before dark.

The Australian army naturally also understood the principle of attacking halfway across the river. During this period, it launched a fierce artillery attack on the Ming army crossing the river, and sent several company-level infantry detachments to counterattack.

The enemy's sudden attack caught the Ming army off guard and had to stop the forced crossing. The officers and soldiers who had crossed the river were all scattered. There were more than 60 people belonging to three teams and nine platoons. Most of them couldn't even call each other by name. above, positions can only be temporarily assigned based on military rank.

"Put the machine gun over there and pick a good position! How many mortar rounds are left?"

"Damn! Those thieves are here!"

The Australian army who launched a counterattack made a bold attack and almost drove the chaotic Ming army back to the river to swim.

Fortunately, the large troops on the north bank gave their full support, and the intensive artillery support was almost uninterrupted.

The battle lasted from afternoon to sunset. The Australian army left dozens of corpses in front of the small position but failed to annihilate these dozens of people, and was eventually forced to retreat.

　　I went to see "The Third Brigade" today, but I still stayed up late to finish coding...

　　

　

(End of this chapter)