afterglow

Chapter 456 Silent battle? Trial production of Type medium tank

"If you can't even do the most basic tasks, I'll twist off Ren Zhiquan's head! That's it, the original words will be spoken!"

Pang Lingqi, who was in the divisional supervision department, was very dissatisfied with the results of the Second Infantry Division of the Guards.

Now Moresby is under the control of the Ming army, and more than 200,000 Australian troops are being transferred here from Surabaya.

Commanding from the front is the basic principle, so Pang Lingqi has brought the headquarters to Moresby to facilitate timely coordination of the ongoing battle on the other side of the Coral Sea.

The Fourth Guards Regiment in the north successfully crossed the Barron River and stormed Cairns Airport with the support of blinding artillery fire and air strikes. The two Australian infantry companies guarding the airport suffered heavy casualties and were quickly defeated.

The Fifth Guards Regiment in the south seemed to be venting the resentment accumulated during the passive beating during yesterday's landing, and launched successive attacks on the enemy in front of them, breaking many positions, and then continued to develop in depth.

As of midnight on January 1, after two days and one night of fierce fighting, the landing troops finally cleared the beachhead and all the enemies in the shallow and deep areas.

During this period, the Sixth Guards Regiment and the rest of the transport regiment, engineer battalion, air defense battalion, scout battalion, communications battalion and other division-affiliated units also came ashore.

The Fifth Guards Regiment began to try to cross the river to attack Admiralty Island (Admiralty Island, which can also be transliterated as Admiralty Island). The Australian troops stationed on the island fought to the death and repelled two Ming army attacks on the Trinity River. Forced crossing operation.

However, because the number of defenders was not enough to cover everything, there were still several Ming army infantry detachments that quietly penetrated and landed on the island from the corners.

They boldly and deliberately made noise on the flanks and rear, creating the illusion that a large force had landed, which shook the fighting will of the enemies guarding the island and helped the main force of the Fourth Guards Regiment land on the island for the third time to gain a foothold.

After two days, more than 16 people from the 12th Brigade (Regiment) Victoria Rangers (Battalion) and the th Militia Battalion stationed here were wiped out. Only more than people jumped into the water and swam to escape to the city of Cairns on the West Bank. .

At this point, both the north and east of Cairns were controlled by the Ming army, and the small city fell into a situation surrounded by two sides.

To the west are the mountains of the Great Dividing Range. Only to the south is a smooth road connecting with other cities. The railway also goes all the way down there, connecting Townsville, Rockhampton, Brisbane...

In order to isolate Cairns from the outside world, Ren Zhiquan issued new instructions - to prepare to attack the southern suburbs via Maritime Island, seize the favorable terrain there and cut off the communication lines.

Eighteen 144mm howitzers from the 112st Battalion of the st Field Heavy Artillery Brigade were all deployed at the Luoling Bay landing point. Twelve mm howitzers from the st Battalion of the Mountain Artillery Regiment of the nd Guards Division were transported to the Maritime Island after being disassembled.

At dawn on January 1, following an order from the commander of the artillery headquarters, five artillery groups of the Ming Army opened fire at the same time!

"Boom boom boom—boom—boom boom—"

Hundreds of 144mm, 112mm, 80mm shells were poured on the heads of the Australian officers and soldiers southwest of the Maritime Island like hot kerosene.

Afterwards, the battleship Yuanding also joined in and fired two symbolic salvos.

"We are under attack! This is a very powerful shelling!"

"Sir, sir, I think they will be crossing the river soon. We need reinforcements. Please send some reinforcements!"

The Australian army deployed on this front consisted of the Northwest Murray River Border Regiment (Battalion) and the Geelong Regiment (Battalion). The fierce shelling seemed to make the earth tremble, and it also affected wired and wireless communications, and the sound was intermittent.

The 2nd Battalion of the 4th Guards Regiment began to forcefully cross the Trinity River under the cover of artillery fire, and achieved breakthroughs in many places, and soon the defense line was crumbling.

Major General Edward Partick suddenly felt that something was not good, and immediately put in the reserve team, coordinated all available artillery support, and covered the reserve team to launch a counterattack.

One after another 4.5-inch grenades fell on the river beach position. More than Australian troops came from two directions for reinforcements. They collided with the soldiers of the Fourth Guards Regiment who had just captured the forward position and were not yet stable on the dilapidated position. .

"The dog's counterattack is coming!"

"How many are left in the second class? Come with me, over there!"

"Wow! I've thrown away all the grenades, hurry up..."

"Da da da da——"

The infantry of both sides soon fell into a fierce close combat, fighting hand to hand!

The Ming army fired wildly with Type 39 submachine guns, and the Australian army responded with Thompson submachine guns. The Australian army kept throwing Mills grenades, and the Ming army also responded with Type 19 grenades.

More than two hours of fierce fighting resulted in heavy casualties between the two armies. A corpse could be seen every few steps along the approximately 2,000-meter-long front.

The bloody battle continued until dusk. Because he was determined to drive the Ming army back, Major General Edward Partick ordered the 12th Militia Battalion to be deployed.

The addition of this force finally broke the deadlock, and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 4th Guards Regiment were forced to retreat.

Because most of the small sampans that came with them had been destroyed in the fierce battle, most of the officers and soldiers could only swim across the river pulling broken boards, and some heavy machine guns and mortars were also hastily abandoned.

The five infantry teams participating in the battle suffered a total of more than 300 huge casualties, and the Australian army also suffered heavy losses due to its crazy counterattack regardless of the cost. A large number of personnel were killed and injured due to exposure to artillery fire.

The battle in this corner of Cairns touched the sensitive nerves of many people, and Australians were eager to win.

Marshal Mai personally flew from Melbourne to Brisbane to directly command the battle as the commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater.

The 2nd Infantry Division, which had been stationed in Townsville, had set off two days ago and took a train to Cairns for reinforcements.

However, the Ming Dynasty Air Force units deployed in Moresby have changed their missions, gradually reduced their support to frontline troops, and began to increase their efforts to bomb rear traffic.

The long railway line was extremely fragile. After repairs and bombings, it was no longer possible to travel to Cairns by train, so the 2nd Infantry Division could only rely on its legs to reach its destination.

While the battle on land was like this, the situation at sea was unexpectedly calm.

The defeated remnants of the TF-12 fleet have withdrawn to Pearl Harbor. There are only two or three small surface ships available in the Australian area - the largest battleship is the heavy cruiser Australia, followed by the Dutch light cruiser Tromp.

In addition, there are more than a dozen destroyers belonging to the Netherlands, Australia, and the United States.

Just rely on these things to go shopping with the Ming army fleet blocking the door? It's too naive, it's equivalent to giving away this very little wealth.

In the Central Pacific region, both China and the United States have countless troops but there is no movement.

The huge A-180 special agent fleet was cruising along the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands, standing still.

The Pacific Fleet, with hundreds of ships of various types patrolling the Marshall Islands and Wake Island, also remained stationary.

The upper echelons of the Ming army hoped that the US military would move the fleet south to relieve the siege of Australia. Unfortunately, the latter resisted this conspiracy and just sat back and did nothing. Anyway, the Australian army was fighting on the mainland and could definitely withstand it.

Such a strange situation was called a "silent pacific war" by a British general, and this term soon spread around the world.

However, the patience of the Ming Navy has been exhausted, and the senior generals headed by Song Zhongkai are considering testing the North Pacific.

It would be best to lure out a portion of the US fleet, and then use our own aircraft carriers with quantitative and qualitative advantages to deal a heavy blow to them.

He insisted that there was a limit to military concessions to politics, and that Ming Dynasty should now take the initiative to attack in a more active and aggressive manner.

Ming people are like this, and Americans are not idle either. Admiral Hasband-Kimmel once again proposed a more risky plan - to send a small, fast fleet, deploy the Army or Marine Corps to the Solomon Islands, and occupy one of the islands as an outpost.

Plant a nail under Akito's nose to disrupt their plans and turn passivity into initiative!

This is indeed very risky, but there seems to be no better option at the moment?

The worst result of this plan is only to lose some troops. The main force of the Pacific Fleet will not be affected. However, if it succeeds, the benefits will be very considerable.

The advantages outweighed the disadvantages, and after some consideration, President Franklin agreed, expressing the hope that this courageous adventure would bring a victory to the United States.

After receiving the agreement, the excited Haspen immediately discussed a more specific plan with his staff.

There are so many large and small islands in the Solomon Islands, which one should you choose?

The advice given by the Australians is... Guadalcanal.

Guadalcanal has a total area of ​​5,000 square kilometers. There are a large number of plains in the northern coastal area. The rest of the area has dense jungle vegetation and complex terrain. Mountains, streams, and swamps are crisscrossed. There is also a lot of rice, vegetables and fruits produced locally.

From a military point of view, Guadalcanal is very suitable for building an airport, and when attacked by a large number of enemy troops, it can retreat southward and use the rough terrain of the jungle to deal with the enemy for a long time.

Which force is up to this high-stakes chore?

While the Pacific Fleet Command was busy preparing an action plan, in the white house in Washington...

"Mr. President, the Bureau of Naval Ordnance has agreed to conduct a test. They plan to use the new torpedo just delivered and the old torpedo unloaded from the destroyer as a comparison."

"Sounds great, where is the location they chose?"

"Newport."

"No, let them test it in San Francisco."

"Huh? Mr. President..."

What is now making the president even more troubled is the matter with the Naval Ordnance Bureau. He once served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the European War and knows the stakes involved. He is also quite aware of the importance of torpedoes in the war. effect.

A strong man with a broken arm will definitely not be able to defeat an opponent he could have defeated!

In order to properly solve the torpedo problem, the president thought of a person he had valued very much since last year—Major General Chester Nimitz, the current director of the Bureau of Navigation.

Chester has a stable performance in this job and good personal abilities. He also served as a submarine captain and chief member of the submarine design committee when he was young. He is obviously quite suitable to solve the current troubles.

"...It is unimaginable that our destroyers, submarines, and aircraft are using inferior torpedoes to fight against powerful enemies. This is a sad and infuriating thing. We must change this situation immediately. If possible, I think this should not be More than three months..."

One day later.

Just after Xiaohan, the penultimate solar term of winter, the vast land north of the Yellow River ushered in particularly spectacular heavy snowfall.

Although auspicious snow heralds a good year, the intensity of the snow this time is astonishingly heavy. If measured by natural indicators, it can be called a blizzard, and it is not far from the standard of a snow disaster.

Under such circumstances, Zhou Changfeng took the train to Laizhou Prefecture.

"Hey! Zhou Daizhao is here, don't think we are neglecting you."

"How could it be? I'm not particular about reception."

"Are your men still stationed in Mocheng? How is the situation there?"

Not only was the 1st Marine Brigade not responsible for the attack on Australia, it also did not even have the task of a reserve force.

The superficial answer given by Pang Lingqi was that "there is still a shortage and rest is needed", but everyone knew the truth.

From the outbreak of the war to the present, the 1st Marine Brigade has been fighting almost non-stop. It has made great achievements, and it is time to rest for a while. At least it should leave room for other friendly forces to perform.

Mr. Zhou has no objection to this. He should really stay in the country for a while now, summarize his past experience, think about future plans, and personally supervise the research and development of various weapons.

Moreover, long-term war abroad also caused homesickness to spread, which significantly affected military morale.

Excluding the air force with special treatment, the Ming army and navy stipulated in the regulations that wartime soldiers can take a leave once every nine months, provided that there is no fault of cowardice; if they are honored with military exploits and perform well, the interval can be greatly shortened.

If you choose to take a vacation at home, it will last for ten days from the day you set foot on the country; but if you choose to take a vacation in places like Sin Chau, Old Port, or Batavia, the vacation can last up to fifteen days.

Therefore, although the 1st Marine Brigade is currently stationed in Moresby, it is in a state of rest and recuperation, and the entire brigade is on rotational leave.

Zhou Changfeng made a special trip to the Laizhou Proving Ground today because the prototypes of the trial-production Type 40 medium-sized tank and the trial-production Type 40 wheeled assault gun have been completed and are now being shipped here to be tested by the Ordnance Bureau.

The former has two design plans, both from Yanjing No. 1 Heavy Machinery Company, an established tank designer.

The requirements put forward by the Ordnance Administration at that time were:

1. The total combat weight does not exceed 22 tons.

2. It can penetrate the front of enemy tanks that may appear in the future at a distance of 1000 meters.

3. Can withstand capped armor-piercing projectiles fired by 500mm anti-tank guns at a distance of 48 meters.

4. The width of the vehicle body shall not exceed 2.65 meters.

5. The highway driving speed is not less than 40 kilometers per hour.

6. It must have good passability even on complex terrain.

Starting from the beginning of last year, Yiji Company completed the design work after more than half a year.

During this period, many designs were revised several times due to constant feedback from the tank units in the Nanyang Campaign.

The front of the car body is made of 70mm rolled homogeneous steel armor arranged vertically. The turret is hexagonal. It is equipped with an experimental 80mm, 36-diameter tank gun. It uses a mature balanced suspension and uses a 280-horsepower ten-meter tank gun. Cylinder V-shaped air-cooled gasoline engine...

"Oh?" Zhou Changfeng asked thoughtfully: "What kind of artillery power do you expect as protection?"

An engineer from No. 1 Machinery Company replied without hesitation: "For a seventy-five-centimeter field gun, we assume it will penetrate more than sixty millimeters vertically over a thousand meters."

(End of this chapter)