On March 11, 1923, two "Qing-Ding" class cruisers of the National Defense Force escorted three "Tuji-C" class general landing ships loaded with various building materials, machinery, and various materials and personnel, and successively leaned on the coasts of the British Prince Edward Islands, the French Klose Islands and the Kelgelan Islands. The National Defense Force Navy landing personnel inserted the Huanglong flag into these three islands in the raging wind and snow, and quickly began to build ports, airports and other infrastructure.

Because these three archipelagos are located at the southernmost part of the Indian Ocean and close to Antarctica, the British Prince Edward Islands to the west are called the Nanping Islands, the French Klose Islands to the north are called the Nanhe Islands, and the French Kelgelan Islands to the east are called the Nan'an Islands. The three archipelagos merged into the Southern Far Province and included in the territory of China.

Nanyuan Province is remote, far away from the civilized world, with severe cold and windy and harsh climate. The islands under its jurisdiction are basically uninhabited deserted islands, and only whalers will occasionally visit. Among them, the area of ​​the Nan'an Island is 8 times the total area of ​​Nanping and Nanhe Island. It is composed of the main island Nan'an Island and many other small islands. The main island covers an area of ​​more than 6,600 square kilometers. It is the largest island in the archipelago, and the area of ​​other small islands varies. Because Nan'an Island is a must-pass place for sea routes from Europe through the Indian Ocean to Australia, there was originally a French-manned supply station on the island to provide services to passing ships, which made it the only inhabited island in this sea area, which is of great strategic value.

Nan'an Island is basically the same distance from the Antarctic continent, southern Africa and southwestern Australia. It is a volcanic island. The middle of the island is mountains and plateaus, and the coastal lowlands are full of lakes and swamps, and herbaceous bryos grow. Although the island has a cold climate and strong winds all year round, its surrounding waters are "paradise" for walruses, seals, penguins, cetaceans, birds, etc.

Because the western terrain of the island is high and mostly covered with ice and snow, the National Defense Forces selected the port in a coastal crack in the northeast of the island. It is surrounded by steep rock walls on the west, south and east sides, and is near the sea to the north. It is a good shelter. The airport and military camp are built in an open area to the east of the port, and the command tower is built on the high ground at the top of the crack, with a wide view and overlooking the entire port area and the vast surrounding areas.

A outpost radar station will be built on the Great Nanping Islands in the Nanping Islands, which will combine sea and air search, radio communication and navigation, meteorological and hydrological observation, geographical research and other functions. It has a small number of garrisons and shore defense positions, and its maritime defense missions will be undertaken by the garrisons of Nan'an Island.

After the Nan'an Island Base is completed and put into use, with the Tuliala Base, Xindi Island Base and Masawa Base, the National Defense Forces can cut off all maritime routes from Europe to Asia through the Indian Ocean, completely blocking the western gate of the Indian Ocean.

This means that the British mainland will be completely isolated and its fate can be imagined.

Although the coalition forces have judged the combat intentions of the National Defense Force from the series of military operations of the National Defense Force, their slow movements were destroyed by the Defense Force Naval Submarine Force that completed the combat deployment early. The superior "Jiaolong-Ding" class ocean submarines set sail from the Tuliala base one after another, bypassing the Cape of Good Hope. As soon as they appeared in the South Atlantic waters in the western part of the British South African Federation, it caused great panic to the coalition forces. After several coalition ships were sunk, a large number of subsequent coalition ships retreated in a hurry when they heard the news, resulting in the maritime connection between the British South African Federation and the European mainland and they were dangerously isolated.

At this time, the "Flying Fortress" bombers of the Defense Army Air Force also began to carry out air strikes on the British South African Federation. The fierce aerial bombing that lasted for several months almost destroyed important military facilities, as well as railways, highways, power plants, transmission lines, bridges, ports, airports, railway stations, mines, factories, etc. The Port of Simmonstown and Cape Town were even more bombed and were "plowed" by bombs falling from the sky several times, becoming a ruin! The coalition personnel gathered here suffered extremely heavy losses in materials and equipment. By June of that year, the coalition defenders of the British South African Federation had basically lost their defense capabilities, and industrial and agricultural activities in the British South African Federation also came to a halt.

The coalition also understood what it would mean for the British South African Federation if it lost it. Therefore, arguably the largest naval battle in history broke out in the South Atlantic Ocean. The main battlefield of this naval battle was in the northwest of Cape Town, the capital of the British South African Federation, so it was named "Cape Town Naval and Air War" by the National Defense Forces.

Since the British occupied Egypt, the Egyptian people have been in an indomitable armed struggle with British invaders for decades. After China helped Egypt successfully drive away the Italian invaders, Egypt and Sudan became the next group of North African countries that China planned to fight for. Egypt and Sudan also happened to need a powerful power to provide strong support to their national liberation struggle, so the two sides hit it off.

After the successful implementation of the "Dragon Strike" operation, the multinational alliance declared war on China, and the Egyptian and Sudanese people saw hope for victory. The domestic national liberation organization immediately launched an armed uprising and launched a comprehensive counterattack against the invaders.

Among them, over the past decade, the strength of the Egyptian national armed forces, which has gradually grown up with China's public or semi-public funding and selfless support from all walks of life, has become different from the past. Moreover, their belief in fighting for national liberation, regaining the country, and turning over as masters is unprecedentedly firm. Coupled with the deep hatred of the invaders, they have become very brave and fearless. Another main purpose of the long-range air strike operation carried out by the "Flying Fortress" bomber ordered by Kang Fan is to cooperate with the armed struggle for national liberation in Egypt, greatly weaken the strength of the British army stationed in Egypt, and give substantial support to the Egyptian people.

In this way, anyone can guess that the next military operation of the National Defense Forces will definitely be to advance to North Africa, expel the coalition forces, occupy the Suez Canal area, and open up the shipping route from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean.

"You really plan to do this?" Judy asked Kang Fan.

Kang Fan shook his head, "What I want is the right of free passage of the Suez Canal, and I am not interested in occupying Egypt and Sudan. The Suez Canal is an international waterway, and countries around the world should enjoy the right to free passage, and its jurisdiction should also be returned to Egypt, the real owner of this canal. The British took the Suez Canal as their own domineering behavior, and some people wanted to punish him, so I didn't need me."

"Who has such strength?" Judy was puzzled.

Kangfan smiled and said, "Egypt. I will help the Egyptian people drive away the British, and I have already started doing it."

The Port of Said, located on the Mediterranean coast, is the only port in which the coalition forces provide logistics support for the North African garrison, and of course it is the target of the National Defense Forces' focus. Therefore, it suffered the worst hit. Day after day, large-scale aerial bombardment almost completely destroyed the port facilities and could not be repaired at all. A large number of transport ships could not dock and unload the materials. Most of them were shot and sunk while waiting helplessly. They slept with the precious materials they were loaded, which seriously affected the supplies of the coalition forces stationed in North Africa.

Especially the British army, which had overwhelming advantages over the Egyptian national armed forces, suffered huge losses, such as heavy artillery, fighter jets, warships, and other technical weapons, which caused terrible consequences of the British army's weapons and equipment level that was almost at the same level as their opponents!

The ending can be imagined. When facing the endless siege of the Egyptian national armed forces, which have all the time, place, people and advantages, the Egyptian coalition garrison will have to surrender if they cannot get reinforcements.

To make matters worse, during this period, the coalition forces in Sudan, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian mainland and other regions have been surviving under the air strikes and maritime blockades of the National Defense Forces, and the situation is getting worse and worse. If the coalition forces do not send additional expeditionary fleets from Europe to rescue, it will not take long for the above-mentioned areas to be lost from them forever!

But now the National Defense Forces are targeting the British South African Federation again, which is a strategic location that must not be lost and must take the initiative.

Since early April, the National Defense Forces Navy patrol ships and aircraft at the bases of Tuliala and Nan'an Island have successively discovered multiple coalition submarines in the South Atlantic Ocean and the waters around the British South African Federation, and carried out bold attacks and achieved several results. This indicates that the maritime offensive of the European Union is imminent. In other words, the combat readiness of the coalition expeditionary fleet has been completed and a new round of war is about to break out.

The current naval and air force gathered at the Tuliala base are 8 "Qing-B" class and 16 "Qing-C" class cruisers, 30 "Zhenhai" class patrol ships, 36 "Flying Fish-A" class high-speed patrol boats, 24 "Crocodile" class coastal patrol boats, 24 "Jiaolong-D" class submarines, 60 "Flying Fortress" bombers, hundreds of "Lightning", "Sky Eagle-B", "Sea Eagle-B" and other combat aircraft. During wartime, you can also get support from the "Xinjiang" aircraft carrier battle group that has returned to the Xindidao military base.

This is the largest force that the Ministry of Defense can provide to the Xindi Island base after comprehensively considering the defense situation in all aspects. However, compared with the vast blockade mission in the southern Indian Ocean the base is responsible for, this force is still insufficient. At present, the only way is to increase patrol, reconnaissance range and density, and concentrate on using limited forces to achieve the best attack effect.

Therefore, in the absence of naval combat ships, Kang Fan could only expand the aviation force as much as possible, increase the number of "Sea Eagle-B" amphibious patrol aircraft from the initial 18 to 36, and ordered all 144 "Sky Eagle-B" fighters to also undertake reconnaissance and patrol missions, and finally sent out the "Lightning" fighters and the bulky "Big Bird-A" large amphibious aircraft to perform reconnaissance missions.

On April 15, the 18 "Sea Flying Fortress" large 4-engine long-range maritime patrol/bombers that Kang Fan had been looking forward to arrived at the Tuliala base, which made Kang Fan excited for a while!

The "Sea Flight Fortress" is a special land-based sea patrol/bomber modified on the basis of the "Flight Fortress" bomber. It has added large sea search radar, infrared search device and large searchlights. The belly bomb bay can carry aviation bombs and deep-water bombs, and torpedoes and rockets can be mounted under the wings to attack maritime targets. Since the mission is mainly carried out at low altitudes, the supercharged sealed cockpit and remote-controlled turret of the "Flight Fortress" bomber are not used, but armor plates are added to enhance protection. There are 3 human-operated electric rotating turrets installed in the nose, back and tail of the aircraft. A large bubble-type transparent bulletproof glass observation/fire bay like the "Sea Eagle-B" amphibious patrol aircraft are set up on both sides of the rear fuselage, which increases the observation/fireman to 5 people and the 12.7mm large-caliber machine guns to 8, which strengthens the self-defense and attack firepower.
Chapter completed!