The situation of the French Pacific Fleet was not within the plans of the French authorities, so the original plan to outflank the High Seas Fleet and the Pacific Fleet collapsed. This also provided sufficient time for the three submarine formations in the Far East to replenish supplies and rush to the battlefield.
At that time, the Far East had completely controlled the coast of Vietnam.
Some of the French ships originally off the coast of Vietnam either fled to neutral ports in South Asia or were disarmed by the Far East. Before the French High Seas Fleet arrived in the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea Fleet in the Far East worked closely with the South China Sea Fleet and began to attack the coast of South Asia.
The fortress launched its first artillery attack.
Day and night shelling and a thorough assault opened up all the coastlines in South Asia. Fierce fighting between the two sides on land was also ongoing. The Far East controlled all the fortifications on the South Asian frontier, but the casualties were about 20,000, accounting for one-seventh of the Far East's total force in South Asia at that time.
One, but the morale of the French army was low.
The casualties of the French colonial army were even greater, reaching as high as 83,500. At this point, the Far East directly gave up the plan to quickly capture the inland and instead used elite troops to advance. As a result, the first major battle took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. At that time, the situation of the two sides was very different.
Larger, the military strength in the Far East has always been a disadvantage throughout the South Asian War. At this time, the Second Army led by Li Xihua was also moving down from the north. At that time, it had entered Jiangxi, but it was still tens of thousands of kilometers away from South Asia.
But at this time, King Shangtai of Ryukyu made an move that moved Li Ningyu. He urgently recruited 50,000 troops in Ryukyu to join the battle in Far Southeast Asia. Together with a garrison army urgently recruited from Taiwan, a total of
A team of 100,000 people went to fight in South Asia.
The battles of Dawashan and Xiaowashan were the first failure of the French colonial army in the mainland, but it was only because of the disastrous defeat under the artillery fire of the Far East Fleet. In order to avoid the advantages of the Far East, the French colonial army consolidated the defenses in the interior.
position, and at the same time proactively prepared to concentrate its superior forces to launch a land battle with the Far East Army in an attempt to eliminate all the Far East armies in South Asia at once.
However, after seeing this strategic intention, Li Ningyu gritted his teeth and said: "The French want to destroy us all at once, okay! I will give you a chance, I want to see if the French are so good.
Yakou!”.
Subsequently, the 3rd Army of the Eighth Field Army of Pingluo, which was originally intended to conquer Cambodia, immediately assembled in the Phnom Penh area. At the same time, all 100,000 garrison troops from Taiwan and Ryukyu were committed to the Phnom Penh battle. However, this time the French continued to have no navy.
The cooperation was poor because they forgot one river, that is the Mekong River.
The Mekong River has a total length of 4,880 kilometers. It is one of the most important transnational water systems in Asia and the sixth largest river in the world. It originates from Yushu, Qinghai, flows through China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and flows from Vietnam to South Africa.
The main stream valley of the Mekong River is relatively wide, but has many bends. The area below the main stream of Kratie can be navigable all year round, and the area above Kratie can pass ships of 3000-4000 tons. The Mekong River is one of the rivers that is basically navigable across the board.
In this way, the Far East mobilized a reorganized field army and 100,000 new soldiers to participate in the Phnom Penh battle. At the same time, it also mobilized all small ships of the Yellow Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet. According to Li Ningyu's order at the time, as long as the warships were less than 3,500 tons,
All sailed into the Mekong River, and at the same time, other ministries in South Asia also accelerated the construction of fortifications in various places.
The French authorities also began to invest a large number of troops for the Battle of Phnom Penh. For a time, a large number of French colonial troops in South Asia moved closer to Phnom Penh. However, when both sides were gathering forces to prepare for the battle, the French authorities were preparing to postpone the Battle of Phnom Penh. Seeing this
Li Ningyu quit, because if it was delayed too much, the French High Seas Fleet would enter the South China Sea, and the entire war situation would be unfavorable to the Far East. Because the battle started immediately, the Far East began to launch attacks, and continued to lure the enemy into fighting as time went by.
.
Finally, the commander in charge of the French colonial army at the time saw more and more reinforcements being gathered from various places. Every day that delayed, the greater the logistical pressure was. As more French troops came from the hinterland of South Asia, France
Seize the opportunity and launch an active attack
attack, because at that time France had a total of 600,000 army troops in the Phnom Penh area. The superior strength included three field armies, namely the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd French South Asian Colonial Army. In order to successfully annihilate the French troops gathered in the Phnom Penh area,
The main force of the colonial army.
The Far East has also gathered 150,000 people, and the one to four disadvantage is still obvious. Although the Far East has a certain advantage in firepower, with 150,000 people against 600,000 people, and 1,474 artillery pieces against 1,592 artillery pieces, it seems that it is the first
This stage of the battle was at a disadvantage, but the Far East had completely figured out the French army's background. Together with the more than 100 small warships on standby in the Mekong River, it enhanced the confidence that fewer troops could win more troops in the Phnom Penh battle.
The situation of the full-scale Battle of Phnom Penh gradually heated up as both sides continued to mobilize their troops. Then the two sides began to launch a full-scale attack according to the development of the war situation. The Far East adopted a superior force at that time, two battle orders of 100,000 people, and attacked
The weakly defended part of France immediately won its first major military victory in the Battle of Phnom Penh. However, the local French army also made long-term preparations and stored a large amount of combat supplies, and the conditions were relatively favorable.
Subsequently, the Far East was also attacked by enemies several times more numerous than itself. However, at this time, the Far East immediately avoided the sharp attack and took the initiative to withdraw from the position it had just acquired. This greatly boosted the morale of the French army. Subsequently, the French colonial army
Commander-in-chief Robert threatened to pursue the victory and defeat the Far East in one fell swoop. Therefore, Robert decided to rely on forward fortification defense while sending five battle sequences with 250,000 French colonial troops to attack and pursue the retreating Far East Army.
However, just the day after the French colonial army pursued and exhausted the attack, the Far East Army directly turned around and launched a counterattack. On the other side of the Phnom Penh battle, the Third Army of the Eighth Far East Field Army, with a inferior strength of 50,000, succeeded
Withstanding the fierce attack of 300,000 French troops on the first day, the Third Army suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, the position was still in the hands of the Far East, and it also caused a lot of casualties to the fiercely attacking French colonial army. Both sides suffered extremely heavy losses.
After receiving the report of Robert's victory in the first battle, the French authorities immediately ordered Robert to launch a comprehensive counterattack. It would be best to completely end the battle in the southern part of South Asia before the arrival of the High Seas Fleet and provide a strong foundation for the next decisive battle in the northern region. However,
The French would never have imagined that just when they wanted to use their numerical advantage to fight in the Far East, the artillery of more than 100 warships in the Far East in the Mekong River was ready to be loaded and ready to start firing at any time.
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