The first unit to land on the Malay Peninsula was the 3rd Marine Division. The commander-in-chief of the landing operations was Wei Zihao, who had just been promoted to Vice Admiral. On the second day after the main fleet set off, the 3rd Marine Division had already assembled in Zhanjiang.
More than 30,000 officers and soldiers were dispatched on 26 transport ships in an escort fleet composed of the "Jiangxi", the "Anhui" aviation battleship, the "Qinling" battleship, the "Zheng He" heavy cruiser, 4 cruisers, and 10 destroyers.
Under the protection, we also started to move southward.
On the way, the landing force almost ran into the French "Expeditionary Force".
The newly appointed commander of the French Far East Army, Wange, was furious because the British army in Singapore could not provide enough housing. He took 9 transport ships escorted by two cruisers to the French colony of Saigon.
According to later navigation records, the two fleets basically passed each other less than 5 nautical miles apart in the waters east of the Ca Mau Peninsula. Due to the rainy weather, the two fleets did not detect each other, otherwise Wei Zihao's escort fleet might become
The first contestant to win the prize.
While the Republic Navy launched an attack on Changi Military Port, the landing force led by Wei Zihao also transferred to landing craft in the waters near Kuantan and began landing.
With the support of the advance personnel who arrived in advance and the local Chinese, the 7th Marine Brigade successfully landed without firing a single shot. After that, more than 7,000 people from this brigade quickly occupied the port of Kuantan, where the Republican Army only encountered
When there was very slight resistance, the Indian soldiers of a regiment defending Kuantan began to retreat after a slight resistance.
The 3rd Marine Division used the facilities at Kuantan Port to unload all the heavy equipment ashore in just three days.
On November 8, the 9th Marine Brigade captured Kota Bharu, another important port on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, so that the east coast of the Malay Peninsula was basically under the control of the Republican Navy.
The Republican Army simultaneously launched attacks on the British and French Far East Army in northern Burma and North Vietnam. The northern Burma operation was commanded by Li Hanming, who had jurisdiction over the 7th, 15th, and 16th Group Armies of the Republic of China. The northern Vietnam operation was commanded by the Commander-in-Chief of the South China Military Region, Jiang Chengyu.
It is under the command of the 4th and 17th Group Armies. Luo Bingnan is the commander-in-chief of the Nanyang Operation. It is under the jurisdiction of the 5th and 21st Group Armies and the 1st, 3rd and 4th Marine Divisions, a total of three Marine Divisions.
Wei Zihao handed over the command to General Luo Bingnan, commander-in-chief of the Southern Army, who landed with the Fifth Army. General Luo, together with Jiang Chengyue, Li Zhiliang, and Li Hanming, are known as the "Four King Kongs" in the army. The four of them have a common
The characteristic is that he has served as the president's personal guard and guard captain, which is different from the Baoding system and the non-commissioned officer system in the army. There have been more than 20 people who have served as the president's guard chief over the years, but they can be independent.
As leading generals on one side, these four people have their own merits. However, because they are "direct descendants of the direct line", these four people also give the Ministry of War a headache from time to time.
In his early years, Luo Bingnan worked as a monk in a temple because of his poor family. Because of his good martial arts skills, he was recruited by the president as a guard, so he was called "Monk Luo". Since he had not received much formal military education, he fought in a unique style and with various tricks.
Contrary to the operational plan, the ports and landing points were tightly guarded, and the landing troops had to go through hard battles to seize each landing point. On the contrary, the Republican Army encountered almost no decent resistance and successfully occupied Kuantan and Gotha.
An important port like Palu.
The only fiercer battle took place in Terengganu. The British deployed coastal fortifications and artillery positions on the coast. The landing troops were attacked by coastal artillery. However, under the bombardment of naval heavy artillery, the Indian troops defending this area were
After holding on for more than four hours, the 7th Division dropped its artillery and began to retreat across the board.
Because the commanders of the 7th Indian Division heard that the Chinese had outflanked their retreat from Kota Bharu.
In fact, the outflanking force was a reconnaissance team sent by the 9th Army Brigade. At this time, half of the officers and soldiers of the 9th Army Brigade had not yet boarded the dock.
Unexpectedly, the enemy's combat effectiveness was so weak. Luo Bingnan decisively adjusted his deployment after landing. He transferred the 4th Army Division, which was originally planned to land in Terengganu, to the southern front. Under the cover of the navy, he landed directly from Palembang and occupied the entire Sumatra.
stab.
After the French fleet in Annan received the news that the Changi Naval Base was attacked and the main force of the British and French Far East fleets were trapped in the port, they realized that they had become the next key target of the Republican Navy. They abandoned tens of thousands of French troops in Annan and attacked overnight.
Fleeed to the Philippines. Because the Americans were still neutral, the French fleet had no choice but to move to Java.
Now, except for the Dutch fleet in Java and a cruiser squadron of the British Far East Fleet with 2 light cruisers and 4 destroyers, which are slightly threatening, the entire South China Sea has become the domain of the Republican Navy.
The ports in Kuantan, Kota Baru and Terengganu are not large. When we got down in April, although the people of the Fifth Army had already landed, most of the heavy equipment was still waiting in the port to unload the ships.
Luo Bingnan could not wait so long and ordered his troops to move inland quickly.
More than 7,000 people from the 9th Marine Brigade were ordered to attack westward after landing in Kota Bharu. They captured Alor Setar and Penang in just two days, thereby cutting off the land connection between the Malay Peninsula and Myanmar.
.On November 16, the entire 14th Army Division landed in Kota Bharu, further strengthening control of this area, and the 31st Brigade was ordered to take over the defense of the Terengganu area.
On November 12, Samuel wanted to take advantage of the heavy rain and the remaining warships rushed out of the Changi Naval Base. As a result, the flagship Malaya hit a mine laid by a Republican Navy submarine in the channel. The Malaya was seriously damaged and its other warships were severely damaged.
After that, the Far East Fleet stayed in the port and never took any action again.
Since November 8, the Malay Peninsula has been experiencing severe wind and rain, which has added many difficulties to the operations of the Republican Army. The aircraft on the six aircraft carriers parked at sea have not been able to take off.
The British have less than 160 aircraft in the entire Malay Peninsula. As the airports in Penang, Terengganu and Kuantan were successively captured by the Republican Army, the British Air Force had lost nearly half of its aircraft before they took off for combat. Now
In the entire Malay Peninsula, only the air force base in Johor still has less than 90 old aircraft, and there is basically no threat.
On December 18, the 8th Marine Brigade occupied Kuala Lumpur, which was almost undefended.
After the 1st Marine Division landed in Kuantan, it went straight towards Johor.
The battle in the Malay Peninsula went much smoother than expected. The 37mm anti-tank guns equipped by the British army did not pose the slightest threat to the Type 33 amphibious tanks equipped by the Republican Marine Corps. The British colonial army had poor fighting will. Later,
When Cheng heard the sound of the engine, he began to flee.
Luo Bingnan telegraphed to the General Staff that it was expected that the 21st Group Army, which would be deployed in the Malay War, would not need to board the ship for the time being. He could actually defeat the British troops in the Malay Peninsula with only two Marine Divisions, and his Fifth Group Army had almost completed the landing.
The General Staff reminded him that the total strength of the British army in the Malay Peninsula exceeded 130,000 people and that they should pay attention to the enemy's counterattack.
Luo Bingtong called back: You can now reduce the number of enemies by 30,000. In the five days of combat, we have captured more than 30,000 prisoners, although we only killed less than 1,000 enemies in the battle. Our current
The enemy is mainly the muddy roads of the Malay Peninsula. If not for this reason, I would be standing in the lobby of the Government House of Singapore.
On December 21, the Army's 13th Division captured the Shilin River defense line guarded by the Indian 11th Division. The 27th Brigade's only 72 tanks broke through the defense line guarded by the Indian soldiers in just one charge. On the 24th, the Army
The 14th and 15th Divisions captured Johor, and all British troops withdrew into Singapore and blew up the causeway on the Strait of Johor between Singapore and Malay.
80,000 troops were trapped on Star Island, and now Singapore has become an isolated city.
More than 70,000 men of the Fifth Army completed the encirclement of Singapore, and the Republican Navy controlled the waterways. The 1st Marine Division continued to clear out the remaining enemies on the Malay Peninsula, mainly to capture the fleeing British troops.
The Republican Army was not in a hurry to attack. There are 160,000 overseas Chinese in Singapore, and about 65% of the real estate in the city is owned by these Chinese. Planes taking off from the sea and land conducted two more rounds of air raids on the Changi Naval Base.
Now the British only have two destroyers and a few torpedo boats left that can move, and all the main ships have been disabled.
The Republic Navy can safely withdraw more than half of its main force for operations in the direction of the East Indies.
At this point, the Malay War was basically over. The Republican Army had annihilated more than 30,000 British troops with less than 2,000 casualties. Only an isolated city in Singapore was still resisting in the entire Malay Peninsula.
Boom, boom!
A military train full of soldiers headed for Wanding, a small border station. In 1928, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway was opened to traffic. The president pushed for the construction of the West Yunnan Railway despite the opposition of others. Now this railway, which was opened to traffic less than two years ago, has become the Republic of China.
It is precisely because of the existence of such a railway that it is the main guarantee for the transportation of troops and materials into Myanmar that allows the Republican Army to deliver 300,000 troops to this area without having to worry about logistical supply issues.
Li Hanming, commander of the Southwest Military Region, rushed to Wanding to attend the swearing-in ceremony for the Republican Expeditionary Force.
The advance team of the expeditionary force was composed of the 47th Division of the 16th Group. The 16th Group Army was adapted from the old Yunnan Army. The commander of the group army, Ye Zhen, and the commander of the 47th Division, Long Yun, were from families of chieftains in western Yunnan. About one-third of their troops were from Yunnan.
The ethnic minorities in the west, many of whom are the Dai, Miao, Wa, Dong, Nu, Yao, and Jingpo youths, speak the same language as the ethnic groups in northern Myanmar. Many of them have relatives in northern Myanmar, which is extremely important for the Republican Army to enter Myanmar to fight.
Favorable.
Since the British turned Myanmar into a colony in 1889, this peacock country that originally belonged to China has been separated from the embrace of the motherland.
Decades of colonial rule by the British have not been able to cut off the close ties between Myanmar and the motherland. Especially in northern Myanmar, people from the two places still communicate with each other as in the past, treating the borders arbitrarily drawn by the British as nothing. In fact, the British rule has also
Never reaching northern Myanmar, this area has always been under the rule of chieftains appointed by the Qing Dynasty.
In order to strengthen their control over Myanmar, the British built a railway from Yangon to Lashio via Mandalay. Of course, the purpose of building this railway was mainly for the tungsten mines in the Lashio area. The scheelite production in northern Myanmar once accounted for 10% of the total.
to one-third of world tungsten production.
Now, the Chinese are back.
"Give me back my country, liberate Myanmar!" On the newly leveled school field outside Wanding City, the soldiers of the 47th Division shouted loud slogans, seeming to vent the humiliation they had suffered.
Groups of soldiers crossed the wooden bridge over the Wanding River and went to regain this beautiful river and mountain that once belonged to us.
The British only have two infantry regiments in northern Burma, one in Myitkyina and one stationed in Mandalay. The one stationed in Mandalay is the Royal 31st Rifles Regiment, and an infantry battalion of this regiment is stationed in Lashio.
A simple road was built between Wanding and Lashio to facilitate trade between Myanmar and Yunnan. The Republican Army followed this road to reach Lashio in only 4 days. The British troops stationed here had already
He fled upon hearing the news and took a train to Mandalay.
There is a railway in Lashio, but the locomotives have been taken away by the British, and the expeditionary force can only worry about the railway.
The British army in Burma has a total of one division of colonial troops, the 17th Indian Division, the Australian 63rd Infantry Brigade and the British 7th Armored Brigade, with a total number of about 50,000 people. After the rapid fall of the Malay Peninsula
, the British had no confidence in Burma. Before the Republican Army launched the Burma campaign, the British had already made preparations to retreat to India.
From the British point of view, the gains and losses in Burma were not important. If the Republican Army invaded India, the British Empire would lose its most important colony.
In comparison, the docility and obedience of Indians are the best slaves in the eyes of the British. This is the colony with the least resistance. Indians are proud of being favored by the British. Therefore, the British Empire must not easily
Give up this "territory".
On January 16, 1938, the 30,000-strong French Expeditionary Force in French Indochina, which was divided and surrounded by the Republican Army, received a promise from the Republican Army to protect the lives and property of the 160,000 French people in Indochina and to grant French investment and trade in Indochina.
After the French surrendered, the British troops trapped in Singapore suffered another serious blow.
With no ammunition and food, and no reinforcements from outside, the British were desperate.
On January 21, 1938, more than 80,000 British troops in Singapore surrendered after being besieged for more than a month. The "Gibraltar of the East" was gone. The once-sunset empire was now like the setting sun.