The Republican Navy occupied all of Borneo on December 10, 1937.
In mid-February 1938, after ending the French Indochina Campaign, the Republican Army began to launch the Nanyang Campaign.
The Dutch East Indies consist of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi and other major islands. The Dutch have a total of more than 50,000 colonial troops, of which about 35,000 are composed of local indigenous people.
The Dutch had little fighting power, and the Dutch relied on their "traditional friendship" with the British Empire to preserve such a large colony. In fact, it was difficult to manage it effectively.
There are approximately 3.5 million Chinese in the entire Dutch East Indies. The Dutch's discriminatory policies against the Chinese and their continuous provocation of local indigenous massacres of Chinese were the main reasons why the Republican Army decided to march here.
Of course, the rich oil resources here are also one of the reasons why people covet them.
The Republican Navy controls sea control in the South China Sea, Sunda Sea and Java Sea. The British, French, Dutch and Japanese coalition forces only have 2 heavy cruisers, 8 light cruisers and 16 destroyers in this area. This "multinational force"
Rear Admiral Dorman of the Dutch Navy was appointed commander-in-chief, but it was difficult to unify the command.
After the surrender of French Indochina, the French withdrew from the combined fleet, and the fall of Java was inevitable.
Step by step, the Republican Army was approaching the island of Java where the Dutch Indian Army and more than 10,000 British troops who had withdrawn from the Malay Peninsula gathered.
On the afternoon of February 17, 31 transport ships carrying more than 31,000 officers, soldiers and equipment of the 1st Land Warfare Division departed from Pontianak. Their destination was to land from Semarang, the 3rd Cruiser Division and the 3rd, 6th and 7th Destroyer Squadrons.
Responsible for the escort mission, it consists of two aircraft ships
The formed 2nd Air Fleet will be responsible for the subsequent response. At dawn, the 4th Marine Division will launch an attack on Madavia by ship from Palembang. The landing force on the western front will be composed of the "Jiguang" as the flagship.
The 6th Cruiser Squadron and the 9th and 11th Destroyer Squadrons provided cover.
In the early morning of February 18, the 2nd Air Fleet sailed to the southeastern waters of Belitung Island. The task force led by Wei Zihao coordinated the landing operations of the two landing fleets in this area.
The "Jiangxi" and the "Anhui" were escorted by four cruisers and two cruisers and eight destroyers of the 5th and 10th Destroyer Squadrons. They were cruising slowly at a speed of 15 knots on the rising sun.
, the sea surface under the morning glow was rolling with colorful waves, and the deck was already unbearably warm as soon as it saw the sun.
In the sky, there were army reconnaissance planes taking off from Pontianak, Palembang and Penang cruising on the sea. The pilots on the two aircraft carriers seemed to have nothing to do. Most of them stayed in the entertainment room after breakfast to play chess and cards.
The entertainment room was filled with smoke and smoke. Some people returned to the cabin and continued to sleep in, or chatted together in twos and threes on the deck.
The war room of the 2nd Air Fleet is located on the five-story command tower on the "Jiangxi" ship island. Wei Zihao came to this ship room very early after breakfast and was tightly wrapped in a steel plate more than 20 centimeters thick.
Inside, "Good morning, everyone!" Lieutenant General walked in from the opened heavy hatch.
"Sir, I think we should go further east than where we are now. According to intelligence, the enemy fleet should come out of Surabaya Port. If they dare to come out to intercept the transport fleet, the most likely place for a battle will be here."
Wu Yuxi has now been promoted to the combat staff of the 2nd Air Fleet. This is closely related to the fact that he followed Wei Zihao to participate in the attack on Saipan. The daily interactions made this general with a pure naval background have a strong interest in aviation operations.
"Well, that makes sense. How far are we from there now?" Wei Zihao walked to the chart and compared the position of Bawian Island with his hand.
Wu Yuxi made a quick calculation, then picked up the microphone and asked a few questions loudly in the captain's room at the third-floor command tower, and then said to Wei Zihao: "About 120 nautical miles, sir!"
"Then let's get closer, to 90 nautical miles." Wei Zihao thought for a moment and then gave the order, "In a battle like this, no one can see anyone, and it always feels a bit awkward." The general said, scratching the back of his head.
Samuel, the commander of the British Far East Fleet, was not captured in Singapore. Before the fall of Singapore, he took a risk and escaped in the dark on a seaplane. After arriving at Java Island, he collected some fish that slipped through the net and merged with the Dutch Far East Fleet.
Together they form a "multi-national fleet".
In early January, at the request of the British, the Japanese dispatched the 5th Cruiser Fleet, consisting mainly of four "Myoko" class heavy cruisers, to the Dutch East Indies to participate in the defense of the Southeast Asia.
Samuel was very depressed. After the Japanese 5th Cruiser Fleet rendezvoused with the "Multinational Fleet" in Surabaya, it was bombed by the Republican Air Force. The Japanese heavy cruisers "Myoko" and "Ashigara" and many destroyers were damaged and could only
He returned to Japan for repairs, but before the war started, his men lost nearly half of their main force.
The Republican Army gradually advanced towards Java Island from all directions from the north and west.
In the battle on Java Island, the main attack force used by the Republican Army was the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Marine Divisions, and the Army Aviation provided some air support.
The Marine Corps originated from a sailor unit that conducted landing operations, and then gradually became an independent branch of the military. It was also the main amphibious assault force of the Republican Army during island operations, and its personnel strength was much higher than that of the general Army Infantry Division of 21,000 people.
The number of wartime personnel is generally around 31,000. Its soldiers have more than three years of service experience. Most officers and soldiers, including medical and logistics personnel, are able to operate several types of equipment such as tanks, artillery, and landing craft, and have strong mobile combat capabilities.
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The Republican Army currently has six Marine Divisions, which are directly under the command of the Navy Headquarters on a daily basis. When performing combat missions, they are directly under the command of the Fleet Headquarters, so they are sometimes called "Fleet Marines".
When formulating the battle plan for the Nanyang Campaign, the General Staff took into account the possibility of conducting more island landing operations in the Pacific battlefield in the future, especially during the war against Japan, and intentionally arranged for the Marine Corps to conduct this landing operation alone.
Java Island is the focus of the Nanyang Campaign. It is the political and economic center of the entire Dutch East Indies, and more than 80% of the troops of the Netherlands, Britain, Australia and other countries in this area are concentrated here. The success of the Java Island Operation basically depends on
means that the Republican Army has controlled the entire Dutch-Indian region.
The combat plan formulated by the General Staff is that the 1st Marine Division will set off from Borneo, targeting Surabaya and Semarang. The 4th Marine Division will set off from Sumatra and land in the Batavia area. The 3rd Marine Division will serve as reinforcements.
, and then carry out the landing after the 4th Marine Division.
Lieutenant General Samuel received an emergency telegram from Australia. The Port of Darwin in eastern Australia was attacked by carrier-based aircraft of the Republic Navy. The British mainland asked him to rush to Australia to organize defense. After all, Samuel was beaten and could not escape.
With experience, it is always better than sending another person.
After Samuel handed over the command of the "Multinational Fleet" to Dutch Vice Admiral Helfrich, he ran to Australia and finally got out of trouble.
The British persuaded the Dutch to abandon the entire East Indies in order to preserve their naval power, but Helfrich, the commander of the "Multinational Navy", insisted on sending an assault formation to launch an assault on the Republican Navy's transport formation.
After the Republic Navy transport formation sailed through the Karimata Strait, it was discovered by a Fokker reconnaissance aircraft taking off from Java Island. The Dutch reconnaissance aircraft had already destroyed it before it was destroyed by a HNA land-based fighter jet taking off from Borneo.
The exact position of the Republican naval transport fleet was reported to Helfrich's headquarters in Bandung.
Helfrich immediately ordered Rear Admiral Doman to lead a "multinational fleet" to intercept.
At around 7:30, Doman and his fleet left Surabaya and headed for the Java Sea.
After searching along the coast of East Java and the northern part of Madura Island, Doman's fleet received the exact news at 11 o'clock that the Republican Navy formation had arrived north of the Karimo Islands. Doman hurriedly ordered the fleet to sail towards the Republican Fleet at full speed.
At this time, Doman's assault formation included the flagship "Druit", the Dutch light cruiser "Java", the British heavy cruiser "Berwick", the Japanese heavy cruisers "Nachi" and "Haguro",
Australian light cruiser "Pace" and 9 destroyers.
The escort fleet dispatched by the Republic Navy included the battleship "Qinling", the heavy cruiser "Zheng He", 4 light cruisers and 12 destroyers. There was also a supporting force of two heavy aircraft carriers about 50 nautical miles behind it.
Occupy an absolute advantage.
Chang Lin was now promoted to the commander of the 3rd Cruiser Fleet, and he did not expect that the Dutch would dare to take the initiative to attack.
At 10:20, a burst of noise suddenly came from the radio receiver installed in the war room of the escort fleet flagship "Zheng He", "The enemy fleet has been discovered, 12 ships in total!" I don't know if it was the report sent back by the reconnaissance aircraft.
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Several staff officers jumped up, ran to the chart, and then looked at the still buzzing receiver. Chief of Staff Zheng Wenlan was so angry that he punched the chart table: "Fucking idiot, what are the specifics?
Where is the position? This idiot!"
Chang Lin stood aside, "Maybe he is being attacked." He thought for a moment and said.
About ten minutes later, the sound of ground formations sizzling came from the loudspeaker again. This time the report was much more complete: "The enemy fleet was found, about 12 ships, including 6 large targets, bearing 312, distance from Bawe
15 south of An Island, heading 130! Report from the 28th Flight Team, Yu Xin, over!"
The staff officers quickly marked the enemy's position on the chart, "Reporting to the commander, the enemy is about 40 nautical miles southeast of us."
Chang Lin asked the 3rd and 6th Destroyer Fleets to continue to protect the transport fleet as it moved towards its destination, while he took the main force of the escort fleet to proactively attack the enemy.
At 11 a.m., the two fleets met on the sea. At this time, the Republican Fleet and the "Multinational Fleet" were about 30,000 yards apart. At 11:15, when the two sides were about 23,000 yards apart, the "Qinling" took the lead in opening fire.
When the 340mm shells hit the sea with a scream, Doman began to sweat when he looked at the water column on the water. He did not expect that there would be battleships in the opponent's escort fleet. The "multi-national fleet" immediately formed a chaos, "
The 254mm artillery shells fired from the Zheng He also began to fall around Doman's fleet.
So Doman ordered the fleet to turn around, intending to break away from the battle.
The distance between the two fleets was getting closer and closer, and the secondary guns on the "Qinling" and the light cruisers of the two fleets also began to fire.
The British heavy cruiser "Riback" was penetrated by a medium-caliber shell in the power compartment. As soon as the speed dropped to 15 knots, it could only release smoke. Under the cover of the destroyer, it first left the battlefield, and then the Japanese heavy cruiser "Haguro" also
A fire broke out, but there was no problem with the power system. The "Haguro" dragged billowing black smoke on the sea and fled the battlefield at high speed.
The "Multinational Fleet" completed its turn at this time and began to prepare to speed up and escape.
Thirty-two torpedo planes taking off from two aircraft carriers rushed to the battlefield at this time. It is said that these planes should have arrived long ago, but the bomber group that took off first flew in the wrong direction. It was not until they passed Bawayan Island that they began to fly towards
When we rushed back, the torpedo planes that took off later arrived at the battlefield first.
More than 30 aviation torpedoes were thrown on the sea, and Doman's fleet could only scurry around on the sea. Doman's flagship "Druit" was hit by two torpedoes and fell into a sea of fire. Another Dutch cruiser
The "Java" was also hit on the side, its speed dropped to less than 10 knots, and two other destroyers were sunk.
The British cruisers "Dragon" and "Pace" wanted to come to the aid of the Dutch ship. Doman sent a signal on the "Druit" and ordered the ships to retreat separately and ignore the injured warships.
Soon after, Rear Admiral Doman sank to the bottom of the sea along with his flagship "Druit".
The bomber group that turned back from Baweian Island just happened to intercept the injured "Riback" and "Haguro", surrounded the two heavy cruisers and bombed them randomly, destroying the two heavy cruisers and the nearby "
The cruiser USS Pace and the destroyer USS Iverson were sent to the bottom of the sea together.
There was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides in the Battle of Java. This naval battle is often mentioned in naval history because it was the first time in the history of human warfare that carrier-based aircraft were used to engage enemy warships on the water.
The "Multinational Fleet" suffered another heavy blow. At this time, in the Java Sea, there was no force that could stop the Republican Army from advancing.
The multinational navies in Java were basically wiped out. Eight days later, the Dutch announced unconditional surrender in Bandung, and the entire Dutch East Indies fell into the hands of the Republican Army.