"Smoke as thick as dark clouds rolled up and rose in the middle of Patkai Mountain across the hilltops in the direction of the ancient Chama Mountain Road. One after another 105mm mountain howitzer shells and 107mm rockets fell like meteors onto the carefully constructed Japanese army.
On the battle line.
The earth-shaking, continuous sound of cannons made the mountains and the earth tremble.
In a mountain valley only two kilometers away from the enemy's position, thousands of officers and soldiers of the Fourth Mountain Division were sitting on rocks. Just waiting for an order, they rushed out along the mountain roads on both sides and climbed up as fast as possible.
A steep slope of 40 degrees, launched a fierce attack on the enemy's position.
The Japanese army relied on two large mountains in the shape of a "human" and built three lines of defense in the mountains for more than ten kilometers, firmly blocking the way forward of the army.
Because the rocks here are very hard, it is extremely difficult to dig caves and bunkers. The Japanese army could only use the original mountain gaps and caves to build positions. However, due to their condescending position and winding mountain roads, there was only one road to pass through. Under the command of the Japanese army,
From the official's perspective, such a place
It can be said that one man is in charge of the barrier and no one can open it. Not to mention that the person responsible for stopping the attack of the Anjia army here is an independent guard force of 5,000 people. Even an infantry group of only 1,000 people can be equipped with enough machine guns and a few mountain cannons.
The artillery can block the attack line of the Anjia army's main force.
While the Anjia army was shelling from the front, on the high mountain cliff behind the Japanese army, two ragged troops of about 2,000 people each braved the strong wind and the thick gunpowder smoke brought by the shelling more than ten kilometers to the south.
From the east and west wings, they slowly converge towards the center of the "herringbone" shaped mountain beam.
Three days ago, the two teams climbed to the top of the "human"-shaped mountain on the cliffs on both sides of the cliff more than 30 kilometers away from the Japanese front line. Then, with almost no roads, they climbed one step at a time, one step at a time.
On a ridge of more than a thousand meters, we almost crawled for more than seventy hours against the biting cold wind, and finally arrived at our current location.
Blow by the strong wind, the gravel and rock fragments generated by the shelling rolled in, causing bursts of stinging pain when they hit the skin of the face. Elite commandos drawn from the three divisions of the Second Mountain Group scattered on the mountain peak.
He tore off his tattered military uniform, wrapped his face, and continued moving forward.
More than ten minutes later, the two teams successfully joined forces. More than 400 meters below them, a wide cave connected the north and south mountain roads.
However, there were no cheers or any celebrations. More than 4,000 officers and soldiers spread out over nearly ten kilometers of mountainous terrain took off their heavy backpacks and began nervous preparations for the war.
They blocked their ears with rags, then took out special explosive bags weighing 20 kilograms, lit the fuses amidst the commands of commanders at all levels, and destroyed these "squeaks" within three seconds.
The loud explosive packets dropped the mountain beams.
The commandos rushed to the back and lay down to hide. After about ten seconds, violent explosions were heard one after another. The team members with cotton earplugs only felt their eardrums cracking, the mountain shaking, and the solid mountain below them.
, shaking constantly amid the thick smoke rising into the sky and the rain of rocks shooting from a radius of several thousand meters.
At least several hundred elite mountain soldiers even felt dizzy, dizzy, and had difficulty breathing under the impact of the sound, and then violently vomited.
The power produced by more than 4,000 specially-made explosives was so great that you can imagine what the Japanese troops suffered in those positions below the valley.
A quarter of an hour later, the ground gradually returned to calm. The creeping and concealed officers and soldiers desperately followed the ropes to the narrow mountain road below, and then from the east and west wings, like two fast-moving long snakes, they snaked along the mountainside.
Down the mountain, the officers and soldiers who stumbled and fell off the cliff from time to time were ignored at all.
Amid the long and desperate screams of the brothers who fell off the cliff, the officers and soldiers moved forward like crazy. There was only one thought in everyone's mind, which was to seize three positions before the stunned Japanese soldiers could react. When approaching the Japanese army's deployment
At the last position, what appeared in front of the officers and soldiers was hell.
Such a tragic situation: Because they were closest to the explosion point of the explosive package, under the violent explosions and impact waves, the Japanese who were killed in different postures had hideous faces, bleeding from all their orifices, and were hit by countless steel balls in the explosive package.
The piles of corpses were so horrific that not even a single Japanese offered any resistance.
As the team continued to advance, strangely shaped corpses appeared in front of them, arranged all over the ground.
A certain area where the corpses were concentrated was covered with blood and formed ditches, exuding the stench of incontinence. The officers and soldiers who rushed in front resolutely ended the struggling lives with bayonets.
At this time, Lieutenant General Zhang Hao, commander of the Second Mountain Group Army, received the news from the radio and immediately ordered the prepared Fourth Mountain Division to launch an assault.
The shouts of killing rang out, and the Anjia officers and soldiers with high morale rushed out of the valley and climbed towards the mountain to the north. Although most of the Japanese troops were killed and stunned by the sudden explosion of explosive packs behind them, the further they reached the rear, the further they reached.
The mortality rate is higher at higher altitudes, but among the Japanese troops on the front line, there are still hundreds of survivors. Even though they are dizzy and confused, they still pick up their guns and shoot.
However, the speed of the mountain soldiers' assault was too fast. Before the Japs had time to fire a few shots, the first batch of officers and soldiers had already rushed into the position, and a hand-to-hand battle quickly broke out.
The mountain soldiers used all means to mercilessly eliminate the enemies in front of them. The sound of gunshots, the sound of bayonets thrust into the human body, the dull sound of gun butts, roars, and screams were all heard together. The remaining Japanese troops were in Anjiajun.
The mountain soldiers fell to death on the ground before the thunderous attack.
After nearly an hour of fighting, under attack from both front and rear, the Japanese army was strangled to death. The natural barrier that the Japanese army claimed to be insurmountable in front of the second mountain cluster collapsed under the surprise attack of the mountain soldiers of the Anjia Army. Northeast India
This region is like a ripe fruit, already within reach.
Just when the Anjia Army was galloping across the three theaters and the Japanese Malay Front Army and the Burmese-Indian Front Army were retreating on all fronts, the situation in the Pacific region underwent new changes.
Southwest Pacific battlefield, September 11th, following the day before, the Japanese tanks of the 2nd and 5th divisions and four divisions of the 28th Army captured Port Lincoln in the southern part of the Eyre Peninsula without any bloodshed, receiving a large number of U.S. troops that could not be transported.
Supplies, General Shi 11 Haoichi, commander of the Japanese Australian Front, concentrated on the battle
There are eight divisions directly under the district: the 4th, 10th, 14th, 23rd, 32nd, 35th, 52nd, 102nd, and the 8th Field Heavy Artillery.
With the assistance of the 9th, 10th, and 11th Regiments, they violently attacked the strong positions established by the Australian army on Flanders Ridge and Gray Ridge.
In order to protect the prosperous land on the southeast coast, and at the same time to maintain the safety of their families and homes, the Australian army fought back on hundreds of kilometers of fronts. The battle was extremely fierce. After four days and four nights of continuous fighting, both sides were exhausted.
On September 15, bad news came from the rear of the Australian army. The main force of the Japanese army suddenly appeared outside Yangta City, an important town along the Nan'ao Expressway... After a night of fighting, before reinforcements arrived,
The city has fallen.
After repelling the counterattack of the Australian army, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack from east to west along the railway line. Nacala, Peterborough, Jamestown and other cities were successively defeated by the Japanese army.
At this time, the four divisions of the Japanese Army's Fourth and Sixth Tank Divisions and the Seventeenth Army, which were the new forces, set out from Port Augusta and headed south at high speed along the plain area on the east coast of Spencer Bay.
In the early morning, together with the two Japanese paratrooper divisions and the two divisions of the 18th Army that came from the rear of the Australian army, they launched a fierce attack on the Babor Fortress Group from the front and rear, and broke open the Flanders Ridge carefully constructed by the Australian army.
There was a big hole.
Subsequently, the Japanese army, which had opened the gateway to southeast Australia, would attack Port Pirie and capture the largest port city on the east coast of Spencer Bay. It was only a matter of time.
Some people may want to ask, where did this Japanese army that appeared from behind come from? In fact, it is very simple. After the frontal attack was launched, the Japanese army once again adopted very practical airborne tactics, making full use of Australia's vast territory and sparsely populated characteristics.
air raid mihu
oThe Australian Army’s land-based radar and concentrated transport aircraft parachuted into the grassland area on the south bank of Lake Frome and quickly opened up an airstrip for transport aircraft to take off and land. Within the next three or four days, the transport aircraft group transported about three to the rear of the Australian Army.
More than 10,000 people and some light weapons.
After silently capturing Fromdowns, Conamona, Batana and other towns, the Japanese army obtained some food supplies and weapons and equipment, but the biggest gain was the capture of Yanta City. In addition to setting up positions in the rear of the Australian army,
In addition to being a nail, this is also an important combat material transfer center for the Australian army. The Japanese army, which originally only had light weapons,
Suddenly, there were more than a hundred cannons of various calibers, and they also obtained more than 200 American-made military trucks, 36 armored vehicles, and 18 tanks, making the subsequent battles more and more smooth.
, after conquering cities and territories, they obtained more and more equipment. The Japanese army kept fighting with war, and finally broke through the Australian army's painstaking defense line.
As the Japanese army opened up the passage into Southeast Australia, the failure of the US-Australia coalition forces was officially put on the agenda.
In the previous Eyre Peninsula retreat, the U.S. military had already retreated to Tasmania. It was originally planning to reorganize its troops before entering the battlefield in southeastern Australia. However, it saw that the natural barrier of Flanders Ridge had been breached, and the Allied forces in the southwest
Pacific Commander Admiral MacArthur immediately changed his mind and seized the time to build Tasmania's coastal defense fortress, repair the military airport on the island, and began to work hard to accumulate fighter planes to deal with possible landing operations launched by the Japanese army.
MacArthur knew very well that as the Allied naval and army offensive in the southwest Indian Ocean suffered a disastrous defeat, the Allied forces and the Japanese were currently fighting on the Outeniqua Mountains and Lange Mountain between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in order to prevent the Japanese from entering.
In the Atlantic Ocean, the main force of the US military is continuously investing in the South African battlefield, and it is impossible to mobilize more troops in a short time to support the Pacific operations.
Therefore, MacArthur, who had suffered repeated defeats, had to lower his proud head and honestly do a good job of defense first, and then wait for opportunities to counterattack.
In the Central Pacific Theater, in early September, after learning that the main force of the Japanese combined fleet had appeared in the southwest Indian Ocean, the commander of the Pacific Theater, Admiral Nimitz, was very concerned and immediately decided to take advantage of the absence of the main force of the Japanese navy in the Pacific to continue the launch.
Battle in the Solomon Islands.
At this time, the reorganized U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet consisted of two battleships, two aircraft carriers, and twelve heavy cruisers. In addition, there were one escort carrier, fifteen light cruisers, and more than forty destroyers.
Far above the Japanese Navy in the Central and South Pacific, which lacks large ships.
As the U.S. military resumed its attack on New Georgia Island, the commander of the Japanese Navy's Southeast Fleet, Lieutenant General Kusaka Renichi, had to order the fleet to attack again to withdraw the Japanese troops on New Georgia Island.
The person responsible for the withdrawal task was Rear Admiral Tanaka Yorizo, commander of the Japanese Navy's Third Destroyer Fleet. After receiving the order, he decisively divided the fleet into two parts. The guard team was led by him personally, and the six destroyer transport teams under his jurisdiction were headed by Kuroiwa.
It is commanded by Admiral Seiichi and has four destroyers and ten transport ships.
At 5:30 in the morning on September 15th, Major General Tanaka commanded the security team to set sail from Rabaul, and at 8:15 in the evening on the same day, Colonel Kuroiwa commanded the transport team to set sail from Buyin.
The Allied coastal surveillance posts soon discovered the Japanese ship formation and immediately sent out a report. Admiral Halsey, commander of the aircraft carrier task force, received the report and ordered Rear Admiral Hans Walker's command post to intercept it.
At this time, Rear Admiral Hans Walker's ship formation had been reinforced by the task force, with a total of three cruisers and six destroyers. After receiving Halsey's order, Rear Admiral Hans Walker arrived at 5:00 pm on the 15th
Departing from Tulagi Port, go north along the west coast of Santa Isabel Island and cross the Strait of New Georgia diagonally around midnight to Cape Vesuvesu.
At 0:00 a.m. on the 16th, a U.S. military night-flying reconnaissance aircraft reported that six Japanese destroyers were sighted 26 nautical miles northwest of the fleet, sailing on a heading of 127 degrees and a speed of 30 knots.
It has to be said that the report of the US military reconnaissance aircraft was very timely and accurate. This destroyer formation heading south is the guard force of the Japanese Navy.
Hans Walker immediately ordered the formation to change from sailing formation to combat formation. Captain Robertson commanded five destroyers as the vanguard, Rear Admiral Hans Walker himself commanded three cruisers as the main force, and Captain Lefeyson commanded one destroyer as the rearguard.
Each ship lined up in a single column and searched northwestward at a speed of 28 knots.
At 1:19 in the morning, the five destroyers of the U.S. vanguard fleet began to fire torpedoes at the Japanese destroyer fleet, and then the main guns of the cruisers of the U.S. Navy's own fleet also began to fire.
Rear Admiral Hans Walker believed that his own warships were equipped with advanced radars and could seize the opportunity to defeat the Japanese warships. However, he did not expect that the Japanese Navy had mastered radar technology and now assigned it to various countries.
Although the warships in the theater have not undergone modern modifications and installed advanced radars, they have undergone the simplest modifications and are equipped with devices that can accept radar pulses. Therefore, they were able to detect the opponent earlier than the U.S. Navy.
According to the course of the U.S. Navy warship, Tanaka Yorizo ordered the fleet to engage the enemy in a battle formation, and because they knew the sailing direction of the U.S. ship in advance, the Japanese Navy's observers discovered the opponent's ship one minute earlier than the opponent.
Without any hesitation, Tanaka Yorizo immediately ordered a torpedo attack, so that both sides actually opened fire almost at the same time!
The Japanese lead ship came under concentrated fire from the U.S. warships. In a very short period of time, the U.S. warships fired more than two hundred 230mm artillery shells at it. The lead ship was continuously hit by bullets and suffered many scars, and was forced to withdraw from the battle.
[Japanese] The remaining five destroyers of the Tanaka Formation of the Japanese Navy fired all the torpedoes in their launch tubes, then turned around and exited the battle, preparing to break away from the US ship, reload their torpedoes, and then return to attack.
A U.S. Navy cruiser was hit by a torpedo launched by a Japanese destroyer, and its radio antenna was blown off by shrapnel. Twenty-nine people were killed on the spot and lost the ability to continue fighting. In desperation, Rear Admiral Hans Walker sent two destroyers to escort it
Returning. Captain Lefeyson commanded the destroyers as rearguard and accompanied the cruisers of the group.
At this time, the U.S. night reconnaissance plane reported that the Japanese ships were retreating north at high speed. Rear Admiral Hans Walker believed that the Japanese forces were fleeing, and immediately ordered Captain Robertson to command the avant-garde destroyer fleet to pursue them. Robertson led three destroyers and pursued them for a while.
, no target was found, and seeing the silence on the sea, he was worried that he was not strong enough to fall into the trap of the Japanese navy, so the command post headed back east through the New Georgia Strait.
In Colonel Robertson's view, since the purpose of destroying Japanese ships has been achieved, fleet commander Hans Walker must have returned with his fleet. In his self-righteousness, he did not even call to confirm. In fact, Major General Hans Walker
Instead of returning to the east, they sailed west, preparing to cooperate with the vanguard destroyer fleet to attack the Japanese naval destroyer fleet and strive for complete victory.
However, the shipborne radar operator of the U.S. Navy made a mistake and mistook the oncoming Japanese warship for his vanguard fleet. At 1:56, the shipboard radar of the destroyer accompanying the fleet found that the Japanese warship was in
The one on the left front was turning around, and then I realized that it was a Japanese warship!
Rear Admiral Hans Walker immediately ordered a sixty-degree turn to starboard and fired at the Japanese warships! Unfortunately, before the two cruisers had time to fire, the observers were horrified to find that torpedoes were slashing at the bobs and approaching the battleships.
.
It turned out that the Japanese navy's warships turned around because they had just fired torpedoes and were preparing to flee. Five Japanese destroyers fired a total of 31 torpedoes. The American warships were truly caught off guard. At this time, they tried to carry out the attack again.
It was too late to evade. One of the patrol boats
The foreign ship was hit by two torpedoes and its bow sank. Another cruiser was hit by one torpedo, its bow was twisted and its speed was greatly reduced. The destroyer accompanying the fleet was hit by a mine in the engine room, causing a fire that spread quickly.
, due to the huge fire, the rescue work was very difficult, and the battleship began to sink.
Soon, Major Tanaka Yorizo Tanaka led five destroyers back to the battlefield and conducted a final torpedo attack. Two American cruisers sank to the bottom of the sea. More than 900 U.S. naval officers and soldiers under Rear Admiral Hans Walker were wildly fired by Japanese carrier-based machine guns.
, all died, and the blood dyed the sea red.
Just as the Japanese navy's guard formation was fighting with the US fleet, the Japanese transport team successfully sailed into the New Georgia Island and evacuated the Japanese troops onto the warships and transport ships.
On the morning of the 16th, the Japanese naval alert team returned to Buyin Port, and the naval transport team also returned to Buyin Port safely at noon. The lead destroyer that was shelled by the US warships was seriously injured and underwent emergency repairs.
Was sent back to the mainland for overhaul.
In this naval battle, only one destroyer of the Japanese Navy was damaged, and it ensured the successful completion of the evacuation mission of the New Georgia Islands garrison. Although the U.S. Navy had a certain advantage in strength, it suffered heavy losses, with two
A cruiser and a destroyer were sunk, and another cruiser was severely damaged.
After summarizing the reasons for the failure, the U.S. Navy believed that the failure of this naval battle was mainly due to the improper command of Rear Admiral Hans Walker. He believed too much in the superiority of radar and lost the opportunity to preemptively strike. Later, he relied too much on the power of the main gun in an attempt to reach a distance of 10,000 meters.
, relying on the advantages of main gun caliber and quantity
, coupled with the accuracy of radar guidance, sank the Japanese ship in one fell swoop, but despised the torpedo attack, did not organize a coordinated attack between naval guns and torpedoes, and at the same time ignored the prevention of torpedo attacks on the Japanese ship. As a result, the Japanese army adopted the reloading strategy.
Faced with the tactics of multiple torpedo attacks, it suffered heavy blows.
Although the U.S. Navy suffered a defeat in the naval battle, the commander of the aircraft carrier task force, Admiral Halsey, did not relax the land offensive against the Japanese airports. By late September, the U.S. Marine Corps had successively launched operations on New Georgia Island and Santa Isabel Island.
, Colombangala Island, Verala Island and Choiseul Island were successfully landed, initially achieving the occupation of the New Georgia Islands and consolidating the frontline defense in the Central Pacific.
September 22nd, ten o'clock in the morning.
Nanhua, Xinjing, 1 Xiao Nanhai Zhizheng Hall.
An Yi received the intelligence about the Pacific Theater from the United States and thought about asking the General Staff to inform the United States about the situation in Malaya and the Burma-India Theater to deepen mutual understanding and trust.
At present, the war situation in the Central Plains has suddenly improved. With Chiang Kai-shek mobilizing nearly 800,000 troops from the six armies of the Central Army to assist in the battle, the Fifth War Zone counterattacked across the board under the command of General Li Zongren, successively in Hanzhuang, Taierzhuang, Fujiazhuang, and
Lijiazhuang and other places repelled the Japanese attack and launched a fierce offensive. All fronts have returned to the pre-war situation.
According to information fed back by the Central Intelligence Agency's insiders in Nanjing, Stilwell was lobbying Chiang Kai-shek to deploy heavy troops to annihilate the Japanese troops south of the Yellow River, and then tighten the fence along the Yellow River defense line until Anjia's army captured East India and Burma.
At the same time, after the Allied navies gained control of the Indian Ocean, they transferred troops from the Chinese theater to support the South African and Australian battlefields.
An Yi found the Americans' whimsical ideas very unbelievable. The war situation in Burma, India and Malaya is still uncertain, and the sea control in the Indian Ocean is still in the hands of the Japanese navy. The Americans can't wait to let the "China"
The U.S. military came to share the pressure faced by the Pacific region.
However, considering the strong productivity of the United States, An Yi feels that it is completely understandable for Americans to prepare for a rainy day.
According to the U.S. shipbuilding plan..., by April and May next year, at least six fleet aircraft carriers, eight battleships, and 12 heavy cruisers will join the U.S. Navy in active service. The U.S. Department of the Navy has issued a notice that the Navy's active battleships and aircraft carriers
Every time a heavy cruiser is lost, a new warship will be produced to make up for the loss, and it will still be named after the original ship, which shows the wealth of the Americans.
Under this circumstance, the advantage of the Japanese Navy can only be maintained until the middle of next year. By then, the U.S. Navy can organize a huge transport fleet to bypass Madagascar and other strategic points, cross the Indian Ocean, arrive at the west coast of the subcontinent, and pick up the Japanese navy.
Chinese troops went to fight in South Africa and Australia.
As for why An Jiajun was not invited to join the war, An Yi knew very well that neither Roosevelt nor Churchill could tolerate the expansion of South China anymore. With Chiang Kai-shek's consistent performance, the Chinese army would definitely withdraw from the battlefield after the war.
If places such as South Africa and Australia fall into the hands of An's army, it will be extremely difficult for An Yi to vomit out the territory he has eaten!
An Yi didn't know what Chiang Kai-shek would choose, but considering that Soong Meiling was warmly welcomed by President Roosevelt and the American people in the United States, and that the U.S. Congress frequently increased the amount of aid funds to China, he knew that Chiang Kai-shek might really agree to dispatch troops to fight in South Africa and Australia.