afterglow

Chapter 342 The Deerhound Plan; The Price of Arrogance

Previously, the British had carefully considered the possibility of an attack by the Ming army - how would they respond if they landed from Songkhla and Pattani in Thailand?

Commander-in-chief Air Force Lieutenant General Arthur Tedder and his staff carefully formulated a preemptive action plan, codenamed "Deerhound".

They plan to use an infantry brigade and a tank regiment's ground troops to cross the border first and enter Thailand, and then divide into two situations:
First, the Ming army has not yet landed, so it will rely on favorable terrain to deploy defense lines.

Second, the Ming army has landed, so let's launch a counterattack while their footing is not stable.

Based on this pre-planned plan, the British-Indian 11th Infantry Division stationed in Alor Setar sent a telegram to Singapore asking for instructions whether to dispatch according to the original plan.

The British staff officers at the Far East General Headquarters were quarreling fiercely - some people thought that now that the Ming army had landed, the best opportunity had been missed and there was no need to dispatch; others felt that the landing efficiency of large forces was not high. As long as the time was seized, it would be completely It can give an effective blow to the unsteady Ming army.

After all, Lieutenant General Arthur is an Air Force general. He lacks experience and courage in decisive ground operations, and seems a little timid.

He first ordered the 11th Division to implement the plan, but seven hours later, aerial reconnaissance photos were sent to the headquarters. Seeing that the Ming army landing in Pattani had established a solid position, he ordered to stop the operation.

But in the early morning of the next day, he changed his mind again and ordered the resumption of operations - no matter what, at least a tentative attack first.

Who wouldn’t be upset if orders are changed from day to day?It can be said that the entire British-Indian 11th Infantry Division was filled with resentment.

It was still dark at this time, the waning moon was still above the western horizon, and the sky turned from black to a deep blue-black.

The soldiers who were woken up from their sleep were very depressed. Under the urging of British officers and non-commissioned officers, the listless and yawning troops continued to march towards Pattani.

The Thai border guards stationed at the border expressed strong verbal protest, but did not open fire, not even firing a warning shot.

The Thais sent the news of the British and Indian troops crossing the border back to Bangkok, and then naturally let the Ming Dynasty know about it.

Combined with aerial reconnaissance, the Third Army General Office responded quickly.

Qiu Peisheng ordered the No. 20 Second Infantry Division, which was heading southwest, to prepare immediately and cooperate with air support in an effort to severely damage the invading enemy.

The territory of the 22nd Division is Shaozhou. This is a typical southern first-class infantry division.

Because the difference in natural geographical environment between the north and the south is relatively large, the Ming army also divided the army into northern and southern categories using the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River as the boundary.

In order to reduce expenses, although the Ming Army in normal times had more than 40 divisions in name, there were only [-] fully-staffed standing armies, and the rest were short of about half. It took half a month to mobilize and train.

This is also the difference between Class A and Class B - the former can fight at any time; the latter has enough officers and non-commissioned officers, although it lacks many soldiers, but it can quickly form combat effectiveness after replenishment.

The main difference between the north and the south lies in the artillery configuration. The artillery regiments of the northern division are three 112mm howitzer battalions; the southern division has one 112mm howitzer battalion and two 80mm howitzer battalions to adapt to the complex rugged hills and dense water networks in the south. Bad terrain.

The Type 112 1720㎜ howitzer has a total combat weight of [-]kg, which is fine in the north, but becomes more bulky in the south.

In comparison, the Type 80 660㎜ howitzer has a total combat weight of only [-]kg. Although it is less powerful, it is more lightweight.

2月26日10：57，在蒙蒙细雨中，毫无防备的英印第11步兵师迎面撞进了明军为之布下的天罗地网。

"Damn it! This place is full of mud when it rains!"

"Disgusting land, disgusting Indu people!"

The British in the army were complaining about the bad weather and environment in Southeast Asia, as well as the unorganized and clumsy Indu soldiers.

Brigadier General Rupert, commander of the 11th Brigade of the 6th Division, was riding in an Austin off-road vehicle. The canvas hood was open, but raindrops would still drip in from time to time, especially when driving through puddles, the muddy water It will splash and make clothes and pants dirty.

But now Brigadier General Rupert has no time to care about whether it is dirty or not. He just wants to get to the predetermined position as soon as possible, then end the march and deploy the troops.

"We won't be able to reach the attack location tonight if this keeps up. We have to speed up." After that, he complained about Lieutenant General Arthur Tedder again, "They would actually send such a hesitant guy here. We need a team here." A tiger, not a cat!”

But at this moment, an explosion of fire suddenly appeared in front of the convoy.

"boom!"

At the same time as the shock wave and explosion sound came, more groups of fire burst out almost at once.

"The artillery fire is coming!"

Someone yelled "take cover" with all his strength, the officers kept waving their hands, and the soldiers fled in panic to both sides of the muddy dirt road.

Brigadier General Rupert, who was slightly unresponsive, was pulled from the car by his adjutant and pulled him to escape into the woods nearby.

The angry and stubborn brigadier general broke free from the hand of his adjutant, Major Gene, and looked towards the front of the dirt road.

I saw constant bombardment, one explosive point after another. A truck was directly hit by the artillery shell. Glass slag and broken iron sheets were scattered in all directions, and it suddenly turned into burning scrap metal.

The full load of food supplies was thrown into the air, and countless cans of biscuits fell one after another. Some cans of corned beef specially intended for British consumption were blown to pieces, and the beef residue inside was smeared all over the surrounding Indu soldiers.

"This must be an ambush by the Chinese army! Your Excellency! Your Excellency! We..."

"Occupy that high ground and deploy troops to defend, now!"

Anubur Battalion immediately received the instructions and hurried towards the unknown hill.

In fact, as early as this morning, the No. 20 Second Infantry Division of the Ming Army had already arrived here. The division commander believed that this was an excellent ambush location, so he personally led a mixed group to arrive here all night long.

The "mixed regiment" is similar to the historical German battle groups, American regimental combat teams, and Japanese detachments. It uses an infantry regiment as the backbone and temporarily strengthens various units depending on the situation.

This mixed regiment uses the 65th Infantry Regiment as the backbone, and strengthens the division's scout battalion, two 80mm howitzer battalions of the division's mountain artillery regiment, and a tank battalion of the [-]st Tank Brigade.

At the same time, they also gathered all available cars and requisitioned many civilian vehicles in Pattani City, trying to get here as quickly as possible.

The division commander firmly believed that he had the right to control the air, so he made the extremely risky choice to continue marching at night, with all vehicles turning on their lights with confidence.Civilian vehicles with poor off-road performance are connected to the rear of the tank with cables, and the vehicles are strung together like candied haws.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

In the drizzle, the British and Indian soldiers who were struggling to climb the mountain through the mud heard a faint sound.The next moment, mortar shells fell like hailstones amidst the screams.

"Boom! Boom!"

Because it does not need to withstand high chamber pressures, the mortar shell can be made of cast iron, which allows it to fragment more densely.The 64㎜ explosive bomb exploded in the crowd and shot out countless high-speed fragments. The hit Indu soldiers rolled down wailing.

At this time, the machine guns deployed on both wings also opened fire, and the dense fire net of light machine guns and heavy machine guns swept across the enemy forces in the blink of an eye.

The panic-stricken British and Indian soldiers retreated on the ground. Anubur Battalion suffered at least 50 casualties in a single encounter before the battle.

The Ming army and the British-Indian army, which had been at peace for a long time, actually lacked actual combat experience. The ambush positions arranged by the officers and soldiers of the 22nd Division were actually quite rigid and dogmatic, lacking the agility of the elite troops who had been on the battlefield for a long time.

But at least they strictly followed the combat regulations and codes of conduct, and the British and Indian troops seemed to subconsciously think that they were suppressing colonial rebellion?

Although the British-Indian 6th Brigade was not stupid enough not to send out its leading units, it was very close.

Because the mechanized cavalry regiment (battalion) of the 6th Brigade was too disorganized, their alertness was almost zero, and the existence of the Ming army was not discovered at all.

The Ming army also deliberately let go of the deaf and blind leading unit and directly ambush the large army behind them.

When the sound of gunfire came from the rear, these British and Indian troops thought it was an air attack. They did not expect that it was their own negligence.

Subsequently, they were blocked and attacked by firepower from the Ming army. This "elite" mechanized force of more than 400 people soon ushered in its end.

The armored and cavalry formations of the British Commonwealth Army are very strange. The subordinate units of the regiment (battalion) are squadrons and Troops. The mechanized cavalry regiment of the 6th Brigade is equipped with a large number of Bren machine gun carriers - this is the British Empire The iconic armored vehicle.

"Sir! Sir! What should we do?!"

"We're being overpowered! They're everywhere!"

The two artillery battalions of the mixed regiment were firing fiercely at the large British and Indian troops behind, and only some mortars were bombarding the separated leading unit.

The commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yalman, had a long gash on his neck caused by shell fragments and was bleeding slowly.

He stuck his head out from his Bren transport vehicle and ordered in a hoarse voice: "Attack backwards, we must break through the blockade and join the main force!!!"

But at this moment, terrifying anti-aircraft machine gun fire was poured onto them. 12.8mm machine gun bullets containing tens of thousands of joules of kinetic energy were dropped, splashing mud and water as high as a person!
The weak armor of the MkII Bren carrier vehicle, which was only ten millimeters thick at most, could not stop such strong firepower. The full-metal armored bullet easily penetrated the steel plate, beating the people inside to pieces!
But the British and Indian soldiers were still huddled in the armored vehicles, almost sitting there waiting for death, as if only these thin iron cans could bring them a sense of emptiness.

"God! We need backup!"

"Chinese tanks!!!"

The shrill scream of a British lieutenant penetrated the raging flames of war, making everyone's hearts skip a beat.

But Lieutenant Colonel Jarman did not despair, because some Bren carriers are also equipped with Boyce anti-tank guns, which can theoretically penetrate 500mm thick steel plates at a distance of 10m.

It is also an anti-tank gun. The 16kg Boyce is really inferior. Similar products from other countries are stronger than it.

The current tank brigade of the Ming Dynasty Army is more like an organization that facilitates unified training and management. In actual combat, the four battalions under its jurisdiction are generally assigned to each infantry division for support.

The 3th Tank Battalion has two light tank teams and one medium tank team. At this moment, 14 Type [-] medium tanks are in front as the spearhead, and [-] Type [-] light tanks are behind, heading straight towards the chaotic group. The British and Indian troops launched an attack.

"Bang! Bang!"

The frightened Indu soldiers controlled the anti-tank guns and opened fire early. However, the weak 13.9×99mm steel core bullet was obviously unable to penetrate the 24mm thick surface-hardened armor steel on the front of the Type [-] medium tank.

The bullet smashed into the armor, or flew away with a "Biang" sound.

Not to mention medium tanks, it can't even do anything with the 16mm thick armor on the front of the Type [-] light tank.

Under the pattering spring rain, the Ming Army tank detachment rushed in in a trapezoidal formation. The tracks rolled up mud and water with a splash. During this period, they kept strafing, slowing down and firing!
In the rumbling explosion, metal fragments flew in all directions, and a series of bullets and artillery shells turned the Bren carriers that were bumped, squeezed, and jammed together into a bonfire worth thousands of pounds.

On this muddy road covered with track marks, the bodies of British and Indian soldiers lay scattered everywhere.

Being hit in the hands and feet by large-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun bullets is almost like receiving free amputation surgery. The large amount of blood spurting from the arteries dyes the mud and water in the crater on the ground red.

The eighteen-ton tank rolled over the corpses on the ground, crushing them like tomatoes, bursting out bodily fluids and dark red blood.

"Calm down! Corporal! What are you doing?!" the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yalman, shouted.

"We failed, we failed..." The young British corporal next to him had collapsed at this moment, covering his head and muttering to himself.

Yaman pulled away the corporal, moved the body of the Indu soldier who was shot in the head, and personally operated the Boyce anti-tank gun.

He ignored the red and white stuff on it, aimed and shot!
"boom!"

The armor-piercing tracer bullet hit the turret of a Type [-] light tank at an angle, but it flew straight away, leaving a bright light trail.

After firing three shots in a row to no avail, a furious Arman reloaded and cursed those shameless guys for equipping the British Empire army with such useless weapons.

He put down his weapon, and a 38.4㎜ explosive bomb exploded next to him, but he didn't react.

Armen looked around and saw those gray-green Ming army tanks still raging, firing wildly at everything here!
More and more Indu soldiers dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender. There were also many soul-stricken people hiding under the cars and shivering.

It was only then that the Ming army infantry launched the final attack.

Two red signal flares rose into the sky, and sharp whistles and shrill suona sounds suddenly sounded!

The officers and soldiers of the 22nd Division appeared in the three directions from the front, left and right. The overall situation was decided at this time. With high morale, they trampled on the mud and rushed towards the scattered British and Indian troops.

It lasted 21 minutes, and the British-Indian 6th Brigade Mechanized Cavalry Regiment (Battalion), which had not even formed effective resistance, was completely wiped out in an unknown place near Blackwood Mountain in Siam. They paid a reciprocal price for their pride. cost.

(End of this chapter)