afterglow

Chapter 353: The tangle of Americans; the end of Gibraltar in the East

"Your Excellency, the American Minister is here again to inquire about the progress of the war."

"Oh, just use the answer from last time."

"Uh... But they want a definite answer, that is... Australia is not included."

The United States has been paying close attention to the war situation in Asia and Europe. Compared with Europe, which seems to be somewhat stalemate, the war situation in Asia can be said to be one-sided.

The Army-Navy Joint Committee submitted an assessment report to the president, concluding that Singapore could not stop the Ming army, and the so-called "Far East Gibraltar" might only be able to hold on for 25 to [-] days.

"...There are more than 60 civilians in the local area, the majority of whom are Chinese, and there are significant security risks...The British Commonwealth army, which has suffered successive defeats, lacks enough courage to fight resolutely under siege, and there is no permanent fortification defense line in the northern part of the island. ..."

The dual impact of the Monroe Doctrine and isolationism prevented the upper levels of the federal government from reaching a unified opinion-if the United States needed to intervene, which one should take priority between Asia and Europe?
In the past, the more accepted attitude was to acknowledge the existence of the German Society, because the existence of the German Society could effectively distract the focus of Britain and France, and at the same time it did not pose much of a threat to the United States.

Therefore, for more than ten years in the 30s and [-]s, the United States and the German Society maintained normal diplomatic relations. It was common to provide investment, exchange technology, absorb talents, etc.

But most politicians also agree on another thing - if the German Society attempts to export ▇▇ through force, then it must be more vigilant to prevent Europe, especially Britain and France, from being captured and changed.

At the moment, the German Society is still fighting with Britain and France in Northern Europe, and a war has not yet broken out in Western Europe. Does the Maginot Line seem to be able to effectively stop the Germans?

So let’s just wait and see for the time being. It would be best if the three of them go on fighting like this and get bloody.

If the ending of the European War is repeated this time, the United States will definitely make a lot of money!

As for Asia, although the Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Navy had formulated a "yellow war" plan 30 years ago that regarded Ming Dynasty as an imaginary enemy.

Based on the expectations of this plan, the United States vigorously built Guam, Wake Island, Midway Island, etc. as bases for the Pacific Fleet hub, as well as the first line of defense to defend the Far East-the Philippines.

However, compared with full military preparations, the federal government has never made it clear under what circumstances it should go to war with the Ming Dynasty. The war of words between the "war" and "peace" factions has lasted for several years.

In fact, many people believe that the Philippines should be abandoned at all and just stay in the Pacific. The strategic focus of the United States' external development should be Europe.

However, neither the war faction nor the peace faction is considering suddenly intervening.Even the former believed that troops should be sent to intervene when the Ming Dynasty landed in Australia.

At the same time, you also need to find a suitable reason to convince your own citizens.

If a war is waged in a place where there are no major vital interests, it may be okay in the short term, but once it enters a war of attrition involving protracted bloodshed and sacrifice, American citizens will inevitably become disgusted and demand peace.

In that case, the federal government would have to compromise with Ming Dynasty and completely give up its interests in the Far East.

According to speculation and analysis, the Ming court has roughly figured out what the Americans think - at least before the Ming army attacks Australia, the Americans are unlikely to take the initiative to intervene.

This made the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty feel a lot more at ease. Anyway, the long-term goal was only the Nanyang region. If the Americans did not interfere, it would be great if everything went well.

As for Australia, the court and the Consultative Council have yet to reach a conclusion - should they just give up when things get better or should they take a risk?

It seems a bit difficult to seize it, and it will also lead to interference from the Americans, making things worse.

It would be a pity to let it go. After all, the resources are indeed abundant, and it is very suitable for immigration to alleviate the pressure of overpopulation.

But at the moment, the Ming court has not shown any entanglement. The government and the opposition are celebrating the victory and looking forward to the next victory.

These days, citizens from all over the country have become accustomed to listening to the news of success from the Sun and Moon Society every morning.

Based on hearsay and descriptions in novels, people used their imaginations to imagine the scenes of war——

The mighty king's army marched forward singing loudly, dressed in bright clothes, roaring chariots, and firing thousands of cannons, which shook the heaven and the earth. The British and barbarians collapsed at the first touch, running like wolves and pigs.

Obviously, there must be some differences between imagined scenes and reality.

It’s already a bit hot in Malaya in early spring, with the daytime temperature only reaching 30°C.

It was humid and hot, and mosquitoes were rampant. The Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers who had been fighting for a week had long lost their original "magnificence".

All of them had unshaven beards, their hair was so shiny and greasy that it was almost tangled in strands, their bodies were covered with mud, and even their durable gray-green khaki military uniforms were in tatters.

The reporters accompanying the army from major domestic newspapers are very helpless and have a headache——

Oh my God, this is clearly an army of beggars, just like bandits. It’s hard to find a few suitable publicity photos!
The originally ignorant recruits have completed their transformation after being baptized by the flames of war. Although their bodies are tired but their hearts are not tired, they have truly adapted to the war.

But the joy of victory made everyone high-spirited. Amidst the military music singing in unison, the line of soldiers, tanks, trucks, mules, horses, and artillery could not be seen to the end. Known as the "Fortress that Will Never Fall in the Far East", we marched quickly.

The Ming army was in this situation, but the British Commonwealth army on the opposite side was completely different.

After the Ming army on the eastern front penetrated the defense line in the southern part of the peninsula, the frightened Far East Command dispatched firefighting teams to plug the leaks and buy time for the western front troops to retreat.

"Singapore Daily" reporter Pearson took a large number of photos and recorded corresponding descriptions:
Countless vehicles were retreating to the south, crowded on the bumpy roads damaged by bombs. All the soldiers had distracted eyes, no fighting spirit, and empty eyes.Some soldiers were even left empty-handed - having lost their guns in the hasty retreat.

However, these photos were not published in newspapers. They were confiscated by the authorities on the grounds that they were inconsistent with reality and were false information that "could easily cause citizens to misunderstand and lose confidence."

In the villages and towns along the way, local people gathered together in twos and threes with great interest, watching the traffic flow full of defeated troops passing by.

For them, the war seems to have nothing to do with them.Everyone has long been dissatisfied with these arrogant and condescending British gentlemen.

Now, these troops of the Empire, which pretends to be a force and boasts that the sun never sets on the world, are running away in despair?

It's hard to imagine how glorious and majestic the Ming army would be if they could beat them like this.

As a result, it didn't take long for them to see a troop that looked the same at first glance but had a completely different mental outlook upon closer inspection.

But what can comfort themselves is that these "king divisions" also have many tanks and artillery, and they are indeed a powerful force.

After meeting Zhou Changfeng, Deng Siquan, commander of the Eastern Front and commander of the 38th Division, couldn't help but admire: "Thank you for your hard work. We pursued and fought fiercely for days and nights. It's so majestic and majestic. It's so cruel."

Zhou Changfeng sat on a small bench, unscrewed the aluminum kettle and took a long sip, "It's too much praise. It's just a bunch of servants fighting. The Australian army is a little more difficult."

"The servant army is also a regular army after all. There are many British people in it. Besides, even tens of thousands of pigs are not that easy to deal with."

"Yes. By the way, has the heavy artillery unit landed ashore? How long will it take to arrive?" A staff officer next to him immediately clasped his fists and replied: "The [-]nd and [-]rd Field Heavy Artillery Brigades landed in Kuantan this morning and are still reorganizing. It is estimated that tomorrow afternoon Able to."

"Okay, it's time for a salvo." Zhou Changfeng stretched and said happily.

The Ming Army's current infantry division organization does not include six-inch, or 150mm, howitzers. Instead, it is independently organized into a field heavy artillery brigade to facilitate daily management and training, and is only temporarily assigned when necessary.

Because the military believes that artillery of this level is not usually used at all.

If it really needs to be used, it will definitely be a big war, and a big war must be carefully planned. It is impossible to send troops just when you say they are launched, so it is completely time to temporarily allocate field heavy artillery.

Each field heavy artillery brigade has two battalions of 36-gun howitzers and two 144-gun cannons, for a total of 36 112mm howitzers and [-] [-]mm cannons.

Ideally, a field heavy artillery brigade would be divided equally between two infantry divisions.

Of course, if necessary, it is not impossible to assign a brigade to a division.

This unique model allows the Ming Army's infantry divisions to actually possess quite ferocious firepower, which is a level higher than that of today's major powers, but there may be a lack of tacit understanding.

For example, the Second Field Heavy Artillery Brigade is organized in Wuhan, and most of the officers and soldiers are accustomed to speaking the Chu dialect, and the 38th Division is a Shanghai unit. You can imagine how troublesome it will be for the soldiers to communicate when they meet.

Although according to the training outline, theoretically every soldier should be able to speak Nanjing Mandarin, no one cares about it after the recruit training period.

Ever since, as time passed, everyone forgot about it again.

On that day, one after another Bailey GPE-2 heavy trucks dragged heavy large-caliber artillery and drove south along the road, indicating that the end of the defeated British Commonwealth soldiers was coming.

Singapore Island is 42km wide from east to west and 22km long from north to south. It is also known as the "Lion City". The urban area is in the southernmost part of the island, with a population of about 60.

Except there, the rest of the island is mostly covered with large rubber forests, coconut forests, and dense tropical jungles.

Although the war is getting closer and closer, the place is still as peaceful as a paradise.Dance halls, restaurants, and movie theaters were actually overcrowded, and all kinds of meat, eggs, milk, and wine were available for purchase without limit.

Even just four days ago, a Pan Am Boeing 314 large sealiner taking off from Los Angeles landed at Kallang Civil Airport, full of passengers from the United States - they were here for vacation.

Interestingly, local civilians are also obstructing the defense preparations of the British Commonwealth troops, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

A French manager insisted that the golf course was private property and the military was not allowed to enter. He asked the military to produce a government permit before digging field fortifications on the golf course. The officers and soldiers left angrily.

A Chinese boss refused to be requisitioned by the military for I-beams and steel plates from his building materials company's warehouse. As a result, he was arrested by the authorities on the pretext of "impeding national defense and being suspected of espionage."

The British authorities were worried that the bad war situation in the Malay Peninsula would cause panic among the citizens and adversely affect the defense, so they have been doing their best to conceal the war situation.

Previous air strikes were also described by official announcements as normal combat situations, and they claimed that the Far East Air Force would vigorously defend Singapore.

But as the saying goes, "Battle reports can lie, but the battle lines cannot." It didn't take long for the Singaporeans, no matter how stupid they were, to know the truth when they saw countless defeated soldiers withdrawing from the north.

hateful!How dare these officials deceive us!

Singapore Island and the Malay Peninsula are separated by the Strait of Johor, which is more than 1000 meters away. The causeway connecting the two sides is called the "Singapore-Johor Causeway". It was built more than ten years ago and is 20 meters wide.

Due to the limited fresh water production on the island, the water supply pipe connecting the two places also passes through it.

On March 3, the Far East Command issued a formal order requiring all rearguard units to also retreat to Singapore and blast the Johor-Singapore Causeway.

At dawn the next day, thousands of pounds of TNT exploded one after another. The explosions soared into the sky. After the smoke and dust dissipated, rolling seawater surged out from the large gap, officially separating the island and the peninsula.

But...how to solve the water supply problem?

Since the British had never thought that the northern defenses would collapse so quickly before this, most of the coastal defense guns in the Singapore Fortress were facing the sea to the southwest and southeast.

Now, they can only work overtime to dig field fortifications.

Due to the lack of sufficient labor, each army hopes to recruit or hire some civilians to help. However, the cost of labor in affluent Singapore is very expensive, and the authorities refuse to allocate funds.

In such a chaotic, bad, and disorderly situation, the defeated British Commonwealth soldiers faced a large-scale artillery attack by the Ming army.

On March 3, in the evening, the bloody sunset had already foreshadowed everything that would follow.

To the north, the Ming army on the peninsula was ready for all attacks, and the officers and soldiers who had replenished their ammunition were ready to go.

"The General Soldier sent a telegram to launch the general attack on time. All soldiers must be brave and fearless. The enemy is already frightened. Only by working hard can we easily win. I wish all the troops participating in the battle to gain supreme glory!"

"Long live!"

Countless fires suddenly burst out from artillery positions everywhere, and hundreds of artillery pieces of different calibers roared in unison.

Countless firepower covered the positions of the British, Indian and Australian troops on the other side of the strait, and tons of steel and explosives were poured onto the other side.

In an instant, almost half of the sky turned red from the explosion's flames, and the earth shook!
"Boom boom boom boom-"

The barbed wire fences and rough minefields in front of the enemy's positions were quickly completely shattered, mines were constantly detonated, and machine gun bunkers were blown down one after another.

A 144mm anti-personnel bomb hit a shelter, and more than a dozen British and Indian soldiers inside were buried alive.

At 20:15 in the evening, an advance group of more than 600 officers and soldiers from the Second Battalion of the Second Regiment of the First Marine Brigade boarded more than 70 landing craft.

"Brothers, the defeated generals on the opposite side have no fighting spirit at all, so feel free to be bold!"

"Ha ha ha ha--"

The roar of the field artillery group drowned out the sound of engines and paddling, and the landing craft rushed quickly to the other shore a thousand meters away in the night.

In a short while, two red and one yellow flares shot into the night sky that was flickering due to artillery fire.

(End of this chapter)