afterglow

Chapter 354 Chapter [-] Unstoppable!Strong fortresses often crumble from within

Pulau Ubin is located in the northeast of Singapore Island. It is a small island. The British built and deployed MkI 15-inch (381㎜) coastal defense guns here.

This battleship main gun-level behemoth faces the sea to the east to deny enemy ships trying to enter the Johor Strait.

However, its range of fire is limited and can only be fine-tuned within a small angle range. Therefore, facing the officers and soldiers of the [-]st Marine Brigade landing from the side and rear, the British soldiers operating the coastal defense artillery can be said to be helpless.

In addition to the coastal defense artillery, the other troops auxiliaryly guarding Pulau Ubin are a regiment (battalion) of the British-Indian 8th Infantry Division, with about 500 people.

Compared with the 9th Division, which was beaten and abandoned on the Eastern Front, the 8th Division, which fought and retreated from the Western Front, was in much better condition and was fully organized.

It seems that the Ming army attacking this time will fight slowly and steadily like the Ming army on the Western Front. The British non-commissioned officers and officers of this infantry battalion are relatively optimistic.

But little did they know that the Ming army that landed this time was not a good one - it was a well-trained and experienced Marine Brigade.

As soon as the officers and soldiers landed, they immediately gathered their troops and organized an attack.

In order to avoid the enemy's well-camouflaged anti-tank guns causing heavy damage to our own amphibious tanks, the officers and soldiers took the lead in landing and clearing out any possible ambush near the landing site.

They soon started a firefight with the British and Indian troops in the defense line. The flares were launched one after another, illuminating the northwest of Pulau Ubin with a pale light.

"Lie down! Cover up!"

"I'm going! Damn it! There's a bunker on the right front!"

"Medic—"

A soldier holding a rocket launcher lay prone on the ground, quickly crawled behind a relatively safe pile of rocks, and leaned out to aim and fire at the right time.

"boom!"

Bright tail flames erupted from the back of the launch tube. The distance of nearly 100 meters was almost the limit for the Sanqi-type A rocket launcher, and it had already passed the optimal range.

The rocket-propelled grenade landed on the bunker with a parabolic trajectory, and the heavy machine gun that was firing desperately suddenly went silent.

However, after a few seconds, it started spitting out tongues of fire again.

The soldier using the rocket launcher fired two more armor-piercing shells and an anti-explosive bomb, finally silencing the heavy machine gun.

"Dudu-du-"

Amidst the sharp sounds of suonas and whistles, hundreds of Marine infantry attacked the enemy in a sparse formation.

Amid the overwhelming shouts, the frightened British and Indian officers and soldiers faced an unstoppable torrent.

The Marine infantry fired fiercely with submachine guns, killing the bewildered enemies in the trenches.

"Calm down! Calm down! Hold your position!"

A British lieutenant was shouting loudly, but within a few seconds, a figure jumped into the trench. Before the lieutenant could react, he was stabbed to the core with a bayonet.

But as soon as this Ming army pacesetter pulled out his bayonet, he was knocked down by a big British corporal wielding an engineer shovel before he could turn around.

The engineer's shovel was raised high, and he was about to chop it down.

The sergeant squad leader who had just finished shooting a round and was changing the magazine did not hesitate to let go of his automatic gun. He pulled out his pistol with his backhand and fired five shots in a row.

"Fuck! I almost confessed!"

"Stop nagging, let's go, follow me."

The disadvantage of the lack of automatic weapons is clearly exposed in this kind of close combat. The British were aware of this problem when fighting on the Malay Peninsula a few days ago.

Facts have proved that officials often choose to stay put until they suffer a loss of blood, not to mention that the British have long paid less attention to the army than the Royal Navy.

At present, it seems that the British who have suffered a loss will definitely start equipping a large number of submachine guns earlier than originally scheduled.

As a yellow signal flare took off, it didn't take long for a dozen amphibious tanks to land leisurely.

They were accompanied by several landing craft, carrying four 80mm howitzers in a disassembled state.

With their support, the officers and soldiers of the unstoppable [-]st Marine Brigade began to clear out the enemy forces on Pulau Ubin.

Just half an hour later, a patrol of more than 50 people approached the Pulau Ubin Fort.

Under the night, the British soldiers operating the coastal defense guns couldn't believe that the Ming army had crushed the island's defense force so quickly.

"Damn! These cowardly Indus!"

"Blast the fort, immediately, get the explosives!"

However, as the hurried coastal defense artillerymen hurriedly arranged explosives and wires, the gunfire became louder and louder.

A few minutes later, as the last shot of the Enfield rifle fell silent, the wolf-like Ming army rushed in.

A British non-commissioned officer who tried to resist was shot to death in the blink of an eye, and dozens of bleeding holes appeared on his body in an instant.

"Potte sluts! Noisy! Oh Weiwei bites squirt!"

The soldiers of the Ming army spoke half-baked Chinglish - these were all collected in the booklet "Speaking in Spanish in the Battlefield".

This booklet specially printed for fighting in the Nanyang region is very thin, with only a few common phrases in total, divided into English and Dutch, with Chinese characters homophonic to express "Western language".

When the leading British captain first put down his pistol and raised his hands in surrender, other British people present also slowly put down their rifles and pistols one after another.

At this point, this powerful 381mm coastal defense gun was reduced to a trophy without even firing a shot.

The fleeing British and Indian troops scrambled to grab the few traffic boats and wanted to escape to the island of Singapore on the other side.

However, there was no order at all, so many people were squeezing around, and no one wanted to give in. There was even a fight.The transport boat packed with soldiers finally sailed out of the dock, but soon capsized due to severe overloading.

Landing on Pulau Ubin was actually a claim to the east and an attack on the west, because the main attack directions of the Ming army were actually northwest and due north.

A little later, the Second Marine Brigade began to carry out a night crossing to the northwest of Singapore Island, while the No. 30 Third Infantry Division forced a crossing due north.

It was obviously dark, but the non-stop artillery fire and non-stop flares illuminated the more than ten kilometers long front as bright as day!
According to the doctrine of landing operations, the first echelon of landing troops is to first establish a stable beachhead position to block possible enemy counterattacks.

Wait for the follow-up troops to land and have sufficient strength before launching an attack in depth.

By midnight, thousands of Ming troops had landed. The British-Indian 11th Infantry Division was already a tired division with low morale after the battle losses in the previous days. They did not dare to take the initiative to launch a counterattack.

But what are the similarities and differences between passively responding and waiting to die?Under the illumination of the flares, countless Ming infantrymen were seen coming in overwhelming numbers, and the British and Indian troops were terrified.

"Sir, we need support. At least one division of Chinese infantry is attacking us!"

The machine gunners who tried their best to resist were hysterically manipulating Vickers heavy machine guns to fire wildly, as if this was the only way to dispel the fear in their hearts!
However, this was more of a psychological effect, because basically all the Ming troops fell down immediately after encountering machine gun fire, and not many people were actually killed or injured.

The infantry artillery that accompanied the infantry in the attack was pushed very close to the enemy's position. Some bold and fearless artillery crew members even pushed it to less than 200 meters!

The Type 112 3900mm infantry gun has a short barrel and is light in weight. This short-barreled artillery with only eight times the diameter has a maximum range of only 760m and a total combat weight of [-]kg.

However, the infantry artillery itself is used to provide powerful close fire support for the infantry detachment. It does not pursue range, but only pursues flexibility and power.

The 112㎜ anti-explosive bomb is loaded with 2.07㎏ TNT and is so powerful that civil fortifications are vulnerable to the shells it fires.

The artillery crew members braved the dense bullets and controlled the infantry guns to fire at the raging machine gun bunkers. After a large ball of fire and deafening roar, the fortifications collapsed, and broken limbs and clothes fell down.

The Ming army easily smashed the first two lines of defense of the British-Indian 11th Division, but an encounter broke out with two battalions of the Australian 44th Infantry Brigade who came for reinforcements.

After a brief moment of surprise, both sides responded immediately, looking for all available terrain and objects around them as temporary bunkers, and then began a fierce exchange of fire.

The third battalion of the 33th Regiment of the 97rd Division, which was trying to outflank, ran into big trouble and ran into two companies of the 44th Brigade and some armored vehicles.

Although the other party also arrived in a hurry and had not had time to set up their positions, the presence of several Bren machine gun vehicles and Vickers armored vehicles still gave them an advantage.

The battalion commander and other officers who were superior actually led the troops to launch a frontal attack. They immediately encountered a fierce counterattack from these Australian troops.

With the support of mortars, three teams of about five to six hundred people launched an attack in three echelons!
"Wan Sheng!!!"

"Kill them all!"

People kept being knocked down by machine guns, but the red-eyed officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty continued to attack them one after another. It can be said that most of them had lost their minds because of the surge of blood and blood at this moment.

The shocking scene of the group charge frightened many Australian soldiers. As the distance got closer, the few thin-skinned armored vehicles were destroyed by rocket launchers and armor-piercing grenades, turning into blazing metal bonfires.

The Australian army, which numbered less than 300 people, was instantly overwhelmed by the surging crowd, and the two sides started a bloody hand-to-hand battle.

A large number of Australian soldiers were killed by submachine guns and automatic guns as soon as they met, and then they had to deal with those gleaming sword-shaped bayonets at a loss.

A few minutes of fighting destroyed the fighting spirit of these Australian troops, and they suffered heavy casualties. Only less than 70 of them were left.

The Ming infantry who chased them followed them all the way, and actually rushed directly into the defense line of the Australian 44th Brigade.

Because the enemy and we were mixed together and did not dare to fire, these Australian troops now had to fight the Ming army in their positions.

At 3:7 a.m. on March 4, the Australian army, which had failed to counterattack, was forced to abandon its position. The remaining defeated generals began to retreat to the rear, and the British and Indian troops along the way also fled.

By daybreak, part of the 43st Tank Brigade had landed, and a total of [-] Type [-] medium tanks from three teams quickly lined up.

They were assigned to two infantry units in the main attack directions and began to attack in depth.

The snowflakes of battle reports and requests for help made the Far East Command overwhelmed, and the desperate Arthur Ted smoked cigarettes one after another.

"Your Excellency? Your Excellency?" the adjutant said cautiously: "The inquiry message from London has arrived. What should we do?"

Arthur laughed at himself and said calmly: "According to the facts, the battle situation is very bad and morale is low, but we will not consider surrender for the time being. We will do everything we can to defend."

But the fact is that the entire Singapore Fortress is in chaos, and the balance of victory may never be reversed.

To the west, the British-Indian 11th Division and the Australian 44th Brigade have retreated and are currently relying on the New Zealand 5th Infantry Brigade for support.

To the north, the fully-manned Australian 6th Infantry Division suffered a large-scale attack by the Ming army. The intensity of the battle was extraordinary, but it probably would not last long.

A large number of defeated troops fled directly into the urban area of ​​Singapore, preferring to fight with the military police rather than return to the front line.

"Go back to the front lines immediately! You cowards!"

"To hell with Singapore! The British have given up here, why are we still fighting?"

The confused soldiers wandered around bars and dance halls, getting drunk, hoping to forget the fear caused by the war.

The drunken defeated soldiers began to vent their dissatisfaction by smashing, smashing, and looting, and criminal behavior abounded.

After being defeated, in order to maintain their poor self-esteem, they can only bully the civilians.

Because the Ming army has occupied Pulau Ubin and deployed artillery there to continuously bombard Seletar Air Force Base, the Far East Air Force has become a display and has been suppressed on the ground.

As a result, the Ming Air Force became more and more arrogant, bombing any exposed enemy targets morning and night.

Transport planes dropped leaflets over the city, claiming that the colonial authorities' connivance with the defeated troops had put local people in crisis and had also confiscated civilian guns. In order to resolve the people's dissatisfaction, the Ming army would airdrop guns into the city to help the people defend their lives and property. .

Starting that afternoon, transport planes continued to drop airdropped weapons boxes.

Each small airdrop box weighs 125kg and contains 10 Type 10 automatic guns, 30 Type [-] submachine guns, [-] grenades, and a large number of matching bullets.

Automatic guns copied from the Winchester M7907 are very cheap, and the Type [-] submachine gun using stamping technology is even cheaper.

Although both are cheap goods, they are both serious automatic weapons, which can be said to be of high quality and low price.

Led by the lurking agents of the Metropolitan Government, a group of brave overseas Chinese were temporarily organized to ambush the local military and police.

A group of military policemen were walking smoothly on the road, but were suddenly shot at by more than a dozen automatic weapons. The scene can be imagined.

The agents also taught the armed expatriates step-by-step how to make Molotov cocktails - just find some soda bottles and strips of cloth, and then some gasoline.

"Da da da—da da——"

"They're on the second floor!"

"Watch out! Take cover!"

Several colonial policemen were knocked down by a barrage of bullets before they could react. A Vickers armored vehicle in front was rotating its machine gun tower, but before it could turn around, four or five flaming glass bottles were thrown off.

The glass bottle broke with a crisp sound, followed by a "whoosh" sound, and as the gasoline flowed, flames instantly engulfed the entire armored vehicle!
For a time, gunfire erupted in the urban area of ​​Singapore, and there were exchanges of fire everywhere.

After reading the telegram sent back by the intelligence station, Chief Military Officer Qiu Peisheng couldn't help but praise: "Good boy, your move is cruel enough. Now the British are even more intolerable."

Zhou Changfeng, who was opposite him, smiled easily and said: "As the saying goes, strong cities are often captured from the inside. There are so many overseas Chinese in the area, it would be a pity not to coordinate the inside and outside."

(End of this chapter)