afterglow

Chapter 355: Focus on the heart!To save face and suffer the consequences
As of the early morning of March 3, as the main forces of the 10st Marine Brigade and the 38th Division came ashore one after another, the Australian 6th Infantry Division defending the northern part of the island was in danger.

The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (Battalion) received the order to "cooperate with the infantry in counterattack". The tank crews cursed and got into the remaining dozen tanks.

It started to rain heavily that morning, and the rain was so heavy that it seemed to wash away the smoke of war.

But by 11:32 noon, on a front line several kilometers long, nearly a thousand Australian soldiers launched a futile counterattack against the Ming army, which had stabilized its formation earlier.

The shelling continued one after another, and the falling high-explosive bombs were also mixed with some smoke bombs, but they were very sporadic here and there.

Six A9 cruise tanks and thirteen A10 cruise tanks were overwhelming at first. After two were destroyed, they overran the position of a team of the 38th Division, and then advanced in depth.

However, the Australian troops who followed up were entangled with the remaining Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers in the position, and were in a dilemma for a while.

If you are impatient, you will definitely suffer a lot in this kind of close combat. A few Thompson submachine guns are much less than the automatic weapons equipped by the opponent.

If the position is cleared steadily, the timeliness of the breakthrough will be lost, and the opponent can calmly dispatch reserves to reinforce.

This is also an interesting phenomenon in modern warfare - even if the defender suffers heavy casualties, the few remaining soldiers can still significantly delay the attacker's actions if they are determined.

The amount of rainfall has decreased, but the heavy rain still caused a lot of trouble to both parties.

The sound of gunshots and explosions penetrated the dense rain and reached the ears of everyone on this battlefield.

Our reinforcements will arrive soon, and these guys won't be rampant for long.

The soldiers of the Ming Army knew this very well, so they became even more excited. They were not afraid at all even if they fought on their own.

The blood flowing out will be diluted by the rain, but the rain cannot dilute the hot blood in the chest!

The dozens of remaining officers and soldiers of the 38th Division fought bravely in the heavy rain, completely mixed with the two companies of Australian troops.

Zhou Changfeng observed the battle situation on a hill on the north bank, and then ordered: "Carry out blocking fire in the middle area, don't let them add more troops."

"Yes!"

"Are the reserves in place? The tanks and infantry on the opposite side are out of touch. Hurry up and launch a counterattack!"

Overnight yesterday, the Army's [-]th Engineering Brigade successfully repaired the broken Johor-Singapore Causeway. Eight steel frames were erected at the fracture, then laid with steel plates and connected with bolts, allowing large units to move to the island more quickly. .

Facing an opponent who was looking for death without knowing what was going on, the field artillery group deployed on the other side of the Johor Strait showed no mercy. After the measurement was completed, it began to bombard the area between the Australian and Ming army positions with constant rapid fire.

Three companies of the Australian Army's 18th Brigade that tried to reinforce were devastated during the hurried march. 112mm anti-kill bombs dropped one after another and sent them flying.

The commander of D Company was killed on the spot - he was hit in the left eye by a high-speed fragment. The hot fragment finally emerged from the back of his head and got stuck in the lining of the helmet.

The rest of the Australian troops were not much better, and several teams were blown to pieces by artillery fire.

After the chaotic forward position, the 3rd Royal Tank Battalion ran into two teams of the [-]st Tank Brigade of the Ming Army who came for reinforcements.

In this way, 22 Ming Army medium tanks and [-] British cruise tanks started a tank battle that had not been seen for many days in the heavy rain.

Due to low visibility, the two sides were only 500 meters apart when the encounter broke out.

Since both sides can penetrate each other, the commander of the Ming Army's tank detachment does not intend to attack in a roundabout way - the only way is to gain a numerical advantage, use more to hit fewer, and concentrate firepower to fire more shells as quickly as possible!

Most Ming army tank crews chose to use explosive-piercing shells instead of hooded blunt-point armor-piercing shells with better armor-piercing effects.

Anyway, the former can guarantee breakdown at this distance, so naturally the one with better aftereffects will be given priority.

"Piercing explosive bombs, two shots!"

"Two rounds are enough to pierce explosive bombs!"

"put!"

The platoon leader's vehicle of each platoon first fired tracer bullets from the parallel machine gun to mark the designated target for fire at the subordinates, and then slowly stopped and opened fire.

Several rounds of 48mm armor-piercing explosive shells hit an A10 cruise tank in the middle. It easily penetrated the 30mm thick front armor and successfully penetrated its interior.

The fuse at the bottom of the bomb was triggered, and the loaded 21g TNT and Tetryl mixed explosive was detonated immediately.When detonating in a small vehicle body space, a small amount of explosives can also work extremely well.

The driver was killed on the spot, and several other people were also blown to pieces and were dying.

The armor-piercing projectiles fired by the British tank's 2-pounder gun had no charge. Although they disintegrated and heated up during the friction process of penetrating the armor, they produced a lot of hot metal debris, which may even ignite gasoline.

But it all depends on luck. At least the Ming army tank soldiers who were shot today were very lucky.

"Beautiful! Hit the target with one shot!"

"That car is useless, change it and aim at the one next to it!"

A few minutes of fighting determined the outcome. At the cost of three destroyed and five injured, Ming tanks destroyed eleven British tanks one after another.

Several of the wrecks turned into fireballs that were still burning under the heavy rain, with plumes of black smoke rising.

Four of the remaining eight tanks were destroyed during the retreat, and another one broke down due to mechanical failure. In the end, only three tanks barely escaped.

The Australian soldiers who were in a dilemma in the position were very confused and didn't know why the remaining Ming troops were still resisting fiercely.

But when they saw only three of their own tanks running away in panic, they realized that everything was in vain.

The brutal and bloody close-quarter battle left the Australian army with no hope of victory. No one could tell when they would be sieved by a hail of bullets and die inexplicably; while the British tank troops returned in defeat. The sight made them even more frightened.

The Australian officers and soldiers who had no intention of fighting began to retreat. The saying "a deserter can take away a squad, and a deserter from a class can take away a company" could not be more correct.

It took less than 2 minutes from the time a few people escaped to the time everyone fled.

The strong smell of blood still lingers in the fiercely fought position, but it will probably be diluted by the rain soon.

The bodies of some Australian soldiers were entangled with the bodies of Ming soldiers. Many of them still maintained the same posture as before their death. Damaged guns and bullet casings covered with mud could be seen everywhere.

This wasted counterattack did not make any substantial progress, and it did not even slow down the progress of the Ming army. Moreover, the casualties of the Australian army and the British army were actually greater than that of the Ming army.That afternoon, the Australian 6th Infantry Division could no longer withstand the onslaught from three directions and had to abandon its position and retreat south.

The 30th Division of the Army No. [-] took advantage of the victory to pursue the victory, while the [-]st Marine Brigade turned east and headed straight for Changi Naval Base.

The defeat of the ground forces almost opened the naval base to the Ming army, but the Royal Navy garrison units guarding the naval base still put up a brave resistance.

It's just that their tactical literacy is really not high, their courage is commendable, but their skills are not good, and their firepower coordination is disorganized.

Facing the coordinated attack of Marine infantry and tanks, they leveled the ship's Vickers .50 anti-aircraft machine gun to attack the Ming army tanks, but it was just a jingling song.

The only thing that worked was a temporarily moved 120mm naval gun. It successfully destroyed a Type [-] medium tank, but was destroyed by concentrated fire immediately after being exposed.

The officers and soldiers of the [-]st Marine Brigade quickly captured the port area, leaving only a few British troops hiding in Tibet still making sporadic resistance.

This large-scale and well-equipped naval base was built for more than ten years before it was completed in the autumn of last year. Many of the equipment can be said to be brand new.

Other people's things are just fragrant. If they are prostituted for free... they will be even more fragrant.

That night, the critical battle situation forced General John Wyrick, commander-in-chief of the BDA (British-Dutch-Australian) Triple Alliance forces in Batavia, to take a risk.

He took a transport plane and flew across the vast sea and landed at Kallang Civil Airport to personally inspect the current war situation.

However, Wyrick's arrival was actually meaningless. He did not bring a single soldier or ammunition, because London insisted that Singapore had sufficient weapons and ammunition, but simply lacked the courage and courage to persist in fighting.

In accordance with the spirit of the gentlemen of the Zhengmi Ziqi, John Weirick made a very high-sounding speech.

"...We must hold our ground. The reputation of the British Empire's army is in crisis...The Chinese have no strength advantage. If the fortress that was originally planned to be defended for three years falls in a week, it will be an empire that the sun never sets on." Eliminate the eternal shame!"

"...The war situation is very urgent. There is no need to worry about the strength of the troops and civilians now. The weakness of any soldiers and officers cannot be tolerated. Officers must stay with the soldiers. The military police should constantly capture deserters and bring them Rush back to the battlefield."

Afterwards, he hurriedly took a plane and left - because air supremacy had almost fallen into the hands of the Ming army, and he might not be able to leave until dawn.

The commander-in-chief of the BDA coalition forces' words that imply moral kidnapping are disgusting, but actually have a negative effect.

That night, in the headquarters of the Third Army Headquarters on the other side of the strait, a group of Ming Army generals were discussing the next offensive strategy.

"In my opinion, don't fight yet, cut off the water supply, let's wait for two days, watch the show, and then persuade them to surrender."

"Yes, it's really troublesome to chew hard like this."

"It is okay to cut off the water supply, but it cannot be cut off directly. It is best to combine it with other measures to achieve a more significant effect." Zhou Changfeng suggested.

So everyone present listened with interest to his explanation of a multi-pronged approach.

After hearing this, Qiu Peisheng couldn't help but laugh, pointed at him and said, "You really understand the principle of 'attacking the heart first'. That's great, let's do it like this!"

In Kuantan, a large number of leaflets were printed overnight and then put into propaganda bombs.

In the early morning of March 3, bombers loaded with these propaganda bombs dropped over the city of Singapore, and for a moment it was like a goddess scattering flowers.

There are only a few short words on the front of the flyer, which are intended to tell citizens that the Ming army is about to cut off the water supply and that they can receive as much water as they can before 7:30 - about half an hour left.

So hurried citizens opened the faucets of each house and brought all buckets, bottles, and cans of water. Long queues of water formed at public faucets and even fountains.

Civilians have enough to store a lot of water during this time, but the military obviously does not have so many faucets.

Singapore's water supply was interrupted when the Ming army exploded the pipeline that supplied water to Singapore Island through the Malay Peninsula.

To make matters worse, the remaining wells and some water sources were obviously unable to meet the consumption of tens of thousands of troops, which was another heavy blow to the morale of the Commonwealth troops.

During the day, the offensive on all fronts seemed to have stopped?

This gave the British Commonwealth troops, who had been dealing with the Ming army's attacks for days, a sigh of relief and barely a chance to breathe.

However, the good times did not last long. The Australian and British Indian soldiers soon discovered that there seemed to be many large trumpet-shaped objects on the opposite position, which looked like anti-aircraft listening devices.

The British and Indian troops left behind a variety of equipment when they retreated, including several anti-aircraft listening devices mounted on wheeled chassis.

The Ming Army's armory and engineers worked overnight, using microphones and these large speakers, to improvise several large surrender vehicles.

The loud sound was amplified and spread out through the loudspeaker, and the British, Indian and Australian officers and soldiers on the position could hear it clearly.

"There is no point in continuing to resist. Surrender is now the best choice. Think about your relatives. This place is so far away from home. Are you really willing to fight to defend it? What will happen to them when they receive the death notice? What kind of reaction?"

"You are not welcome here. The British's brutal rule makes the civilians here very disgusted. They only plunder resources, but you are the accomplices of this evil act. The only result of stubborn resistance is destruction. We can only guarantee surrender within 48 hours. people enjoy the treatment of prisoners of war."

After these words are played three times, a captured British, Australian, or Indu will be replaced and asked to "share" what happened after they were captured.

"...There is no hard labor, we just have to repair the craters on the road...In addition to normal food, we are also given rations of black tea and meat..."

A frustrated British lieutenant colonel ordered the artillery to fire at the loudspeakers, but the artillerymen hesitated and finally fired four shots randomly, but none of them hit.

The lieutenant colonel continued to order to fire, but the artillerymen refused to fire because "the maximum number of shots prescribed per day had been reached."

On this day, after sunset, the soldiers who were ready to move saw the opportunity and began to flee. They threw away their guns and ran towards the Ming army position opposite with their hands raised.

Overnight, nearly five people from many companies fled.

The so-called difference between officers and soldiers. This kind of propaganda method is effective for ordinary soldiers, but for officers and senior generals, another method must be used.

The "Capitulation Post" wrote very "sincerely": "...The failure of your army is due to the carelessness of British politicians and some pedantic and stubborn people in your military. Your performance is brave enough, and continuing to resist will only cause Greater casualties..."

Zhou Changfeng knew very well that these "British gentlemen" wanted to save face, so he specially found several steps for them.

Compared with the Japanese they faced in history, the British in today's dimension have a lower psychological threshold when surrendering to Akito - after all, they are not defeated by newly civilized natives, so they can live with dignity.

(End of this chapter)