afterglow

Chapter 368: Stab him in the waist; the brave one wins when we meet on a narrow road!

After learning that the Dutch actually tried to surprise the Ming army landing at the Old Port at night, the Second Marine Brigade in Borneo planned to follow suit.

The main defensive forces deployed by the BDA coalition in Sulawesi are concentrated in Makassar, the largest port city in Sulawesi.

If one's whereabouts are discovered by enemy reconnaissance planes, then the enemy's heavily massed troops will naturally step up their alert, and may even send planes or submarines for a sneak attack.

In order to avoid accidents, both Yan Chenwu and the commander of the No. 20 [-]th Infantry Division agreed that surprise troops should be deployed.

In Balikpapan, the landing fleet to which they belonged went out to sea in a mighty manner in the afternoon and headed straight to the northeast, as if they were going to attack Manado.

The whereabouts of the Ming army were quickly discovered by the seaplanes of the Dutch-Indian Navy, but this fleet immediately accelerated its turn as soon as the sun set.

Then they turned straight south, heading straight for Makassar.

In order to prevent the slow freighters from slowing down the entire fleet, the fleet did not take them with them. The troops involved in the landing all took landing ships and destroyers, which allowed the fleet to reach Makassar overnight at a speed of 21 knots.

Because the action was hasty and there was no time to carefully identify the distribution of mines in the local waters, the destroyer Jimo hit a mine and sank.

However, such a sudden situation had the miraculous effect it should have - the already low morale of the Dutch and Indian troops were shocked and almost no effective resistance was organized.

Facing the fierce attack coordinated by the Ming Army's land, sea and air forces, the main force of more than 4 people in the 7000th Dutch-Indian Infantry Division was wiped out in a day and a half. The division commanders were all killed by Ming Army fighter jets during the retreat.

In this battle, only the Australian battalion fought well. The Second Marine Brigade and the 27th Division landed a total of more than [-] casualties, more than half of which were caused by them.

Subsequently, the [-]nd Battalion of the [-]th Engineering Brigade was also transported ashore by sea. For the first time, they used a prefabricated paved runway for emergency repair and construction.

The factory that received the order in a hurry did not use the "medium thickness steel plate + drilling" process to save time, but temporarily switched to the "thin steel plate + spot welded steel reinforcement" method.

In practical applications, engineering units reported that the quality of this thing was poor. Even if the thin steel plate had steel bars as reinforcements, it was still easy to bend and deform, and the welds generally fell off after continuous use.

The pilots are not used to it. They feel that the smooth steel plate is slippery and the landing distance is obviously longer than that of a land or concrete runway.

Although there were some problems, the airport, which was quickly repaired and constructed, still played a huge role.

In the air attack against the Surabaya Naval Base, the Ming Dynasty Naval Aviation once again proved the power of aircraft.

The Devonshire heavy cruiser sent by the British Royal Navy to participate in the defense of Java Island was naturally the most attacked because it was the largest and most eye-catching. She was hit by 6 aerial bombs and 3 torpedoes, and soon capsized at her berth. .

At this time, her boiler was still heating, and she sank in humiliation without being able to even move.

In addition, more than a dozen ships of various types were damaged and sunk. Almost the entire Surabaya Naval Base was shrouded in fire and smoke.

Although the Dutch-Indian army deployed excellent anti-aircraft weapons such as the Oerlikon 20mm anti-aircraft gun and the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun in Surabaya, the lack of efficient firing directors and training made the anti-aircraft firepower almost ineffective.

There is no doubt that in the early stages of the war without supporting fire control radar, efficient shooting director, and reasonable weapon matching levels, the spear was obviously stronger than the shield.

Although it was just a try at first, the effect of the prefabricated paved runway made both the Ming Dynasty Air Force and Navy quite satisfied, and they believed that it should be improved and promoted.

At that time, Zhou Changfeng only gave a rough description. These temporary products were basically decided by the manufacturer, so there must be omissions.

So when the matter is reported to the Ordnance Bureau, everything will be formalized again - first make improvements based on feedback, and then set production standards.

From the first to the fourth day of April, the remaining troops of the Third Army landed in Sumutala by sea one after another, and the [-]st Marine Brigade and [-]nd Regiment also captured the southernmost Lampung.

At this point, the BDA coalition forces have basically retreated to Java. The main troops and the defeated soldiers who have withdrawn have retreated together, assuming a posture of holding on to the end.

In the Old Port Colonial Administration Building, which has been converted into a headquarters, a long line of trucks was parked on the street at the entrance. Officers and soldiers coming and going were carrying radio stations, switches, sand tables, large-scale maps and other items inside.

Not long after the Third Army General Office officially settled in, Qiu Peisheng summoned his generals to discuss matters.

"...The known enemy numbers include the Dutch and Indian 20st, 13nd and 8th divisions, the British and Indian No. [-] Eighth Brigade, the British and Indian No. [-] Brigade, the Australian Eighth Division, and some militiamen. The total strength of the troops is nearly [-]. The specific number of fighter planes is unknown, but it is estimated that there are still [-]. As of this morning, the known information is generally the same."

The staff officer pointed at the sand table with his baton, and told the generals present the comprehensive intelligence. After speaking, he handed the slender wooden stick to Qiu Peisheng.

"The island of Java is the essence of all the Southeast Asian lands, with [-]% of the population and industry concentrated here, and the headquarters of the coalition forces is in the middle of the island." Qiu Peisheng clicked the baton in Bandung. This time, he could not expect to be like The battle was resolved quickly like before. "

"But it's not difficult to fight. In my humble opinion, we can also go straight to Huanglong." The commander of the [-]th Division muttered: "Land ashore in Karawang, then divide the troops into two groups, attack Bandung all the way, and cover its flanks all the way. , to stop the enemy forces coming from Batavia."

Upon hearing this, a rear admiral waved his hand directly, "This is definitely not possible, and there are no decent docks there. What will we do after we get ashore? Don't you want supplies?"

"Isn't it even possible for short-term supply? I remember you can use the artificial port, right?"

"..." The naval generals present were a little speechless. After a while, the rear admiral said helplessly: "It's very troublesome to prepare that thing. It can't be done easily."

Several people from the army and navy discussed this point with each other, and finally gave up the idea.

"Java is a dead place with no external reinforcements. Eating it is inevitable, but how to eat it, eat it well and eat it quickly is a science."

Qiu Peisheng stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly: "I foresee that the troops will be divided into three groups. The west group will attack Serang and then threaten Batavia; the middle group will attack Belibi, and the center can support the left and right sides; the east group will attack Nanwang, and the main attack will be Surabaya."

For some reason, Zhou Changfeng found that many Ming army generals liked to divide their troops at the campaign level. Some of them would still prefer this kind of deployment even when the division of troops was of little significance.

In his opinion, there will be no fundamental changes in history when the coalition forces that only lasted eight days against the Japanese. Although their weapons and equipment are more sophisticated, the people who use weapons are still people, and people are panicked. How can they possibly exert their power? What's the role?
Break one point and shock the whole line, so that these demoralized enemy troops can be easily forced to surrender.

Although Zhou Changfeng has not independently commanded a large corps in combat so far, he tends to concentrate his forces at the campaign level, using his local strength advantage to achieve a breakthrough that is fast and low-cost, and then waits for opportunities to expand the results.

This is theoretically based on the Lanchester equation commonly used in later generations. Although it is not completely reasonable, it has good reference significance and can be applied in many deductions.

As for the tactical level, Zhou Changfeng has rich combat experience and obvious personal style.

He likes to dispatch a large number of patrols and units to conduct multi-line penetrations and feint attacks, confuse the enemy's judgment with constant feints and feint attacks, and then implement pincer assaults and counterattacks in one or two directions.After everyone discussed it for a while, Qiu Peisheng generously let the generals present express their opinions.

After staring at the map and thinking for a while, Zhou Changfeng clasped his fists and said: "Commander, according to what you said, the enemy troops trapped on Java Island are only strong on the outside and weak on the inside. However, it may be inconvenient to land on multiple routes. The east route must be looked south. When we get ashore, the voyage is a bit long, and the supplies are not easily guaranteed."

"Well, tell me what you think."

"The west route remains unchanged, the east route is cancelled, the middle route is changed to landing at Cirebon, and then quickly advances to the southeast, captures Cilaza, and cuts off Java Island in the middle."

Everyone's eyes followed his gesture and fell on the map. The rear admiral reminded him: "The dock in Cirebon is not that good either. Such an advance cannot guarantee stable supply in the future."

"This is not a key defense area, there is no need to attack fortresses, and the ammunition consumption will not be large."

As he spoke, Zhou Changfeng, with a calm expression, stretched out his hand and pointed at the area south of Cirebon, "I see aerial reconnaissance shows that the Dutch have several military stations here and have accumulated a large amount of supplies. Even if they burn [-]% of them, the rest will still be there." More than enough.”

Ammunition cannot be used universally due to different weapon models, but gasoline and food are different.Since a large amount of ammunition will not be consumed, the captured enemy supplies will be enough to support the troops in continuous operations.

After listening to his explanation, the huge conference hall was silent for a few seconds, and then it was filled with the chatter of generals from the army, sea and air.

Everyone feels that this is indeed feasible, simple and neat, and is equivalent to a knife in the waist.

Qiu Peisheng stared at the sand table intently. After a while, he nodded slightly, stroking his beard and commented: "Cut it in two, so that the enemy can't see each other, and the formation will be in chaos. That's good."

The naval generals also felt that the three-pronged approach mentioned earlier was inappropriate - then they would have to allocate escort fleets, which would be too troublesome.

Finally, because everyone agreed with this strategy, the staff began to plan specific deployments.

But a piece of gossip made everyone a little confused, that is, the imperial court seemed to be hesitating whether to formally attack Java?

Because our side has repeatedly won battles and obtained the fruits of victory easily, and the United States has begun to mediate, some people in the Ming court have recently been considering whether to suspend the offensive and try diplomatic means to force the coalition forces trapped on Java Island to give up resistance. .

In this regard, both the Minister of War and the Grand Governor expressed firm opposition.

Qiu Peisheng was also very disdainful, "Haha, they can't make it happen, don't worry about it, just follow our pace."

The Third Army in the west is seriously preparing to attack Java Island, and the Fourth Army in the east is not to be outdone and is carefully preparing for response operations.

Sixth of April.

The floating tank battalion of the 38nd Marine Brigade and the [-]st Regiment and [-]st Battalion, and the [-]th Regiment of the [-]th Division, a total of [-] people, were divided into [-] landing ships and transport ships. Under the protection of the escort fleet, they set off from Makassar and headed straight to Coming from Bali.

After tasting the benefits of taking advantage of the night operation to surprise the enemy, the Fourth Army repeated its old tricks and planned to seize Bali in one fell swoop, thereby directly threatening Java Island and attracting the attention of the BDA coalition forces.

Bali is located to the east of Java Island, and the strait is only more than 600 meters wide. The two are almost close to each other.

Once Bali was captured, the Ming army could even land on small sampans - a true bathtub crossing the sea.

In the middle of the night, when the fleet, which maintained radio silence, approached Bali from the northeast, the leading destroyer Kirijo discovered a series of ship shadows.

The faint moonlight cast by the crescent moon made the visibility low, and there was a trace of mist on the dark sea. Only a few slender ship shadows were seen moving forward on the right side of the fleet.

Unable to break radio silence, Kirijo used light signals to relay the message to the other warships, but the distance between the two sides was rapidly closing.

Should we wait for the flagship to issue an order?
After hesitating for more than ten seconds, the captain of the Tongcheng made up his mind and ordered the searchlight to be turned on.

"Ding-dang——"

Two beams of light suddenly appeared, shooting straight at those dark shadows. The black shadows disappeared immediately, and the light beams made them appear suddenly - those were enemy warships!
The captain's eyes narrowed and he immediately shouted loudly: "One shot, two shots, fire flares! Cancel the silence!"

"Yes!!!"

"Boom! Boom!"

The Tongcheng destroyer is not an ordinary fleet destroyer. She is the fourth ship of the Jinghai-class super destroyer. It has a standard displacement of nearly 144 tons and is equipped with five single-mounted [-]mm naval guns.

Two large illumination bombs flew over the enemy warships, bursting out with dazzling light, illuminating an area of ​​several kilometers.

The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty couldn't help but raise their hands to cover their eyes, and then they were surprised to find that there were as many as twenty or thirty enemy ships in front of them? !
They did not know that they had collided with the BDA coalition fleet that was preparing to retreat to Darwin, Australia via the Lombok Strait.

Because they were unwilling to be bombed and sunk in the harbor by the Ming army in Surabaya, and they did not dare to engage in battle with the Ming army battleships cruising in the Java Sea, the Allied Naval Command decided to "transfer" - conserve its strength and evacuate to Australia at night.

But now that we have bumped into each other, what else is there to say?

The narrow road meets the brave to win!

"Forward four, maximum combat speed!"

"Shoot the lightning strike at [-], set the depth to five meters, fire all lightning volleys, let go!"

For a time, countless shells were fired at the enemy warships, and the anti-aircraft guns also lowered their muzzles and fired wildly. Each torpedo slipped into the sea like a fish.

20.8㎜, 128㎜, 144㎜, the dense artillery shells like a thunderstorm tore the black curtain into pieces!

Dozens of torpedoes launched by Ming destroyers sailed at high speed on the dark sea reflecting the light, heading straight for the enemy.

The destroyer Peter Hein of the Royal Netherlands Navy was the first to be hit by concentrated fire, and was hit by more than 5 shells in just [-] minutes.

Countless metal fragments flew around, the deck and superstructure were in flames, and the sailors covered in fire even screamed and jumped straight into the sea.

(End of this chapter)