afterglow

Chapter 656: Autumn Offensive; If you hold on firmly, there will be a way
Will this passive defense prevent the enemy from coming?
What MacArthur said came true, and bad things soon befell the Australians.

Pang Lingqi was transferred back to the mainland to take over the post of Grand Commander, and Ding Yiping, who had been promoted to Lieutenant General not long ago, became the new commander of the Australian Corps.

Ding Yiping was born in 1997 in the Qianhusuo of Qinshui County, Shanxi Province. At that time, the Weisuo Army had not yet been reorganized into the Yian Army, and his father was the governor of the Qianhusuo. After graduating from Shuntian Military Academy, Ding Yiping served in the border army for a long time and personally experienced several medium-sized border conflicts. Later, he returned to the inland infantry division to serve.

When the war broke out, Ding Yiping was the commander of the 27th Army Division. In the Battle of Darwin, the 27th Division fought side by side with the 1st Marine Brigade, suffered heavy casualties, and eventually took the foothold to march into Australia.

After determining the situation between the enemy and us, Ding Yiping decided not to procrastinate any further and to attack as soon as possible.

The Ming army took the initiative to launch an offensive at the end of October. The two routes advancing simultaneously were:

To the east, two infantry divisions, a heavy infantry division, and a tank brigade set out from Townsville and advanced southward along the coastline.

To the west, three infantry divisions and one light infantry division set out from Charters Towers and advanced southward along the western foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

Charters Towers is more than 100 kilometers southwest of Townsville, separated by the Great Dividing Range. Although the troops on the east and west sides are only a few dozen kilometers apart on the map, they are completely unconnected due to the natural terrain barriers of the mountains.

The Ming army's participating forces reached 7 infantry divisions and 1 armored brigade, and the air force also dispatched about 1660 aircraft to provide support.

On the naval side, the A-190 Squadron was ordered to suppress the US-Australia coalition fleet and to contain a large number of ground forces. This fleet was centered on the modified fleet carrier Zahu, the battleship Jianwu, the battleship Yuanshu, and the special agent battleship Hongzhi, with some screen ships attached.

The Zuoqi was originally a medium-sized cruise ship, the Changqiu, operated by Pingkang Cruise Company. It has a standard displacement of 2.2 tons and a maximum speed of 21 knots. When the carrier-based aircraft are moored on the deck, there can be up to 48 aircraft - 20 carrier-based destroyers, 10 carrier-based torpedoes, 18 carrier-based bombers, and a total of 6 spare aircraft of three types.

The code name of the offensive operation was Purpura, and the US-Australian Joint Command called it the Autumn Offensive.

Australia's terrain means that large-scale military operations will be greatly restricted. It is the first time since the Ming army landed in Australia that more than 100,000 combat troops have been deployed at one time.

The inland is sparsely populated, vast and dry, almost like an uninhabited area; the eastern coastal area is too narrow, and it is often only a dozen kilometers from the seaside to the foot of the mountains.

The Ming army's massive offensive in the direction of Australia was extremely powerful, and heavy bomber units were also ordered to participate in the battle.

The Air Force's Second and Third Heavy Bombardment Squadrons were stationed at Townsville Airport, with a total of 36 Type (C) and Type (Z) heavy bombers deployed for strategic bombing.

On October 10, dozens of heavy bombers launched an air raid on Sydney, dropping 29 tons of bombs on arsenals, railway stations, and military camps, and losing 138 of their own aircraft.

On 11 November, the two units again joined forces to carry out an air raid on the more distant Melbourne, dropping 1 tons of bombs on various targets and losing five of their own aircraft.

During these days, Lithgow Arsenal, Australia's largest small arms manufacturer, was the hardest hit enterprise. Dozens of tons of aerial bombs razed two factory buildings to the ground, and more than a dozen other factory buildings were also damaged to varying degrees. The production of Enfield rifles and Bren light machine guns was once at a standstill.

皇家澳大利亚空军列装的飓风和喷火战斗机普遍装备很多挺.303（7.7㎜）机枪，密集的火力虽然可以撕碎轻装甲目标但是对付重型轰炸机就无能为力了，美援的P-40小鹰战斗机装备.50（12.7㎜）机枪也好不到哪去，唯有P-39飞蛇因为装备一门20㎜机炮而成了唯一希望。

However, the Flying Snake's high-altitude performance was extremely poor. After suffering losses, the Ming army's heavy bomber formation switched to dropping bombs at medium and high altitudes. The Flying Snake became very clumsy at such an altitude, and the interception window was fleeting.

As a last resort, a Hurricane fighter of the Royal Australian Air Force used a ramming tactic to knock down a Ming army heavy bomber. This high-risk and life-and-death style of fighting quickly spread, causing considerable losses to the two heavy bombing teams of the Ming army.

While the fighting on the Australian mainland was in full swing, the Hawaiian Corps was facing a serious threat.

Starting from November 11, with the signing of the order by Commander Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, the long-prepared US 1th Army officially began its counterattack.

Operation codename: Operation Alternating Current, also known as Operation AC.

Previously, through two weeks of electronic reconnaissance, the US military had roughly figured out the details of about 70% of the Ming army's radars, including start-up time, rotation time, frequency, wavelength, pulse width, etc.

At the suggestion of the British Army Steering Group, the U.S. Army Air Force developed a detailed electronic warfare plan, planning to paralyze the control and dispatch capabilities of the Ming Army Air Force through chaff and electronic jamming equipment.

① For radars that have been detected in detail, narrow-band targeting interference is used.

② For radars that are not detected in detail, wide-band blocking interference is used.

③ When our own air force attacks, use deception and interference to make a feint to the east and attack in the west.

④ At any time, as long as conditions permit, foil strips should be dropped continuously.

Both aiming jamming and blocking jamming belong to suppression jamming. As the name implies, the former concentrates forces for precise attacks, which is effective, but the working characteristics of the target radar must be clarified; the latter provides range coverage when the situation is unclear, which is ineffective.

Not long ago, the British Army used this multi-pronged electronic warfare method to severely damage the German air defense system, and even the latest Mannheim fire control radar was completely paralyzed.

The Germans generally installed clutter filters on their radars to deal with chaff, but these had little effect when faced with a multi-pronged attack.

The Germans had no good countermeasures after being bombed. The only way was to develop a higher-power variable-frequency radar - to "burn through" the interference signal through high-power violence, and to "jump out" of the interfered frequency band through frequency conversion technology.

This scene happened on the European battlefield two months ago, and now it is happening again on the Pacific battlefield two months later, except that the two sides have changed.

Since the use of chaff jammers achieved miraculous results at the beginning of the year, the Ming Air Force has been hurriedly installing filters based on the Doppler effect on its radars in batches, which can distinguish between the false signals of chaff and the real signals of aircraft.

However, faced with highly targeted active electronic interference, a single filter is extremely weak.

Because the bombers have a large internal space, the U.S. military converted the B-24 and B-25 into dedicated electronic warfare aircraft. A total of more than converted aircraft were shipped to the Big Island of Hawaii by sea.

The chaff strips were specially customized based on the detected radar characteristics of the Ming army. Four contractors across the United States worked overtime to produce 15 billion strips, about 620 tons, and will be able to provide 10 billion strips every month thereafter.

Dozens of warning radars and fire control radars deployed by the Ming army on Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, and Lanai all lost their effectiveness. Both the oscilloscopes and flat-screen displays were overwhelmed by the chaotic clutter, making it impossible to determine the real situation.

[Photo] "Sure enough, after using it on the Germans, they are now using it on us."

"This is weird. Is the filter component broken? It was working when I tried it before."

"Sir, what should we do?!"

The display screen is covered with light spots, and everyone knows that they are actually invalid noise.

The Ming army was well aware that the British and Americans, who were in collusion with each other, would definitely use jamming methods to suppress their own radar, so they were mentally prepared. However, the actual situation was far beyond their expectations.

With no other choice, the Ming army could only take the most primitive countermeasures - continuously sending fighter jets into the air for patrol, ensuring that there were fighter jets in the sky at all times, and using air defense listening devices and air defense observation posts to detect incoming enemy aircraft as early as possible.

This strategy had little effect, and the U.S. fighter fleet used new tactics developed in the past month to deal a heavy blow to the Hawaiian Ming Air Force.

This tactic is actually a comprehensive use of airborne radar and one-hit-and-breakaway. Fighters fight in squadrons, usually 10 to 12 P-51B/C Mustangs and 1 to 2 F6F Hellcats equipped with airborne radar. The formation flies at medium and high altitudes to avoid being discovered, and then detects the position of the Ming army fighters through airborne radar. Then the formation dives and attacks together, and immediately breaks away and climbs regardless of whether the opponent is shot down or not.

Because they were hard to defend against, Ming army fighter planes were often shot down by sudden strafing without any knowledge. In an air battle at the northern airport of Oahu on November 11, the Second Fighter Squadron of the Ming Air Force was wiped out. 3 Mustangs and 11 Hellcats shot down 2 Type 8G fighter planes without any loss of their own.

During this period, the US military also tried to use deception and jamming tactics, that is, deliberately stopping part of the jamming, and then creating a large number of false signals to create signs that many bombers were approaching in a certain direction. As a result, the Ming army fighter formation rushed over to intercept but found nothing.

从11月1日到11月7日，美军为期一个星期的空中攻势取得了显著成效，明军航空兵基本被压制得动弹不得，这期间有322架战斗机和130架轰炸机被击落或是击毁在地面上。

After the first phase of the operation was completed, the commander of the 7th Air Force, George Kenney, reported: "The enemy's air power has been suppressed. Now their fighters only dare to operate over the anti-aircraft artillery positions, and the threat is very small."

Immediately afterwards, the second phase of the operation was launched. This phase mainly targeted the Ming army's transportation lines, aiming to attack logistics support and reduce the combat effectiveness of tens of thousands of Ming troops on Maui.

The U.S. military completely imitated the offensive mine-laying tactics used by the Ming army at the beginning of the year, dropping a large number of aerial mines on Pearl Harbor and Honolulu, and Maalaea Bay on Maui was no exception.

A total of 1020 trigger mines and magnetic mines were laid in Maalaea Bay, and 250 experimental acoustic mines were added. These mines sank or damaged four surface ships and seven cargo ships within four days.

The low-altitude ricochet bombing advocated by Lieutenant General George Kenney has also been verified. Compared with the traditional horizontal bombing, the "skipping stone" ricochet attack by medium bombers at low altitude is quite effective, but it is only suitable for dealing with transport fleets.

The B-25 bombers carrying out ricochet bombing flew at a low altitude of 70 to 80 meters. The special bombs they dropped flew diagonally toward the sea ahead due to inertia. After touching the sea surface, they bounced off and continued to fly forward, repeating the cycle like pebbles skipping on water, and finally hit the side of the target, creating a huge hole and causing it to quickly take in water and sink.

But this means flying head-on towards the target ship, and inevitably being subjected to anti-aircraft fire. What should be done?
The American solution was simple and crude - fire suppression. They added more forward-firing firepower to the nose of the B-25 bomber, with as few as four and as many as six 12.7mm machine guns. There were even plans to add a 75mm cannon.

【Picture】

On the morning of November 11, a fleet of more than a dozen minesweepers, frigates, and transport ships was besieged by dozens of US military aircraft on its way to Maui.

The fierce battle lasted for a full forty minutes. The fleet suffered a devastating disaster. All ships except the Chaihu frigate were either sunk or damaged. More than 2,000 tons of supplies and a dozen of the latest long-barreled gun-equipped Type 40 medium tanks sank into the sea.

There is not much coolness in Hawaii in late autumn, but the sea breeze at night is indeed much fresher than in the hot summer.

"…It ended in vain, leaving behind dozens of corpses and five tanks. The enemy has suspended its attack on the Ding-4 defense zone, and the specific results are still being counted and investigated."

"Oh, I see."

"Supervisor, are you going out?"

"Get some fresh air."

Although the rear suffered heavy losses, the crisis had not yet spread to the Ming army on Maui.

Zhou Changfeng, feeling depressed, walked out of the command center. After walking a few dozen steps, he sat down on a chair made of empty ammunition boxes.

"Tsk! The intensity has been increased." He, who was always under the pressure of heavy burdens, lit a cigarette, felt the evening breeze with the salty smell of the sea blowing on his face, and relaxed for a moment.

Crisis emerges!

The most elite troops are trapped at the forefront of the confrontation between the two superpowers, in a dilemma, and now face the dilemma of losing air superiority and unsustainable logistics.

Although the First Landing Army, the 38th Heavy Infantry Division, and the 31st Light Infantry Division only have tens of thousands of people on paper, it is no exaggeration to say that these tens of thousands of people are as important to the Ming army as the Central Army Group of more than one million people is to the German army.

Although it seems to be a world of difference, the reality is that the destruction of the Center Army Group means that the German army has lost the ability to actively fight in the field, and the tens of thousands of people under his command also determine whether the Ming army has the ability to actively land and fight in the Pacific.

Although the other Marine brigades are not bad, they are far inferior to the First Landing Army in terms of the degree of contractization.

What made Zhou Changfeng depressed was that the US military officially sent its vassal troops to participate in the war. The 151st Infantry Division, composed mainly of Mexican volunteers, appeared on Maui Island and immediately engaged in offensive operations in dangerous areas.

明军前线官兵对这支仆从军部队评价不高，因为他们在11月9日进攻266高地的战斗中伤亡五百余人却无功而返，11月10日午夜发动的夜袭也在折损近百人后草率收场。

However, this is a bad signal. Tactically, it means that the US military can consume its own ammunition reserves more quickly. Strategically, it means that the resistance of the American people can be eased.

What made Zhou Changfeng feel at ease was that thanks to his foresight, he had accumulated one and a half standard amounts of ammunition and two standard amounts of food and supplies, which theoretically could be used by the troops to carry out medium-intensity combat for one and a half months, and they would not fall into a situation of shortage of ammunition and food once the transportation line was interrupted.

But there are obviously still many people in the court who are not clear about the current situation, and this is what he is most worried about - if we hold on firmly, will there be a way?

(End of this chapter)