afterglow

Chapter 660: Advance Directly; Operation
The confrontation on the Eastern Front lasted for a long time. The clash between the Ming and American armies led to an increasing improvement in the technical and tactical level of the battles around the Hawaiian Islands. In some aspects, it has reached or even surpassed the highest level during the major wars in history.

Zhou Changfeng had previously estimated that the Australian Corps' operation would not be easy, but the result was completely the opposite.

The offensive on the southern front went more smoothly than expected. Since the launch of Operation Purpura, the Australian Corps has been unstoppable.

The US-Australian coalition forces retreated day after day and actively destroyed the coastal railway during the retreat.

The more than 100,000 Ming troops participating in the battle advanced rapidly southward, encountering relatively fierce resistance only in Gladstone.

The smooth progress during this period was puzzling and disturbing - the advancement speed was approximately equal to the marching speed, and the casualties of the participating troops were ranked as landmines, air strikes, traffic accidents, and artillery fire.

Ding Yiping was originally optimistic about the battle situation, but it was so smooth that he had to be cautious. He ordered the troops to rest and regroup twice and verify the depth of the attack route.

On November 11, the advance troops of the Ming army arrived at the small town of Rockhampton and occupied it after a brief exchange of fire with the resistance organization. While looting the supplies that the US-Australian coalition forces had no time to destroy during their retreat as trophies, the soldiers held a ceremony to commemorate the breaking through the Tropic of Capricorn.

The Tropic of Capricorn is roughly at 23°26' south latitude, which is equivalent to the obliquity of the ecliptic and is the dividing line between the tropics and the southern temperate zone. The military reporters specially took a group of photos showing "the enemy's hasty retreat, abandoning their weapons and armor, while the royal army seized a dazzling array of spoils."

From October 10 to November 29, the Australian Corps marched over 11 kilometers in eight days and eight nights. The 7st Tank Brigade and the st Heavy Division were at the forefront, heading straight for Bundaberg.

Bundaberg is located more than 300 kilometers north of Brisbane. It is the gateway to Brisbane, an important city in the central east coast of Australia.

The fundamental reason for the previous large-scale retreat of the US-Australian coalition forces was insufficient manpower. Although on paper the US-Australian coalition forces had more than a dozen divisions and hundreds of thousands of troops, in reality they were unable to use all of them on the front line to block the enemy.

No one knows where the Ming army will choose to make a sudden landing. There are more than a dozen suitable landing sites on the west and east coasts of Australia.

It is impossible to abandon it. If there are leaks on all sides and they defend everywhere, then everywhere will be weak. The US-Australia coalition forces simply cannot allocate sufficient troops to defend every suitable landing point. Therefore, they can only choose a few of the most critical locations. This ties up three infantry divisions and five infantry brigades (regiments) for defense and cannot be used on the front battlefield.

The war situation was quite passive for the US-Australian coalition forces. This was the consequence of losing control of the sea - even if the Ming navy was completely stunned, it could still tie down a large number of enemies for its own army.

Now that the battle line has been drastically shrunk, General MacArthur believes that he can just try to hold on, and Australian public opinion will not allow the US-Australia coalition to continue to be so weak and powerless.

Prime Minister John Curtin strongly called for the full defense of Brisbane, one of Australia's major cities with a population of more than 300,000.

Once Brisbane fell, the core area of ​​southeastern Australia would be wide open and directly exposed to the aggressive Ming army.

Because the next big city was Sydney, nearly a thousand kilometers away, the US-Australia coalition forces were unable to organize effective resistance after losing Brisbane and could only retreat all the way to Sydney.

The US-Australia coalition forces assembled as many available troops as possible, and the battle sequence was:

联军第1集团军——美军第8师、美军第41师、澳军第3师、澳军第7师、澳军第1装甲旅（团），作战兵力计约11万人。

联军第4军——澳军第9师、澳军第10师、澳军第1装甲师、澳军第3炮兵旅（团）、澳军第22轻骑兵团（营），作战兵力计约7万人。

The combined land, sea and air combat forces and support personnel number approximately 30 men and 320 tanks.

In addition, about 310 fighter jets and 120 bombers were deployed, which is almost the limit of what the US-Australia coalition can currently dispatch. The remaining more than combat aircraft are mostly under inspection and maintenance.

For the first time in history, a battle involving hundreds of thousands of people broke out on this ancient continent. The two sides engaged in a rare and bloody battle in the fields and hills on both sides of the Great Dividing Range.

The blue sky and white clouds were torn by the tracer bullets fired by fighter jets in a dogfight. Some bombers crashed heavily in the mountains. Many of the rocks they smashed were hundreds of millions of years old and had been hidden in the mountains for a long time.

In order to seize the tactical position northwest of Bundaberg, the Ming army deployed an infantry division reinforced with a tank unit.

两军在此展开鏖战，攻防焦点336高地两昼夜之内易手四次。誓死保卫家园的澳军血战不退，澳军第3步兵师开赴前线参战72小时后便损失了40%的战斗员和28%的技术装备。

In response to Washington's inquiries, Marshal MacArthur wrote to the Senate:

"I feel sad for Australia. The soldiers have enough courage to fight the enemy, but they don't have enough numbers. I am confident that I can win one victory, two victories and more, but in the end I will be consumed by the infinite number of enemies..."

While the two sides were fighting on the Bundaberg front with rivers of blood flowing and darkness reigning, another fleet was approaching the other end of the Australian continent.

The best strategy would naturally be to try various methods to disrupt the enemy's strategic deployment, so the Governor-General's Office decided to land in southwestern Australia and capture Perth.

Only a few months had passed since the last Ming army detachment launched an air raid and shelling of the city, and the citizens of Perth waited anxiously for the mighty landing fleet.

This time it is not as simple as just air strikes on aircraft assembly plants, train stations, power plants and other facilities.

The ground forces accompanying the fleet included the 136th Infantry Division, the 17th Engineer Brigade, and the 3rd Marine Brigade. This force was numbered the 20th Army and its mission was to capture the largest port city in southwestern Australia.

Because the Ming Navy had to take care of both the western and eastern fronts, and had to send a detachment to support the Australian Corps, and a considerable number of warships were being repaired or maintained, it was unable to split the forces. Therefore, the landing fleet responsible for the attack on Perth also included the Lan Fang Defense Force Navy to strengthen its combat power.

This fleet included the Jianwu battleship, Zhanghe battleship, Lancangjiang light cruiser, Fengshenhua air defense cruiser, 4 escort aircraft carriers and 13 destroyers, as well as the Lan Fang Navy's flagship Dongwanlu heavy cruiser and several auxiliary ships.

The Dongwanlu was essentially a facade. When Lan Fang ordered it, the Navy Department of the Ministry of War thought it was unreasonable, but they did not force it.

This cruiser with a standard displacement of only 7400 tons has three 3mm twin-mounted main guns arranged in a front and rear two configuration, four single 192mm dual-purpose guns, and is powered by twelve oil-coal mixed boilers and four steam turbines. It has a maximum speed of 4 knots and the main armor belt is only 128mm thick.

The big countries obviously cannot understand the actual value of such a useless warship, but it is of great significance to small countries. Since its completion and delivery, the Dong Wanlu has always been the pride of the Lan Fang Navy, and the people also regard it as the mainstay of the important task of coastal defense.

The Royal Australian Navy had only some small auxiliary ships near Perth, which could not play any role except laying mines to hinder the landing of the Ming army.

The Ming army's carrier-based aircraft took off from the escort aircraft carrier and launched an attack on Perth. Soon, more than a dozen barges, armed fishing boats, and minelayers set out from the port and evacuated eastward.

Perth is a lonely big city. The nearest and slightly decent town is Port Augusta, which is more than 2,000 kilometers away. This shows that Australia is vast and sparsely populated.

"…Progress in Perth was smooth. The enemy retreated into the city to resist stubbornly. Our army landed in the north and south to form a pincer attack on the city. That's basically it."

"it is good."

Zhou Changfeng, who had just recovered from his injuries, naturally did not want to continue lying in bed, but due to the special care of the hospital, he could only take a walk under the care of his loved ones.

In the afternoon, several officers from the Intelligence Department of the Grand Governor's Office quietly arrived. They were dressed in ordinary clothes, like ordinary employees, and were quite low-key.

The leader took out a document bound together from several pages and handed it over, cupping his hands and whispering, "This is the general situation, Mr. Zhou. From now on, we can only leave it to fate."

Zhou Changfeng flipped through the pages carefully. After a long while, he nodded slightly and said calmly, "This time, I will believe in ghosts and gods more. I hope God will bless me."

The secret plan, codenamed only by the numbers "245", has been underway for a year and is aimed at sabotaging the US nuclear program.

The idle chess move that Zhou Changfeng made a few years ago saved a lot of trouble for this plan, and the ready-made legal companies and legal industries provided good protection.

The Intelligence Department of the Grand Governor's Office carefully selected more than seventy commandos, including some of European descent.

After receiving long professional training, these people entered the United States sporadically through South America as Asian immigrants or persecuted refugees, over a period of up to five months.

Some are from Japan, some are from Sumatra, some are from Myanmar, some are from Java...

Half of them moved into a secret base in Las Vegas, New Mexico. On the surface, it was just a small company called Umbrella Materials Company, mainly engaged in mining.

The other half moved into a secret base in Cookeville, Tennessee, a shell company called Tri-Union Mining Company, which mainly engaged in mining and forestry.

After a long period of investigation, the real situation gradually surfaced -

The enemy is carrying out a research and development program that is extremely costly and involves a considerable amount of manpower and material resources.

An obscure town in New Mexico conducts mostly theoretical research.

The Clinton Engineers plant in Tennessee performs most of the manufacturing work.

The nameless town is actually the Los Alamos base; the Clinton Engineer Factory is also a pseudonym, and it is actually the famous Oak Ridge Factory.

After a long period of reconnaissance, the 245th Action Plan was gradually perfected. The agents racked their brains and tried every means to formulate a sabotage action plan, although it still seemed extremely difficult at first glance.

The biggest problem is not whether they can infiltrate. This is actually quite easy to solve. There is always a loophole in a perfect plan. All they have to do is find it.

The main difficulty is that the factory is too large, with many factory buildings. A small team of only a few dozen people, even if each person carries a full load of explosives, can only destroy a small part, which will be of no help. It may take ten days or half a month to repair it.

Despite many difficulties and even the possibility of sacrificing lives in vain, no one thought of retreating. Instead, they were eager to try and turn the enemy's secret base upside down.

As the sun sets on the interstate in Tennessee…

A Chevrolet truck loaded with logs was driving slowly, and several workers were sitting on the pile of logs, chatting and smoking.

When it was completely dark, the truck approached the outskirts of Cookeville and finally drove into the warehouse of Tri-Union Mining Company.

This is one of the main strongholds of the 245 Plan. Dozens of people have gathered in the basement, and the ground is littered with various guns and bullets. There are also pieces of ammonium nitrate explosives wrapped in oil paper in the wooden boxes next to it.

It makes sense for mining companies to buy, store and use mining explosives, right?
A middle-aged man in greasy clothes walked over slowly and coughed lightly. He was Luo Jiecheng, the supervisor of the Intelligence Department of the Grand Governor's Office who was assigned to this station.

"Everyone, new information has arrived. This so-called factory is so secretive. They want to build a powerful bomb that can destroy a city in one blow. It's different from what we guessed before."

"Oh? Not poison gas?"

"This sounds more vicious than poison gas."

"It's really scary. You must not keep it."

Upon hearing the news, everyone discussed it in a low voice.

"Basically, nothing has changed. We still have to bomb what needs to be bombed, and the operation will proceed as usual." Luo Jiecheng sighed in a deep voice: "This is a life-or-death mission, it's difficult."

"Why say such things at this point? We've been waiting for the day when we can be heart-to-heart." Someone said indifferently.

The commander-in-chief of the commando team, Gao Huai, came from the Yiluansi. At that time, he volunteered to participate in the "extremely high-risk and top-secret operation."

He glanced at everyone present and said calmly, "Everything will be normal these few days. Stay alert and start when a new batch of stuff arrives."

During these days in mid-November, more thermite was being prepared at the secret site.

The commandos thought that the ammonium nitrate oil explosive was not powerful enough, so they put a lot of thought into it. Due to the strict rationing system, blasting equipment other than mining explosives could not be purchased at all. Two months ago, they only bought a little bit of Taian on the black market, so everyone could only rely on their own efforts to make aluminum thermite with aluminum powder and iron oxide powder.

After two and a half months of careful reconnaissance, the commandos have figured out the perimeter of the Oak Ridge base, including the terrain conditions and the enemy's patrol routes.

Oak Ridge is located in Tennessee. It is named after a deep valley here - the Black Oak Ridge Valley.

Before the Manhattan Project was launched, this place was just an uninhabited rural town. Since the beginning of last year, this place surrounded by rivers and mountains has become a key location for the nuclear project.

A large number of army engineering corps moved in, large factories and countless houses were built, the original residents of the town were forcibly relocated, and tens of thousands of workers, soldiers, and scientists gathered here.

The electromagnetic separation plant code-named Y-12 has been completed. A large number of electromagnets made using the silver reserves of the Ministry of Finance have been deployed. There are a total of about 6600 giant electromagnets up to 12 feet high, which have been put into trial operation in the past few days.

The gaseous diffusion plant code-named K-25 is still under construction and is expected to be completed in the turn of spring and summer next year, at which time the production of U235 will be further increased.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty's nuclear plan, the Manhattan Project, which took two routes at the same time, was progressing much slower.

【Distribution map of Manhattan Project bases throughout the United States. 】

(End of this chapter)