Chapter 338: Seal the throat with one sword

Luzon del Norte, 30 km south of Porto Fernando and north of Lake Tubo.

In this narrow strip of land, part of the 2nd Division of the Imperial Marine Corps was completely compressed here.

Not all members of the 2nd Marine Division participated in the "Defend Freedom" military operation.

This time, it was the amphibious combat mixed brigade composed of its amphibious assault battalion, light armored reconnaissance battalion, combat engineer battalion, and Marine regiment that followed the "Empire" amphibious assault ship strike group to participate in the combat.

The commander was Jack Berger, then deputy commander of the 2nd Marine Division.

Originally, the 2nd Marine Division was used by Admiral James as a spearhead for the Fernando Landing Operation.

The 2nd Marine Division established a stable landing site, and then the three divisions of the Luson Marine Corps launched a strong attack, striving to capture the port of Fernando.

The port can then be used as a channel for troops and supplies, transporting five divisions of the Lu Song Army ashore, thus opening the Baguio defense line.

Who would have thought that after the 2nd Marine Division won the initial battle, they found that the enemy's resistance was not strong.

So they took the initiative to attack 10 kilometers in depth.

However, after the three divisions of Lu Song’s Marine Corps landed, they were unable to capture the port after a week of fierce fighting.

In desperation, James had to use the 2nd Marine Division to attack southward, trying to help Lu Song's army capture Port Fernando.

The beachhead for the amphibious landing was defended by a follow-up army division of Lu Song's army.

Unexpectedly, the 3rd Armored Division of the 3rd Army of the People's Army suddenly rushed out and easily annihilated Lu Songjun's division, cutting off the retreat of the 2nd Marine Division.

At the same time, a shore-to-ship missile brigade was quickly deployed, using the "Baihong 450" all-round missile with a range of 1 kilometers, forcing the "Carl" aircraft carrier strike group to retreat directly to a position of about 800 kilometers.

It was completely unable to effectively support the 2nd Marine Division and the Lu Song Army Marines on the shore.

James had no choice but to order the 2nd Marine Division to lead Lusong's army to break out to the Baguio defense line in the south.

As a result, while the 2nd Marine Division was fighting and retreating, the three Marine divisions of Lu Song's army were defeated by the People's Army's 3rd Army using wolf pack tactics and piecemeal attacks.

The remaining 2nd Marine Division ultimately failed to break through the Baguio defense line and was surrounded north of Tubo Lake.

After the imperial army was surrounded, they thought of using strong air force support to hold their ground and wait for reinforcements.

As a result, the People's Army not only has extremely powerful air defense missile forces, but the People's Army Air Force has also been established.

The sudden appearance of the F16-shaped fighter shocked the Empire's navy and air force.

If the number was not small, the Empire would definitely think that this was a Raptor C specially customized by Li Tang for Beilushong, just covered with an F16 shell.

In fact, in terms of technical performance, both the Raptor C and F16V are fourth-generation and a half fighters that have undergone avionics upgrades.

The 12 F16s previously seized by the People's Army were of this model.

However, they were all shot down in the surprise attack and sinking of the Imperial aircraft carrier.

During the preparation for the "Defend Freedom" military operation, the Lusong puppet government quickly passed the decision to purchase F16 fighter jets.

In a short period of time, the Empire also transferred 48 old F16C/D fighter jets and an F16 overhaul production line to the Lu Song pseudo-government.

This gave Li Tang an idea, and he directly established an F16 production line in Beilusong.

The plan was to use the copycat F16 to fight against the old F16, so as to quickly establish the air force of the Lusong People's Army.

Li Tang named this copycat F16 F16L, which means F16 Lusong version.

The Lusong People's Army uses the F16L as its main aircraft model, which makes people think that it was captured from the Lusong Army.

The ability to continue production in the future is a result of its own technological strength.

In this way, they can dump their weapons on the international arms market in the future and snatch some of the empire's orders.

For example, countries like Argentina in South America always foolishly want to buy second-hand F16s.

After Beilusong established this production line, the performance of F16L has even surpassed the latest F16, which is somewhat like going against the grain.

Of course, many parts cannot be produced in Beilusong.

This is certainly not a problem. Beilusong cannot produce many parts now, but it basically has assembly production lines for some technological products.

This is similar to a certain company that manufactures parts for Apple. It does not produce the components, but it manufactures Apple phones.

The Imperial Navy and Air Force felt unprecedentedly frustrated in this military operation.

In the past, the bombing lasted for dozens of days and basically pushed the people back to the pre-World War II era.

Only then will the ground troops be deployed, and then there will be a so-called zero-casualty exhibition match mode.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work this time.

The People's Army's air defense missile forces now have the final say in the sky over Northern Lusong.

It is simply impossible for the Imperial Navy and Air Force's carrier-based aircraft to carry out bombing within 12 nautical miles of the coastline.

We used out-of-area laser-guided bombs, but the distance was too far.

Unless the target is within 50 kilometers of the seashore, it will be impossible to hit it.

As for naval vessels, since the appearance of the People's Army's shore-to-ship missile force, all the empire's surface ships can only cruise 600 kilometers away from Lusong Island.

The Empire protested to the Giants through relevant channels, believing that the Giants had violated the regulations by selling missiles with a range of more than 300 kilometers.

However, the Giant stated that this was a sale of missiles produced by the Pagan United Government and had nothing to do with the Giant.

The Empire launched sanctions against Pagan at the UN, but was completely defeated by the numbers of the Covenant member states.

The plan was to pass it at the security meeting, but was sabotaged by Da Mao's vote against it.

Russia now really wants to buy that magical anti-ship missile from Bagan, but unfortunately Bagan is not willing to sell it.

This was of course Li Tang's decision. At present, Russia does not need this missile at all to suppress the old aristocratic Europe.

Then why should he strengthen Damao's power?
Besides, Russia's hypersonic missile technology is not bad, and it is more than enough to deal with the old nobles. Unless the Empire directly fights Russia, it will have to support Russia to maintain a balance.

Having said that, it was precisely because the empire could not gain any advantage in Beilusong that it suffered heavy casualties and wasted resources.

This is what made the elites in the White House determined to take advantage of the failure of "Defending Freedom" to announce a complete withdrawal of troops from the Asia-Pacific region.

It is also because of this that the Empire's navy and air force are also fully arming the Lusong Army, hoping that the Lusong Army can become stronger.

Anyway, I can give you the arms, but you have to go into battle on your own.

The same is true for Eastern Japan and the South Peninsula, where large quantities of arms are sold to these two countries.

At this time, the shipyards in East Japan had almost stopped accepting orders for civilian ships and turned entirely to building warships.

Although we cannot reach the level of 20 to 30 ships a year, we can still produce more than 10 ships a year.

By then, it would be possible to achieve Takehisa Nobuda's goal of rebuilding a more powerful task force in five years.

To get back to the point, it was precisely because the Imperial Navy and Air Force failed to gain air and sea supremacy on the battlefield that the 2nd Marine Division was annihilated by the People's Army after only holding out for a few days.

Of the 1.2-man army, only more than 5000 captured people survived.

Among the more than 5000 people, there were more than 3000 wounded soldiers. The 2nd Marine Division suffered a fierce battle.

The commander, Brigadier General Jack Berger, deputy commander of the 2nd Marine Division, was killed, becoming the highest-ranking imperial general killed in this operation.

Will Collins, the former Brigadier General and commander of the 25th Army Division, was the highest-ranking general captured.

The imperial army suffered a complete defeat in this ground combat.

The whole world saw the weakness of the empire, and war broke out again in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Mani wax, joint command.

James seemed to have aged overnight, with gray hair on his temples and a gloomy complexion.

When he came to Mani Wax, he never thought that this would be the outcome.

The war lasted just over two weeks, but his imperial ground forces were completely wiped out, and Lu Song's million-strong army also lost half.

How could this war be fought so miserably?

Last week, Jiaolou withdrew two of the three aircraft carrier fleets from Lusong.

Now only the USS Ronald aircraft carrier strike group is left there, supporting the east alone.

To the west is the strike group consisting of the USS Carl aircraft carrier and the USS Empire amphibious assault ship.

At the Manila Air Force Base, there are now 35 F48EXs from the Empire's 15th Air Wing deployed to carry out air strikes against northern Luson.

Although Lu Songjun’s 48 F16C/D fighter jets have been delivered, the pilots are still in training and naturally cannot take on combat missions.

In the joint command, the senior general sent by the Lu Song Army was Chief of the General Staff General Kata.

When the bad news about the Imperial Marine 2nd Division came, Kata was unable to comfort James.

Of course, James knew that the elites had already planned to withdraw, but as a general on the front line, he was still somewhat unwilling to accept it.

Unexpectedly, the enemy, the People's Army, gave him a fatal blow.

Now he has no cards to play, and the Imperial Army's complete withdrawal from Asia-Pacific will start from him.

He sighed deeply, feeling extremely tired.

James stood up and said to Admiral Kata, "I'll leave this to you. I need to go take a rest."

Kata wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded.

Watching General James stagger out of the command post.

At this moment, what was in front of him was a mess.

Lu Song's army is conscripting large numbers of able-bodied men on the southern islands to form new troops, preparing to build three lines of defense from north to south.

Hope to be able to stop the sharp edge of the People's Army.

Anyway, now that a large amount of arms from the Empire has been delivered in the form of the Lend-Lease Act, it should not be a problem to form a simple infantry division.

As for combat effectiveness, God knows.

In short, it is better to have soldiers than to have no soldiers.

"Report, urgent message from the Imperial 'Ronald' aircraft carrier strike group!"

Kata was stunned for a moment, then reached out to take the telegram and took a look.

The message above made him feel dizzy.

"My fleet was suddenly attacked by the People's Army Air Force. I request the headquarters to immediately send F35 fighter jets to reinforce us!"

Kata immediately said to his adjutant: "Quick, go and get General James back. He is needed to give the order for this matter."

The air force fighters sent out to fight were from the 35th Wing of the Imperial Air Force.

Although it was a joint command, Admiral James was able to command any Luzon Army unit.

But for Kata, who is also an admiral, it is impossible for him to issue orders from the joint command and command the imperial army.

Therefore, James must be invited back.

Kata was extremely anxious in the command center, fearing that the People's Army Air Force's fighter jets would succeed in their raid in such a short period of time.

Then the imperial military would lose another aircraft carrier near Lusong.

(End of this chapter)