Age of Rebirth

Lieutenant General Barry Hessman waited for a group of people to walk for nearly ten hours on the rugged mountain road. When the sky was already dark, they arrived at the nearest Allied division headquarters. The position defended by the [-]rd Division of the Legion.

Brigadier General Chaddens, the commander of the third division, is very unfamiliar with the new Australian Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. He just received an order from the Allied Command in a telegram, saying that he is the Supreme Commander. It's changed, it's changed to an American, dare to be the one in front of you, the exhausted American lieutenant general with muddy boots, from the bottom of his heart, a British senior officer serving in the Australian Allied Forces, is very concerned about this personnel change , Most of them are holding a conflicting mood.

Therefore, for the arrival of the new commander, Brigadier General Chardons remained quite indifferent in his lukewarm attitude. Reporting the frontline battle situation was also a purely formulaic procedure. Lieutenant General Barry Hussman, from this The subordinates didn't get anything of value from their mouths, and they couldn't help but feel very disappointed.

After a simple dinner, Lieutenant General Barry Hessman, regardless of fatigue, inspected the positions of the Allied forces nearby, and what he saw was generally satisfactory to him. , In the defense system, no less thought was spent, along all the commanding heights on the south side of the Flinders Mountains, a fairly complete fortification belt, deep trenches, and traffic trenches extending in all directions were built.

All kinds of bunkers and bunkers, the arrangement of bright and dark firepower points is very ingenious. In front of the position is an open area, blocked by several barbed wires, and even if it is not an open area, it is artificially leveled.Seeing everything in front of him, Lieutenant General Barry Hessman felt very familiar, right.The typical battle method of World War I, trench confrontation, although MacArthur was very unimpressed, he had to admit that this annoying guy was right, "The British tactical thinking is still at the level of World War I!"

Such a defense system.Under the attack of the superior force of the Japanese, Lieutenant General Barry Hussman has been able to support his predecessor until now.He also admired it, but he felt that the defense system still lacked something very important, that is, the air-raid shelter.

Learned by being attacked by Japanese fighter jets during the day.He felt it more and more.In the first-line and second-line positions, the importance of digging air-raid shelters, and the fact that there is no air supremacy, cannot be changed in a short period of time, so take the most effective approach at the moment.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Barry Hussman said to Brigadier General Chadtons, the division commander who accompanied him to inspect the position: "Mr. Chadtons, I think that it is on your division's defensive position. A large number of air-raid shelters should be dug for use. Neutralize the Japanese air superiority. Best, order the soldiers to do it right away!"

His words were euphemistic enough, and he did not directly issue an order, but in a negotiating tone. However, the British who had a grudge did not buy it, and said directly: "Your Excellency, Commander, your proposal is very reasonable, but , my troops are about to withdraw to the second line of defense, I am ready to hand over the defense, I am afraid that your order cannot be carried out!"

Lieutenant General Barry Hirschman was speechless for a while, and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. However, he was relieved immediately. The Fifth Division of the American and Canadian Army he brought from the mainland of the United States will soon take over the defense here and reach the first position of the position. The first thing is to dig a sufficient number of air-raid shelters.

The accompanying Lieutenant General Wagner, Chief of Staff of the Australian Allied Command, was very disrespectful when he saw Brigadier General Chadstone's tone. It was a warning, but Brigadier General Chardons obviously didn't take it to heart, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders with disdain on his face!

Lieutenant General Barry Hessman did not see the small movements of the two subordinates. He climbed to the commanding heights of the position and looked north from here. There was hardly any fire, let alone the figure of the Japanese soldiers, but he felt with his soldier's intuition that there seemed to be some huge conspiracy hidden under this calm?

According to the division commander, Brigadier General Chattons, the previous Japanese army would launch small-scale attacks day and night, and the sound of guns and artillery on the front line had never stopped. However, just two days ago, the Japanese army suddenly became peaceful. , No more continuous harassment, the Allied soldiers on the front line also had a rare chance to catch their breath!

Abnormal, I can only use abnormal to explain the behavior of the Japanese, think of it, 10,000+ Japanese reinforcements have arrived in the Australian battlefield, and the Japanese military strength has almost reached 100 million. After the increase in military strength, the Japanese became quieter. , Is that Yanzaburo Ito preparing for a large-scale attack?

The sea breeze from the Pacific Ocean blew over, and Lieutenant General Barry Hessman couldn't help shivering, wrapped his military uniform tightly, and turned around to get off the commanding heights. After returning to the tent, he said to the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Wagnazer: " The chief of staff, in the name of the headquarters, immediately issued an order to the second-line troops. Since our army does not have air supremacy, in order to avoid huge casualties among soldiers, the headquarters ordered the ministries on the second line of defense to immediately dig air-raid shelters and air-raid shelters. Cannon hole!"

"In order to complete this order, the headquarters will send a supervision team to inspect and supervise the excavation of air-raid shelters and artillery holes. All second-line troops must excavate enough to accommodate two-thirds of the headquarters within three days. Anti-aircraft and artillery holes for soldiers above!"

Perhaps, this was just Lieutenant General Barry Hessman's brainstorm or an idea just to be on the safe side, but he would never have expected that this was the officer and soldier of the second-line army, mainly British and Australian soldiers, who was widely known. The order of criticism later became the last line of defense to save the Australian Allied Forces, a life-saving order that would not be broken by the Japanese army.

As a result, it also made Ito Yanzaburo take down the defense lines of the Allied Flinders Mountains and Barrier Mountains in one fell swoop, and the idea of ​​flattening the southeastern part of Australia became a bubble, turning a breakthrough battle into a tragic offensive and defensive battle .

After the order from the headquarters was issued, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers in the second line, while cursing their new commander, and under the supervision of the officer, reluctantly dug air-raid shelters and artillery holes in the rocky mountainous area. , the soldiers mocked themselves as groundhogs.

After three days of preparation, more than [-] Japanese soldiers have made all preparations before the attack, and various attack groups have entered the attack position. The United Air Force of the Southwest Pacific Expeditionary Force even captured A large number of Australian laborers repaired the field airport to the front line area.

At nine o'clock in the evening on January [-]th, General Genzaburo Ito issued a combat order to all the troops participating in the war. In the dark night, groups of Japanese soldiers quietly entered the attack starting point. After that, everything quieted down. More than [-] Japanese soldiers, like beasts lurking in the dark, stared fiercely ahead with bloody and fierce eyes, and could rush out at any time. The Allied forces on the opposite side of Surabaya The body of a soldier!

In a tent, the dim light of candles was still lit. Under the candlelight, Lieutenant General Barry Hussman was concentrating on reading all kinds of telegrams and battle reports. For some reason, there was always a kind of uneasiness in his heart. I feel that the defense of the frontline troops is in progress, and it will take two days at the earliest before the seven divisions I brought can completely take over the defense of the key areas.

"Don't let anything unexpected happen!" Lieutenant General Barry Hessman said to himself, and then he called in the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Wagner, and ordered: "Chief of staff, immediately convey my order, The ongoing troop handover defense operation will stop immediately, and all troops will enter the battle state!"

"Commander, are you worried that the Japanese will launch an attack tonight?" Chief of Staff Wagner asked in surprise.

Lieutenant General Barry Hessman took a deep breath, shook his head, and said uncertainly: "I can't be sure, but the anxiety in my heart tells me that some precautions are still necessary!"

At 45:[-] a.m. on January [-]th, General Ito Yanzaburo and all senior officers of the dispatched army headquarters gathered in the combat room with serious faces. Everyone looked at their watches without listening. General Ito Sitting upright on the chair, eyes slightly closed, holding the command knife in both hands, with a calm face, outside, the unheard "tick!" sound from the transmitter was extremely ear-piercing at this moment.

When the time came, Major General Yamaguchi, the chief of staff, walked quickly to General Ito and said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, the time to launch an attack is up!"

"Start!" General Ito opened his eyes suddenly, a fierce light flashed, and three words were highlighted dryly.

"Boom! Boom!—Boom!" In the quiet night sky, there was a sudden earth-shattering cannon sound, and the Japanese artillery, led by eight large-caliber howitzer brigades, took out all the artillery and fired at each assault direction. , and began to rain shells on the Allied positions, especially in the three important breakthrough directions, the density of Japanese artillery reached the highest density since the start of the war in the Australian battlefield.

The artillery shells with long tail flames swept across the night sky and smashed hard on the Allied positions. The flames shone brightly, illuminating the dark night sky. In the middle, they flew into the air. Although they were prepared, under the unprecedented intensive artillery fire of the Japanese army, the Allied soldiers on the defense lines of the Flinders Mountains and Barriel Mountains suffered a big loss at the beginning!

Barbed wire, bunkers and bunkers, one after another, mixed with the bodies of allied soldiers, flew into the air, turned into broken bricks and broken tiles, one by one hills, shrouded in flickering fire, shrouded In the smoke of the night sky.

The sound of the cannon exploded suddenly, Lieutenant General Barry Hussman, who had just passed by, suddenly woke up, and rushed out of the tent before he could put on his military uniform. He was shocked to see that his eyes were full of burning flames, and he heard it. It was a violent explosion that filled the eardrums.

(to be continued) (to be continued...)