Age of Rebirth

When more than a dozen jeeps and large trucks from the Australian Allied Command turned around a mountain ridge, more than 20 Japanese tanks, followed by thousands of Japanese soldiers, rushed to an open space in front of the cave. With a time difference of more than 30 minutes, the majestic U.S. Army Lieutenant General Bachlisman became a prisoner of the Japanese army.

The Japanese soldiers began to search, and soon found the cave. The ashes of papers that had just been burned, the radio station that had been blown up, and the broken things that were too late to clean up were all over the place. The whole cave was in a mess. With experience, he judged that this must be the location of a high-level headquarters of the Allied forces, at least a division-level headquarters, which meant that there were big fish nearby, so he immediately reported the situation to the division headquarters.

Coincidentally, General Ito Yansaburo happened to be in the direction of the division's advance. After listening to the report of the division commander, he became interested and went to the cave to check in person, including every scrap of paper with writing on it. However, look very carefully and carefully.

"Gentlemen, what is certain is that the Allied commander here has just left not long ago, and he is walking in a panic. From this, it can be seen that the Allied forces are already in utter disintegration (top) (dot) fiction, and immediately ordered the troops to stay nearby. Carry out a search and catch those who are alive!" General Ito ordered with confidence.

Then, he said to Chief of Staff Kawaguchi: "Mr. Kawaguchi, don't waste too much time on these allied troops that have lost their combat effectiveness. The strength of one regiment left by each division is enough. The rest of the main force should be dispatched immediately. To the northeast, the Allied forces outflank the past, an annihilation battle. What I want is an annihilation battle!"

Thanks to General Ito for this order, on the front line of the Flinders Mountains and the Barrier Mountains, the superior Japanese army was beaten to pieces.The Allied soldiers who had been encircled by the Japanese army were desperate at first. There were gaps everywhere in the line of defense. Countless Japanese soldiers rushed in like a rising tide. The Allied troops had long lost their original organizational structure. .Divided into countless pieces by the Japanese army, surrounded, waiting for their fate.Either captured by the Japanese army, or beaten to death!

For some unknown reason, most of the Japanese soldiers who surrounded him suddenly withdrew.This is for the Allied soldiers on the verge of death.Taking advantage of the dark night and the small space surrounded by the Japanese army, the Allied soldiers had been dispersed and gathered together automatically, in groups of three and two, to go to the roadless and distant Walking away from the sound of gunfire, they used various means to slip out of the encirclement of the Japanese army one after another.

And in the northeast direction.After nightfall, 10,000+ also formed Allied soldiers.Quietly left the position, and also retreated to the south, walking in a panic, not even having time to bury the bodies of the fallen comrades-in-arms, and discarding heavy equipment such as artillery. What they didn't know was that hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops The soldiers, like hungry wolves, rushed towards them ferociously.

As of the early morning of January 15, the [-] troops of the [-] Allied divisions in the northeast direction had already left the battlefield tens of kilometers away, while the Japanese troops on the opposite side did not realize at all that their enemy had already They slipped away, not because of the carelessness of the Japanese frontline commanders, but because for so many days, the headquarters did not order a high-intensity attack. What's more, the Allied troops who have been suppressed by the Imperial Japanese Army have not been placed on the Japanese army much. Commander's heart.

After the sky brightened, the Japanese artillery began to bombard the Allied positions at the same pace as before, and the bombardment lasted for more than an hour. Then, a large number of Japanese infantry began to charge. When I was in the position, I found that the Allied soldiers who were beaten so hard that they couldn't lift their heads disappeared without a trace, only empty trenches, and ammunition boxes and weapons and equipment that were too late to take away.

Walking onto the empty position, the commander of the Northeast Transfer of the Japanese Southwest Pacific Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General Okada Haruki, the commander of the Ninth Army, was dumbfounded at the time, and immediately reported the situation to the General Command of the Expeditionary Army. At this time, Hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops outflanking the Allied forces in northeastern Australia, the fastest vanguard, were still more than a day away from the scheduled battlefield.

After receiving the telegram from Lieutenant General Okada, General Ito Yanzaburo almost exploded his lungs. He was not able to encircle and annihilate 10,000+ Allied soldiers in the northeast of Australia, which made him very annoyed. In front of his subordinates, he lost face greatly and escaped 10,000+ allied soldiers. He is confident that in the subsequent battles, they will all be wiped out, and the whole of Australia is under his control!

General Ito, who felt ashamed of face, of course wanted to vent the evil fire in his heart, so Lieutenant General Okada, the commander of the Northeast battlefield, became the target of course. In addition to being dismissed, he was also imprisoned by General Ito The Gendarmerie.

As for this time, General Ito's decision to make a decisive battle has also been widely criticized by the senior officers of the dispatched army headquarters. Troops, quickly go south to attack. I am afraid that the flag of the Great Japanese Empire has already been planted on the land of southeastern Australia!

General Ito, who learned from the pain, finally gave up his original plan to encircle and wipe out 10,000+ soldiers of the Allied Forces in the northeastern region of Australia. In fact, it could not be carried out. The expected enemy had long since disappeared without a trace. He issued an order , The whole army rested for a day, and then, the troops were divided into six groups, each with nearly 20 troops, and went south quickly.

A day later, after regaining energy and physical strength, the Japanese soldiers who had been fully aroused by the prestige of victory and the murderous aura and bloodthirsty desire in their hearts followed closely the retreating Allied soldiers with a murderous aura soaring to the sky, as if Like a flood from the opening of the gate, it swooped towards the second line of defense of the Allied forces along the high mountains and narrow plains in northern Australia.

Lieutenant General Bachlismann, who was exhausted, led his headquarters personnel to retreat all the way to the south. The sound of guns and guns became farther and farther away, but no one felt safe. During the retreat, what they saw The situation made this US lieutenant general, who was full of confidence before, feel so heavy that he couldn't breathe.

It's miserable. Allied soldiers who have lost their organizational system can be seen everywhere. They walk on the rugged mountain road with dazed faces and ragged clothes. From time to time, they see the dead soldiers on the side of the road. I asked my companions to take me with me, but the allied soldiers passing by didn't seem to see it, and didn't even glance at the seriously injured comrade.

"The army is defeated like a mountain!" Lieutenant General Bachlisman sighed and thought, all he could do was to find some officers to take care of the wounded soldiers along the way. Lieutenant General Sman finally arrived at the second line of defense of the Allied Forces. At this time, General Fernades, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Australia, had already set up a headquarters in Berry City on the south bank of the Lachlan River.

Lieutenant General Bachlismann, with the staff of the headquarters, rushed to Berri non-stop. When the two met, they both felt as if they were separated from each other, but there was less estrangement. It was probably due to the same illness. Don't make fun of anyone when you are beaten in a mess!

For the next two days, Admiral Fernades was busy accommodating the withdrawn troops and adjusting the deployment of the second line of defense. He intended to let Lieutenant General Bachlisman, who had been beaten to death by the Japanese, rest. For a few days, although I seldom had a good impression of Americans, especially Lieutenant General MacArthur, I still admired Lieutenant General Bachlisman who took his position.

Not to mention that he was able to withdraw many troops safely under the fierce Japanese attack, but he ordered the Allied troops on the second line of defense to dig a large number of air-raid shelters and artillery-proof holes. The gun hole will become the biggest reliance against the Japanese army and the hole card for life.

While Admiral Fernades was busy without touching the ground, Lieutenant General Bachlisman, who was lying on the hospital bed, was bleeding from pain in his heart, watching the casualties of the frontline troops reported by the staff department.

There are 21 divisions of the Australian Allied Forces and nearly 45 troops on the defense lines in the southwestern and northeastern parts of Australia. A few days after the Japanese army launched the offensive, the soldiers who withdrew to the second line of defense were only more than 20 people, especially in the In the direction of the Flinders Mountains and the Barrier Mountains, nearly 30 troops were withdrawn, and less than 10 were withdrawn. Even the five divisions that had gone up for reinforcements were almost wiped out. The losses were all Elite troops.

More than 20 Allied soldiers fell on the first line of defense, and the loss was very heavy. This made Lieutenant General Bachlismann, who was in pain, added deep worries. The second line of defense The topographical conditions are obviously not comparable to the first line of defense. Only the Lachlan River, the Malambiji River and the Ashley River are natural barriers.

The military strength is also insufficient. Counting the withdrawn troops, the total strength is less than 30. Compared with the Japanese military strength, it is more than three to one. Moreover, it does not have an advantage in equipment, and there are still losses. Air supremacy, defending a front with a length of more than 800 kilometers,

After summarizing all aspects of the situation, the commanders and deputy commanders of the Australian Allied Forces both felt a deep sense of crisis. The reconnaissance troops sent out kept sending back bad news. Even in the city of Berry, they all felt that more than 100 The soldiers of the Ten Thousand Japanese Army came from the north with a murderous aura soaring to the sky.

Short of soldiers, artillery, and aircraft, the next battle will be difficult to fight. Lieutenant General Bachlissmann and General Fernades, after discussing with each other, decided to report the crisis situation on the Australian battlefield. to Allied HQ.

In the telegram, they jointly proposed that if there were not enough reinforcements and a large number of heavy equipment, especially the support of combat aircraft, the fall of Australia would be between February and March.

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