Glorious Mission 1937

On June 1943, 6, under the protection of three aircraft carriers and more than ten other large warships, more than 20 large troop carriers set off from Wusongkou Naval Base, and their destination was Port Moresby in the Nanyang Territory. The 3 divisions of the Chinese Army have 40 people.

On June 6, under the command of General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the US-Philippines Army, and Wang Hansheng, the Supreme Commander of the Nanyang Theater Command, a joint military force composed of 20 US-Philippine divisions, 4 Australian divisions, 6 US divisions and 3 Chinese divisions *, with the cooperation of 4 fighter planes and more than 120 large and small ships, launched an attack on the Philippine island of Mindanao.At the same time, the first part of the Navy launched a fierce attack on the Japanese troops stationed in Singapore to contain the Japanese troops in Singapore.

While nearly 30 troops from China and the United States were counterattacking Japanese troops on islands in the South Pacific, the Allied forces made breakthroughs in the European battlefield.

From March to May 1943, on the North African battlefield, the British, American and French armies jointly attacked, taking advantage of the favorable opportunity when the German and Italian troops lacked supplies, launched a full-scale attack on Tunisia, trying to smash the German-Italian "Africa" ​​army group, Capture Tunisian territory, thereby driving all German troops out of North Africa.

The "Africa" ​​army group defending Tunisia governs the 5th German Tank Army and the 1st Italian Army, with a total of 17 divisions, including 7 German divisions, 10 Italian divisions, and two infantry brigades.

Before the United States, Britain and France launched the Tunisia campaign, the armies of Germany and Italy were actually at the end of their battles. Since Rommel was recalled to Berlin by Hitler, the situation of the North African Army has gone from bad to worse.In the battles before the outbreak of the Battle of Tianning Temple, its various corps suffered heavy losses in terms of personnel and technical equipment.

Due to the complete control of the British and American air forces and the complete control of the British and American navies in the Mediterranean, the German and Italian armies had great difficulties in supplying and replenishing personnel.Therefore, the North African Legion, which once defeated the American and British troops on the North African battlefield, has fallen, and the entire legion has only a small number of aircraft and tanks.

与之相反的是，盟军方面却是兵强马壮。英国亚历山大上将指挥的攻击集团下辖英第1、第8集团军和美第2军，共18个师另2个旅，盟国空军作战飞机3241架和盟国地中海海军，合计有战列舰3艘、巡洋舰8艘、驱逐舰40艘、扫雷舰23艘、14个小型战斗舰艇区舰队。

Admiral Eisenhower, commander-in-chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force, served as the commander-in-chief of the campaign. Compared with the German army, the Allied army not only had twice as many infantry, twice as many artillery, and three times as many tanks. Only German submarines posed a slight threat to the Allied forces.

After two months of hard work.The Allies finally won a decisive victory. In mid-May, Arnim led the rest of the German and Italian troops to surrender.After the Battle of Tunisia, the German-Italian "Africa" ​​Army Group was wiped out.The army group lost more than 5 people in Tunisia, of which about 30 were captured.Among them were 24 German troops.The Allies captured the entire North African coast of the Mediterranean.Thus ensuring the safety of the Mediterranean communication line.And created favorable conditions for attacking Sicily and the Apennine Peninsula.The British and American troops gained experience in conducting large-scale offensive campaigns to break through the enemy's prepared defenses in Tunisia.

According to the decision at the previous Casablanca Conference, the Allied forces would launch a counterattack against the Italian mainland shortly after the Battle of Tunisia.As China has made major breakthroughs in the Asian battlefield, this is a great stimulus to the United States, Britain and other countries strategically.According to the previous strategic vision of first Europe and then Asia, the Asian battlefield, especially the Chinese battlefield, will be the last place to end the war, but now the Chinese have come ahead of them.

Therefore, the allied countries believed that the time for counterattack had come. After discussion, the leaders of the United States and Britain decided to implement the Sicily landing immediately after the Tunisian campaign.

In mid-June 1943, at the same time when the Chinese and American armies launched attacks on the Philippines and Singapore, the Allied forces concentrated a large number of troops in the coastal ports of North Africa, preparing to implement the Sicily landing operation plan code-named "Husky".

负责实施该计划的是亚历山大将军指挥的第15集团军群，共计有英军第8集团军和美军第7集团军的13个师，其中包括10个步兵师、1个装甲师和两个空降师又3个独立旅，总兵力达47.8万人，作战飞机4000余架，战斗舰艇和辅助船只约3200艘。

Before the Allied landing, they implemented a deception plan code-named "Minced Meat".The body of what appears to be an Allied staff officer floats off the coast of Spain carrying documents related to the invasion of Sardinia and Greece.

After Hitler received the information sent by the German intelligence department, he made a wrong judgment on where the Allied forces might land, and transferred the main force of the German army to Sardinia and Greece.However, Marshal Kesselring, the commander-in-chief of the German South Line, still realized that the Allied forces were very likely to attack Sicily, so he sent the German Goering Armored Division and the 15th Armored Infantry Division to Sicily to strengthen the island's defenses. In June 1943, the Italian 6th Army defending Sicily had 6 Italian divisions and 9 German armored divisions, with a total strength of about 2, commanded by Italian general Guzzoni.

On June 1943, 6, in order to obtain an advance base for attacking Sicily, the Allied forces landed on Banterella Island between Sicily and North Africa and captured more than 11 Italian troops.Opened the prelude to the Battle of Sicily.

Two days later, the Italian troops on the two neighboring islands also laid down their weapons.The Allied forces carried out strategic bombing of Sicily and Calabria before the landing. The Allied forces dispatched a total of 4000 planes to bomb the airports and facilities on Sicily day and night for 3 weeks before the landing.

On July 1943, 7, the Allied forces gained air supremacy over Sicily and southern Italy, and 1 aircraft of the German-Italian Air Force withdrew to southern central Italy and Sardinia.

Subsequently, the Allied attack fleet set off from six ports in North Africa, including Oran and Algiers, and carried the troops to the island of Malta to join them.At the same time, the British Navy dispatched the "Invincible" and "Dreadnought" aircraft carriers, 6 battleships and other large warships to cover the attack fleet.The aircraft carrier also feinted towards Greece to confuse the enemy.

On July 1943, 7, the Allied fleet assembled on the east and west sides of the island of Malta.When preparing to land, the weather changed suddenly, the wind was howling, and the waves were raging, so the German and Italian troops relaxed their vigilance. In the early morning of the 9th, the airborne troops first launched an attack. 10 officers and soldiers from the US 82nd Airborne Division and the British 1st Airborne Division set off from Tunisia and flew to Sicily on 5400 transport planes and gliders.

At the same time, the 16 American and British landing forces commanded by Patton and Montgomery were divided into 3200 warships and transport ships, and under the cover of 1000 aircraft, they landed in the southwest and southeast of Sicily.The morale of the Italian troops on the coast was low.There was only weak resistance.until noon.Patton's and Montgomery's troops successfully boarded their respective target beaches and maintained an attacking posture.

The defenders of Sicily began to counterattack under the command of Lieutenant General Guzzoni of the Italian Army. The German 15th Armored Division was transferred from the west of the island to the east coast to prevent Montgomery's British 8th Army from moving north to Augusta; The armored infantry division and two Italian motorized infantry divisions launched a counterattack against Patton's US 2th Army.

at the same time.The German Air Force dispatched 481 aircraft to frequently bomb the Allied beachhead forces.Allied aircraft came to intercept.The result was a dogfight in which Allied anti-aircraft weapons on the ground fired indiscriminately.The fierce battle lasted for a day, and the German tanks almost advanced to less than 7 kilometers from the beachhead of the US Seventh Army.

While the Allies were attacking Sicily.The Chinese and American troops also captured Ke Island under the cover of a large number of warships, and carried out landing operations in Bataan.

The Japanese army sent two divisions to guard the beaches of Medan to prevent the Chinese and American coalition forces from landing.However, in the face of the powerful offensive of the Chinese and American troops, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties. By June 2, all the beachheads in southeastern Medan had been lost.

On the 28th, two Chinese airborne brigades carried out airborne operations in Davao City, Mindanao Island. Since the main force of the Japanese army was transferred to the coast for combat, there was only a mere infantry regiment in Davao City, and they were quickly captured by Chen Feng. The two elite airborne brigades in the department were killed.

Then the two brigades turned around and headed south, flanking the Japanese army with the army on the coast.After more than half a month of bitter fighting, the two master regiments of the Japanese army were wiped out in Mindanao.

In Sicily, on July 7, the U.S. captured Palermo without a fight and captured 20 Italian troops.At the same time, Montgomery was in trouble in two important directions. His 5.3th Army was blocked in Catania, and the 13th Army, which detoured westward, was also lingering in the Adrano area. 30 divisions are no match for 6 German divisions and some Italian units.

Seeing that Montgomery was hindered, Barton and Bradley decided to turn assists into the main attack, grab Messina before Montgomery, and wash away the taunts and curses of the British propaganda machine.After Bradley's U.S. 2nd Army captured Petralia in the north, it quickly turned around and marched eastward, heading straight for Messina along the North Coast Highway.

On August 8, the U.S. Army's "Big Red First Division" commanded by Allen launched an attack on Troina.At the beginning of the attack, Allen underestimated the strength and combat effectiveness of the German army, and suffered heavy casualties as a result.The German army defended Troina and fought desperately with the US army for 1 days before evacuating the city.

On August 8, the British Eighth Army finally captured Catania and began to advance towards Messina along the east coast road.The German army retreated while fighting in a planned way, crossing rivers and blowing up bridges along the way, and planted tens of thousands of landmines. On the 5th, the German and Italian troops retreated to the vicinity of Messina. Since the Allied forces did not plan and operate to cut off the Strait of Messina, 8 German troops and 10 Italian troops spent 4 days and 7 nights completing the Dunk to the Italian mainland. Ilk retreat.

On August 8, the Allied forces finally captured the entire territory of Sicily and knocked down the advance base for attacking Italy.In the Sicily landing campaign, the Allied forces suffered a total of 15 casualties, of which 22811 were killed, 5532 were wounded, and 14410 were missing.The German and Italian troops suffered 2869 casualties and 3.3 prisoners. In addition, they lost 13.2 tanks, 260 cannons, and 500 aircraft.

Although this battle failed to wipe out a large number of vital forces of the German army, it achieved the political purpose of forcing Italy to withdraw from the war.During the war, a coup took place in Italy. On July 7, Mussolini was arrested and stepped down. After his successor Badoglio came to power, he secretly contacted the allies to test the possibility of surrender. (To be continued..)