Iron Cross

Chapter 591 Tiger of South Asia (10)

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Nimitz received a reply not long after he sent the telegram, and it was marked as urgent. He was startled, thinking that he had warned him too late, but he found out that it was from Mountbatten in Delhi, with an extremely pleading tone. Please ask the Pacific Fleet to support India. Everyone's expressions suddenly darkened. Now the British are begging the Pacific Fleet to defend India, the Australians are begging the fleet to defend Australia and New Zealand, and HSD hopes the fleet can win in the Central Pacific. Logically, it is completely impossible to have both.

What's even more terrible is that in terms of strength comparison, the Combined Fleet is now more powerful than the Pacific Fleet. If the two sides open up a head-on battle, Nimitz may not dare yet.

"There are too many targets and the tasks are too heavy. We must have our own ideas." He sighed, "The Marines continue to clear out the Tarawa defenders. The Indian direction is really powerless now."

On the 9th day after Horikichi led the combined fleet to leave, the landing fleet composed of Scheer and Yamashita Tomofumi also set off in a mighty manner. Contrary to the expectations of the British and Indian troops, the Japanese-German coalition did not choose to be closest to Ceylon, only separated by Bulgaria. After landing on the Indian mainland in the Strait of Ceylon, they landed in Madras, more than 400 kilometers away from the island of Ceylon.

Although Mikawa and Tsunoda's cover fleet only had two light aircraft carriers with a total carrying capacity of only 60 aircraft, the Japanese combat effectiveness doubled after the airport on Ceylon Island was put into use. Two army pilot regiments flew over with Stukas, Fw-190s, Bf-219s and other aircraft.

After the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet was actually completely annihilated, the coast of India was completely undefended. The Japanese army could attack as they wanted. Even 10,000-ton heavy cruisers such as Haguro and Takao were now unmatched by the British. ——Just as easily as the British opened the doors to many Asian countries with gunboats more than 100 years ago.

First, a large number of aircraft bombs washed the ground in the air, and then 203mm naval guns opened fire at close range. The officers and soldiers dispatched by India watched in stunned silence as the enemy positions fell into a sea of ​​fire. The expected resistance and counterattack did not happen at all. The landing battle started at 7 a.m. At one o'clock, when the No. 4 amphibious tank painted with the Iron Cross logo disembarked from the landing craft and climbed directly to the beachhead, the morale of the defenders had completely collapsed, and there was almost no organized resistance.

The officers and soldiers of the chariot brigade under Nagurakan complained that they were not satisfied. They worked hard from dawn to dusk for 10 days, hoping to use the new equipment to teach the British how to behave. Considering that they did not dare to say that they had a complete grasp of tactics and equipment, They consciously occupied the ranks of the second batch of landing troops. As a result, the first batch of German troops who went up directly controlled the situation. By the time the landing craft came back to meet the second wave of attack echelons, the British were all finished.

Scheer smiled and asked Yamashita Fengfumi if these troops should go directly to the dock to land. The Malayan Tigers who were watching the battle on the warship did not even react: "So soon? Is this the end?"

"If we charge ahead a little more, we can probably spend the night in Madras today."

"This is too rough."

"They are just some Indians, what strength do you expect them to have? If the Indians were really brave, they would not have been enslaved by the small British Empire for so long." Scheer shrugged, "The British army in North Africa is the most capable, but After we cut off the supply channel, the 300,000-strong 8th Army also surrendered. Now the British Empire is like a giant with its backbone broken. Without the continuous blood transfusion from the Americans, it would have been difficult to survive. "

Yamashita Fengfumi nodded: "Since I'm here, let's experience it once, just treat it as a drill." As a result, the tank brigade scheduled to land was the last unit to arrive in Madras City that day. Fortunately, it caught up. Encircled and annihilated the Madras garrison.

Lieutenant General Giffard, who was in charge of the defense of South India, was not unprepared for the Japanese landing. Not only did he locate the headquarters of the newly established 11th Army in Madras, he also prepared nearly 20,000 troops for a defensive battle. war.

Some time ago, he had been worried, fearing that the Japanese or German troops would knock on the door when he woke up at night. However, after Ceylon fell, he waited until the enemy troops did not come, and then waited again and again. He became a little suspicious, and tried to find a way to secretly send out the Royal Air Force. The plane went to Ceylon Island for reconnaissance, and the information obtained was that the Japanese army was conducting adaptive training. According to his thinking, this kind of training would not be effective for less than 3-6 months, so he relaxed a little and thought that he still had enough time. Delhi promised to reinforce him with three more brigades, which are currently in the process of moving south. Although it was still far from what he expected, there was at least some hope.

Horikichi's air raid on Perth a few days ago distracted his attention, causing him to mistakenly believe that the next stage of the Japanese operation should be in the direction of Australia and New Zealand. Although he continued to complain to Mountbatten in Delhi that there were insufficient troops and equipment, and it was difficult to defend. , but there was not a trace of luck in his heart, until he was shattered by today's sudden attack.

He knew that he had no fleet and that the coastal defense could not be a match for the enemy's naval guns, so he placed the defense focus about 30 kilometers from the coastline. According to his idea, he still had hope of fighting a good battle after being away from the threat of naval guns. He had an armored brigade equipped with Valentine and Sherman tanks. But he did not expect the Japanese air force to expand so much. When the classic German aircraft on the European battlefield, such as Stuka, Fw-190, and Bf-109, appeared, he suddenly felt that a disaster was coming.

Even more desperate was the result of the air battle. The few Royal Air Force squadrons that came to reinforce were either destroyed on the ground during the Japanese assault or shot down by Japanese pilots who were superior in quantity and quality in the air battle. From the Japanese assault to noon, in just 4 hours, Madras lost any fighter planes that could be used for sky defense.

When the German and Japanese troops landed at the dock and the armored forces continued to pour out of the transport ships, he suddenly realized how unrealistic it was to think that he could stop the opponent with just one armored brigade. If he had known this, he should have fought at the dock with the shore defenses. Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine in the world.

At 4 pm, the 4th Tank Division of the Japanese Army and the 9th Marine Brigade of the German Marine Corps launched an attack from the left and right wings with the dock as the core, preparing to encircle and annihilate the Madras defenders. After receiving the intelligence that the enemy had divided its forces, Giffard thought he had found an opportunity that was not an opportunity. He hoped that the only British Indian Army 6th Tank Brigade under his command could defeat one of the routes, defeat the enemy's morale, and then calmly organize a retreat.

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