Republic of China game

Page 555

General Ye Ting, commander-in-chief of the South Asian Army of the Communist International, stood on the island of the "Heilongjiang" aircraft carrier, looking at the endless Indian Ocean.The sea here seems surprisingly docile, and the azure ocean surface is like a huge piece of blue velvet, calm and peaceful without any ups and downs.The 100nd Task Force, consisting of more than 32 ships of various types, was gliding quietly on the sea. Ye Ting, who was standing on the island, could not even feel the ups and downs of the ships, as if he was standing on land.Perhaps the calm sea here indicates that the journey to liberate India will be smooth sailing this time?

According to intelligence, the British army has almost completely withdrawn from India. Only Ceylon, the Maldives Islands and Mumbai still have about 120 British troops.In other parts of India, there are only more than [-] million puppet troops, the so-called British and Indian troops, defending.This kind of force is composed of a few British officers and a large number of hired Indian civilians. The level of training and equipment is extremely poor, and the morale is not worth mentioning.In the previous battles of Hong Kong and Singapore, these British and Indian troops only resisted symbolically, and then disarmed and surrendered so-so!And these Indian soldiers who surrendered to the British and Indian troops have now been handed over to the CCP. After some ideological education, these people will be trained as the backbone of the Red Army in India... I believe it will not take long. More working people of all races in India will join their ranks.

"Mr. Ye! Commander Zhang, please go to the command center for a meeting and deploy the landing operations." A naval staff officer of the National Defense Forces came behind Ye Ting at this time, saluted as a routine, and said loudly.

"Okay, I'll go now." Ye Ting looked at the calm blue sea again, took a deep breath of the salty air, and then followed the staff officer to the command center on the second floor of the island.

In the command center, there are already many senior generals of the National Defense Forces and the Communist Army, all of whom are polite and smiling, pointing around a large electric sand table and talking in low voices.Seeing Ye Ting come in, the guard standing guard at the door shouted: "Commander Ye is here!" Everyone, regardless of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, also stood up and saluted.Although Ye Ting's military rank in the National Defense Forces is the same as that of Zhang Yiming, he is a general, but he is an old man after all, and he once served as Sun Yat-sen's guard battalion commander.In the National Defense Forces, which likes to discuss seniority, they are quite respected.

"Mr. Ye," Zhang Yiming said solemnly to Ye Ting after saluting, "This is the landing plan drawn up by our Task Force 32 Command." Having said that, he paused, looked up at Ye Ting's face, and then Dao: "According to the combat regulations of the National Defense Forces, the commander of the land and sea joint landing operations should be the supreme commander of the navy, so..."

Hearing this, several communist army officers in blue-gray uniforms couldn't help but frowned, and just about to say something, Ye Ting smiled and said first: "Then follow the rules, our army is now the navy's Shells, wherever you shoot us, we will land there!"

"In this case, the younger generation has the courage to draw up a battle plan, and I ask Mr. Ye to have a look at it." As he spoke, he took the battle plan from the staff officer beside him, and handed it to Ye Ting with both hands.

"According to the plan, the landing operation will be launched at 1939:4 am on April 17, 7, in the Balasore Bay area of ​​the Bay of Bengal. According to reconnaissance, there are no British and Indian troops in the Balasore Bay area, so the landing will be very difficult. It went well. However, there is no good port facilities there, so your army needs to quickly go north to capture Calcutta after landing. It is the third largest city in India and has good port facilities. The transport fleet can dock there to complete the unloading of supplies .In addition, there are a large number of ships on the Hooghly River fleeing the fire of war. If you can capture them, you can use them to march along the Ganges..."

Chapter 0847 The Sunset of the Old Empire ([-]) Missing

1939年4月17日，中午12点40分。

Joseph Bonaparte Bay, 180 nautical miles northwest of Darwin Port, is the flagship of the Nanyang Fleet, the heavy aircraft carrier Taiwan.

Zhao Zheng looked up at the two Min 25 seaplanes flying back from the southeast in the sky. This large twin-engine seaplane with two 2-horsepower BMW-1400 engines was built by a South China Sea seaplane with a standard displacement of 801 tons. The class seaplane carrier is equipped with a huge range, can also mount depth charges for anti-submarine warfare, and is also equipped with the latest airborne radar system.It is currently the most advanced water reconnaissance aircraft with the largest range in the Chinese Navy.It is also one of the reliance on the Nanyang Fleet's decisive victory over the west coast of Australia this time.The Nanhai and Donghai seaplane carriers each carried 10000 Min-10s, enough to completely cover the sea area with a radius of hundreds of nautical miles.Not to mention the large Australian fleet, even a small fishing boat can't escape their search!

However, 20 Min 25 seaplanes took turns to take off, almost covering the entire Timor Sea and Joseph Bonaparte Bay, but there was no trace of a British warship!The entire Australian fleet has now left Darwin Port, and its whereabouts are unknown!

After seeing two Min-25s slowly land on the sea beside the seaplane carrier, Zhao Zhengcai looked back and asked the staff around him, "Have you not found any traces of the British fleet?"

"No." Nanyang Fleet Chief of Staff Meng Hailong shook his head: "Min-25 seaplanes have searched the entire Timor Sea, even the western part of the Arafura Sea, but they have not found Cunningham's Australian fleet. It seems that they have left the west coast of Australia and retreated to Port Jackson on the east coast of Australia to hold out."

"No!" Zhao Zheng thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "The total strength of the entire British Australia-New Zealand theater is only over 60. , the Bismarck Islands, and the Solomon Islands are simply impossible to defend. If the Australian Grand Fleet hides in Port Jackson as an existing fleet, then the entire Western Australia may be handed over to others."

"That's right, if we wait until all of General An's 65 troops go to Australia, and Cunningham doesn't make his debut, Wavell won't be able to handle it even if he has three heads and six arms."

"So, Cunningham will not give up the fight for sea dominance on the west coast of Australia, unless he doesn't want Australia anymore!" A cold light flashed in Zhao Zheng's eyes, he walked to the chart, looked at it for a while, and said to himself: "The British should have deployed scout submarines in the Sunda Strait, and they should have spotted us when we passed through the Sunda Strait, so that Cunningham should know that we don't have many transport ships in our fleet. That is, he can be sure that we are coming to Western Australia He didn’t land, but came to fight his fleet! His capital is small, so it’s understandable that he didn’t dare to fight us on the west coast of Australia. But it’s definitely not acceptable to hide in Port Jackson as a fleet..."

"Commander, do you think this Cunningham will want to repeat his old tricks and have another battle at the Truk Atoll?" Meng Hailong hesitated for a while, pointing to Singapore and said: "Will he bring the fleet Sneak into the Banda Sea, go through the Flores Sea, the Java Sea, and then attack Singapore when we are not prepared?"

"This...is also possible!" Zhao Zheng thought for a while, then turned his head and told the communications staff: "Order the Singapore base to increase its combat readiness to the highest level, and request the Ministry of the Navy to send another night combat aviation regiment to Singapore."

"Sir, do you want to inform the Japanese side to pay attention to the search..." the communications staff reminded.

"No need." Zhao Zheng waved his hand, "The Japanese are not so careless, they either have already discovered the British, or the British fleet did not go to the Lanyin waters at all."

"Commander, if they didn't go to the Lanyin waters, they might have used last night to quietly pass through the Timor Sea, pass by us and enter the Indian Ocean." Meng Hailong analyzed.

"That's a little troublesome." Zhao Zheng lightly tapped the chart platform, thinking: "The center of Australia is in the southeast of the Australian mainland in New South Wales and Victoria. If we want to seize the whole world in the shortest time Australia, then we must land in the southwest corner of Australia and seize the Perth port there as the basis. Then a large force will land there, and then move eastward along the coastline. We can use sea supplies, and there is also a railway available, and the distance is also recent……"

Chief of Staff Meng Hailong's face also became serious, "If Cunningham's fleet is lurking in the deep sea of ​​the Indian Ocean to the west or southwest of Australia, then the Port of Perth and the entire logistics transportation line will be hit at any time!"

"Yes! Cunningham's five motherships (because the Japanese side concealed the results of the battle, and the Chinese side didn't know that the Ark Royal and the Indomitable were severely damaged) would definitely not be our opponents if they had a serious fight with us." Zhao Zheng nodded. "But they want to hide in the Indian Ocean and play hide-and-seek with us, and if they find the right opportunity to bite, that's more than enough." At this point, Zhao Zheng suddenly thought of something, and he took a heavy shot of the chart platform and called out: "Not good! Cunningham may have gone to the vicinity of India... The Western Fleet has only four motherships in total! Three of them are converted from merchant ships and can only carry 5 aircraft. The four motherships can only carry 50 ships. The British There are six motherships, at least 230 ships...and Chen Hualong (Chen Si) has to protect more than 350 transport ships!"

……

From the Jaffna Peninsula in the distance, there was a faint sound of cannons. After dozens of nautical miles, it sounded like dull rolling thunder.That was the armored cruiser unit of the 31st Task Force shelling the British stronghold on the Jaffna Peninsula to attract the attention of the British army. Eighteen 18mm naval guns and 280 16mm naval guns have been roaring since last night, pouring hundreds of tons of ammunition onto the British defense positions outside Jaffna, attracting the attention of the British army on Ceylon Island past.And the main force of the 203st Task Force, as well as the huge transport fleet carrying three infantry corps, have quietly arrived on the ocean off Cordiar Bay.

This is the largest landing operation ever organized by the Chinese National Defense Forces, with more than 100 transport ships, as well as light cruisers, destroyers, and two mountain-like huge aircraft carriers covering them.On the surface of the azure Indian Ocean, a mighty formation came, and finally at 4:17 pm on April 1, it arrived ahead of schedule and launched a new offensive.The entire fleet began to rearrange their lineup. A dozen landing ships and troop carriers originally escorted by warships drove to the front line under the escort of destroyers, and slowly sailed towards the shallow water area.In front of them, more than a dozen small boats that were lowered by transport ships and dragged fishing nets started to clear mines on the channel near the bay.The more than one hundred transport ships and two motherships behind were still walking in the shape of a zigzag on the sea under the escort of light cruisers and destroyers to avoid possible submarines.

About an hour later, the ships near the coast sent a signal to the flagship "Zhongshan" that "landing can begin".

"Brother Shoushan, it's up to you now." Chen Si glanced at the report sent by the staff officer, and said with a smile: "Seaplane reconnaissance found that British fortifications were found in Trincomalee. The artillery positions, and the rest of the entire Cordial Bay are empty, and it seems that our shelling of the Jaffna peninsula has had some effect."

The supreme commander in charge of land operations on Ceylon Island is General Hu Zongnan, the commander of the First Army Group Army. He took the report from Chen Si and read it carefully, then turned to Li Wenzhong, the chief of staff of the First Army Group standing behind Said: "Zhiwu, order the first army to start landing operations! Trincomalee must be captured before dark!" Looking at the back of Li Wen turning away, Hu Zongnan said to Chen Si again: "Brother Hualong, please send the navy to send Carrier-based aircraft provide air cover and focus on bombing the British artillery positions in Trincomalee. In addition, it is best to send destroyers to conduct a round of shelling on the beaches of several planned landing sites."

Chen Siwen smiled lightly, nodded and said, "Don't worry, my Commander-in-Chief Hu, what you said has already been arranged." He pointed to the two A-4B Thunderhawk dive bombers taking off on the outer deck of the island He said: "Did you see that all 80 Thunderhawks were dispatched, and each Thunderhawk could carry 1 ton of bombs? Those few British troops in Trincomalee are nothing to worry about!"

Hu Zongnan heaved a sigh of relief, with a winner's smile on his face, and just about to say a few compliments, Major General Song Da, the Chief of Staff of the 31st Task Force, suddenly received a telegram from his subordinates. Exclaimed: "Commander, the Department of Naval Operations sent an urgent message. The Nanyang Fleet searched all over the Timor Sea and the western part of the Arafura Sea, but found no trace of the British and Australian islands! The Nanyang Fleet and the Department of Naval Operations suspect that the Australian Fleet It is possible to sneak across the Timor Sea into the Indian Ocean in the dark, and it is very likely to come to us!"

"What!" Chen Sinong frowned, "Is there any news about the British Eastern Fleet?"

"Not yet, they disappeared after leaving Mumbai 2 days ago, our submarines in the Indian Ocean did not find them, and the seaplanes we sent out also found nothing!"

"The Australian Grand Fleet has five aircraft carriers...the Eastern Fleet has another one, a total of six aircraft carriers and 360 carrier-based aircraft!" Chen Si took a breath, "It is only 3000 nautical miles from the west coast of Australia to here, and the speed at 20 knots is 6 The day will arrive! At least one day has passed now, and now there are only five days left." He turned to Hu Zongnan and said, "Shoushan, you only have four days! Within four days, all three armies must complete the landing. !"

"4 days?" Hu Zongnan's face darkened, "Brother Hualong, the 3 armies have nearly 15 officers and soldiers, how can they go ashore in 4 days!"

Chen Si smiled wryly, and sighed, "Then as much as you can get on board. Once the 4th day arrives, all transport ships must retreat to the Andaman Islands!" After saying this, he said to Song Da: "Give the first Task Force 32 ordered that the main force of the fleet, including the aircraft carrier 'Heilongjiang' and the aircraft carrier 'Jilin', must reach the waters east of Ceylon Island within 5 days to join Task Force 31!"

……

almost at the same moment.India, about 3 nautical miles off the coast of Balasur, dozens of Chinese transport ships and landing ships have also arrived at the designated location.Surrounding them are some destroyers on guard patrol.Small boats have already been released from the big ship, and some square-headed landing craft have also sailed out of the open movable sluice of the large landing ship.Whether it is a landing ship or a small boat, it is full of heavily armed officers and soldiers of the Comintern.These small boats were either powered by machinery or paddled by manpower, and they all slowly headed towards the beach at extremely low speeds.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

About 10000 meters away, suddenly there were a few dull sounds on the land, like rolling thunder.Then the Comintern soldiers on the small boats heard the screech of shells piercing the air.There are enemies on the shore!Before they came back to their senses.Several jets of water rose from the sea and landed next to a 10000-ton Victory ship near the beach, pouring cold water on the faces of officers and soldiers who were crowded on the deck and preparing to transfer. Obviously, the information was wrong. Rasol Beach is not defenseless!Moreover, the British and Indian troops guarding here do not seem to intend to flee...

Ye Ting was standing on the bridge of a 1936-type destroyer at the moment. As soon as he heard the sound of shelling, he could immediately distinguish the approximate caliber and position of the opponent.

"There are four 150mm howitzers firing!" He shouted at Lieutenant Colonel Li Tianjian, the commander of the destroyer squadron beside him: "The enemy is behind the opposite hillside, hurry up and suppress it with naval guns! Inform the plane to blow me up, hard Fry me!"

"Obey, sir!" Although he and the other party did not seem to be in the same system, the three shining generals on his shoulders seemed quite shocking.Lieutenant Colonel Li Tianjian didn't hesitate anymore, and immediately gave the order to shell. The five 5mm naval guns of the destroyer were all aimed at the hill on the coast, but they hadn't had time to fire.More intense artillery fire from the British and Indian troops came!

There were bursts of thunderous roars, and clusters of water jets were stirred up on the attacking routes of the landing craft and assault boats, and layers of water walls were formed where the shells were densely packed.Shrapnel roared across the sea, and several assault boats were blown to pieces!But the remaining small landing craft and assault boats are still advancing straight!

The artillery counterattack of the Chinese navy also began very soon. Not only the destroyers and landing ships near the coast counterattacked with 127mm naval guns, but even the light cruisers, heavy cruisers and armored ships farther away also fired their heavy ships. The guns aimed at the British and Indian artillery positions on the coast.After a thunderous roar, hundreds of thousands of 280mm, 203mm, and 150mm shells with fiery red tail flames roared away, and exploded on the opposite British and Indian army positions. Rows of blue-black smoke columns rose straight into the sky, instantly engulfing the entire coast in the sea of ​​fire and bullets!

At the same time, more than a dozen A4 Thunderhawk dive bombers also swooped down from mid-air with strange screams, braving sparse anti-aircraft firepower, and accurately dropped heavy bombs on the exposed artillery positions of the British and Indian troops.

But even under such a fierce joint attack of sea and air firepower, the British and Indian troops that should have been vulnerable have not yet collapsed, and are still desperately firing at the small boats on the sea that are getting closer and closer to the beach.Those 6-inch howitzers were now blown to pieces, but there were more 17-pound, 20-pound, or 25-pound cannons firing, and even 60mm and 80mm mortars firing!

Although the officers and soldiers of the British and Indian Army were braver than imagined, they lacked combat experience.If so many artillery fire after the officers and soldiers of the Communist International Army landed on the beach, I am afraid that the beach of Balasore will be full of Chinese corpses!Now, except for a very small number of assault boats and landing craft that were directly hit by the shells or overturned by the waves stirred up by the explosion of the shells, most of the assault boats and landing craft have come to the beach one after another.With the shouts of "Communists and Communist Youth League members follow me!", groups of Communist soldiers with bayonet-mounted rifles rushed to the beach from these small boats.

Today's first wave of attacks on the beachhead involved nearly 7000 officers and soldiers from twelve infantry battalions to launch simultaneous attacks on a front of more than 20 kilometers.There are also ten destroyers approaching and using 127mm naval guns to cover and shoot, and there are heavy artillery from large warships such as armored ships, heavy cruisers, and light cruisers on the farther sea to assist in the battle. There is also a squadron of A4B Thunderhawk dive bombers in the sky at any time .

Under the blow of this overwhelming firepower, the British and Indian troops on Balasore Beach were of course suffering heavy casualties. They arrived here from Calcutta last night, and they just hurriedly deployed artillery positions and dug some foxholes That's all.How can this level of defense withstand the joint attack of the Chinese fleet's naval guns and dive bombers!When the infantrymen who were waiting to land came ashore, the British-Indian infantry division was already on the brink of collapse...

"Commander, let's pull victoriously!" Looking at the beach, red flags were erected at various commanding heights. Xiang Ying, a political commissar of the South Asian Army of the Communist International who was watching the battle from the destroyer, let out a long sigh, put down the binoculars in his hand, and said to Ye Ting: "It seems that these Indian puppet troops are still vulnerable, but just now...hehehe, I was shocked!"

Ye Ting's complexion was still a little heavy. In his opinion, the opponent's resistance was not vulnerable, but was quickly crushed by his own overwhelming sea and air superiority... But when the war to liberate India came to an end in the South Asian subcontinent On the other hand, I will not always have 18 280mm and 16 203mm naval guns on my side to help in the battle!

Just when Ye Ting was about to say something, Lieutenant Colonel Li Tianjian, the captain of the destroyer, suddenly handed over a copy of the telegram. "Mr. Ye, it's a telegram from the 'Heilongjiang'. The main force of the 32nd Task Force will go south to fight within 3 days! There is no way to use carrier-based aircraft to help you attack Calcutta."

Chapter 0848 Sunset of the Old Empire ([-]) Mughal Plan

"The battle report from the front has already come in. Liu Kan's 1st Army landed smoothly in Cordial Bay without encountering any resistance. Currently, the vanguard is advancing towards Trincomalee, and it is estimated that the city will be captured tonight or tomorrow morning. However, the CCP’s South Asian Army encountered resistance from a British-Indian division in Balasore Bay, and was bombarded with cannons for a while, causing more than 1 casualties..." Bai Chongxi frowned and sat on the armchair, Staring at a map of Southeast Asia, India and Australia spread out on the desk, Luo Yaoguo talked about the summary of the battle report.The look is also a little dignified. Although the current situation is good, the Nanyang Fleet still hasn't found the disappearance of the British and Australian Grand Fleet!Moreover, even the whereabouts of the British Eastern Fleet is unknown. I don't know if it has joined forces with the Australian Grand Fleet.

If these two fleets meet together, there will be 6 motherships!The Chinese Western Fleet in the Indian Ocean may be difficult to carry, but the Nanyang Fleet has let people lose at least 24 hours of voyage!At least 500 nautical miles or more.Although it is now fully moving towards the direction of Ceylon Island, whether it can catch up with the upcoming decisive battle at sea is a bit in doubt.Although the navy of the British Empire has declined, it seems that it is not so easy for the emerging Chinese navy to take care of others!