Although the coalition forces seem to have a relatively small number of 80,000, the island of Java is thousands of kilometers long from east to west, and it is obviously impossible to provide comprehensive defense in all aspects.
Cirebon is not a key area for defense. Although the Dutch and Indian troops account for the majority of the total force on paper, everyone agrees that their combat effectiveness is better than nothing. The only two units that can be relied on are the British 13th Infantry Brigade and It's just the Australian 8th Infantry Division.
Lieutenant General John Greer Dill, commander-in-chief of the BDA coalition forces, is an excellent general. This tough, tall, thin old man has participated in the European War and was the dean of the Staff College. He has both practical experience and commanding attainments. All are remarkable.
He knew that it was impossible for his side to stop the enemy at the beach, so his macro-strategic idea was to defend and counterattack - to resist continuously after the Ming army landed, and then to counterattack after its decline became apparent.
Lieutenant General John deployed the British-Indian 28th Brigade and the Dutch-Indian 1st Division around Batavia. They relied on it as the core, with a total of more than 13,000 people.
The Dutch 5th Division and the Australian 8th Division were deployed around Surabaya, with approximately 20,000 troops.
The Dutch 2nd Indian Division and the British 13th Brigade were deployed near Bandung, with approximately 12,000 men.
In addition, the more than 30,000 weak Javanese militia troops were also dispersed and deployed along various communication lines and deep areas.
The BDA coalition has already suffered from the defection of these indigenous people before the battle, and they no longer dare to apply it to the front line. These Javanese militia troops are not even reliable as cannon fodder.
Regarding the inquiry telegram sent from London, John Greer-Deere sent a reply after careful and rigorous evaluation.
"...The Chinese army has exceeded our expectations, and the Javanese hostility and distrust of the Dutch has also spread to us. The colonial army composed of Javanese has almost no combat effectiveness and may rebel when it encounters the Chinese..."
“…The likelihood of a successful defense of Java without effective help is low, and I expect to be able to hold out for three weeks or less…I am willing to fight to the end, but perhaps it would be unwise to continue the defense of Java now… "
Lieutenant General John's answer was very pertinent and objective. Java was already a dead end and there was little point in continuing to fight against the enemy.
It would be great if tens of thousands of coalition troops could retreat to Australia. Unfortunately, Operation "Snow Bass" has failed, and control of the sea is completely in the hands of the Ming army.
There is a gloomy and bleak scene in the BDA coalition headquarters. Military chiefs, staff officers, and intelligence personnel all know that this will be a hopeless and inevitable battle.
Many people are mentally numb and confused, and get drunk at night to numb themselves.
Interestingly, Colonel Karel Dorman, who went out to sea at night to make a surprise landing in the Old Port, miraculously escaped the Ming army's blockade.
After their failure, they did not return to Batavia, but went to Zilaza in the south of the island. After the order to evacuate to Australia was issued, the fleet set sail directly.
Because the route was completely different from that of the main fleet, they were not pursued. In addition, after hearing the news, they galloped and fled at night. The Java light cruiser and several destroyers successfully arrived at the Port of Darwin, Australia.
During this period, the Qingming A-4 ocean-going submarine actually discovered the fleet and tried to catch up, but because the speed difference was too big, it was unable to seize the ambush position.
After hearing the news, more than 20 planes also searched along the route for a while, but returned without success.
The Dutch were right in their calculations. The remaining Royal Navy's East India Fleet now has 2 light cruisers and 4 destroyers, while the Australian Navy's total assets include only 1 heavy cruiser, 3 light cruisers, and 4 destroyers. .
Facing the huge Ming Dynasty navy, the Australians had to do everything possible to gain any strength.
With chips in hand, the Dutch now really have a lot of say in the topic of Australia's defense.
"Everything is going well right now, but I personally feel that Americans are becoming more willing to intervene recently?"
"What do you say? If the Americans dare to take action, they must first consider it clearly. The tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Luzon will be destroyed as soon as they start fighting."
The landing at Cirebon went smoothly, and the small number of enemy troops dispersed after being bombarded by the fleet.
The advance troops of the 1st Marine Brigade paid a "heavy" price with four casualties - three were killed and injured by landmines, and one person tripped over a telephone wire and broke his hand.
While waiting for the follow-up troops to be unloaded and disembarked, several people at the brigade headquarters were smoking cigarettes and talking about the changes in the international situation.
There have been a lot of news reports these days. Many American politicians and congressmen are advocating to intervene in Australia's defense. It is said that the federal government is considering imposing sanctions on Ming Dynasty and starting further war preparations.
Yao Liangchuan took a shallow breath and blew out a smoke ring. He stared at the smoke ring that was getting bigger and bigger, and mused: "The ambitions of the Americans are not small. They took advantage of the European War to increase their status. Even now, although it seems Isolated and uninvolved in world affairs, I’m afraid its powerful people have been waiting for the right opportunity to pick peaches.”
"But I have never been able to figure out why they insist on relying on Luzon and Japan. This kind of behavior... the hostility is too obvious, and it is easy to stalemate relations with our country." Xie Wancheng said.
He had recently become obsessed with cigars. When he was in the Old Port, he confiscated several boxes of fine cigars from a Dutch bureaucrat, including ones from Matafina, Brazil, and Havana, Cuba.
Next to him, Zhou Changfeng was checking his watch to check the time while revising the tactical strategy map. "Compared to the old powers like Britain and France, Americans prefer doing business. They tend to give a country independence on the surface, but in essence control its economic lifeline. At the same time, troops were stationed to intimidate the locals and exert influence.”
After speaking, he added: "Luzon is too close to the Ming Dynasty, and it will be unsustainable for a long time. Now it is time to make a choice."
Zhu Lizhuo also came over to join in the fun, "It seems that it is really cost-effective for them to seize the opportunity to seize the independent continent of Australia. All kinds of mineral resources are rich and rich enough. It is better than guarding a place like Luzon." Much more.”
"Each has pros and cons," Zhou Changfeng said casually: "Luzon has a large population, and the consumer market will be larger after the infrastructure is popularized; Australia is rich in resources, but the market is smaller."
"By the way, Jun Zuo, does the imperial court plan to compete for Australia?" Xie Wancheng suddenly asked.
"After all, Australia is too far away, spanning the northern and southern hemispheres." Zhou Changfeng did not answer directly, only gave an ambiguous reply, "It is a fruit that can be picked with hard work, but... you can't make mistakes."
Australia is too far away from the Ming Dynasty. Even if there are a large number of islands in between, it is still difficult to supply a large army for a long time.
If a mistake similar to the annihilation of the 6th Army occurs, it will be an irreversible strategic failure, and we can only leave with regrets.
By dusk on the ninth day of the lunar month, the 1st Marine Brigade and its associated combat units were all ashore.
During this period, several battalions had cleared the depths of the landing site, and the Dutch and Indian troops within fifteen miles around were completely defeated, with basically no decent resistance.
"According to the original plan, send electricity to the fleet and let the planes fly as far to the southwest as possible. The more conspicuous the better, and then...Xue Can, you organize two detachments, bring a dozen tanks, and rush there too. , twenty miles is enough, but we need to make a bigger noise."
Zhao Hanfeng repeated Zhou Changfeng's order, clasped his fists and accepted the order, "Yes."
"Pfft-swish-"
With the help of gunpowder gas catapults, two seaplanes took off one after another from the Wuyishan heavy cruiser and flew lightly into the distance.
The Ming army's fake actions largely confused the enemy in front of them. The commander of the 2nd Dutch-Indian Division believed that the Ming army landing from Cirebon was going to cooperate with the Ming army landing from Serang to flank Batavia.
Therefore, he ordered the 6th Infantry Regiment as a reserve to set off immediately to reinforce Binocular Single, and together with the 4th Regiment there, resist the Ming army.
The simple and unpretentious attack in the east and west deceived the nervous Dutch and Indian army. It can only be said that the previous series of battles had frightened the Dutch.
After a night of careful preparations, the temporarily formed mixed regiment of the 1st Marine Brigade officially set off at dawn the next day, while the remaining troops stabilized the landing site and followed up slowly.
This mixed regiment, that is, the battle group, is based on the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Marine Brigade. In case of battle, it strengthens the brigade's reconnaissance battalion and the 112mm howitzer battalion of the brigade artillery regiment, as well as the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Tank Brigade.
After getting up early, the officers and soldiers ate steaming steamed buns with vegetable soup and canned braised pork. They were full of energy and morale, and were determined to win the battle ahead.
Zhou Changfeng, who was accustomed to leading troops in person, abandoned the large troops this time and led the mixed regiment to quickly go south, heading towards the first target Tangning'an eighty miles away.
Relying on the advantage of surprising the enemy and the power of tanks, the Ming army easily broke through the hastily deployed defense line of the defeated Dutch and Indian troops yesterday.
Because they were not equipped with anti-tank guns, the Dutch and Indian troops, which lacked anti-tank weapons, were helpless in the face of the Ming Army's Type 38 medium tanks.
The embarrassed Dutch and Indian troops even used the Bofors 75mm mountain gun to directly bombard the Ming army tanks. But how could a mere high-explosive bomb penetrate 30mm thick surface-hardened armor steel?
Except for the broken tracks of some tanks and the slight internal injuries suffered by the members due to the shock wave, the rest were unharmed. The muzzles were quickly turned around and the mountain cannons were blown into scrap metal.
The desperate Dutch and Indian artillerymen did not have the courage to fight to the end despite the artillery fire, and soon fled in all directions.
The distance from the landing site to Tangning'an is 39 kilometers, and the mixed group that set off early in the morning had already arrived here at 16:38 that afternoon.
As one of the more important material transfer and storage centers, the BDA coalition deployed the main force of the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Dutch 2nd Division here, supplemented by as many as 5,000 Javanese militia troops.
In addition to sufficient military strength, there are also a large number of field fortifications and a few semi-permanent fortifications built locally, which are objectively relatively strong.
While arranging artillery and preparing for the attack, Zhou Changfeng requested air support from the navy.
The C-25 air attack fleet was sailing slowly in the Java Sea at the moment, not far away, and the Taiwei Youyuan aircraft carrier quickly organized a wave of support aircraft groups.
Twelve Type 37 carrier-based dive bombers slowly came to the deck runway from the hangar via the elevator. After the engines were warmed up, they took off one after another, followed by three fighter jets.
When the formation flew over the target, the mountain artillery battalion of the artillery regiment of the 1st Marine Brigade had already begun a fierce salvo.
"...Destructive shooting, first round of personnel anti-personnel bombs, remaining anti-explosive bombs, twenty rounds of rapid fire, completed."
"Boom-boom-boom-"
The 112mm anti-explosive bombs or anti-personnel bombs from 18 howitzers caused a bloody storm on the Dutch and Indian defense lines!
Anti-personnel bombs filled with steel balls or diamond-shaped prefabricated fragments caused horrific casualties to the Dutch and Indian troops. A Dutch army lieutenant died miserably - his face was hit by three steel balls and his torso was hit by more than a dozen, up and down. Nearly twenty holes were bleeding.
The Ming army carrier-based aircraft that arrived leisurely hovered in the sky for a while, waiting patiently for their own artillery fire to stop.
Then they swooped down and strafed any exposed targets with bombs.
100kg aerial bombs continued to fall, exploding with a shrill scream, and the entire position was almost swallowed up by flickering firelight and billowing smoke.
The only few Oerlikon 20mm anti-aircraft guns and Browning .50 anti-aircraft machine guns facing the enemy finally couldn't tolerate the wanton Ming fighter planes, so they took off the camouflage net and opened fire together.
After a sudden hit, a dive bomber burst into flames and scattered a lot of debris. The pilot tried hard to steer the plane towards the north and then bailed out.
At this time, the distance to the ground was less than 300 meters. The pilot's parachute had only been opened for a few seconds, and before his speed slowed down, his feet touched the ground. He fractured his bones on the spot, which was thrilling.
After the other fighters calmed down, they discovered that there was actually no strong anti-aircraft firepower here, so they fought directly and dived and fired at the anti-aircraft position.
The 12.8mm aviation machine gun beat the Dutch and Indian anti-aircraft artillery soldiers in the fighting position to pieces, and the arms that were forcibly torn apart by the kinetic energy of the bullets fell to the ground like branches broken by the wind.
"Listen, it's still the same, don't be reckless. Okay, it's time, come on!"
"Beep beep beep - beep -"
"Wan Sheng——"
With the support of more than 30 tanks, three teams of about 400 Marine infantry launched an overwhelming frontal attack on the Tangningan suburban position.
The outer defense line collapsed almost instantly, and the remaining soldiers who had survived the previous shelling and air strikes fled toward the second line of defense in panic.
Many frightened and dizzy Javanese soldiers even forgot that they should retreat through the communication trenches, and actually climbed out of the trenches and fled across the wilderness.
"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-" Ming army tanks fired at the surging enemy troops wantonly. The 48mm anti-explosive bombs and 7.36mm machine gun bullets cooperated with each other to quickly mow down these moving targets.
However, unexpectedly, the attack of the mixed group of the 1st Marine Brigade was hindered at the second line of defense.
It seems that because they were not hit by artillery fire, the resistance intensity of the Dutch and Indian troops here increased significantly.
"Boom! Boom!"
The falling 81mm mortar shells and 75mm mountain artillery shells immediately stalled the scattered formation of the Marine infantry. The Ming soldiers hurriedly lay down to find cover.
"Someone! Come and help me!"
"Where did the medic go?!"
"Pang—Biu—"
The 47mm armor-piercing bullet that came from nowhere shocked the Ming army tank soldiers who were hit. Fortunately, it ricocheted, otherwise...
[The word count is a bit too long, please read what this chapter says or what the writer said. 】
"Boom! Boom!"
Another artillery shell that followed successfully penetrated the front armor of the Type 38 medium tank and exploded inside.
The members were killed on the spot, and the ammunition exploded. Flames sprayed out from the turret seat ring in all directions, and then the entire turret flew away with a loud "bang".
Oh? This line of defense actually looks impressive?
Seeing that the attack was blocked, Zhou Changfeng decided to postpone the attack after weighing it to avoid insignificant casualties.
He stood up in front of the artillery mirror, waved his hand and said: "The smoke screen will cover the retreat. Stop first and prepare for a night attack."
(End of chapter)
