Chapter 221: The fight is not as fast as the flight (first update, please subscribe)
Europe's revival is inevitable, and this also means that their high-quality assets cannot be acquired.
Not only are there endless acquisitions, but the returns are also very high, starting with dozens of times and returning hundreds of times.
After all, those assets are now severely underestimated, and even many desperate people think that Europe will never recover. After all, this war almost razed the entire Europe to the ground.
But sometimes, many people tend to overlook one thing...people are the most important. If you don't see it with your own eyes, who can believe it? They will rise again from the ruins in just a dozen years.
In fact, Li Yian has already started to acquire European assets-ports, shipyards and warehousing facilities. However, these are all to prepare for future large supermarkets.
Just when Li Yian started to lay out his business, the "Oboe No. 4" operation began.
During Operation Oboe, the Allied forces launched operations in six stages: Operation 1 was the landing at Tarakan, Operation 2 was Balikpapan, Operation 3 was Sandakan in North Borneo, and Operation 4 was the Sarawak, No. 5 is Banja in South Borneo, and No. 6 is the Surabaya area in Java.
For Li Yi'an, the focus is operations 1-5. After completing these five operations, Borneo will almost have the surname Li.
At 8:20 a.m. on September 12, twelve B24 long-range bombers taking off from Borneo finally flew over the northeastern beach of Kuching. When these aircraft arrived at the beach, they immediately began to drop bombs , all of a sudden, bombs weighing 500 kilograms fell from the sky like raindrops.
"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
In the violent explosion, the officers and soldiers in the landing craft saw that the direction of the beach had been completely obscured by gunpowder smoke. Dozens of huge explosions tore apart the crude civil fortifications near the beach, and an unknown number of Japanese soldiers were buried alive in the fortifications.
Before the smoke cleared, the landing craft rushed onto the beach. When the springboard of the landing craft door opened, what greeted the soldiers was not the dense bullets of the Japanese army, but the choking whistle smoke.
"Quick, quick..."
In the shouts of the officers, the soldiers rushed out of the landing craft like tigers out of the cage and quickly occupied the beachhead until they continued to move towards the beachhead. During the in-depth attack, they encountered some slight resistance - basically all the Japanese troops guarding the beach died in bombing and shelling.
The landing operation went very smoothly. The security force that carried out the first landing operation established a firm foothold on the beach at a slight cost of only two people being killed and seven injured, occupying the landing site near the beach, and establishing a basis for the subsequent expansion of the front line. stronghold.
After Li Yi'an learned the news, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. This battle was definitely a killing of chickens. In order to successfully achieve the goal of encircling and annihilating the Japanese independent mixed 71st Brigade, he personally formulated At the same time, the Second Reinforcement Brigade launched an attack from the front in the direction of Kuching to achieve the purpose of encirclement.
In order to ensure the success of the plan, long-range bombers were also coordinated to bomb the beaches. Facts have proved that such a devastating blow is worth it.
"Okay, according to the intelligence, the Japanese army is likely to deploy all its main forces in the inland areas. Next, all ministries need to take advantage of the situation to expand their results. Today, we will consolidate the beachhead position, and tomorrow we will start moving northward along the transportation route. Advance to the airport, while the remaining troops conduct expansion operations west and south of Kuching, and advance the front to the outskirts of Kuching."
Everything is as planned!
After defeating Kuching, the next step is Ma Chen!
"After several landing operations are completed, Borneo will be ours!"
Throwing the pen in his hand on the map with some excitement, Li Yian looked at He Zheng and asked road.
"How about it, Staff Officer He, can we encircle and annihilate the 71st Brigade in Kuching this time?"
He Zheng, looks like he has a Tang Dynasty name, but he is blond and blue-eyed. Santoku, he once served as a staff officer under Manstein and participated in many battles on the Eastern Front. Of course, he is also on the Soviet Union's extradition list. However, now he serves as a consultant to the Borneo Guard Force, helping to formulate combat plans. "Sir Li, the key to the problem is whether the Japanese army will break through. This is the most important thing. At present, the most advantageous option for the 71st Brigade is to go southwest and join the Japanese army in the Machen area..."
He Zheng adjusted his glasses and said calmly.
"Yes, they will definitely escape."
Although Colonel He Zheng has experienced the test of war on the Eastern and Western Fronts, the war in Borneo is different from the Western and Eastern Fronts , the terrain here is more complex. It is difficult for troops of tens of thousands to fight, let alone a large regiment of hundreds of thousands of people. Compared with the enemy, the dense virgin forest is the biggest enemy of the troops.
“I think we should try to drive them into the tropical rainforest. The harsh environment of the rainforest will help us defeat them.”
He Zheng's suggestion made Li Yian nodded and said.
"The truth is indeed the truth, but..."
The corner of his mouth raised slightly, and he suppressed his smile. Li Yian stared at Kuching on the map and said.
"We need to annihilate a brigade after all. At least we should give our army a glorious history."
The annihilation of a Japanese brigade is somewhat of a knot in Li Yi'an's mind Bar. Therefore, he participated in formulating a plan to attack from both sides.
However, He Zheng said directly about his idea.
"Chief Li, your idea is very good, but Masao Baba, commander of the 37th Army, will definitely not let the 71st Brigade be surrounded and annihilated. Compared to Kuching, it is easier for Ma Chen to use them. If we want to enter Machen, we must pass through the dense rainforest. At that time, he can completely use the rainforest to ambush our attacking troops."
"So, we cannot give them a chance to retreat. Whether we can withdraw or not depends on the speed of our attack. As long as we attack fast enough, they will have no chance to withdraw."
Li Yian also reminded specifically.
“However, the offensive must be fierce, but we must also be cautious, especially the little devils are best at night attacks!”
Facts have proved that the Japs are not only good at night attacks, but also good at night escapes. Late at night on September 12, facing the reality of being attacked from both sides, the commander of the 37th Army, Masao Baba, who withdrew from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching, faced the Allied Forces. With superiority in land, sea and air, they directly ordered to abandon Kuching and break out in the direction of Machen. Compared to Kuching, Batchen was located inland, at least away from the threat of Allied sea power.
That night, about 10,000 people from the 71st Brigade and the remnants of the 56th Brigade, carrying more than 5,000 foreigners, entered the dense tropical rainforest eastward and began a difficult march through the rainforest.
This will definitely become the choice that Baba Masao regrets most in his life. In the inaccessible virgin forest, towering trees block out the sun, and clusters of shrubs are like airtight fences, entwined and overgrown with many Climbing wild vines and overgrown weeds on the ground blocked the march of the army. What was even more terrible was the malaria and other diseases brought by mosquitoes. In the next month, the tropical rainforest almost engulfed them. This army, and what's even more terrible is the aerial bombing. Whenever they light bonfires to cook or disperse the moisture from the rainforest, the smoke will always attract planes from Borneo, and the aircraft will use napalm to help them disperse the moisture from the rainforest. Of course, , the price is that there will be more acquaintances on the ground.
Almost a month later, after Masao Baba and his party arrived in Machen after going through all kinds of hardships, less than 9,000 people were left out of the nearly 20,000 people, and the rainforest swallowed the lives of more than 8,000 people. But in any case, the recovery of Kuching means that North Borneo, Sarawak and Balikpapan have been completely liberated by the Allied forces... Although 95% of the area here is shrouded in tropical rainforest, this also means that, Borneo can carry out large-scale construction. Although there are occasionally some remaining Japanese stragglers in the rainforest, they are just ringworm and scabies and are not a serious problem.
(End of this chapter)