Chapter 630 You should write a letter first
India, Mumbai, Allied Indian Grand Fleet Command.
The Hornby reclamation project, which began in 1817, gradually brought India's largest seaport city into modern civilization and even became the world's cotton trading center.
With the birth of India's first railway here, it has become a city crowded with colonists. The excellent deep-water port is always full of ships from all over the world.
Especially for Britain, it can give up other colonies, but it must keep South Africa and India. The former's diamonds and gold are hard currency, while the latter's abundant human resources, rich cotton, grain and iron ore resources are the most urgent things in the narrow British Isles.
The beacon fire spread all over the world, but it seems to avoid the bustling streets and shuttle boats that go deep into the Great Plains of the Indian Ocean, making the people of Mumbai unconsciously forget the war that took place not far away.
But in fact, many people have begun to feel the pressure of war. The dock workers began to lose their jobs because of the scarcity of ships. A few factories that can produce some machinery have been managed by the British [***], but this has not satisfied Lieutenant General Campbell.
India has enough manpower and enough food, but it lacks the need to maintain a large fleet for a long time. Even the small matter of installing anti-aircraft machine guns before cannot be fully completed so far.
The loss of Singapore and the Malay Peninsula has allowed Xinhua to step into the Indian Ocean with one foot. The Dutch still bite their mouths and are unwilling to join the treaty, making it unrealistic to use the island of Sumatra to continue to pester.
Although he must pass through the Andaman Islands to enter the Indian Ocean from Malacca, he is not stupid enough to think that an archipelago can block the iron flow from the east.
India is still unable to maintain the maintenance and other work necessary for a large fleet, not to mention the Andaman Islands, which is still in the primitive state, so he is even more angry with the order from the Admiralty.
"This is an idiot plan!"
Lieutenant General Campbell, with a beard on his face, threw the order angrily on the table. His ice-blue eyes were beating with anger. Cameron, who had just returned from Ceylon, picked up the telegram and looked at it twice, and immediately shook his head with a wry smile.
"Go to the Andaman Islands to seek a decisive battle?!"
Cameron sucks his nose. Are these guys sitting in the office flirting with their secretaries all idiots?
Both of them know that this order is to go out through the Indian Ocean Fleet to contain Xinhua's naval forces and reduce their investment in the southwest Pacific, but the problem is that a fleet can win the war with more than ships and guns. These steel giants need a huge amount of logistical support. Now they are active in the Sea of Aden every day. There are no less than ten Chinese submarines, and even the necessary supplies to arrive here from the Suez Canal are starting to be tight. How can they still have the strength to go out of the Andaman Islands to find a decisive battle?
The problem in front of the Indian Grand Fleet is also very realistic. The senior level absolutely does not want more than a dozen capital ships and nearly a hundred auxiliary warships to sit and consume in Mumbai every day. In Australia's critical moment, how to help there has become the most important thing at present.
Lieutenant General Campbell took a deep breath and calmed down a little before picking up the telegram again.
In front of him is a difficult problem, the same as Andrew, a lieutenant general of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, on how to curb Xinhua's aircraft advantage.
According to intelligence, Xinhua already has five large aircraft carriers, one of which has just been delivered to the Home Fleet (Third Fleet) and the other two are in Honolulu.
That is to say, as long as you carry out this order, you will definitely face three aircraft carriers, four Hebei-class battleships, two Yanjing-class battleships and two Guam-class battleships.
If only battleships come, he is not too worried. He also has as many as 11 main battleships and 2 American heavycruisers, including Malaya, American Pennsylvania and Arizona are all 15-inch heavy guns, and two American Northampton-class heavycruisers are also 15-inch guns, so the number It also has certain advantages in naval guns.
But the problem is that the opponent has 3 aircraft carriers!
According to the analysis of the surviving sailors of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, each Xinhua aircraft carrier can carry at least about 40 torpedo planes, three of which are 120. Even if half of the anti-aircraft shells can be intercepted, the remaining 60 torpedoes are enough to sink 5 to 6 capital ships, not to mention the process of the Gulf of Panama in the United States. It's impossible to intercept so much.
Although the Indian Grand Fleet has also added five seaplane carriers, they and the new China aircraft carrier are simply two things!
Originally, the night was a good cover, because compared with the land war, there are almost no terrain and features that can be used in the vast sea, especially for large warships or huge fleets, so the night has become the biggest "shield" on the sea battlefield. As long as it can be concealed in the early stage, it will be suddenly at night. However, it is a good plan to bombard the Malay Peninsula and attract Xinhua's main force to fight in the Andaman Islands.
But the naval battle of the Loati Islands changed his idea. On a stormy night, when the visibility at sea was less than 3,000 meters, it is still a mystery how the Xinhua Navy accurately searched for the Seymour fleet.
Although the sailors who returned to Sydney said that the enemy was ambushed in advance, the sea channel is not a land road, and it is common for the navigation deviation of dozens of kilometers. As an experienced commander, Seymour will definitely deliberately deviate from the waterway on the chart, and after the fleet was disbanded, how did they catch up with what is said to have fled. The two Brave-class cruisers in the dark, how to find the three Tennessee, has become a mystery.
Many people think that Xinhua depends on luck, but Campbell doesn't think so.
After Li Mo's rise, many mysteries revolved around him. The poor and backward country seemed to have taken a big lead in science and technology overnight, and its industrial capacity also caught up little by little through purchasing, learning and self-training, so he preferred to believe that this was the result of a new technology.
In this case, what's the difference between letting him rush to attack the Andaman Islands for a decisive battle and dying?
Campbell took a breath: "Cameron, telegraph back to the Admiralty in my name and tell them that unless there is accurate information that Australia can't keep it, or Xinhua landed in Ceylon and Bangladesh.
I refuse to carry out this order!"
"Do you really want to call back like this? That's it?" Cameron waited for Campbell and was a little surprised. If he really sent it back like this, I'm afraid that he, the commander of the major fleet, would be removed from office.
"Yes, just send it like this. I can't take risks with the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers." Campbell gritted his teeth and said, "Or remove me!" -
"Prick your hands!"
Long Guozhang patted his forehead, pointed to the map and said angrily, "This Campbell is really calm. He even dares to disobey the orders of the Admiralty, but he can't get out of this nest!"
"Are you busy for nothing?" Li Mo smiled and could understand the bitterness of Long Guozhang.
Originally, the navy was going to take advantage of the Solomon Islands to form a full pressure on Australia. After taking advantage of the opportunity of Britain's eagerness to save somewhere, he took advantage of the victory to chase, so Commander Long ordered all the Third Fleet to go out early to the South China Sea under the pretext of going to Taiwan for exercises, as long as Britain If you really support Australia through the Indian Ocean, at least sink a few of his capital ships, but you didn't expect that this Campbell tiger couldn't get out of the hole, which was a waste of time.
"It's good if he doesn't come out." Chen Ping was not so depressed and said, "Now only the United States and the Indian Grand Fleet can support Australia now. The United States is too busy. If we don't go to fight him, he will burn incense. Now that the Indian Grand Fleet is unwilling to come out, I think we can launch an Australian offensive early and order Huangfuqi from North Australia and Western Australia. The wing attacked at the same time, opening up the South Australian route first, consuming Australia's will to resist, and then preparing for the later attack on Queensland and New Wales.
"Early Battle of Australia?" Li Mo frowned. At present, the core of Xinhua is still to open up the Indian Ocean route and connect Germany with himself to the west. Will the premature start of the Australian ground war have a negative impact on logistics? You should know that during World War II, the case of Japan and Germany grabbing the first hand and finally being turned over because of the long front is in front of us.
"Your Majesty, don't worry too much. Australia is now an isolated island. In order to resist us, they have armed the elderly and women. Although it is claimed that the total strength is 2.3 million, according to our understanding, less than 1.5 million people can actually fight.
Among them, the most important are 550,000 U.S. troops, 500,000 Australian troops, 150,000 British troops, 150,000 New Zealand troops, 50,000 navy and other personnel. In addition, there are about 100,000 volunteers from Africa, South America and nearby islands in the early stage.
Britain ordered 2 million rifles and other munitions from the United States before the war, one-third of which were used to arm Australia, but these were only enough to arm the previous troops. As for the remaining hundreds of thousands of volunteers who were only waiting for weapons on the list, now that the route is basically interrupted, the source of weapons has been Cut off, Australia lacks an industrial base, so it is impossible for them to be armed.
According to intelligence agents, Burnis is dead, and Seymour has not woken up from his serious injury. Their fleet basically dares not go to sea now. After we attacked the Solomon Islands, we are even more panicked, so I think we can take this opportunity to enter South Australia in advance to kill and lay a good foundation.
"But there is only one railway from North Australia and Western Australia to South Australia, and the rest are deserts. This is not easy to fight!" After reading the map, Long Guozhang was worried about the long depth of defense, which was an extremely serious test for logistics.
"There is some pressure, but it's not unbearable." Chen Ping pointed to Western Australia and said, "At present, our regular army in Australia is 450,000, and there are 50,000 local Chinese self-help troops, of which the assault forces include the Fourth Armored Division and the Third Step Division, as well as three reading armored regiments, equipped with a total of 630 tanks, 1,100 armored vehicles and more than 5,000 trucks. There are about 1,700 cannons of various types. In addition, the Third Division of the Air Force has also been stationed in Western Australia, with 120 combat aircraft, 180 Storm, 48 Kunpeng, 250 Falcons and 30 other auxiliary aircraft.
We have established a weapons maintenance factory in Western Australia before, and Tang Xiao and others shipped two sets of ammunition production lines and a set of oil refining equipment six months ago, and now they have begun to start construction.
Since last year, I have not moved the 300,000 tons of army ammunition we produced at the Japanese arsenal. We can ship them all to the Australian battlefield first. In addition, with our previous reserves there, we have the ability to launch a large offensive.
So I think it's time to put strong pressure on Australia!"
"But." Li Enfu, who had been listening, suddenly interrupted the topic and said, "Juanshou, the northwest side is about to fight in May. That's millions of people, and Nicholas II said last month that he would continue to support. Sun Jiugong's pressure is not small. He is starting a land battle of hundreds of thousands of people, isn't it?"
"Ha ha." Chen Ping looked at Li Mo, tilted the corners of his mouth, and blinked his eyes: "Mr. Li, don't worry, Night Eagle and the Intelligence Department have set out. I think you should write a letter now and ask Nicholas II after the beginning. Do you want to come to our country to avoid the limelight first."
"Haha."
(to be continued)