Chapter 632 The road is long 2

Solomon, Guadalcana.

Rolling fiercely, bringing countless water vapor, blown by the southwest wind all year round, made this strategic place guarding the Solomon Islands and neighboring the Coral Sea become a large steamer.

In the Pacific battlefield of World War II in later generations, there was a battle here that made people's scalp numb. Although the will and ability of the British, American and Australian allied forces could not be compared with that of the Japanese army in history, Xinhua also completely controlled the sea here, but losing it was equivalent to the key battle of letting go of Australia's gateway. They can only grit their teeth and resist tenaciously, waiting for the support that may never come.

Thirty nautical miles southwest of the big island, on two slender decks, four dragon teeth roared into the sky. After hovering for a while and waiting for the partners behind them to take off one after another, the 24th formation began to rush to Gua Island.

Jinghai and Ninghai are the first batch of modified light carriers. It took only 109 days from docking to delivery. It can be completed so quickly, mainly because of the use of a simple wooden flight deck.

Each light aircraft carrier can carry 16 Longya torpedoes/bombers. Although the Jinghai-class light patrol indicators seem to be okay, in fact, it is limited by the shipbuilding technology more than a decade ago, and its survivability is not dominant in front of the new generation of cruisers in various countries, especially the layout of watertight tanks, and even not as good as the latest Chongming Island. Class destroyer.

The reason why Li Mo chose to convert to a light aircraft carrier is not to escort, but mainly to cope with today's situation. Because the construction of field airports takes time, and many places are not suitable for the construction of airports, and heavy aircraft carriers are currently contained elsewhere, so they, together with fire support ships, form the best Local support combination.

Although ro-ro wheels and civilian ships can also be modified with aircraft carriers, the power needs to be greatly improved, otherwise it will not be able to provide a strong enough windward speed, which will cause fighters whose engines are not very good to be unable to carry heavy bombs to take off. However, at present, Xinhua's manufacturing capacity is limited, and all steam turbines and boilers need to be rationed first. With nearly a hundred warships under construction and the launch of the Xinhua ship project, it is no longer possible to provide enough engines for civilian ships to modify their motherships.

The retirement of 5 Jinghai-class light patrols seems to have had an impact on the number of light patrols, but before the war, the Imperial Royal Navy had 20 Yangtze River-class light patrols, and 4 more were obtained by the end of last year. With the second batch of 24 long-term improved Bashan-class new-generation light cruisers, the construction was also fully accelerated, so Xinhua The light cruisers are still leading in quantity and quality.

The fighters remained at a low altitude of 500 meters, and the amber-like green flew through the abdomen. For Longya, ground support is not a good task, but before the navy night owl comes out, they must stick to their posts.

Chen Sijiu glanced at the fighter plane passing overhead, sucked his nose, and continued to hold the gun. The cat carefully stepped on the thick weeds and searched forward.

Beside him were the partners of the second battalion of the third regiment of the Sixth Marine Division. They arrived in Guadalcanal the day before yesterday. Because the defenders here were unexpectedly tenacious, they joined the jungle campaign after a short break.

The sultry rainforest makes the soldiers sweat, and the tactical vests full of bullets and equipment have become a burden. As for the helmet, if the bullets drilled out of the dense forest from time to time, it is estimated that many people will throw them away.

"Spare up."

Chen Sijiu gestured to gently remind the recruits who followed him. As a veteran of the sixth division from other land divisions to the sixth division after the war, he knew that he should remind his comrades-in-arms who had only picked up the gun for less than half a year.

"Bend down and don't be straight."

After patting the waist of the soldiers around him, Chen Sijiu continued to touch forward. His eyes flashed like a spirit cat. The green rainforest in front of him had become the biggest obstacle for the soldiers. It was almost difficult to reach 100 meters when walking here, so he needed to be vigilant all the way.

Time passed by minute by minute, and sweat slid into the mouth with bitterness along the temples. Everyone knew that the enemy was in front of them, but they could not rush to solve the other party quickly. This kind of rotten battle is really too energy-consuming and physical strength.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a few coughs in his ears. The squad leader of the sharp soldiers immediately waved to everyone to stop and quietly touch the flanks with several soldiers, but before he walked out of 30 meters, he heard a huge explosion. A few meters of meters of smoke not only tore up the platoon leader, but also lifted several soldiers nearby.

"There are mines, be careful!"

In Chen Sijiu's shouting, he suddenly saw a little bean-sized spark coming out from the corners of his eyes, and the hiss suddenly sounded from the depths of the rainforest, shouting again, "Machine gun, lie down!"

The sound of machine guns rushed out of the dense forest. Chen Sijiu shouted to remind everyone to lie down. When he also suddenly jumped forward with a hungry tiger, and then quickly rolled behind a big tree.

The bullet almost swept against his rolling line. The earth splashed in the chirping voice and hit his face with pain. Even he was so scared that he sweated coldly on his back, but the scene he saw next made him angry. He only saw a few soldiers who had no time to avoid were about to lie down and were ruthlessly torn apart by bullets. The rest can't look up in the overwhelming rain.

"Machine gun, shoot back!"

In the shouting, the four 1910 cat light machine guns were quickly set up. After the machine gunner adjusted the angle, the water-like bullet immediately aimed at the tongue of fire in the depths of the rainforest and hit it back.

Seeing that the other party's machine gun was about to be temporarily suppressed, the roar came again. The shells fell next to a big tree, and several soldiers hiding next to them were blown up before they could shout. This scene made everyone's eyes red. Unexpectedly, these turtle grandchildren were really dead. Machine guns and cannon mines were not necessary.

The mortars in the battalion also roared at the same time. The shells rushed over the soldiers' heads to the depths of the rainforest. From time to time, there was a rumble explosion behind the dense branches and leaves. In the blink of an eye, the encounter turned into a machine gun and cannon bombardment.

This kind of attack effect is really not good. Because both sides can only see the faint figure behind the branches and leaves, no one knows the deployment of the other party. However, Chen Sijiu organized three rounds of temptations in half an hour, but they were beaten back by the other party. He had no choice but to call for support.

A moment later, there were bursts of motor behind him. Chen Sijiu turned his head and looked. Three strange-looking tanks had appeared in the distance with rolling black smoke. He knew that support was coming, so he immediately ran over.

"How's it going? How many enemies are there?

"I don't know."

Chen Sijiu walked to the tank with his waist and pointed to the tank squad leader in front of the exchange of fire, "Look at the firepower. There are at least five 57 guns and four machine guns, and one should be 100 guns. According to this firepower, there are about three or four thousand people."

After saying that, Chen Sijiu looked at the tank and found that the tank was a little different from what he had seen before, because there was only one machine gun on the turret, and he couldn't see any other weapons except for two pipes on the front armored slope. He was a little puzzled: "Brother, what the hell are you doing? Where's the cannon?"

"Cannon?" The monitor looked at the front and laughed, "Camp commander, just watch it. After a while, these rats will know that they are awesome!" After saying that, the tank squad leader climbed into the tank again. After a few times of his arms, he quickly covered the hatch and slowly drove forward with black smoke.

Although Chen Sijiu was a little puzzled, he always felt that something was going to happen in his heart, so he quickly followed this tank back to the position.

Three steel monsters crushed all the way, and the bullets hit the front armor and made a series of thuds. Suddenly, a 57mm shell hit the first tank, and the hearts of the soldiers of the second battalion had just been suspended. After shaking twice, the big guy continued to crush forward with black smoke as if he had nothing to do.

"Camp commander, what kind of strange thing is this? Aren't you afraid of cannons?

Chen Sijiu didn't know how to answer, but according to his estimation, this thing is at least 100mm of frontal armor, otherwise he would not dare to be hit by a 57mm shell.

Just as everyone was guessing how this tank without guns could kill the enemy, the long red light suddenly spewed out, but everyone's eyes were straight, and then their backs were cold.

Three tanks suddenly turned into fire-breathing dragons. The flames spewed out from both sides of the tanks were nearly 100 meters away. Wherever they were swept by the flames, they were like thick smoke rolling like a pile of dry firewood.

The fire-breathing tank was developed by Li Mo according to the requirements of the experience of the Pacific War in later generations. It is different from most of the tanks of this type of tank in later generations. The M3 C uses the territory of the M3 cheetah tank and is specially designed for fire-breathing. It is equipped with two flamethrowers and compressed air, which can spray fire up to 50 times, although However, the speed is slow, but the frontal armor up to 110 mm thick allows it to ensure its own safety in complex terrain.

Three M3 C tanks fought tyrannically to their heart's content. The flames spurted by compressed air became the messengers of hell in the eyes of Australian soldiers. The scattered Mars ignited the rainforest in the blink of an eye. They hit the trees and swept all the way along the temporary fortifications and trenches, leaving three flames covered with flames. The road.

The scream replaced the hissing of the machine gun, and the cannon became mute. Countless Australian soldiers shouted and ran around. This scene made all the soldiers of the second battalion swallow their saliva. They paid dozens of lives to hit the gap that had not been opened for almost an hour. Unexpectedly, these three fire-breathing tanks took only a few minutes to complete. Clean up and suppress.

Fortunately, this thing is from its own troops. If the enemy also has this kind of equipment, I don't know how to die.

"Fire, fire! Don't let them get close!"

Seeing nearly a hundred Australian soldiers screaming and rushing to his side with sparks, Chen Sijiu shouted anxiously. He knew that if these people ran to the middle of his team, the flames might hurt him.

The recruits heard the battalion commander shouting nervously and did not dare to neglect. The dense bullets rushed out like a rainstorm. When the last Australian soldier fell, the three tanks that had raged in the distance had begun to turn around, followed by scorched corpses and burning trees-- —

The war eagle roared over the port of Honiara. A few minutes later, countless huge fireballs rose in the dense rainforest in the distance.

This made the soldiers of the nearby Marine Division shout excitedly, because this was the first time that the Air Force used napalm to support the Marine Division. Without restrictions, the Warhawks could finally take out all the weapons, napalm bombs, incendiary bombs, and dropped them from Guadalcana again and over again. These bombs had a large killing range. It has become the favorite of soldiers.

After the fighters left, the two Dalian-class heavy patrols on the sea began to roar again, and the smoke group continued to rise from the island, which made He Yong in the division's command post relieved.

Short and strong, he is thirty-five years old this year. He is from Anhui. After the Xinhua Army swept the north, he gritted his teeth and broke away from the Huai Army. He went to Jiangbei to join the Xinhua Army. Later, he came to the Marine Corps and participated in several subsequent wars. After the war, he went to the Marine Department of the Naval Academy to study command. This time, the Marine Corps was expanded. After that, he was pushed to the position of division commander and led the new sixth marine division.

To be honest, he did not expect to encounter such a big problem when he led troops on the first expedition. Although in order to ensure combat effectiveness, nearly a thousand veterans were removed from the four main marine divisions to enrich the grass-roots command, the losses after the start of the war were still very serious, especially in the central rainforest area. The British, American and Australian allied forces knew that this was Australia's gateway, the strategic position is extremely critical, so they all worked hard. After landing in the port of Honiara and being occupied and dispersed, they all rushed into the depths of the rainforest to continue to resist.

More importantly, the Sixth Marine Division, mainly composed of mainland soldiers, is very unaccustomed to the local climate. In just ten days, more than 600 non-combat personnel were reduced, most of whom were infected and had to rest temporarily. Fortunately, now the support has finally arrived. With the arrival of two heavy patrols and two light support carriers, especially the first The batch of 30 Spitfire tanks arrived, and the progress of the Sixth Marine Division finally returned to normal, which made him relieved.

Walking to the map, He Yong began to study the war situation again. The thick eyebrows twisted again. Originally, the headquarters was going to take Guadalcanal in 20 days, but now it takes 12 days to complete the clearance of less than half of the area. The progress is seriously behind. Even if the support arrives, no one dares to guarantee when it will end.

"What? What difficulties have you encountered? Do you want your old classmates to help you?"

Just as He Yong was sad, a voice suddenly sounded from behind. He turned his head and saw Li Xiuyan walking into the division's command post with several officers. He immediately laughed and said, "I said why it's so smooth today. What wind blew you Captain Li."

Li Xiuyan smiled and hugged He Yong together. Because they had been classmates for many years, they explained why they came here without any greetings.

It turned out that after completing the task, he did not leave Nouméa immediately. Instead, he merged with the 12th Fleet to see if there was a chance to expand the results of the war. Unexpectedly, the Southwest Fleet of the Allied Countries was scared out this time. For several days in a row, even a patrol ship did not come out, so he had to pack up and pack it back. When he passed by the Coral Sea, he received it. The telegram asked the 31st Fleet to support the Marine Corps under appropriate circumstances. In addition, He Yong was also his old classmate, so he ran over.

Looking at the energetic Li Xiuyan, He Yong smiled and said, "Good boy, you are famous now. When I came from Guam, the newspapers all over the world were all about your annihilate of enemies. Now it is said that you are riding on the sea."

"We dare not compare with the cavalry general." Li Xiuyan waved his hand modestly, looked at the messy map, and smiled, "What's wrong? It seems that you are not making good progress. Do you want me to help you? My high-explosive bombs are much better than those planes.

"Really?"

He Yong's eyes lit up. He knew something about the power of the 380mm naval gun. If the two Guam-class can provide fire support, 18 heavy guns dare not say that they will destroy the enemy. At least it is a heavy blow to the enemy's confidence, so this suggestion immediately moved him.

"Well, or not."

Before He Yong finished his words, a naval staff officer who ran into the command post panting on the crater immediately saluted and said, "Sir, the headquarters has an urgent call. We are required to rush to Singapore immediately at full speed without delay!"

"What's wrong?" Li Xiuyan suddenly rose up. The previous order clearly said that he would provide fire help to the Marines when he passed Guadalcanal, and then went to Guam to rest. Why did he suddenly ask to go to Singapore?

"There is something wrong with the second land division!"

"The Second Marine Division?!" Li Xiuyan and He Yong looked at each other and thought of a place at the same time--

Yanjing, general participation.

Zhang Zuolin pointed to the map to introduce the war situation. As far as the eye can see, every face in the conference room was written grim.

"Five days ago, the Persian Front of the Allies dispatched five divisions, and 80,000 Yu people suddenly crossed Hamadan and began to attack the outskirts of Baghdad. According to the information provided by Osman, they dispatched 20 tanks to cooperate. Due to the sudden attack, the main force of the Ottoman Third Army was caught off guard and could only retreat to Baghdad.

In this way, there are only about 20,000 people left in a division of the Ottoman Third Army stationed in Dizfule, north of Awaz, Greater Kuwait. Osman has promised us that this division will not be withdrawn anyway, but.

Although Zhang Zuolin didn't finish, everyone knew that there was a big problem with the combat effectiveness of the Ottoman army. If the Allied Countries really wanted to attack, they would definitely not be able to withstand it, so that Avas would be completely surrounded.

"Li Tianhe, division commander of the Second Marine Division, called and said that he had transferred 2,000 people from Kuwait to assist in the defense of Avas, but the 50,000 Allied forces opposite the Zohre River defense line have also recently strengthened their attacks, and there are signs that the Allied forces are likely to take advantage of the maritime advantage to force the coastal race in the Persian Gulf. Fanier forcibly landed on the road to attack the south of Kuwait, so it was no longer possible to transfer troops.

In addition, there are only five destroyers and nine torpedo boats left in the Seventh Fleet, two of which are in Musabal Bay. Because the British fleet has strengthened the blockade of the Gulf, they are currently unable to leave, so Kuwait is under great pressure!

At present, what we are most worried about is Russia. Because the Ottoman army did not eat the main force of the Russian Caucasus before, Baku is still controlled by the Russian army. In addition, the winter is coming to end, and there is already information that the Russian army is active again. If the Russian Caucasus Army sets out from Baku to northern Persia, and then joins with the Treaty of Persia. If the army converges, it will form a huge army of at least 500,000 to 600,000 people.

"500,000?!"

Everyone in the conference room took a breath of cold air, and several generals were even more grim. If the two families really wanted to meet, not only the Ottoman Baghdad could not be defended, but also the Great Kuwait would be lost!

"Who is the Allied commander?"

Li Mo took a deep breath and suddenly attacked from both sides of the north and south, and could also encourage the Russian Caucasus Group to cooperate. Obviously, it was not the old-fashioned British army general, the commander of the Persian Army Group, Archibald Murray. Who was the opponent? It is a prerequisite for making any military decision.

"An officer named Edmund Henry Heinman Allenby, who used to be the cavalry commander of the British army in Egypt, recently succeeded the commander of the Persian Front. In addition, he has a nickname." After a pause, Zhang Zuolin said heavily.

"Bleeding bull!"

(to be continued)