Chapter 634 The road is long 4

Ten Degrees Strait.

Under the afterglow of the sunset, two small destroyers flying rice flags and ending the patrol mission, like tired birds returning to the nest, headed for the port of Blair in the east.

On the deck, the sailors sat in twos and threes, chatting. A few days of patrols had exhausted all their strength. Only the sentries on the mast stared their eyes wide and searched the sea repeatedly with binoculars.

Suddenly, a few white track-like scenes thousands of meters away flashed in the lens, but when he re-targeted the target, he could no longer see any traces, as if nothing had happened on the sea.

The sentry was a little puzzled and extended the perspective a little forward. An iron pipe-like thing suddenly jumped into his eyes. It rose and fell in the waves. The golden reflection on the top flashed away, and the cold sweat suddenly covered his back.

Submarine!

The sad alarm pierced the sky, and the sailors on the deck rushed to the gun position crazily. The bow began to deflect desperately. The deep-water bomb was carried onto the launcher. When the first shell rushed out of the gun, the sentry saw a dark shadow under the blue sea near the sideboard.

There was almost no shout. The small destroyer with a displacement of only 430 tons disappeared in the column of water rising to the sky. Although the sister ship next to it was lucky to dodged the torpedoes, the four unique single-wing fighters that appeared on the horizon made it struggle for only a few more minutes, sending out an attacked electric wave. After the wave, it also disappeared into the depths of the strait.

A moment later, a huge fleet appeared on the horizon. Two Yanjing-class fast battleships rushed into the strait first. Four destroyers scattered their vigilance to the two wings. Five landing ships were under the protection of three world-famous motherships, six battleships, three light cruisers and two supply ships. It sailed into the strait.

In the conference room of the flagship, Nanchu heavy aircraft carrier, no one was interested in sinking two small destroyers. Looking at the battle diagram on the blackboard, everyone's face was not very good, especially the last part of the navy's journey.

For this operation, almost all the Second and Third Fleets were dispatched. Except for the two commanders who did not come, almost all the capital ships were pulled into battle. In terms of the scale of the escort force, this was a great waste of battle. 16 transport ships, 5 landing ships, a total of less than 40,000 troops, were pulled up. Nearly 40 warships of the two fleets have also contained as many as 17 submarines that are carrying out raid missions in the Indian Ocean, which is extremely expensive.

But this is also necessary, because the Indian Ocean is not a place where Xinhua can gallop completely. The Indian Grand Fleet has always been a meat thorn. The cunning Campbell is dead guarding the old nest. The slow action of the war is very angry, but it is also helpless. In this case, it is difficult to implement a transoceanic landing in front of other people's homes. .

So when listening to the explanation of Xie Baozhang, Chief of Staff of the Second Fleet, the commander-in-chief of the operation, the naval officers in the conference room will unconsciously look at the officer in his thirties sitting in the corner with a black tiger embroidered with wings on his armband.

The Flying Tiger Regiment is an ace force in the Imperial Royal Army. Its predecessor was the Liaodong Reading Battalion. It once assisted a division to guard the Skyscraper Ridge, and then briefly joined the cavalry division. After entering the armored division, it was re-readed, becoming the first reading armored battalion in Xinhua.

Although soldiers and officers have changed groups after another, no one dares to underestimate this force, because they are second only to the Royal Guards and have entered the armored era, even earlier than the four main armored divisions.

After the appearance of tanks and armored vehicles, the Xinhua Army was confused for a while, because no one knew whether to use them or the tactics. Therefore, in order to explore the new tactics of the armored forces at that time, the emperor ordered the transfer of meritorious troops from the main divisions, formed four reading armored battalions, and personally A large number of grass-roots officers were selected from the Royal Guard Corps to enrich them, and then asked them to practice and discuss with the Guards. Later, the four battalions were strengthened into four regiments. It is said that they have consumed more than 300 tanks in the past five years alone, and most of the tactics and tactics of the armored divisions and armored regiments are also from him. The drills of the guards and the guards in those years.

In order to commend them for their previous achievements in armored combat, the emperor specially awarded them the names of dragons, flying tigers, electric leopards and wild lions. At one time, some people even regarded them as the existence of the Second Forbidden Guards. Therefore, it should be said that for this long-distance attack, the army has taken out the most powerful core force.

Ulan (book friend UIAN guest) holds a notebook and doesn't care about the eyes around him. He is an authentic Mongolian. His hometown is in the beautiful Hulunbuir Grassland. He is one of the first Mongolian warriors to join the Xinhua Army. If you only look at the thin and small appearance, you look like a good student sitting next to the explanation at this moment. I'm afraid no one will connect him with the head of the Flying Tigers.

A total of 37 partners joined with him that year, including his two brothers. Now the eldest brother has become the deputy commander of the Second Riding Division, the second brother has become the commander of the guard battalion, and he has also become the commander of the Flying Tiger Regiment.

As long as he thinks that the Flying Tiger Regiment will become an assault arrow, tearing the defense line for his subsequent comrades-in-arms and piercing through the enemy's formation, he seems to feel that he has returned to the era of sweeping Europe and Asia hundreds of years ago!

Although from the current situation, the British obviously set a trap, and the two battleships are also a big threat, he is not afraid. The goal of the Flying Tigers has been very clear from the beginning of its formation, armored assault!

Xie Baozhang looked at Ulan and continued: "The land camp will pretend to land after we shell Colombo and pose a strong attack on Ceylon. When the Indian Grand Fleet is led by us, the first battleship formation needs to immediately head north to the Eighth Strait and be ready to contain the enemy's main fleet.

In addition, the aviation formation also went north at the same time, but did not entangled in the Eighth Strait, but immediately maneuvered to the sea off Salalah to provide a protective barrier for the landing troops. A capital ship must not be put in!

The second battleship formation will leave in two hours. You need to get here as soon as possible!" Xie Baozhang scratched his finger and came to Kosottra Island, known as the gateway to the Sea of Aden: "The transport fleet will meet you here. After that, you must destroy the British defenses on the island within three hours, help the land battalion complete the landing, and then hand over the task to the third cruiser formation, and continue to protect the transport fleet to the fortress. Lalai Port, and cooperate with the destroyer force to clean up the harbor and help the army make a forced landing!"

Xie Baozhang looked at his watch and looked grim: "I hope everyone will understand that Campbell did not avoid the war before because he was afraid of us. For him, this is the best opportunity to turn the tables, so I'm sure he has arranged an ambush near Celera, and our intelligence officers It has been confirmed that the Indian Grand Fleet is missing two main battleships and four old battleships, as well as at least six cruisers.

Because Campbell has not yet judged our ultimate goal, the main force of the Grand Fleet has not yet set out, but from the distance, it only takes four days to reach the port of Salalah from Mumbai. Even if we hold him to maneuver to Ceylon, we will definitely react quickly, so our time is very tight, at most only 48 hours, the army troops must be sent ashore within this period!"

"I hope you understand that we are not facing a small fleet. The Indian Grand Fleet has nearly 100 warships of all kinds and at least 15 submarines! The number is three times that of us. Even if they divide their troops, they have the ability to destroy the landing, so protecting the landing site is the core of this operation.

"No matter which formation, you can't participate in the decisive battle if it is not necessary!" Xie Baozhang swept away the dozens of naval officers present. He knew very well what these people were thinking. The decisive battle with the Indian fleet was everyone's biggest dream during this period, but this time was related to the safety of tens of thousands of army soldiers. It was not suitable for both timing or preparation. He must give these guys a curse to avoid being dragged into the decisive battle. After the self-injured escort force, he strengthened his tone and asked, "Do you understand?"

"Yes!" --

Mumbai.

"General, I received an emergency call from Port Blair. An hour ago, two destroyers in the Shidu Strait were attacked. The aircraft was mentioned in the message they sent back before the sinking."

"Airplane!" Campbell trembled heavily and immediately walked to the chart.

The Shidu Strait is the only way to cross the Andaman Islands. It is hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest Penang to the Malay Peninsula, which is beyond the scope of operation of the Xinhua Luge aircraft. There is only one explanation for the emergence of the aircraft. They dispatched the mother ship.

Crossing the Ten Degrees Strait, the Xinhua Fleet has three attackable targets, Bangladesh, Ceylon and the port of Salalah.

According to Allenby, Xinhua will definitely attack the port of Salalah, and the protection troops will land and cross the Arabian Peninsula to rescue Kuwait. This inference is well-founded, but he does not dare to be completely relieved, because the Xinhua warships have a speed advantage and are best at attacking the east and the west. Will they deliberately set up a strong attack on Salalah? After the situation, while all my mind was in the west, I suddenly attacked Ceylon?

According to previous intelligence, the main force of the New China Nanyang Fleet and the mainland fleet all disappeared, including three motherships, four Hebei-class battleships, two Yanjing-class battleships, and perhaps two Guam-class battleships that may meet halfway.

The scale is unprecedentedly powerful, and they have the ability to fight with themselves and even defeat themselves, so it is necessary to judge whether they are pretending to engage in a landing war to seduce themselves in a decisive battle, or to protect the landing wholeheartedly, that is, we must find out whether there are a large number of transport ships in the fleet!

But so far, intelligence agents on the island of Sumatra have only found five new landing ships passing through the Strait of Malacca. According to the analysis of displacement, there are only a few thousand troops at most. Such a little force is not enough to attack, so whether there is a second transport formation out of sight will be the ultimate goal of Xinhua. The only standard!

"Cameron, inform the fleet, everyone will leave in three hours!"

"Jefferson, order all our warships in the Indian Ocean, along." Campbell's eyes are on the Maldives in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It's very simple. If you want to avoid your sight, this possible transport fleet cannot go to Malacca. You have to go further than the Sunda Strait or the Lombu Strait, and both straits have to pass through the Maldives to reach Salalah to enter the Indian Ocean!

"Along the range of 500 nautical miles around the Maldives Islands."

"I need to determine their goals!"

(to be continued)