Chapter 689 Bad news from MacArthur

The blue-green sea water is refreshing, like a huge Persian gem. In the telescope, the red-brown seaweed floating along the coastline tells the sailors where it is.

A huge fleet of ships is slowly walking along the coastline. Several small ships that are still burning on the brownish-yellow coast show that there has just been a confrontation here.

Eight Hornet fighters passed over the fleet. Under the wings were six Yangtze River-class light cruisers flying the Blood Cloud Dragon Claw flag, three Fire Dragon-class fire support ships, 16 Weiqing-class destroyers, and the mother ship West Zhou, which was temporarily transferred from the First Special Task Force in the Arabian Sea. Behind them, there were six boarding A transport team composed of land ships and a full of 22 ocean-going cargo ships.

On the deck of the aircraft carrier, dragon teeth were already ready. Heavy bombs replaced the fish stabs, and the naval guns began to pitch for final inspection. When several black spots appeared on the sea like sperm whales, the war eagle suddenly deflected the fuselage and flew to the wide harbor on the left.

As expected, dozens of old biplanes were just about to climb up, but they were ruthlessly killed, because this is an era when engines determine victory or defeat. With just a few dives, these planes turned into flames and fell into the harbor below.

This scene scared the few soldiers stationed in the port of Djibouti in French Somalia. A large number of dense bullets began to explode in the only shore artillery position in the port, and the rapid-fire cannon began to fire rapidly.

The strategic position of Djibouti Port is extremely important, because all ships that go north through the Suez Canal to Europe or go from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean to bypass the Cape of Good Hope must add water and coal to the port of Djibouti, so they are known as the sentry on the Eurasian Channel.

After Britain gained control of the Suez Canal, France immediately sent troops to seize it. As one of the means to compete with Britain, it is one of the most coveted strategic places in this and future generations, and the important surname in his heart even exceeds Gibraltar.

Because of the opening of the railway to Addis Ababa, Djibouti, which used to be a small town, slowly emitted a bright light. Unfortunately, the war came before the French enjoyed it.

As a Russian country in this war, which is second only to the loss of land compensation and countless casualties, France, the third largest in the world before the war, has plummeted. In addition, there is an urgent need for a counterattack to take back the lost land in Paris, so the number of troops stationed in French overseas colonies has dropped to very little, and even in order to strengthen the defense here, Consider asking the Italians next to you to help.

"Report, Xi Zhou is ready."

In the bridge of the flagship Jialingjiang light cruiser, the officers were busy while enjoying the cold air sent by the ventilation pipe. After years of exploration, especially with the aircraft carrier, the tight organization ability of the Imperial Royal Navy to attack on the other side has been greatly improved, from target selection to firepower distribution, to the final escort landing, far away It is more experienced than any other country in this era.

Gu Junhuo, the new commander of the Seventh Fleet, stood by the porthole window, leisurely holding green tea and nodded to the communication staff. Looking at the war eagles that began to take off, his thoughts had already flown to the future.

From the fleet of the first batch of 120 large cargo ships to Kuwait through the newly opened Strait of Hormuz, a full 550,000 tons of materials were transported to Kuwait, and began to be transported along the Baghdad Railway to Istanbul at the fastest speed, and then connected by the Black Sea fleet organized by Germany, after taking Bulgaria or Ukraine to start transshipment. In fact, the idea of the emperor and the general seng is very clear. Unless necessary, the footsteps of the Imperial Army will stop at the Asia-Europe border.

This is not to say that the empire can't fight, but that the war has reached the most critical moment. Australia's decisive battle and landing in Ceylon are approaching, all of which are to prepare for an upcoming and unpredictable final battle.

Just like what you are going to do today, the empire should tighten the fence around it before that!

The decisive battle against Australia is to completely solve a direction and release troops.

Landing in Ceylon is to continue to accelerate India's reform and force the Indian fleet, which has huddled in the port, to stay honestly. Although the empire has the strength to take over India, there are too many troops that need to be invested, so it's better to continue to consume like this and gradually wear away the endurance of the Allied Indian army.

I came here to completely close the Suez Canal!

The only thing that puzzled him was that in this case, the emperor and the General Staff also listed the Seventh Fleet as a priority for expansion and protection, which was a little unclear, because he originally thought that the general meeting would try his best to increase the strength of the First Fleet, but why did he do the opposite?

Is it true?

The rumbling explosion interrupted Gu Junhuo's thoughts. 32 dragon teeth ravaged the ancient and old shore cannon positions. Even if the bombing accuracy is not high, it is extremely deadly for these ** shore cannons.

Six light patrols and three fire support ships began to line up along the harbor. Although the garrisoned French army had set up mines in the harbor in an attempt to resist the invasion, unfortunately, they did not know that in addition to aircraft, the Imperial Navy had already had the ability to launch long-range shelling through the minefield.

"Fire!"

With the gun officer's shout, 45 triple L52/152mm guns began to drop bottom exhaust shells at the port of Djibouti 30 kilometers away at a speed of 675 per minute, and the shore gun position that had just been **d by the fighters fell into smoke again.

Positions, houses and a few ships collapsed in the hailing shells. The French soldiers who were stationed saw such dense shells and immediately rushed with their heads in their arms.

Although the harbor and the small town have been completely shrouded in artillery fire and gunpowder smoke, and the explosive clouds are denser than the mushrooms in the woods, in fact, the gunfire did not last long. Just an hour later, six light patrols took the lead in stopping the shelling. It was not that they did not want to fight, but that they could not find a valuable target at all.

Six large landing ships of 9,600 tons took the lead in opening the hatch. Landing boats sailed out of the stern, and then circled around the sea, and began to rush to the safe area on the flanks of the harbor that had been cleared by destroyers, followed by more speedboats and small troop carriers, densely covered with the whole The sea.

On August 22, 1916, the Seventh Fleet of the Royal Chinese Navy attacked Djibouti with only 5,000 people, and the lack of support for the French army in Djibouti could not stop the 15,000-armed Xinhua Marine Corps. In just two days, the Governor of French Somalia announced its surrender.

In the same way, five Xinhua Army divisions, including three armored regiments, together with three armies of the Ottoman Empire, suddenly attacked Jerusalem and Gaza occupied by the British army. Two of them, two Xinhua infantry divisions, together with the mainland war division from the north of the Red Sea, quickly penetrated into the important Sinai Peninsula.

Faced with the dilemma that Egypt and the Suez Canal were about to change hands, Britain urgently mobilized and sent more than 50,000 troops from all over Africa to quickly support the Egyptian garrison and asked Hanzhi to cooperate.

Unfortunately, the Hanzhi Rashid family could not protect themselves. With the help of the fifth pilot, 30,000 Neizhi troops began to attack Mecca and Jeddah, and the Hanzhi army, which had no power to fight back in front of tanks and armored vehicles, began to disintegrate rapidly.

The Battle of North Africa began, and the Suez Canal was suspended.

=======South Australia.

From the South Australian continental shelf to the middle of the York Peninsula and the Air Peninsula in the southern Indian Ocean at the same time, there is a V-shaped bay with a depth of 322 kilometers. This is the famous Spencer Bay. Between the broken islands at the entrance of the bay, black mines fluctuate with the waves. It is the existence of these mines that ensures the bottom of the bay. The safety of Ta Port.

There is a wide bay in the south, the same huge Torence Salt Lake in the north, and the 800-mile Flinders Ridge in the east. Two railways meet from here and extend into New South Wales and Victoria.

Port Augusta is the only place to enter Adelaide, the capital of South Australia in the northwest, so from the expected beginning of the war, it has become the focus of the Australian Allied defense. Just think about Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide behind it, and you will know how important it is.

So now the port of Augusta has become a complete fortress. Although it is not as large as Europe, the small fortifications are dense and countless. The trenches on the Flinders Ridge behind behind have been dug up again and again. In addition to the soldiers and civilians who fled in the early stage, 700,000 troops are stationed here. There are as many as 450,000 ordinary people fleeing from South Australia who are entering Australia's last stronghold.

Everyone understands that it is only a matter of time before the flat mirror-like New South Wales and Victoria can't stay here.

Walking among the dull-faced partners, the young Colonel MacArthur hurried with a telegram. He arrived here from the United States with the 42nd Infantry Division before the war. He was once in high spirits and thought that Australia had enough strategic depth and a strong fleet, so it was unbreakable.

But in fact, just a year later, the partners who came with him began to become numb. Once they were jealous of beautiful Australian girls, but now even if women are in front of them, they have no interest.

The Australian Grand Fleet is finished!

Idiots all know what this means. The bullets will run out, the shells will be finished, and the soldiers can't be replenished after falling down. They can't even send the peace letter. They are caught off guard in front of the Xinhua Army advancing like a wolf and a tiger.

What worries him more is the growing war-weariness. Australians can fight for their home, but what about the U.S. military? What about the British army?

Looking at the faces around him, he also knows that they want to go home!

A moment later, MacArthur quickly walked into the headquarters made of thick stones. After saluting, he handed the telegram to Major General Jim, and then took a deep breath.

"General, the defense line of Lake Elan has been lost."

Dang!

McAssen heard the sound of the water cup falling to the ground, and no one was nervous, because he brought bad news. The [***] team was 120 kilometers away!

(to be continued)