On 23 July, the Japanese occupied Madras and two days later cleared the remnants of the Indian army. Lieutenant General Gifard led the headquarters www.biquge.info of the 11th Army and part of the remnants of the 11th Army to flee north, and the Japanese army chased out 200 kilometers in one go, beating the British and Indian troops to pieces, and finally following Gifard to escape from the encirclement with less than 1,000 officers and men.

The British lost a total of 3 regular brigades (including a tank brigade), and more importantly, the north-south passage was cut off, and a large number of Japanese troops came ashore and crushed southward at a thunderous speed.

As the Japanese army advanced faster, the Provisional Government of Free India formed by Bose moved from Ceylon to Madras and issued the Declaration of Independence in a grand manner.

The first directive issued by the Madras Provisional Government after its establishment was to confiscate all British and "Indian" property, imprison British nationals, and promise to provide thanks to the Japanese-German forces - at the beginning, Boes had promised to provide Germany with corresponding gold, and as for the money in Suzuki's mouth, of course, it could not run away in the city.

As for the role of the occupation force, Yamashita has already experienced it once in Malaya, of course, it is very "experienced", and the military discipline of the Japanese army is almost the same as before, but this time Yamashita Fumimi strictly locks the scope on British expatriates and "Indian traitors", according to the regulations of the Bose government, anyone who is unwilling to obey the new government and swear allegiance is all Indian traitors, and the confiscation of property is a trivial matter, and personal safety is not guaranteed.

Scheer said that he could not stand the endless "public order" incidents in the city, and Special Envoy Cole went to Japan with the Combined Fleet, and he was the only one who came forward to negotiate with Yamashita Fumi. Given that the two militaries are still allies and cooperative relations, he can't say anything too bad, but at least he has to tell the other side clear objections.

"I have no moral purity, and I have encountered similar things in Russia, and it is impossible to expect the troops to treat them politely, but at least the bottom line must be kept." Scheer sighed, "Otherwise, if it continues like this, it will be too harmful to the morale of the troops, and my subordinates will think that if your army does this, we can do the same." ”

"I understand your thoughts, in fact I've done my best to restrain them." Yamashita told him, "I don't want to encounter an endless stream of resistance in India, but one thing I think you may not know is that the British have ruled India for more than 100 years, and have developed a commanding and condescending attitude, and if we don't suppress this mentality, we don't do anything out of the ordinary, and the Indian people will not obey us." ”

"Intimidation?"

"No...... Overthrow the sacred and invincible authority of the British, and let them know the power of the Eastern nations. Suzuki told him that the Bowes government had to be direct, and that he had made those who had worked as servants in the homes of the Indian diaspora, and those who had a lower caste had turned into masters.

"Like through a low-level means like how many people take turns *** a white woman?"

"Do you know who those are?"

"It's all vile, filthy and nasty."

"That's right." Yamashita nodded, "These people are called untouchables in the Indian caste, they are the lowest level of society, and they are regarded as scum by Indians, and Bose wants to use these people to break the psychological myth of the British." ”

"He will rely on this class to rule India in the future?"

"It's impossible, it's against all Indians, he's just using these untouchables to show his authority, and it's only against the British and the natives who collaborate with the British." Yamashita Fengwen frowned and said, "I can't interfere too much, if this government doesn't come forward, we will have to rob the gold and return the money to your government, you may not want to see it, right?" Someone came forward to help us with the work, and we need to give them a little mental stimulation and material encouragement. ”

"Well, be as restrained as possible......" Scheer thought for a long time and squeezed out a sentence, "Fewer dead people." ”

At this time, Bose did not know that the Japanese and German high-level officials were discussing his actions, and there was only one word in his mind: "Cool!" ”

The Indian Nationalist Government and the National Army sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and anyone who dared to oppose the new regime did not end well, and he relied on the surplus arms provided by Japan and Germany to pull up the ranks, and his former subordinates and supporters came to him from all over India, and even some of the top brass of the Congress party secretly conspired with him - and this was only to take a Ceylon. Now after the capture of Madras, the national army has rapidly expanded from 2,000 men to more than 7,000 men in a brigade, and there will soon be a second and a third. The Indians among the captured British and Indian officers and soldiers could easily become nationalists after being reformed.

He also had a purely untouchable special force to do the dirty work, the tiring work and the "special" tasks that no one else wanted to do, and their loyalty and morale were maintained when they rode on the white men to vent with impunity, and as for morality - he did not think that the British, who had ruled India for so many years, were worthy of the word.

"That's right! I'm just going to get revenge! ”

After receiving the information that the Indian army had landed successfully on the eve of the attack on Melbourne, Horikichi said with emotion: "Yamashita is worthy of being the tiger of South Asia, and with him in charge, India's strategy should be easy to succeed." ”

"I hope that the army will succeed as soon as possible, and the gold is still counting on them."

"Don't worry, there will be gold, there will be territory, as long as the Indian national government of Bose can be stabilized, the empire will be able to replace the British in the future."

"Sir, Vice Admiral Kurita sent back a telegram that the convoy had arrived safely in Singapore, but the light cruiser Yubari was forced to abandon after being destroyed by a mine while passing through the Strait of Malacca, while the rest of the ships were safe."

"The Yubari Light Patrol sank? The mines in Malacca haven't been swept away? Kondo Nobutake was a little surprised, "Isn't it that Singapore has been cleaning up?" ”

"I suspect it's a new mine laid by the U.S. military." Horikichi was also a little worried about the sinking of the Yubari, and the loss of an old light patrol was not a big deal, but if the route was blocked, it would be too much of a problem in the future, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Unload and distribute materials and equipment as planned, rest for a few days, and wait for Tsunoda to lead the three air battles in place before returning to the mainland." ”

Cao Lu raised his eyebrows: "Sir, are you worried about the US military interception?" ”

"There is this possibility, we are trying our best to cut off the supply lines of the US military, and they will also think about dealing with our transport fleet, there must be remnants of British and American spies on the Singapore side, and such a large fleet cannot be hidden from the Americans."

"Sir, the fleet is still 250 nautical miles from Melbourne, and it can launch an assault at dawn tomorrow......"

Horikichi looked at the wall clock and said to himself, "There are still four hours until dark, and it will be up to the Australians to find us." ”

Just when he was lamenting whether he would be discovered by the enemy, the latest briefing suddenly came in: "Sir, we found a B-24, most likely coming at us." ”

"I guess there will be a battle before the sun sets, so let's get Tsukahara-kun ready......"

Ever since Nimitz informed the Japanese fleet of the possibility of invading the direction of Melbourne, the Australians have been like crazy, sending planes every day, desperately searching for the location of the Japanese army, and almost turning the sea area upside down. But in the past two days, there has been no news of the Japanese army, and this feeling of being held on the head by a knife is really too uncomfortable.

Rumours were rife in Melbourne, residents were fleeing the road, and the administration could not openly say that the Japanese were coming, which would exacerbate the panic, nor could they categorically deny the news of the Japanese arrival, which was no joke if it did hit the head. A telegram asking for help has also been sent, and what should have been prepared has also been prepared, but it is useless to toss again, there is no navy in the direction of Melbourne, and the number of land forces is not large, but the only thing that can be relied on is some aircraft of the US Army Air and Australian Army, but the number seems to be a little small.

The B-24 was one of dozens of planes sent out to reconnoiter in the direction of Melbourne, and because there were not enough long-range patrol and reconnaissance planes, the U.S. Army Air Force sent all its heavy bombers out for reconnaissance missions.

"Knicks, look ...... below"

"Yes?" Nicks pouted and said, "Tommy, you've lied about the military so many times along the way, and I suspect you're dazzled." ”

"No, no, no, it's real this time, drop some heights."

"Well, I'll trust you again......"

"Oh God! What did I find? After Nix descended 1,500 meters, he suddenly witnessed a spectacular scene that he had never seen before, nearly 200 warships lined up in four long columns on the sea surface, forming a steel dragon spanning dozens of kilometers, and there were aircraft carriers and battleships with obvious target characteristics protected in them, he exclaimed, "This is all the main force of the combined fleet?" It's arrogant......"

"Report, 450 kilometers southwest of Melbourne found Japanese warships, 17 large warships, including 6 aircraft carriers, more than 20 medium-sized warships, and countless small warships...... Tommy pleaded after sending an urgent telegram, "go down a little more, let me see more clearly." ”

"No, I'm going to climb, the Japanese fighters are coming, everyone sit tight!"

Tommy reluctantly put away his downward gaze, turned his head to look out the window, and almost scared out of his heart attack, and more than a dozen fighter jets were killing in the distance, pouring fire in a ferocious manner.

Regarding this afternoon's battle, Tsukahara 243, who has often had a stroke of genius, actually proposed not to take the initiative to attack Melbourne during the day, and only suggested that naval artillery bombardment be used at dawn, at most a night assault.

"Sir, why don't you strike first?" "If we just let the attack aircraft swarm fly, Melbourne won't be able to hit us." ”

"There's no surprise attacking Melbourne right now, but it's not a problem to play defensively." Ryunosuke Kusaka, Chief of Staff of the Mobile Fleet, smiled and uncovered the mystery...... (To be continued.) )