Yuan Ye received the news in the evening of one day, when the Marines had just captured Kuna Barabran, and Weng Yu's cavalry unit, which had assisted the Marines in the battle, had just refilled their fuel and was preparing to return to the unit. When they learned that Gu Xunlei had annihilated the first group of American troops and was chasing another group of American troops, Yuan Ye and Weng Yu were a little incredulous, less than 100,000 people, and nearly 300,000 American troops were defeated, is this possible?

This was evidenced by the news sent by the fleet half an hour later. At this time, Yuan Ye and Weng Yu did not hesitate. Weng Yu immediately set off with his cavalry battalion and two motorized infantry battalions to catch up with his second cavalry division. And Yuan Ye immediately organized two marine divisions to set off on the evening of the same day. Then, after the arrival of the other two Marine Divisions, they also set out on their way early the next morning. What Yuan Ye didn't expect was that the marching speed of his Marine Division was not even comparable to the speed of Gu Xunlei chasing the enemy!

It was not until July 4 that the Marine Division sent by Yuan Ye caught up with Gu Xunlei and them, and at this time, Gu Xunlei's troops had already captured Mori, and advanced the battle line to about 50 kilometers north of Mori, encircling and annihilating the last formed American army, and when the Marines arrived, the battle had just ended!

During the four-day battle, Gu Xunlei's troops advanced more than 300 kilometers to the north, and annihilated at least 100,000 American troops, all formed American troops were eliminated, and only those American troops who withdrew from the battle alone and fled from other directions avoided Gu Xunlei's pursuing troops. During the four-day battle, Gu Xunlei only rested for less than eight hours in his armored command vehicle, while most of the officers and men did not even sleep for four hours. It can be said that these were extremely crazy four days, four days that decided the outcome of the battlefield on the Australian mainland.

After the Marines took over the defensive line, many officers and men fell asleep directly on the positions, and some were carried down by the Marines. They weren't hurt, they were too tired to walk. It's like a long-distance run that lasts for four days, to the end. The two sides are no longer fighting for firepower, but pure speed, depending on who runs faster. The U.S. military was also completely crushed. Many U.S. officers and soldiers simply waited on the side of the road to be taken prisoner. Moreover, as long as they are caught up, the vast majority of American troops will surrender directly and will not resist at all. It's also a battle of willpower, and it's like a game for the fighters on both sides. In the end, the officers and men of the Imperial Army were victorious.

This was indeed a major victory, within half a month of the landing. The army units under the command of Gu Xunlei fought a total of three large-scale battles with the US army, the first time annihilating three regular US divisions south of Amidale, the second time annihilating eight US regular divisions at Naraburai, and the third time annihilating these twelve US regular divisions. Three battles down. More than 250,000 U.S. troops were annihilated, and even those who escaped were scattered, and it was very difficult to restore combat effectiveness. At that time, the US military deployed only 500,000 ground troops on the Australian mainland. It's only half a month. Half of the U.S. military was wiped out!

Relatively speaking, the price paid by Gu Xunlei is not large. During this half-month of fighting, not a single unit was eliminated in formation, and not even a battalion was eliminated by the US military in formation. More than 30,000 officers and men were killed and more than 50,000 wounded, of which more than 30,000 returned to the unit within a month. Compared to the results obtained, this loss is not large, and if you consider that most of Gu Xunlei's troops at that time were new soldiers, this is nothing. Most importantly. At this time, he was still fighting on the battlefield. And those wounded who were able to return to the unit to continue the fight were no longer recruits, but veterans with combat experience!

Of course, the half-month of fighting has also proved one point, that is, the Marine Corps is not suitable for large-scale ground warfare, especially in inland areas far from the artillery support of the fleet, and the Marine Corps cannot meet the requirements of ground operations in terms of establishment and tactics. At that time, the elite units of the Marine Corps who fought on the battlefield in Australia were all soldiers, and Gu Xunlei commanded only the "reserve" units of the army. The disparity between the actual results of the two sides is obvious, and it also strengthens the determination of the senior commanders to maximize the proportion of the Army's missions on the Australian battlefield, and gradually reduce the input of the Marine Corps, so that the Army can take on the main task of ground combat. Of course, this also made Gu Xunlei extremely proud, at least the officers and men of the Marine Corps who looked down on him and looked down on him as an "reserve" unit of the army in the past all shut their mouths.

There are many things that Gu Xunlei is happy about, and through this half-month battle, many of the problems that caused Gu Xunlei's headache before have been solved. First of all, there is the issue of the officer corps, a large number of outstanding officers and men have emerged in the battle, and in the application form for personnel transfer sent back to the army headquarters by Gu Xunlei on 5 July, there are more than 800 newly promoted officers and more than 300 officers who have been promoted. The problem of the quality of the troops has also been solved, and half a month's battle may be more effective than half a year's training, and the battlefield is the best training ground, even if it is a new soldier, as long as he exercises on the battlefield for half a month, has experienced three large-scale battles, and can survive, he can be called a veteran! The last is the problem of supply and equipment, after a beautiful battle, Gu Xunlei can also confidently go to supply and equipment. Moreover, now whether it is the army or the navy, they all need beautiful victories, and his three battles are indeed fought beautifully, whether it is Yan Dingyu or Nie Renfeng, there are enough reasons to give him the materials and equipment he needs. Nie Renfeng even awarded Gu Xunlei a naval medal, and Gu Xunlei is also the third army general in the history of the empire to receive a naval medal, which cannot but be regarded as a great honor. Yan Dingyu even said directly, as long as the Australian war is won, he will personally award Gu Xunlei the rank of general, I am afraid that when the time comes, Gu Xunlei will become the youngest general in the history of the Imperial Army!

Of course, the significance of Gu Xunlei's pursuit battle was mainly reflected in the battle situation at that time, and the US army had lost the opportunity and ability to reinforce Sydney. The US-Australian coalition troops stationed in Sydney are only 250,000, most of which are Australian legions. On 3 July, before the pursuit of Gu Xunlei was over, the third landing force arrived at Port Macquarie, this time with six army infantry divisions, four marine divisions, and a large amount of war supplies.

On July 6, Yan Guozhong adjusted his operational deployment and asked Gu Xunlei to abandon Moli. Retreat to Naraburai and leave at least one division here. The Marines continued to control Kunabarabran. With the exception of the troops guarding the various points of communication, all the troops of the Army and Marine Corps were concentrated in Sydney. Prepare for the attack on Sydney. The fourth group of ground troops will arrive on 11 July, and the offensive on Sydney will begin by 15 July at the latest. If all goes well, it will only take a month at most to capture Sydney, and perhaps not more than a month, because when Sydney is attacked, the heavy guns of Task Force 3 will be able to provide strong support to the ground forces. In addition, the 1st Task Force, the 2nd Task Force. Task Force 4, as well as the Theater Fleet, will gather off the coast of Sydney to support ground forces. What's more, when the time comes. HNA will certainly be able to deploy a large number of shore-based air forces in Tamworth and Skun. With so many fire support troops, and a strong force advantage, the operation to attack Sydney will certainly not be too difficult.

Of course, it will take time to adjust the deployment of troops. In addition, Gu Xunlei also had to consider which troops to arrange to guard the outlying transportation arteries and which troops to participate in the combat operation of attacking Sydney. The main factor affecting Gu Xunlei's deployment was not the previous combat performance of the various units, but the quality of the officers and men of these units.

Of the 11 divisions that were put into battle in the first two batches, except for the 9th Infantry Division, which did not take part in combat operations, and the 8th Infantry Division, which came too late, the other nine divisions all accumulated actual combat experience, and a large number of officers and men were promoted. It stands to reason that Gu Xunlei should definitely send these 9 divisions to the front line to attack Sydney. But in reality, he didn't. Instead, the six infantry divisions that arrived in the third group, the Eighth Infantry Division, the Ninth Infantry Division, and two cavalry divisions were deployed to the front line, while the rest of the troops remained. The reason that led Gu Xunlei to make this decision was simple.

The capture of Sydney was only the signal for the beginning of the war on the Australian mainland, the signal for the end of the campaign in the landing phase, and in the subsequent battles, more troops were definitely needed, and better troops were needed. Although Yan Dingyu has promised that he will provide Gu Xunlei with several main army corps in August, from Gu Xunlei's point of view, the descendants he established before have been scattered and incorporated into the troops of other front-line commanders, and now these troops in his hands are his descendants. If he wants to secure his position in the Army, he must allow these units to gain enough experience and be recognized by the Army Command. Obviously, Gu Xunlei didn't really want to use the main legions provided by Yan Dingyu, what he needed was his own legions!

Therefore, Gu Xunlei attaches great importance to the balance of various troops. For example, the 1st Infantry Division, the 2nd Infantry Division, and the 3rd Infantry Division, which suffered the heaviest losses, were all placed in the rear by him, waiting for the arrival of the fourth batch of troops to be replenished. The 4th Infantry Division was assigned to Narrabre, the 5th Infantry Division to Tamworth, the 6th Infantry Division to Armidale, and the 7th Infantry Division to supply the three divisions. With the exception of two cavalry divisions, the other units used to attack Sydney were all infantry units with no combat experience, or little combat experience.

On the issue of the two cavalry divisions, Gu Xunlei also used his brains. On 6 July, he applied to the Army Headquarters to reorganize the two cavalry divisions into the 1st Cavalry Corps. The application was not approved immediately, mainly because many related issues were not resolved. And the direct purpose of Gu Xunlei's application is that he needs a strong cavalry force, and two cavalry divisions are obviously not enough. In addition, Yan Dingyu had promised to provide him with more armored combat vehicles, so Gu Xunlei had enough capital to organize a cavalry army.

According to the establishment of the Imperial Army, the "army" was not a formal combat unit, but a temporary one. The general situation is that several divisions form temporary corps-level units, and several, or even a dozen corps-level units, form group armies, and the larger establishment is group army groups and front armies. Therefore, the group army is the official establishment unit, but the group army is no longer a single-arm establishment unit, but a multi-arm cooperative combat unit. Therefore, the largest unit of a single branch of the armed forces, such as "cavalry", "infantry", "artillery", etc., is the "division". And the "cavalry army" is clearly not a normative title.

And according to the minimum requirements, a cavalry corps must also have at least one cavalry division and one motorized infantry division. In general, a cavalry corps has at least two cavalry divisions, two motorized infantry divisions, one independent artillery division, and several other independent regimental and battalion units. And Gu Xunlei's purpose in applying for the establishment of the cavalry corps is also obvious, he already has two cavalry divisions, but there is no motorized infantry division, if the army command approves his application, he can form a new motorized infantry division, or even an artillery division. And this new combat unit will become Gu Xunlei's descendant unit.

Obviously, Gu Xunlei is not stupid. He was transferred to the Pacific Theater, and there was a bit of a "distribution border" flavor in it, and at the beginning, Gu Xunlei was quite dissatisfied. As in the navy, the competition between the young generals of the army is also quite fierce, and Gu Xunlei's status in the army is not as good as Tan Renhao's status in the navy. Therefore, Gu Xunlei realized at the beginning that the position he had so hard established in the army would be seriously hit. Therefore, from the very beginning, Gu Xunlei was setting out to cultivate his new descendant troops.

It is an indisputable fact that there are also struggles among servicemen. And Gu Xunlei doesn't want to be a loser and victim of the struggle, and his arrangement is completely understandable. Of course, from the perspective of the war itself, Gu Xunlei's troop mobilization is understandable, if he wants to win the war on the Australian mainland, then Gu Xunlei must have enough elite troops.

The redeployment of troops continued until mid-July, and the movement of troops was relatively easy, and the main thing was the delivery of war materiel. Before the capture of Sydney Harbour, there had always been difficulties in the delivery of supplies. And this is the importance of attacking Sydney, as long as this deep-water port is captured, then the problem of logistics will not exist!