The battle began on 18 July, and the first to attack the US forces were the main warships of the Third Task Force, and when the 100-millimeter bomb exploded on the US position, the war drums of the attack on Sydney were also beaten.

When the two bomber groups flew over Sydney, the pilots couldn't help but want to drop the bombs, but they all knew that the bombs carried by the bombers were prepared for another group of US troops, and their task was to support the army's combat units, and the targets in the Sydney harbor area and the city belonged to the bombing targets of the Second Task Force, Zhang Naiding, Yang Shihong, Gao Junhan and others.

In the fleet, Tan Renhao and Zheng Guanhua were trying to coordinate the actions of various troops, and compared to the pilots on the front line, their pressure was not small at all.

After Zhang Zhitao retreated to the second line and went to train novices, the First Task Force only had two leading bomber pilots, namely Qiu Gengbo and Yang Qinkai. Tan Renhao is also accustomed to dividing the bombers into two batches, and instead of using the aircraft carrier battle group as the basic aviation unit like other fleets, the bombers of the three aircraft carrier battle groups are used uniformly. Therefore, for a long time, the 1st Task Force had only two bomber group commanders, and no third one. It is precisely for this reason that Tan Renhao only set up two fighter captains, but did not set up a third. All of this is closely related to his own tactical command style. But in these more than 20 days of fighting, because of the actual needs of the battle situation, Tan Renhao had to promote a new bomber group leader and a fighter group leader. … Ａp． n

The newly appointed bomber captain is called Mu Tao, whose ancestral home is Gansu. Although he is Han Chinese, he has ethnic minority ancestry, which can also be seen from his surname. Mu Tao has been in the 1st Task Force for four years, growing from an ordinary dive bomber pilot to an excellent squadron leader. Maybe. In terms of ability, he can't be compared with Qiu Gengbo and Yang Qinkai, but it is worth mentioning that he is partnered with his younger brother Mu Li.

Mu Tao and Mu Li are twin brothers, Mu Tao was born an hour early, so they are older brothers. And the two look very similar, if you don't look closely, you can't tell who is the brother and who is the younger brother. Originally, Tan Renhao wanted to break up the two, after all, the two brothers were on a bomber. If something goes wrong, then the two of them are finished, and as far as Ren Hao knows, Mu Tao and Mu Li have no other brothers, if the two of them have something long and two short, then the Mu family will be doomed? And the empire has relevant decrees, even during war. Every family has the right to have an heir, and this decree was established hundreds of years ago. Results. Tan Renhao was not able to disassemble the twin brothers, because Mu Tao and Mu Li have been partners for several years, and the two seem to have telepathy, and they cooperate quite tacitly, otherwise they would not be able to become excellent crews.

The newly promoted fighter pilot is called Zhu Xiaohuo, and unlike the Mu Taomu Li brothers, Zhu Xiaohuo has served in the First Task Force for less than two years, and he can basically be regarded as a "new tender" in the First Task Force where masters gather. But he is the No. 3 ace of air combat in the First Task Force. The record is only below Ellsler and Yao Boyan, and now there are 32 shot down records. Other than that. Zhu Xiaohuo was the first to complete the training of landing and take-off on an aircraft carrier with a new type of fighter plane, and summed up the low-altitude and low-speed characteristics of the new fighter, which provided an important reference experience for pilots in other places to complete the training. It was precisely for this reason that Tan Renhao promoted him to the new fighter group leader, and partnered with the Mu Taomu Li brothers to form a new aviation strike force.

In other words, Task Force 1 can now dispatch three bomber groups, and although each bomber group is much smaller, it can carry out three different bombing missions at the same time, which is also a little progress. Of course, when it is not necessary, Tan Renhao still trusts Qiu Gengbo and Yang Qinkai, two veterans. And when it was according to the support mission, he asked Qiu Gengbo and Yang Qinkai to take the lead, while Mu Tao's fleet would only be dispatched alone when necessary, and they were usually directly incorporated into the other two groups, which also reflected Tan Renhao's flexibility in using the aviation force.

Of course, the specific combat tasks are still arranged by the fleet commander, and in most cases, Lei Shaoqing is only responsible for informing the fleets of the combat situation of other fleets, organizing the aircraft group deployed on Lord Hao Island, replenishing the fleet's combat aircraft, and contacting the front-line combat units to rescue the overboard pilots, and other matters that do not involve the fleet's specific combat operations.

Every half an hour, Lei Shaoqing would summarize the situation of each fleet and send it to the fleet commander, so that the commander of each task force could know where the other fleets were, what they were doing, and whether there were any requirements for support from other fleets.

Tan Renhao would adjust the route of the fleet every half an hour and make new arrangements for the bombing operation according to the new situation. Of course, the main basis for revising the operational plan was not the combat operations of other fleets, but the reports sent back by the front-line bomber groups, and the main issues involved were which targets had been completely destroyed, which targets needed to be bombed against, whether there were moving targets, whether they had been intercepted by US fighters, and so on.

The test of combat is not the ability of the pilot, in the absence of much air threat, the difficulty of ground bombing is much lower than that of sea bombing, and many pilots are not very accustomed to bombing fixed targets on the ground after they are used to bombing warships on the sea. In addition, the intensity of the bomber sortie is not very large, most of the pilots only need to fly three times during the day, each flight and combat time is within two hours, only a small number of pilots need to make four sorties, even so, it is a maximum of eight hours of combat time, and this is much easier than most combat operations in the past. What is really tested is the command system of the fleet, as well as the capabilities of the fleet commanders, especially those in the combat ground of aviation.

This is also an important feeling of Tan Renhao in the more than 20 days of ground support. than a decisive battle with the enemy's ground fleet. As far as previous island landing operations are concerned, the fleet's command system has exposed the most serious problems in ground support operations against the mainland. Moreover, the way of fighting is completely different. In ground support operations. The most important thing is not to grasp this fighter. Because this fighter is not in the hands of the fleet, but by the ground forces. The most important ability is the timeliness of the arrival of the bombers, as well as the general grasp of the situation of the war.

This can be said to be a new test, Tan Renhao was not familiar with ground operations before, and he was not very clear about how to provide aviation support to ground forces hundreds of kilometers away from the fleet in a timely manner. As a result, he had to spend more time familiarizing himself with the tactics of the Army. At the same time, using the actual combat experience of more than 20 days, we have found out several rules. If you want to provide timely aviation support to the ground forces, you must first understand the operational intentions of the ground forces, as well as the operational plans of the ground forces commanders. Then it is necessary to know how difficult the battle site is, make a general judgment, and on the basis of this judgment, try to arrange the bombers as reasonably as possible. Especially the time of departure of the bombers, so that the bomber group can reach the most important battlefield at the most important time, drop the most important bombs, and win the most important victory.

It's easy to say, but it's not so easy to do. Happened in Armidale, Tamworth. As well as several battles in Narabulai, it was revealed that the carrier-based bombers did not arrive on time. As a result, the combat operations of the ground forces were delayed, and even almost led to serious problems with the defeat of the battle. Although Gu Xunlei arranged for liaison officers to be in the First Task Force at that time, and Gu Xunlei did not accuse the bombers of the First Task Force of being late, Tan Renhao knew very well that a few liaison officers could not solve the problem, and Gu Xunlei did not directly accuse, which did not mean that the fleet had done its best.

It is also this that during the period when the ground forces of Gu Xunlei stopped, and the ground forces rested. Tan Renhao found Gu Xunlei several times and discussed with Gu Xunlei the trick of cooperating with the ground forces in carrier-based aviation. At the same time, he also solicited some opinions from Gu Xunlei and learned from Gu Xunlei some basic tactical issues in ground operations. This is also the active side of Tan Renhao's supervisor, and it is his superior side compared to other fleet commanders. Perhaps, other fleet commanders will avoid these questions, but Tan Renhao will not, he knows his flaws, and he never hides his flaws, and will try to make up for his flaws.

Tan Renhao's active study of ground tactics also proves one point, that is, as the war gradually moves towards victory, the possibility of large-scale naval battles breaking out in the future will become smaller and smaller, and the main responsibility of the fleet will gradually shift from naval operations to supporting ground forces. Therefore, the commander of the fleet must clearly face the basic tactics of the operation, so that he can effectively coordinate with the actions of the ground forces. It is precisely because of this that the Imperial Navy opened a marine combat training course for senior officers and front-line generals at the beginning of 27, and also specially invited several army generals to guide the naval generals to learn the basic tactics of the army, and all of this is to prepare for the final attack on the American continent! It can be said that Tan Renhao is really a bit prescient.

After receiving strong air support, the ground forces did not slow down the attack, and although the intensity of the fleet's sorties was not raised, the American defense line was still rapidly collapsing. In particular, on the 20th, after the bombers of the Strategic Strike Force were stationed at the front-line airfield, the advance speed of the ground forces increased considerably.

On the 18th, Gu Xunlei's armored troops attacked near Katoomba and advanced outside the town of Windsor that night. The U.S. forces were still resisting stubbornly, and Gu Xunlei had to stop his troops, preparing to wait until after dawn and continue to advance under the cover of bombers. On the same day, the Marine Corps also advanced to Trie Hills, less than 40 kilometers away from the Sydney Harbour Area, and Yan Guozhong launched the operational plan of landing directly in the Port Area at this time, preparing to send the two Marine Divisions directly over, first occupy the Port Area, and then compete with the US Army for the Sydney City.

By the 20th, the Army had encircled the US-Australian forces in Sydney, and the Marines, having captured Terry Hills, began to deploy artillery positions north of the port area, while the landing fleet also rushed over. At that time, Yan Guozhong was very confident that he would land directly in the port area, but he did not think of many problems.

On the 21st, several destroyers of the Third Task Force discovered a serious problem when they were trying to enter the port area, and the US forces had deployed a large number of mines at the entrance and exit of Sydney Harbour, which would inevitably threaten the ships entering and leaving. As a result, Yan Guozhong had to immediately cancel the landing operation plan and choose a new landing site. From that day on, the heavy bombers of the Strategic Strike Force concentrated on bombing Sydney's urban and port areas, dropping hundreds, if not thousands, of bombs on Sydney every day. Moreover, from the 24th, incendiary bombs were also used, and their destructive power was far from being comparable to that of any other bomber or even artillery.

By the 23rd, Gu Xunlei had compressed the US-Australian coalition forces to the periphery of Sydney, and also sent troops to sweep Camden southwest of Sydney, and his reconnaissance force even reached Wollongong. On that day, Yan Guozhong also decided on a new offensive plan, with the Marine Corps going ashore to the east of the port area, while Gu Xunlei arranged for a rapid assault force to join the landing force to provide cover for the landing force as soon as possible. This actually increased the pressure on the army, and Gu Xunlei did not oppose Yan Guozhong's plan, after all, Yan Guozhong was the commander-in-chief.

On the 24th, while the 1st Cavalry Division was assaulting east south of Sydney, two Marine Divisions under the command of Yuan Ye disembarked on the southeast beach of Sydney Harbour. Although the U.S.-Australian forces put up a fairly stubborn resistance, by the evening of the same day, when the 1st Cavalry Division had reached the scheduled time, the U.S.-Australian forces had to abandon their beach positions and began to retreat to the port area.

At this point, Sydney has become a "dead city". By the 29th, the army had already invaded Xicheng District, and the US-Australian coalition forces had also retreated into the city. The Marines entered the port area at one o'clock in the evening of the same day, because they wanted to protect the port's infrastructure as much as possible, so the Marines did not advance very quickly, and the United States and Australia forces were also insisting on defense, and did not forget to blow up the important infrastructure in the port when retreating.

On 2 August, the entire city of Sydney was occupied, and the next day, the Harbor was occupied, and the battle to sweep away the remnants of the US-Australian coalition continued until 8 August. However, on 3 August, Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 had withdrawn from the battle.

The first phase of the attack on the Australian mainland, the landing operation, came to an end on 8 August, which was nearly 20 days shorter than expected!