When he figured out the battle on Zhang Xiaolin's side, Gu Xunlei had a new understanding of the situation on the battlefield, and at the same time had a bold idea.

"Send all the scouts, and in addition, let all the scouts of the 4th Infantry Division be dispatched as well." Gu Xunlei gave Zhang Xiaolin a new order, "Search for a suitable ferry along the river, and the U.S. military may choose another place to break through." In addition, find out the movements of the U.S. military and determine their next move. ”

Zhang Xiaolin took note of the order, but did not leave in a hurry.

"Let's go and arrange the reconnaissance unit first, and I'll give you a new mission later!"

When Zhang Xiaolin went to arrange the reconnaissance troops, Gu Xunlei pondered.

So far, the only thing he can be sure of is that the purpose of the US military is to go south at full speed and rush to Sydney as soon as possible, and this is MacArthur's highest task at this time. Judging from the course of action of the US military, MacArthur was very taboo about the carrier-based bombers of the Imperial Navy, and the US tanks destroyed by the carrier-based bombers alone accounted for more than 60 percent of the number of tanks it lost, and at least tens of thousands of US troops were killed or injured during the march. Therefore, the US military took the initiative to evade to the west, striving to march outside the strike range of carrier-based bombers. But now, even if the US military has escaped the attack of carrier-based bombers, the situation is extremely unfavorable for them, because the US military is seriously short of time.

According to the progress of the construction of the Marine Corps engineering corps, the airfields in Tamworth and Skun will be put into operation as soon as 3 or 4 July, and the Marine Corps will also build several other field airfields in the coastal areas. Together, these airfields are capable of accommodating hundreds of combat aircraft, which is equivalent to the aviation strike capabilities of at least one task force, or even two task forces. And when shore-based aviation forces enter the war, then the US military will move the marching route another four kilometers to the west. Nor can it escape the blows of bombers. … Ａp．

Herein lies the problem, it is not difficult to change the route of the march, the road transport network in the south-west of Australia is very billable, and there are at least a few north-south road routes to the west of the Mori-Naraburai road line, and all of them can go to Sydney. The problem is that the U.S. military doesn't have much time to maneuver. If the route is chosen, even if the supply along the route is not considered, especially the problem of fuel supply, the time spent by the US military on the march alone will increase by at least five days. Or even more than ten days. And this will certainly be blocked. As the battle lines on both sides continue to expand, the U.S. military has fewer options. Even if the Tang Imperial Army did not stop the US troops moving westward, they only needed to quickly establish a new defensive line outside Sydney, and after the fourth batch of landing troops came ashore, they could concentrate their forces to attack Sydney, and the main force of the US army probably did not even have a chance to reach Sydney.

Other words. In fact, the U.S. military had no choice but to storm Narabrai, open the passage to Sydney as soon as possible, and strive to reach Sydney before the Tang Imperial army encircled Sydney, and hold this port that would determine the victory or defeat of the war on the entire Australian continent.

It is for this reason that Gu Xunlei concluded that the US army would not retreat. Only temporarily retreated, and a new offensive was being organized. And if the U.S. military wants to get to Sydney through the Narraburai, then there are only two options. The first is to continue to storm the bridgehead, and the second is to bypass the bridgehead and cross the river from another point. Therefore, he asked Zhang Xiaolin to send all the reconnaissance troops out, first to find out the movements of the American troops, and then to find other suitable ferries along the river. Blocking the U.S. forces to the north.

Half an hour later, Zhang Xiaolin rushed back. And the latest news was delivered.

"We interrogated American prisoners of war, and in addition, we found a military map of the American military." Zhang Xiaolin spread the military map on the table, "There is a natural crossing in the upper reaches of the river, it is the dry season, the river is very shallow, judging from the situation explained by the US military, the water depth there is less than one meter, vehicles. Tanks can swim across the river, and people can quickly cross the river. ”

"Upstream?" Gu Xunlei frowned slightly.

"The reconnaissance unit has passed. In addition, judging from the information sent by the Second Cavalry Division, the group of American troops who fled from here crossed the river. ”

Gu Xunlei nodded and called a staff officer over. "Immediately let the Fifth Infantry Division deploy a regiment of troops here, in addition, focus on laying mines, set up mortar positions in the rear, and if the American troops cross the river from here, send a message immediately."

"Maybe the 2nd Cavalry Division should be sent over!"

"There is no need to rush, with a distance of only 20 kilometers, the 2nd Cavalry Division will be able to arrive in an hour, and the 5th Infantry Division will have no problem holding out here for an hour." Gu Xunlei sat down as he spoke, "At most, the U.S. military will launch a sneak attack here, and if they want to cross the river quickly, they will have to capture the bridge or erect a pontoon bridge, and it will take a lot of time to erect a pontoon bridge." When there is more information from the reconnaissance troops, we will make new arrangements. ”

"General ......" Zhang Xiaolin looked like he wanted to say something.

"What? Can I help you? Gu Xunlei looked at him.

"No, it's okay, I'll go to the reconnaissance company to take a look, maybe there will be news back soon."

"Go, I'll wait here!"

At this time, Gu Xunlei already had a bold idea. If the U.S. military is in a hurry to cross the river, then he can take advantage of this and fight a large-scale battle with the U.S. military. After the previous battle against Naraburai, Gu Xunlei did not have much hope for the performance of his troops in urban warfare, and he personally did not like to fight urban warfare very much. If he can destroy the American army in the field, then he can achieve a greater victory, and his two cavalry divisions will definitely be able to exert great combat effectiveness on the battlefield, in any case, the 1st Cavalry Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division already have combat experience, and most of the tankers know how to fight the enemy, which is an important advantage.

Using the bridgehead to contain the American troops, the cavalry units quickly assaulted from the flanks of the American troops, first besieged the American troops in the north, and took advantage of the time difference between the arrival of the two American troops to annihilate the American troops separately. This is Gu Xunlei's most direct idea, but he has to consider another problem, that is, the US army in the north now has eight divisions. Moreover, the American army that was rushing in had at least 12 divisions, and he only had 5 divisions in his hands, and by daybreak, there were only 7 divisions at most, and the 3rd Infantry Division, which had already lost part of its strength, and the 2nd Cavalry Division. In other words, Gu Xunlei had to use less than 7 divisions to meet the 20 divisions of the US army. Even if there are only 8 US divisions to be fought in the first batch, he will not have much advantage in terms of troops. If the second group of American troops arrives, then the battle will be even more difficult to fight.

It was also the problem of military strength that made Gu Xunlei a little hesitant. If these 7 divisions in his hands are all elite troops. He didn't have to think about it so much at all. However, the actual situation is that only the 1st Cavalry Division, the 2nd Cavalry Division, and the 3rd Infantry Division have some actual combat experience, while the other four infantry divisions have almost no experience to speak of, and the quality of officers and men is very problematic. When launching an offensive when the strength of the troops is inferior to that of the opponent, the quality of the officers and men is the decisive factor. If the battle is lost because of the quality of the officers and men, then he will not even have a chance to turn over. And giving up the offense and switching to a full-scale mobile defense, this should be more effective, but Gu Xunlei doesn't want to fight passively, this is not his style.

Before the reconnaissance unit sent back the news, Gu Xunlei received two telegrams.

The first telegram was sent by Yuan Ye. With the cooperation of the armored forces of the 2nd Cavalry Division led by Weng Yu, the marines had already defeated Marulandi at noon that day. In addition, another unit of the Marine Corps has captured Meriva and is now advancing towards Kula, which is expected to be captured tomorrow afternoon. In order to increase the speed of the Marine Corps' attack, Yuan Ye left Weng Yu behind, and said that after capturing Kunabarabran, he would let Weng Yu return.

Gu Xunlei didn't care about that amount of troops, after all, if the Marines were able to capture Kunabarabran smoothly. Then even if the U.S. military occupies Naraburai, he has a way out. This is part of the overall campaign. At that time, Gu Xunlei will be able to fight a decisive battle with the US army without worries. He also sent a telegram back to Yuan Ye, asking Yuan Ye to arrange for the main force of the Marine Corps to go north to support the army's combat operations in Narablayi immediately after capturing Kunabalabulan.

The second telegram was sent by Tan Renhao, which was a reconnaissance report on all the reconnaissance operations of the carrier-based reconnaissance plane during the day, and because it was necessary to sum up a number of reconnaissance reports and analyze the pattern of the US military's movements, the telegram was sent several hours late. Another force of American troops reached Mori during the day. It is still on the southbound highway and is expected to be on the evening of July 1. It will arrive in Narabrai in the early hours of 2 July at the latest. Task Force 1 will organize fighter planes with a longer range to carry out bombing missions to delay the southward movement of US forces as much as possible.

This telegram was even more important, and Gu Xunlei immediately replied, hoping that the 1st Task Force could do its best to stop the American troops moving south, and buy him two days to annihilate the American troops north of Naraburai. It was also after receiving this telegram that Gu Xunlei made a decision to take advantage of the fact that the US army had not yet joined the division, first annihilating the US army in front of him, and then dealing with another US army, and settling the battle here!

By twelve o'clock, reconnaissance reports had been sent back, and the American forces showed no signs of continuing their night offensive, and were readjusting their forces, presumably preparing for a new offensive during the day. Gu Xunlei immediately called the four division commanders over and deployed the task.

"The U.S. forces will definitely storm the bridgehead after dawn, and we will seize this opportunity to annihilate the U.S. forces in the north first, and then deal with the other U.S. forces that are about to arrive." Gu Xunlei didn't let those colonels and division commanders speak, "Therefore, I can only leave one infantry division to defend the river beach position." This task was to be undertaken by the 3rd Infantry Division, which needed to defend not only the bridgehead but also the ferry to the north, and this evening, the 3rd Infantry Division arranged for troops to replace the infantry regiment of the 5th Infantry Division. ”

The commander of the 3rd Infantry Division nodded, this is a rather difficult task, there are more than 100,000 American troops in the north, and he only has more than 10,000 troops, it is not an easy task to use more than 10,000 troops to block an enemy ten times his size.

"The 1st Cavalry Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division were withdrawn at night, and they had to make preparations for a long-distance attack before dawn." Gu Xunlei called Zhang Xiaolin over, "The First Cavalry Division will cross the river from the ferry in the north tomorrow." It's unlikely that the U.S. military will choose to cross the river here, so you'll have to prepare some equipment to cross the river. ”

"This is no problem, Narabrai has the county's bridge-building equipment, I will send someone to get it immediately."

"After crossing the river, the 1st Cavalry Division attacked north at full speed, each tank had to carry sufficient ammunition, in addition, prepare an extra fuel, and the distance of this attack was more than 150 kilometers." Gu Xunlei marked the route of the 1st Cavalry Division's assault on the map, "You must go around the flank and rear of the American army before evening, and use infantry to control the road line to Mori, and the other American army is likely to arrive here tomorrow afternoon, so you must arrange the vanguard to occupy the road line and cut off the connection between the two American forces!" ”

Zhang Xiaolin took a deep breath, then nodded slightly.

"The 2nd Cavalry Division will cross the river this evening and go to the north of the position." Gu Xunlei began to arrange tasks for the Second Cavalry Division, "I will personally command the Second Cavalry Division to fight, and I will assign specific tasks separately." ”

"General, what are we going to do then?" The commanders of the 5th Infantry Division and the 4th Infantry Division asked at the same time.

"The Fourth Infantry Division followed the actions of the 1st Cavalry Division, outflanked the right flank of the American army, and immediately advanced to the east after the 1st Cavalry Division captured the road line, compressing the American defensive line, and when the time came, the cavalry units of the 1st Cavalry Division were responsible for tearing apart the American defensive line, and your task is to destroy the American army as much as possible and as quickly as possible!"

The commander of the 4th Infantry Division nodded, it was a big deal.

Gu Xunlei looked at the commander of the Fifth Infantry Division. "You also follow behind the 1st Cavalry Division, and don't take the initiative to engage the American troops. After the 1st Cavalry Division has seized the road line, you must keep up as soon as possible, the troops must always march rapidly, if the American troops in the north go south at full speed, then you have to deploy a defensive line here, even if you fight out, you must separate the two American forces, and you must not let the American troops meet! ”

The commander of the Fifth Infantry Division immediately nodded vigorously, this was the most glorious blocking mission.

"Everyone, go and prepare, we have to use all the troops this time!"

Gu Xunlei did use all the troops, and he incorporated his guard battalion into the battle sequence of the Second Cavalry Division. In addition, he also gave a new task to the other two infantry divisions that were approaching, and whether or not they could annihilate the US troops depended on whether these two infantry divisions could arrive in time.

……