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Chapter 1792 is sensational

The Japanese did not stop because of the partial defeat on Luzon, and in the early morning of 29 January, the 6th and 26th Divisions captured Manila. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Two days later, the 48th and 105th Divisions captured Corregidor Island at the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula and won the Battle of Luzon.

During the period from late January to early February, the Japanese army continued to advance on all fronts in the Pacific.

The 1st and 2nd Battlefleets, the 9th Cruisers, the 1st and 3rd Destroyer Fleets, and the 2nd Aircraft Carrier Squadron of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, after covering the victory of the 16th Army of the Army in the landing on Oahu, quickly moved south, waiting for an opportunity to find the remnants of the U.S. Navy for a decisive battle.

After the Navy gained sea supremacy in the South Pacific, the New Britain Island Raid operation was put on the operational agenda of the Southern Army.

Rabaul is located in Blanche Bay at the tip of the Gazelle Peninsula in the northeastern part of the island of New Britain, and was the capital of German New Guinea until the end of the last European war, but due to the defeat of Germany, the Paris Peace Conference placed the island under Australian jurisdiction and became the capital of the Australian province of New Guinea.

The flotilla carrying the 52nd Division of the Japanese Army departed from Guam on 13 January and lasted nine days to reach the eastern side of New Britain Island. The scheduled date for the attack was the early morning of the 23rd, when the clouds were low and the surroundings were dark, but the flames of the eruption of the active volcano "Hanabukiyama" on the island of Britain were like a large lighthouse, illuminating the surroundings and indicating the direction of the landing boats.

Just after midnight, the Japanese troops, divided into six groups, all mobilized, and rushed towards the port of Rabaul. The British Island, with a total area of 37,000 square kilometers, was seriously undermanned by the Australian troops stationed there, and soon collapsed under the rapid offensive of the Japanese army.

After a night of beach-grabbing and landing operations, by the early morning of the next day, the main force of the 69th Infantry Wing of the Japanese Army had already entered the city of Rabaul, and the remnants of the Australian army of Major-General Baziz and the Governor-General of the Governor of 1,700 men withdrew to the primeval jungle of the Gazel Peninsula. Among the dozens of islands from the Bismarck Archipelago to the Solomon Islands, the best harbor, the port of Rabaul, fell into the hands of the Japanese very easily.

The island of New Britain is the size of the island of Shikoku, and the Australian army fled into the mountains, expecting its own reinforcements to counterattack. However, the 69th Wing pursued and dispersed into the forest to search for Australian troops. On 2 February, the main force of the Australian army, including Major General Baez, was surrounded by the Japanese army in front and behind, and had to surrender gloomily.

At the same time as the victory of the Rabaul landing operation, the *** Marine Corps also landed on the south coast of the central part of the island at this time, laid a naval aviation base here, and occupied the key port of the new island of Ireland next to Carvian, and completed the land-based airfield used by the naval aviation.

At this point, the first-line bases used by the US-Australian coalition forces to defend Australia and counterattack *** fell into the hands of the *** navy and army in full accordance with the predetermined battle plan formulated by the *** base camp.

On the island of New Guinea, the resistance of the US-Australian coalition also collapsed completely.

The day after the Pearl Harbor incident, the 17th, 18th, and 28th armies of the Japanese army, with a total of nine divisions and regiments, plus divisions directly under the direct jurisdiction of the three front armies, crossed the border line and launched an all-out attack on Australian New Guinea. Among them, the Eighteenth Army under the command of Lieutenant General Anan Weiji was responsible for attacking the northern part of the Central Mountains, and brought the ports of Serdo and Lae into control; The 17th Army under the command of Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada and the 28th Army under the command of Lieutenant General Shozo Kawabe were in charge of the strategy in the southern region.

At this time, the island of New Guinea was full of forests, and most of the inhabitants were in a primitive tribal state, and only a few coastal port towns had a certain industrial and commercial base. Connecting these tribes to the port towns were a series of dirt and stone roads. To ensure Australia's security, the U.S.-Australian coalition deployed defensive forces in Morehead, Ballymo City, north of the Torres Strait, and Kemali City, north of the Gulf of Papua.

The well-prepared Japanese army was overwhelmed along the way, and the local aborigines actively provided assistance to the *** army to fight against the Australian and American armies, and helped the Japanese army transport wounded soldiers. In just one month, most of Australian Papua fell into Japanese hands, and the United States and Australia were forced to retreat to Port Moresby in the southeast of New Guinea Island.

Port Moresby is the largest city on the island of New Guinea. The Stanley Mountains are surrounded by water on two sides, the natural harbor of Fairfax Bay on one side and the coral-covered sea on the other. The US military has two airfields here, more than 700 kilometers from the port of Rabaul, and B17 heavy bombers can move back and forth. After the Japanese won the Pacific War, the only U.S. military base that could threaten Rabaul was Port Moresby.

On 23 January, the day after the capture of Rabaul, the Japanese base camp issued an order to capture Port Moresby with all its might.

At the same time that the Japanese army launched an all-out attack on the Australian island of New Guinea, the fighters of the Japanese army air force at the Marauch Air Base on the island of New Guinea conducted reconnaissance of the port at the southern tip of the island of New Guinea and bombed some of the bases of the US-Australian coalition.

Because the Japanese army controlled the sea supremacy in the South Pacific, including the Coral Sea area, and the navy and army aviation had complete air supremacy over the island of New Guinea, the navy and army carried out leapfrog operations, frequently dispatched fleets, and transported the troops of the 17th and 28th armies on the southern front to the vicinity of Port Moresby in batches.

In the early morning of 11 February, four divisions of the Japanese army launched a general attack on Port Moresby from the north of the city.

At 6 p.m. on the afternoon of the 13th, after more than 60 hours of fierce fighting and at the cost of more than 3,000 casualties, more than 11,000 remnants of American and Australian troops stationed at the port surrendered to the Japanese army.

At this point, the island of New Guinea completely fell under the control of the Japanese army.

......

Nanhua, Xinjing.

When the intelligence department received the news that the Japanese had captured Port Moresby, it was already the morning of 14 February, the seventh day of the first lunar month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which was Valentine's Day in the West.

During the time when Chiang Kai-shek and his wife were stranded in Xinjing, a sensational incident occurred in the Nanjing government - Wang Jingwei, the No. 2 person and chairman of the Central Political Council, suddenly disappeared during the Spring Festival in Shanghai with friends at home and abroad. Chiang Kai-shek was worried that Wang Ching-wei would have some kind of conspiracy, so he hurriedly returned to Nanjing yesterday on a passenger plane sent by the South China side.

I don't know if he was moved by Chiang Kai-shek's sincerity, but in the talks a few days earlier, MacArthur, after obtaining the consent of the United States, promised to transfer all the Far Eastern Army and the withdrawn Philippine troops to the Chinese battlefield for war against Japan. On the return of Chiang Kai-shek and his wife to Beijing, MacArthur and the U.S. Commissioner for the Far East, Francis Murphy. Serge accompanied the troops, while the troops were in Jonarin. Under the leadership of U.S. generals such as Wainwright, Jones, and Parker, it took a month to complete the troop transfer.

Xiaonanhai, the Qinzheng Building of the Governance Hall, An Yi's office.

An Yi threw a tantrum at the phone:

"Zhao Xiangyun, didn't I tell you again and again, you have to pay attention to Wang Jingwei's every move, and if you find that the situation is wrong, you will be killed immediately? Now something like this is happening, what do you say? ”

On the other side of the phone, there was silence, and after a long time, Zhao Rui's deep voice came: "I'm sorry, I was negligent, I ask for punishment from the organization!" ”

"Disposition?"

An Yi sneered: "Can punishment solve the problem?" I dare to say that Wang Jingwei must have fled to ***, the number two person of the national government defected to the enemy country, how bad is the impact? Do you know how international public opinion will hype up this, huh!? ”

On the other side of the phone, there was silence again.

An Yi stabilized his mood a little, slowed down his voice, and said, "Let's talk about it, what's going on." ”

"Wang Jingwei's escape has actually been a sign for a long time, but he is the chairman of the Central Political Council, and he is in a high position, so we have no way to restrict his actions. If we don't teach you, not only will we have trouble in the fourth hall, but I'm afraid it will also cause trouble for you, chairman..... In the past year, the work of the Fourth Department has been more difficult than before, and the Central Command, the Military Command, and the Military Police Command have been hindered in many ways......

Zhao Rui's voice was full of exhaustion, he paused for a moment, and pleaded: "Chairman, I want to go back to Xinjing to report on my work and explain the matter clearly to you in person, do you think it?" ”

Thinking of the fourth hall led by Zhao Rui, who was ostracized by Chiang Kai-shek and had difficulty in carrying out the work, An Yi's heart softened and said: "Okay, I'll arrange for the plane to pick you up!" Xiangyun, I was a little more angry just now, our brothers for many years, I hope you don't put your mind on it. ”

Zhao Rui said ashamedly: "Where can it! It's my job that didn't do ...... well."

Shen Fengdao walked into the room and saw An Yi talking on the phone, standing aside without speaking.

"Xiangyun, you must not have psychological baggage, Wang Jingwei will leave when he leaves, it's okay! If he doesn't take Sunshine Avenue, he will go to take the single-plank bridge, and there will be times when he regrets it in the future! An Yi comforted him, and finally said: "Okay, I have something here, so I won't say much, I'll talk about it in detail when you come back!" ”

After speaking, An Yi took the initiative to hang up the phone and looked up at Lao Shen.

Shen Fengdao handed a telegram to An Yi, and then said: "The results of the battle of New Guinea have come out, and it is not surprising that the Japanese army has won a complete victory...... At this time, the General Staff is convening an emergency meeting to discuss the battle situation, and Yang Fei and Deng Bin invite you to attend. ”

An Yi's eyes suddenly became sharp.

After reading the telegram carefully and groaning, An Yi nodded: "It's okay, although we judged that the Japanese army would attack Australia immediately after capturing the island of New Guinea, the island of New Britain and the island of New Ireland, there are still doubts about where to speak, so we just had a meeting to discuss it." Over the past month or so, the United States has continued to send more troops to Australia, and presumably there will be a battle between the dragon and the tiger in the future. ”

......

London, United Kingdom.

In the town of Milton Keynes, on the northern outskirts of the city, in a meeting room in the underground command centre in ruins, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, Minister of Colonial and Dominion Affairs Eden, and Minister of Defence Coordination Charter. Lord Field, Secretary of War Hall. Bellisha, Secretary of the Air Force Kingsley. Wood, First Sea Lord, Dudley. Admiral Pound is negotiating behind closed doors.

Due to the continuous bad news during this time, everyone's face was full of worry.

Chart. Lord Field said, "With the fall of Port Moresby, Australia has been completely exposed to the superior strength of the Japanese army!" If we don't think about it, this continent, which is very important to Britain, will fall into the hands of the Japanese army, and the Allied forces will be hit hard again! ”

Churchill smiled bitterly: "The mainland, Gibraltar, North Africa, the Middle East, everywhere needs troops, where can we still send troops to Australia?" Moreover, even if we were to send reinforcements from South Africa around the Cape of Good Hope and across the vast Indian Ocean to Australia in less than a month, we would not be able to do it in a month, and by then the tide of the war would have changed dramatically. At this time, we don't dare to take this risk! ”

As the highest official in the Army, Hall. Belisha was full of helplessness:

With Turkey's defection, the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated rapidly, and the important Syrian cities of Hama and Homs have fallen into the hands of the Japanese-Turkish coalition, and the two Mediterranean port cities of Latakia and Tertus have also been captured by the Japanese-Turkish coalition forces a few days ago. Lebanon, Transjordan, and Palestine are at stake. More than 20 divisions of German troops are being quickly transferred to the Middle East through the Turkish railway, and Britain has reached a critical juncture of life and death! ”

"Your Excellency Prime Minister!"

Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, said suddenly:

"At this time, we can no longer hesitate, I suggest immediately respond positively to the response of the South China side, and return all the Chinese cultural relics collected by the British Museum to the Chinese!" There are huge doubts about whether the US-Australian coalition can block the Japanese offensive in Australia, once the *** people occupy Australia and New Zealand, they can return the stolen Chinese territory to China under the mediation of Germany, and seek Chinese to join the Axis camp, at that time, Europe and Asia will be integrated, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean will become the inland sea of the Axis countries, and the United States may be shaken! Where do we go from here? ”

"It's-"

Churchill hesitated, and after a long time said, "I fear that Your Majesty will object, after all, those relics are proof of Britain's glorious past!" ”

The Minister of Colonial and Dominion Affairs, Eden, said: "It's all come to this, what do you want all those useless things?" It can neither be eaten nor used to equip the troops, but needs to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to keep it. Artifacts and antiques are only valuable in times of peace and prosperity, and if Britain no longer exists, does it still make sense for us to collect them? ”

"Yes!"

Lord Halifax said: "US President Roosevelt has called several times, asking us to properly handle this matter, and we must not let the Germans take the lead!" President Roosevelt said that it was only right that all forces that could unite and unite to meet the challenges of the Axis powers. Mr. President is ready to invite South China President An Yi to visit the United States at an appropriate time, and then look for opportunities to seek alliances to jointly deal with the current crisis! At this time, you must not anger the Chinese! ”

Churchill let out a long sigh, stood up and walked to the world map, and saw that the former empire on which the sun never set had been squeezed to a very small extent, and finally made up his mind:

"Alright, I'll go to His Majesty George and settle the matter of returning the artifacts as soon as possible! As long as Britain can win the war, everything can be reversed, and when the time comes, I will let Chinese spit out these things obediently......"