On January 24, Li Guang received Allen, the commander of the British Army in East Africa. Lieutenant General Cunningham's order required the Naval Resistance Army to launch an attack on the Italian army and try to contain the strength of the Italian army. Allan. Lieutenant General Cunningham was not harsh, and the orders given to Li Guang were very lenient, with almost no hard indicators.

It is not easy to lead a ragtag army into battle. General Cunningham was much haggard in just a few months. The tactics adopted by the British army were quite "clever"? Or rather, it's a mess.

General Cunningham's command now had not 26,000 men, but a full 12 divisions, mostly from the African colonies, South Africa, and India, with 75,000 troops. Of course, the strength of the Italian army on paper is also extremely strong, and in Somalia alone, there are 35,000 Italian troops and 70,000 black African soldiers, with a total military strength of more than 100,000.

To say that the scale of the war between the two armies totaling nearly 200,000 people is absolutely not small. Cunningham's tactics, however, were to divide the army into dozens of units and engage in chaotic warfare over vast areas of East Africa.

This kind of play, let alone such a motley army, even elite troops cannot be effectively commanded. But this is completely uncontrollable, and after just a few months, Cunningham simply could not integrate the different races, languages, beliefs, equipment, goals, treatments, and countless different armies together.

Prime Minister Churchill has urged many times, and General Wevel in North Africa has won one victory after another. General Pratt in Central Africa is also making rapid progress. Cunningham had to go to war no matter how many reasons there were.

According to Li Guang's view, Cunningham is a broken jar, and he can't command it anyway, so he just divides the area and fights separately. This is the core tactical thinking of General Cunningham. Under the guidance of this tactical thinking, the naval resistance army led by Li Guang naturally fought when it wanted to, and rested if it did not want to fight.

Don't say it, General Cunningham's style of play is really effective for Italy, which is also a bunch of miscellaneous armies.

On the 24th of January, the main force of the "Twelfth African Division" and a brigade of the "King's African Rifles" led by General Cunningham easily broke through the defense line of the Tana River in Kenya, and the border stronghold of the Italian army fell Liboi, and the gate of Somalia was immediately opened to the British army.

At this moment, the entire border between Somalia and Kenya is full of war. The specific battle situation is difficult for even Cunningham, a general, to grasp, in short, the fight is chaotic and full of confused accounts.

General Cunningham could not grasp the overall situation, so he had to take one step at a time, and with his elite, the main force continued to advance south.

Somalia is an arid country, where thorn bushes stretch to the horizon, flies everywhere and the advance of troops is simply haphazard.

Cunningham, like other British generals, always wanted to create a motivational quote, so he sent telegrams everywhere and waved his fists in the army and shouted: "Hit them, hit them hard, and hit them again!" ”

Cunningham's encouragement was of no use to Li Guang, and to the rest of his army, the soldiers thought it was to fight flies. There are just too many flies in Somalia this season.

Cunningham's first goal is to advance to the river Juba and the port of Kismayu in order to focus deeper into the region and into Ethiopia after the rainy season in June. This was communicated to all the troops, but how each unit could achieve this goal was left to fate. (Kismayo is halfway between the Kenyan border and Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.) ）

The commander of the Italian army, General de Simon, was the one who captured British Somaliland in August last year. Like most Italian generals, the military books were read, and the strategic points were clear.

He is now organizing manpower to build a defensive line along the Juba River. His idea of fighting is also the kind of military thinking that the Europeans have always had, and he wants to use such a line of defense to drag the British army into a confrontation and form a static front. In order to force the British troops into the front line to fight, thereby disabling their mobility.

In this ragtag vs. ragtag war. To put it bluntly, Cunningham handed over the command and let his miscellaneous players play freely. General DeSimon of the Italian army, however, used the tactics of the regular army to command the miscellaneous battles.

It can be said that the outcome of this war is impossible to judge at all. However, Li Guang knew that he only knew that the British army had defeated the Italian army, and then he caused big trouble - Hitler sent Rommel to the field.

So after receiving Cunningham's order, Li Guang began a military operation to maximize benefits.

Li Guang's actions were very rapid, and the naval resistance army did not advance but retreated.

On the same day, the Maritime Resistance Army withdrew from the Kalin Valley and gave way to the port of Bossaso, and Hu Bofeng was too dutiful to serve as a staff officer for the 'special logistics', which was already in the Stone Age. The whole army retreated to the fortress of Billivico.

Regarding this action, Li Guang was triumphant: "Let the Italians see what it means to show weakness to the enemy." ”

Li Guang thought about this action for a long time, and he turned over and over again many times before he came up with such a crooked move. The Naval Resistance Army took the initiative to retreat, and the Italian army naturally won a great victory, and Colonel Bianchi, who had been tortured for almost a month, finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to report to General DeSimon: "After nearly a month of fierce fighting, our army repelled the army in front of the country. ”

Colonel Bianchi's telegram, Li Guang had expected. But General DeSimon's response did not reach Li Guang's satisfaction. DeSimon just didn't continue to add troops to the Karlin Valley, and didn't reduce the number of soldiers. The reason is very simple, he really can't command so many miscellaneous troops, even if he is transferred to Kismayo, it is useless for him. In the face of the retreat of the Naval Resistance Army, Colonel Bianchi did not have the slightest sense of recovering the lost territory, and continued to be stationed in the Carlin Valley. Of course, if he wants to attack, whether he can control the troops is a big question.

Li Guang's first land battle strategy failed.

Showing weakness to the enemy did not reduce the number of Italian troops on the opposite side, nor did it lead to a rash attack by the Italian army. Li Guang could only smile awkwardly at this.

But in any case, he will not take the initiative to attack. The more intense the British fought in Kismayo, the sooner or later the Italian forces on the Somali Peninsula would decrease. Li Guang is not in a hurry, and there is no benefit in being in a hurry. As a result, Li Guang was still training with the Air Force and the Army, and the battlefield was still lively and lively.

In Li Guang's military thinking, the army is a whole, and the army, navy, and air force should be a whole operation, and there is no division of the military branches of this era in his mind, and the nearest battlefield is a kind of embodiment of Li Guang's military thinking.

On 5 February, Li Guang's long-awaited battleship Atlantic arrived in Somalia.

The battleship Atlantic, after a series of modifications, had a significant increase in combat effectiveness. Especially air defense combat effectiveness.

When the battleship was captured, Li Guang was greatly dissatisfied with its air defense capability. In the renovation plan, the stern secondary gun of this battleship was cut. Only four large-caliber anti-aircraft guns remained. At the same time, the technicians of the Naval Resistance Army installed hundreds of anti-aircraft guns. Air defense has been greatly strengthened.

The increased combat effectiveness of the battleship Atlantic was not just an increase in anti-aircraft weapons. In addition to the consistent sonar installation of the Naval Resistance Army, power upgrades. In the stern of the ship was rearranged seaplanes. After the modification, the battleship could carry twelve water reconnaissance aircraft, and the early warning capability was greatly improved. (The Japanese heavy cruisers in the Battle of the Arabian Sea were also modified in the Pacific War to be able to carry eleven water reconnaissance aircraft.) ）

The combat effectiveness of the battleship Atlantic, if evaluated, is more than twice that of the original battleship Pacific. In addition to the sophistication of its own performance, half of the officers and men on this battleship experienced the Battle of the Arabian Sea. It can be regarded as the essence of the Navy of the Naval Resistance.

Accompanying the arrival of the Atlantic was the brand-new Pickup I air defense destroyer, as well as the converted seaplane carrier PJP (twenty-three knots. ）。 At this point, the battleship formation of the Naval Resistance Force regained possession of seven warships:

Battleship Atlantic.

Pickup one air defense destroyer.

Pickup II air defense destroyer.

Pixiu No. 1 submarine.

The Fox 1 submarine.

Seaplane carrier PC

Seaplane carrier PJP.

What made Li Guang even happier was that the light aircraft carrier Liberty Dragon completed its first voyage under the leadership of Huang Zhonghua. Thirty-six fighters were brought back from the United States. Twenty-four old transport planes (already unloaded at the port of Don. ), twelve water reconnaissance aircraft.

The arrival of Huang Zhonghua immediately eased the tension of the fighters of the Maritime Resistance Army. You must know that in the past few months, the pilot training of the Maritime Resistance Army has been on the right track, and there will be as few as five or six pilots as many as ten pilots from Shixiang Island to Tanggang every month. In the Air Force, whether it is Liu Gensheng or Liu Guobang, there are thirty or forty pilots under them, but there are only 23 fighters in total (three repaired), and there are enough personnel, but unfortunately these pilots cannot get the planes to drive.

Huang Zhonghua's shot is extraordinary, not only successfully completing the work of the transport aircraft of the Maritime Resistance Army. And found another trade route. The Americans, the British, are now also worried about the work of transporting airplanes. Now Curtiss planes are not unmanufactured, but there are orders, but a large number of them are squeezed at the docks, and there are no suitable ships to deliver them to the ports of Britain, Australia, and even the United States itself. Of course, the United States has aircraft carriers, but the cost of transporting aircraft from aircraft carriers is high, and second, US aircraft carriers are now on the back burner to prevent emergencies.

Huang Zhonghua reported to Li Guang that he could easily bring in a year's business, and guaranteed that the business of the Liberty Dragon light aircraft carrier could continue.

Of course, how could Li Guang let a light aircraft carrier costing six million dollars do this kind of thing, the speed is indeed fast enough, but it is not cost-effective economically, and the fuel consumption is too great. In the plan, Huang Zhonghua will make one more trip to the United States or two, and the final modification will have to begin, and the pilots will also be on board for training.

However, since there were two seaplane carriers, and there were twelve seaplanes on the battleship Atlantic, it was possible to free up one PC.

Li Guang immediately decided to return the seaplane carrier PC to Uruguay and convert it into a transport carrier. The PC is actually "high-end" compared to the freewheel, and its speed can easily reach twenty-three or four knots. If it is to be renovated, it is only necessary to modify the layout of the chimney and other parts of the superstructure, and the structure of the cabins and decks. If only from the point of view of transport aircraft, do not think about the battle. It is estimated that it will not even cost $300,000 in renovation costs.

If anyone would sneer at Li Guang's behavior of forging a sword into a ploughshare, he would know that the cost of transporting a fighter plane is $3,000, and the cost of transporting a transport plane is $7,000. Such a price simply made Li Guang's eyes angry. The speed of the PC is enough for him to run ten times a year. That's five or six million dollars. This kind of profit can completely earn back a battleship, this business is completely done, if you start late, the capacity of the Americans will keep up, and this kind of good business will be missed. (Historically, the Americans actually made a plan on June 4 to convert 15 merchant ships to escort aircraft carriers, one for escort and the other for transporting aircraft.) ）

But before that, the PC number still has a combat mission.

For mobile phone users, please read it on m.qidian.com.