In order to assist the German-Austrian forces in guarding the security of Vietnam, the General Staff of the Wehrmacht ordered the 21st Army of the Gui Army to enter northern Vietnam and fight side by side with the German-Austrian forces.

At the request of the German side, the Chinese side squeezed out 300 TMOSM39D "Saker" fighters imported from the Austro-Hungarian aircraft factory and the Chengdu aircraft factory and provided them to the German forces in the Far East to support their operations in Annam.

After several years of all-out development, China's aircraft manufacturing capacity has reached the output of more than 700 aircraft per month, but it is mainly engaged in the manufacture of fighters and attack aircraft, and the output of bombers, especially medium and heavy bombers and large transport aircraft, is far from meeting the needs.

Fighting a war and building at the same time can only be done by a country like China with a large population, sufficient human resources, and sufficient strategic depth. China has grown stronger and stronger in this war, and its domestic unity has never been greater, and its industry, especially heavy industry, has developed much faster than in peacetime.

With the advent of 1941, China's steel output reached the target of 9 million tons per year, surpassing Japan's. The production capacity of metal processing and manufacturing industries such as machine manufacturing, metallurgical capacity, metal processing capacity, military production, aircraft and automobile manufacturing has also surpassed Japan, and the only thing that lags behind Japan is the shipbuilding industry.

With the increase in military production, the scale of the Chinese Army has also expanded! With a total of 6 million people and more than 300,000 naval officers and men, the total strength of China's national defense forces surpassed that of Soviet Russia and ranked first in the world. Beijing has also stepped up preparations for the counteroffensive and has begun to draw up and prepare plans for counterattacks in the Yangtze River valley and Inner Mongolia.

The newly formed 5th Group Army, which had been trained in Hunan, was also transferred to Yunnan and added to the sequence of the expeditionary force, and the total strength of the Chinese expeditionary force reached 500,000 men, and its strength was once again strengthened.

March 12, 1941. The German-Austrian combined fleet crossed the Suez Canal and entered the waters of the Indian Ocean, and the Southeast Asian campaign officially began.

The entire Entente fleet was divided into three parts: the Austro-Hungarian task force, which was led by Vilmots? Admiral Yankel served as the commander of the fleet, which consisted of six aircraft carriers, two battleships, four heavy cruisers and other capital warships of the Austro-Hungarian 1st, 4th and 6th air fleets, and the main targets of attack were Ceylon and Burma. German Expeditionary Fleet. By Wilhelm? Admiral Marshall served as the commander of the fleet, and commanded four aircraft carriers of the 1st and 3rd Air Fleets of the German Navy, including three battleships "Prussia", "Admiral Spee" and "Mackensen", two heavy cruisers and other main warships, and the main direction of attack was to blockade the Strait of Malacca and the direction of Tsushima. The task force composed of the Chinese and Italian navies, the Chinese fleet includes four aircraft carriers, two battleships and other capital ships, commanded by Admiral Chen Shiying, and the Italian fleet includes two aircraft carriers, the "Sky Hawk" and the "Falcon", two battleships, four heavy cruisers and other capital ships. Commanded by Admiral Yaquino, the main task of the Sino-Italian fleet was to protect the security of the transport fleet transporting the landing troops of 10 divisions of the German, Austrian and Italian countries.

In the middle of March, the sky in the Gulf of Aden is high and cloudy, the sun is shining, and the temperature is already very high.

The largest fleet in human history marched eastward in six columns, forming a ten-point picture on the sea. The entire fleet includes 16 aircraft carriers, 10 battleships, a total of more than 120 large and small warships, more than 330 transport ships, carrying a total of 180,000 officers and men including 9 infantry divisions, 1 armored division, and 3 army aviation divisions and 1 marine. Its heavy equipment includes more than 1,200 tanks, 1,800 armored vehicles, 48,000 vehicles of various types, more than 2,700 aircraft, and more than 1,300 heavy artillery pieces of 90 mm caliber. In addition, it also includes a large amount of ammunition, provisions, fuel and other supplies.

The Entente Expeditionary Force consisted of one army from each of Germany, Austria and Italy, an army aviation division and one Austro-Hungarian marine. Liszt was appointed commander-in-chief. Austro-Hungarian Army General Lendulik as Chief of the General Staff, Earhart? Lieutenant General Rouse and Lieutenant General Caballero of the Italian Army were appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff, respectively.

Taking off from airports in Somalia and Yemen, army and naval aviation fighter planes on escort missions flew over the fleet, and the roar of huge engines resounded in the sky.

The Austro-Hungarian task force led the way, followed by the German fleet. At the rear was an extremely large convoy of transport ships and escorts, each 20 nautical miles apart. Fearing an attack by British or Japanese submarines, destroyers on anti-submarine missions were constantly cruising around the fleet, and anti-submarine patrol planes taking off from aircraft carriers were constantly circling over the sea.

But during the week's voyage, the convoy never ran into any trouble. Not even the shadow of the enemy was seen.

On 20 March, the Austro-Hungarian task force was approaching the waters off Ceylon.

Britain had no rivalry with the German-Austrian fleets in the Indian Ocean, while the Japanese fleet refused to sail through the Strait of Malacca to help the British. The British Indian fleet had no choice but to abandon Ceylon and retreat to Bombay and Calcutta, taking refuge under the wing of the Indian Air Force.

The choice of the new British commander of the Eastern Fleet, Admiral Somoville, was not wrong, he had a weak fleet and could only bring about his own destruction against the Austro-Hungarian fleet, and he also believed that it was his duty to preserve the integrity of the fleet. This is symbolic, at least the British Empire still has a "storage fleet" in the Indian Ocean.

Ceylon, defended only by a British infantry regiment, soon fell, and only after a fierce air battle with the Austrians was the remaining fighters flew directly to India.

The Austrians learned from the German-launched Norwegian campaign, and the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Marine Division dropped its heavy weapons on the transport ships behind, but the men and light equipment followed the fleet. As more than 6,000 people were crammed into the task force at once, the already inadequate cabins of the task force became even more crowded, causing the crew and the officers and men of the Marine Corps to complain. But it also had the advantage of taking possession of the whole territory of Ceylon by the Austro-Hungarian fleet, which had arrived two days earlier than the whole convoy, and took control of the port and all the airfields before the convoy arrived.

This saved the transport fleet from attack.

On 23 March, the Allied convoy arrived safely in Colombo, and the personnel were temporarily disembarked for repairs.

William? Admiral Liszt and his admirals carefully studied the landing plan in Burma, and finally they decided to send out a naval air fleet to bomb the British airfields along the Burmese coast and destroy the British air force in Burma as much as possible.

At the same time, the 23rd and 15th Aviation Divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Army landed in Ceylon and were responsible for the defense of Ceylon. (To be continued......) R1292