Lieutenant General Nishimura Takuma, as the commander of the Japanese army's campaign against Ceylon, was quite satisfied with the results of the battle in the past few days.

From the 8th of June, when the Japanese landed, by the 14th, the Japanese had occupied nearly half of Ceylon. Beginning on the 14th, the Japanese army began to attack Colombo, the capital of Ceylon.

If according to the pre-war plan, the Japanese army advanced more than expected.

However, Nishimura Takuma was not entirely satisfied.

The two divisions of the Japanese army attacking Colombo, one large and one small, plus the troops drawn from the Guards Division under Nishimura Takuma, can be regarded as six infantry wings.

Among them, three infantry wings of the 21st Division were independently mixed into two infantry wings of the 21st Brigade. And the Guards Division has an elite search wing and an armored brigade, an independent field artillery brigade, plus auxiliary arms, which can barely be counted as an infantry wing.

A week of fighting, although the course is quite ideal. However, the Japanese army also suffered a lot of losses, especially the loss of combat effectiveness of an infantry wing of Shinichi Hirai, which added a lot of difficulty to Nishimura Takuma's battle plan.

Now there are more than 2,000 people in the Hirai United on the surface. But excluding the wounded and sick, there were less than 1,500 troops, and there were not many real field troops of all these 500 troops, most of them were auxiliary arms or artillery. These forces were barely able to hold Monal and Katar Hills.

The current situation in Ceylon was very favorable to the Japanese army. The Navy's forces were completely separated from the British's forces in Colombo on the west coast of Ceylon, while the Navy's forces could only be stationed in Tang Harbor on the east coast of Ceylon. Although communication between the two armies has not been severed, there are mountains in between, making it difficult to support each other.

Since the fiasco of Hirai United. Nishimura had a hunch in his heart that the victory or defeat of the First World War of Ceylon would be between the Japanese army and the naval resistance army. And the British army, which seemed to be the main opponent. I'm afraid it's the role of playing soy sauce.

But starting on June 15, Nishimura Takuma found out. The British army actually wanted to throw off the hat of soy sauce, and the battle was extremely tenacious.

Nishimura Takuma experienced the Battle of Singapore, and his Guards Division was the first to capture Singapore. He thought he knew a lot about the fighting power of the British, and he didn't see Colombo in his eyes. He believed that it was impossible for more than 10,000 British troops to hold out for several days under the strong attack of 20,000 Japanese troops.

The British army in Singapore would surrender, and the British army in Colombo had only one way to surrender.

But as the battle dragged on June 20, Nishimura scratched his head. The British army in Colombo fought so stubbornly that they fought house by house and street with the Japanese army. The two sides often battle over a nondescript building for several rounds.

Street fighting is extremely cruel for both armies, and there is almost no good way to do it except fill in people's lives. During the six days of fighting, the Japanese casualties reached more than 2,500.

Such casualties were a little unbearable even for Nishimura Takuma, who had an advantage in troops, not to mention the weak British army.

If you ask, why the British army fought to the death uncharacteristically. The main reasons are as follows:

First, General Alexander, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Indian army, was already drawing troops. Prepare for rescue. There was hope for the British officers and soldiers. However, the power to control the sea is now in the hands of the Japanese army Ozawa Jizaburo, and it is still a question mark when reinforcements will arrive. But in any case, it is a hope.

Two. Heavy rains in Ceylon for a week caused great trouble for the Japanese offensive. Nishimura Takuma's attack was not really violent.

Third, the propaganda of the Haitang Kingdom about the Japanese army's torture and killing of prisoners of war in the Philippines. The sensational king of the Haitang Kingdom - Wang Shi. The documentary literature about the Bataan march was read by many British officers and soldiers. In the eyes of British officers and soldiers. It is better to fight to the death than to surrender to the Japanese army. Rare. The British Army has finally risen to the fore. The British army had an advantage in weapons and equipment, and although the training was slightly poor, the British army's performance in the Colombo siege was really good. Moreover, the British army was not only 10,000 troops at this time, but the whole Ceylon had the largest number of Dutch and Hispanic whites, and these white young and strong people were all organized. In addition, the British Governor in Ceylon, Sir Hawker, organized a large number of Ceylonese native troops, and Colombo had more than 40,000 troops. As long as the British army's will to fight is still there, it is not easy for the Japanese army to gnaw this bone.

Four: Due to the lack of unity in the command of the Japanese navy and army, in order to cut off the evacuation channel of the British army, Ozawa Jizaburo blocked the Mannar Bay and the Pauk Strait between Ceylon and the Indian mainland with a powerful fleet. The British army, including civilians, had no way back at this time. It is estimated that Ozawa Jizaburo is a navy, and he has not read Sun Tzu's Art of War, so he does not know that siege warfare must besiege three and lack one. The British army, which had blocked all the retreats, could only fight at this time except for fighting.

Fifth, the jungle troops and mountain troops of the Maritime Resistance Army have entered the central mountainous area and are preparing to open roads to rescue the British troops in Colombo. As for the specific situation, Bao Gang smiled and did not answer.

On June 21, Ceylon experienced a rare day without heavy rain. The only four fighters of the Naval Resistance Army made four sorties and bombed the Japanese troops attacking Colombo. Although the air force of the Naval Resistance Army was weak, it caused a lot of damage to the Japanese army, and it inspired the British army's will to fight.

During the day, the port of Tang was also bombed twice by Ozawa's fleet. Although the two bombardments of the Japanese army caused some losses to the port of Tang, Ozawa's fleet also paid the price of six fighters. It is worth mentioning that the fighters of the Naval Resistance Army were not damaged once. The reason is very simple, the Maritime Resistance Force has only six planes in total, except for two water reconnaissance planes, a total of four fighters and bombers have one official runway and four spare runways.

The Battle of Ceylon lasted until 23 June.

Nishimura felt a little unbearable, and the Japanese casualties in Colombo alone reached more than 5,500. Although the British suffered even heavier casualties, estimated at more than 10,000, the British still showed no sign of surrender.

In the mountains east of Colombo, the troops of the Naval Resistance Army were not idle, and the search wing of the 21st Division and the Guards Division of the Japanese army were all attracted to the mountains.

In this way, even if the Japanese army captured Colombo, it would lose the strength to hold Ceylon. As a last resort, Nishimura Takuma made a request to the commander of the Southern Army, General Terauchi Toshiichi, to transfer his direct subordinate Guards Division to Ceylon.

The mobilization of the Guards Division is a serious political issue, and the senior general of the temple cannot make up his mind, and it takes time to consider and coordinate.

On 21 June, Ozawa's fleet entered the Arabian Sea and boldly attacked Indian coastal cities along the Arabian Sea. The air raids lasted two days, destroying not only many ports and airfields, but also sinking an American Liberty ship, which was carrying supplies to the Soviet Union.

On June 23, Ozawa's fleet withdrew from the Arabian Sea due to insufficient supplies. In addition, after two or three days of consideration, General Terauchi Shouichi agreed to Nishimura Takuma's request to increase his troops in Ceylon. Since it is necessary to increase the number of troops, then the Ozawa fleet is naturally going to return to Singapore to escort the troop ships.

Therefore, on June 25, the main forces of Ozawa's fleet withdrew from Ceylon. (To be continued......)