Singapore Island was surrounded by the sea, and because the Japanese army had cut off all external communication on the island early, it was already evening when Hu Tiejun's men crossed the Straits of Johor to send a telegram. As soon as the Natuna naval intelligence station received the news, it was immediately forwarded to the theater command on Kunlun Island. At that time, hundreds of bombers at various bases in the South China Sea had already received orders to prepare to bomb Japanese military facilities in Singapore in the early morning of the next day, so the news frightened everyone into a cold sweat.

If the bombing continues as planned, I don't know how big a mistake will be caused.

By eight o'clock in the evening, Yang Qiu had also received a detailed report and immediately convened a meeting of the cabinet and the general staff. "Smack!" When everyone arrived, without saying a word, he slapped the table and returned the information to Chu Nan: "If you die an overseas Chinese, you will use ten Japanese to pay for your life!" Also, let Qiu Wenbin go to the south to sit down, and bring him a message by the way. They have killed us in the South Seas for hundreds of years, and now it is our turn to kill them! ”

With the president's authorization, Chu Nan immediately ordered the cancellation of the original offensive plan, adopted the second plan, and asked Xu Huansheng to bomb the refugee camp in Saitama Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo.

At three o'clock in the morning, the second round of five-month rainbow bombing, which had been restarted in mid-October, began to escalate, and Xu Huansheng sent 1,100 bombers to visit Saitama Prefecture for the first time.

Since the bombing of Tokyo and all cities across Japan, the vast majority of Tokyoites have fled to the mountains of Saitama Prefecture, and the Japanese government has set up a large number of refugee camps in Ritoma, taking in a total of about 3.5 million Japanese nationals. Out of post-war considerations, the General Staff changed the bombing method after the initial period of the Rainbow Bombing, and threw out a large number of leaflets the day before each bombing, so that ordinary Japanese people had the opportunity to avoid it, and also opened up a few areas in Japan where refugees were concentrated. But this time, without warning, the air force, which was irritated by the Japanese forces in Singapore, dropped 6,000 tons of napalm and cluster bombs on the camp.

According to later statistics, 60,000 Japanese were killed in the bombing and more than 70,000 were injured to varying degrees due to the dense density of the refugee camp. The next morning, Xu Huansheng dispatched another 600 bombers to completely destroy soft targets, including the Yasukuni Shrine, which symbolized the Japanese spirit, and also dropped 5 million leaflets in Saitama, Tokyo, and Kanto, defining the bombing as retaliation for the Japanese army's operation in Singapore.

The last two weeks of the retaliatory bombing campaign were carried out, with 8,226 sorties of bombers of all types, more than 60,000 tons of ammunition and leaflets, 350,000 casualties and the destruction of large buildings, adding to the turmoil in Japan during the harsh winter.

Yang Qiu's flaws were reported, which frightened many Japanese officials, and even the new prime minister, Koiso Kuniaki, demanded that the army stop the jade crushing operation against the Chinese, and also hoped that the emperor would come forward to restrain the military department. But surprisingly, Hirohito had no intention of stopping it at all, and instead kicked the officials out of the palace, saying that he wanted to be alone. His actions are undoubtedly telling everyone that since the fight has already been fought, then any means can be used, and as for retaliation, are there still fewer people killed in the bombing in Japan?

The day after Saitama's retaliatory bombing by China, Yamashita received a telegram from the War Office, and the shocking casualty figures sent chills down his spine. But now he has no choice but to let the captors go, right? That would seriously dampen the morale of the troops, so they could only grit their teeth and let Masanobu Tsuji continue to implement the "meat shield" plan. Seeing that more and more Chinese were being captured by the Japanese army to serve as meat shields, Ouyang Nan, commander of the Southwest Theater, was very annoyed and personally rushed to Natuna to revise the battle plan.

At this time, Ye Zishan, who returned to China with Zhuo Fan to recuperate, was also appointed as the colonel and deputy commander of the Third Airborne Division at this time, and rushed to Riau Province, Sumatra, by transport plane.

As soon as he got off the plane, he saw his old boss, Dong Hao, the current commander of the Third Airborne Division, Dong Hao and Lin Mousheng, and others. "Report to the chief, Ye Zishan is here to report."

"Zishan, hurry, I'll be waiting for you." Dong Hao, who became famous in the first battle of Kabul by air raids, has been promoted to brigadier general. Before the Sino-Japanese war, he briefly served as a staff officer of the Southwest Theater Command, responsible for matters such as the Asian Alliance and Sino-US military liaison, and only returned to the Airborne Forces after the war and served as the commander of the Third Airborne Division.

The 3rd Airborne Division, which had been stationed in Riau Province in Sumatra before the war, was transferred to Natuna before the Sino-Japanese war, and was the most important mobile force of the Wehrmacht in the South China Sea. Participated in the battle to recapture Kuching in Borneo, cooperated with the army to drive the Japanese army back to Brunei and East Sarawak, and also cooperated with the hunter brigade to attack the Brunei oil field, blowing up more than ten oil wells in one fell swoop, cutting off the crude oil supply of the Japanese army to the Philippines in Brunei.

"Isn't it serious?" Ye Zishan already knew about the "meat shield", and went straight to ask for details.

"This is Master Lin of the Malayan Division, let him talk about it." After Dong Hao introduced several army division commanders and colleagues to him, he asked Lin Mousheng to explain the details. Lin Mousheng immediately told him the number and location of the "meat shields" that had been found out in the past two days: "The situation is very bad, the Japanese have scattered the captured civilians into various units, not only on the Johor Strait defense line, but also in the strongholds and strait batteries in the city, and the total number has risen to 80,000!" ”

"80,000?!" Rao is Ye Zishan has already heard about it, and this number also makes him gasp. The total number of Japanese troops on the island of Singapore is less than 100,000, and according to this number, it is basically equivalent to every Japanese soldier having a "meat shield". "yes." Dong Hao also sighed, and his eyebrows pointed deeply at the map: "Originally, according to the plan, the Navy and Air Force should have bombed Singapore three days ago, cleared the minefields at both ends of the strait, and then covered the land of the army to land from the east and west at the same time." After the army reached Johor and pinned down the main Japanese force, we tried to parachute in and hit them in the back. But not now, so the headquarters is ready to let us take the lead, parachute first, and rescue the local overseas Chinese as much as possible. ”

"It's too dangerous to drop directly into the city!" Ye Zishan was startled: "From the opening of the parachute to the landing, it will take a few minutes for the height to be compressed to the lowest, which is enough for the Japanese army on the ground to break through each of us." ”

"I also know the difficulties, and I don't hide it from you, and the dangers are also known from above, so we have been allowed to act cheaply."

Hearing this, Ye Zishan's pupils shrank. In a world war involving national fortunes and more than a billion people, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of civilians are killed and wounded are nothing at all. If it weren't for the posture of protecting the expatriates and deterring the forces around Nanyang, I am afraid that the above would not have considered "accidental injury" at all. However, from the perspective of a soldier, even if there is an order, he still hopes to rescue more expatriates. He also believed that the command and even the president thought the same way, so he let the 3rd Airborne Division attack in advance and directly hit the heart of the Japanese defense.

"Parachute landing is definitely not possible, unless the plane lands! And it is necessary to use gliders. Before Ye Zishan came, he thought of some countermeasures, and he didn't hide the urgency of the situation, and immediately said his thoughts: "The glider has no sound, and the Japanese army has no radar, so the concealment and suddenness are better, and it can also reduce the trouble of assembling after parachuting." ”

"I've got it with me." Dong Hao patted him on the shoulder. It seems that he and everyone have studied this method before, so Lin Mousheng frowned and said: "There are only a dozen small gliders here in Liao, which is not enough." ”

"That's fine, we have 48 Roc gliders in Natuna, and dozens of bird assault gliders."

"From Natuna, will it be too far?"

"Natuna definitely can't, but you can have the transport planes tow the empty planes here, let them land on their own, and then set off from here." Dong Hao said his thoughts, and his fingers slowly slid to the side of the Singapore Strait: "The problem now is that the Japanese army's defense along the strait is very strong. You see, there are large minefields on both sides of the strait, and the navy will not be able to enter for a while and a half, so they will not be able to provide us with artillery cover. On the contrary, the Japanese army had repaired three of the seven forts left by the British, with six 381-mm guns on them, and had sent many 240 and 280-mm heavy guns from China to strengthen them in the early days. Yamashita also salvaged several British armored cruisers and destroyers that sank in the harbor, dismantled the ship's guns and installed them on the batteries, so the firepower was very strong. He also learned the lessons of the British, so the guns could rotate 360 degrees and cover any point from the Channel to the island. ”

In order not to startle the snakes, the Air Force will not blow up these batteries until we have landed and confirmed that we cannot rescue the people inside. Therefore, after landing, you must take out the battery as quickly as possible, otherwise you will be flanked by these heavy guns. Dong Hao raised his head and looked at Ye Zishan expectantly: "You have this kind of experience in Lake Balkhash, Guam, and North Korea, so I specially asked the headquarters to transfer you and want you to lead the assault force." How's it going, is there any confidence? ”

Because he was born in the first professional special forces in China, Dong Hao also brought some of the combat styles of the Hunter Brigade to the Airborne Division, so the Third Airborne Division received a lot of training in surprise operations. However, training and actual combat were different, the third division had too little experience, far inferior to the first and second divisions, and had not experienced large-scale airborne battles like Balkhash and Guam, so it was only then that I thought of transferring Ye Zishan, who was the best at such operations.

Ye Zishan is not the kind of officer who is timid, and raised his head after thinking about it seriously: "If the plane lands, I will definitely let the glider stop directly at the nearest place around the fort, so there are three problems here." I must be given enough familiarity with the environment, preferably someone who is familiar with the internal structure of the battery, and I need enough 84 guns and some other explosives equipment, and what about the follow-up troop projection? ”

"I have people." Lin Mousheng hurriedly said: "They are all natives of the island, and several architects who helped the Japanese build the fort are also our people. ”

"84 fire and explosives are ready-made, and the follow-up forces depend on whether you can pull out the battery. We also have a dozen barges and landing craft hidden here, and we can quickly reinforce you as long as the battery is dumb. ”

As soon as Dong Hao finished speaking, Ye Zishan nodded and closed the map, folded it and stuffed it into his jacket pocket: "Give me this map, how long will it take for the assault troops to arrive?" ”

At 10 o'clock that night, Dong Hao's first batch of 1,600 elite airborne troops transferred from Natuna arrived at the Riau airport, bringing a large number of 84-mm recoilless guns and explosives equipment, and by noon the next day, 5,600 airborne troops had landed, and more than a dozen wheeled light artillery pieces were also delivered.

However, the sudden increase in the number of transport planes also made Yamashita raise his vigilance, and he dispatched reconnaissance planes in the hope of finding out what was happening across the strait. However, before the Japanese reconnaissance plane took off, it was besieged by more than a dozen naval "Lightning" fighters in the open sea, which made him miss the opportunity to give early warning. In order to prevent the Japanese reconnaissance planes from approaching again, the navy immediately bombed the airport facilities in the Malay Peninsula and Singapore again, and intensified escort efforts to ensure the safety of the transport planes.

By evening, the transport aircraft towed 42 Roc gliders and 40 birdies to Riau airport. However, due to strong winds on the way, 6 Dapeng and 3 bird gliders were forced to land on the sea due to steel cable breakage, and 3 Yun-10 transport planes were also lost. In order to ensure the delivery of heavy weapons, the Air Force also urgently transferred five Y-11 transport planes that had just been delivered from China to prepare to hand over the heavy weapons to the fighters as quickly as possible after the airborne troops seized the airfield.

Just when Ye Zishan and his troops were making final preparations, on the morning of December 10, the 25th Fleet took the lead in the South China Sea Campaign. Carrier-based aircraft from the two escort aircraft carriers carried out several rounds of bombardment of Bangkok, and Chen Ce also shelled the Japanese and Siamese positions in the city with naval guns. At two o'clock in the afternoon, 11 aircraft carriers of the 2nd and 3rd Fleets also dispatched 800 carrier-based aircraft to carry out large-scale bombing of Songkhla, Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Malacca, and the Air Force also dispatched 1,200 bombers from Cape Camho, Natuna and Andaman to cooperate.

After two days and two nights of bombardment, on the morning of 12 December, 25 divisions of the National Defense Forces and 20 divisions of the Vietnamese Army in the Southwestern Theater, 5 divisions of the Indian Defense Forces in the Indian Theater, and 10 divisions of the Vietnamese Army simultaneously launched a counteroffensive against Siam, Khmer, and Burma. The Asian League guerrillas in Siam, Burma, Khmer, Malaya and other places also responded and launched counterattacks against the Japanese army.

In the early morning of the 13th, Li Zongren dispatched two infantry divisions from Port Blair, under the protection of the Third Fleet, to avoid the well-defended Penang, Ipoh, and Kuala Lumpur, and took more than 200 small personnel landing craft and steamboats along the mouth of the Perak River to quickly occupy Anshun City. When he transferred troops from Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh and other places, he was bombarded by carrier-based aircraft and naval guns, and watched as the communication between Penang, Ipoh, and Kuala Lumpur was cut off.

After learning that Li Zongren had occupied Anshun, Su Duozhen, the new commander of the 17th Army, also led his troops from the Anambas Islands to forcibly land in Mersing Harbour, 123 kilometers from the Johor Strait, under the protection of the heavy fire of 42 warships and 500 attack aircraft of the navy. Although the Japanese 5th Division put up a stubborn resistance, it was eventually occupied by the assault forces and the harbor was established as a defensive line. After going ashore, Su Duozhen did not let the troops spread out in depth as usual, but changed the practice of stabilizing the beachhead after landing, handed over the task of holding on to the 51st Army behind, and used the 20th Armored Division as the arrow and let the navy's heavy artillery cover all the way, interspersing a distance of 10 kilometers along the coastline to the south.

The Japanese Fifth Division was in a hurry, but because Su Duozhen's arrow troops were always in the circle of naval artillery fire, and several blocking positions set up were either smashed by the navy's heavy artillery or destroyed by the swarming bombers, so by noon on the 15th, Su Duozhen had led the 20th Armored Division and two infantry divisions to Kota Tinggi, 40 kilometers away from the Johor Strait