?“ …… As for the South Pacific Front, with the support of the combined army and navy air forces of the Southeast Theater Theater: the Solomon Front, with four divisions as the backbone, is steadily advancing towards the southern part of the Solomon Islands; The New Guinea Front, with four divisions as its backbone, was planning an offensive to the south-east of the island. Net"

Liang Tianhe didn't seem to take Liu Ping's request seriously, and still detailed it according to the script, Liu Ping frowned, but he didn't pursue it again.

"The six Rì divisions that were the support of the Solomon Front, and the four Korean divisions that were the support of the New Guinea Front, were gradually assembling in the theater. In consideration of the adaptation of the theater to the situation in the North Pacific, the base camp planned to transfer two of the divisions back to the theater and replace them with two Siamese divisions that were more adapted to rainforest operations, and planned to replace the two Imperial Army divisions on the front line with marine divisions. ”

"The Southeastern Front Theater Fleet, with Rabaul and Truk as its main bases, suffered heavy losses in the previous two naval battles of the Solomons, one of the battle cruisers and one fleet aircraft carrier as the backbone of the force was sunk, one high-speed warship, one battle cruiser, and one fleet aircraft carrier were damaged, and the losses of the air force were also very considerable, and there were only three high-speed warships left in the current available base forces, and the Anglo-American combined fleet was at an absolute disadvantage in the face of the Australian side.

"After the main force of the Combined Fleet moves to the Pacific Ocean, the base camp plans to disband the Southeast Theater Fleet, incorporate its basic forces into the Combined Fleet Headquarters, and organize the second-line forces into the South Pacific Fleet."

Before the words fell, the whip in Liang Tianhe's hand flicked "swish", crossed the Asian continent from the lower right side of the map, and landed in the Eurasian border area in the upper left.

"On the Eastern European General Front, since the 'Bear Slaughter' operation jointly launched by the Northern, Central Asian, and Caspian Front armies in late June was frustrated, various units have temporarily shifted to the defensive, and while vigorously repairing the lines of communication, they have actively adjusted their deployments to prepare for the next full-scale offensive."

Among them, the Northern Front, which is in the worst situation along the lines of communication, is transferring its main forces to Central Asia and other areas, and the existing five group armies are planning to transfer two and disband one. Only the formation of two army groups remained. The strength of the front will be reduced from 26 infantry divisions, 10 armored brigades, and 15 cavalry brigades to 14 infantry divisions, 1 armored brigade, and 9 cavalry brigades. ”

"As for the Central Asian Front, which is in a slightly better position on the lines of communication, it is receiving the transferred troops of the Northern Front on the one hand, and on the other hand, transferring part of the original forces to other sides. The existing three armies will be disbanded one and two will be added, bringing the size of four armies — including two armies. The basic strength of the front army will be adjusted from 16 infantry divisions, 8 armored brigades, and 10 cavalry brigades to 16 infantry divisions, 14 armored brigades, and 13 cavalry brigades. ”

"With the expansion of our army on the Central and West Asian fronts, the Caspian Front, which lives in between. The task is heavy, and the number of troops is overwhelming. For this reason, the previous march to Tehran, the capital of Persia, had to be suspended. The base camp is planned to be reinforced by drawing one army from each of the Northern and Central Asian Fronts, and the basic strength of the Caspian Sea front will be increased from four infantry divisions to eight, with four cavalry brigades and one armored brigade under its jurisdiction. ”

Liang Tianhe paused, took a deep breath, suppressed the urine that was gradually rising to the dantian, and moved down to the Persian Gulf on the left side of the map.

"On the West Asian front, our Turkish Front, with a reinforced armored army group, advanced to the Baghdad-Mosul line, where the advance force was along the Mosul-Aleppo railway line. Launch a tentative offensive against the Entente** entrenched in Syria. Behind the front, our army is building the main railway line from Basra to Mosul at any cost, and comprehensively upgrading the port of Basra and its affiliated ports, and completing the construction of the Indian Ocean communication line in order to send the Europa expeditionary force to the Western European front in a continuous manner. ”

"In addition, five infantry divisions, one armored corps and two cavalry brigades from other fronts are massing towards the Persian Gulf, and it is expected that the backbone of the West Asian front will consist of twelve infantry divisions and three armored brigades. It was increased to seventeen infantry divisions, six armored brigades, and two cavalry brigades, with a view to overwhelming the enemy in Asia Minor in one fell swoop, occupying the Turkish Straits and opening up the lines of communication with Germany. ”

Ignoring Liu Ping's strange gaze, Liang Tianhe endured the flood that might erupt from his lower body at any time, and quickened his speech: "On the African front." Following the landing and occupation of Aden and Djibouti by our troops last month and the successful blockade of the Red Sea, from 15 May of this month -- that is, yesterday, one part of our Red Sea Front landed on the Red Sea side with the support of the main force of the Combined Fleet, and the other part landed on the British Somaliland side side of the Gulf of Aden with the support of the Indian fleet. ”

"In order to prevent the Allied fleets in the Mediterranean from entering the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and disturbing our landing grounds, the 2nd Fleet, that is, the aircraft carrier mobile force, which belongs to our combined fleet, has left for the northern end of the Red Sea ahead of schedule. Launched an air strike on the port of Suez at the southern end of the canal......"

Before the words fell, Liang Tianhe bent down suddenly, blushing and shouting: "The old minister is finished, the old minister is in a hurry, and I ask His Royal Highness to ......." ”

Liu Ping nodded with concern: "Go ahead, it's okay for a long time, there should be nothing for you to do next." ”

……

On 16 August 1916, on the Red Sea, a narrow sea area between the Arabian Peninsula and the African continent, less than 80 kilometers from the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, Vice Admiral Bi Lingbo, commander of the 1st Air Force of the Imperial Chinese Navy, was slowly waving his military cap and watching the 42 carrier-based planes of the first wave of the ship's air attack force take off one by one from the front of the flight deck painted with huge white arrows.

The planes that had risen into the air circled over the mothership until they formed a large circular formation with the 39 planes that had taken off from the wingman "Yunpeng" and pressed like dark clouds towards the port of Suez, 350 kilometers to the northwest.

On the surrounding sea as far as Bi Lingbo could see, with the "Kunpeng" and "Yunpeng" as the center, 26 warships of all sizes, including three battle cruisers, were surrounded, among which the "Xunlei" battlecruiser was flying the five-sè flag of Admiral Liu Guanxiong, commander of the Second Fleet, on the top of the mast.

In Bi Lingbo's view, this operation was not absolutely necessary, but it was full of dangers that were difficult to completely eliminate.

First of all, if the Entente fleet wanted to approach the landing site from the Red Sea, it would inevitably have to pass through the submarine cordon and the aircraft search circle layer after layer of our army, and it would be almost impossible to avoid the eyes and ears of our army. The main forces of our combined fleet, which are assembled in the southern part of the Red Sea, not only have a great advantage in quantity and quality, but can also be supported by our shore-based air forces in Djibouti and Aden -- in short, our troops only need to wait for the rabbit.

On the other hand, it will not be much easier for our fleet to avoid the enemy's ears and make its way to the northern part of the Red Sea.

Secondly. The special hydrological conditions of the Red Sea allow submarines and mines to function, even far from the coast.

Thirdly, the port of Suez is located at the end of the narrow Gulf of Suez, and in order to avoid as much as possible ambushes from submarines, mines, and even shore artillery, the fleet can only take off air attack units on the sea far from the entrance to the Gulf of Suez, because the attack distance exceeds the normal combat radius of carrier-based aircraft. The ship's attack aircraft, which were the main attacking force, could only carry smaller torpedoes and bombs, and the shipboard fighters that provided cover for them had to remove one of the two machine guns and the corresponding ammunition. so that it can carry more fuel to cover the entire flight.

In the end, although the intelligence received by the fleet before its departure showed that the air defense of the port of Suez was very limited, with only one or two companies of high-flying guns and one or two squadrons of fighters, however, it had been more than a month since our army launched the Gulf of Aden campaign, and it was impossible for the Entente not to strengthen its defense against this most important naval base on the Red Sea coast.

According to earlier intelligence, the Entente ** was intended to counter the Turkish Combined Air Force used by our military to blockade the Turkish Straits of the Straits. A comparable Straits Air Force was formed, which was later stationed on the island of Cyprus and played a huge role in the landing in Iskenderun Bay, which led to Turkey's surrender. Now that Turkey has surrendered, it is entirely possible that this battle-hardened and experienced force could be urgently sent here by the British as a magic weapon to save the Suez Canal and even Egypt.

Bi Lingbo was worried. The position of the fleet was exposed to the other side long before it entered the take-off position, not to mention the threat of submarines, if the legendary Straits Air Force was really nearby, the First Air Movement would face the most dangerous challenge since the Battle of the Bay of Bengal.

On the other hand, not to mention whether the port of Suez is worth mentioning the Entente fleet. Even if there were, they might have fled to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal at this time, and even if they were caught by our carrier-based aircraft, they might have survived because of the insufficient power of the ammunition carried by the aircraft.

"Hopefully I'm thinking too much......"

Bi Lingbo muttered in his heart, and looked into the distance: the group of planes had already gone away, and the planes had turned into tiny black dots, gradually disappearing into the clouds.

"A battle without the Flower of the Clan. It's so boring. ”

The sigh behind him comes from Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Ye, the aviation staff officer of the team, and the flower of the team in his mouth is from Pearl Harbor to the Bay of Bengal to Solomon, who has participated in all the important battles of the naval fleet aviation so far and survived, and has been named "Immortal Witch" and "Bloodthirsty Rose" by the literati of good deeds: Cai Guolan and Qi Bing.

Bi Lingbo turned around and smiled: "It's boring? I think you regret not doing it in the first place. ”

Jiang Ye scratched his head and said, "Commander, I have a girlfriend." ”

Bi Lingbo shook his head: "Eating in the bowl, looking at the pot, I still don't know you?" ”

Jiang Ye sighed and said: "There is no chance, I heard that Miss Cai entered the palace as the emperor's attendant military attaché, and not long ago Qi Xiaomei also entered the Regent's Mansion and became a consultant of the Air Force Preparation Office - all of them flew on the branches to accompany the dragon and the phoenix, I can't afford to wait for it." ”

"The flowers of the First Squad belong to no one, they are not only the memories of you and me, but also the legends of HNA, and they are also the role models and guardians of future pilots, no matter where they are, their fighting gods and green chūn enthusiasm will always shine on every flight deck of the empire."

In the moment of his absence, Bi Lingbo felt that he was only one step away from the poet - though that step was enough for him to fall solidly from the three-story flying bridge onto the flight deck.

In the blink of an eye, the sharp jǐng sound spread throughout the ship, and a pretended calm shout came from the electric speaker beside Bi Lingbo: "In front of the starboard side, an unknown group of aircraft has been found!" ”

……

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