Episode 50 Battle of Batavia

At nearly six o'clock in the evening of March 1, the Ming army had occupied most of Batavia from north to south, and the four line troops, but there was a skirmish on three of them, and after a few shots and a few words, a large number of Dutch soldiers got out of the building and raised their hands to surrender. Now the Ming army is speeding up to occupy all of Batavia before dark.

Generally speaking, when you have just entered enemy territory, you should constantly attack, chase and encircle the enemy's main forces, and strive to widen the gaps on both sides, and it is not advisable to fall into urban warfare too early. But the problem is that the port of Batavia is the only landing place for the Ming army, and this port city must be completely cleared and a base camp must be established here before it can march inland and to the east of Batavia.

The Lightning-1 tank was clattering through the streets of Batavia, and Shi Shengli was standing outside the turret, wearing headphones, holding the round top cover on his chest with both hands, his sharp eyes scanning the area ahead, and picking up the binoculars from time to time to take a look.

During this expedition to the East Indies, I heard that some officers would be selected from among the People's Guard, and many high-ranking officials of the People's Guard were vying to go. The main reason is that Xiang Xiaoqiang is there now, and he will definitely personally take charge of these officers. In peacetime, the People's Guard is so large in the country, and most officers have few opportunities to show their talents in front of adults. But there are definitely not many officers who go to the Nanyang People's Guard this time, and everyone must be able to follow Master Xiang directly and have full opportunities to perform.

Even if it is only equivalent to the position of second lieutenant, there are a large number of captains, captains, and even majors rushing to come. Captain Shi Shengli is no exception. In the defense of Nanjing, he performed very well and was appreciated by Xiang Xiaoqiang. But the war between the Ming and Qing dynasties is over, and the door of opportunity that has just been opened seems to be closing again. Without the opportunity to fight, if you want to be promoted, you have to slowly boil it. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Nanyang to have another fighter. Although there were only eight armored troops in this expedition to the East Indies, which was only equivalent to two platoons, Shi Shengli, the tank battalion commander, still seized this opportunity.

The Lightning-1 tank under him was only one man tall, and it was the lightest type of tank in the Ming army, with thin armor and no artillery. There is only one coaxial machine gun on the turret, and there is only one coaxial machine gun in front of the vehicle. This kind of tank was mainly used as a trainer tank in the Ming Dynasty, and it was never on the battlefield in the Ming and Qing wars. But now on a battlefield like Batavia, where there will be no enemy tanks, and the enemy army is weak, it will be enough. Moreover, Batavia Island has a tropical rainforest climate, and may have to fight in tropical mountains and forests, this Lightning-1 tank is flexible and light, with large track width, strong horsepower, and the best off-road performance, which is very suitable for this kind of battlefield.

None of these Fujian soldiers and Guangdong soldiers behind him had ever been on the battlefield, and Shi Shengli planned to seize this opportunity to teach these soldiers a good lesson, so that they could see how the legendary People's Guard fought in battle.

It's almost time to get to the consulate district, he thought.

The streets in this area are clean and tidy, there are no slum dens, and there are not many traces of massacres on either side of the streets, such as blood, flies and maggots. In the distance, I could see several consulates and foreign flags flying in the distance.

I'll see you soon.

A shrill hiss sounded overhead, from far and near. Shi Shengli shouted backwards:

"Lying down—"

Then quickly retract into the turret.

There was a loud bang in the back of his head. The ground shook for a moment, followed by the clanging of turrets. Shi Shengli drilled out of the turret and looked back, a few meters behind the tank, a small crater was blown out on the ground, several infantry hiding behind the tank were lying on the ground, two of the flesh and blood were blurred, and they were no longer moving, and the other three fell to the ground and struggled, holding the wound and screaming. The rest of the infantry were lying on the ground, clutching their heads, not even daring to look up.

60mm infantry mortars!

Then there was another whistling in the sky, followed by a loud bang, and the houses on the side of the road were filled with smoke and dust, and countless rubble and broken glass poured down on the road.

Shi Shengli didn't have time to retract the turret, and was suffocated in his chest, but fortunately, he wore a headset on his ear, so as not to crack the eardrum. He waved vigorously at the infantry on the ground and shouted:

"Stand back! Disperse! Don't lie there! Find a place to hide! ”

A large number of infantry were still lying on the ground holding their heads, and no one looked up, Shi Shengli was on fire, took out his submachine gun and shot half a shuttle into the sky, and the infantry on the ground crawled backwards. He waved behind him, told the armored vehicles behind him to follow, and then retracted into the turret to cover the top cover.

The tank roared, spewing green smoke and rushing forward, the machine-gun turret turning slightly, searching for possible mortars on both sides of the road ahead. More than ten meters behind, the armored car with ten People's Guard soldiers also followed the tank without hesitation, and the machine gunner in the co-pilot's seat also stood behind the baffle, holding the machine gun tightly, searching the suspicious areas on both sides.

"Day--Boom !!"

Another shell, three or four meters in front of the tank, was blown up accurately enough. But the tank roared, increased its horsepower, and quickly drilled through the black smoke that had not yet dissipated.

This is already the consulate district. On both sides of the empty road are consulate buildings. Most of the countries have been withdrawn, and only bare flagpoles remain in front of the consulates. However, the consulates of a few countries have not yet been removed, and the flags of those countries are carried on the doors of the buildings.

Shi Shengli sat in the turret, observing the surrounding buildings with a periscope, and guessed that the observer was hiding in some vacant consulate and directing the artillery there. Even the mortar group of the Dutch army may be hiding in the courtyard of a consulate in the distance.

The headphones "hissed" a few times, and suddenly a voice came out:

"Hey, Victory, can you hear me?"

Shi Shengli was startled, his heart was beating wildly, and he couldn't believe it. …… How did he get to this channel?

"Victory? Victory? Hey, hey? ”

Shi Shengli took a deep breath and said tentatively:

"Lord Xiang?"

"It's me," Xiang Xiaoqiang's voice was not polite at all, and said directly, "I saw your tank." The Dutch mortar is about 300 meters in front of you, on the right side of the road, on the lawn in the courtyard of the French consulate on your right. …… The French consulate has been emptied, there is no flag, you just count, and from there there is the sixth building on the right. …… As for where the observer is, I can't see it, you can do it yourself. ”

Shi Shengli's heart boiled when he heard this, and he rushed to his head in ecstasy, and he didn't know if it was because he suddenly knew the location of the enemy's mortar, or because he actually guided himself to fight in person.

He immediately said:

"Victory understands, thank you, sir!"

He then summoned the armored car to follow, heading straight for the building on the right side of the road, 300 meters away.

"Ah, attention!" Xiang Xiaoqiang's voice suddenly sounded again, "Victory, about 100 meters in front of you, at the intersection next to the British Consulate, there is about a squad of Dutch troops!" They seem to be doing something! …… I saw it, they were setting up an ambush! They rolled out an anti-tank gun! Prepare to hide on the side and hit you! …… It looks like a small cannon of 20 mm caliber, but it is deadly for your tank! Ah, another machine gun rolled out! …… Damn, they're clinging to the building of a foreign consulate, we can't use dive bombers, it's up to you ground forces to clear it! Victory, be careful! ”

"Yes, Victory understands!"

Shi Shengli commanded the tank to "boom" to 70 meters in front and stopped. Twenty or thirty meters to the right is the British Consulate, and behind the building is the ambush point that Xiang told the adults.

"Day--Boom !!"

Another mortar shell exploded on the road, and shrapnel and shredded asphalt smashed the tank shell with a clangling sound. The armored car in the back, on his command, also drove over. Two steel guys rumbled and stopped on the road.

50 meters on the left side of the road ahead is the German Consulate. The German consulate has a relatively high level of floors and is at a crossroads, so the view is very ideal. Xiang Xiaoqiang stood on the balcony on the highest floor, holding a telescope for them to observe.

About 70 meters to the left of the rear of the Shi Shengli tank, in the window on the third floor of the Japanese consulate, the Dutch observers were hiding here, setting up gun mirrors and carrying radios on their backs, observing the mortar group. He did not know why the tanks and armored vehicles of the Ming army suddenly stopped, and they stopped right in front of the ambush point of the anti-tank guns. Did you find out?

No, it can't be. He shook his head, feeling unlikely, that he would be discovered. The Dutch troops in the ambush in front were all clinging to the buildings, and even the anti-tank guns and machine guns were covered with broken sacks, fearing that the Ming planes would find them from the sky. At the moment, it is foolproof, the Ming army tank stopped here, it should be some kind of coincidence.

But he never thought that Xiang Xiaoqiang, the minister of the Ming Dynasty, was upstairs in the German consulate in front, holding a telescope and doing the same thing with him! And the location of the person is much easier to observe than his.

Another mortar shell exploded, and Shi Shengli immediately ordered the armored car to drive onto the right path, bypassing the British Consulate, and going around behind the Dutch troops who had set up an ambush. The armored car immediately roared, turned two tracks, turned half a circle in place, and puffed out a puff of green smoke from the back buttocks, which copied around the British consulate.

The Dutch soldiers in that group were guarding behind the anti-tank guns and machine guns, and were listening intently to the roar of the Ming tanks in front of the corner of the building, until they vaguely heard the sound of the engine behind them, and then they broke out in a cold sweat, turned around, and an armored car had appeared from the other corner of the consulate.

A dozen Dutch soldiers were shocked and immediately tried to push the anti-tank guns over, but it was too late. As soon as the armored car appeared, the machine gun on the roof of the car spewed out tongues of fire, and in the blink of an eye, more than half of the Dutch troops in a squad were swept down.

The few remaining Dutch soldiers immediately made a wise move, immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands. Several soldiers of the People's Guard of the Ming Army, each with a submachine gun, jumped out from behind the armored car and ran over and captured them.

Pulling out the nail, the armored car left one soldier in place, holding a submachine gun to guard the prisoner, and the rest of the soldiers got back into the car, drove onto the road, and rushed forward with the tank, eliminating the mortar group.

There were no shells left around. The Ming tanks had already entered the minimum range of the Dutch mortars, and when they entered this range, the mortars were useless.

In Shi Shengli's headphones, Xiang Xiaoqiang gave him a hand-in-hand guidance:

"Yes, yes...... It's the building in front of you...... That's the French consulate...... Drive a little further...... Okay, stop there and don't move, don't get your tank in, let the armored car come up...... Yes, do you see the iron fence gate on the right? Yes, inside is the courtyard of the French consulate, and behind those palm trees is the lawn, and they are there...... Let the infantry rush in! Fast! They found out, are packing up their mortars, and are preparing to escape! Rush inside! ”

Without saying a word, the armored car galloped to the door of the iron fence gate of the French consulate, and even had no time to brake, knocking the iron fence gate off at once. But he didn't care about so much, so nine People's Guard soldiers jumped out of the back of the car, grabbed the submachine guns and rushed in. A few submachine guns rang out behind the palm trees, and then a panicked Dutch voice.

A moment later, five Dutch soldiers came out with their hands raised, and the last unlucky fellow limped out with blood on his legs, clinging to the shoulders of others.

"Well done!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang stood on the balcony of the German consulate, saw this scene through the binoculars, and praised it with headphones on.

There were only five or six instances of this weak resistance in one afternoon. In the whole of the East Indies, the Dutch regular army numbered only a few thousand, and most of it was concentrated on the island of Batavia. But after repeated air raids from noon to dusk, there were no more formed and combat-ready Dutch troops on the island of Batavia.

Not half of the Dutch troops were killed or wounded in the air raids, but a third. The soldiers had never seen an air raid before, and they did not know how to dodge it, especially the dive bombing and strafing. The more frightened they were, the more they loved to squeeze together, often hundreds of people huddled together, and then a bomb fell in the middle, killing and injuring more than half of them at once. Batavia Island was so big and narrow, and the Ming planes roared all afternoon, searching for the Dutch troops along the roads, cities, docks and other major roads, and the Dutch troops on the ground ran away, and most of them got into the surrounding forests, and they were about to become stragglers.

Thus, by eight o'clock in the evening of March 1, the Ming army had complete control of Batavia. From the landing to the capture of Batavia, it took only four hours.