In the midst of the stormy seas of the night in the eastern Indian Ocean, the operational meeting of the independent division fleet was underway, and it turned out that everyone thought it was an easy task, but after some analysis by the first deputy commander of the fleet, Rear Admiral Amosyev, everyone learned that because of the existence of the Indian fleet, the battle to seize the islands would change tactics and tactics.

The remarks of Rear Admiral Han Tie, commander of the Marine Corps, will especially attract everyone's attention: In the final analysis, this campaign is an island landing operation, and the Marine Corps will inevitably be the mainstay, and his opinion will also affect the direction of the meeting.

Looking at Han Tie's inquiring gaze, Tang Qiuquan nodded and said, "Commander Han, this battle is your Marine Corps, what is there to build, just put it forward, let's discuss it!" ”

Han Tie said: "The deputy commander reminded us that although the British military fleet in India does not have aircraft carriers, the number of warships will inevitably become a threat to us if it exceeds ours. I hope the commander and deputy commander will think about my construction! ”

The more than 60 warships of the British fleet stationed in India were obviously a threat that could not be taken lightly, and they were soon divided into two opinions, one was to support the deputy commander, Rear Admiral Amosiev, and before the campaign to seize the island was launched, the British fleet should be killed, and the other was to support Han Tie, the fleet should deal with the British warships, and the marines should complete the campaign to seize the island alone.

The two views are at odds. Tang Qiuquan was also difficult to decide, Qiuquan was a competitive and unyielding man, and the ground forces fought extremely well in the East Indies, and Le Yiqin's air force. In the Indochina Peninsula and the South Asian subcontinent, an independent division of aircraft has been created in the sky, but the naval fleet has not achieved much, and it still does not dare to confront several fleets of the Japanese Navy head-on.

Out of the South China Sea, to and from the Strait of Malacca, it also depends on the face of the Japanese Navy. As far as Qiu Quan's character is concerned, it is absolutely unbearable, from his heart, it is best to destroy the British fleet and complete the campaign goals assigned by the division command at the same time, but what Han Tie and Amosyev said makes sense. There's a question of importance and trade-offs.

Looking at my watch, the meeting had been going on for more than an hour, and no results had been discussed. If it goes on like this, Tianliang has no clue, Qiuquan knocked on the table a few times, stopped everyone's discussion, and said: "The two opinions have their own advantages and disadvantages, and there is no dispute. Please make a decision, everyone is waiting here! ”

Xin Xiguo, chief of staff of the fleet, quickly sent the two battle plans to the headquarters of the independent division, and at this time, it was already about 11 o'clock in the evening of 22 May.

Tang Qiuli in Zhenhati in Central India. As soon as he lay down to rest, Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe knocked on the door and came in, "Division commander, I received an urgent telegram from Commander Tang of the fleet, when the fleet held an operational meeting, two opinions appeared that could not be reconciled, and they were reported together, please make a decision!" ”

Tang Qiuli passed the telegram, and after reading it, he said to Zhao Yuhe in a relaxed tone: "Yuhe, according to Brother Qiuquan's character, he was not an indecisive person, and he reported the battle plan of the headquarters to the division for decision, or for the first time, I estimate that Brother Qiuquan is looking at the ground troops, fighting smoothly, and he is anxious, and he also wants to come to a two-pronged approach, seize the island and annihilate the British fleet, and carry it out at the same time, and I am afraid that the risk is too great, so I asked for an idea!" ”…,

Zhao Yuhe was not so relaxed, and replied: "Division commander, Commander Tang is reasonable, fighting at sea is no better than land, one negligence, the entire fleet will suffer heavy losses, moreover, the task force is a lone army in depth, there is no backup, the main force of the fleet is on Hainan Island and Zhanjiang base, division commander, when we transferred the fleet to carry out the mission, did we not consider it and ignore the British fleet?" ”

Tang Qiuli smiled and said, "How Yuhe, this is criticizing me!" Zhao Yuhe was just about to explain, but Tang Qiuli waved his hand to stop him, "Yuhe, I'll be Zhuge Liang once and give the fleet a clever plan!" ”

Zhao Yuhe's face was curious, Tang Qiuli said: "Call back to the fleet, fish and bear's paw, you can have both, the fleet can adopt the following tactics, to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in disregard, wave the army directly to Sri Lanka Island, in this way, the British fleet will inevitably come to help, the fleet can set up an ambush in the middle of the way, fight an ambush at sea, moreover, the long-range bombers of the aviation can provide land and air support, and the big thing can be done!" ”

Although he did not have a good impression of MacArthur, he still admired the "leapfrogging" tactics he created in history when he was fighting with the Japanese on the islands in the South Pacific.

To put it simply, MacArthur's tactics were not to fight with the Japanese island by island according to the distance of the geographical location, but also to jump over a number of islands in the middle, concentrate troops and warships, and attack important targets, severing the connection between the islands occupied by Japan.

Tang Qiuli's tactics are an enhanced version of the "frog jumping" tactic of seizing the island, and with the addition of an ambush at sea and the cooperation of land and sea bombers, he can no longer turn the British warships into piles of scrap metal at the bottom of the eastern Indian Ocean, and he has no face! The fleet was directed at the island of Sri Lanka, causing the independent division to land on the southern tip of the Indian mainland, and the British fleet had no reason not to go to the rescue.

Rear Admiral Amosyev, the first deputy commander of the fleet, after reading the reply from the division commander Tang Qiuli, was so excited that his face was flushed, he stood up, and a series of Russian words came out of his mouth, but unfortunately, no one understood, Amosyev recalled his taste and said embarrassedly: "I mean, the division commander is a genius commander, and his wisdom is comparable to Peter the Great!" ”

With Tang Qiuli's clever plan, the battle plan was quickly determined, and the Marine Corps had seven brigades, divided into three routes, to launch an attack from the southern, central, and northern parts of Sri Lanka Island at the same time, and each attacking force was supported by two destroyers, with the three brigades in the central part of the country as the main offensive spearhead, dividing Sri Lanka Island into two.

Then, with the strength of the two brigades, they developed to the north and south respectively, and planned to attack the troops in the north and south, and for this reason, Han Tie's marines poured out of the nest and mobilized nearly 100,000 troops to form a five-to-one superiority with the British and Indian garrisons on the island, and Xin Xiguo, chief of staff of the fleet, coordinated in the center.

Fleet Commander Tang Qiuquan and Deputy Commander Amosyev led the task force to set up an ambush in the waters near the Bay of Bengal, and at the same time, liaising with Le Yiqin, commander of the Southern Flight Group of the Air Force, and his bomber and fighter units, coordinated to participate in the battle, plus the fighters and bombers on the two aircraft carriers, which formed a desperate situation for the British fleet without aircraft carriers.

On May 23, the morning sun jumped out of the sea, after a night of monsoon, on the east Indian Ocean, the wind and waves were calm, the water and the sky were colorful, although in the East Indian land, the flames of war were raging, the Chinese were victorious, and the land of Central India was about to ignite the flames of war, but for the Indian mainland, the island of Sri Lanka across the Pauk Strait and Manar Bay, this qiē seems very far away. …,

At about six o'clock in the morning, the fog on the sea had not yet fully dissipated, and Naxon, the captain of the central garrison of the Sri Lankan defense zone of the British Army in India, who had been on duty all night, rubbed his dry eyes, stretched his waist, and put away the duty record boredly, looking at the record book that was still a blank piece of paper, Captain Naxon shook his head, and the boring and boring night passed like this.

Every week, he had to spend the whole night in this damp bunker on the beach, drinking coffee from the orderlies, and Captain Naxon lazily wrote a sentence in his duty notebook, "May 22, the night was normal, and nothing unusual was found." ”

In Captain Naxon's view, this is nothing more than a routine, he is very glad that he is very happy, because he belongs to the Indian army fleet, he was not transferred to the East India battlefield, and the Chinese soldiers are desperate, I heard that the war situation is very unfavorable to the Indian army, and the East Indies have been lost, however, this qiē has little to do with the captain, as long as he serves in India for four years, after returning to the mainland, he will have a good job, waiting for himself!

When the time for the shift change came, Captain Nelson, casually raising his binoculars, to observe the surface of the sea for the last time when the fog had dissipated, and suddenly, his eyes were fixed in a certain direction, and, as if he were nervous, his mouth was open to eat people, and his body was stiff and trembling uncontrollably.

The orderly who was packing up the dishes looked at him strangely and couldn't help but exclaim, "Mr. Captain! Mr. Captain, are you uncomfortable there? ”

Captain Nelson, it was not just uncomfortable, he was simply stunned, on the rising sea, dozens of warships suddenly appeared, facing the golden sunshine, speeding forward, on the high mast of the warship, hanging, not the rice flag that he was familiar with and had been numb, but another kind of flag, he did not recognize, but on the warship, the muzzle of the black hole, told him, the comer was not good.

After a few minutes, the captain was still in that frozen position, and the orderly was worried about going to pull him, when suddenly, Captain Nelson, like crazy, shouted: "Report quickly, the enemy warship is coming!" ”

(To be continued) (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )