The first day of fighting in Melbourne was so strangely passed, the bloody battle that began at about 9 o'clock in the morning ended abruptly at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the two sides tacitly began to clean up the battlefield and call it a day to rest.

When the commander-in-chief, Admiral Gavin Williamson, knew that a day's battle had yielded nothing, but had buried thousands of soldiers in vain, he was really angry, but there was nothing he could do.

Among the seven bridges across the Yala River, only two can pass carriages, one is a stone bridge occupied by Duan Qirui led by the independent regiment, and the other is a steel structure bridge connecting Nancheng District, which can carry five carriages in parallel, guarded by the most elite Red First Division, and is the most important traffic artery.

The other bridges were only accessible to flatbed trucks and pedestrians, and were relatively simple to defend, and because of the narrowness of the bridges, the enemy attacked with fewer troops at one time, and the pressure was relatively light.

If it really doesn't work, it can be blown up, and it can also stop the counteroffensive of the Confederate Army.

At about 10 o'clock that night

The first batch of more than 30,000 reinforcements from the B Corps arrived two hours earlier than scheduled, and the West Melbourne area erupted in joyful laughter, and the soldiers who had just arrived were sleepy, and the Chinese soldiers who arrived earlier immediately started to kill cattle and sheep, slaughtering more than 3,000 sheep and more than 20 cattle in one go, and the cauldron of beef and mutton soup mixed with blood sausage boiled together, and the whole city was filled with the tempting aroma of beef and mutton.

Take out the naan and bake it over the campfire, and feast on the rich broth, and all the fatigue of laughter and laughter is gone.

Across the wide Yarra River, there is a lively celebration on one side and a lifeless and silent scene on the other, forming a stark contrast.

More than 20,000 Confederate soldiers who had withdrawn from the defensive line due south were originally planning to converge with the defenders of East Melbourne at dawn the next day to launch a counterattack.

After emergency communication overnight, all the officers and soldiers withdrew from the two bridges outside the city to the east bank of the Yarra River to defend.

Since then, there has been no large-scale Southern Army on the west bank of the Yarra River.

Corps B and the Confederate Army confronted each other across the Yarra River, and the assault corps, dominated by the 1st Red Division, successfully completed the roundabout mission of the campaign and fired a short and beautiful right hook. With rapid movements, it took the vast West Melbourne area at the cost of less than 4,400 casualties, and destroyed 27,900 enemies (including prisoners), exceeding the set task.

After the arrival of reinforcements led by Commander Mo Rufeng, the advance assault corps was disbanded and rebuilt on the spot, and the B corps held 60,000 heavy troops, occupying a weak one-third of the territory of the entire Melbourne and gaining a solid support point.

On this day, the Southern Union Army gave up the counterattack attempt, but began to build defensive fortresses on the east bank of the Yala River with all its might, and successively blew up 5 bridges, and built defensive facilities on the east bank of the remaining two strong bridges day and night, preparing to rely on the Ya'an River to defend to the death.

The B Corps did not take offensive measures, but cleared the occupied area of the remnants of the enemy, and the skirmishes continued until noon, collecting a total of 14,400 white prisoners and quickly starting training.

The so-called rectification training means that all enemy commanders are singled out and executed, and through mutual reporting, the most vicious criminals who have blood on their hands are screened out and immediately executed.

The remaining soldiers were organized into volunteer teams according to a team of 500 people, and a total of 24 volunteer teams were formed, with a total of 12,000 troops, ready to be thrown into the brutal urban attack and defense battle.

Day 3

The second batch of reinforcements of 12,000 troops and large troops arrived one after another, and the west bank of the Yarra River was heavily gathered, with a total strength of 183,000 (excluding casualties, including about 40,000 white prisoners earlier, a total of 52,000 white prisoners). ）

Oddly enough

After the arrival of all members of the B Corps, they did not immediately launch an attack, but carried out a three-day rest, reorganized the team to restore combat effectiveness, and conducted a preliminary screening of white residents in the West Melbourne area, cracked down on white extremists, and conscripted more than 20,000 laborers to support the operation of the army.

Due to the rapid action of the assault corps, there were fewer war-damaged buildings in the West Melbourne area, less than one percent of them appeared, leaving many intact urban buildings, which provided good conditions for the garrison of the army.

In addition, in the suburbs, more than 200,000 sheep and thousands of cattle driven by exiled whites all fell into the hands of the B Corps, as well as the bay wharves and warehouses in the West Melbourne area, and countless supplies were all lost, relieving the B Corps of worries.

At about four o'clock in the morning on December 15, 1890

It was the darkest time before dawn, dozens of mosquito patrol boats, carrying more than 10,000 heavily armed officers and soldiers of the Songjiang Militia Division, quietly set off from Melbourne's West Bank Wharf and approached East Melbourne's Bay Wharf......

East Melbourne on the Bay Pier

Colonel Robert Janrick took a hard puff of his cigarette, popped the rest of the cigarette butt out of the distance, looked left and right, and then walked into the station building by the dock, where there were already more than 100 elite soldiers lurking in advance, fully armed and waiting for orders.

"Captain He, the time is almost up, we must quickly launch an attack to clear the dock defenders."

"Report to the sir, the commandos are all ready and ready at any time."

"Okay, I will wake up the defenders of the dock in the name of discovering the enemy's situation, and you will launch a surprise attack while the whole team is in place, quickly occupy the heavy machine gun position and artillery position, and receive the large army to reach the dock smoothly."

"Yes, resolutely complete the task."

"Alright, look at my signal to attack."

"Yes, sir."

Colonel Robert Janrik nodded with a look of relief, he is of Italian descent, and the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons can't pee in the same pot at all, those guys are Western Europeans, he is Southern European, different beliefs, different languages, and even slightly darker skin.

Shortly after he left, there was a loud noise on the dock.

A shrill whistle sounded, and many of the dazed dock defenders, under the loud reprimand of the officers, poured out of their houses and began to line up along the empty dock, numbering at least sixteen hundred.

This is only the defenders stationed on the pier on the side of the East Melbourne Bay, and there are four regiments stationed in the entire East Melbourne Bay, each with a defensive area, and tens of thousands of heavy troops behind them, which can be reached within half an hour of the start of the battle.

The 17th Division of the Militia, led by Colonel Robert Janrik, was among them, but it was stationed farther away and closer to the stone bridge.

He saw that most of the soldiers had come out of the barracks and formed a formation, so he stepped aside and lit a cigarette, which was the battle signal.

The commandos, who had been prepared for a long time, launched a rapid attack, immediately occupied the heavy machine gun positions and artillery positions, knocked the bewildered enemy to the ground, turned the muzzle of the gun and began to fire fiercely.

In the silence of the night, the torches on the empty dock provided the best target, and the white soldiers in the whole squad fell like leeks, and the rest of the people lay on the ground crying for their fathers and mothers, completely unaware of what was going on.

The Mosquito speedboat convoy convoy that had arrived at the pier in East Melbourne Bay observed the firefight on the pier from a distance, and immediately drove at full speed, and in just a few minutes appeared on the pier with a bright bonfire, and then the soldiers of the brigade disembarked from the boat to join the battle.

The tide of Chinese soldiers, led by their guides, swooped down on the other dock garrisons, and fierce battles broke out in the darkest hours of the morning, and the crisp gunfire rang out all over the world, it was a bloody early morning.

After transporting the Songjiang Militia Division, the Mosquito speedboats immediately turned around and returned to the West Melbourne dock in a team of five to continue to load follow-up reinforcements.

The two marinas are less than 11 kilometers apart, and at the speed of a Mosquito speedboat, you can easily run back and forth in an hour, completely stress-free.

The white defenders on the dock were taken by surprise and fell one after another in more than 40 minutes, and the dense gunfire alarmed the Confederate troops in the rear, who quickly reacted after experiencing the initial confusion; The Orientals called.

The so-called half-hour support in place is only theoretical, and the soldiers of the Confederate Army are far from being as efficient as imagined.

After the initial chaos, the enemy situation began to be reported layer by layer, and the soldiers in the barracks quickly armed and ready for battle.

By this time, a second batch of reinforcements had arrived, with not only 6,000 Chinese soldiers, but also 4,000 white captives and cannon fodder.

Brigadier General Li Xuanzhu, commander of the 1st Red Division, also arrived, this young general who had been tested by many years of war had a calm momentum, his sharp eyes scanned the bay dock area that had been completely controlled, and after carefully observing for a moment through the white of the fish belly exposed in the sky, he had a plan in his heart.

East Melbourne Bay Docklands is located on the plains and has no obvious geographical advantages, which can only be used by large coal yards and warehouse areas.

In view of the fact that this was a place where the enemy was hoarding heavy troops, Brigadier General Li Xuanzhu decided to concentrate his existing forces and focus on attacking to the west and occupying more blocks while consolidating the defense of the dock area.

On the west side, about three blocks away is the Yarra River, as long as the area is occupied, it can be connected to the west bank across the river, through the mosquito speedboat to receive a steady stream of troops, supplies and ammunition reinforcements, in the hands of more than 50,000 white prisoners, whether it is a war of attrition or a tug-of-war, the B Corps has never been afraid of anyone.

The most important thing is that the 17th Division of the Militia led by Colonel Robert Janrik is in this direction, and the two sides must converge as soon as possible, because this matter on the dock will not be hidden for long, and it will soon be revealed.

The plan in his heart had been decided, and Brigadier General Li Xuanzhu issued one attack order after another, and more intense offensive operations began......

Whether the Confederate soldiers wanted it or not, dozens of Mosquito speedboats shuttled back and forth to transport a steady stream of troops to the docks of East Melbourne Bay, and used it as a base to launch a fierce attack, kicking off the war.

It was close to noon

More than 40,000 B Corps soldiers had landed, and the Red 1st Division, which was gaining momentum, successfully defeated the 11th Division of the Confederate Army and began a fierce battle with the 17th Militia Division.