At 9 o'clock in the morning of the same day, the Anglo-Indian 9th Infantry Division, located east of the Terengganu River, was greeted with fierce artillery fire.

The assault cluster included 30 112mm howitzers and 18 80mm howitzers from the 2nd Motorized Infantry Brigade's Motorized Artillery Battalion and the 1st Marine Brigade Mountain Artillery Regiment. For a time, the positions of the British and Indian troops on the east bank were completely enveloped in the flames of the explosion.

The machine-gun bunkers, mortar positions, and support points that were detected and marked by the reconnaissance units were subjected to intensive sabotage fire, and sandbags, steel plates, and logs blown away by the shells flew in all directions.

The artillery of the 11th Division immediately began to return fire, and the QF 4.5-inch howitzers equipped with the three field artillery regiments (battalions) also began to bombard the starting positions of the Ming army's attack.

The artillery positions on both sides were well camouflaged and were not easy to spot when they were not firing, and it was still difficult to coordinate artillery fire to carry out an attack in a short period of time, even after the fire was exposed.

Zhou Changfeng, who was in the front line headquarters, asked sideways: "Can you observe the location of the enemy artillery?" ”

"It should be." Zhao Hanfeng nodded yes, and asked as he picked up the field phone: "Do you want to counteract?" ”

"Let Zhu Lishuo coordinate artillery fire, try to suppress the enemy's artillery positions, prepare to cover the forced crossing of the troops, and at the same time carry out obstructive shooting on the enemy's shallow, near, and deep depths."

"Yes."

Zhou personally does not like long-term and low-intensity artillery preparation, he prefers short-term and high-intensity artillery preparation, and feels that this can better achieve the suddenness of the attack and reduce the opponent's reaction time.

The powerful artillery preparation lasted less than half an hour, and the Ming field artillery group poured more than 6,000 shells on the enemy in front of them, not counting the results of the 128mm heavy mortars to which the infantry regiment belonged.

To the southwest of Kuala Terengganu, the 1st Marine Brigade Floating Chariot Battalion and the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment began to force their way across the Terengganu River.

On the other side of the river, there were only a few sparse guard positions, not to mention anti-tank guns.

Faced with dozens of tanks and hundreds of boats full of soldiers, the more than 40 British and Indian soldiers here barely resisted, and hurriedly retreated after firing only a few shots.

Small Type 35 amphibious tanks rushed onto the east bank of the river beach and opened fire on the fleeing British and Indian troops.

It can be said that the army's actions were completely unexpected by Major General Ingram, who thought that since the Ming army had succeeded in capturing the Pat Bridge, it would definitely make a fuss about it.

Conventional thinking, it's much easier to cross a bridge than to cross a river, right?

As a result, the counterattack plan prepared by the 9th Division overnight was therefore in an awkward position.

If a counterattack is launched as planned, the Ming army, which has already crossed the river, may attack the flank at any time, and then it will be a two-front battle.

If it does not go according to plan, then the Ming army can also attack with the help of the already occupied Pat Bridge.

After weighing the current situation, Major General Ingram ordered the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, which had been assembled near the Pert Bridge, to move its defense immediately and counterattack the Ming troops who had crossed the river to the west as soon as possible.

With thousands of troops deployed on the Pert Bridge and several anti-tank guns, it was impossible for the Ming army to achieve a breakthrough even with tank support, and the tanks crossing the bridge would only be destroyed one by one by anti-tank guns deployed in multiple directions.

It didn't take long for the divisional artillery of the 9th Division to begin bombarding the Ming troops who had crossed the river.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ”

The herald, who had been delivering the message on foot, hurriedly lay down, and then crawled into a crater with green smoke not far away.

One after another, 114.3mm high-explosive bombs fell, and the explosions kicked up large masses of sand, and the officers and men of the 1st Marine Brigade hid in foxholes, covered with wet and soft loose sand.

It didn't take long for everyone to see more than a dozen tanks and more than 100 British and Indian troops slowly advancing, intending to launch a direct attack.

"Sixteen enemy chariots and about one hundred and fifty infantry were observed advancing towards the headquarters under the cover of artillery fire, and asked to block the artillery fire and cut off the enemy's rear."

Although the cutting-edge Type 38 48mm anti-tank gun has begun mass production, it is obviously impossible for the whole army to complete the replacement in just over half a year, and even the 1st Marine Brigade still has some Type 35 25.6mm antitank guns.

It may not be very powerful, but its total combat weight is only 305kg, and the officers and soldiers can easily disassemble it and carry it across the river together.

No matter how good a weapon is, it must appear on the battlefield in time.

Sixteen A9 and A10 cruisers, arranged in a wedge formation, rushed to the front, and the frontal width of the attack was nearly 700 meters.

The former's frontal armor was only 14mm thick, which was too fragile, so the frontal armor of its successor, the A10 cruiser, was thickened to 30mm.

"Boom!"

“Biu——”

"Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

After lowering the opponent less than 500 meters, the five Type 35 anti-tank guns scattered in the arrangement opened fire in unison!

The crew's fluid movements brought out almost the full potential of this small-caliber anti-tank – the semi-automatic latch could theoretically reach an exaggerated rate of fire of twenty rounds per minute.

In just ten seconds, more than a dozen shells were pumped over with their heads and faces.

At this distance, a 25.6mm armor-piercing projectile was enough to penetrate an A10 tank.

The tank that rushed to the front was hit by concentrated fire and was shot through in all directions in a short time, the driver, the course gunner, and the commander were killed one after another, and the unmanned tank slowly stopped, and gray-white wisps of smoke emerged from the fist-sized bullet holes.

The low anti-tank guns were hard to spot, let alone tank crews with limited visibility, and some British tank crews died without knowing where the shells that killed them came from.

However, the conspicuous muzzle flame during the firing still exposed the anti-tank gun position, and the British tanks immediately stopped, trying their best to suppress the Ming anti-tank guns with machine guns.

The QF2 pounder lacked available high-explosive shells, and the consequences of this problem were unmistakable.

Maybe when dealing with infantry, the British tanks can still rely on machine guns to deal with it, but ...... How can a bullet penetrate the shield of an anti-tank gun?

A 7.7mm machine gun bullet slammed into the 8mm-thick steel gun shield, either crashing or shattering.

The 64mm and 80mm mortars of the Ming army located on the river beach also began to bombard.

"Boom! Rumble! "Mortar shells fell one after another in graceful parabolic trajectories, bursting with clouds of fire and smoke.

In addition to the standard anti-explosive bombs, there were also some personnel bombs, and the diamond-shaped prefabricated fragments flew in all directions at a very high speed, and the British and Indian soldiers who accompanied the tanks were wiped out!

The frightened tank crews panicked and immediately hung up the reverse gear and began to retreat.

Several wounded soldiers who had been knocked down by the fragments desperately moved to the side, but some of the unlucky ones were crushed into a blood-red paste mixed with bones, dirt, and minced meat by the fleeing tanks.

In this way, the counterattack of the Anglo-Indian 9th Division was easily disintegrated.

"No suspense, it's boring." Zhou Changfeng yawned.

He stared at the map and stretched out his hand to nod, "The storming vehicle unit is ready to go out, and the general attack will be launched at three o'clock." ”

In fact, Zhou Changfeng was too lazy to plan a war of annihilation now, he planned to defeat the enemy in front of him, and then drive them all the way to the south like a sheep.

In other cases, this would certainly be inappropriate, because the defeat battle would not have much effect, and many of the defeated armies would eventually join forces all the way and become hard bones.

However, the Anglo-Indian army was in a different situation - when the defeated armies on the eastern and western fronts of the Malayan Peninsula had fled to Singapore, it would be easier to catch them all at that time, which was convenient and efficient.

When the Anglo-Indian counterattack ended in a crushing defeat, another small battle broke out in the waters off Kuantan.

The remnants of the light cruisers and destroyers of the Grain Goddess of Fleet A were fleeing in confusion, and the officers and men of the Royal Navy could be said to have been shattered by the Ming army's air raids.

It's a dead life! Airplanes can really sink battleships!

The battleships, which were evacuating south at an average speed of 29 knots, encountered the submarine Lixiajia No. 2 that was lying in ambush there.

The latter has been trailing Fleet A, but because it is in a low-speed course underwater, it has not moved far until now.

"Good fellow, this is a terrible beating." Ling Su stuck to the periscope, amazed.

"Boss, do we have a chance?"

"Yes, of course, and it's a good opportunity."

Seeing that the British fleet, which had been in high spirits half a day ago, was now so down, the submariners laughed and prepared for the attack.

Determine the speed and course of the enemy ship, calibrate the azimuth angle, and calculate the launch elements.

When the Lixiajia II was less than 800 meters away from the Grain Goddess, the co-captain in charge of the torpedo attack ordered the launch, and then immediately descended to the maximum depth to ensure that it would not be retaliated against.

Four 512mm thermodynamic torpedoes drilled out of the launch tubes, then floated to a set depth and rushed straight ahead at high speed.

The lookout post of the Goddess of Grains was apprehensive about the Ming fleet, and they were all staring intently at the distant sky, and at first no one noticed the rapidly approaching white track.

By the time I realized it, it was too late.

"Boom!"

Although one of the two torpedoes that hit her did not detonate, the terrifying power of the 350kg Qin explosives still gave the light cruiser a fatal blow.

The entire ship was powered off, only one boiler was still running, and all four compartments were flooded at the same time, and the huge impact made even the watertight doors of the cabins a little farther away fail.

Under the water, the officers and men of the Lixia Jia-2 heard an explosion.

Suddenly, the whole crew of the boat raised their eyebrows, and many eyes converged on the sonar soldiers.

When seawater pours into the cabin, the air inside is squeezed out and becomes bubbles that float upward; The metal structure twists under gravity and makes a heart-scratching squeak.

He took off his headphones and couldn't help but laugh as he spoke, "I heard the sound of bubbles sinking!" ”

First Result! Opened!

"Hooray!"

"Hahahaha-"

"Oh-"

In an instant, the entire submarine was filled with joy.

Ling Su clenched his fist and waved, and said with a smile: "Tell Lao Chen, tonight's barbecue will be celebrated, divided into three shifts in turn, and the wine and meat will be enough." ”

The cheers of the officers and men became even more enthusiastic.

It was also around this time that the situation of Fleet A being "basically annihilated" was finally verified.

The sunken films of the Warrior, Prestige, and Eagle, which were captured in the air, were immediately collected and then quickly developed.

Later, after being "scanned", the photographs were transmitted by cable telegraph to the distant Ming Dynasty Jingshi Ying Tianfu.

At the same time, the war report was also drafted and revised and sent to the Metropolitan Governor's Office.

However, when the emperor learned of this matter, it was already close to evening, because the Metropolitan Governor's Office and the Ministry of War had to review and confirm the authenticity, and then summarize and submit it to the Imperial Front.

"The General Staff Office of the Governor's Mansion and Cheng Han are entitled to the fact that the British fleet has been encircled and annihilated......

"The enemy fleet is heading north at night to be spotted by our submarines. In the early morning of that day, our naval and air planes were approaching, and the enemy's fleet was under heavy firepower, but our aviation officers were brave and fearless, well-trained, and well-armed, and fired bombs and torpedoes in unison, destroying the enemy's aircraft carrier in the first round of air attacks...... and so on."

…… etc. To the ministry, send it to the Governor's Office to experience the division to copy.

There is no doubt that after this battle, the British have no high-speed fleet at their disposal, the control of the sea in the South Seas is in my hands, and the royal division is unimpeded, so please wait for the follow-up good news. On the 27th day of February in the 39th year of Zhichang'

After browsing the good news, Zhu Lingjing just smiled slightly, and then put it on the edge of the table.

Seeing that her reaction was too bland, Su Yiyi on the side couldn't help but ask curiously: "Your Majesty... Are you not satisfied? ”

"Not really." Zhu Lingjing, who looked calm, touched the hair that was lying on her thigh, and replied easily: "It's all expected, what is there to be happy about." ”

She glanced at the time, it was past five o'clock in the afternoon, and it was morning that the British fleet was surrounded and annihilated.

Subtract the seven-hour time difference, which means that the news should be in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning in London.

Those London officials and gentlemen are going to have a sleepless night.

In fact, for a moment, Zhu Lingjing wanted to make a transatlantic call to London to mock the British, but the next second dispelled this idea.

Ahem! As the monarch of the Celestial Empire, he has to be reserved and calm.

For the emperor, there was not much difference between the sinking of the British fleet by the air force and the sinking of the navy, except that the two factions that had been fighting equally had to decide the winner.

But for the military officers and generals, this is earth-shaking and shocking news.

The fleet, which includes two capital ships, an aircraft carrier, and eleven screen ships, was easily solved by planes?

The price for their side is only four planes and a few pilots, and this exaggerated exchange ratio is really jaw-dropping.

"The case you want, come, is this case tough enough?! Hahahaha-"

"I'll pay for it tonight! If you don't get drunk, you can't go home! ”

"Who used to say that mosquitoes can't kill elephants? Come, stand up. ”

The military department and the official offices of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion are now full of unbridled laughter, and the defense department of the Ming Dynasty, which should be serious, seems to have become a teahouse, and the officials are like tea customers who have won a bet.

The faction that used to advocate the victory of aviation forces won a decisive victory!

Past drills and experiments have proved that aircraft can sink stationary warships, but it seems that they cannot pose an effective threat to warships that are in transit and can maneuver to evade.

But now, the Royal Navy, on which the sun never sets, has become a textbook case. In this accelerated downhill fiasco, they humiliated themselves to prove that planes can also annihilate an elite mobile fleet.

More than 800 officers and men of the Royal Navy have used their lives to tell the world that the days of giant ships and cannons dominating the seas are a thing of the past, and the era of aviation dominating the seas has arrived.

After the rejoicing, the officials of the Ming Military Department immediately realized a problem - the first and second battleships of the new type of battleship were being outfitted, and the third and fourth battleships had also started.

What to do?

(End of chapter)