Slightly later than the parachute 1st Battalion and the Heavy Firearms Battalion, the 2nd Battalion on a glider landed a little farther on a flat ground.

In order to match the background of the early morning sky, the gliders of the paratroopers were painted in this blue and pink color, which is easily confused with the sky.

One after another, the blue-pink gliders rushed to the ground, made a brutal hard landing, and then slowly came to a stop after gliding through the fields for dozens of meters.

Soldiers with guns rushed out and quickly lined up under the shouts of the officers.

"Bring out all the workers there and disperse!"

"Yes!"

After landing, Cui Quan, the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Paratrooper Regiment, issued a series of orders one after another, the first of which was to drive out the employees of the Shell Oil Company who were at a loss.

Compared with the parachute landing, the troops that landed in the plane were more neat and could be reorganized and put into battle immediately, so the officers and men of the 2nd Battalion, who landed a little later, had already begun to try to take the initiative to attack.

The 128mm heavy mortars of the heavy firearms battalion had only been assembled, and a few boxes of shells had not been found for the time being, but they could not resist Cui Quan's request and agreed to provide fire support.

Lei Jiecheng, commander of the 1st Paratrooper Regiment, also agreed to attack, but he instructed not to take the enemy lightly and to stop and deal calmly once the attack was blocked.

The 128mm mortar equipped by the Ming army is equipped with two types of anti-explosive shells, one is a 13kg light projectile with a maximum range of 6600m; The second is a 17kg heavy bomb with a maximum range of 5100m.

The 17-kilogram shell was undoubtedly a terrifying drop hammer, and the energy of the four-pound TNT explosive filled inside was earth-shattering, blasting out half-human craters, and countless deadly high-speed fragments formed a killing range of 30 meters in radius.

"Boom !!"

Several Dutch and Indian soldiers were killed instantly, and their limbs, torn off by the shock wave, swirled and fell in the air like branches; The clothes and pants had become rags, falling swayingly.

Under the cover of the Type 37 heavy machine guns, the 2nd Battalion and the 2nd Squadron launched a frontal attack in a loose formation, while the 3rd Squadron went around the right flank to attack its flank.

Seasoned machine gunners are accustomed to setting the heavy machine gun to a high rate of fire, which makes it easier to fight.

A series of machine-gun bullets crackled in the face, suppressing the depressed Dutch and Indian soldiers behind their bunkers and not daring to move.

"Beep-beep-"

In the face of the Ming paratroopers rapidly approaching at the sound of the whistle, the Dutch and Indian troops, who were in a hurry, did their best to fire at them with all the weapons at hand.

However, most of them dared to hide behind cover and shoot indiscriminately, and several light machine guns and heavy machine guns were also defeated in the confrontation with the Ming army's machine gun fire.

As the distance closed, the well-trained and skilled paratroopers opened fire with semi-automatic rifles, 7.36mm bullets easily piercing through the helmets and skulls, bringing out a cloud of red and white as they emerged from behind.

Looking at the battlefield, the state at this moment is that hundreds of paratroopers of the Ming Army have arrived at a distance of only 200 meters from the position of the Dutch and Indian troops, and this is the starting position they have chosen for the attack.

With the enemy in front of him suppressed by fire and demoralized, there is no doubt that now is the right time to charge.

"Brothers, !!"

"Beep-beep-"

In an instant, countless figures appeared on the thousand-meter-long battle line, rushing towards the crumbling enemy position like a surging wave in a standard sparse formation.

The Dutch and Indian soldiers who were desperately firing were like weak reefs, and they were overwhelmed by the fierce swells in an instant.

"Grass! Don't let them run away! ”

"Give Lao Tzu a hard beating!"

"Lie down! Fucking thunder! ”

A paratrooper with a submachine gun leapt forward and knocked out several fleeing enemies in a single shot, but reacted a beat slowly and was knocked down by the explosion of a grenade a few steps away.

The dust from the explosion dissipated, and wisps of green smoke remained on the ground.

The two comrades-in-arms next to him rushed forward one after another, one shot again and again to cover, and the other bent down and dragged him back.

He was dragged to a nearby crater, and only then did he feel a sharp pain in his numb body.

"I'll go, where the fuck did you stuff the first aid kit?!"

And this was only the tip of the wide battlefield, at this moment, the defense line of the Dutch-Indian 8th Regiment was almost crumbling.

At this time, four armored vehicles suddenly drove out from behind the wreckage of the barracks that was still burning in the distance, and the Lewis light machine guns on them were firing "Boom".

The offensive of the Ming paratroopers was stalled, and the arrival of armored vehicles seemed to barely stabilize the collapsed positions?

"The first few are far away! Stop it! Stop it! ”

"Grass! Armored vehicles! ”

However, the four thin tin canning trucks did not last long, and after only a few tens of seconds, they were enveloped by fire from all directions.

A little farther away, a 14.4mm armor-piercing incendiary bomb fired by the Type 35 anti-aircraft gun roared with a huge kinetic energy of more than 16,000 joules.

The bullet easily pierced through the 6mm thin steel plate, and the aluminum and magnesium metal chips filled between the bullet core and the armor were violently squeezed and ignited, turning into a blazing flame and flying into the interior of the armored vehicle.

The rocket-propelled grenade fired from the bazooka also hit head-on head-on, and a part of the energy generated by the explosion was pooled forward, turning the soft iron mask into a molten jet, forcibly breaking through the armor and continuing to carry out.

The paratroopers responsible for the use of the grenades also fired special anti-tank grenades, which were pushed out by the gunpowder gas generated by the empty cartridges, smashed into the armored vehicle in a parabolic path, and then exploded.

Usually armoured vehicles are inevitably hateful, and the two most threatening Dutch-Indian home-made armoured vehicles were subjected to spectacular fires in the space of half a minute.

All sorts of fire were poured down on them, and one explosion after another tossed debris everywhere, and flames enveloped the twisted and sparse wreckage, and the occupants inside were probably no longer human.

The slightly sluggish offensive of the Ming army continued, and the Dutch-Indian 8th Regiment could no longer support it, and was defeated in a blink of an eye.

For a long time, the local natives hated Dutch rule, and the arrival of the Ming people was a long-awaited event in their eyes.

Almost everyone thinks that the colonial rule of the Netherlands is already the lower limit, even if it is replaced by Britain and France, it will not be so bad, and I am afraid that only Belgium can compare with the Netherlands.

In the face of the advancing Ming paratroopers, a large number of indigenous soldiers in Sumudala simply threw their weapons directly and raised their hands to surrender on the spot.

What's more, they immediately turned their guns and opened fire on the usually arrogant Dutch non-commissioned officers and officers.

"Sir, those natives are shooting at us!"

"Damn! They're going to pay the price! Certain! They deserve to be chopped off! ”

The panicked Lieutenant Colonel Bernat fled from his headquarters in disarray, and with the help of the regimental headquarters, he tried to retreat by car.

Bullets rained down on the pedestrians, and people screamed and fell out of the car after being hit by bullets.

Several soldiers shot and killed the sergeant in front of them, and then took Thomson submachine guns and Madsen light machine guns and fired wildly at the fleeing convoy.

"Da-da-da-"

"Shameless Sumatran natives, they ......"

An angry Lieutenant Colonel Bernat screamed and cursed, but was immediately killed by a 6.5×53.5mm rifle bullet in the head.

The driver suddenly found a puddle of sticky red and white on the windshield, and when he turned his head, he saw that his head had opened his mind. The frightened driver's hand shook, and the off-road vehicle slammed into the ridge next to it.

After the Ming paratroopers fell from the sky, the 3rd Regiment of the 8th Division collapsed after less than an hour of resistance, and countless prisoners were captured, including hundreds of defectors.

There was no turning back for these people, and they knew very well what the Dutch would do to take revenge on them as "rebels".

After stabilizing the airborne position, the first regiment of paratroopers did not dare to slack off, and the first battalion and the heavy firearms battalion immediately seized every minute and every second to build a defensive line around the area of the main oil production wells to resist a possible counterattack.

The 2nd Battalion continued to pursue the victory, and the troops were directed towards the Old Port Airport.

The paratrooper unit subordinate to the Ming Air Force is undoubtedly the highest-quality combat unit today, and as an elite unit, its salary is first-class; Moreover, the Air Force is not as liberal and positive as the Army, the internal atmosphere has always been more enlightened and positive, there is little atmosphere, and the average education level of the soldiers is even higher than that of the Navy.

Moreover, this kind of high-risk unit is also very rare, and it is impossible for the descendants of the Ming Dynasty to go here even if they are gilded.

For the Dutch, it was undoubtedly a terrible thing to fight against such an opponent, because they were inferior in every way.

The 5th Fighter Squadron deployed by the Dutch and Indian Army Aviation was wiped out, most of them were blown up on the ground, and several P-36s that were patrolling the skies and bravely facing them were all shot down.

The seizure of the airport means that supplies and personnel can be transported more efficiently, and a steady stream of reinforcements and supplies can be airborne.

Compared to the weakened Dutch and Indian forces, there was also a force to be reckoned with in the vicinity of the Old Port Airport, the 13th Infantry Brigade of the British Army, which reacted quickly and tried to besiege the Ming paratroopers who had not gained a firm foothold.

The British 13th Brigade, originally stationed in Cairo, was ordered to send reinforcements to Singapore, but while the fleet was still in the Bay of Bengal, news of the fall of the fort of Singapore and the surrender of the Commonwealth forces were received.

They then diverted with the convoy to the Dutch East Indus and garrisoned the Old Port, while the convoy's heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall and five destroyers joined the BDA coalition to defend the South Seas.

At 9:49 a.m., the 1st Battalion of the 13th Brigade met the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Paratrooper Regiment head-on while marching in the direction of the oil field, and an encounter broke out immediately.

"Enemy infantry, about fifty people, in the direction of nine o'clock! A thousand yards! ”

"More! There's more in the one o'clock direction! At least a hundred! ”

In the face of the second battalion and the second team, the D Company, which was responsible for the leading task, did not bargain for a single advantage.

In terms of small arms firepower, the Bren light machine gun had no advantage in the face of the Type 33; And no matter how fast the Enfield rifle is, it is only a bolt-action rifle, which is inferior to the Type 35 semi-automatic rifle equipped by the Ming army paratroopers.

The Ming army is equipped with two 64mm mortars at the team level, with a range of up to 1300m; The British did not, they only had a 2-inch light mortar per infantry platoon, and this thing had a range of only 450m, and it was mostly used to fire smoke bombs.

Obviously, the difference in firepower of the infantry detachments made the engagement between the two sides "unfair" from the start.

Because it was a hasty encounter, it was necessary to seize the opportunity and fire the enemy first, and the Ming paratroopers did not even set up brackets, but directly held the barrel of the cannon and aimed it roughly, and then fired the cannon by feeling.

"Mortar! Look for cover! ”

The falling mortar shells had a different kind of screeching sound, and the officers shouted "mortar", but the words were immediately drowned out by the sound of explosions.

Before they could reach the firing distance, the officers and men of Company D received several shells.

The two heavy machine guns were also quickly set up and began to rain bullets on the British troops seven or eight hundred meters away, and the second team, which had the upper hand, seized the opportunity, and the captain immediately ordered the third platoon to carry out a roundabout flank attack to the west.

The British responded very decisively, with 2-inch mortars belonging to each platoon firing smoke grenades into the front of the engagement, thus blocking the view and firing range of the Ming heavy machine guns.

Then, they also divided a platoon and headed west, intercepting the Ming army in a roundabout.

However, the Ming army, which had the advantage of long-range firepower, immediately launched an artillery attack, and several shells were smashed in succession, killing and wounding several people, suppressing the more than 30 British troops into a dilemma.

The plan to volley was in vain, and if it continued to develop, the British company would inevitably suffer from the enemy.

Finding that the battle was particularly difficult, the commander of Company D, who knew that he was at a disadvantage, immediately ordered a retreat.

Although the outpost suffered a small loss, the 13th Infantry Brigade, which had the advantage of troops, did not intend to react passively, and the brigade commander, Major General Dominic, was well aware of the characteristics of the Airborne Forces - although they could appear in unexpected places, they needed time to assemble and lacked heavy weapons.

Therefore, we must not hesitate now, and we should decisively launch a counteroffensive to encircle and annihilate these scattered and independent light infantry.

He put down his binoculars and said flatly: "Take it easy, let's teach them a lesson, wars are not won by trickery." ”

The three infantry regiments (battalions) lined up and marched in unison, marching violently towards the enemy in front of them.

Trucks of the 18th Royal Artillery Regiment (Battalion) assigned to the 13th Brigade towed the guns into their respective positions, and the artillerymen immediately unloaded the guns, turned them together, and separated the tripods.

The soldiers of the communications platoon drove around the field in off-road vehicles, with rolls of wires hanging behind them, and the communication lines between the various gun positions and the headquarters were quickly laid.

“…… Fire plan distribution, enemy infantry, high ballistics, high explosive shells, instant fuse, calibration, fire as ordered, done! ”

Eighteen QF25-pounder howitzers fired a round, and the shells scattered near the Ming positions, blowing up large clouds of smoke and dust.

Immediately, the British artillery began to fire after correcting the Zhuyuan.

In an instant, the rumbling sound of cannon resounded through the heavens and the earth, and flames and blasts of wind gushed out from the barrels, blowing up the dust on the land in front of them!

One after another, 87.6mm high-explosive shells fell like hail, and the forward positions of the 1st Regiment and 2nd Battalion of the paratroopers were almost obscured by fire and smoke.

The head of the regiment, Lei Jiecheng, raised his hand and looked at his watch, and commented: "How long has it been since the position was arranged?" The British artillery reacted quickly, and it lived up to its name. ”

Although the enemy in front of them seems to have the advantage, the Ming paratroopers are not worried - the air supremacy is on their side, so the advantage is mine!

A few minutes later, three four-engine planes slowly descended in altitude, burrowed out snow-white clouds, and approached the battlefield in a trapezoidal formation.

"What's that?"

"Why did the Chinese send the seaplane?"

(End of chapter)