Darwin, the largest port city in northwestern Australia, faces the Timor Sea and is also known as the gateway to the north of Australia.

Due to the unique climatic conditions, there are no four seasons in Darwin, only the dry season and the rainy season – the dry season is from May to October, and the rainy season is from November to April.

It prospered as a result of the gold mining and became a well-known tourist city in later generations – with lush vegetation and waterfalls during the rainy season; During the dry season, the sun shines and the sea breeze blows.

However, the Australian 6th Infantry Division, which is now guarding Darwin, has no time to enjoy the glorious golden sands.

"We don't have any possibility of succumbing, even if the demon Satan invades Australia, we will choke him to death in the water!"

In the division headquarters, Major General Richard shouted loudly.

However, someone muttered inophintently: "This intruder is indeed a demon in the world......"

"Lieutenant Colonel, you can't reason with a villain when he breaks into your backyard." Richard looked at the intelligence officer and said calmly, "He dies, or you die." ”

Because the Battle of Demagi had impressed the British as early as a few years earlier, and the Battle of Nanyang had been prominent not long ago, some nicknames about Zhou had spread among the Commonwealth army.

Zhou Changfeng himself has no sense of nicknames such as "devil", but feels a little inexplicable -

Come on, I haven't done anything bad, and this nickname obviously doesn't deserve it.

Before the official attack on Darwin, Zhou Changfeng first assigned his troops to land on the Tiwi Islands, two large islands located 100 km north of Darwin.

The small number of militia units stationed there were unable to resist the massive landing of the 1st Marine Brigade and were quickly defeated, but sporadic resistance from the stragglers persisted.

For the first time, the beach-grabbing battalion has also been tested in low-intensity actual combat, and the results have been good.

By October 8, when the Ming army occupied Manila, the temporary airfield on the Tiwi Islands had been repaired overnight by Ming engineers.

In the afternoon of the same day, the first batch of 24 Type 36 fighters were transferred to the station, and the rest of the aviation units also arrived one after another.

In the past few days, the boat scout team, which is also newly reorganized, has been carrying out a highly dangerous mission -- reconnaissance in deep and far.

They set off from the Tiwi Islands in a specially modified landing craft, crossed the Vernon Islands, and reached the northeast corner of Shore Bay, where they dropped off their powered kayaks and went deep into enemy territory alone.

This so-called powered kayak is similar in appearance to the military rubber boats of later generations, using a small gasoline engine as the power, and when it is necessary to sneak in, the engine can be turned off and the paddle can be paddled by man, and can carry up to ten people.

The boat scout team has a very special establishment, with four combat detachments and one support detachment; The combat detachment consisted of four squads of nine people each.

Because the trial production of the Type 39 short automatic rifle was not a high priority, and at the same time, the production of many weapons and equipment was expanding, so far only 2,000 units have been mass-produced.

After the Air Force and the Army each took a portion, only a few hundred marines were left, and it could not be given to the first Marine Brigade without leaving the other Marine brigades alone.

Therefore, Zhou's original plan to change clothes was in vain, and he could only temporarily concentrate on equipping the boat scout team and the reconnaissance platoon of each regiment.

Reconnaissance units rave about this weighty, moderately powerful automatic rifle, and some spend their days at the range familiarizing themselves with new weapons.

For these guys who lick blood at the tip of the knife, marksmanship is just one of many must-have skills, and several of them have excellent marksmanship to make Zhou applaud with their superb marksmanship.

There were 10 moving humanoid targets scattered over a distance of 30 to 300 meters, and someone was able to hit all of them with 11 bullets in 17 seconds.

Now, forty-one officers and men of the fourth detachment of the boat scouts had passed through Shore Bay and had sneaked ashore under the cover of the hazy night.

They hid their power kayaks and trotted south, silently infiltrating the depths of enemy territory.

In the past few days, aerial reconnaissance and infiltration reconnaissance have ascertained most of the deployment of the Australian troops, and the task of the fourth detachment this time is only to conduct surveillance and verify the results of reconnaissance by the way.

They waited quietly in the woods beside a road southeast of the outskirts of Darwin.

At 6:59 a.m. on October 9, the beach was bathed in the morning sun, and it was golden.

"Sixty seconds countdown." Lin Xunzhen told the time in a flat tone, and then glanced sideways at someone Zhou next to him.

Preparations for a full-scale invasion were ready, and Zhou Changfeng, who was standing in the bridge of the battleship Longshuo, stretched and raised his hand to look at his watch.

As the second hand clicked through the remaining half of the circle, the prelude to the action finally arrived.

"Boom-boom-boom-" The deafening roar instantly drowned out all movement, and the rumbling of the fleet's salvo seemed to pierce the sky.

The strong blast of wind gushing out from the three triple 400mm main guns carried by the Longshuo broke through the sea surface on the side of the gunwale, setting off a large number of ripples and rolling waves!

The carrier-based crews that took off from the three light aircraft carriers, the Tianshi Zuoyuan, the Tianshi Youyuan, and the Beiluoshimen, formed more than a dozen scattered formations, and rushed straight to the depth of the beachhead, blowing up the second-line positions that had already been identified into a sea of fire.

The Ming Air Force deployed fighter planes to the Tiwi Islands airfield was a little slower, with 41 Type 36 light bombers flying over Darwin under the escort of 16 fighters, and then dropping hundreds of anti-personnel bombs and incendiary bombs on the Australian 6th Infantry Division's assembly area in the suburbs......

"Obediently, this time the posture is even bigger than the last time."

"yes, half the sky is smoke."

"It seems that I threw more incendiary bombs this time, and they were almost half opened."

The soldiers of the boat scouts lurking in the woods whispered, and several officers gathered together to point at the map.

In order to deal a heavy blow to the enemy from both material and spiritual aspects, the Ming Air Force spared no expense in using a large number of thermite incendiary bombs to carry out fierce air strikes on the Australian army's assembly area.

The mixture of aluminum powder, magnesium powder, ferric oxide, potassium chlorate and other mixtures reacted violently, and the high temperature of more than 3,000 degrees Celsius melted the steel, and any combustibles were inevitably ignited, and the flesh and blood were rapidly carbonized in such extreme flames.

At this moment, a slight whistle suddenly sounded not far away, and all the officers and soldiers were instantly alerted.

This is a signal that stands for "enemy intelligence has been discovered".

Everyone soon saw a convoy approaching from a distance—three motorcycles, a sedan, and a Bren machine-gun car.

A warrant officer couldn't hide his excitement and said in a low voice: "Austin car, you can't make a mistake, there is an officer in it." ”

"Don't hit the car, catch it alive." Without hesitation, the captain who led the team gave the order to prepare an ambush on the convoy.

The crowd waited calmly and calmly, their eyes fixed on the approaching convoy.

Assault rifles and light machine guns were already aimed at the unsuspecting Australian soldiers, and the safety was clicked away.

Those who rode in a sedan at the rear of the battle line during the campaign must have been officers, and I am afraid they would have carried combat documents with them.

Historically, such battles were common, and in the latter part of the war, German officers stationed in northern Italy were often ambushed by partisans, so much so that Marshal Kesselring repeatedly stressed that he should not ride in a car for the sake of comfort.

"Hit!"

"Boom!"

With the order of the detachment commander, the detonator lever was pressed heavily, and the electronically controlled mine buried in the middle of the road exploded!

The Bren machine gun car was blown up on the spot, and the front windshield of the sedan behind it was shattered by the shock wave.

The dense strafing sound did not ring out, but was replaced by a "da-da-da-da" gunshot.

Many Australian soldiers were knocked out by bullets as soon as they picked up their Enfield rifles, and those who crawled away from the wreckage of the Bren machine-gun truck were quickly blown to pieces by the thrown grenades.

At a close range of tens of meters, these elite officers and soldiers quickly killed all the Australian soldiers with sharp point fire, and some even fired only four shots from beginning to end.

Major Auston is a bloody man today, as a liaison officer with the 3rd Fighter Wing of the Royal Australian Air Force, he was about to go from the airfield to the front command, only to be captured in the middle of the road?

He and the driver were dragged out of the car by the Ming soldiers and then escorted to the woods on the side.

"Boss! It's an Air Force lieutenant colonel, and here's his bag. ”

"Okay, take it with you, it's time to transfer."

Although this small ambush was very short-lived, there were explosions and firefights that might have been detected by enemy patrols.

After moving to another location, which had been previously selected, the officers and men of the fourth detachment began to interrogate the big fish.

Major Alston understood Chinese English, but he refused to answer, and only glared angrily when he was punched and kicked.

"The Australians can't give in to the invaders, and I can only tell you that I'm the liaison officer of the 3rd Fighter Wing."

"Forget it, don't worry about him." The officers and soldiers of the Ming simply didn't care about this hard bone.

The detachment commander asked the lieutenant, who was flipping through the briefcase next to him, "What is written in this bag?" ”

"It's a briefing thing......

"Do you have a map?"

"Yes."

The 4th detachment gained a lot from ambushing and capturing prisoners deep into enemy territory, and although Major Auston did not have a map of the ground troops in the briefcase, it could be roughly judged by the combat division of the air force units.

After checking the intelligence, we can basically conclude that the results of aerial reconnaissance and penetrating reconnaissance in the past few days are correct.

This was sent back to the fleet by radio, and the perimeter wind was soon informed.

"Okay, eight or nine is not far from ten, you can rest assured to be bold!" It can be seen that the commander of the 27th Division is quite excited.

Zhou Changfeng stared at the large-scale map, and said easily and confidently: "However, it is still necessary to emphasize that it is strictly forbidden to enter the city without authorization, first annihilate the enemy army in the field, and then talk about it after completing the siege of Darwin." ”

In order to avoid being pinned down by falling into street fighting, the city should not be entered until the Australian troops in the suburbs have been cleared.

As the fire preparations before the start of the landing gradually came to an end, countless landing craft left the fleet and slowly headed for the target beachhead.

The clear blue sea left a trail of snow-white tracks, like a comb sweeping across the sea.

The officers and men of the Marine Corps could faintly see a column of water splashing from time to time near the coastline in the distance, which was the advance engineer detachment of the beach-grabbing battalion blasting through hidden underwater obstacles......

When the Ming army landed in Darwin, the battle situation in the far Philippines had basically taken shape.

The main battle on Luzon Island ended, with more than 600 casualties among the American troops and more than 1,800 casualties among the Philippine troops, but as many as 7,000 deserters, such as the 21st Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, which had only half of its strength left.

However, the Ming army's combat attrition was quite small, with more than 300 killed, more than 900 wounded, and 43 seriously wounded.

A large number of U.S.-Filipino forces successfully retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, where heavy forces were gathered for a time.

The 11th, 21st, 31st, and 71st Divisions of the Philippine Army, as well as the remnants of the 26th Cavalry Regiment, the 45th Infantry Brigade, the 86th Field Artillery Brigade, the 102nd Tank Battalion, and the 104th Tank Battalion, together with the total number of service support units, reached 100,000.

The Bataan Peninsula is 24 km wide from east to west and 48 km long from north to south, and is full of dense jungle, with two ancient extinct volcanoes in the middle of the peninsula.

At that time, the Philippine guerrillas took advantage of the complex terrain here to resist Mai Dashuai's father, and they fought for three years.

Feng Shui took turns, and now it was Mai Dashuai's turn to use the Bataan Peninsula to resist the mighty Ming army.

The retreat was generally smooth, and Douglass had just arrived on the island of Cordido, where he could see through his telescope the dark red flag flying across the bay in the city of Manila.

Corregidor Island has long been completely fortified, and the entire island looks like a giant tadpole from the sky.

Located just 3.6km from the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula and at the entrance to Manila Bay, the large-caliber shore guns deployed on Korigidos Island could pose a lethal threat to ships trying to enter and exit Manila Bay.

If the image is likely, then Manila Bay is like a big kettle, and Cordido Island is the key stopper.

Because of this, Douglas was quick to boast confidently to the outside world.

「…… They may have snatched the water bottle, but the cork is still in my hand."

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However, the Ming army apparently did not agree with his rhetoric, and quickly launched a tentative attack.

The 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 3rd Tank Brigade each drew two teams and charged south along the relatively gentle eastern part of the peninsula with 25 Type 38 medium tanks and 24 Type 37 light tanks.

The 128th Regiment of the 43rd Infantry Division was responsible for accompanying the attack, and with the support of heavy artillery fire and air attacks, it tore through the defense line of the 31st Infantry Division of the Philippine Army with good infantry and tank coordination tactics.

The 102nd Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army was ordered to quickly launch a counterattack, and 39 M2A2 light tanks rushed violently towards the Ming troops who had not gained a firm foothold in a trapezoidal formation.

"Enemy chariots! Armor-piercing shells are reloaded in one round. ”

The two sides engaged in fierce tank battles, but the US tank forces were inferior in terms of quantity and quality.

The M2A2 is the predecessor of the famous M3/M5 Stuart light tank, equipped with a 37mm tank gun, and the overall performance is okay.

However, the armor-piercing projectile fired by this tank gun could only ensure the penetration of the Type 37, which was also a light tank, and the US tank soldiers watched as the 37mm armor-piercing tracer bullet dragged an obvious trail and smashed into the front of the hull of the Ming army's medium tank, sparks splashed everywhere!

One after another US tanks were smashed into a raging bonfire, and there was no suspense about the outcome of the battle in this situation.

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(End of chapter)