"The intensity of the fighting is almost equal to that of Stalingrad......"

Zhou Changfeng sighed in a low voice, and then replied: "As of noon today, the Australian Sixth Division has been basically annihilated, but there is still a remnant of about 500 people in the corner of the stubborn resistance, and it is expected to end the battle tomorrow." ”

Seventy percent of the city was destroyed by the war, and it is unknown how long it will take for this small port city to be rebuilt.

The Army's 27th Infantry Division lost 466 officers and men in action during these four days and three nights, an average of 117 officers and men per day.

The 13th Guards Division, a famous meritorious unit in history, fought bloody battles with the Germans for eight days and eight nights from September 14 to September 22, and the actual total number of casualties was only 910, an average of 113 per day.

With such a comparison, one can imagine how desperate the 27th Division is these days.

It was really unexpected that a tough battle would bring the entire army to the point of infighting its combat effectiveness.

Everyone knew from the beginning that the Australian army was bound to hold firmly, and they had long been mentally prepared to pay a greater price, but the result still greatly exceeded expectations.

In the conference room of the battleship Longshuo, Ding Yiping, the commander of the 27th Division, a middle-aged man who was usually enthusiastic and bold and arrogant, spoke and cried loudly when he spoke in front of the generals.

The generals were a little overwhelmed, and everyone was silent and couldn't think of how to comfort him.

The remnants of the enemy are still stuck in the remaining strongholds, and based on the experience of the past few days, it is estimated that about 300 casualties will still be paid to annihilate them.

The field supplementary battalion of the 27th Division was already empty, and only a dozen non-commissioned officers and service personnel were left to maintain the remaining shelves, and the remaining 500 or so soldiers had long since dispersed and replenished into the battalions and teams.

Even so, after a few days of fierce fighting, the battalions that had been replenished suffered heavy losses, and now only two teams of the entire 27th Division were still engaged in direct combat, and the rest of the units could only barely be stationed to protect themselves.

The Ming Army generally divides the situation of the troops in wartime into three grades, the first, second, and third levels from strong to weak.

For an infantry team with a full strength of 197 officers and soldiers, the number of ≥ 130 is the first level, which has sufficient combat effectiveness; The number of ≤ 60 people is level 3 and does not have combat effectiveness; In between the two is the second level, which has a certain combat effectiveness, but it is not suitable for offensive operations.

There was nothing to say about the battle, and Zhou Changfeng asked the two teams of the 27th Division to be responsible for the auxiliary attack in the southwest direction, and the main attack task was undertaken by the 1st Marine Brigade.

At 6:39 a.m. on October 19, at dawn, the sun swept across the earth from east to west like a broom, and the heavens and the earth suddenly lit up.

The Ming fleet anchored in Shoal Bay was ready to fire a salvo, and the muzzles of different thicknesses pointed directly in the direction of the city.

The 128mm, 144mm, 208mm, and 400mm shells drew parabolas of different curvatures, blasting the residential area and museum where the remnants of the 6th Infantry Division of the Australian Army were located into a sea of fire.

Subsequently, more than 30 carrier-based torpedo planes that took off from the Tianshi Zuoyuan and the Beiluo Shimen also made cameo appearances to carry out ground bombing missions, and the shock wave and smoke and dust rolled up when the 250kg aviation anti-personnel blaster exploded were higher than the 400mm blasting bombs launched by the Longshuo.

After devastating fire preparations, the area had become like a lunar surface, littered with soft dirt and craters.

Major General Richard, commander of the 6th Division of the Australian Army, was killed by shelling the day before yesterday in the process of transferring headquarters, and most of the officers were also killed or wounded, and the commander of this stubborn remnant was nothing more than an obscure major.

There are no more buildings more than three meters above the ground, and all houses and buildings have been reduced to brick and tiles.

Two Type 39 heavy gunboats, which had just been delivered to service, also flew in from the mainland in a hurry, and the crew members hurriedly threw themselves into the battle without having time to rest.

Four teams of Marine infantry approached from the northwest, due north, and northeast, using a dozen Type 38 heavy tanks as mobile bunkers, firing at any firing point that dared to shoot.

For those who were hiding in the corners, the soldiers were supplemented with grenades and flamethrowers to mop up the enemies hiding in the ruins, bit by bit......

The difficult battle ended that afternoon, and most of the remnants of this force of more than 500 men fought to the last moment, except for more than 20 wounded soldiers and three military doctors who barely surrendered.

"Call the Governorate and the Imperial Court, Darwin's organised resistance has been cleared."

"Yes."

Like the soldiers, Zhou Changfeng, who was the main commander, was also exhausted.

The brutal fighting has made him not rest well these days, and now he just wants to stuff cotton in his ears, lie down on the marching bed, and sleep well.

While most of the city was destroyed, the damage to the Darwin Harbour District was less severe.

While friendly forces were fighting hard with the enemy in the city, the Army's Fourth Engineer Brigade was not idle, not only organizing more than a dozen demolition detachments to assist, but also organizing manpower to start repairing the docks.

The 4th Engineering Brigade is estimated to be able to recover 40% of its throughput in about 10 days and 80% after a month.

The fleet is also carefully conducting a second screening of the waters around the port area to remove residual mines to ensure that no fish have slipped through the net.

This port city, which was captured at a great price, will soon be able to exert its strategic value.

A carrier-based dive bomber that took off from the light aircraft carrier Beiluoshimen flew over Darwin, and the pilot saw a devastated land after the war, and the embers that had not yet been extinguished were still emitting black smoke.

Both the pilot and the backseat gunner had mixed feelings, this was the first time a city had been destroyed since the outbreak of the war, although it was only a small town not as big as any county town in the Ming Dynasty.

The Battle of Darwin was the first step in the Ming Dynasty's attempt to conquer Australia, and the scale of the battle was small, but the significance was far-reaching.

This is also a corner of the entire vast battlefield, during which countless aircraft, submarines, and warships on both sides are moving between the vast sky and sea thousands of kilometers from the North Pacific to the South Pacific, and there are many victories on the entire front.

In Osaka, Kyoto, and other places in the Toei Islands, the intensity of American resistance was not high, and the Ming army and the local servant army advanced all the way, but the latter was demoralized and became more and more courageous, and the American army and the armed forces supported there were defeated one after another, and soon surrendered.

On the islands of Guam and Saipan in the Mariana Islands, the 3rd Marine Brigade met with only minor resistance. The U.S. forces stationed on Guam were weak and underarmed, and they surrendered after only a short half-day resistance, with less than 100 casualties on both sides.

Off the Aleutian Islands' Holland Harbor, the Equinox B-8 submarine blossomed in two battles, sinking a US oil tanker and a barge.

In the waters south of Wake Island, the submarine B3 was spotted on patrol and sunk by PBY Catalina seaplane.

In Lae, Papua Peninsula, a total of two Type 32 seaplanes and one reconnaissance plane were shot down by US fighters while carrying out reconnaissance missions.

Whether the Americans or the British, it is imperative to keep Australia as a base, and the fall of Australia means that from now on there will be no springboard and stronghold for European and American forces to attack the Ming sphere of influence.

Franklin and Winston agreed on the need to assemble a strong military force to defend Australia at all costs, so as to curb the aggressive strategic offensive posture of the Ming Dynasty.

Although there is a strategic consensus, Britain and the United States have their own careful thinking on specific matters.

First of all, Britain, as the suzerainty to which Australia is allegiant, should bear the obligation to protect, but it is clear that Britain cannot provide any military assistance at all.

Therefore, Australia and the United States signed the "U.S.-Australia Shipping and Expatriate Security Agreement", and the U.S. 41st Infantry Division and the 8th Infantry Division were stationed in Australia one after another, which made the relationship between Canberra and London tense and delicate.

The current Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, has tried to ease relations with the suzerain, but has been met with opposition from many quarters.

Although he tried to unite the whole country, his lack of experience in the European war led to a lack of trust among the people. The inevitability of Darwin's landing and fall by the Ming army further intensified public opinion, and people were very disappointed.

Under pressure, Robert resigned and Labour leader John Curtin took over as wartime prime minister, advocating the prioritise of defending his homeland and avoiding ignorant and untimely obedience to the suzerain.

In the past two days, John has been busy planning a series of wartime bills, while Washington is secretly competing with London.

The two sides have their own opinions on the selection of the commander of the Australian theater of operations, and theoretically it is reasonable for the Americans to take the post, after all, this is a thigh that must be hugged.

But London felt that this would only further expand the influence of the Americans, so it insisted that a British should be appointed to the post, and it was really impossible for the Australians to choose one themselves.

This deeply irritated Americans and made them feel belittled – what about funny? Whoever loves to be the big injustice of spending money in vain!

Annoyed Washington's announcement of a moratorium on military aid to Australia immediately made the British and Australians anxious, and they hurriedly said that the candidates could be discussed again.

The final result of the discussion was that the commander was to be the American, but the chief of staff was to be the British.

Almost immediately, London decided on the chief of staff – Claude Auchinleck, who is now chief of staff of the 10th Army in Indus.

And Washington was about the same, and everyone immediately thought of Marshal Mai, who was still commanding the lone army on Corregidor Island at this time.

Although there are many people in the military and political circles who hate the arrogant Douglas, everyone admits that there is really no more suitable person than this guy among today's army generals.

Tactical campaign skills, actual combat experience, and qualifications, Douglas is qualified in all respects, and can be regarded as a comprehensive general, and his political talent may also be very suitable for the position of commander of the Australian Theater of Operations.

So George Marshall suggested to Franklin that Douglas leave that ghost place in the Philippines as soon as possible and go to Australia as commander of the tripartite coordination between Britain, the United States and Australia.

In addition, the president of the Philippines, who has a vacillating position, should also be picked up by the way, lest he throw himself into the arms of Daming, which will make the United States lose face.

In fact, at this time, Franklin even planned to use Mak's sacrifice to achieve a good reputation, which was just enough to boost the morale of the army and the people.

But considering that Douglas is now a brave, fearless, and confident heroic general in the eyes of Americans, there are uncertainties in his sacrifice, and it would be bad if he refused to be loyal and was captured by the Mingren, which would inevitably deal a heavy blow to the morale of the military and civilians.

So the president approved the evacuation plan and officially issued a clear directive for Douglas to immediately evacuate Corregidor Island and hand over command to Brigadier General Wainwright.

Interestingly, Philippine President Quezon decided to pay in advance the allowance promised to Mr. Mak that year, with an additional special honorarium – a move that at this point in time, the purpose of this move is self-evident.

He drafted an executive order that transferred $420,000 from the Treasury Department account to Douglas's private account at JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York.

Obviously, this matter is strictly kept secret from the outside world, after all, if those starving American soldiers in the Bataan fortress area learned that the stupid dog Doug suddenly made this windfall under such circumstances, they were afraid that they would directly throw away their guns and raise the white flag and surrender

On October 22, the Cordido Island Command received a secret telegram from Washington, Honolulu, relaying Douglas to the rank of lieutenant general and ordering him to hand over command.

「…… The submarine will come to Corregidor and you must set off for evacuation to Australia...... There you will be the new commander, commanding both U.S. and Australian forces......

The signature of this secret telegram is rare, and it was actually signed jointly by the president, the secretary of the army, and the chief of staff of the army.

But Mai Dashuai showed anger and reluctance, and he shouted: "Stupid decision! My brothers are still fighting in the trenches, but they told me to abandon you all...... This is a deserter! What a shame! ”

Douglas, who was desperate for face, was afraid that leaving like this would lead to the collapse of the glorious character that had been hard to stand up because he did not fulfill his promise to "fight here to the end".

Lieutenant Colonel Webster reluctantly persuaded: "Sir, I think you should carry out the order, this war still needs you." ”

"No, I, my wife, and my son will stay here forever, and there will only be two outcomes, either the reinforcements promised by Washington will arrive to relieve the siege, or we will fight to the end."

As he spoke, Douglas took out the pistol left by his father from a delicate wooden box, which was a classic Colt M7873 revolver.

"Sir?"

"Go and help me find the bullets [it used] so that the Chinese can't capture me alive."

Actually, the officers in the command are all sensible people.

First of all, they know that Mai Dashuai is most likely just putting on a show.

Secondly, they really hoped that he would leave alive, because only then could they hope to win reinforcements.

Washington was so speechless at his stern refusal that Franklin even complained to his secretary that if he could really guarantee that he would not be captured, then there it would be.

Finally, three days later, on October 25, after completing a series of tasks such as the transfer of command, a reluctant Douglas still came to the docks with his family.

He told Wainwright: "If I can get to Australia, I'll be back soon, I'll be back with a lot of stuff." ”

"I'll do my best, sir."

After speaking, the two saluted and said goodbye to each other.

In this way, Douglas slowly boarded the submarine USS Sea Lion (SS-195) docked at the dock......

I don't have good energy for the past two days, I don't know why, obviously the sleep time is enough, no more, no less......

(End of chapter)