On the afternoon of December 8, 19km northeast of Kokoda Town.

The Kokoda trail was narrow and bumpy, barely allowing for vehicular traffic, and the inefficiency of animal transport supplies meant that air transport was the most suitable method of supply.

In fact, the trail takes its name from Kokoda, a small town in the valley that has the only small airstrip in the area, just enough for DC-3 transport planes to take off and land.

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The partial divisions under the command of Youzi Tao were all lightly armed, and the soldiers carried with them supplies for seven days of combat and emergency rations for two days.

Therefore, the town of Kokoda is not only the only way to go, but also a lifeline to maintain the continuation of the fight of this partial division.

Now, after three days of regular marching, more than 1,000 officers and soldiers have arrived in a small village called Glarry.

It is a rare thing to encounter a human settlement in the middle of the mountains, and the soldiers who have trekked in the primeval forest for so long are overjoyed to see this - every day from morning to night, they see the same woods, shrubs, moss, and finally see the fireworks!

Inexplicably, everyone spontaneously developed a sense of intimacy, maybe this is human instinct?

"As always, go around the two classes, and the rest of the people will stand by."

"Order."

A moment later.

Two squads of Confederate soldiers trotted away from the line with rifles, and gradually transformed into a search formation and probed towards the outpost.

Because the dirt roads here were so narrow that the conventional front-triangulation search formations used in the plains were no longer suitable, they were arranged in a long zigzag line, spaced five meters apart.

The rest of the officers and men took cover and stood by on their own ground.

After a long day of continuous marching, fatigue was inevitable, and many people sat on the ground casually and chatted in small voices.

Suddenly, an exclamation came from the team, attracting everyone's sideways.

"Ahhh Damn! There are snakes! ”

A tall and lanky pacesetter slipped to the side, and a snake spitting a letter crawled out of the grass next to him.

"Good boy, bitten?!"

For ordinary people, it is very unlucky to be bitten by a snake while passing through a forest bush, and most people can't suppress their fear of this reptilian.

After all, that's a fear that's rooted in genes.

"Hahahaha, what are you afraid of, I'll catch it with a little slip."

A sergeant major of the 19th Division's scout team approached with a grin, and when he got closer, he suddenly struck out, pinching the snake seven inches with lightning speed, and easily pinching it.

The veteran sergeant major looked like a veteran among veterans, and he didn't care at all that a few officers came over.

He held the snake in his right hand, and it was inconvenient to clench his fist, so he only made a hasty chest salute, and then pulled out his bayonet and slaughtered the snake in full view of everyone.

Three times five divided by two, simply neat, after the end of the matter, he said regretfully: "It's a pity that there is only an iron knife, whether this snake is roasted or stewed to eat, it can not be stained with iron, it is best to use a bamboo knife." ”

And the pacesetter who had been bitten by the snake had been dragged by the medical guards who had arrived in a hurry.

The paramedic took out the snake wound first aid kit directly from the satchel he was carrying, and first used a tourniquet to tie the unlucky man's upper limbs.

Then he pulled out a small aluminum cylinder, which looked like only the back half of the syringe, and placed it over the snakebite wound, then tugged the piston head.

"Ahh Tap Tap! ”

"Tap? If you can't breathe out snake venom, you're dead! ”

The venom is sucked out, then the wound is rinsed, and finally the snake wound pills are ingested.

Generally speaking, if it is disposed of in time, it will be fine.

Because of the complex environment, snake bites have been occurring continuously in the past three days, and there have been more than a dozen cases.

It seems that the ubiquitous poisonous snakes and poisonous insects make the soldiers quite uncomfortable, so they can only be careful in their every move, and they have to look left and right before sitting down to rest.

At this moment, suddenly, a series of gunshots came from the front!

At first there was the distinctive crisp sound of the Lee-Enfield rifle, then the "thump" of the Type 21 rifle, and then the sound of light machine guns on both sides mingled.

“Bang！ Bang！ ”

The explosion of Mills' grenade followed, and the Confederate soldiers who had been attacked shouted loudly.

At least five or six people were knocked down at the start, and the rest rushed to lie down for cover, desperately firing back in the direction where gunfire was coming from nearby.

The reaction speed of the Ming army can be said to be quite fast, and the 107th Regiment has had sporadic border clashes with the British and Burmese troops in the southwestern border areas many times, and its tactical literacy is generally good.

Several grenades and smoke grenades were fired at once, and several light machine guns were consciously set up on the left and right flanks, firing long shots at the thatched huts of the small village in the distance in order to suppress them.

The officers were also analyzing the situation ahead and giving orders sharply.

"Second row! Expand the battle formation! ”

"Where's your team officer?! Shout for orders! ”

For a while, there was a loud burst of gunfire, and stray bullets continued to fly over the heads of the soldiers, so close that everyone heard a muffled "poof" sound.

The Ming army found that the enemy's firepower was very weak, and until now even mortars have appeared.

You Zitao is a well-proportioned middle-aged officer, but he is not a public face, as he is recognizable by his piercing eyes and signature hooked nose.

His gaze jumped from one place to another, quickly observing the points and surfaces of the battlering area, and then ordered an immediate attack to crush the resistance.

It was inconvenient for the lightly armed and simple division to carry the body-barreled suppression artillery, and all the supporting firepower was the 64mm light mortars of the team and the 80mm medium mortars of the battalion.

But You Zitao's mind was so meticulous that when the troops were drawn from Dali Mansion, he specially asked for instructions to move out three sealed Type 19 38.4mm infantry guns from the armory, and brought one of them with him.

This light anti-aircraft gun, which was designed to deal with heavy machine guns during the European War, has long been retired from active service, and is still being used by the Yi'an Army.

Its total combat weight is only 85kg, and it is easy to carry after being disassembled into various parts, but the disadvantage is that the power of the shell is very small - the anti-explosive charge is 29g, which is not as good as a grenade.

But so what? It's so lightweight, and it can shoot directly at targets hundreds of meters away.

You Zitao heard that the Daming weapons research and development department was testing a new type of infantry cannon - no recoil, more powerful, very lightweight, and able to shoot directly at the enemy's exposed fire points.

It's a pity that I can't use it this time, and I don't know when such an infantry weapon will be able to join active duty.

"Boom-boom-"

The Ming army, which has always been a big spender, also had to save ammunition at this time, and only fired more than 20 mortar shells in total.

Under the cover of the continuous short burst fire of the Type 37 heavy machine guns, the two infantry platoons jumped forward in a sparse formation alternately to cover the cover.

The enemy forces were completely suppressed, with only sporadic and indiscriminate fire.

What is surprising is that these unclear enemy forces are quite stubborn, and they do not choose to retreat even when they are completely suppressed.

It was clear that the Ming army had the advantage of strength - two infantry platoons of seventy or eighty men was basically the upper limit of the battlefield width that could be used in this ghost place.

The two sides engaged in a low-intensity battle at a close distance of tens to more than ten meters.

"Bang! Bang! ”

"Over there...... Grenade?! ”

"Lie down!"

"Boom!"

The unknown makes people vigilant, and the Ming officers and soldiers who do not know the truth are very cautious, and it took more than 20 minutes to clear the enemy troops in the village of Gari.

After evaluation, in addition to the 20 bodies that were killed, about a dozen people took advantage of the chaos to break through the siege, and another eight people were captured.

After the battlefield was cleared, troops were stationed one after another and began to dig temporary positions.

Escorted by several personal soldiers, You Zitao came to the place where several captured enemy soldiers were.

He found that the Australian soldiers did not look like regular soldiers, with their shirts and trousers in civilian clothing and a kind of wide-brimmed soft hat.

"Did the cross-examination come out?" He asked.

One of the lieutenants present nodded and shook his head first, and hesitated: "I only know that it is a militia unit, about a few hundred people." ”

The thoughtful wanderer Tao nodded, twisted his hair and asked, "What did these people say just now?" ”

"Back to the chief, it's all vulgar words, I can't hear it, so don't dirty the chief's ears." An interpreter arched.

The Ming army cross-interrogated the captives, some of whom remained silent, some claimed that the strength of the army was 2,000, and others said that it was only 500.

After a comprehensive assessment, everyone came to the conclusion that the actual strength of the enemy in front of them was about 300 to 500 men.

"The first half of the race went well, but now it's getting in the way."

After returning to the temporary headquarters, You Zitao tried to light a cigarette, but found that the damp cigarette could not be lit at all.

The captain, who was opening the can, said disapprovingly: "Don't worry, chief, these people are just militia regiment training, a rabble." ”

"You can't underestimate the enemy, the previous gang was stunned and held out for two quarters of an hour, and the fight was quite tenacious, and the morale was good." The captain's staff officer on the side lifted the kerosene lamp, struck a match to light the wick, and then closed the glass cover.

"Okay, okay, anyway, stupidity is useless, I also saw it, that tactical move is a mess, I guess I haven't practiced it seriously."

You Zitao threw a whole pack of cigarettes on the folding table in discouragement, and then crossed his waist and stared at the few people present and muttered: "If this kind of stubborn and stubborn opponent with insufficient training is easy to deal with in normal times, but not now, you must be serious." Concentrated fire, short and violent. ”

Attacking such an untrained enemy is easy to fight in a place where supplies are flowing - it can easily be broken down with the might of artillery fire.

They do not know how to dig up qualified field fortifications and do not use fluent tactical movements, so they are prone to heavy casualties due to exposure to firepower.

It's a pity that it is now on the Kokoda Trail, and the ammunition carried by this partial division of the Ming army is limited, so it is impossible to adopt simple and crude superior firepower tactics.

As night fell, more than 1,000 officers and soldiers had set up camp with the village of Gari as the core.

The perimeter is littered with freshly dug foxholes, scattered with several anti-infantry directional mines, and tripping flares have been set.

Piles of bonfires were lit, and the smell of rice was in the air.

It's been a few days of eating and sleeping, and tonight I can finally have a good night's rest.

The temperature in the mountains varies greatly, and when the sun goes down, it feels a little chilly.

The damp soldiers gathered around the campfire in twos and threes, roasting their clothes, and at the same time taking off their clothes and pants and checking each other for locusts bare-chested.

This disgusting mollusk is always unconsciously attached to the body and is very annoying.

Sometimes just by burrowing through the bushes, a few grasshoppers are inadvertently hung on their bodies, these brown, gray mollusks about the size of a finger, clinging to the skin and sucking blood.

Their mouthparts secrete a chemical called locust to numb the skin, making it painless and bleeding.

Finding such disgusting mollusks hanging from their arms, calves, and necks, several translators who grew up in the city were so frightened that they shivered and retched.

In contrast, those soldiers from Yunnan, Guangxi, and Annam peasants were accustomed to pulling off the locusts hanging on their bodies and throwing them into the bonfire.

Following.

The officers and men who had been well rested set off again and rushed straight to Kokoda, an important military town more than 10 kilometers away.

The Australian troops ordered to block this Ming army were the advance detachments of the 25th Militia Battalion and the Papuan Militia Battalion, with a total strength of only more than 300 people.

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In the face of the menacing and imposing Ming army, the Australian militia was outnumbered, and their stubborn will was crushed by shells and bayonets!

On December 10, a short period of heavy rain occurred on the Papua Peninsula.

The pouring rain brought to a halt the fierce fighting on the frontal battlefield at Moresby, and the Army's 13th Infantry Division fought very cautiously for the past two days.

How cautious? Often, after encountering the enemy's bunker, the infantry squad and platoon immediately retreated, dug foxholes in situ and hid, waiting for their own artillery support, and did not try to solve the problem on their own.

As a result, the 13th Division's advance was extremely inefficient, and the results of two days and two nights were not as many as the bunkers and fortifications cleared by the 1st Marine Brigade in one day.

"Really, Brother Zhou, I glanced over and really... I don't see any positivity at all! ”

Zhu Lixuan jumped off the Thunderbolt off-road vehicle and complained while lifting the tent curtain.

"Let them go, and reduce the losses of troops."

Zhou Changfeng was also speechless about this, but he didn't want to say anything, so he simply let them grind it slowly.

At the same time, the town of Kokoda in the mountains ......

The remnants of the advance detachment of the Australian militia battalion, which numbered less than 200 men, retreated to the Kokoda airport in an attempt to buy time for the arrival of reinforcements.

In order to crush the morale of the enemy in front of him, You Zitao deliberately organized a fierce bayonet charge.

The five infantry platoons were formed in a dense formation that did not meet the requirements of the field regulations, and submachine guns and automatic guns were distributed in a concentrated manner, and the rest were all loaded with bayonets.

The shelling began suddenly, and hundreds of 64mm and 80mm anti-explosive shells rained down like drops, small in total but extremely fast, and looked particularly violent.

"Beep-beep-"

"Doodoo-"

A sharp whistle sounded, and the suona could not be used because the reed was damp, so it could only use the captured trumpet to blow the charge horn first.

In the pouring rain, the Australian militiamen who were splashed with mud saw the scene that they will never forget - countless figures shouted and rushed from the front, and dense bullets rushed in their faces!

"Hooray—"

"Kill—"

It was only 200 meters from the starting position of the assault to the front, and it was just a blink of an eye.

Someone was stunned and frozen, then knocked down by a shuttle bullet or stabbed through the body with a bayonet dripping with water!

(End of chapter)