After the fall of Moresby, the Australians knew that Cairns and Townsville would be the next places to be invaded, so they did everything they could to strengthen their defenses.

By the time the 39th T-Squadron appeared off the coast of Cairns, the Queensland Military Region had received a large number of troops and supplies.

These units include the 2nd Infantry Division, the 4th Infantry Division, the 11th Infantry Brigade (Regiment), the 12th Field Artillery Regiment (battalion), the 14th Light Cavalry Regiment (battalion), the 8th Separate Anti-aircraft Artillery Company, the 55th Separate Anti-aircraft Searchlight Company, and the 2nd Separate Light Tank Company.

However, due to the limited capacity of the railways and the fact that Townsville was considered more important by the upper echelons of the Australian Army, most of the combat units were deployed in Townsville.

The Ming landing force actually faced only the 4th Infantry Division, the 8th Independent Anti-aircraft Artillery Company, the 55th Independent Anti-aircraft Searchlight Company, the 121st Heavy Artillery Company, and some coastal defense units, with a total strength of more than 15,000 troops.

In addition, the local people have also formed several armed groups - the 11th Militia Battalion, the 12th Militia Battalion, and the 20th Field Supplementary Battalion.

These defensive forces were under the unified command of the commander of the 4th Division, Major General Edward Patick.

Since the capture of Moresby, the Ming army has been conducting non-stop reconnaissance and air raids on northeastern Australia.

In half a month, the Daming Air Force organized more than 50 aerial reconnaissance sorties, and the Navy also organized more than 20 sorties, and photographed a large amount of first-hand information about the Australian army's coastal defense artillery positions, railway shunting yards, and airports.

Brigadier General Ren Zhiquan, commander of the 2nd Praetorian Guards Division, served as the landing commander, and he set the landing time for January 5, with the 2nd Janissaries Division taking the lead as the first echelon, and at the same time supporting the 1st Field Heavy Artillery Brigade as reinforcement; The 10th Division was on standby in Moresby as a reserve.

Normally, the field heavy artillery brigade will be divided into two infantry divisions in half, and it can be said that it is a rare luxury treatment to concentrate all of them on one division as now.

That's two heavy mountain artillery battalions and two midfield artillery battalions, a total of 36 144mm howitzers and 36 112mm cannons! It should be noted that the German infantry division only had 12 150mm howitzers when fighting alone.

The 39th T-Flotilla was still under the command of Liu Zaiyao, and although it was wounded in the Battle of the Torres Strait, it recovered quickly and was up to the task.

In fact, many people looked at the position of the chief officer of the fleet, and felt that Liu Zaiyao had earned enough combat merits in the last naval battle, and this time he should take advantage of the situation to be injured and go to recuperate, but as a result, this guy didn't leave!

The 39th T-shaped fleet suffered a lot of losses in the last naval battle, and the Yuan Feng was sunk, and now the battleship Yuan Ding is the flagship.

The entire fleet also includes an aircraft carrier Amaichi Sagaki, a heavy cruiser Yanshan, two light cruisers, 10 destroyers, 3 fire support ships, 6 landing ships, 31 troop carriers, and more than a dozen minesweepers, supply ships, medical ships, and amphibious command ships.

From 12:00 on January 4, the Ming fleet began to prepare for fire on Cairns.

In the previous days, the Royal Australian Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Corps stationed at the airport had launched four strikes against the Ming fleet, but all of them had been carried out by medium-altitude horizontal bombing.

The "Song" fighter squadron of the Amaichi Sagaki did an excellent job of sheltering the fleet - after gaining experience in a series of previous battles, the Ming pilots were already comfortable harassing enemy bombers.

The first three air strikes did not cause much damage due to poor accuracy, except for some near-misses, which caused damage to the hulls of some ships.

However, the last air raid carried out by the B-17 group unexpectedly achieved results - two troop carriers were sunk, more than 200 people were killed or wounded, and 18 cannons of the 4th battalion of the 1st Field Heavy Artillery Brigade were sunk with the ship.

Each Type 30 112mm medium field gun was purchased for 43,000 yuan, and the eighteen cannons, together with the transports carrying them, sank into the deep coral sea, and hundreds of tons of high-quality alloy steel and manganese steel were returned to nature.

However, as the Ming fleet approached, the aviation forces of the United States and Australia were forced to evacuate.

The battleships Yuanding and the heavy cruisers Yanshan carried out ferocious artillery bombardment of Cairns airfield, seriously damaging the airstrip, apron, and tower of the airport.

In addition, the light cruisers Xiangjiang and Liaohe fired a total of 1,432 rounds of 144mm anti-explosive bombs at beachhead targets, and 10 destroyers also fired 4,215 rounds of 128mm anti-explosive bombs, destroying most of the exposed enemy fortifications.

「…… In view of this, a small number of white phosphorus firebombs can be fired at shallow and deep depths, preferably with a timed fuse air explosion, and the surface can be incinerated to cover the camouflage and expose it......

Zhou sent a telegram from the local area and put forward his sincere suggestions.

The Australians can be cunning at camouflage bunkers, artillery positions, and shelters, so try to cover them roughly with incendiary bombs.

Regardless of three, seven, twenty-one, burn it first and then talk about it!

Liu Zaiyao, who had finished browsing, couldn't help but "tsk" a few times, and sighed while nodding: "So shrewd, so ruthless, with someone like Zhou Kexing as an opponent, I'm afraid I can't sleep well." ”

After adopting Zhou's suggestion, the navy staff officers held an improvised meeting to discuss how to organize such a special fire reconnaissance.

Finally, after several test firing of the fuse timing to determine the optimal altitude, the three destroyers fired 47 rounds of 128mm smoke grenades (white phosphorus) from west to east.

Because white phosphorus is not only capable of spontaneous combustion but also produces a lot of smoke in the process, it has been widely used until later generations, and it has both smoke and combustion functions, and it is relatively cheap.

The smoke screen of the volley explosion bloomed into a gray-white cloud of smoke, and then suddenly stretched out shining tentacles in all directions, floating to the ground.

[Picture]

The white phosphorus particles emitted a dense white smoke as they burned, which in turn ignited the combustibles on the ground......

As a result, the branches and foliage used for camouflage fortifications were ignited, and a raging fire broke out in the depths of the beachhead.

"I'm a good girl, it's a big fire!"

"This burns again...... I feel like I've burned the Aussie devils to the ground. ”

The fire burned from the evening to the next morning, and the flames burned half of the sky, and the beginning of the new year burned in such a way.

After the fire subsided, the Ming fleet really found some targets that had not been discovered before, and immediately launched heavy fire.

More than a dozen bunkers collapsed under the bombardment, and an area suspected of being a reserve assembly site was also bombed to the ground.

"Knock !!"

A dull roar came from afar, and a large white spray emerged from the sea.

From the morning of that day until the sun set, the 60th Special Service Battalion of the Ming Navy began to carry out underwater blasting at the three scheduled landing sites, blowing up all the coral reefs and precast concrete obstacles that were in the way, clearing the way for the army's subsequent landing.

When the 1st Marine Brigade added the establishment of the beach-grabbing and selecting battalions, the Daming Navy also experimentally set up two special service battalions, namely the 60th Battalion and the 61st Battalion.

These two units are largely similar to the beach-grabbing and forward battalions, except that they are directly subordinate to the navy and are mainly responsible for clearing obstacles and creating better conditions for large forces before the landing operation begins.

The start of the operation was postponed by a day, and in the early morning of 6 January, thousands of officers and men of the 4th and 5th Regiments of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division had been descending to the landing craft with rope nets.

For them, who have never been in battle, the mood at the moment is mixed, nervous, apprehensive, excited, and expectant......

Looking back, it seems like there has never been such a chaotic time.

"Listen to it, there is no way back when it comes to this, and the deserters who are afraid of death in battle will lose their heads!"

"As long as you don't mess up, no matter how chaotic it is, you can't stop running around, there's nothing to be afraid of steady!"

"Look, there are so many ships in the whole fleet behind us, if we are driven into the sea to feed the fish, will we have the face to go home?"

At this time, the rumbling of cannon rang out again.

All the warships of the fleet began to prepare for the first and third landing sites.

The shelling was extremely intense, and as far as the eye could see, the bombing points on the entire beachhead did not stop.

The flash of light, the cloud of smoke and dust did not dissipate for a long time, because every time it was about to dissipate, more smoke burst out.

The Sixth Light Bombardment Detachment of the Air Force stationed in Moresby also came to help, and dozens of Type 36 light bombers flew over the outskirts of Cairns from low and medium altitudes, and more than 300 aerial bombs fell one after another, and the dust raised by the serial explosions covered almost half of the urban area.

At the same time, the Ming Navy also tried to adopt a new tactic of sea and air coordination -- stipulating that the ballistic altitude of naval guns should not exceed 400 meters, aircraft were forbidden to strafe, and the height of bombs dropped should not be less than 450 meters, and the two attacked the same target together.

At 8:17 on January 6, the first batch of Ming troops began to assault and land in landing craft.

The 1st Battalion of the 4th Janissary Regiment landed at the Holy Trinity Bay to the north, and could directly rely on the Barron River as a barrier after going ashore; Cairns Airport is just two kilometres south of the landing site.

The 3rd Battalion of the 5th Janissary Regiment landed at Luoling Bay to the south, which was relatively wide, but the terrain was undulating, and in general it was a barely acceptable landing point.

[Picture - Offensive Map]

The landing in the north was very smooth at first, and the intensity of resistance of the Australian troops was extremely low and insignificant.

The landing site in Luoling Bay in the south was diametrically opposed, and the small landing craft and the large landing craft carrying tanks carried by the Ming officers and men were still more than 900 meters away from the beach, and the shells fired from the shore smashed into the head and covered the face.

"Poof! Boom! Whoa—"

The grenade fired from the 18-pounder field gun of the MkV type fell into the sea and splashed a small column of water, but when it hit the landing craft, it exploded into a dazzling fire, and the torn steel plates and wood chips splashed and fell into the water.

In the space of six minutes, more than a dozen large and small landing craft were destroyed, and the soldiers, who lacked arms and legs, choked on a few mouthfuls of water and stopped moving, but the wounds were still gushing blood, and the sea water quickly became red.

As a perennial unit stationed in Shuncheonfu, some of the people of the Second Praetorian Guard Division did not even know how to swim, and it was not until they were about to start that they hastily organized several intensive training for swimming.

The heavily armed army infantry Class B standard weight was 40 pounds, and many of those who fell into the water panicked and scrambled, and as a result, they were dragged underwater by heavy weapons and equipment and drowned in the sea.

The first batch of landing craft landed safely in a total of five vessels, and about 200 officers and men were fired from bullets from multiple directions as soon as they stepped onto the beach.

"Find Cover!!

"Lie down!"

"Don't be stupid! Get out into the pit on the side! ”

"Someone! Come on! ”

"Come here and help!"

The 16th Brigade (Regiment) of the 4th Division of the Australian Army made good use of the undulating terrain here to build a large number of fortifications, although most of the positions had been destroyed by the Ming army's naval and air firepower, but the remnants still suppressed the 2nd Praetorian Division, which lacked actual combat experience.

In fact, due to the serious damage to the position, the machine gun fire of the Australian army was incoherent, the heavy machine gun positions and artillery positions were incomplete, and all kinds of firepower could not form a tight blockade.

If it had been replaced by an experienced unit, it would have immediately looked for weak points in the enemy's position, and then organized a breakthrough detachment to actively attack, and the enemy's position would have been torn to pieces.

However, even as more and more follow-up troops landed ashore, the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Janissary Regiment still did not dare to take the initiative to attack, and they chose to release the smoke screen and continue to cower on the beach, hiding in the craters, and bearing the grenades of various calibers that continued to fall.

If Zhou Changfeng witnessed such a scene, he would probably be so angry that he would be so angry by the performance of the Fifth Guard Regiment that he stomped his feet.

It was not until the tanks came ashore that the officers and men of the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment seemed to have the courage to take the initiative to attack, but the terrain was bumpy and complicated, and there were large and small craters everywhere, and it was very difficult for the infantry to advance in a coordinated manner.

In more than three hours of fierce fighting, half of the tanks were destroyed by the QF2-pounder anti-tank guns deployed by the Australian army, or the tracks were blown off by mines.

Only two tanks played a better role, and they fought side by side with more than 100 infantry, tearing apart the two lines of defense of the enemy in front of them in succession.

These two Type 38 medium tanks destroyed four anti-tank guns in succession and killed and wounded dozens of enemy soldiers with artillery and machine guns, successfully opening a passage for the large army.

In comparison, the situation of the first battalion of the fourth regiment of the Janissary in the north of Holy Trinity Bay was better.

The resistance of the Australian troops was slight, and hundreds of officers and soldiers easily went ashore and completed the battle.

The tanks of the second battalion and two platoons also arrived, and the regimental headquarters followed them ashore and seized the time to open the front headquarters.

By noon, all the officers and men, vehicles, and artillery of the 4th Praetorian Regiment had landed, and although shells landed on the beachhead from time to time, there was an orderly situation here -- someone guided the passage of vehicles, someone directed the unloading of supplies, and someone organized first aid for the wounded......

At 14:45 in the afternoon of the same day, the 4th Janissary Regiment began to force its way across the Barron River, intending to capture the airfield on the south bank in one fell swoop before dark.

During this period, the Australian army launched a fierce artillery bombardment of the Ming troops crossing the river, and sent several company-level infantry detachments to counterattack.

The enemy's sudden attack caught the Ming army off guard, and they had to suspend the forced crossing, and the officers and men who had already crossed the river were scattered, and more than 60 people belonged to three teams and nine platoons, and most of them could not even call each other's names, so they could only be temporarily assigned posts according to their ranks.

"Put the machine gun over there, pick a spot! How many mortars are left? ”

"Damn! Those thieves have touched it! ”

The Australian army that carried out the counterattack boldly assaulted, and almost drove the chaotic Ming army back to swim in the river.

Fortunately, the large forces on the north bank helped with all their might, and the dense artillery support was almost uninterrupted.

The battle lasted from afternoon to sunset, and the dozens of corpses of the Australian army in front of the small position failed to annihilate these dozens of people, and were finally forced to retreat.

I went to see "The Three Teams" today, but I still stayed up all night and finished the word code...

(End of chapter)