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Text Chapter 779 The Beloved of the Empire (7)

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    In the city of Singapore at night, only the fireballs were densely woven on both sides of the Johor Strait. Thousands of Japanese soldiers tied white cloth strips with the words "Martial Destiny" and other words on their foreheads, rowing small boats with fearless tops.  Fired artillery fire in an attempt to break through the two-kilometer-wide strait.  On the sea defense embankment, the Japanese 11th Regiment used planks to build a temporary wooden bridge in the gap opened by the British army. Regiment Captain Sasaki Osaki led the elite infantry in an attempt to break through the defense of a Gurkha infantry battalion.

    Three Maxim heavy machine guns, operated by Gurkha soldiers, rained bullets fiercely on the causeway. Behind them were two 85mm field howitzers. Because the distance was too close, the muzzles were almost flat during bombardment.  Japanese army.

    Probably because they learned that there was a way to escape, Percival and the officers relaxed their hands and changed their attitude from fishing and setting up nets in the previous few days. They ordered an active counterattack from the beginning. For this purpose, they also formed a special supervision team.  .  The unsuspecting soldiers had to brace themselves in front of the guns of the supervising team, and used tanks, artillery and other weapons shipped from China to continuously attack the Japanese troops crossing the sea.

    "However, the Japanese army's dispersed swimming tactics were very effective. Even though Percival personally commanded, there were still many loopholes in the unintentional defense line, and Japanese soldiers found the opportunity to board the beach.  Although there are not many people at each point, they are very fierce when they get close. Often only seven or eight people dare to charge against the British machine guns.  Upon seeing this, Percival immediately ordered the tanks to be dispatched, and more than twenty tanks became firefighters. They rushed back and forth and finally managed to stabilize the situation.

    The fighting was fierce in front, and the Jurong Strait behind was also busy. Six submarines with a displacement of 573 tons were like black sea monsters, rising and falling with the waves.  Several kayaks shuttled back and forth between the coast and the submarine. The Chinese navy sailors on the deck said nothing and just pulled the senior British and Dutch officers and their families on the list onto the submarine.  Guide them into the narrow cabin.  In order to carry more personnel, the submarine has removed half of its torpedoes and fuel, and has also moved several medical oxygen bottles just in case.  But even so, the snorkel must be maintained as much as possible on the return trip, because the cabin rated for thirty people has already been squeezed into sixty or seventy people, and if it is submerged, it may cause rapid hypoxia.

    Because he was afraid that the news would be leaked and lead to the morale collapse of the army, this operation was all carried out by the evacuated officers and their families. Percival also decisively stayed on the front line, showing up on the battlefield from time to time.  Peace of mind.  "Division commander, what do you mean by domestic? Why do you want Japan to occupy this place? Can't you just send troops directly? Since we are asked to form the Malayan Division, but we are not allowed to do it immediately, what are you thinking?"  In the dark woods, I watched the British and Dutch officers evacuate hastily.  Young Hu Tiejun bit the weed in his mouth and asked for the reason with a puzzled look on his face.

    He is also a native Chinese in Singapore. He is Lin Bosheng's assistant in Singapore. He was recommended to study in the 6th Warfare Department of the Guangdong Naval Academy three years ago.  After the Japanese army moved south, the Military Intelligence Bureau immediately instructed the two men and other officers in Malaya to jointly undertake the work of forming the Malay Division of the Asian United Front, with Lin Mousheng as the division commander.  He served as the commander of the third regiment.

    Lin Mousheng was a few years older and his thoughts were more mature. He waved his hand and said: "Let Japan occupy it so that they can continue to move south without Singapore. Japan will not dare to go to Burma and India. Only when Japan breaks all these pots and jars, we will  Only then can a new peaceful order in Asia be re-established."

    "Commander, do you think Britain and Japan know what the president is thinking?"

    "There are no outsiders here. Just call me Brother Lin. This matter was originally a conspiracy. Otherwise, why did the United States withdraw from the Philippines early not to make room for Japan. But what's the use of knowing it? We and Japan  It's a feud. Whoever wants to become a world power must defeat the other party first. But Japan lacks resources and must get Nanyang before it can fight with us. So it has been painstakingly operating the long-distance route to Rabaul over the years, but it has not been able to find a way to target our navy.  Go to fight so far away. So this is their last resort. If they can control Nanyang, there is hope for revival, and they can turn around and deal with us. As for Britain the relationship between our two families has been that of the enemy, the enemy, and ourselves for a hundred years.  They are all mixed together. Besides, what does Japan want? It is to monopolize the entire Southeast Asia colony. What our president wants is nothing more than a new order in Asia. The British colonial policy is finished, and even the United States does not support it, so the British feel like a mirror  By maintaining relations with us, there may be opportunities to intervene in the construction of the new order in the future, and foreigners can come back and continue to make their money, but with Japan! In the end, Britain will not be hurt even if it loses the Far East.  It affects the foundation of the country, so I may want to end it as soon as possible, and see who will win between us and Japan, and I guess I am still hoping to become a fisherman."

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated, it¡¯s really complicated.¡±

    Seeing him smacking his lips, Lin Bosheng looked troubled and laughed: "You bastard, you don't need to worry about these things. What we want to do is to blow up the Singapore Fortress, and then pull up the Malay division as soon as possible, and wait  If we call the country home, our compatriots here will be able to achieve autonomy, and they will no longer be able toUse it and then leave it to others.  "

    "right!"

    Realizing the autonomy of the Nanyang Chinese has been a dream for generations. This dream has been circulating in the Nanyang Chinese community since Lanfang. So Hu Tiejun nodded heavily, his eyes brightened and he was about to express his determination, but was interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle behind him.  A young man of 17 or 18 years old with dark skin quickly jumped off the motorcycle, with a bulging waist and an Enfield rifle on his back.  Seeing the sweaty young man, Hu Tiejun rushed to ask: "Little Fujian? Didn't I ask you to watch from the height of Tima 255?"

    "Don't mention it. Commander, please make up your mind quickly! This group of Indian Asan soldiers fought for a while before they were washed ashore by the Japanese. Now they have begun to attack the highlands. Many Indian Asan soldiers have escaped. Look,  , this gun was left behind by them. It won¡¯t be long before the Highlands are over.¡±

    "Fuck his turban! Aren't there dozens of light and heavy machine guns on the high ground? Why are they still fighting like this?" Hu Tiejun was impatient and rushed onto the motorcycle while swearing.  Little Fujian's eyes were red with anxiety, and he kept shouting: "How did I know? Commander, go and have a look, the city is in chaos. Japanese soldiers have boarded from many places, and if this continues, they will definitely be dead by dawn."  "

    "Where does all this nonsense come from? Drive quickly! Master, you go first, I'll get the brothers to gather together, motherfucker! I knew that these red-headed Asans were totally unreliable."

    "Go and bring the speedboat over. Pay attention to the master, Damai will definitely not be able to go. The Japanese warships will surround you soon. We will go directly to the Munan Reservoir to Malaya. There is a swamp over there and the Japanese army is the least." Lin Mousheng also said  Unexpectedly, the Japanese army attacked so fiercely. Seeing that all six submarines had dived, he quickly took care of the retreat route, and he and Xiao Fujian rushed to the Tima 255 highland.

    The motorcycle hasn¡¯t arrived yet.  Thousands of broken troops came in front, and the entire city of Singapore was in chaos.  Countless British and Dutch soldiers retreated from the Strait of Johor. Many people threw away their guns and put on civilian clothes to try to get through. Many shops were on fire, and the streets were full of scattered debris.  Although I had expected this scene to happen.  But after seeing Lin Mousheng, he was still furious. Fortunately, all the overseas Chinese and most of the Chinese women and children had been sent away in the previous evacuation, and the blasting work had been prepared, otherwise there would have been more chaos.

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely over for Timah, go straight to Bukit Timah Hill.¡±

    The motorcycle rushed left and right, and finally reached Bukit Timah Hill only to find that most of the soldiers here had fled.  After Lin Mousheng and Xiao Fujian broke into the headquarters.  I saw that the dozen or so senior officers who had stayed behind, including Percival and Smith, were already ashen-faced, and they obviously did not expect to collapse so quickly.

    ¡°Blow up all the facilities!¡±

    "Let all planes and ships escape as many as they can."

    "Tie Jun, protect the general and leave first."

    In less than a moment.  Hu Tiejun also led more than two hundred Chinese soldiers armed with submachine guns to the command post.  Seeing that Percival was no longer able to command effectively, Lin Mousheng simply picked up the phone and ordered the blast.  Rumbling explosions immediately sounded from all over Singapore, and balls of fireballs and black smoke made the entire city more chaotic.

    The Japanese army, which finally crossed the strait at a cost of thousands of dollars, felt bad. They must know that the Singapore Fortress stocked a large amount of ammunition and supplies.  If it can be taken as its own, it can support at least three divisions for more than half a year.  So officers heard the blast.  No longer caring about the command, he immediately ordered all the soldiers who boarded the 6th to rush to Bukit Timah Mountain and the city to try to stop the explosion.

    But it's too late.

    After Lin Bosheng put the stunned Parcival into the car, he personally pressed the blasting bolt of the Bukit Timah Hill bunker.  Explosives transported from the fortress and hundreds of 15-inch high-explosive bombs were detonated at the same time. The whole of Singapore seemed to shake with a shocking loud noise. The mountain fortress, which was more than ten meters underground, collapsed rapidly with a speed visible to the naked eye.  As the underground fortifications at Bukit Timah Hill were blasted, a loud rumble came from the direction of the fort. Standing on the speeding truck, you could clearly see that the solid cement fortifications collapsed quickly, and the 15-inch shore artillery groups that dominated Asia also collapsed.  Rolling down the cliff.

    Gibraltar of the East is finished. Without the underground bunker at Bukit Timah Hill and the Strait Fort, Singapore's defense is not as good as Natuna.  Even if Japan performs repairs, it will take a year to recover.  "Haha Well done. Now little Japan has no place to hide." Hu Tiejun and the Chinese soldiers of the Malayan Division of the Asian United Front laughed and applauded when they saw this.  "Don't be complacent, let everyone clean up and leave no traces." Although Lin Moosheng was excited, he still maintained a minimum of composure.

    After arriving at the dock, there was already a sea of ??people here. Countless defeated soldiers and citizens crowded onto fishing boats and speedboats. As long as they could find navigation tools, they were all crowded with people.  If there is a plane in the sky at this moment, you can see it. The whole of Singapore is like a wasp that exploded its nest, planes and ships, etc.?The vehicles fled radially in all directions.  Lin Mousheng did not dare to delay. Without the cover of the fort, the Japanese fleet could flow supplies smoothly, so he immediately bypassed the densest docks and took Percival to the westernmost side of the Johor Strait.  By the time they packed three civilian Seagull-class speedboats and rushed towards the Malayan Peninsula five kilometers away at a height of 42 knots, the sound of naval guns and machine guns had already been heard from the direction of the Lingga Islands and Kuala Lumpur, and Japanese destroyers had been cruising in the outer sea.  Seeing that the most threatening fort was destroyed, they all rushed forward

    On May 2, 1939, Singapore, known as the Gibraltar of the East and the strongest fortress of the British Empire in the Far East, was breached by the Japanese army. Nearly 90,000 British, Dutch, Australian, and Indian troops surrendered. Hundreds of Singaporean Chinese died in the battle.  Hundreds of shops were destroyed.  At the last moment, the British army successfully carried out massive damage to Singapore, blowing up all the important Bukit Timah Hill underground fortresses, coastal forts, water plants, power plants, shipyards, hoards of supplies, naval bases, oil depots, etc., including  Percival, the commander of the British Far East Army, and hundreds of senior coalition generals including Gordon, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch Army, escaped at the last moment and their whereabouts are unknown.

    After fighting hard for half a month, paying a total of 11,339 casualties, and allowing so many senior officers to escape before their eyes, the reality of an empty city finally made the Japanese army furious. Yamashita Fengfumi vented all his anger on the prisoners.  He ordered more than 20,000 Malayan, Indian and Australian soldiers to be pushed to the seaside and executed collectively. The rest were also assigned to work in the Malayan iron mines. In the end, less than 10,000 prisoners survived until the end of the war.

    When the news came out, the world was shocked!

    British Conservative MP Winston Churchill publicly criticized Chamberlain's foreign policy in the House of Commons, lashed out at Britain's lax attitude towards Japan, China and the Soviet Union, and once again demanded that Chamberlain step down: "The former hegemon of the seven seas,  The sun never sets on Singapore. The center of the British Empire's colonial rule in Asia is Singapore. However, for a long time in the past, we have ignored the threats there. Under the appeasement policy represented by the idea of ??surrender, we have sat back and watched the spread of dictatorship, gcism and militarism in Asia.  Expansion, sit back and watch Moscow's support for Japan! Today, we have tasted the consequences. The most painful catastrophe in British history, the largest surrender, happened in Singapore! Now, should, immediately! Someone stands up and takes responsibility for this!"

    Perhaps inspired by Churchill's speech, just three days later, Roosevelt formally signed the Export Control Act at the White House. According to the act, the U.S. government stopped exporting war materials to Japan from the signing date and required Americans around the world to  Businessmen also stopped exporting to Japan, stopped helping Japan develop its industry, stopped providing any commercial loans to Japan, etc.  On the same day, Yang Qiu also faced hundreds of reporters at the graduation ceremony of Wuhan University of Technology. He harshly criticized the Japanese army for persecuting local Chinese during the war and violating the Geneva Treaty. Several years later, he once again demanded that Japan return South Sakhalin Island and withdraw.  Out of Korea and Ryukyu.  (To be continued)
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