Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Hero of 1911

Text Chapter 965 Dead End!

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    In the last days of 1940, the smoke that had lasted for a year seemed to have faded a lot.  However, as the Axis accelerated its deployment of troops and generals, Germany and Italy seized Malta, and the Japanese battleship Yamato was officially commissioned, the blood cloud that permeated the world not only did not disappear, but became thicker and thicker.

    The Yamato, which started twelve months earlier than history, gave Japan a shot in the arm. Even the Japanese Army launched new offensives in Sumatra, Borneo and the Mekong River.  However, North Korea, the main theater of war, continues to be in a stalemate due to heavy snowfall for several weeks.  Moreover, the low temperature sweeping across Siberia and the entire north also destroyed the Air Force's plan to bomb the Yamato. Although it was a bit regretful, the news that the Chinese Navy's Shandong battleship also joined the First Fleet five days later dispelled the depression of being overwhelmed by the Yamato.  In addition, thanks to the day and night efforts of workers, the third and fourth Liaoning-class aircraft carriers Guangdong and Guangxi also joined the Second Fleet two months in advance, and after the commissioning ceremony, they were joined by the Xi'an, which had also just been delivered.  The Nanning-class heavy cruiser, the Brahmaputra-class light cruiser Lancangjiang, the battleships Shanghai and Chongqing of the First Fleet immediately went to Guam to replace the Liaoning formation of the XN21 battle group.

    So far, the xn21 battle group has two Liaoning-class fleet aircraft carriers, three Master-class escort aircraft carriers, two Xi'an-class heavy cruisers, two Taiwan Island-class heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, 22 destroyers, and 20  Frigates and thirty submarines have become the most powerful aircraft carrier battle group in the Southwest Pacific.  With the aircraft carrier Guizhou and the battleships Ninghai and Dinghai injured in the Battle of Ryukyu, and the two French Dunkirk-class air defense modifications nearing completion, the Navy reunited its forces in just four months.

    ? Around the world, the successive commissioning of cutting-edge battleships from China and Japan has also shocked Europe and the United States.  If the Shandong-class, with its fully loaded displacement of 72,600 tons and 12 406 mm/l50 naval guns, makes them speak harshly, then.  The 460mm/L45 naval gun used by the Yamato battleship directly caused the US Navy to worry and re-examine whether to build a Montana-class battleship

    But Yang Qiu has no time to care about this. There is still more than a month before the Lunar New Year. In order for everyone to have a happy New Year, he must complete the military adjustment and awarding of titles before the New Year.  When the cabinet was reorganized, Yang Qiu wanted to adjust the army at the same time, but because of the tight war at that time, there was no chance.  It is now freezing cold in several major war zones.  The most severe temperatures in Central Asia and Siberia have dropped to more than 30 degrees below zero, and the General Staff does not want to launch a large-scale campaign at the cost of casualties in this weather, so this is the best opportunity.

    After a year of continuous fighting, both the country and the army need to adjust, especially the army.  Promotions, rewards, supplements, promotions may seem like vanity, but they directly affect the unity and morale of the troops, and are related to the more difficult wars ahead.  Therefore, after some consideration and with reference to the military's suggestions, the awards were finally awarded to Chief of General Staff Yue Peng, Navy Commander Chen Shaokuan, Air Force Commander He Ning, Army Commander Fang Wei, Central Asia Theater Commander Xu Shuzheng, Northeast Theater Commander Zhang Xiaozhun, Deputy General Staff Officer  Chang Qin Zhangshu and Southwest Theater Commander Qiu Wenbin have eight marshal ranks!  Twenty-seven people including Air Force Chief of Staff Yu Lei, Xu Huansheng, Haijun Bingwen, Shen Honglie, Zhu Binhou, Bai Yutang, Lujun Chunan, Liu Mingzhao, Long Yun, Zhu Peide, Bai Chongxi, Li Zongren, He Xifan, Sun Chuanfang, Mei Sheng, Xue Yue were promoted to the top.  More than 30 generals (including first and second level), Du Yuming, Ye Weixun and others were promoted to lieutenant generals, and Zhuo Fan became one of more than 80 officers promoted to major generals.  A legend from school level to lieutenant general in two years.  Breaking the military promotion speed record.  A total of 150,000 officers and soldiers received various promotions and medals, and thousands of technicians, workers, and peasant representatives who contributed to the war also received Congressional Medals.

    According to military regulations, the marshal exists aloof and does not hold an actual position.  Therefore, Yue Peng, who had been the chief of the general staff of the armed forces for more than 30 years, and the eight marshals resigned one after another.  But this is wartime, so they will stay in the General Staff and continue to serve the war.

    Finally, Chu Nan, a former first-level army general, served as the chief of staff of the three armed forces. Yu Lei took over as commander of the Air Force and deputy chief of general staff of the three services. Zhao Meihang, commander of the Persian Theater Air Force, served as chief of staff of the air force, and Xu Huansheng became deputy chief of staff.  Bingwen serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.  Shen Honglie serves as deputy commander-in-chief, Bai Yutang serves as naval chief of staff and commander of the First Fleet, and Chen Shiying serves as commander of the second fleet.  The army commander was taken over by Long Yun.  Deimeng was appointed deputy commander-in-chief, Liu Mingzhao was appointed chief of army staff, Bai Chongxi and Zhu Peide were appointed deputy chiefs of staff As the National Defense Force completed the replacement of old and new cores of the second generation, frontline generals also made major adjustments. Mei Sheng  He was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Asian Theater, Sun Chuanfang was appointed as the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren continued to serve as the Commanders of the Persian Gulf and Indian Theaters, Deli Meng took over as the Commander of the Northeast Theater, Ouyang Nan took over as the Commander of the Southwest Theater, and the Marine Corps remained unchanged  

    The completion of the replacement of old and new troops in the army also means that in the following wars, the third generation of National Defense Forces officers represented by Zhuo Fan, Li Jin, Ye Weixun, Zhang Peng, Pan Duheng and others will officially take charge of the front line.  In addition to internal adjustments, due to the United States' entry into the war, China, the United States, and BritainThere was an urgent desire to establish a joint Asian and European military command, so Brigadier General Zhang Xiao went to London to serve as the top Chinese officer of the Allied European Theater Command, and Qiu Wenbin became the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Asian Theater Command, with the headquarters located in Hong Kong.

    While Yang Qiu made drastic changes to his army, the fiercest battlefield in North Africa was still turbulent.  On December 8, Wavell, the British Commander-in-Chief in North Africa, launched Operation Compass. Under the command of Lieutenant General O'Connor, 30,000 British-Australian troops suddenly emerged from the Sidi Barani Corridor and attacked the Italian 10th Army in Libya.  Launch a counterattack.  Only five hours after the battle began, the Italian army began to flee. The Italian commander General Peter Maletti was killed, and more than 4,000 Italian soldiers were killed or captured.

    In the following three days, the Italian army lost a total of 237 artillery pieces, 73 tanks were destroyed or captured, and nearly 40,000 soldiers were killed or captured.  The British army advanced westward along the Victoria Highway, passed through the Halfaya Pass, and captured Fort Caputso in Libya.  Regarding the speed of O'Connor's attack, the Italian 10th Army was caught off guard and was at a disadvantage in terms of equipment and supplies. Especially the Italian army, whose tactical organization was in a mess, was retreating steadily, and one after another the troops laid down their weapons and surrendered.  By January 5, 1941, O'Connor had occupied Badia, and on January 15, eleven days before the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve, Tobruk was officially captured.

    In just over a month, the 150,000-strong Italian 10th Army was crippled.  A total of 110,000 soldiers were captured.  But just when O'Connor tried to make persistent efforts to capture the important town of Benghazi in Villa, he was suddenly attacked by a German armored battalion that landed there.  It turned out that Mussolini saw that his navy was basically finished, Malta also relied on the Luftwaffe, and the 10th Army was retreating steadily, so he had to agree to Hitler that he could send a "small number of troops" to participate in the North African campaign.  Hitler was very happy after hearing the news, and immediately ordered his beloved general Rommel to land in North Africa. The German army that raided O'Connor was the German army that had been involved in North Africa in advance.  However, the Germans did not expect O'Connor to be so fast, so Rommel's main force had not yet arrived.  Benghazi has only one armored battalion and one infantry regiment.  But it was such an armored battalion with only thirty or so Panzer IV tanks that broke O'Connor's plan to quickly capture Benghazi.

    News that the German army had entered North Africa made Churchill restless and asked Roosevelt to immediately send troops to North Africa in an attempt to drive the German army into the sea and recapture the key island of Malta before they could gain a foothold.  at the same time.  Churchill and Wavell also asked for help from the Chinese Persian Army.  But at this time, even if Bai Chongxi wanted to, he could not bring out the troops at all, because the battle in the Horn of North Africa had also entered its climax.

    In order to control the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait after the war, Bai Chongxi launched the East Africa Offensive before the sneak attack on Taranto.  As Zhu Binhou returned from the victory, he once again dispatched three additional infantry divisions to Djibouti, and for the first time mobilized two Saudi infantry divisions and an armored brigade equipped with Type 31 tanks to cooperate.  Zhu Jiande was also appointed as the commander of the East African coalition forces, and finally Zhu Bin was asked to send a fleet to protect the army from landing at Sawa Port in Eritrea.  A total of seven divisions and nearly 100,000 soldiers were under the command of Zhu Jiande.  Taking advantage of the advantageous armored troops, they constantly interspersed and outflanked. Facing all Type 31 tanks, the Italian East African Army led by the Duke of Aosta retreated steadily until the end of December.  The East African coalition forces led by Zhu Jiande occupied the entire Eritrea and announced that it would be temporarily managed by China.

    Because Djibouti will be returned to France after the war.  Therefore, the conditions were good. Assab Port, which directly faced the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, was favored by Zhu Binhou, and he decided to dredge the harbor immediately to serve as a new naval base after the war.  This plan was also approved by the General Staff. Yang Qiu also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the local tribes, preparing to imitate Djibouti and plan to split the Assab region after the war and establish a separate country for better control.

    After learning that Eritrea was under Chinese trusteeship, Ethiopian King Haile Selassie I, who was in Cairo, immediately went to Djibouti and held talks with Bai Chongxi, commander of the Chinese Persian Gulf Army, and Liao Zhongkai, the Chinese Minister of Industry and Commerce who had returned from Turkey.  After the talks, Haile Selassie I immediately asked the Ethiopian army under his leadership to fully cooperate with the Chinese Army. With the help of these local guerrillas, Zhu Jiande's attack was faster.  By January 24, New Year's Eve, two mechanized infantry divisions that broke through from the middle of Djibouti captured Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and declared a military trusteeship over Ethiopia.

    In this battle, the East African Allied Forces led by Zhu Jiande killed and wounded more than 10,000 Italian troops at a cost of less than 3,000 casualties, and captured as many as 100,000 people!  A large amount of supplies and equipment were also seized, forcing the Duke of Osseta to lead the remaining 170,000 main force to retreat to southern Ethiopia and Mogadishu.

    The successive disastrous defeats of the 10th Army and the East African Army finally awakened Mussonili's hope of not letting Germany intervene and monopolizing North Africa from then on, and he began to actively cooperate with the German Rommel to enter North Africa.

    After Wavell learned that Zhu Jiande had won a great victory and eliminated the threat behind Egypt, he immediately decided to attack Benghazi.  But before O'Connor could continue his attack, the situation in Greece began to deteriorate.  Considering the importance of Greece and the Balkans, Marshal Alexander could only suspend his offensive and negotiate with the United States.??Reinforce Greece.

    "It's 18 inches, not the 16 inches we predicted before. It's very powerful"

    In the Oval Office of the White House, Secretary of the Navy Stark introduced the battleship Yamato to Roosevelt.  As a naval conservative, he still hopes to immediately build a new class of battleships to fight against China and Japan.

    But Roosevelt had no interest in this. He was more concerned about how to deal with the Southwest Pacific.

    Secretary of State Hull, who is responsible for external communications, leaned on the table and conveyed the information brought by Gu Weijun and Chen Shaokuan's visit to the United States to Marshall and others present: "Beijing asked us to attack Rabaul and the Coral Sea as soon as possible to open up the maritime sea between the two countries.  route. In addition, we also hope to receive assistance as soon as possible, which requires at least 100 large generating units, 2,000 B17 bombers, 500,000 trucks, 400,000 tons of aluminum"

    A series of exaggerated numbers made everyone present gasp. This is not a request for help.  It's simply taking advantage of the opportunity to blackmail.  Even Roosevelt pinched his nose and pretended not to hear.  China's aid will definitely be provided, but he is not yet ready to be blackmailed, so he asked Hull: "What does the British say about command authority?"

    "Prime Minister Churchill has clearly refused, saying the Cairo Declaration and the subsequent allocation of command powers have been adopted by the British Parliament, and this is related to diplomatic relations with Beijing. He believes that we should abide by the agreement and all parties entering  Allied ships in the southwest Pacific should obey Beijing's dispatch Of course. He has expressed his willingness to hand over command of Australia and the southeast Pacific to us."

    "He really said that?"

    "real."

    "This cunning fat man!" Roosevelt was exasperated.

    Churchill is an old fox!  It was obvious that after using himself to trick Yang Qiu once, he was worried about being overly angered, so he helped Yang Qiu trick him again.  In the end, all the good guys were done by the fat man!  And he is obviously too selfish, because Britain will definitely benefit the most from doing this.  At that time, all US military power will be used in Europe.  That means Europe can get hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of aircraft, tens of thousands of tanks and other military supplies every year.

    Roosevelt was secretly angry with Churchill, but he didn't complain much. From the British standpoint, there was nothing wrong with it.  So he went on to ask: "George, how much longer do you think North Africa can sustain this?"

    "Unpredictable." George Marshall frowned and stirred the coffee gently: "The loss of Malta has cut the Mediterranean Sea in half. From Sicily to Tripoli, there is no obstruction at all. So the Germans are moving their troops by railway.  Sent to Italy, many French ships were also collected to sail to Rome. If we go quickly, the strength will exceed five divisions in a month. And we have also encountered some troubles. The French seem unwilling to cooperate, and the governor of West Africa has sent the British to  drove us away and refused our request to land at Casablanca. Spanish Morocco also refused to let us pass. They believed that this would be an excuse for Germany to attack Spain. So the British believed that a decision should be made as soon as possible, while the Italian navy was now at its weakest. To Tunisia  Attack, otherwise Germany will seize Tunisia first, and even if we make the decision, we will not be able to land on the coast of North Africa!"

    "(To be continued)
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report