Chapter 373 Is this the Japanese army? Why so weak? "We also need to mobilize troops?" Tsukada looked at Kimura Hyoutarou with a blank expression, with a puzzled look on his face. Nanyang doesn’t care anymore? Are you giving up completely? "Yes, the center of the base camp will be in Australia next, and other places will enter the strategic defense stage, so in some areas of Southeast Asia, just give up." Kimura Hyoutarou's expression was not as solemn as before, and he even relaxed. One breath. As long as you can give up some places, the rest will be easy to operate. Even if Luzon Island is lost, it won’t be a big problem. After all, they are not strong enough, I believe the base camp will definitely understand. "Australia? Is it too far away?" Tsukada felt that this place was too far away, and it seemed that the gain outweighed the loss by drawing troops from the mainland. And it is impossible for the US military to watch them occupy Australia.

After all, everyone knows that once Australia is occupied, it means that it may not be that easy to defeat the Japanese army. However, now the Japanese army is obsessed with occupying Australia. The main reason is that the resources in Australia are so exciting. Kimura Hyōtaro, who knew the truth, was also very moved. "It's not far. In fact, the landing place should be Darwin Port." Although Kimura Hyōtaro is a little weak, his vision is not bad. When he heard about Darwin Port, Tsukada immediately understood what it meant. No wonder they have to draw troops from the Southern Army. This is to plan it slowly. If that were the case, it would be understandable. "Okay, don't think about it so much. On Luzon Island, maintain the defense line for the time being. As for some islands, you can consider giving up. As long as we capture Australia, we will be victorious." Kimura Hyoutarou looked at Tsukada who was deep in thought and thought. This guy is still not cool enough. For the base camp, occupying Australia is the most important, and other areas can really be considered giving up. Because these areas are of no use at all and instead consume their troops. "Hai." Tsukada Gong could only respond. Although he didn't understand, Tsukada didn't dare to ignore the dual orders of the base camp and His Majesty the Emperor, and directly chose to abandon some unimportant islands, leaving only some larger islands, mainly for food. After all, food is relatively abundant in these areas. The assembled Japanese army is indeed scary. It can be said that the strength of the Southern Army is still very good. Five divisions were easily assembled. Although they were all second- and third-line divisions with average combat effectiveness, they were large in number. What’s more, it’s still growing. It is expected that almost ten divisions will be assembled in a week. At this time, the divisions drawn from the mainland had been assembled, and with the help of the navy, they set off directly towards the island of Guinea.

The commander of the army is Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, who has just entered the reserve. Because there were not enough generals who could command, these reserve generals were recruited into various divisions. After all, generals like Yoshio Shinozuka who have actual combat experience are relatively popular. So this time, Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka was appointed commander of the attack on Darwin Port. At this moment, Yoshio Shinozuka was in front of the map, studying how to attack Darwin Port. Here we need to talk about the Port of Darwin. If you want to occupy Australia, you must capture the Port of Darwin, because with the port, you can continue to transport troops far and wide. Therefore, as long as Darwin Port is captured, it will be very easy to subsequently occupy Australia. After learning about Darwin Port, Yoshio Shinozuka spoke. "It is indeed a good place. As long as we capture the port, a steady stream of troops will arrive. It will be easy to occupy Australia by then. Those Australian natives are no match for us at all." "Your Excellency, Division Commander, the Australian Army also has armored units. It is said that they have very strong combat effectiveness. Our troops may not be their opponents." The chief of staff next to him couldn't help but say. After all, their armored forces are incomparable to those of the Australian Army. How can they compare with their little broken tanks? "Shut up, the warriors of the empire are invincible. Even rice chariots cannot stop the advancement of the empire." Shinozuka Yoshio said fiercely. Yoshio Shinozuka was very disdainful of the words of the chief of staff. You must know that for this battle, he had spent a lot of effort and begged many times to get this opportunity. If he fails again, he will go back to the reserve force. That feeling is really unpleasant. Therefore, he can only win this battle, but cannot lose, because this is a battle where his future is at stake. "Have the aviation force bomb Darwin Port immediately to let the Australian troops know that the imperial army is coming." Shinozuka Yoshio ordered. "Hai." Only a surprise attack can produce unexpected results and even create huge results. Although Darwin Port has been bombed before, the intensity of the bombing this time was indeed far beyond the imagination of the Australian army. Hundreds of fighter planes began bombing Darwin Port. A regiment of Australian troops stationed in the port was wiped out almost instantly. As for the remaining troops, they were violently bombed as soon as they picked up their guns. Finally, the air defense forces began to fight back, but it was no longer effective. This time, the Japanese army went crazy and attacked the Australian army's positions frantically. The Australian army, which was in a relaxed state, suffered a heavy blow. In addition to the heavy losses of frontline troops, the airport at Darwin Port was also attacked. When the air raid was almost over, the Japanese army, with the help of landing ships, began to launch a landing on Darwin.

The Japanese army, fearless of death, braved the waves and artillery fire to launch an attack on the Australian beachhead. At this moment, the Australian army deployed a regiment on the beachhead, and there was a tank regiment behind it. It can be said that the Australian army still attaches great importance to Darwin Port. Who makes this a very good port. The main reason is that they are too close to the Japanese army, and the Australian army is also afraid that they will suddenly attack the Australian mainland. In order to break through the beachhead position, the Japanese army's naval guns behind them were also bombing continuously, blowing the entire position into a sea of ​​​​fire. The Australian army behind them also became furious and ordered all fighter planes to take off immediately to support. The Japanese fighter planes here also immediately engaged in a desperate fight with the Australian fighter planes who came to support them, fighting from dawn to dusk. The early Japanese pilots were definitely well-trained elites. Although some elites were lost in the Battle of Midway, if the Army Air Forces could really join forces, they could still form an elite flying formation. On the other hand, the quality of the Australian army's pilots is a bit poor, and most of them are rookies. The Australian pilots who had little combat experience suffered the worst blow from the beginning. Hundreds of fighter planes were killed, and half of them were directly killed. On the other hand, the Japanese lost very little, less than a dozen, and the remaining fighter planes continued to wreak havoc at the port. Overall, the Japanese had the upper hand. After gaining air superiority, fighter planes began to provide support. Compared with the advantages gained in air combat, the results of land combat were not as smooth as air combat. In addition to taking advantage at the beginning, the Australian artillery later joined in the counterattack. The Japanese troops who landed suffered heavy losses. There was no way, the Japanese army lacked resources, resulting in a scarcity of heavy artillery, and suffered a great loss in the face of the Australian army's heavy artillery. Fortunately, the Japanese naval guns were quite powerful and could barely suppress the Australian army's firepower. But if you want to completely occupy the beachhead, you may need to pay a high price. For example, the 301st Division was just formed. At this moment, Kurosawa Yoshio sighed and looked at the corpse in front of him, and made a gesture to his subordinates to move on. He was not originally a lieutenant in the 301st Division, but in the 56th Division. As a result, he was now appointed a captain and was in charge of a squadron at the same time. The task he received now was to capture the Australian left-wing beachhead. Unexpectedly, dozens of subordinates were killed by Australian artillery just after advancing a few hundred meters. He lost one-fifth of his men without even seeing the enemy, which made him very uncomfortable. This battle was really frustrating, but it was a pity that we had to wait for a while to call for support. Because there are so many places that need support. "Asshole, it would be nice if there were heavy artillery." Kurosawa Yoshio said helplessly as he looked at the sky. "Your Excellency, squadron leader, shall we continue the attack?" The person who spoke was a squad leader under Yoshio Kurosawa.

"Our mission is to occupy that high ground, but we have been given a death order from above. If we fail to complete it, we will commit suicide by committing seppuku." Kurosawa Yoshio said helplessly. "Your Excellency, squadron leader, I think such a sacrifice is a pity. Without artillery support, it is no different from dying." The squad leader said bitterly. Their squadron only had grenades because it was inconvenient to carry mountain artillery during the landing. However, it is really unrealistic to rely on grenade launchers to capture the Australian position on the opposite side. Especially after facing the suppression of artillery fire by the Australian army, they were in trouble. "Keep moving forward and be sure to occupy this position." Kurosawa Yoshio ordered loudly. "Ha Yi." The squad leader could only bite the bullet and call on his subordinates to rush towards the Australian army's position in front. In order to prevent Japanese troops from landing before, the Australian army built many positions. But they really didn't expect that the Japanese army would launch a sneak attack. They didn't even react before they were attacked. At the same time, the Australian army commander General Thomas Bremen in Sydney was full of disbelief. "The Japanese army is launching an attack on Darwin Port? Are you sure??" General Thomas Bremen shouted. "Yes, Your Excellency General, the Japanese army has launched an attack on us and is storming Darwin Port. Now the front line is in emergency and we are requesting reinforcements." The words of the communications staff made General Thomas Bremen look very ugly. He really didn't expect that the Japanese army would dare to launch an attack. It was indeed beyond his expectation. He didn't know whether this was a tentative attack or a massive attack. The mainland recalled him to be responsible for the defense of the mainland. Therefore, he was mentally prepared for the Japanese army's plan to attack Australia. But this time it was indeed too sudden, so he was too abrupt. "Tell the frontline troops to fight back immediately and teach me a lesson to those yellow-skinned dwarfs who don't know the heights of the world." General Thomas Bremen said with a very ugly face. "yes!" "In addition, send a telegram to our allies, the US military, to report the situation here and tell them that the Japanese army has landed on our homeland and we need reinforcements!" At the end of the day, General Thomas Bremen added. "yes." At this time, on the front line, an Australian soldier said to the officer beside him: "Sir, the Japanese are coming." "Yes, I saw it, but I'm a bit brave, arrogantly showing off like this? Aren't you afraid of an ambush?" The Australian lieutenant had already seen the Japanese army, but the opponent's performance made him very puzzled. Isn’t it rumored that the Japanese army’s combat effectiveness is very strong? Even their overlord country was defeated steadily. But looking at the Japanese army in front of me, it is not that powerful. "I don't know about this either, prepare to fight!" The lieutenant thought for a while and gave the order to fight.

"yes." On the other side, a sergeant frowned and said to the second lieutenant in front of him: "Your Excellency, second lieutenant, most of these people are retired veterans who have just been summoned. They have forgotten their tactical movements. If we march like this, we may easily encounter an ambush." "Baga, are you scared?" The team leader looked at the other party. "Hai, but..." Sergeant was about to explain something. I saw the squad leader saying mockingly. "Baga, you think I don't know? I did this on purpose. If I don't lure the Australian troops out, how can I destroy them?" "Ah?" The sergeant was immediately confused. Just watch your subordinates die? "Hmph, don't ask any more questions, just carry out the order." The squad leader snorted coldly and continued to signal his subordinates to move forward. "Hai..." Suddenly, a burst of gunfire rang out from the Australian army's position. Because it happened so suddenly, these Japanese soldiers didn't even have a chance to react. "Da da da!" "Da da da!" "Da da da!" The powerful firepower directly stunned the Japanese army, and more than a dozen Japanese soldiers fell to the ground. "Xingxi, attack immediately and destroy those machine gun points." The Japanese second lieutenant responded calmly. "Hai." "Fight back quickly, quickly." "Grenade, counterattack immediately." "Hai." The Japanese grenade launchers are all elite. Within a range of 200 meters, they can basically hit wherever they point. They are very accurate. All Japanese soldiers advance in a skirmish line, and at every interval there will be a veteran carrying a grenade, ready to provide support at any time. The Australian army had not suffered any losses from the Japanese grenade launchers. They did not know how powerful they were and continued to shoot. As a result, he suffered disaster the next second. boom! boom! boom! The grenade shells hit the Australian army's position accurately.

The continuous explosions directly killed the Australian army's machine gun fire points. Seeing this, the Japanese second lieutenant immediately pulled out his command knife and shouted loudly at the top of the mountain. "Assault! The Emperor is on board!" "The Emperor is on board!" "The Emperor is on board!" "The Emperor is on board!" All the Japanese soldiers roared and rushed towards the Australian position. It has to be said that the grassroots officers of the Japanese army are quite good at boosting morale. At least these Japanese troops, bolstered by their morale, rushed towards the Australian positions without fear of death. These Australian recruits, who had never seen such a battle before, were immediately stunned. (End of chapter)