Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 187 Believe that Mr. Zheng will lead us to victory
The battlefield is the feast of death.

The Japanese army before them was being destroyed at an astonishing speed. The entire beach was dyed slightly red with blood. Limbs broken by heavy machine guns and internal organs blown out by artillery fire were scattered all over Kota Bharu.

The British army's casualty ratio was very good. Tao Jun only had to take a quick look and could tell that the Japanese army had to pay at least ten to one, or even more casualties, to advance inch by inch.

However, even with such an exaggerated exchange ratio, it is not difficult to see that the British army's momentum has been lost.

The Japanese army's spirit of not caring about their own lives and being ready to die was so strong that even a veteran like Tao Jun was a little scared, let alone these Sikh Indians who worked to make a living?

As the Japanese army captured one machine gun and artillery position after another, the exchange ratio between Japan and Britain was rapidly equalizing.

More importantly, even though the British army had a numerical advantage in the air battle, they were unable to gain much advantage.

The imagined crushing victory, where one British fighter plane could easily deal with at least two Japanese planes, simply did not exist.

The British army's aircraft are almost all second-rate, about to be retired, or even retired junk. The performance of the aircraft is far inferior to that of the Japanese army. Most of the pilots are Australian, and their training level is also far inferior to that of the Japanese army.

It was indeed a one-sided crushing battle.

It was the Japanese air force that was chasing and crushing the British army.

The planes of the two armies were constantly engaged in dogfights in the sky. The British army had a numerical advantage, while the Japanese army had a qualitative advantage.

Japanese planes intermittently dive-bombed British positions, artillery towers, and airports.

British fighter planes continued to drop bombs on the Japanese army.

However, the Japanese bombers could easily find the British airfields and flatten them, while the British were like headless flies and could not find the Japanese aircraft carriers at all.

"The Japanese army's way of fighting is truly incredible."

It took Tao Jun a while to get used to the Japanese army's crazy fighting style that disregarded casualties, and he shook his head in frustration.

My own soldiers don't seem to be this brave. Besides, I can't use such tactics. This is too crazy.

Mr. Zheng once said that the Japanese army could be considered the pinnacle of second-rate, that at least the elite Class A divisions were fearless and unafraid of death. But if they were so fearless and unafraid of death, how could they only be second-rate? What would a first-rate army be like?

"General, how should we mobilize troops for support?"

Tao Jun thought about it, but shook his head and said, "We don't support it."

"Ah? No support? But, what if this port of Gotambaru falls..."

Tao Jun: "Kota Bharu will definitely fall. The British Indian 3rd Division will never be a match for this fierce and powerful force."

After that, he analyzed carefully, "Our troops rushing to support us from Pattani and North Carolina might not be in time by the time they arrive. If the British army has already lost their position by then, we will have no choice but to fight the Japanese head-on and fight to the death without any position."

"This is too much of a loss, and the Japs are so elite that I'm afraid only our Chinese troops in the South Asian Alliance can resist them. The Siamese, Malays, and those British and Indian troops are even less capable."

"If we divide our forces between Pattani and Songkhla to save Kota Bharu, which is probably already beyond saving, and this results in the loss of either Pattani or Songkhla, then we are truly hopeless. Retreat."

After saying that, Tao Jun turned around and left with his guard platoon, as if he had never been there.

"But General, if Kota Bharu falls, wouldn't our retreat be cut off?"

Tao Jun shook his head and said, "No, Kota Bharu doesn't have the conditions for a large-scale landing. How many soldiers can they land in such a small port? Malaya is already covered with tropical rainforests. If they really want to bypass Patani, it would be like we are cutting off their retreat."

"In the final analysis, if Japan really wants to launch a large-scale attack on the Malay Peninsula, it would be most convenient to do so by land. Besides, whether it's our army's supplies or Kota Bharu's supplies, they ultimately rely on the navy. How can they cut off my retreat?"

When everyone heard this, they nodded.

Since their coalition forces took over the Duolun area, all supplies have been taken over by the British navy.

After all, victory in the South Seas will still be decided by the navy.

In terms of navy, I am afraid that even the Japanese themselves would think that Britain was stronger than Japan at that time, especially after the Invincible Armada arrived in Singapore.

The reason why these people were stationed on the Isthmus of Kra was simply to prevent the Japanese army from invading Malaya from the land and directly using the army to attack Singapore without any moral ethics.

After all, in Malaya, their army served the British navy, not the other way around.

"But in this case, we might be at a disadvantage in an air battle."

Tao Jun thought about it and said, "That's not necessarily true. The Japanese mainly use aircraft carriers. Doesn't the British also have two aircraft carriers?"

"The Japanese have air forces in Haiphong and Hainan, and we also have air forces in Penang and Singapore. If the Thai army dares to lend its airfields to the Japanese, we can also send the Penang air force to carry out long-range bombing of Thai airfields."

"Besides, even without air superiority, the positional defense is still tenable."

After saying this, Tao Jun sat in the car, but he unconsciously pinched his brows and lit a cigarette. Obviously, his heart was far from as calm as he appeared, and he was clearly frightened by the Japanese army's fearlessness.

Indeed, I couldn't help but think: "Damn, the Japanese army is so brave, how did Anand's Malay Army win such a big victory?"

He would never believe, even if you beat him to death, that his Chinese troops would be inferior to Anand's Malay troops.

In fact, it was just as Tao Jun had guessed. As soon as Tao Jun returned to Pattani, he received the news that Kota Bharu had fallen, the British air force base was destroyed, and more than 100 planes were destroyed.

The 6000-man th Brigade was defeated, and it is still unknown where they went. The Japanese army began its occupation of Malaya. If nothing unexpected happens, the entire Kelantan will most likely be completely occupied by Japan within a few days.

Fortunately, thanks to Zheng Yi and his management for more than half a year, the coastal defense systems of Pattani and Songkhla were still relatively complete and could not be conquered. In the frontal army battle, although Bond and Wu Aihua both gave up their positions, they retreated a total of about thirty or forty miles.

But fortunately, they still held their ground, and the Japanese casualties were not small.

After waiting for less than four hours, the British navy finally arrived from Singapore and exchanged bombardments with the Japanese army.

Because the Japanese army also brought troop transport ships, and the wind and waves today were indeed particularly strong, which was not suitable for naval battle. The most important thing was that the Japanese army destroyed the British Air Force in Kota Bharu and actually established their own foothold in Malaya.

Since the tactical goal has been achieved, the Japanese army's actions today have been quite big, so they decided to stop while they are ahead and did not continue to fight with the British army, but chose to retreat.

The British navy chased for a while, but was harassed by the Japanese planes and had a headache. The most important thing was that the two British battleships could not catch up. Although the British aircraft carriers were fast enough, the performance of the aircraft and the ability of the pilots on the aircraft carriers were much worse than those of the Japanese.

The Japanese pilots accurately locked onto the British aircraft carrier and tried to drop bombs. However, because the British aircraft were not at an advantage, they could not fly far and could not grasp the position of the Japanese aircraft carrier. Therefore, they had to give up and chose to abandon the pursuit.

It was not until sunset that the Japanese army slowly retreated, both on land and at sea. The lost positions were recaptured and the troops were busy renovating them.

The setting sun was as red as blood, shining on the battlefield full of broken walls and ruins, covering the world with a layer of blood.

There was no time to count the battle losses, casualties, and gains. Tao Jun, who had relaxed, distributed the cigarettes in his pocket to his adjutants and staff officers. He lit them and turned on the radio to listen to the news. He found that the news all day long was full of war news, but no one paid attention to their small border area between Siam and Malaysia.

"The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor actually achieved such a great result? Eight battleships, four sunk and four severely damaged?"

For a moment, they didn't know whether to worry or relax.

"Breaking news, breaking news. Just now at 18:20 PM, the Japanese army attacked the US military base in Manila under cover of dusk. Over 400 US aircraft were destroyed, and Marshal Mai is nowhere to be found."

"Having lost both Pearl Harbor and Manila, will the United States still be able to gain a foothold in Southeast Asia? Can it still withstand the frenzied attacks of the Japanese army? If the Americans withdraw, will they return?"

"If there were no American troops in Southeast Asia, would the evil Japanese devils sweep across the entire Southeast Asia? We Chinese..."

Of course, Tao Jun and others listened to Chinese radio stations.

In just one day, the Japanese army achieved such great results by taking advantage of the sneak attack, which even made the radio host a little out of control. They all started crying halfway through the broadcast.

Everyone naturally understands the relationship between the Chinese and the Japanese. Moreover, the Japanese are absolutely militaristic. As long as they fall into their hands, what should the Chinese in Southeast Asia do?
Snapped.

Tao Jun simply turned off the radio, his face looking extremely gloomy.

Off to the side, a staff officer finally couldn't help but burst out: "Are the US military all brainless idiots? They were ambushed twice in one day. And just with these two attacks, they lost almost all of their armed forces in Asia?"

"Japan, you... declared war on Britain and the United States at the same time, and surprisingly, you won both? Are the Japs really that... strong?"

For a moment, everyone looked depressed.

Tao Jun suddenly burst into laughter and said cheerfully, "Why are you all bowing your heads? Wasn't everything that happened today all within Mr. Zheng's expectations? Didn't Mr. Zheng propose the Japanese threat theory several years ago, predicting everything that's happening today?"

"We clearly came from Penang, but we didn't defend Kedah or Bolivia. Isn't it because of Mr. Zheng's foresight that we stopped the Japanese army here? Everything was within Mr. Zheng's expectations and under his control."

"Even if Japan can really break through and occupy Malaya, what is there to be afraid of? We still have Mr. Zheng in Nanyang and Penang."

"You all should know that Penang began preparing for war several years ago under Mr. Zheng's orders. A large number of tunnels and underground fortifications have been dug under the entire city, even the mountain has been dug through. Regardless of what happened in other areas, could the Japanese devils still attack Penang?"

"Everyone, Penang now has a population of nearly five million. We have at least hundreds of thousands, perhaps even a million, of guns. Every male in the city undergoes regular military training. Even if we lose the war, we at least always have a retreat like Penang. Why should we be so depressed?"

After saying this, a group of Chinese officers all showed expressions of sudden realization and excitement.

"Yes, what's so scary about the Japs? We still have Penang and Mr. Zheng. Mr. Zheng is a genius. He figured out this whole issue years ago. He also figured out that the Japanese army may seem powerful, but in reality, they are just like rabbits with tails that can't grow long."

"Yes, at least we still have Mr. Zheng. Besides, there's nothing to be afraid of. The defeat of Britain and the United States doesn't necessarily mean that the Japanese devils are stronger. It's not like we haven't fought against the devils before."

"That's right. Speaking of unifying Southeast Asia, this host is clearly trying to boost others' morale and undermine his own prestige. We're defending Pattani and Songkhla, and the Japanese fought so hard today, but still failed to take them, didn't they?"

"Well said! Although Kota Bharu was breached today, isn't it ultimately due to the incompetence of the British? The positions we Chinese defended were all well defended. It's not that the Japanese were so powerful, it's clearly that the British were too incompetent."

"Yes, everyone, believe in yourselves, believe in Mr. Zheng, and believe that Mr. Zheng will definitely lead us to victory!"

(End of this chapter)