Angel did not sit back and watch the Z fleet being annihilated.
After receiving a telegram from Tom Phillips hoping that Angel would send a tugboat to tow the "Prince of Wales" back to the Lion City, Angel immediately sent a fighter plane to Kota Bharu.
Unfortunately it's too late.
When the Air Force's "Goshawk" 2 flew to Kota Bharu, the Z fleet and Japanese aircraft had all disappeared, leaving only some oil stains and broken floating objects on the sea. The surviving Royal Navy officers and soldiers had been captured by the Japanese.
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Of the 5,743 officers and men on board the "Prince of Wales" and the "Repulse", a total of 4,793 people were killed.
This result was unacceptable to the UK. After Winston learned that Fleet Z had been destroyed, he immediately called Rock and demanded that those responsible be held accountable.
Obviously, the person responsible here is mainly An Qi.
"What responsibility can General Angel have? He has tried his best to dissuade Fleet Z from taking the initiative to attack, but General Phillips ignored General Angel's advice, which led to the tragedy. After learning that Fleet Z was attacked,
General An Qi did not sit idly by, he has done everything he can." Rock did not think An Qi was responsible. The person most responsible has been buried at the bottom of the sea. To investigate the responsibility, he must go to the Dragon King.
"But the British don't think so. The Allies have never lost a general of the level of an admiral before, let alone two battleships." Yang Smozi smiled with ridicule. He was about to go to London to serve as the commander in southern Africa.
Coordinator of the Allied General Command.
"The Prime Minister is just doing this as a matter of routine and does not want to hold anyone accountable. After all, London still needs our help to maintain their rule in the Malay Peninsula and the situation in North Africa." Sidney Milner hit the nail on the head.
Winston is not stupid. At present, the enemy will not destroy the relationship between Southern Africa and the United Kingdom for the sake of the completely wiped out fleet Z.
Angel is the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Ocean Theater, and her status is much more important to the Allies than Thumbs-up.
It is true that the entire Z fleet was responsible for the annihilation of Angel, but the main responsibility lies with Big Thumb, who underestimated the enemy and rushed in. Winston was the Lord of the Admiralty and knew that familiarity is more important than familiarity.
"What do you say over there?" Rock is still concerned about coordination issues now.
The United States' entry into the war greatly increased the strength of the Allied forces, but also brought more uncertainty.
Now within the Allied Forces, the main forces are Southern Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, which is struggling in the war. All four parties have their own interests and demands.
Since the Moscow Conference, the main disagreement within the Allies has been the trade-off relationship in the Eurasian battlefield.
The United Kingdom definitely wants to focus on Europe, but Southern Africa wants to focus on Asia. The United States does not want to give up on either side. The Russians have the simplest request. Don't worry about which side is the main one. Keep Moscow first.
Entering December, the situation was gradually improving and changing in a direction more favorable to the Allies.
After the Kalinin Front began to counterattack, on December 6, the Western Front also launched counterattacks against the Germans from both directions.
The German army, which seriously underestimated Russia's strength, was caught off guard. Faced with the Russian army's crazy attacks, the German army retreated steadily, and the battlefield was gradually moving away from Moscow.
On the evening of the 6th, Mustache ordered all troops in Russia to enter a defensive state.
On December 9, the Russians recaptured Rogachevo, Istria on the 11th, Solnechnogorsk on the 12th, Klin on the 15th, and Kalinin on the 16th.
By the 20th, Russia regained Volokolamsk.
On the 20th, Mustache dismissed Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, and assumed the concurrent post of Commander-in-Chief of the Army himself.
Mustache issued an order: Everyone should stand at their current position and fight back. When there is no established position in the rear, no retreat is allowed.
Previously, due to the unfavorable war situation, Guderian and Hepner, who were trying to preserve their strength, were both dismissed from their posts for retreating without authorization.
While Russia was regaining lost ground, the situation in the Far East further collapsed.
After the Japanese army captured Bataan on the 20th, they continued to attack Kuala Lumpur. Percival tried hard to organize defenses, but to no avail. The British and Indian troops almost collapsed at the first touch. Not only could they not stop the Japanese from advancing, but they sent a large amount of military supplies to the Japanese.
Become the captain of the Japanese transportation brigade.
At the same time as the Malay Campaign was launched, the Japanese 14th Army launched the Philippine Campaign under the leadership of Masaharu Honma, with a total strength of 34,000 troops.
Before the war broke out, the United States had 130,000 troops in the Philippines, including 31,000 US troops.
In addition, the Philippines also has 270 combat aircraft, but only 142 of them are capable of taking off for combat, and the models are old and the pilots are seriously lacking in training.
On the Japanese side, the Philippines Campaign Joint Formation has 10 cruisers, 29 destroyers, 1 aircraft carrier, and 3 seaplane carriers, in addition to 100 transport ships and auxiliary ships.
The 5th Air Force Air Force of the Army Air Force has 200 combat aircraft, and the 11th Air Force of the Naval Base Air Force has 300 aircraft.
Although there is a huge gap between the Japanese army and the US-Philippine coalition forces in terms of ground forces, they have an overall advantage in other aspects.
On December 8, when the Japanese army launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, they also launched a surprise attack on the US military airport in the northern Philippines and the Cavite (Luzon) naval base.
The U.S. military was caught off guard. Half of its bombers and one-third of its fighter jets were destroyed on the ground. The Japanese successfully gained air superiority.
On the 12th, the Japanese troops landed in Legazpi, southern Luzon Island, and successfully occupied the airport. The Fifth Flying Group immediately moved in. At this time, the Americans behaved like the British and had no sense of fortifying the wall and clearing the field.
On the 20th, the main force of the Japanese 48th Division landed in western Luzon Island, and on the 21st, the 16th Division landed in the southwest of Luzon Island. At this point, Japan formed a pincer attack on Manila from the north and south.
Masaharu Honma wanted to have a decisive battle with the US-Philippine coalition forces in Manila.
What Masaharu Honma didn't expect was that Lieutenant General MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the U.S.-Philippine coalition, had no determination to fight the Japanese decisively. After the 16th Division landed, MacArthur ordered the U.S. military to withdraw fully to the preset positions and areas on the Bataan Peninsula.
Rehidor Island.
MacArthur's performance was perfectly in line with the Japanese army's predictions about the US military.
Before the war broke out, the Japanese firmly believed that Americans, whose enterprising spirit had been corrupted by a better life, simply did not have the courage and determination to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army.
So far, all the Japanese troops that have landed have basically encountered no decent resistance. The US-Philippine coalition forces defending the beach, like the British and Indian troops, when facing the Japanese troops landing, fired a few shots and then dispersed. The Japanese troops
Landing on the beach is even easier than training.
Americans are doing so poorly, so how much better can southern Africans be?
It has to be said that the performance of the British and Americans on the battlefield laid a big surprise for the Japanese.
"Both London and Washington hope that the Indian Ocean Theater can provide assistance to Malaya and the Philippines, but they do not want to take responsibility, but want our soldiers to die instead of their soldiers. Haha, the British and Americans are human beings, don't they?
Are we southern Africans not human beings?" Yang Smuts sneered. There were also many conflicts within the Allied forces.
"The Americans have withdrawn all remaining bombers to Australia and ordered the Asian Fleet to move closer to the Pacific Fleet, making it clear that they want to abandon the Philippines." Martin looked serious, and now all the pressure is on southern Africa.
Not only Americans, but also British people plan this way.
Even Free France was ready to take over French Indochina.
Although De Gaulle has promised to transfer France's interests in French Indochina to Southern Africa, the outcome is hard to say. De Gaulle's commitment is only a stopgap measure. The United Kingdom and the United States are not willing to see Southern Africa's sphere of influence in the Far East expand again.
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"It is impossible for Americans to give up their only colony in Asia." Sidney Milner was indifferent and did not care about the life and death of Americans.
"Yang, don't make any promises to London and Washington. We will defeat the Japanese in Malaya and the Philippines, but not now." Roque will not make wedding clothes for others. If the British and Americans give up the Far East, then they will not even think about it.
Back again: "Let An Qi prepare to launch an attack on the Japanese army once the Japanese army takes over Malaya and the Philippines.":.
The British and Americans wanted to use southern Africa to defeat the Japanese.
Rock also wanted to use the Japanese to weaken or eliminate the spheres of influence of Britain and the United States in the Far East.
In short, they are calculating against each other.
While southern Africa remains patient, the US-Philippine coalition forces are retreating to the Bataan Peninsula.
The three main roads leaving the Philippines were overcrowded. Cars of dignitaries, military trucks towing artillery behind their backs, and civilian cattle carts were all crowded together. The situation was completely out of control. Manila was about to be surrounded by the Japanese army, and everyone wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"General, the Japanese army is surrounding Manila. We need more reinforcements." Major General Jonathan Wainwright, MacArthur's alumnus at West Point and his most effective assistant in the Philippines, was worried. The U.S.-Philippine coalition has actually collapsed and cannot be organized at all.
Effective defense.
Wainwright and MacArthur had anticipated the outbreak of war, but no one expected it to come so quickly.
In other words, Wainwright and MacArthur did not expect that the performance of the U.S.-Philippine coalition forces on the battlefield would be so poor.
Although the US-Philippine coalition forces are mainly composed of Filipinos, a considerable part of them are composed entirely of Americans.
It’s okay to forget that the Philippine servant army performed poorly, it was expected.
The troops composed purely of Americans also collapsed in the battle with the Japanese army. This was something Wainwright and MacArthur never expected.
It's actually normal.
Rock did not want southern Africans to die for the British and Americans.
U.S. officers and soldiers do not want to die for the Philippines.
Think about it, if the servant army composed of Filipinos is about to collapse, the US military troops will not cover the retreat of the Filipinos.
The Filipinos cover the Americans.
"Are you those bastards from Southern Africa? Don't think about it. If they wanted to help us, they would have taken action long ago." MacArthur was still holding his iconic pipe in his mouth, and his hatred for Southern Africa was clear.
The last time MacArthur served as commander-in-chief of the US military in the Philippines, he suffered heavy losses at the hands of the southern Africans. MacArthur never forgot this.
After the Brazilian Civil War, many people in the United States clamored for revenge against the southern Africans, and MacArthur was the most determined among them.
Fortunately, the U.S. government was not kidnapped by the so-called "public opinion" and made the right choice. MacArthur was once again marginalized and returned to the Philippines to continue being his emperor.
The situation is obvious now. The Philippine Campaign has been going on for more than half a month. The Southern African troops in the Far East and the East Indian Army are standing still. They are obviously waiting for the U.S.-Philippine coalition forces to be annihilated by the Japanese, and then the Southern Africans will jump out to clean up the mess.
In this way, it is difficult to say what the Philippines will be called after the war is over.
"But the only people we can rely on now are southern Africans." Wainwright was helpless. The 130,000 US-Philippine coalition forces could not defeat the more than 30,000 Japanese. Who is to blame?
I can only blame myself for not having the ability.
"No, no, no, Jonathan, we can only rely on ourselves, it's useless to rely on anyone else." MacArthur was right, you have to be strong to make iron.
"So?" Wainwright hoped that MacArthur could turn the tide. After all, he became the principal of West Point Military Academy at the age of 39.
"We must concentrate all our forces on the Bataan Peninsula and use the Bataan Peninsula as the battlefield for our decisive battle with the Japanese." MacArthur had already prepared. The decisive battle was just an excuse, and the purpose was to drag southern Africa into the water: "If we can
If the Dan Peninsula causes huge casualties to the Japanese, the Japanese will shift their targets to other directions. The most important thing for the Japanese is oil."
MacArthur was well aware of the weaknesses of the Japanese. Japan's pre-war total oil reserves were less than half a year old. As long as the war was delayed, the U.S.-Philippine coalition would still have a chance to win.
In Southeast Asia, it has been discovered that the oil fields that can stably produce oil are on the island of Kalimantan in East India.
After more than ten years of hard work in southern Africa and East India, Kalimantan is impregnable.
The problem is that there is an enclave of British Malaya on the island of Kalimantan. The British did not manage it carefully and the Japanese could easily land.
So it doesn't take too long. As long as it can persist for half a year, the US-Philippine coalition will usher in victory.
"The Bataan Peninsula is surrounded by water on three sides. If we concentrate our troops on the Bataan Peninsula, we will be completely surrounded by the Japanese." Wainwright looked at the map and frowned. The Bataan Peninsula was not a good choice.
Luzon is the northernmost island in the Philippines. If MacArthur wanted to fight a protracted war, he could use the islands in the Philippines to resist and create more trouble for the Japanese.
"Jonathan, I also want to withdraw the troops to Australia, or even to the mainland, but we can't do it." MacArthur has no choice. The Asian fleet has withdrawn, and air supremacy is in the hands of the Japanese. MacArthur now doesn't even have a usable ship.
There are no transport ships, how to evacuate?
"God will bless us!" MacArthur smiled bitterly, this was his last resort. Provide you with the fastest updates and free reading.:.
