() On January 7, 1915, just five days after Helena and German high-level officials reached a secret agreement, a Taiwanese landing fleet appeared on the sea off the Vung Tau Peninsula in southern Vietnam.
In this landing operation, the Taiwan Navy dispatched 2 Continent-class heavy cruisers, 4 Keelung-class destroyers, more than 20 Petrel-class torpedo boats, and more than 40 Shark-class attack submarines. These ships will be responsible for protecting the 5 ships following the fleet.
The safety of a large passenger ship and two large cargo ships, and on these ships are the protagonists of this landing, the First Division of the Taiwan Army.
Since Taiwan's military establishment is self-created, there are more than 20,000 people in one division, and this time only 2 brigades of the First Division came, totaling more than 15,000 people. They were divided into 5 passenger ships and 2 cruise ships.
Freighters, along with their equipment and vehicles, followed the fleet.
According to the plan of the General Staff, two battalions will first occupy the beachhead position on 20 landing crafts, and advance in depth along the Mekong and Saigon rivers to establish a defense line 3 kilometers away from the beachhead position. The navy will consist of
Two destroyers moved northward along the Saigon River and were responsible for providing fire support to the vanguard.
The Vung Tau Peninsula is located in southern Vietnam, where the Mekong River and Saigon River meet and flow into the sea. It used to be a small fishing village. After France occupied Vietnam, it built it into a resort. More than 100 kilometers north along the Saigon River is South Vietnam.
The capital of Qi (qi) region, Saigon City.
This time, Liu Fu had planned the Taiwanese army's attack on Vietnam for a long time. A few years ago, agents from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and intelligence officers from the Military Intelligence Department of the Ministry of National Defense had entered various parts of Vietnam as maritime merchants to collect intelligence, and
A detailed map was drawn and the Vung Tau Peninsula was finally decided as the landing site.
The Vung Tau Peninsula is close to Saigon City and is not heavily guarded. In addition, the Saigon River is wide and deep and can accommodate medium-sized ships to travel in it. In this way, after establishing a beachhead, the Taiwan Army can rely on the destroyer and naval guns to
Cover and kill directly towards Saigon City.
After the landing fleet approached the Vietnamese waters, it encountered two French gunboats, but the fleet ignored them. The two gunboats of several hundred tons were directly sunk by the fleet's vanguard, the Taiwanese submarine.
Regarding this landing in Vietnam, Liu Fu neither declared war on France nor notified any country. In Liu Fu's eyes, the result of war is the most important thing. As for whether there is morality in the process, it doesn't matter at all.
The landing operation officially started at 8 o'clock in the morning on the 7th. Driven by high-power diesel engines, 20 flat-bottomed landing craft with square heads and square heads, accompanied by the waves, hit the beach of Vung Tau, and the two Keelung-class destroyers also slowly
Slowly sailed into the Saigon River, preparing to provide artillery support for the landing troops.
It was basically the same as the information provided by the Ministry of Interior. The landing troops encountered no resistance. Both sides of the entrance to the sea were smooth and fine beaches. Since it was morning, except for a few tourists, no French soldiers or Vietnamese soldiers were found.
Traces.
Because the water on the beach was too shallow, even though it used water jet propulsion, the landing craft could only send the soldiers more than 100 meters away from the beach. The bottom of the boat hit the beach and could not move forward. The soldiers on the boat were under the command of the officer
Like dumplings, I jumped from the boat into the chest-deep water and trudged toward the beach.
The entire first wave of landing operations lasted for more than 30 minutes and ended with Taiwanese soldiers rushing onto the beach. At this time, neither the landing fleet nor the soldiers who rushed onto the beach had found an enemy.
After a simple assembly, the two battalions on the beach began to disperse and advance deeper into the land, taking the platoon as a unit and the river mouth as a dot. The two destroyers also slowly moved their bodies and began to move along the Saigon River.
Go upstream.
The second wave of landings will be an engineering battalion and some small construction machinery. They will use pontoons and heavy objects to build a temporary unloading dock in the deeper water on the beach so that the two cargo ships can unload the armored vehicles.
, bulldozers, artillery and other heavy equipment.
And those landing craft will keep going back and forth between the passenger ship and the beach, racing against time to send the soldiers of the two brigades to the beach.
Just as the forward battalion advanced a few hundred meters away from the beach, it finally encountered its first resistance after landing. An old white man, wearing only shorts and a bare upper body, rushed out of a small villa with a rifle.
He came out, shouted something, and fired a shot at the Taiwanese soldiers who were approaching the villa.
But just as the muzzle of his gun burst into flames, his whole body flew backwards, and several bullets hit his chest and abdomen directly. He was probably dead before he even fell to the ground.
Since the Taiwan Army has insisted on sending troops to the Philippines for rotation training over the years, these soldiers are no longer the new recruits who have never seen blood. In the battles with the guerrillas on the Philippine Islands, these Taiwanese soldiers have become familiar with killing people.
We are very familiar with it. Regardless of whether they are armed or unarmed people, as long as the officer gives the order, they will shoot without any psychological pressure.
As soon as the old white man who was beaten to death fell to the ground, several people rushed out from the villa. Among them were white women and local middle-aged Vietnamese men. There were also two white children hiding in the open door.
Half a head, looking out.
The one who fired back just now was the first platoon of the 2nd Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 101st Regiment of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division. The platoon leader was called Mayao Gumu. He was an Amis soldier. The platoon he commanded was responsible for advancing along the east side of the Saigon River.
Pushing north, we happened to pass by this small villa.
"You two enter the house, search, escort everyone out, take care of them, and wait for the follow-up troops in place. If you find that the other party resists, shoot." Ma Yaogumu ordered the two soldiers behind him, and then
He waved his hand to greet the other soldiers, continued to open the skirmish line, and walked towards the north of the villa. The two soldiers immediately rushed into the villa and began to search.
The commander of the entire landing operation this time was Hu Xiaoming, commander of the First Division of the Taiwan Army. He was just 35 years old this year. He was one of the first batch of officers trained by the Taiwan Army itself. He started from the platoon leader and relied on his smart mind and decisiveness.
After more than six years of training, he was promoted to the position of commander of Taiwan's First Division.
