In addition to deploying an armored battalion in the city of Perth, the Federal Fifth Armored Division and the Sixth Armored Division will load most of the remaining 550-plus tanks directly onto trains, and together with their troops, they will advance along the railway to the east coast of Australia, and finally
Arriving near Brisbane on the evening of June 5, the Fifth Armored Division then moved north along the coast to occupy other cities, and the Sixth Armored Division moved south along the coast, occupying cities along the way. The most popular destination was Sydney Harbour.
Although the Australian continent is not small, most of its areas are not suitable for human habitation. They are either yellow sand deserts or jungle swamps and mountains and ravines. Only the coastal areas in the east, southeast, and southwest have a mild climate.
Cities exist only in areas that are neither wet, nor high nor low, nor cold nor hot.
Therefore, this raid designed by the federal Ministry of Defense is mainly to occupy areas in southwestern Australia, mainly Perth, the eastern coast of Australia, and Melbourne in southeastern Australia. As for other wastelands in the interior of Australia, they are no longer within the scope of the first wave of attacks.
, even if there are a small number of residents or aborigines in those places, they can't cause any trouble. Even under relatively primitive communication conditions, these residents will not find out after most cities in Australia are occupied by federal troops.
In addition, in the plan formulated by the federal Ministry of Defense, all cities in the southwest, east, and southeast of Australia must be captured within 10 days, that is, before June 12. The federal navy's home fleet will attack the north and south of New Zealand in the early morning of June 12.
The two islands, the Melanesian Islands, and the Fiji Islands launch an attack. If the landing force fails to complete the task of occupying the above-mentioned cities by then, the federal navy's home fleet will no longer be able to provide any help to the landing army.
The group arrived at Nantie Port on time as planned. When the fleet appeared on the channel outside the port, the lights in Nantie Port were bright, and the advance team organized by Nantie Port Security Team and Engineering Corps had been prepared in advance to welcome the federal government.
The arrival of the army, port
All cargo ships in the port have been emptied, and the heavy hoppers that were originally responsible for loading ore have been converted into cranes for lifting cargo. Coupled with the railway that originally led directly to the port, the three federal army divisions and their equipment loaded by the group landed.
Very fast.[
Three hours later, a tank battalion of the 5th Armored Brigade and a regiment of the 1st Mountain Division, with a total of 60 tanks, more than 200 armored vehicles and transport vehicles, and more than 2,600 officers and soldiers and their equipment and supplies, were already on board.
Five trains bound for Perth. At the same time, the first batch of 20 Federal Air Force transport planes also began to land at the airport near the Southern Railway Port. They brought some of the ground command communication equipment and ground staff of the 1st Air Wing.
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Since the Southern Railway Port security team and the federal engineering force had blocked most of the Western Australian mining areas, including Southern Railway Port, miners in each sub-mining area could not freely enter and exit, and railway transportation between mining areas was also interrupted.
Not only did the federal troops' landing at Southern Railport not be discovered by the Western Australian government.
Even most people in the Western Australia mining area don't know. In fact, even if someone knows, they can't send news to the outside world. The entire Western Australia mining area can only communicate with the outside world through telegraph, telephone and railway. Currently, all three methods are used by the federal military intelligence.
The people from the bureau have taken control. Let alone using it, ordinary people can't even get close.
Almost at the same time that the group arrived at the Southern Railway Port, the fleet of Group B also arrived at the sea outside Darwin Port. Two heavy cruisers blocked the channel outside the port, and 20 Federal Air Force bombers arrived from the airport on the island of New Guinea on time.
Come over, before the Australian navy and garrison troops in Darwin Port could react, dozens of tons of bombs were dropped on their heads.
Two cruisers, two destroyers, and four coastal gunboats of the Australian Navy parked in the port were instantly turned into burning scrap metal. Although another destroyer of the British Royal Navy miraculously did not hit a single bomb,
But as soon as it entered the channel, it was bombarded by two Federal heavy cruisers outside the port. After two rounds of bombardment, the destroyer was also hit by two 300mm caliber cannons and exploded into several pieces.
The sudden attack caused the Australian 5th Infantry Division, which was stationed 2 kilometers south of Darwin Port, to suffer heavy losses. Since the detailed location of the location was obtained by federal agents in advance, the burning that fell near the entire division headquarters was the most intensive. In addition, at this time
It was just 5 o'clock in the morning, and most of the officers and soldiers were asleep in the barracks, including the deputy division commander
, dozens of senior officers, including the chief of staff, were all evaporated by the high temperature of the explosion in an instant. In the three main stations of the division, two-thirds of the soldiers were killed or injured, and the original stations could hardly be found.
Even if the commander of the Australian 5th Infantry Division, who does not live in the garrison, comes back, he will only be a bare commander.
But the nightmare was not over yet. Fifteen minutes later, the second wave of air strikes came again. This time the focus of the attack became several shore artillery positions near the port, although at this time several Australian Air Force aircraft had already arrived from nearby airports.
came, but the old-fashioned biplanes were no match for the federal bombers, and they were quickly wiped out, with only two of them staggering away.
The reason why the Federal Air Force did not bomb an Australian Air Force airport south of Darwin Port was not because it did not discover its existence, but because it did not take into account those old aircraft in order not to damage the runway and facilities of the airport so that it could become the Federal Air Force's
The landing site will be occupied by the 1st Armored Division that landed at Darwin Port.
The two waves of air strikes were followed by an hour of naval gun roll call. Targets suspected of having shore artillery or being a threat would be targeted with focused fire. When the Navy's landing craft entered the port, no moving objects could be seen in Darwin Port.
, everywhere except ruins and broken walls
There were all kinds of burning things, and black smoke enveloped the entire urban area. Darwin Port, with a population of only more than 50,000, had become an empty city at this time. Except for those who were killed and burned during the air raid, other residents had already been bombarded.
Before the start, we moved to the south of the city,
Although the attack lasted only one and a half hours, Dal Port basically had no ability to resist. However, compared with the Southern Railway Port, the landing conditions here are much worse. After many years of operation, the Southern Railway Port has only
It is an ore transshipment port, but its pier length, berths, and water depth are all inferior to the federal medium-sized ports, and there are sufficient lifting machinery and railway transportation, as well as thousands of federal miners and engineers.
Team, and Darwin Port is just a small port. The port terminal originally made of stones has now been restored to its raw material state. Not only does it have no loading and unloading equipment, there is no labor force, and there are not even enough basic berths. The transport ships can only take turns with two ships.
Enter, and then use landing craft to transport personnel and light equipment ashore. As for the tanks and supplies, they need to wait until the engineers set up a temporary dock before they can go ashore.
However, the First Armored Division did not delay its journey because of the lack of tanks. They divided the only more than 20 armored vehicles into 3 teams, and then began to patrol within a few kilometers of the port, clearing away the remaining Australian troops.
Mark out a safe area for landing troops.
After the efforts of the engineering troops, in the early morning of June 3, a tank battalion of the 1st Armored Division finally gathered enough tanks and ammunition. Then without any pause, under the leadership of the reconnaissance tank, it pounced on Australia 20 kilometers away.
Air Force Airport. For the federal tank battalion, those biplanes are really not a threat. Not only the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns in the battalion can blast them in the air, but even the heavy machine guns on the tanks can make these aircraft fly back and forth.
On the way to the airport, the tank battalion of the 1st Armored Division finally encountered a battle that could be considered a battle. Behind a slope, more than 100 Australian soldiers wearing yellow shorts and wide-brimmed hats used simple fortifications.
, launched an attack on the advancing tank battalion, and used a field gun to interrupt the track belt of a Cheetah 2 tank.
But this is also the biggest result of these Australian soldiers. What follows is the revenge of dozens of tanks with 90mm high explosive. Before the smoke of the explosion has dissipated, flat and wide black shadows appear one after another.
In front of the Australian army's simple trenches. (To be continued...)
