605 Battle of Australia
Fighting in Australia hasn't been going well these days. Although the Japanese army deliberately chose a relatively remote landing area to avoid counterattacks, due to the increasing number of troops, they gradually began to capture several important areas in Australia a few days later.
The Japanese army going south had less success and was basically useless-they attacked several unimportant towns along the way. It was this army that advanced in the endless desert. There are almost no defensive troops.
The Japanese troops going north had already occupied Kalumburu and Windham half a month ago, and then started a fierce battle with a nearby Australian infantry regiment. A few hours later, the fierce Japanese soldiers forced their way into the area regardless of their own losses. Timber Creek, and its vanguard captured their long-desired Western Australian port of Port Keats on 27 July.
This combat operation half-surrounded an Australian division in Darwin Port. Once the Japanese army occupied Darwin, the logistical supply of the Japanese Australian landing force would be much more convenient, and it would be regarded as completely gaining a foothold in Australia.
In fact, if you look at the history of Japan's invasion of China, you can see the characteristics of the Japanese nation. They are fierce and unusual, but with a hint of insidious and cunning. They study and understand a powerful opponent, try to master all the details of the opponent, use it to judge and evaluate the opponent, and finally win by surprise in a decisive battle, defeating and surpassing the opponent.
The Japanese were like this when dealing with Tsarist Russia. They knew about the Tsarist Russian troops deployed in the Far East. Because of the support of the British and French, they even knew that Tsarist Russia was not capable of transporting a large number of more elite European troops to the Far East. So they won a battle and defeated Tsarist Russia.
This is especially true when dealing with the Manchu Qing government in China. Their spies are pervasive. They even understand China’s products and the level of military industrial enterprises. They frantically collect all kinds of information about China. In the end, they understand China better than the Chinese themselves. The victory in the First World War laid the foundation for Japan's rise.
But this time, things changed a bit. The continuous victories of the Japanese made them a little bit smug. This is the inevitable result of the lack of background and rapid rise. Because of the tight time, they cannot allow them to spend another 3 or even 5 years to observe their opponents, so Japan is a bit blind this time. feeling.
They don't know the Soviet troops behind Nomenkan, and they are still using intelligence from the Tsarist era to assess this powerful opponent. They don't understand the United States, at least they don't fully understand the opposite United States, and they can't understand the terrible production capacity of the United States at all. The Japanese high-level leaders themselves did not think that the war would be so smooth. Their expected plan was not written here at all. In their thinking, after Japan captured the Philippines and Malaysia, the United States would choose to surrender after taking Wake Island. However, at present, this estimate is a bit too optimistic, and the Japanese military has to panic to prepare for the second round of action plans.
Is a country's invasion plan detailed enough?
Whether the strategic vision is far-reaching and the strategic forecast is accurate enough determines whether the country’s aggression process is smooth or not, whether the control after the occupation of the target is safe, and whether the country can eat its own goals to achieve self-strengthening.
The relatively comprehensive combat plan drawn up by Japan is the war of aggression against China, so even if the squadron is repeatedly strengthened by Germany and the United States, it still cannot prevent the Japanese army from expanding its occupied area in the coastal areas of China. But the war that Japan is now conducting is completely unplanned, so it is no wonder that various problems have arisen.
For example, the Japanese army had a serious disagreement with the navy on the occupation of Australia. The navy hoped that the army could attack eastward along the coastal areas, control the prosperous port cities in eastern Australia as soon as possible, and prepare for marching into South America and the United States. As for those In the western region, it is dispensable.
However, the Army believes that Australia must be fully occupied in order to save its own troops to the greatest extent. Now Japan has mobilized 40 divisions to fight in Australia, and more than 20 of them have been sent to Australia and the surrounding areas of Australia. If the war in Australia cannot end in a short time, the Japanese army will add another 40 divisions to go to Australia. Australia, this is simply worse for Japan, which is obviously short of troops.
According to Japan's usual solution, this kind of serious disagreement finally made a weird joke: since everyone can't understand each other, then no one cares about the other, let's fight our own way! This kind of child's play combat method has been throughout Japan's Pacific War. From weapon research and development to tactical arrangements, the navy and army are not under each other's control.
As a result, all kinds of funny things that disrupted each other appeared in the Japanese military's combat performance: the navy was defeated, and the army was not informed of the news. As a result, the army found out that there was no naval force to cooperate when the army fought, and the result was even worse. The navy went to dig caves to prepare for a long-term battle, and the army was still foolishly digging trenches on the beach to fight against the US landing. This is the performance of the Japanese military under real conditions, without exaggeration.
Therefore, the Japanese navy began to organize some marines and other forces to attack northward along the coastline, completing their plan to seize the industrial zone on the east coast of Australia as soon as possible. It has to be said that this time the Japanese navy's plan looks more thoughtful than the army's. However, the high-level Japanese army ordered the elite army troops to attack southward in an attempt to conquer the entire Australian island in line with the principle of "as long as the navy persists, the army will oppose it".
However, compared with several elite divisions of the army, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese Marine Corps is still far behind, at least in terms of the configuration of heavy weapons, it cannot match the Japanese army. Therefore, in the process of entanglement with the Australian troops, the Japanese army going north did not find any decent bargains, and could only rely on limited naval cover to advance bit by bit. As for the main force of the Japanese navy fleet, it was already full of Confidence, to the United States of America's Oahu.
In order to draw a clear line with the Japanese Navy, the Japanese Army took cannons and a small number of tanks to "fight" with the Australian desert, and had no intention of supporting the Marine Corps at all. But soon the army commanders discovered a fatal problem. Without the support of the port, they could not go far. Seeing more and more troops landed by the army, but unable to take advantage of the numbers, the top army had no choice but to find the Japanese navy in disgrace, hoping to share the port to transport the army's supplies.
This incident finally came to an end when the Emperor of Japan came to an end. For the future of Japan, the Japanese Army finally got the coveted Port of Kitts. Important port of Darwin.
After a month of nonsense, the Japanese army resumed its attack on Darwin Port on August 15. This time the Australian defenders really experienced the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army's elite troops. The crazy Japanese soldiers attacked wave after wave. Finally, the Australian defenders surrendered to the Japanese 19th Division and Darwin Port fell.
In fact, some people of insight at the top of Japan have already seen that Australia is a huge trap. The Japanese army's entry into such a vast area will only make its own troops more scattered and exhausted. But because they lack a systematic analysis and plan, they don't know how to deal with the situation in front of them.
Abandon Australia? What are you kidding? Nearly 300,000 Japanese troops have already landed there. Do you think it would be fun to take these troops back to China with all your efforts? This kind of thing is not even thought about by the top Japanese, and no one will agree to spit out what they eat.
Continue to attack in Australia? Then another 300,000 soldiers will be sent up. Australia's territory is larger than the territory occupied by Japan in China. If you calculate with reference to Japan's garrison troops in China, Japan needs at least 1 million people to fully control such a vast territory-this is simply Japan's Damn, nearly 2 million people in China are stuck in the pit and can't get out. If we throw another 1 million in here, what ability does it have to attack the United States?
The current script Japan is also confused. It predicts that the United States will surrender to Japan a few days ago, but the United States has no intention of surrendering and compromising at all. In response to Japan’s invasion of Australia, the United States mobilized 1 million soldiers to defend their Pacific Ocean and the United States. native. During this month, Nimitz added 7 destroyers and 3 cruisers.
At the same time, the three aircraft carriers that were originally refitted for the United Kingdom were already in the final stage of installation. These independent-class light aircraft carriers can only carry 40 aircraft, far from being the opponents of the Japanese Navy fleet aircraft carriers. These three aircraft carriers were originally refitted to aid the United Kingdom. In the original history, they were launched in 43 years, but because of the failure of the British Navy at this time and space, they joined the US Navy's battle order a full four and a half years in advance.
With these three light aircraft carriers, plus the Yorktown and Assault, and the Hornet, which is about to be completed in the dock, the U.S. Navy already has the power to fight the Japanese Navy. Nimitz is considering whether to be on the safe side and give up the defense of Oahu first.
When Japan was showing off its power in Australia, the Americans were not idle. They used all their strength to start building strong fortifications on Oahu Island. Three American divisions with high combat effectiveness were deployed on Oahu Island , and made all preparations to fight the invading Japanese army.