Age of Conquest Reborn

Lieutenant General Barry Hersman and his party walked on the rugged mountain road for nearly ten hours. When it was already dark, they arrived at the nearest Allied division headquarters, the first British-Australian army.

Position defended by the 3rd Division of the Legion.

The British Brigadier General Chattons, the commander of the 3rd Division, was very unfamiliar with the new Supreme Commander of the Australian Allied Forces. He had only received an order from the Allied Forces Command in a telegram, saying that he was the Supreme Commander.

There has been a change of personnel, and it has been replaced by an American. It is the American lieutenant general in front of me, whose military boots are stained with mud and water, and who is exhausted. From the bottom of his heart, the senior British officer serving in the Australian Allied Forces has no idea about this personnel change.

, most of them hold a conflicting mood.

Therefore, regarding the arrival of the new commander, Brigadier General Chattons remained quite indifferent in his lukewarm attitude. Reporting on the frontline battle situation was purely a formulaic procedure. Lieutenant General Barry Hersman, from this

The subordinates couldn't help but feel very disappointed as they didn't get anything of value from their mouths.

After a simple dinner, Lieutenant General Barry Hersman, regardless of fatigue, inspected the Allied positions nearby. What he saw was generally satisfactory to him. In terms of the defense system of his predecessor,

A lot of effort was spent to build a fairly complete fortification belt, deep trenches, and communication trenches extending in all directions along all the commanding heights on the south side of the Flinders Mountains.

The layout of various bunkers, bunkers, and light and dark firepower points is very clever. There is an open area in front of the position, blocked by several barbed wire fences. Even if it is not an open area, it has been artificially smoothed. Seeing everything in front of me, Lieutenant General Barry Hersman felt very familiar.

, By the way. The typical tactics of World War I, trench confrontation. Although MacArthur is not interested in it, he must admit that this annoying guy is right. "The British tactical thinking is still stuck in World War I."

level!"

This kind of defense system has been able to sustain until now under the attack of superior Japanese forces. Lieutenant General Barry Hersman also admires his predecessor. However, he feels that the defense system still lacks something very important.

, that is the air raid shelter.

After being attacked by Japanese fighter jets during the day, he learned more and more about the importance of digging air-raid shelters in the first- and second-line positions. The fact that there was no air superiority could not be changed in a short time, so he had to adopt the most effective method at the moment.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Barry Hersman said to the division commander Brigadier Chattons who was accompanying him to inspect the position: "Commander Chattons, I think that in your division's defensive positions, a large number of air raid shelters should be dug for use.

To offset the Japanese air superiority. Best, order the soldiers to take action immediately!"

His words were tactful enough, and he did not give an order directly, but in a discussion tone. However, the British, who had a grudge, did not buy it and said directly: "Your Excellency, Commander, your suggestion is very reasonable, but

, my troops will soon withdraw to the second line of defense, and I am ready to hand over the defense. I am afraid that your order cannot be carried out!"

Lieutenant General Barry Hersman was speechless for a while and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. However, he was immediately relieved. The fifth division of the US-Canadian Army he brought from the United States would soon take over the defense here and reached the first position of the position.

The first thing is to dig a sufficient number of air raid shelters.

Lieutenant General Wagnerzer, the accompanying Chief of Staff of the Australian Allied Forces Command, was very disrespectful when he saw Brigadier General Chattons' tone. Taking advantage of the commander's turn, he glared at his compatriots with full eyes.

It was a warning, but Brigadier General Chattons obviously didn't take it to heart. He shook his head and shrugged with disdain on his face!

Lieutenant General Barry Hersman did not see the small movements of the two subordinates. He climbed to the commanding heights of the position and looked north from here. The view was quite wide. Under the dim sky, the Japanese position in the distance was exceptionally quiet.

There was almost no fire, let alone Japanese soldiers, but with his soldier's intuition, he felt that there seemed to be some huge conspiracy hidden under this calmness?

According to the division commander Brigadier General Chattons, the Japanese army would launch small-scale attacks day and night, and the sound of guns and artillery on the front line never stopped. However, just two days ago, the Japanese army suddenly became calmer.

, no longer carrying out continuous harassment, the Allied soldiers on the front line also had a rare opportunity to breathe!

Abnormal. Abnormality can only be used to explain the actions of the Japanese. Thinking of it, hundreds of thousands of Japanese reinforcements have arrived on the Australian battlefield. The strength of the Japanese army has almost reached one million. After not increasing the strength, the Japanese became quiet.

The truth is, is Ito Genzaburo preparing for a large-scale attack?

As the sea breeze from the Pacific blew over, Lieutenant General Barry Hersman couldn't help but shudder, wrapped his military uniform tightly, turned around and descended from the commanding heights. After returning to the tent, he said to Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Wagner: "

The Chief of Staff, in the name of the headquarters, immediately issued orders to the second-line troops. In view of the fact that our army does not have air supremacy, and in order to avoid huge casualties to soldiers, the headquarters ordered the troops located on the second line of defense to immediately dig air-raid shelters and air-raid shelters.

Cannon hole!”

"In order to fulfill this order, the headquarters will send inspection teams to various ministries to inspect and supervise the excavation of air raid shelters and artillery dugouts. All second-line troops must excavate within three days a space capable of housing two-thirds of the headquarters.

Anti-aircraft and anti-gun holes for the above soldiers!”

Perhaps this was just Lieutenant General Barry Hersman's idea or an idea for safety reasons, but he would never have expected that it was this group of officers and soldiers of the second-line troops, who were mainly British and Australian soldiers, who were widely known.

The criticized order later became a life-saving order to save the last line of defense of the Australian Allied Forces from being broken through by the Japanese army. The criticized order at that time became a life-saving straw for the Australian Allied Forces.

As a result, Ito Genzaburo's idea of ​​taking down the Allied defense lines of the Flinders Mountains and the Barrier Mountains in one fell swoop and conquering southeastern Australia came to nothing, turning a breakthrough battle into a brutal offensive and defensive battle.

.

After the order from the headquarters was issued, the second line of hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers cursed their new commander and, under the supervision of their officers, reluctantly dug air-raid shelters and artillery-proof caves in the rocky mountainous area.

, the soldiers mocked themselves as groundhogs.

After three days of preparation, more than 900,000 Japanese soldiers have made all preparations before the attack. Various attack groups have entered attack positions. The United Air Force of the Southwest Pacific Expeditionary Force has even captured

A large number of Australian workers built field airfields in frontline areas.

At nine o'clock in the evening on January 14th, General Ito Genzaburo issued a combat order to all participating troops. In the dark night, groups of Japanese soldiers quietly entered the attack starting point. For several hours,

After that, everything quieted down. The more than 900,000 Japanese soldiers, like ferocious beasts lurking in the darkness, stared fiercely ahead with bloody eyes, ready to rush out at any time. The Allied forces on the opposite side of Surabaya

Soldier's body!

In a tent, there was still a dim light from a candle. Under the candlelight, Lieutenant General Barry Hersman was looking attentively at the various telegrams and battle reports. For some reason, he always felt uneasy in his heart.

I feel that the defense change of the frontline troops is in progress. It will take two days at the earliest before the seven divisions I have brought can completely take over the defense of key areas.

"Don't let anything unexpected happen!" Lieutenant General Barry Hersman said to himself, and then he called in the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Wagnerzer, and ordered: "Chief of Staff, convey my order immediately.

The ongoing troop handover and defense operations will be stopped immediately, and all units will enter a war-ready state!"

"Commander, are you worried that the Japanese will launch an attack tonight?" Chief of Staff Wagner asked in surprise.

Lieutenant General Barry Hersman took a deep breath, shook his head, and said uncertainly: "I can't tell for sure, but the uneasiness in my heart tells me that it is still necessary to take some precautions!"

At 2:45 in the morning on January 15th, General Ito Genzaburo and all senior officers from the dispatched army headquarters gathered in the war room with serious faces. Everyone looked at their watches without listening.

General Ito was sitting on the chair with his eyes slightly closed, holding his command knife in both hands, with a calm expression on his face. Outside, the unheard "ticking!" sound of the transmitter seemed particularly harsh at this moment.

When the time came, Chief of Staff Major General Yamaguchi walked quickly to General Ito and whispered: "Your Excellency, Commander, it's time to launch the attack!"

"Let's begin!" General Ito opened his eyes suddenly, a fierce light flashed through, and three words stood out dryly.

"Boom! Boom! - Boom!" In the quiet night sky, earth-shattering artillery sounds suddenly rang out. The Japanese artillery, led by eight large-caliber howitzer brigades, took out all their artillery and fired in every assault direction.

, began to rain down artillery shells on the Allied positions, especially in the three important breakthrough directions. The density of Japanese artillery reached the highest density since the start of the Australian battlefield.

The artillery shells trailing long tail flames flew across the night sky and hit the Allied positions hard. The flashes of fire illuminated the dark night sky. The smoke filled the air, shrapnel flew across the sky, and the bodies of the Allied soldiers exploded.

, flew into the air, and despite preparations, under the unprecedented intensive artillery fire attack from the Japanese army, the Allied soldiers on the defense lines of the Flinders Mountains and the Baril Mountains suffered heavy losses from the very beginning!

Barbed wire fences, bunkers and bunkers were mixed with the bodies of Allied soldiers under the explosion points one after another. They flew up in the air and turned into broken bricks and tiles. Each hilltop was shrouded in the flickering light of the fire.

In the smoke of the night sky.

The sound of artillery suddenly exploded. Lieutenant General Barry Hersman, who had just passed out, woke up suddenly. He rushed out of the tent before he could put on his military uniform. He was horrified to see that his eyes were filled with burning flames reaching into the sky. What he heard was,

It was a violent explosion that filled the eardrums.

(To be continued) (To be continued) Please search Piaotian Literature for better novels and faster updates!