Chapter 932 Three-Way Attack

The end of July in 1937 was a period of repeated torture of confidence for the island nation.

Before Australasia launched a large-scale attack, the island nation's army still believed that it could defend its homeland and wait for the opportunity to launch a final battle with Australasia.

But after Australasia's full-scale attack was officially launched, the island nation's government suddenly discovered that its seemingly powerful army and navy had various problems and were defeated by the Australasia army.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on the army. At least the performance of the island nation's army in this war is still remarkable, and the combat effectiveness of the Type A and Type B divisions can be regarded as elite troops.

As for the Type C division, which is mostly composed of recruits, it was originally an army that was hastily mobilized after the outbreak of the war, so it is forgivable that its combat effectiveness is terrible.

On the contrary, the navy consumes a large amount of the island nation's government's financial budget every year, but has almost no credit in the war.

The navy took the initiative to attack the Hawaiian port, but was quickly defeated with the cooperation of the Australasian navy and air force. The naval aviation team lost hundreds of aircraft and the island nation's navy lost many main warships.

Then Australasian took the initiative to attack the naval base in Hiroshima. It was also a sneak attack, and Australasian achieved considerable success, sinking many main warships of the island nation and destroying the island nation's naval aviation team.

The huge gap between the two sides has proved that the island nation is lagging behind in the navy. More importantly, the island nation, which is lagging behind in all aspects of the navy and air force, has no great hope in this war.

As for whether the army can resist the attack of Australasian, the current situation of hundreds of thousands of garrisons on Kyushu Island can also be seen.

Faced with the situation that almost all the three services of Australasian are deployed, let alone the Kyushu Island garrison composed of mostly Type C divisions, even the several Type A divisions stationed in Tokyo may be powerless.

No matter how the mentality of the island government changes, Kyushu Island cannot be ignored at present.

There is no way. Kyushu Island is not only the gateway to the southern part of the island country, but also very important for the island country's occupation area in the Far East.

If Kyushu Island is lost, it means that the Korean region that the island country has worked hard to manage will also face a major crisis.

By then, the island country will really become an isolated island, facing the blockade of the Australasian Navy without any support and material supplies.

The problem is that since Kyushu Island is to be supported, a sufficient number of troops must be sent to support it.

The problem is that the island country's mainland is almost completely exposed to the Australasian Air Force, and large-scale military mobilization is destined to be hidden from the Australasians.

This is also the biggest problem faced by a small territory. When the air force is not dominant, the situation of domestic military mobilization is almost exposed to the enemy as if it were naked.

This means that the troops supporting Kyushu Island are likely to face attacks from the Australasian Air Force, and even directly use the navy to block between the island country's Honshu Island and Kyushu Island.

Here we have to mention the situation of the island country's mainland. The mainland of an island country is not a complete island, but an island country composed of four large islands as the main body, plus many small and medium-sized islands and archipelagos.

These four islands are Honshu Island, Kyushu Island, Shikoku Island and Hokkaido. The area of ​​Honshu Island is the largest among the mainland island countries, even exceeding the sum of the other three islands.

It is precisely because of this that most of the island country’s troops are deployed on Honshu Island. After all, Honshu Island has important cities such as Osaka, Hiroshima, Nagoya and Tokyo.

Tokyo alone is worth the island government’s deployment of a large number of troops.

If the army of Honshu Island wants to go to Kyushu Island, it must cross the Kanmon Strait (also known as the Shimonoseki Strait and the Shimonoseki Strait) between the two islands.

Before the outbreak of the war, there was a bridge in the Kanmon Strait, which was also an important channel for mutual communication between the two places.

But after Australasia deployed an air force base in the Ryukyu Islands, the first task it carried out was to bomb all kinds of bridges in the island country.

The Kanmon Strait Bridge is the first target of the Australasian Air Force's bombing, because it connects the island country's Honshu and Kyushu, connecting the two islands that are close yet distant.

It is very difficult to repair this kind of cross-strait bridge, and it is even more impossible for the island country to use a lot of manpower and material resources to repair the bridge when the Australasian aircraft often hovers.

After all, doing so is nothing more than providing the enemy with a live target. Australasian only needs to carry out another bombing to destroy all the efforts made by the island country to repair the bridge.

Without the Strait Bridge, the connection between the two places has indeed become much more difficult. There are only two ways for the army of Honshu Island to go to Kyushu Island. One is to use special small ships to build a floating bridge, and the other is to use small assault ships to quickly transport a large number of soldiers back and forth.

But the problem is that these two methods are both a risk for the current island country. Australasian cannot be unaware that the island country will definitely support it, and the Air Force will definitely be on guard against the strait connecting the two islands.

Under such circumstances, it is conceivable how difficult it is to transport hundreds of thousands of troops to Kyushu Island.

Once discovered by the Australasian Air Force while crossing the strait, the only outcome facing the island nation’s troops crossing the sea might be death.

But there was no other way. After the cross-sea bridge was destroyed, the island nation had only these two ways to mobilize its troops.

In order to mobilize the army to Kyushu Island as soon as possible, the island government decided to adopt two methods at the same time, striving to transport at least 300,000 troops to Kyushu Island across the strait within a week.

Why is it a week?

Because according to the forecast given by the island army department, if the Kyushu garrison cannot be supported within a week, the Kyushu garrison with insufficient rear force is likely to be eliminated by Australasia.

While the island government was hurriedly formulating a support plan, Australasia was also formulating a plan to attack Tokyo.

It was mentioned before that the purpose of this combat plan was to concentrate the island army in several areas as much as possible so that it could be eliminated at one time with an atomic bomb.

These areas were also carefully selected, namely Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

According to these five cities, the location and number of atomic bombs dropped by Australasia have been basically determined. Smaller cities, such as Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Osaka and Nagoya, will basically only drop one atomic bomb, and the purpose is also to kill the island army on a large scale.

As for Tokyo, it is the capital of the island country and the area with the largest army stationed in the island country. In order to effectively eliminate the army of the island country, Australasia is very likely not to drop only one atomic bomb.

According to the temporary plan of the current combat plan, the number of atomic bombs dropped in Tokyo is about five, which can basically cover the areas around Tokyo where military fortresses may be deployed.

Although this will also cover most of the urban area of ​​Tokyo, Australasia, which is forced to fight, will not consider so much.

After the victory of this war, Arthur does not intend to retain the so-called emperor of the island country. If the island country can be controlled, then Australasia will fully control the economy of the island country and train the island country into a loyal and obedient dog.

But if the people of the island country are not so obedient, then the island country will be split into two countries and fight each other, just like North Korea in later history.

However, the difference is that the two island countries after the split are all under the control of Australasia. The war between the two countries will also make Australasia's military weapons have no worries about the line, and even the experiments of weapons will not be worried at all.

More importantly, given the current huge population of the island nation, even if it is split into two countries, each country still has a population of more than 30 million.

In this way, the split country still has a certain economic value and is qualified as a dumping ground for industrial products.

Considering that the population of the island nation in the future has reached hundreds of millions, the economy is also relatively good. So it seems that no matter which way to control the island nation, it is not a loss for Australasia.

On July 28, 1937, the day when the island nation’s army department officially issued an order to support Kyushu Island, the remaining troops of Australasia also officially fired the first shot of landing in Tokyo.

Although Tokyo is the top priority of the attack, Arthur does not plan to waste 1.2 million Australasia troops in the attack on Tokyo.

To be honest, the island nation’s garrison deployed in Tokyo is likely to exceed one million, and a considerable part of them are Type A and Type B divisions.

Even if the Australasia army is dispatched in person, facing the defense of millions of island nation troops, it is bound to bear a large number of casualties.

It would be better to let the Philippine and Kalimantan troops fill the gap. Arthur didn't expect them to capture Tokyo anyway. For Arthur, as long as these Philippine and Kalimantan troops can attract the attention of the island army and attract as many island troops as possible to support Tokyo, it means that they have completed their mission.

The question is, where is the target of the millions of Australasian troops?

Turn the map to the north, the Australasian army's target is the northernmost part of the island country, Hokkaido, one of the four islands.

Why attack Hokkaido?

From a geographical point of view, Hokkaido is located in the northernmost part of the island country. It is sparsely populated and its economy is not comparable to the major cities in Honshu.

But it is precisely because of its geographical location that it is very close to Russia's Far East.

Although Russia has not yet intervened in this war, defense against Russia is essential. If Arthur worked hard to win the island country but was stolen by the Russians, it would be unacceptable in any case.

Therefore, when launching the attack, Arthur specifically requested that the Australasian army mainly attack Hokkaido, Chiba Islands and South Sakhalin Island.

These areas are not included in the Australasian atomic bomb bombing plan because of their vast land and sparse population.

Whether the army can occupy these areas or not has no impact on the atomic bomb release plan.

And according to the deployment of the island army on Honshu Island, they don’t have many troops to defend other areas.

Perhaps there will be more troops stationed in Hokkaido, but it will definitely not exceed one million. As for the territories outside the mainland such as South Sakhalin Island and Chiba Islands in the north, the number of island troops will naturally be smaller.

From the overall attack plan for the island country, it can be seen that the Australasian army is divided into three directions. 800,000 troops were sent to the west, and the main plan was to attack Kyushu Island of the island country.

1 million troops were sent to the central direction, and the main plan was to attract the main force of the island country in several key cities to facilitate the subsequent bombing mission.

1.2 million troops were sent to the northeast, with the main plan being to occupy these areas.

The combat mission in the central direction is the most difficult, but the number of troops is not large. It is precisely because of this that Arthur has no intention of occupying Tokyo.

Although it is impossible to occupy this huge city, the best way is to destroy it directly.

However, the specific bombing time will have to wait until the island government gathers all the troops involuntarily. Since the atomic bomb is to be dropped, the problem of the island army must be solved once and for all.

As for whether the dropping of the atomic bomb will bring irreparable grief to the people of the island, the responsibility can also be shifted to the current island government.

After all, the main reason why Australasia declared war on the island country is that the island country took the initiative to attack the port of Australasia.

This kind of self-destructive behavior is not a problem in taking the blame in the war.

Although the full-scale general attack on the island country has been launched, Arthur is still very relaxed.

Two of the three services of the navy, army and air force have advantages, and this advantage will also make the offensive pressure of the Australasia army much easier.

What's more, there is the ultimate trump card of the atomic bomb, and this war will not be lost no matter how you think about it. Unless the islanders can develop atomic bombs in a short period of time and quickly build a strong navy and air force.

But is this realistic?

Not to mention the island countries that are now under comprehensive blockade, even the island countries that were not blockaded before the war could not do so much.

Australasia attracted a large number of top physicists and took more than ten years to develop the atomic bomb.

With the relevant theories strictly blocked, Arthur did not think that any country could develop atomic bombs faster than in history during the war.

After all, the outbreak of the war was many years earlier than in history. Not to mention the atomic bomb, even the most primitive missiles, all countries are still in the long research.

As long as Australasia does not provide technology, it is possible that after this war, all countries will not have control over missile and atomic bomb technology.

After the war, Australasia will be able to rely on the most advanced missiles and atomic bombs to become the most powerful country in the world in one fell swoop.

Coupled with the industry and economy that have not been destroyed by the war, it becomes natural to compete for the position of world hegemony.