About 400 nautical miles southwest of Ceylon, in the Malé Atoll in the central part of the Maldives archipelago, the battlecruiser "Thunder", the flagship of the 2nd Fleet of the East Asian Combined Fleet, Admiral Liu Guanxiong, commander of the fleet, and several commanders of the squadron under his command are gathering in the conference room to discuss the next battle.

The Second Fleet, which was reorganized at the beginning of the year, was actually a combination of a reconnaissance unit and a mobile unit in the Battle of the Bay of Bengal, and included four battle cruisers, three fleet aircraft carriers, six fast armored cruisers, seven light cruisers, and 24 fleet destroyers. It can also use 32 50x350mm guns and 48 45x210mm guns. In addition to the 286 carrier-based aircraft on board the aircraft carriers, the 17 ships above the light cruiser also carried 25 water reconnaissance and calibration aircraft; The maximum overall formation of the fleet can reach a speed of 28 knots, which is obviously a fast mobile assault force with strong surface and aviation combat capabilities.

The 2nd Fleet first attacked Trincomalee on the east coast of Ceylon with carrier-based aircraft in two waves, destroying and shooting down more than 20 enemy planes, sinking and damaging one enemy submarine and damaging many other small ships. That night, Vice Admiral Yi Mingxuan's First Fleet's shore bombardment detachment "Longwei," "Fengxiang," "Dongyue," "Xiyue," and "Beiyue," briefly bombarded the coastal batteries outside Trincomalee Harbor, while the Second Fleet took advantage of the night to maneuver to the southwest coast of Colombo, and the next day, during the day, two successive waves of carrier-based aircraft were dispatched to attack Colombo Harbor, destroying more than 20 enemy planes, sinking a passenger liner "Ceyldea" full of British expatriates who was about to leave Hong Kong, and sinking and damaging gunboats and patrol boats.

On 13 January, under the leadership of the commander of the Combined Fleet, Senior General Sa Zhenbing, the main force of the 1st Fleet, consisting of the 1st Battleship Squadron "Pinghai", "Ninghai", "Qinghai and Suhai" and the 2nd Battleship Squadron "Yangbo", "Zhubo", "Fubo" and "Jiabo", appeared off the coast of Colombo to cover Admiral Ma Shengyu's Indian Fleet Shore Bombardment Detachment of six old battleships ("Ruixiang", "Ruiji", "Ruixian", and "Zuihe" of the 5th Battleship Squadron and "Thunderbolt" and "Yundian" of the 6th Battleship Squadron Several coastal forts south of Colombo Harbor were shelled, and in the afternoon, five first-class battleships of Vice Admiral Yi Mingxuan's 1st Fleet Shore Bombardment Detachment were also joined in the shelling. On the same day, the 2nd Fleet continued to dispatch several waves of carrier-based aircraft to repeatedly attack targets near Colombo Port, destroying more than 10 remaining enemy planes.

The 15th Army, led by the 160th Infantry Division, began to force a landing on the Anglo-Indian fortified beach of Moletuvo, 10 kilometers south of Colombo.

Two days later, on 16 January, 18 Army Yundian fighters and 30 Dongfeng reconnaissance and attack aircraft, taking off from three "special aviation support tankers", landed at Latmanara airfield to begin ground support and maritime patrol missions – it was on this day that the 2nd Fleet left Ceylon waters and sailed directly to the Maldives Islands with a small fleet of personnel carriers, tank landing ships, oil tankers, ammunition ships and special water engine carriers, almost without combat, It seized the Malé Atoll, the largest of the archipelago's atolls. The Naval Corps began repairing the airfield on the main island of Malé, which averages only one or two meters above sea level at high tide, while dozens of warships of the Second Fleet, anchored between the atolls, began intensive replenishment operations until today, January 20.

“…… According to credible information, soon after the launch of the operation, the ports of Trincomalee and Colombo were destroyed in a planned manner, and even if they could be occupied exactly as scheduled, it would take a lot of time to clear the shipwrecks, mines, and repair the basic facilities, and it would not be possible to use them in the short term - of course, this is all expected, and we do not need to worry. Next, we will rush to Bombay non-stop, and the large supply ship group of the 10th Fleet will provide full support for this operation. Due to the lack of suitable temporary anchorages near the target, each team must prepare for replenishment at sea in adverse sea conditions......"

After Wang Zilongzhun, the former chief of staff of the mobile fleet and the current chief of staff of the 2nd Fleet, gave a brief explanation of the situation, Admiral Liu Guanxiong blinked his small eight words and said: "As Chief of Staff Wang said, the base camp has long expected the destruction of Ceylon's ports. ”

"We don't have the time, we can't wait for Ceylon's ports to be cleared, and then we can attack point by point along the west coast of India. The Allies are gathering heavy forces to open up the Mediterranean-Black Sea line of communication, and if they succeed, the consequences will be unimaginable, so we must rush into the Persian Gulf before they can succeed and realize the Allied General Division. ”

"But it's not easy to say, since we can't use Ceylon's ports for the time being, hundreds of ships can only follow from Yangon or even Singapore, and we have to drive four or five thousand nautical miles to Mumbai, and we can only use this kind of temporary anchorage to replenish on the way, of course, this is not something we should be worried about."

Speaking of this, Liu Guanxiong's cheekbones and towering face tensed slightly: "For this fleet, the most important thing is to replenish at sea. Truth be told, there is no expectation that the port of Mumbai will be captured intact, but whatever the situation in the port of Mumbai will be in the rear, we must continue the offensive according to the plan, sweeping all the way to Karazi, Bandar Abbas, and finally landing in Basra. Although most of the ships under your command have accumulated considerable experience, whether it is training or actual combat, they can not make a sound in the face. The scale of this operation was huge, and it was far from reliable bases, and it took a lot of time for the transport ship regiment to go back and forth, and it was difficult for the front line to obtain supplies in time, so it could only be compensated by sending more transport ships - it is said that almost all the civilian ships that could sail were requisitioned, and there were not a few of them who lacked experience in replenishment at sea and related facilities. In addition, when necessary, large ships will transfer fuel to small ships, and fuel control for small ships in extremely bad sea conditions. This thing, each team will divide it first, hand it in before 8 o'clock in the evening, and then the fleet will make a general plan, and send the general plan to each team before setting sail tomorrow morning......"

Like telling a child who is going out for the first time, Liu Guanxiong earnestly explained to several team commanders for a while, and added a sentence at the end: "Is there anything else you don't understand?" Now hurry up and ask. ”

The generals looked at each other for a long time before Lieutenant General Bi Lingbo, commander of the 1st Air Force, raised his hand and said: "Sir, can I understand that the biggest enemy in this operation is not the opponent's army, but our ever-expanding supply line?" ”

Liu Guanxiong smiled faintly: "That's right, but don't forget, if the other party's army is not a threat, we naturally don't need to worry about the supply line." ”

Before the words fell, the commander of the 2nd Air Force beside Bi Lingbo, the tall and strong Major General Dongfang Gao, raised his hand: "Sir, I want to confirm that our top priority is to be ready to intercept and destroy possible enemy fleets at any time, or to suppress the enemy's shore defense force - especially shore-based aviation?" ”