Not long after the disastrous defeat at Midway, half a month after the Anti-Japanese Union completely stopped its offensive and switched to a defensive posture. Perhaps the Japanese army base camp thinks that the current Chinese battlefield has become calm, the same losses are not light, and it has lost the ability to continue attacking, and the resistance will not make any big moves for the time being, and there is basically no too much worry in a short period of time.

It is entirely possible to completely solve the problem of the Pacific theater first, under the conclusion that the problem of Manchuria can be solved by concentrating forces and transferring too much. On the day that Yang Zhen arrived in Yan'an for a meeting, the Japanese Southern Army, under the cover of the powerful navy and air force, bypassed the island of New Guinea, which had not yet been fully occupied, and suddenly landed on the Australian mainland.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese army would suddenly attack their Australian army before the battle for the island of New Guinea was over, and was caught off guard by the surprise attack of the Japanese army. The two brigades of the Australian army, which responded to the battle in a hurry, were defeated and retreated one after another under the rapid offensive of the Japanese army. On the same day, the Japanese army landed its troops and completely gained a firm foothold.

After the landing Japanese troops gained a firm foothold, they immediately switched to a rapid attack, regardless of the fact that the forces were not yet fully in place and the supplies were being unloaded. In just two days, it broke through the three lines of defense of the Australian Army and penetrated more than 30 kilometers into the interior of Australia.

If it weren't for the low degree of mechanization of the Japanese army, the first batch of tanks put into the landing was only about 20 tanks, resulting in the speed of the attack was not very fast. and the follow-up forces were not fast due to the interference of US and Australian planes, resulting in insufficient troops for the attack. I am afraid that with the usual speed and method of attack of the Japanese army, the Japanese army deep into the interior will not stop within a distance of 30 kilometers.

When the battle for New Caledonia had not yet been fruitful, the Japanese army suddenly sent troops to attack Australia, which not only caught the Australian army by surprise. What is even more serious is that the Australian army, which is fighting fiercely with the Japanese army on the island of New Caledonia at this moment, has been cut off from the entire supply line and rear route.

If this Japanese force is not dealt with as soon as possible, let it rampage in Australia. Not only will it affect the entire operational plan of the US military in the Pacific Theater, but it will also be the best and largest base for the loss of counteroffensive in the Pacific Theater. This will undoubtedly have a fatal impact on the entire Pacific war situation.

On the island of New Guinea, the first part of the Australian army, which is fighting hard with the second division that has been transferred, will also be in a situation of being attacked from the belly. Although the unit has only 5,000 men, the only four most elite divisions of the Australian army are now in the North African theater, and these 5,000 people are already one-third of the last elite troops of the Australian army.

The Australian mainland was invaded, and the two most elite divisions of the Australian army fighting in the North African theater rushed back to help. However, it will take time for the main force of the Australian army to return for reinforcements, and it will not be possible to rush back to participate in the battle in a short time. The Australian army's home defense force was really unable to cope with the Japanese attack.

The U.S. military, which had already advanced to southern Australia and was preparing to start the counterattack in the entire Pacific theater on Guadalcanal. It can only be changed to cooperate with the troops left behind in Australia to deal with the large-scale attack of the Japanese army. Taking over the burden of the Australian battlefield, so that the rest of the Australian army can continue to fight in the Middle East, so as to reduce the pressure on the British army in the Middle East theater.

On the third day after the Japanese broke through the beachhead and landed, a patchwork Marine Division of the US Army and two brigades of the New Zealand Army were put into battle. Trying to establish a defensive line outside the Japanese-controlled area to stop the Japanese offensive and buy time for the arrival of the main Australian army and new American reinforcements.

While the Marines reacted quickly, the US Navy's South Pacific Fleet transferred all the naval and air forces originally intended for Kuah Island to the waters around Australia. With the escort fleet of the Japanese Navy, a small naval and air battle broke out off the northeast coast of Australia.

The U.S. Navy takes advantage of the operational sea area, within the combat radius of the Australian Air Force base, as well as the long range and numerical superiority of its own aircraft. Concentrated a large number of army and naval aviation, with the cooperation of the Royal Australian Navy and Air Force, fought a small victory in this naval battle.

In this battle, the US-Australian coalition forces sank a US light cruiser, a US destroyer, and two Australian destroyers, and a total of 377 US and Australian planes were shot down. Before the war, an aircraft carrier that was urgently transferred from the Atlantic Fleet was attacked by Japanese bombers and was seriously damaged.

Sinking the aircraft carrier Zuizuru of the Japanese fleet, one heavy cruiser and one light cruiser, and five destroyers, and severely damaging the light aircraft carrier Ryuchamp, the battleship Hiei, and two heavy cruisers. As a result, the Japanese Navy escort fleet could only withdraw from the battlefield on the northeast coast of Australia.

In this battle, the U.S. Navy not only inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese Navy's covering fleet, but also stopped and dispersed the Japanese landing fleet that had completed unloading and was preparing to return home. And sank five of the transports in one fell swoop, escorting two old cruisers Azuma and Izumo for the convoy.

It initially contained the main force of the Japanese 23rd Army in Rabaul, continued the momentum of reinforcements to the Australian battlefield, and temporarily cut off the supply channel of the Japanese army on the Australian battlefield. The victory in this naval battle also changed the embarrassing situation of the Chinese and Australian troops on New Caledonia who were fighting fiercely on the island of China and Australia, and reopened its connection with the mainland.

In the naval and air battle off the northeast coast of Australia, the US military won the first naval victory since the outbreak of the Pacific War. It is a considerable encouragement to the American army, which has lost a large part of its territory in successive battles since the beginning of the war. After the Battle of Midway, the morale that had almost fallen to the bottom was restored.

However, in this naval and air war, the US and Australian militaries also paid a heavy price. Although the losses of the ships were insignificant, there were only five carrier-based planes left in the attack of nearly 100 carrier-based planes of one aircraft carrier, which had an absolute superiority in the performance of the Japanese army, and the ground-based air force Zero fighters that took off from the Japanese-controlled area on the island of New Guinea.

Almost all of the US Army Air Forces, which took off from shore-based, and the more inferior combat planes of the Royal Australian Air Force, were shot down. The outcome of this air battle was similar to that of the previous battles in Southeast Asia, Midway, and the Coral Sea. The entire course of the air battle was one-sided.

Whether it's the U.S. Navy's F-4 Corsair carrier-based aircraft, the Army's P-39 and P-40 fighters, or Australia's Hurricane fighters. In the face of the absolute superiority of the Japanese army in zero battle, there was no power to fight back. The entire northeastern sea of Australia has almost become a graveyard for American and Australian aircraft.

In this naval and air battle, the US and Australian forces lost more than 300 combat planes, even half of all fighters, while the Japanese army lost less than 30 combat planes. Every time the U.S. and Australian armies took off to fight, their commanders ticked their names off the roster. Because they knew that those pilots might never come back.

If it weren't for the TBD dive bombers of the US carrier-based aviation and the Blenheim light bombers of the Royal Australian Air Force, they took advantage of the Zero War to be entangled by their own fighter pilots at all costs, and they risked their lives to go out without mastering air supremacy, sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuizuru and severely damaging the light aircraft carrier Longxiang.

As a result, the entire Japanese fleet lost most of its air cover, could not withstand sustained losses, and had to quickly withdraw to Rabaul. In addition, the Japanese army and navy aviation are not in harmony, and they have never acted together, so that the air crews of the United States and Australia can get a little respite.

This time the sea took place on the northeast coast of Australia, and you can witness a local naval battle, and I am afraid that the United States and Australia will still not be able to achieve any victory. However, although it paid a heavy price, it was even greater than the Japanese army's losses to some extent. Especially aviation, the cost of losses is quite staggering.

It was only a naval victory, although it supported the land war to a certain extent, and made the landing Japanese troops suffer from the enemy, cutting off their access to reinforcements and supplies. But the marines who participated in the war on the ground were not very competitive, and their performance was inferior to that of the Australian army, which was inferior to them in equipment and quantity.

It is clear that only one regiment is the 1st Division of the US Marine Corps, which has completed all its training, and it is clearly out of shape and the training is insufficient. The division had just entered the battlefield, and before it could start, two wings of the Japanese army were crushed. The first three regiments to be put into battle, together with 18,000 men, fled back less than a third.

The rest either died in battle or followed in the footsteps of their Filipino counterparts and went to Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. Almost all the equipment put into the battlefield was destroyed or discarded. Under the cover of carpet bombing by more than 10 B-17 large bombers at any cost, they barely gained a firm foothold after withdrawing more than 30 kilometers from the battlefield.

And if it were not for the American warships that braved the air raids of the Japanese naval aviation at all costs, as well as the bombardment of the 240-millimeter shore guns set up by the Japanese Army on the coastline and dismantled from the Philippines. More than 10 warships were concentrated and desperately fired at the Japanese coastal positions, creating the false impression that the US troops were going to land behind the Japanese troops and distracting the Japanese troops.

In addition, the army and naval aviation that entered Australia, with the cooperation of all the forces of the Royal Australian Air Force, concentrated all the remaining aircraft that could fly and dispatched them to desperately stop the Japanese offensive. If you don't know if the two and a half divisions that the Japanese army threw into the Australian battlefield will sweep the whole of Australia.

The reason why the war situation in Australia did not deteriorate to the end is that the United States and Britain are really grateful to the Anti-Japanese Union for attracting back two forces that the Japanese army originally planned to use in the South Pacific in the previous battle. As a result, the Japanese army's investment in troops was reduced from the originally planned four divisions to two divisions and two wing-level detachments. The number of tanks put into it has also been cut in half.

The strength of the army was reduced by half, leaving the Japanese army stretched thin in the deployment of troops after the landing. In each battle, the use of forces can only be as refined as possible. The insufficiency of tank forces, in the case of a more favorable terrain for defense, also reduced the assault capability of the Japanese landing force.

At the same time, Australia's remaining troops on the mainland, although they are somewhat insufficient in terms of numbers because the main forces are in the North African battlefield. But these participating units are the most elite units of the Australian Army. Not only is it all British equipment, but it is also quite strong in combat effectiveness.

When fighting against the Japanese army, the combat effectiveness of the outbreak far exceeded that of their colleagues in the Southeast Asian battlefield. Especially when the Japanese army has already hit their own homes, the combat effectiveness of the Australian army is even more amazing.

From the initial sudden blow, the Australian army relieved its strength. Under the cover of only two regiments, the Maltida II infantry tank, and the new British 24-pounder field guns, the resistance was extremely fierce and fierce. It's just that the number of troops is too small to fully resist the Japanese offensive.

But before American reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, these Australian cowboys in some locations had already contained the Japanese offensive to a certain extent. It's just that the rout of the U.S. army, coupled with its own excessive casualties and lack of replenishment in the previous battles, has also caused the Australian army to continue to shrink its defensive line.