Chapter 24 Chaffinches know the ambitions of quails

The most difficult thing for Yamashita at first was whether the landing force could get enough air protection. His chief of staff rehearsed six landings on the sand table, and all six failed, each time because there was an hour of escort gap in between, and to eliminate this gap, the Army Air Forces had to take the risk that the escort Combat teams of 100,000 may run out of oil and fall into the sea on the way home. The chief of staff asked Yamashita for instructions, and Yamashita said sharply: "In war, usually the lesser of two evils should be chosen. If the air force cannot serve as a flight escort, it is better not to have planes!"

The request seemed excessive, and the chief of staff worried that it would be difficult to accept.But unexpectedly, the aviation soldiers were panicking and agreed, saying that no matter how much the loss was, they would not hesitate. It's true that the chick knows the ambition of the quail, and the pilot of the plane has such awareness, which really makes Shanshita feel overjoyed.It just so happened that the royal clan's family member Zhu Tiangong came to inspect and asked him casually, "When will Singapore be defeated?" Masanobu Tsuji, the pushy operations director, was the first to answer: "About March 10, Army Day."

Yamashita immediately corrected him: "No, Your Highness, the little official intends to take down in January." The first month is less than two months away.Taketa Palace was a little disbelieving: "Isn't it too early?" Masanobu Tsuji also thought that Yamashita was talking nonsense. You can brag, but you don’t have to be so outrageous, so he hurriedly added cleverly: "It is more appropriate to reach the Perak River in January." Yamashita didn't say anything more. Fighting a war is actually the same as writing an article, you must grasp the key points.In Yamashita's view, quick combat was the crux of the battle for Singapore. Winning in January does sound a bit early, but to win this battle, it can and must be early.

The headquarters of the 25th Army was located in Saigon at this time, and the outskirts were covered with rubber forests and dense forests. This environment was similar to the Malaysian battlefield.Yamashita conducted a deduction based on this, and found that this kind of jungle would not cause much obstacle to the infantry's advancement, and the troops could charge forward with all their courage. One of the purposes of the southern operations was to occupy the Java oil fields and obtain oil resources.But Java is in the south of Singapore and the Philippines. That is to say, you have to control these two places before you can talk about attacking Java, so the sooner the better.

I won't talk about the Philippines, that's about Masaharu Honma.As far as Singapore is concerned, if a frontal attack is carried out from the sea, the British army has a solid fortress defense, and the "Gibraltar of the East" cannot be underestimated. There is only one way to land from the relatively weakly defended northern part of Peninsular Malaysia, and then go all the way south to attack Singapore from behind.This marching route is as long as 1,100 kilometers, so the Japanese army must seize the time to reach and take Singapore as soon as possible, otherwise, the Javanese defenders will inevitably strengthen their vigilance.

There is no doubt that what Yamashita is about to launch is a blitzkrieg, and surprise attacks and advances are fundamental to the success of such campaigns.For this reason, even a quarter of an hour in the morning is fine. This is called whether you want to let it go or not, whether you are willing or not. In accordance with the goals set by Yamashita, the 25th Army quickly assembled to the front, and launched land-sea coordinated integrated landing operations training. The Japanese base camp has done enough to keep this secret, fearing that some mouth will leak the action plan.Under the height of security, even Yamashita served as a "masked general" for a long time-his position was not made public until he began to attack Singapore.On formal occasions, Yamashita usually does not wear military uniforms, but wears a Concorde uniform like that worn by officials of the Puppet Manchukuo in Northeast China, plus a woolen top hat, dressing himself up as an ordinary official.

Even so, it is impossible to keep the wind from leaking. At the same time, Singapore still got some clues. Sitting at the Singapore Naval Base is Parcival, commander of the Malaysian British Army.Parcival took up his duties in March. Before taking up his duties, the European battlefield was already in full swing.He predicted that the Japanese army might aggressively attack the south, so he left his family in England and came to Singapore alone. After taking office, Parcival first studied the defense situation and military strength of the peninsula.It's okay if you don't study it, but once you study it, all the hairs on his body stand on end.

There are more than 80,000 British coalition forces in Malaysia, but the troops are poorly equipped, and artillery with a caliber of more than 100 mm can only be seen in the Singapore fort. Aircraft and tanks are indispensable weapons in modern warfare.But the British coalition forces did not have a single tank, and only 158 aircraft, of which the fighters were old-fashioned American-made "Buffalo" fighters.This is a model that has long been eliminated by the U.S. Navy. It cannot be compared with the Japanese "Falcon" or "Zero" in terms of cruising range or flight speed. It is easily shot down in air combat, and it is called "air coffin".Its only advantage is low gasoline consumption.

In addition to the outdated and backward models, the British coalition forces also lacked a complete range of aircraft. The columns for dive bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, and transport aircraft were all empty. What Parcival saw was not difficult to understand.The United Kingdom has been operating in Singapore for many years, but after the Second World War, the United Kingdom has been unable to take care of itself, and its military deployment in Singapore can only be reduced to a minimum. Come move to Singapore. What if the Japanese army attacked at this time, Parcival shuddered. Although there is a sense of crisis, it will slowly disappear as time goes by.Parcival felt secure again, a strange feeling related to Malaysia's unique monsoon climate.