Chapter 26 More than difficult, everyone has a lot

Just when Parcival hesitated to move forward, the blue and white lights of Songkhla Lighthouse were already seen at the foot of the mountain. Yamashita divided the 25th Army into two groups. Among them, the Guards Division entered Thailand by land, occupied Bangkok, and then went south along the Malaysian Peninsula.The 5th and 18th divisions were led by him personally, and under the cover of the fleet, they landed from the sea in batches. In addition to Songkhla and Pattani in Thailand, there were also Kota Bharu in Malaysia. On December 8, 1941 (Tokyo time), the Japanese army began a very risky surprise attack and landing battle.

The Japanese choose to land on this day, which is particular.Because according to the forecast of the Meteorological Observatory, if this time is missed, there will be a typhoon torrential rain on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and the wave height will exceed two meters. After that, it will be impossible to land again until the first ten days of April of the next year. Peninsular Malaysia, which is in the northeast monsoon climate, is not without opportunities, and December 8 is just such a day that can be used.At 3 o'clock in the morning, the landing craft approached the coast of Malaysia, and there was still a distance from the land. The Japanese soldiers jumped into the sea with a plop, and then waded towards the shore.Yamashita also wanted to play tricks and jumped down with the soldiers, but the waves made the boat shake violently, and he couldn't find a chance.Seeing this, the soldier operating the landing craft suddenly shouted from behind: "Hey, Shanxia, ​​jump quickly!"

At this time, Shanshita also forgot that he was the commander of the army, subconsciously agreed, and jumped down. When he reached the shore, he was completely soaked.It should be said that Yamashita was actually very lucky. If the British "Z" fleet had set off earlier and was escorted by an aircraft carrier, he would be finished.The Japanese escort fleet has only one 10,000-ton cruiser and a few destroyers, and it is simply unable to compete with the "Z" fleet. The landing force will surely suffer disaster. Even if the "Z" fleet does not come, as long as Parcival launches the "Matador", at this moment, the Japanese army will not only be greeted by raging waves, but also a rain of bullets.

It is said that during the four-year war, the only time Yamashita lost sleep was the night of the Malaysian landing.He had thought about the defensive measures of the British coalition forces, whether intercepting by sea or blocking by land, and he also knew that any of these two factors could lead to a complete failure of the landing, and he couldn't help being terrified. Fortunately, the British did nothing.Yamashita picked up a ready-made bargain, and his 25th Army fired the first shot of the Pacific War, an hour and a half faster than the attack on Pearl Harbor. Kota Bharu was breached first, and Yamashita took control of the first beachhead.Later, Songkhla and Pattani also became his possessions, and the nearby airports were quickly seized by the Japanese army.

On December 9, the airport in northern Malaysia was attacked by Japanese planes, leaving only 10 of the original 158 planes. On December 10, the Malaysian naval battle broke out. The "Counterattack" and the "Prince of Wales" were sunk successively, and the British Far East Fleet was defeated.When the battle report came, Singapore newspapers published photos of the "Prince of Wales", but a black frame was added to the outside of the photos, and a sense of disappointment and ominous premonition spread rapidly on the island. What has Parcival been doing these three days?Issuing war announcements, expressing determination, and holding meetings are all useless work on paper.

On December 11, just after the "War Guidance Conference" attended by senior officials from the sea, land and air, Major General Bennett, the commander of the Australian Division, suggested to Parcival: "I'm sorry, sir, wars cannot be won with documents and meetings. Yes, we need to immediately rectify the front and concentrate our forces." Bennett couldn't bear it anymore.Since ancient times, there has been no juren outside the examination room, how can you just practice your words without using your fists?What's more, the other party had already reached their doorstep. He pointedly pointed out that this so-called "war guidance meeting" was meaningless. The air force and navy were all destroyed, leaving only the army.At a time like this, it's a waste of time to talk about the sea, the land, and the air one by one?

It is a serious matter to honestly discuss the weaknesses of the army's equipment. The original deployment of troops in Peninsular Malaysia is to control every key position.There is nothing to blame for this in peacetime, but it will not work when there is a big battle. It will cause the dispersion of troops and supplies, and it will be easy for the Japanese army to defeat them one by one, because the defenders in each place are less than 5,000. Bennett believes that if you want to repel the Japanese attack, you should quickly set up a defensive battle line and concentrate your forces there to counterattack, otherwise you will have to be driven into the sea.

Bennett's proposal is very similar to the tactics adopted by MacArthur in the Philippines, so it is a wise move.But after hearing this, Parcival just shook his head casually: "No." Parcival asked Bennett to look at the map of Malaysia again: "There are only a few roads on the peninsula for the movement of troops, and the roads are very narrow. It is impossible to concentrate troops." It has become Parcival's chronic problem to think of difficulties as insurmountable before doing something.After failing to activate the "Matador" in time, he fell into the same pit again within a few days.

Parcival comforted himself, this kind of distributed defense is actually not bad, and it can gradually consume all the Japanese troops. Bennett had a sad face, almost crying: "There is doubt, Your Excellency." The situation is critical, and the major general no longer cares about his superior's face.In Bennett's view, the Japanese commander was a fast-moving wolf, while Percival was like an indecisive sheep, unable to handle things at critical moments. However, Yamashita, who has successfully landed, does have 1:100 concerns. The 25th Army has more than 120,000 troops, but it is impossible to get all of them together in one go.So far, he has 4 wings of landing troops in his hands, totaling more than 20,000 people, of which there are only more than 10,000 pure combat soldiers.

With more than 10,000 enemies and more than 80,000 enemies, there is no chance of winning in a head-on attack. Of course, the small number of people can also be compensated by firepower.However, no matter how poor the equipment of the British Allied Forces was, it was much better than the Japanese army. For example, the British divisions were generally equipped with 72 field guns, while the field artillery wing attached to the Japanese divisions had only 36, which was only half of it. The terrain of the Malaysian peninsula was also unfavorable to the Japanese army. In addition to more jungles, there were also many rivers.Engineers had to constantly bridge the river, which limited the speed of attack and the effectiveness of mechanized troops.

The difficulty that Parcival mentioned also exists in Yamashita.The roads are narrow, which not only affects the mobilization and assembly of the defenders, but also poses a threat to the attacking troops. Those roads are so narrow that you can only advance in file. If the British Union military first blocks the roads and deploys blocking positions on both sides, the Japanese army will It is possible to be attacked from three sides, or even be surrounded. If you want to solve difficulties, everyone has a lot of them, and there are many more at the foot of the mountain than Percival. The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, who can always walk around the house, or adapt to the situation, which hill to sing the song of which hill? Yamashita did not avoid difficulties, he wanted to solve them, and the solution was to keep moving forward. For this reason, he could throw away all worries and disturbances.