Chapter 35 Chapter Four: The Allied Forces Fight Hard and Elegy

The Dutch East Indies is an island country composed of Java, Sumatra, Borneo and many other islands. Its total area is about the same as that of the European continent.But these islands are relatively scattered, and it may not be difficult to capture them. The difficulty is to divide the troops to garrison them. Imamura participated in the war of aggression against China. The Chinese exchanged space for time. As a result, the war of aggression against China could not be fought for four and a half years. Nearly a million troops were nailed to the ground and could not move. Thinking about such things makes people think He shuddered, not to mention that Imamura didn't have a million troops in his hands. He only had three divisions and one brigade, and he didn't have a single extra soldier.

In this case, there can only be a center to bloom, that is, take the lead in capturing the center and paralyze the nerve centers of the Allied forces. The center of the East Indies is Java, where more than 85% of the Dutch military forces deployed in the Pacific are concentrated here, and the reinforcements from Britain, the United States and Australia are also on this island.The islands do not need to be captured one by one, but there are more than a dozen Allied air bases along the way from the starting point to Java. As long as there is a base where the Japanese army's mighty cross-sea fleet is found, the Allied forces will attack from the air. Of.

The smaller the target, the safer. In order to reduce risks, Imamura established the Sakaguchi Detachment on the basis of the brigade as the advance team of the 16th Army. On January 10, 1942, Japan declared war on the Netherlands, and the Sakaguchi detachment immediately entered Tarakan on the east coast of Borneo.Tarakan is a well-known oil city and the northernmost line of defense in East India.In addition to wanting to get some oil and water first, Imamura also intends to use the Sakaguchi detachment to explore the way and try the skills of the Allied forces. The day before, the four countries of the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, and Australia hurriedly met in Jakarta, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, and decided to establish a joint command, with Wavell, the commander of the British Far East, as the supreme commander.Wavell was a one-eyed general who fought in World War I.His most outstanding record in World War II was the creation of "special warfare" on the North African battlefield - Wavell made hundreds of tanks, field guns and trucks out of rubber, using this deceitful tactic to successfully confuse and defeat the Italian army.

Wavell is by no means as indecisive and lacking in strategy as Parcival. He can do it by himself, but he has no experience as an allied military commander. Therefore, after taking command, he was not as happy as the outside world imagined. He once said, This kind of coalition composed of four countries is difficult to command and coordinate. A hungry person has only one trouble, but a full-fledged man has countless troubles. Wavell's trouble is that he doesn't know how to integrate the four families and bring out the full potential of the Allied forces. I don't understand the characteristics of it, and I don't pay enough attention to it, so the layout seems very messy.

The first day of setting up the joint command was very unhappy.East India is the richest and most important area in the Allied war zone, and it is also its own territory. Of course, the Dutch are most familiar with it, but in the end only one Dutch general served in the joint command, and this general was not a naval general, but an army general. general. The Dutch navy commander stared blankly, feeling very unhappy.Seeing the war being fought at his doorstep, he is not even qualified to participate in the joint discussion, he is simply useless as a hero. Wavell's tricks were far from alone.Originally, the Dutch Navy could command land-based aviation (also known as shore-based aviation) and ship-based aviation at the same time. The land-based aviation was based on land and water airports. The aviation unit formed a joint force, but Wavell followed the British approach and split the aviation system. The land-based aviation unit was transferred to the Dutch Air Force, and the Dutch Navy could only command the carrier-based aviation unit.

Before the enemy was in sight, the Dutch navy relied on the land-based aviation along the way to serve as its eyeliner, but with such an adjustment made by Wavell, the Dutch navy became a standard myopia, unable to track the Sakaguchi detachment and the escort fleet. or intercept.When the Japanese army approached the city, the Dutch air force stationed in Tarakan woke up and launched an air strike, but this time it had no effect. The Sakaguchi detachment avoided the frontal harbor and landed from the west bank. Before the war, the Sakaguchi detachment conducted preparatory training on a small Nanyang island hosted by Japan.While sailing at sea, an eagle flying from the west suddenly landed on the mast of the ship that Admiral Sakaguchi was on, and was locked in a birdcage by the soldiers.

This scene made the officers and soldiers of the Sakaguchi detachment overjoyed.Because it is said that during the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1899-1895, a big eagle ghost landed on the mast of a Japanese cruiser like hitting a wall, so the Japanese people thought it was a harbinger of victory afterwards. The Sakaguchi detachment, which has no experience in jungle warfare, needs to rely on strange powers and chaos to cheer them up.Of course, the training was indeed very effective. On the first day, they drilled in the jungle for an hour before advancing 50 meters, and each of them was so tired that they were out of shape. However, after 10 days of devil-style practice, the speed has exceeded 500 meters, and the efficiency has increased by more than 10 times, indicating that they have basically adapted to jungle warfare.

The Sakaguchi detachment was prepared to fight unprepared. After they landed, they immediately searched for jungle areas to break through and outflank the Dutch army. As far as luck is concerned, there really is.An old Japanese overseas Chinese who lived in the local area for more than 20 years volunteered to lead the way. This old poison helped the Sakaguchi detachment to go around to the back of Tarakan City. On January 12, 1942, the Dutch defense forces at Tarakan were unable to fight any more, and the commander was forced to decide to surrender. The Japanese army took control of all the airports and oil wells in Tarakan, that's great.People have no steel bones, and they are not secure. Back then, they begged the United States and the Netherlands for oil, but they didn’t give it. What’s the matter, now grandpa came to get it by himself, and he slapped each of you a big mouth!

It is better to steal than ask for, let alone rob.There are many oil places in the Dutch East Indies. Balikpapan, 500 kilometers south of Tarakan, is also an oil city, with not only oil, but also coal mines.The Japanese salivate over it and can't wait to swallow it in one gulp. On January 21, 1942, the Sakaguchi detachment left Tarakan and rushed towards Balikpapan. With the whereabouts of the Japanese army fully exposed, the Allied naval and air forces naturally would not stand idly by. The Army Air Force took the lead in attacking and sank a steamship of the escort fleet. At this time, the command system of the Allied Forces was still not functioning smoothly. The temporarily assembled machines were too complicated, and Wavell, as the supreme commander, was not good at combining them. It’s up to him, even the navy and air force could cooperate a little bit, but now they don’t even have the basic coordination actions—during the voyage of the Sakaguchi detachment for a few days, the Allied forces did a reliable job of sinking the Japanese steamship thing.

On the evening of January 23, 1942, the Japanese ship broke down near Balikpapan and gradually sent the Sakaguchi detachment to land.The Japanese escort fleet thought that they could shout "peace and nothing happened" several times during the watch, but they were too happy to be happy. In the dark, there are sharp swords.