Chapter 566: Singapore Campaign (4)

Nankai Fleet.

The Zhenhai and Dingyuan, while passing Kuala Lumpur, suddenly the Dingyuan turned its bow, with Coastal 007 and 008 following behind, advancing toward Kuala Lumpur.

According to William's Ghost Battalion report, when fighter aircraft swept over Kuala Lumpur, the pilots spotted several Japanese vessels in that direction, but they were small, appearing to be Japanese gunboats and transport ships.

At this time, the remaining destroyers of the Japanese Southern Fleet were assigned to the Rabaul area, and the remaining cruisers of the Southern Fleet also entered the Combined Fleet.

To launch this attack on Singapore, Jiang Anguo formed an expeditionary force, an 8,000‑plus Marine Corps, but in reality the actual Marines numbered only the 1,000 men exchanged after Jiang Anguo captured the Andaman Islands.

The remaining 7,000 were army troops.

This unit also "does not belong" to Jiang Anguo; the Marine Corps is under Nankai, publicly claimed as the "Nankai Naval‑Land Amphibious Division", commanded by Zhou Haitong.

Not long ago, Zhou Haitong, who had just become a brigade commander, was promoted again.

Of course, regarding the increase in troops, Nankai immediately informed the Americans.

In short, we are adding manpower to attack Little Japan, strengthen!

In response, Hank, the American commissioner in Yangon, was also promoted, moving from being Stilwell's assistant to a special commissioner tasked with tallying Nankai and Expeditionary Force combat units.

This was to prevent Nankai and the Expeditionary Force from inflating their numbers.

After Hank confirmed that Nankai boarded transport ships in Yangon, preparing to attack the Japanese‑occupied southern area, he immediately reported the personnel strength to Stilwell, who would contact the United States Department of Defense.

The funds would soon be transferred to Nankai's official account without any hesitation.

Even Roosevelt and Marshall believed that the Expeditionary Force and Nankai should each dispatch 100,000 troops to form an even stronger expeditionary army to attack the Japanese Southern Army.

The United States not only agreed to cover the military expenses but also offered equipment for twenty army divisions.

Clearly this condition suited the Principal's taste, but the Chongqing side's finances were truly in crisis; the Expeditionary Force's first southward move into Myanmar never assembled a 100,000‑person force.

Now the difficulty has only increased!

The Principal and Expeditionary Force commander Du Yuming have also spoken, merely hoping to bluff their way through.

However, Commissioner Hank was very diligent; he not only inspected the 200th Division, but also the 96th Division of Yu Shao, and the most populous 201st Division, which was also his primary focus.

He personally led a group to the camp to count the authorized personnel of each unit.

After confirming the full numbers, he then applied for wages to the higher-ups.

It shows that the Americans are not fools.

The Chongqing official trying to extract benefits from the Americans still finds it very difficult.

Since more benefits could not be extracted, the Principal simply ordered the 36th Division of Song Xilian's unit to station at Bamo, Myitkyina, to take over the Expeditionary Force's rear garrison troops.

He directly ordered Jiang Anguo's transport units to coordinate and move all these troops to Yangon.

The Principal also coveted the American high pay—$50 per person, a solid foreign exchange!

This was also secured by Jiang Anguo for the Expeditionary Force; when the Americans tried to pay the salary in rupees, Jiang Anguo outright rejected it.

Rupee is what, Indian currency.

Can I trust the Indians?

Jiang Anguo distrusts the British, let alone the Indians, who are still a British colony.

Of course, the monthly salary of 18 Nankai yuan for soldiers stationed in Nankai clearly never reached the Principal's attention.

The Principal no longer craved Nankai yuan, because as soon as it arrived, the soldiers spent it quickly, whereas dollars were different; dollars are not yet popular.

The key is still currency exchange.

Naturally, Nankai yuan are overseen by Nankai's administrative department and distributed to each Expeditionary Force soldier; how they spend it is the soldiers' own business.

The Nankai Fleet's steel leviathan cut through waves at full speed in the Malajia haixia, racing toward Singapore; its bow raised layers of white spray, its guns primed, and the air was thick with the tension of impending battle.

Meanwhile, at the Yangon airport, engine roars rang through the sky again as the second wave bombing formation took off.

Nine B‑29 bombers flew in line, loaded with heavy bombs, followed by fifteen P‑38 Lightning fighters forming a tight escort formation, speeding toward Kuala Lumpur.

Compared with the first bombing formation, the second had noticeably fewer bombers; this was not due to lack of troops but to practical constraints.

Kuala Lumpur is not far from the Andaman Islands, but the flight to Singapore is too long, and the temporary airfield on the Andaman Islands is small with limited runway, insufficient to accommodate two successive batches of P‑38 fighters.

Therefore, Jiang Anguo and Song Yunfei had long devised a plan: the first wave would destroy Singapore's coastal artillery, the second would target Kuala Lumpur to tie down Japanese forces, clearing the flank for the Nankai Fleet's assault on Singapore.

The key was to give the Japanese the illusion that the Expeditionary Force would attack Kuala Lumpur.

The bombing target was the Japanese Southern Army's 16th Army, the 48th Division's 32nd Regiment stationed in Kuala Lumpur, commanded by Colonel Jiu Nuo Jianta.

Jiu Nuo Jianta was a Japanese officer with many years of combat experience, violent in temperament yet somewhat arrogant, previously believing Huaxia forces were weak and never taking Huaxia's air power seriously.

At this moment, he sat in the regiment headquarters, leisurely sipping tea, completely unaware that a devastating bombing was about to descend.

As the second wave formation took off, the first wave bomber group led by Song Yunfei swept over the Malajia haixia, preparing to return to Yangon airport.

Singapore's 25th Army headquarters, Lieutenant General Xia Shan Feng Wen.

Immediately reported to the Southern Army headquarters the news of Nankai aircraft attacks and the bombing of Singapore's Johor battery.

After receiving the report, Terauchi Hisaichi was furious, shouting into the communicator, "Baka! Deploy anti‑air fire immediately! Notify Xia Shan Feng Wen in Singapore to tighten defenses, must hold Singapore, strictly guard against Chinese aircraft raids!"

In fact, after the Japanese seized Singapore, it was renamed Chao Nan Island.

For a period, it served as the command of Southern Army commander Terauchi Hisaichi, but because of plans to attack Australia, Terauchi Hisaichi went to the Philippines.

There he directed Japanese forces in the Philippines.

But this urgent order proved futile.

The Japanese had few anti‑air weapons; for a long time they bullied the agricultural nation Huaxia with air superiority, Huaxia's weak air force could not threaten them, leading the Japanese to gradually neglect air‑defense construction.

The Japanese headquarters stubbornly believed that as long as Huaxia's air force was eliminated, their ground divisions would face no aerial threat.

Thus they poured most resources into offensive weapons development and production, giving little importance to anti‑air weapons.

Only a few Class A Divisions carried a small number of anti‑aircraft guns, and the 48th Division, as a Class B Division, had under its 32nd Regiment not even a decent AA gun, only a few AA machine guns, unable to cope with large‑scale air bombing.

To make matters worse, after Japan's home islands had been bombed twice.

The already scarce Japanese anti‑air fire was urgently recalled to the home islands for homeland defense, leaving Southeast Asian Japanese bases in an awkward situation of "no air defense available".