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No one said a word.No one dares to express their opinions easily.

After a while, Huang Guangrui said, "Commander-in-Chief, do you think this sortie can be carried out with only airplanes?"

"Yes! I think, as long as the enemy fleet is parked in place, just using the plane is enough." Sa Zhen replied calmly.

"How many troops will be used?"

"Using all the carrier-based aircraft of the 39th Air Group, I think it can be successful."

"Where is the security force?"

"In order to prevent encounters with the enemy's surface ships, two battleships and two cruisers need to be dispatched during the attack, and several destroyers should also be dispatched to serve as guards."

"Once the enemy discovers our intention and comes out to intercept it, what should we do?"

This is the most critical issue in deciding this battle. It took off from the nearest air base in northern Sumatra to the target location, and the voyage was more than 1000 nautical miles. Once it encountered the enemy's Lightning Air Force at sea, the consequences would be difficult to predict.

Sa Zhenbing thought for a while and said: "Then we have to fight it out at sea. Since we have an overwhelming air force, we don't have to worry about encountering the enemy at sea. On the contrary, this is a wishful thing. I think the problem is that The enemy has a certain advantage in the strength of the shore-based air force. When we launch a strong attack on the enemy's base, we must be prepared to pay considerable casualties. Therefore, the most important thing is not to make the enemy aware of our intention. Therefore, I think we must Adopt a surprise attack method, and the best time to attack is at dawn."

"However, when the situation is urgent and is at a moment of explosive tension, will the enemy fleet still stay in the military port?" asked Tian Shijie, the captain of the No. 166 submarine. It is also heavily guarded, how can we ensure that we pass through the enemy's cordon without being discovered by the enemy?"

Tian Shijie paused for a moment, and then said: "And as long as an enemy plane or ship finds out, it will inevitably be blocked, and the combat operation will be frustrated. This will not only affect the main fleet's advance operations, but also lead to the entire battle situation in the future. Bankruptcy." Tian Shijie glanced at Sa Zhenbing and said, "I think this battle plan itself contains too many risk factors."

Sa Zhenbing didn't answer.He closed his eyes slightly, crossed his arms, and listened quietly.

"Peiqing," Rear Admiral Wang Shouting, commander of the 2nd Aircraft Carrier Squadron, suddenly asked, "So, what do you think should be done?"

Tian Shijie said categorically: "Concentrate our forces to fight on the southern front. If we divide the aircraft carrier forces and fight simultaneously in the Andaman Islands and the southern front, I am afraid that the strength of both places will be insufficient. In any case, the air attack on the Mannar military port is just a kind of strategy." Risky operations against the enemy, in case of failure, the entire operation will be wasted, and our shipboard forces will be reduced by half. It is too dangerous to engage in combat guidance. If all naval forces are concentrated on the southern front, there is no need to worry about the United Kingdom. The pinning of the fleet."

After everyone present heard this, they all looked at each other in blank dismay. Tian Shijie's words were reasonable, especially the original policy formulated by the Ministry of the Navy advocated the concentration of troops to fight on the southern front. The commander of the battle should be Huang Guangrui, but Huang Guangrui seemed to be hesitant, so everyone felt uncomfortable expressing his opinion.

At this time, Sa Zhenbing still closed his eyes and said nothing.

"I completely agree with the commander-in-chief's sneak attack plan." People's eyes shifted to Li Shijia, the commander of the frigate formation who spoke, and his expression seemed a little excited: "As Pei Qing said, this battle plan is very risky. , However, the United Fleet controls the Gulf of Mannar, the exit of the southern line. Before we start the southern line of operations, we must not ignore it. Even if we successfully bypassed the Bay of Mannar and landed in the cities on the eastern front of India, if the United Fleet pinches in the back What if we cut off our supply line, the war situation will be difficult to deal with. Therefore, I think that in combat, we must first deal a fatal blow to the Mannar military port. After all, a sneak attack by the air force is much cheaper than a head-on battle with warships. At present, the southern front is basically In areas without heavy fortifications, in my opinion, it is not necessary to invest all the naval forces, but to use Mannar as the main combat direction, which is the real issue.”

Three Thousand Miles of Wind and Thunder Chapter 682 Codename: "Shanglong"

Li Shijia's speech was like dropping a stone on the calm water, causing a series of ripples.Immediately, people started talking about it, and the two opinions in favor and against were diametrically opposed.Sa Zhenbing, who had been listening carefully to everyone's discussions, took a while to speak: "I have heard all of your opinions on the battle of Mannar. My opinion is that Mannar must be fought no matter what."

Sa Zhenbing's decision was beyond the expectations of many people, and the audience fell silent.Sa Zhenbing paused and continued: "Everyone, please remember that as long as I am still the commander of the Singapore Fleet, this battle must be fought. I hope you will study all possible measures to ensure the success of the sneak attack. The code name of this operation is It will be...'Thang Long'!"

Sa Zhenbing's determination is so great that many people can't imagine.From the very beginning of proposing the sneak attack plan, he clearly knew that it would be extremely risky and difficult to implement it, but he insisted on implementing the sneak attack plan unswervingly.He used various methods to persuade the officials of the Admiralty who opposed his idea, and even threatened to resign.

In his letter to Chief of General Staff Lin Jianzhang, Sa Zhenbing, in addition to repeatedly emphasizing his thoughts, also resolutely stated to Lin Jianzhang that if the aviation fleet lacked enough courage to fight, he wanted to stand up and personally serve as the commander of the 39th Air Force. Commander, directly command this battle.

Under Sa Zhenbing's repeated insistence, Lin Jianzhang finally officially approved Sa Zhenbing's plan after repeated weighing.

The Gulf of Mannar is a bay on the Indian Ocean, between southeastern India and western Sri Lanka, 130275 kilometers wide and 160 kilometers long, bounded by Rameshwaram Island, Adam Bridge and Mannar Island in the northeast, and Sri Lanka The nearby pearl farms are famous.

At this time, the Mannar Bay was calm and calm, and the guards were sitting in the house chatting. On the radar behind them, a jumping cursor was flashing slowly, and it was quickly moving towards the center of the radar. move.Faced with an abnormal image displayed on the oscilloscope, a French second lieutenant thought that it must be a malfunction of the instrument, but after a quick inspection, no problem was found, and he was finally convinced that it was a fleet of aircraft flying.

Five minutes later, the two sergeants saw a fleet of aircraft appearing northeast of Adam Bridge. The fleet was huge, with more than 5 aircraft.They immediately suggested that the intelligence center be informed by telegram of this discovery.Seven to eight minutes later, the visual signal on the oscilloscope showed that the fleet was about 50 to 8 kilometers away from Adam's Bridge.The intelligence center is located 30 kilometers east of the Gulf of Mannar and more than 40 kilometers south of the radar station.The man on duty at this time was Private Macdonald, the switchboard operator.MacDonald thought that the rest of the Intelligence Center staff had been laid off, so he recorded the information.When he turned his head to check the time, he saw Lieutenant Kermit Taylor, a destroyer officer who had been aide to the watch chief that morning.Neither the duty officer nor the aircraft identification officer were present on this fateful morning.Only Taylor and MacDonald were left in the huge intelligence center.

Macdonald considered the situation reported by the radar station to be important, so he let Taylor read the telegram.The telegram reported all the information available, including the direction, distance, and size of the visible signal.It never occurred to Taylor that the approaching fleet might be an enemy plane. He thought it was a reconnaissance fleet returning from a patrol mission by the coalition forces.Suddenly, he remembered that he had heard a piece of Indian dance music on the way from the dormitory to the information center early in the morning.Taylor remembers one of his pilot friends saying that whenever the reconnaissance plane was out on a mission, the base played this music all night, serving as a navigation signal for the pilot.From this, Taylor was confident that what the radar station had captured was one of the New Crusader's own fleet.

Just 1 minute after the unidentified air formation appeared on the ground radar display, the sonar of the coalition destroyer discovered another submarine of unknown nationality, and then the destroyer dropped many depth charges.Soon, black oil bubbles were found 300 meters from the stern of the destroyer, which indicated that the depth charge was really a submarine.However, this important event did not attract the full attention of the coalition forces.Seeing through the opportunity of Sa Zhenbing's sneak attack plan, he just passed by the British again and again. The god of fate seems to want to bring this disaster to the British in Mannar.

Over the Indian Ocean, the commander of the plan, Shen Debian, used a high-power telescope to observe intently, looking out through a gap in the clouds, and shouted excitedly: "Attention all, we are about to enter the sky over the Bay of Mannar!"

Looking from a distance, the Bay of Mannar is surrounded by white foam from the waves, the land is lush and green, and the mountains are shrouded in a layer of mist.In the morning light, a refreshing scene.The air strike on the Gulf of Mannar included two plans, a strong attack and a surprise attack, and the two plans stipulated two different attack sequences.If it is a surprise attack, the torpedo fleet will take the lead and attack first before the enemy's anti-aircraft guns fire, so as to obtain the greatest surprise effect.Then, the level bomber fleet and the dive bomber fleet attacked after the torpedo fleet attack.If it is a strong attack, the dive bombers will attack first to contain and suppress the enemy air fire, causing confusion in the enemy's formation, and the torpedo fleet will then take the opportunity to carry out torpedo attacks.Whether it is a surprise attack or a strong attack, it is up to the commander Shen Debian to make a judgment when he orders the deployment.In order to preserve the secrecy, instead of giving orders by radio, it was stipulated that the method of firing signal flares should be used to distinguish surprise attacks from storm attacks: one shot for a surprise attack and two shots for a storm.Only the fighter teams vying for air supremacy, regardless of surprise attack or storm attack, immediately enter the sky over the Gulf of Mannar after the commander gives the order to deploy, and first annihilate the enemy fighter jets in the air.

When approaching Mannar Bay, Shen Debian saw that there was no enemy fighter jet in the sky, and confirmed that a surprise attack plan could be adopted, so he raised the signal gun and fired a signal flare outside the aircraft.After seeing the commander fired a signal flare, the attacking teams immediately began to deploy, increasing their speed and flying towards the target airspace.

The cloud cover gradually became smaller, and the cloud cover was disconnected in many places.When the formation approached the sky over the Bay of Mannar, the sky was clear, and the entire military port could be clearly seen from the northwest valley at the mouth of the bay.

"Reporting captain, we saw the Mannar military port!" Air Force Captain Lin Weicheng shouted excitedly.

Shen Debian also saw the obvious signs of the battleships in the military port, the cage masts, and he counted them with the help of high-powered binoculars. There were 7 battleships moored by the water, and 1 moored in the dock of the Indian Navy Shipyard.

"Communication soldier, issue an attack order now!" Shen Debian shouted to the wingman communications soldier while observing through the binoculars.

The communications soldier pressed the key and repeatedly sent out the password command: "Sudden, Sudden, Sudden..." This is the order to start an attack, taking the first word "Du" from "Assault".

Gao Zhihang, who was in charge of the forward assault, immediately commanded the Lanxiang dive-bomber team to enter the preparatory attack position after receiving the attack order. The 53 Lanxiang dive bombers were divided into two groups, one of which was led by him personally to Adam Bridge and Hickam Airport, and the other was commanded by Lieutenant Lin Weicheng to fly to Gurid Airport.

Gao Zhihang saw that at the Hickam Airport not far from the mouth of the bay, there were huge hangars next to each other. Heavy bombers had just been pulled out of the hangars and lined up on the apron.Gao Zhihang quickly swooped over with the plane, and the second plane followed suit.Then, the third, the fourth...

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

Suddenly, thick smoke rose from Hickam Airport.Almost at the same time, tall plumes of smoke also rose from Adam's Bridge Airport and Gurid Airport.At the same time, the 1st Squadron of the Torpedo Fleet led by Lieutenant Liu Muqun of the Air Force had already detoured to the mouth of the bay and was entering the attack course from Hickam Airport.He clearly knew that this operation was a surprise attack, and the torpedo fleet should start the attack first.So he was taken aback when the smoke suddenly rose over Hickam Field.Because the huge smoke column at the airport covered the attack target of the torpedo fleet, Liu Muqun had no choice but to command the fleet to change the direction of entry and rush towards the enemy fleet staying in the port.

The attack was originally planned to start at 8:5 pm, when the torpedo fleet launched the first torpedo of the war.Now, with the dive bombers attacking first [-] minutes earlier, everything is messed up.Fortunately, the enemy is not on guard at all, so they can let go and attack.Just when the bomb dropped by the Chinese Flying Eagle was about to land in Mannar, Shen Debian issued an order to the communications soldier: "Send a report to the fleet headquarters with a type A radio wave, and the content is: 'My surprise attack is successful!'" The surprise attack was successful The password is "Longwei".With the release of the code, both Sa Zhenbing and the Intelligence Agency of the Navy received this great news.

When the Chinese fleet began to attack, Binash, the chief of the aviation ground command station stationed in Mannar, was standing in front of a window of the Adam Bridge command center watching the flag-raising team raise the flag. His heart was full of enthusiasm. After the flag-raising ceremony, the coalition The fleet will implement the largest attack plan since World War II, launching a dawn attack on the Chinese navy on the line from the Andaman Islands to Sumatra.But what I never dreamed of was that history played a huge joke today. The interval between China's air strike plan and the New Crusade's attack plan was less than an hour, and the war was about to undergo earth-shaking changes!

At around 7:55, he suddenly heard the scream of the plane diving over the base, and he turned to the messenger and said, "Write down that guy's aircraft number, he violated the 16th Airline Safety Regulations, wait for him I will be severely punished."

"I can't see the number. But I think it may be the plane of an aviation squadron leader, because I see a red line on the plane." The signalman replied.

"Check and see which squadron leader's plane is in the sky." Binash ordered angrily. At the critical moment when the fleet is about to set off across the board, he will never allow any abnormal situation.

At this moment, the communications soldier suddenly reported in a sharp voice: "The plane swooped down and dropped a black object!"

Wind and Thunder Agitate Three Thousand Miles Chapter 683

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a huge explosion coming from the direction of the hangar.A sudden realization dawned on Binash's face, and he said loudly, "Don't bother, this is a Chinese plane, and what it dropped was a bomb!"

After saying this, he immediately rushed out of the room, went straight to the telecommunications room at the other end of the corridor, and immediately ordered all the staff on duty to send a message in clear code: "The Mannar military port was attacked by air, this is not a drill! I will say it again..."

As the dive bombers roared down, Binash called his boss, General Sotheby: "The Chinese are launching an attack!" But his boss said suspiciously: "You shouldn't take this kind of attack." Just kidding about it." It took a lot of talking for Binash to convince Sotheby that he wasn't joking.Immediately after being persuaded, Sotheby yelled at Lieutenant Colonel Cohen, his combat planning staff, "Go, go to the headquarters!"

"General, let me put on my pants anyway." Cohen said while busy putting on his pants.

Sotheby drove away like a bat out of hell.In the sky, there are more and more Chinese war eagles covering the sky and the sun.In just a few minutes, dive bombers destroyed nearly half of the coalition carrier-based aircraft on Adam's Bridge, leaving the hangar in ruins.The coalition soldiers near the airport witnessed the horrific scene: burning planes, hangars burning like forest fires, and almost no intact plane left on the tarmac...

When the dive bombers roared towards Adam Bridge, it also attracted the attention of Mountbatten, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Fleet.He was walking on the quarterdeck of the minelayer USS Oglala, waiting for breakfast before leading the fleet.When he saw a plane flying over and a black object fell from the bomb launcher, he said to himself: "What a stupid and careless pilot, he can't take good care of the bomb launcher."

The bombs dropped from the plane exploded near the water's edge at the southwestern end of Adam's Bridge, causing no damage other than a large splash of mud.However, when the pilot turned sharply to the left and accelerated, Mountbatten saw the sign on the plane. He reacted immediately and shouted: "It's Chinese! Everyone take their places!"

Give an order, and the "Oglala" immediately issued an alarm: "All ships in the port are attacking!"

At this time, the 3rd and 4th Swordfish torpedo fleets launched by the Imperial Navy's "Flying Dragon" and "Cangryu" had already flown directly to the southwest of Adam Bridge.A few seconds later, a pair of torpedoes raced through the shallow water towards the Allied light cruiser "Rayleigh" and the target ship "Longley".With a loud bang, the "Langley" tilted heavily to port and began to capsize.

The commander-in-chief of the light cruiser "Rayleigh" at first thought it was a routine air strike exercise and ordered the anti-aircraft gunners to prepare for battle. However, at this moment, a torpedo hit the ship's waterline steel plate, Seawater poured into the former engine room and boiler rooms 1 and 2.The captain was awakened by the sound of the explosion. Wearing red pajamas, he rushed to the rear deck, and the first thing he saw were those big red balls.He quickly understood what had happened, and ordered the anti-aircraft guns on the "Rayleigh" to fire.At this time, the "Rayleigh" began to tilt heavily to the port side, and after anti-overturning water injection, the ship continued to tilt.The captain immediately organized rescue to prevent capsizing.

At 8:[-], another torpedo splashed down between the French warships "Marseille" and "Rayleigh". Fortunately, the torpedo plunged into the mud without causing any harm.Gao Zhihang flew over the Adam Bridge, trying to hit the French ship "Konya" in the dock.However, when he saw that the mooring slipway might block the torpedo, he threw the torpedo at the "Oglala", as if to make up for the mistake of not hitting the "Marseille" just now, the torpedo was thrown from the "Oglala". "" passed through the bottom of the ship, hit the light cruiser "Helena" and exploded, and a torpedo damaged two warships at the same time.

The powerful explosive force lifted the metal floor of the boiler room of the "Oglala", tore the port hull, and the torpedo exploded three times in succession under the "Helena".A strong explosion on the starboard side shook the hull back and forth.