The British Empire is now a fallen phoenix. It was once the number one in the world, but now its life is not ordinary. Churchill looked forward to China and the United States joining in every day. The United States is the world's largest economic power. China is a little behind the United States. Before the war broke out, it ranked third, second only to the United States and the Soviet Union. China's steel output ranks second in the world, with an annual output of 28 million tons of crude steel. With these two countries being dragged into the water and standing in the same camp as Britain, Churchill would not worry about not winning the war. The annoying thing is that China is now at war with the Soviet Union, which makes Germany have no worries and is focused on destroying the British Empire.
Modern warfare is a very complex and huge system. The higher the technological content, the more factors there are in all aspects. From this perspective, it is really remarkable that the rabbits were able to draw a draw in the Korean War.
"Put aside the British affairs for now. When the Japanese start fighting in Nanyang, the British can ask us to go to Burma. There is one thing that must be prepared in advance, and that is the issue of the resettlement of expatriates in Nanyang. The navy must be ready when the war breaks out. For the first time, I warned Japan not to harm our nationals. As for the issue of resettling the nationals, I think the islands around Natuna are very good. Don¡¯t be polite when the time comes. Take them first. By the way, let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs inform you. Britain and Japan will launch an attack on Southeast Asia."
Fang Jianxiong did not show his conscience for the sake of Sino-British friendship. He really hoped that Britain could resist for a few more days. Speaking of which, the most hateful thing is that lame man. In this time and space, because of the rise of China, he actually gave up on the Philippines and wanted to provoke a maritime battle between China and Japan. Once China, the fourth largest navy in the world, and Japan, the third largest navy, start fighting in the Southeast Asia, wouldn't the U.S. Pacific Fleet reap the benefits?
Damn the Sino-US friendship!
After receiving the news from China, the British Empire panicked. Churchill repeatedly called Johnson to confirm the true identity of the information. Just when the intelligence was confirmed, under the cover of the Japanese combined fleet, the Japanese army landed in the Philippines on October 15. The Philippine local army supported by the United States was simply vulnerable to the Japanese army.
The Japanese Fourteenth Army, commanded by Masaharu Honma, easily landed in Apali, Vigan and Legazpi under the cover of naval guns. At this time, Britain woke up from a dream. Without Taiwan, Japan's primary target for heading south is, of course, the Philippines. Otherwise, the sea route would have to go in a big circle. Now that the United States has withdrawn from the Philippines, Japan will of course be welcome.
At the same time that the Japanese Army landed in the Philippines, the Tenth Army landed at Songkhla in the southernmost part of Thailand. At this time, Britain was almost in a hurry to go into battle. The most threatening force of the British Empire in the South Seas is the Far East Fleet. The Prince of Wales and the Invincible are the two giant ships that the Japanese army most wants to sink on the sea.
After learning of the Japanese landing, Lieutenant General Phillips, commander of the British Far East Fleet, immediately convened a combat meeting and decided to personally lead the fleet to counterattack the Japanese. There were only two battleships and they didn't rush to India. Instead, they challenged the Japanese combined fleet with six aircraft carriers as the main force. It must be said that Phillips was courageous and had a bad mind.
On October 17, the main force of the British Far East Fleet, consisting of two battleships and four destroyers, was discovered by a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. The two aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy, which had been waiting at sea for a long time, released forty aircraft and headed for the British fleet on the sea about 40 nautical miles east of Kuantan.
A tragic scene occurred on the South Pacific. The Prince of Wales, equipped with 175 anti-aircraft guns, fired a barrage of 60,000 shells a minute, but it could not stop the Japanese torpedo planes from diving to drop bombs. At 12:23, an astonishing coincidence in history occurred. The battleship Repulse was sunk by a torpedo, and the huge 26,500-ton body slowly sank. At 13:20, the Prince of Wales, known as the "Royal Navy's unsinkable ship", was hit by six torpedoes and sank. It is worth mentioning that the Prince of Wales in this time and space failed to catch up with the good work of encircling and suppressing the Bismarck. It was sent to the Far East as soon as it entered service in an attempt to frighten Japan.
After hearing the news, Churchill lamented: He has never suffered such a big blow.
In short, Japan once again staged a sneak attack without declaring war. The British Empire issued a statement saying that it suffered the most shameless sneak attack in human history. In parallel history, it seems that it was Roosevelt who said this. However, Roosevelt in this time and space shot himself in the foot. It is easy for the US military to withdraw from the Philippines, but it is difficult to come back. There is really no excuse.
While the Japanese Navy was encircling and suppressing the British Far East Fleet, a fleet left Keelung Port. The Chinese Navy's Third Fleet, a formation consisting of a 22,000-ton battle cruiser, four light cruisers and six destroyers, headed towards Head towards Surabaya Port.
The Japanese Navy has always been on guard against the movements of the Chinese Navy. Not long after this fleet left Keelung, it was "accidentally" discovered by a destroyer of the Japanese Navy. Then the entire Japanese navy panicked. What are we going to do?At this time, the Chinese came and killed me. It would really cost me my life. Yamamoto Isoroku immediately ordered two aircraft carriers and the battleship Mutsu to form a formation and approach the Chinese naval squadron.
Soon, news came from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Chinese were here to protect overseas Chinese. China proposed to use Natuna and other surrounding islands as temporary refuges for Chinese overseas Chinese.
When Yamamoto Isoroku heard the news, he breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, a sense of resentment rose up. This was a naked robbery. However, we can only endure it at this time. The Chinese Navy's Third Fleet in Taiwan is not very strong. It only has one old 20,000-ton aircraft carrier and two battle cruisers that have been in service for five years. Even if the Third Fleet can be destroyed, it may not be a big blow to the Chinese Navy. On the contrary, the three large aircraft carriers launched in the middle of the year pose a huge threat, as well as the two fighter wings and two bombers deployed by China HNA in Taiwan. The wing and the two torpedo wing, these are the most troublesome targets for the Japanese Navy. As for submarines, Japan has never taken them seriously and can ignore them.
After Japan landed in Nanyang, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that in order to fulfill the agreement signed with Germany, the Japanese government would automatically enter a state of war against the United Kingdom without the need for a separate declaration of war. It¡¯s no longer shameful anyway, what can you do?
The Japanese army encountered almost no decent resistance in the Philippines. The Filipino indigenous army, known as an army of 300,000, was led by retired U.S. Marshal MacArthur. It was almost a naval gun attack. The Filipino Turkish army dispersed, no matter what the US military advisers did. It's no use yelling and scolding.
More than fifty aircraft sent to the Philippines by the United States were captured by the Japanese army before they even took off. The furious MacArthur, as the Philippine Army Field Marshal, was preparing to gather the remaining troops to continue fighting when he received a notice from the US government, asking him to lead the evacuation of American expatriates in the Philippines.
With the airport built by the United States in the Philippines, Japanese aircraft will have a place to live.
Wu Wei led his troops to land in Pattani and landed almost without any resistance. The Fifth Division landed in Songkhla with the same ease. The unlucky 18th Division landed in Kota Bharu and encountered stubborn resistance from the British army and fell into a bitter battle. However, the resistance of the British army was quickly crushed by the Japanese army's naval and air superiority. After the Japanese army easily landed ashore, they built an airstrip on the Malay Peninsula and a large number of Japanese army aviation fighters arrived.
The Japanese army quickly seized air supremacy and then quickly moved south along the Malay Peninsula. Yamashita Fengfumi, who had abundant troops in this time and space, concentrated the forces of three divisions and used his own so-called "drill battle" just like in parallel history.
When the Japanese army was sweeping across Southeast Asia, the Chinese Third Fleet arrived in Surabaya. In order to escape the war, local overseas Chinese boarded passenger ships from Taiwan. In Natuna, construction of a temporary settlement and airport began. A large number of machinery, equipment and materials were unloaded on the dock and transported to the construction site along simple roads.
Japan, which does not want to cause trouble, can only postpone its landing in Java. Watching the Chinese move things back and forth one by one like ants moving. While the Japanese army was conducting large-scale military operations in Southeast Asia, British Minister Johnson came to the Presidential Palace again and urgently met with President Fang Jianxiong.
"Your Excellency, the Japanese military operations in Nanyang have fundamentally threatened China's interests in Nanyang. Australia's iron ore, Nanyang's natural rubber, and the transportation of various non-ferrous metals will all be restricted by Japan. Could it be that Japan Don't you want to take some necessary measures on this?" Zhuang Sen said it very euphemistically, but his meaning was very clear. China can no longer stand by and watch.
After hearing this, Fang Jianxiong replied with a sneer: "When the Soviet Union sneaked into China, Prime Minister Churchill expressed regret and hoped that a ceasefire agreement could be reached as soon as possible between China and the Soviet Union. Now I am also replying to the Minister in the same way. The Chinese government is attacking Japan's navy and army going south." We deeply regret the military action and express our inability to do anything about it. The main forces of the Chinese [***] Corps are concentrated on the battlefields of Siberia and Central Asia and are unable to look south. However, we will still abide by the secret agreement reached between China and Britain. Yes. The Chinese government has informed the Japanese government that any military action must not threaten China's interests, otherwise China will have to declare war on Japan."
Zhuang Sen can only leave disappointed. The president is the one who has the final say in Chinese politics. If he says that he does not want to compromise, there will be no leeway. Unless the Japanese army is out of ideas and takes the initiative to attack China, that is another matter. When the news came back to London, Churchill was silent for a long time, staring at the United States across the Atlantic on the map, mumbling to himself vaguely. No one knew what he was talking about, and he heard words like Falk appearing several times.
Just when Churchill was in trouble, good news came from across the Atlantic. Soon Churchill led his entourage including the First Sea Lord, Chief of General Staff, Deputy Chief of Air Force, as well as relevant personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, etc. to board the ship. Under the escort of the Hood, they traveled quietly , rushing to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.