Chapter 1306: The Attack Begins

Manila, the headquarters of the Southern Army on the island. General Hisao Nishio summoned Lieutenant General Shigeru Suematsu, Commander of the Philippine Front, Lieutenant General Shozo Kawabe, Commander of the Indian Front, Lieutenant General Michio Sugawara, Commander of the 3rd Air Force, and Motomoto, Commander of the 14th Front, only part of which had arrived in the Philippines. Lieutenant General Jian Yaqing.

"Gentlemen, now we are transporting a large number of troops to the Philippine Islands through the transport fleet. However, due to the threat of German submarines and aircraft, our transport speed is much slower than we expected. But if If the Germans think that this will prevent us from attacking, they are very wrong!" General Nishio Hiszo said.

Several lieutenant generals all looked serious. They all knew that although the island army could use the Philippine Islands to attack Dutch Indonesia with the acquiescence of the Americans. However, the patience of the Americans is very limited. They hope that the island army will launch an attack as soon as possible, and they can't waste any more time. Therefore, General Hisao Nishio could not wait for all the troops of the Southern Army to arrive, so he had to launch an attack in advance.

"Kawabe-kun, is the Lanyin Army ready?" General Nishio Hisao asked.

"Your Excellency, Commander, all units under the Lanyin Front Army are ready for battle, and we are ready to launch an attack at any time!" Lieutenant General Kawabe Masanori replied. Although he knows that this time he will be fighting against the powerful German army, it is very difficult to say whether his troops can defeat the Germans. However, Lieutenant General Kawabe Shozo has the confidence to fight the next battle well. The soldiers of the island army who are not afraid of death will defeat all powerful enemies with the spirit of bushido.

General Nishio Hisao nodded with satisfaction: "Honma-san, the 14th Front Army must speed up its assembly. Once the Lanyin Front Army successfully lands on Borneo, the 14th Army must quickly catch up and cooperate with the Lanyin Front Army to completely wipe out The German 23rd Army entrenched there!"

"Hi, Your Excellency, Commander!" Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma, commander of the 14th Front Army, replied.

The 14th Front Army is a very large front army, with 12 infantry divisions, one tank division, three independent mixed brigades and other troops under its jurisdiction, with a total strength of nearly 300,000 troops. Therefore, General Hisao Nishio also regards the 14th Front Army as a main front army under the command of the Southern Army, and hopes that they can play their due role in the war. It's just that it will take time for such a huge front army to be transported from the mainland of the island country to the Philippines. Now only a small number of troops of the 14th Front Army have arrived in the Philippine Islands, and most of the other troops are still waiting to be shipped at sea or on the mainland.

But this time the Southern Army will obviously not wait until all the 14th Front Army arrives in the Philippine Islands before launching an attack.

"Mr. Sugawara, we are going to land on Borneo, and we will inevitably be intercepted by Luftwaffe fighter planes or naval ships. This requires the Air Force to dispatch fighter planes to provide cover for our landing troops. I hope that the third The air force can seize the air supremacy from the Sulu Sea to the eastern airspace of Borneo, and ensure that the landing troops can reach Borneo safely!" General Hisao Nishio said.

"Your Excellency, Commander, I will do my best!" General Michiyo Sugawara replied.

The 3rd Air Force has three flying divisions, with two hundred fighters and a large number of reconnaissance and bombers. The overall strength is slightly weaker than that of the 5th Aviation Group of the Luftwaffe. However, the defense zone of the 5th Aviation Group covers the entire Southeast Asia, and the number of aircraft that can be deployed to Borneo is obviously not too many. And this undoubtedly gives the island nation's army aviation forces an advantage.

Of course, in terms of fighter performance, the island army may not be able to compete with the German Air Force. The Type 1 fighters and Type 97 fighters they are equipped with are simply impossible to be opponents of the Luftwaffe's FW-190 fighters and BF-109 fighters. In terms of bombers, the performance of the Type 97 light bombers and Type 97 heavy bombers equipped by the Army Air Force of the island country cannot be compared with the dive bombers and ground attack aircraft equipped by the Luftwaffe. Once a war breaks out between the two sides, the situation on the battlefield will definitely show a one-sided situation.

General Nishio Hisao nodded, and then began to issue orders: "Sugawara-kun, the 3rd Air Force will launch an attack starting tomorrow to seize air supremacy! Three days later, the Lanyin Front Army launched a landing operation, and must successfully land on Borneo! "

"Hi, Your Excellency, Commander." Lieutenant General Michi Sugawara and Lieutenant General Kawabe Shozo both replied.

Eastern Borneo, Sinar Port. A large air search radar is at work. The radar was launched to the surrounding airspace, clearly monitoring the airspace within 300 kilometers. This is the second generation of large air search radar used by the Luftwaffe. The third-generation large-scale air search radar that has been replaced in Germany is said to be able to detect airspace 400 kilometers away.

Even if the detection distance is only 300 kilometers, it is enough to clearly detect the entire eastern part of Borneo and the Sulu Sea.

In order to avoid the destruction of the radar station, there is also an air search radar in Kinabatangan, west of Siena Port. If the radar in Senna Port is destroyed, this radar will be activated immediately to ensure the monitoring of the surrounding airspace.

At 9:00 am on February 24, the air search radar of the Luftwaffe found that hundreds of aircraft were flying from the eastern part of the Sulu Sea to Borneo.

The officer in charge of the radar station immediately called the airport.

Barely two minutes later, a dire air defense siren sounded at the airfield in eastern Borneo.

The pilots of the German army rushed to their planes one after another. With the help of the ground crew, they launched the fighter planes, and then prepared to take off to meet the enemy.

In order to assist the 23rd Army to resist the attack of the island country army, the Luftwaffe's 5th Aviation Group deployed a fighter wing, two fighter battalions, two dive bomber battalions and a ground attack aircraft battalion to the airfield in eastern Borneo. It can be said that the main force of the entire 5th aviation cluster has gathered in Borneo.

The 6th Aviation Group, which is far away in Australia, also stated that it can send fighter jets to Borneo at any time to assist the 23rd Army. After all, once the 23rd Army withdraws from Borneo, the fall of the entire Dutch Indonesia cannot be stopped. At that time, Australia will also be threatened by the army of the island country. It would undoubtedly be the best if the island army could be kept out of Borneo. Of course, everyone knows that it is undoubtedly very difficult. But even so, everyone still hopes to do their best to at least let the islanders pay a heavy price in the battle.

Under the guidance of our own radar, the thirty-six FW-190 fighter jets of the 511th Fighter Battalion of the 51st Fighter Wing of the 5th Aviation Group took the lead to take off and headed to the Sulu Sea to meet the Army Air Force of the island country.