Chapter 931 Bombing Hiroshima (1/2)

Chapter 931 Bombing Hiroshima

On July 21, 1937, military operations in Australasia officially began.

The island country has a much larger population than Australasia. If the war once enters a stalemate, it will cause a lot of unnecessary losses to Australasia.

Therefore, when formulating the war plan, Arthur asked the staff to minimize casualties and end the war as soon as possible.

The combat plan given by the staff department called for approximately 800,000 troops to launch an attack on the island nation of Kyushu and seize the beaches to land on Nagasaki and Kagoshima.

The remaining 2.2 million troops launched an attack on the line from Osaka, Nagoya to Tokyo, and attracted as many island country troops as possible to garrison.

It can be seen from this plan that the Australasian offensive will mainly focus on important cities in the island nation such as Nagasaki, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

You must know that the island country itself is a country with a small land and a large population, and the defense of such important cities must be the most rigorous.

So the question is, why does Australasia focus on attacking these cities where there will definitely be many island countries troops stationed?

In fact, there is only one purpose, and that is to concentrate the military power of the island country as much as possible and carry out a devastating strike.

Yes, regardless of whether the islanders were prepared or not, Arthur had already planned to use atomic bombs in this war.

No matter which city it is, as long as a large number of island troops are gathered, it is within the scope of Australasia's nuclear strike.

As for whether a nuclear attack will cause a large number of casualties to the people of the island country where the city is located, this is also within the scope of Australasia's consideration.

The day before the atomic bomb is dropped, Australasia will issue a diplomatic warning to the island's government to evacuate its people.

As for whether the island governments will listen, that is not something Australasia should consider.

As for the relationship between the island government and Australasia after the war, there is no need to consider it at all. Because after this war, it is impossible for the island government to exist.

In order not to arouse the suspicion of the island government, the attack on the Australasian side remained real until the final atomic bombing was completed.

This also means that whether it is the indigenous army or the Australasian army, there will be a lot of casualties in this war.

But this is not entirely a bad thing. The greater the country's casualties, the greater the damage it suffered in this war. With a little influence of public opinion, this became the cost of the war in Australasia.

Otherwise, after the war, when all participating European countries faced millions or even tens of millions of military and civilian casualties, the total military and civilian casualties in Australasia were less than one million, which would be too special.

Exchanging casualties with island countries is the most reliable way. Because it can rely on its powerful air force and navy to control the offensive of the island country's army and achieve the purpose of controlling casualties.

If it were on the European battlefield, the German army would not show mercy if anything went wrong.

Faced with this terrifying German army and the exaggerated achievements created by the German army, even the Australasian army had to face it with a more cautious attitude.

On July 21, Australasia took the lead in launching its attack on Kyushu Island.

There is only one important city on Kyushu Island, and that is Nagasaki, located in the westernmost part of the island country.

It is worth mentioning that this city is also the city where the United States dropped an atomic bomb, but it is not as famous as Hiroshima, where the first atomic bomb was dropped.

But this is normal. Nagasaki is currently just a small city with a population of less than 250,000. Compared with big cities like Nagoya and Tokyo, Nagasaki can only be regarded as a countryside.

But it is precisely around such a city with a population of less than 250,000 that nearly 200,000 combat troops are deployed.

And not only Nagasaki, but also Kyushu Island from south to north, almost every city has a large number of garrisons, and there are also many garrisons in important airports and military areas.

On the day the all-out general offensive was launched, more than 3,000 aircraft flew toward the island nation's mainland, of which nearly 1,200 were Australasian bombers.

These bombers carried a large number of bombs to the island nation's mainland, and focused on cities such as Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

At first, the islanders thought it was just the usual bombing, but when the densely packed planes in the sky arrived in Tokyo, the islanders discovered the problem.

This is not an ordinary bombing in Australasia at all, it looks more like a precursor to launching a full-scale general attack.

There are two main targets for this bombing of Australasia. One is Tokyo, the capital and largest city of the island country, and the other is Hiroshima, a city located in the west of the island country.

Logically speaking, Hiroshima is not qualified to be compared with Tokyo. Not to mention Hiroshima, even the three cities of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and Osaka are not as important as Tokyo.

But for Australasia, the bombing of Hiroshima was even more important than Tokyo in this combat mission.

why?

The main reason is that most of the island country's navy is stationed at the Kure Naval Arsenal in Hiroshima, which is also one of the most important naval bases in the island country.

The purpose of the Australasian Air Force's bombing of Hiroshima was not to target the city of Hiroshima, but to target the coastal ports and arsenals where a large number of naval forces were stationed.

In order to make the landing operation of Australasia foolproof, before launching the attack, the General Staff decided to carry out another large-scale bombing of the military bases and naval ports on the island country's mainland.

The purpose of this bombing is to completely eliminate the threat of the air force and navy on the island country's mainland, and turn the landing battle into a war between the two countries' armies.

In this way, it becomes necessary to eliminate the island country's navy. As early as in the previous bombing of the island country's mainland, Australasia had caused great damage to the island country's army aviation team. The air force owned by the island country's army has been reduced to one tenth, and it can't pose a threat to the Australasia Air Force at all.

However, because the island country's navy is hiding in the port of Hiroshima, it has not experienced too heavy a blow so far.

The island country established the Second Naval District in Hiroshima, and has built a large number of repair ships and shipbuilding facilities since the end of the last century.

At present, it not only has the largest shipyard in the island country, but also the largest ship repair factory in the island country, etc., which is the main source of the island country's navy.

It is precisely because of the importance of Hiroshima to the development of the island nation's navy that not only a large number of coastal defense batteries are deployed along the coast, but also many anti-aircraft batteries and machine guns are specially used for air defense.

In order to solve the problem of the island nation's navy once and for all, the Australasian Air Force specially dispatched thousands of aircraft to attack Hiroshima, including more than 300 bombers.

In order to deal with the island nation's navy that may be stationed in the port of Hiroshima, this aircraft formation is not only equipped with a large number of the most advanced missiles in Australasia, but also all new aircraft equipped with the latest jet engines. The war has broken out, and Arthur is not afraid of exposing his cards. What's more, jet engines are the trend of the times, and it is even possible that all countries have already been researching them.

So even if Australasia does not expose the bottom card of jet engines, in the next few years, there may still be countries that develop jet engines and invest in militarization research.

The scene of thousands of aircraft attacking Hiroshima is very spectacular. The scale of this air strike on the island nation is even enough to compare with the air battle between Germany and Britain.

Australasia also has a quantitative advantage over the island country's air force, and even has a considerable advantage in quality.

However, Arthur is not the German Prime Minister, and Arthur will not interfere with the strategic execution of the air force. Arthur only cares about the final result of the bombing.

The entire air raid lasted for more than 12 hours, and many planes went back and forth and bombed more than 2 or 3 times.

The effect was also obvious. In this super-large-scale bombing, at least 5 military airports of the island country were effectively destroyed, more than 500 aircraft were destroyed, and at least tens of thousands of casualties were caused.

The biggest good news came from the attack on Hiroshima.

Although Hiroshima's air defense force is the most important part of the island country's air defense deployment, such air defense force does not pose such a great threat to the Australasia Air Force, which is all jet aircraft.

Under the pressure of Hiroshima's air defense, Australasia sank 3 battleships and 2 aircraft carriers, a total of 5 main battleships, and seriously damaged at least dozens of small and medium-sized warships of the island country.

Although it was not enough to seriously damage the island nation's navy, the loss of 5 main battleships was enough to make the island nation's navy feel painful for a long time.

More importantly, after losing these 5 main battleships, the gap between the island nation's navy and the Australasian navy will become larger and larger.

However, the island nation is not an absolute soft persimmon. In this bombing, more than 400 Australasian aircraft were shot down, and nearly half of them were shot down in Hiroshima.

This is normal. After all, in addition to a large number of air defense facilities in Hiroshima, there are also a large number of aircraft on the aircraft carriers in the navy.

However, compared with the losses of the island nation in this air raid, the losses of Australasia seem insignificant.

After the 12-hour bombing, the islanders thought they could breathe a sigh of relief.

But just a few hours later, the next round of bombing in Australasia came.

This round of bombing is different from the previous round of bombing. Only about 800 aircraft were dispatched.

The target of these 800 aircraft is not the entire island country, but the most important areas of the first day's attack, namely Nagasaki and Kagoshima.

The main purpose of this bombing is to destroy the island country's coastal defense facilities and create enough opportunities for a large number of transport ships and beach landing ships to approach the island country's coast.

When landing on the Ryukyu Islands before, Australasia had accumulated enough experience. In particular, there was also a Type A division defending the Ryukyu Islands at that time, which was the most powerful military organization in the island country.

Now facing the island country's army again, or the Kyushu Island garrison dominated by Type B and Type C divisions, the pressure on the Australasia army is far less than imagined.

Responsible for the attack on Nagasaki are 250,000 Philippine troops and 100,000 Kalimantan troops. The combat effectiveness of the Philippine army is slightly stronger than that of the Kalimantan army, and it is barely enough to be the main force of this beach landing battle.

After all, there is also the support of the Australasia Navy and Air Force. In terms of firepower, it can be said that it is not inferior to the island country at all, and can even be slightly ahead.

This also has to mention the disadvantages of an island country with a narrow land area when conducting a defensive war. The navy of Australasia can threaten every coastal city of the island country, and the naval guns carried on the warships are completely the nemesis of the island country's coastal defense facilities.

How powerful are naval guns?

To be honest, many people don't have a basic concept.

You know, the power caused by naval guns above 406 mm is unimaginable for ordinary people.

Even if it attacks facilities on land, it can usually penetrate nine meters of concrete.

This is nine meters!

If it falls on the ground, it can create a huge pit with a diameter of about 15 meters and a depth of about six meters. This is the result of the Australasian Navy's calculations.

It is used to bomb the enemy's fortresses and coastal defense batteries on the coast, which is a completely devastating blow.

In the attack on Kyushu Island, Australasian used 3 battleships, 2 battlecruisers and 1 aircraft carrier, and the power and number of naval guns have been fully utilized.

The effect is also very significant. At the beginning, the coastal defense fortresses of the island army caused great casualties to the landing Australasian army.

Many Filipino soldiers had just stepped onto the coast and were penetrated by the firepower in the fortress without any preparation.

But after the Australasian navy opened fire, the situation completely changed.

Australasia doesn't care about the cost of artillery shells and funds. For Arthur, as long as he can occupy the island country, the benefits will completely exceed the cost of occupying the island country.

After all, this is a country with a population of more than 60 million, plus its own industry and economy have a certain scale, and the annual income can definitely be much more than that of the Philippines and Kalimantan.

Although the island country cannot be a colony of Australasia, it is still possible to control it economically and militarily.

Even if it is only a year of military occupation, the benefits are unimaginable. If long-term economic control can be achieved, the island country with a population of 60 million will become a dumping ground for Australasia's industrial products.

Although it may not be a good thing for the people of the island country, it is a huge fortune for Australasia, which has relatively scarce colonies.

Under the bombing of the navy and air force day and night, the 200,000 defenders in Nagasaki faced huge casualties in just a few days.

Especially on the first day of bombing and attack, the island country lost more than 20,000 people in Nagasaki, and at least tens of thousands of people were injured.

For the next three days, the casualties of the Nagasaki garrison did not fall below 20,000 people per day, and even exceeded 40,000 on the third day.

In just four days of attack, the islanders lost nearly 100,000 troops.

Although the casualties on the Australasia side were also not small, even more than those on the island. But because the soldiers who landed were from the Philippines and Kalimantan, for Australasia itself, there were only artillery shells consumed and economic losses.