Great time travel

Chapter 74 The Fall of Melbourne
On the last day of August 1946, in the desperate situation besieged on all sides, the Australian federal government finally issued an order to evacuate Melbourne.

However, the battle situation at this time was extremely dangerous. More than 20 Japanese troops gradually approached from three directions, and the Allied defense line was cut to pieces.The Australians have completely lost their air and sea supremacy on the battlefield, and there is not much time left for the transfer of personnel and materials.

The remaining tens of thousands of Allied forces must retreat while dealing with the three-sided siege of the Japanese army, and at the same time collect food and ammunition scattered everywhere—in order to continue to stick to Cape Shank after being forced to abandon Melbourne, the Allied forces It is necessary to seize the last time to transport supplies and ammunition there, otherwise, if they escape empty-handed, even if the Japanese army does not attack further, the tens of thousands of allied troops retreating to Cape Shank will starve to death very quickly.

In an extremely tense and hasty atmosphere, Australian Prime Minister John Katyn and Australian Army Commander General Thomas Bremi only took 10 minutes to formulate an extremely rough retreat plan, preparing to withdraw within a week. 2 tons of flour, sugar and cans, [-] doses of medicines and medical equipment, about [-] tons of ammunition and all weapons in stock, especially anti-aircraft guns and air defense radars, were transported inward to Cape Shank.

However, the entire retreat was not smooth from the very beginning. The heavy rain and the bad weather made all the roads in the Melbourne area always muddy. The serious hindrance caused by the transfer and retreat of the army.

On the only road leading from the center of Melbourne to Cape Shank, it was soon crowded with trucks carrying food and ammunition, tractors towing radar, howitzers and anti-aircraft guns, ambulances carrying wounded and sick, and All kinds of cars, carriages, large and small, etc., the traffic was unspeakably congested, and on the Yarra River, which divided the urban area into two parts, all the bridges across the river had long been blown up by Japanese planes. Even the temporarily repaired pontoon bridge was no exception. The transport vehicles originally located in the west of the urban area had to rely on flat-bottomed barges to transfer across the river, and the actual efficiency was astonishingly low.

At the same time, the Australian engineering troops had to repair a large area of ​​barracks and warehouses in the rain at Cape Shank, otherwise there would be no place to store the supplies even if they were transported there. In addition, they had to dig trenches and build bunkers on the part of the peninsula that connects to the land. In order to deal with the fierce battle that will inevitably break out next.

What's more, as the news of the federal government's abandonment of Melbourne gradually spread, the civilians in Melbourne were also in chaos.

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——In recent days, as the Allied forces have suffered repeated defeats and suffered heavy casualties on various fronts, hundreds of wounded soldiers and refugees from the suburbs have been sent into the city of Melbourne by trucks one after another like a flood, making every road The streets are full of soldiers, wounded soldiers, refugees, and contradictory bad news. Melbourne, the last shelter for white Australians, has already begun to brew an ominous crisis. storm.

When the Australian federal government issued the order to transfer the abandoned city, the surviving 10,000+ Melbourne citizens were shocked in an uproar. Riding bicycles and blocking the roads - the Australian government's demonization propaganda against the Japanese army in the past few years has made them generally believe that once the Japanese army invades Melbourne, they will definitely be beheaded or buried alive by these brutal yellow-skinned dwarves. Or stuffed into a mine to die... Well, in fact, that's pretty much the case.

——For the Japanese who yearn for a rich mainland, their occupation policy in Australia is generally "keep the land and keep no people".Right now there are hundreds of mass graves all over Australia, and the corpses of the "American, British and white animals" inside have not decomposed yet!
Except, of course, for the beautiful young Caucasian women who were assigned to various comfort stations to physically comfort the warriors from the Japanese archipelago.

Fortunately, although the land traffic is congested and chaotic, the water traffic is still smooth for the time being.Although the powerful combined fleet of the Japanese Navy is eyeing the waters south of Cape Shank.But Port Phillip, which lies between Melbourne and Cape Shank, is still dominated by white people for the time being.

Taking advantage of the last safe time, the Australian federal government mobilized all ships that had not been sunk, whether they were fishing boats, freighters, yachts or torpedo boats, to travel back and forth over the fifty kilometers between Melbourne and Cape Shank (one-way is equivalent to I have crossed the Yangtze River at least ten times), and transported all kinds of materials hoarded in the city, as well as troops and civilians who were preparing to retreat to Cape Shank for the final resistance.

However, such a busy but orderly transportation work only lasted for one day before it encountered a more severe test.

——At noon on the second day of the evacuation work, the sky over Melbourne cleared up. Although the muddy road surface began to be dried by the sun, the annoying Japanese planes also followed. The Japanese pilots quickly discovered the retreat of the Allied forces acted, and dropped a string of bombs...

For a time, the originally calm sea of ​​Phillip Bay was covered with huge water columns, and ships full of cargo and people had to struggle between the crests and valleys. From time to time, a certain ship was hit by a bomb, turned into a fireball, or was killed The huge waves caused by the explosion overturned, and a group of people floating on the sea crazily shouted for help... These small boats of a few tons or more than ten tons, which can only travel in the offshore, have no resistance even in the face of the smallest aerial bombs ability.

In the face of the incoming Japanese planes, the stubborn Australians also spent their last capital and dragged out the last batch of intact F4F "Wildcat" and P-38 "Lightning" fighter jets from the cleverly disguised bunkers. He also risked his life against the roar of bombs and machine gun fire, filling up the densely packed holes on the runway as much as possible, allowing the pilots to drive these last fighter planes to the sky to meet them tragically.The two sides entangled and fought for three days over Melbourne, and then on the fourth day, the last Australian Air Force was lost, and Japanese aircraft once again completely became the masters of the Australian sky.

Late at night on the third day of the evacuation, Australian Prime Minister John Katyn and Australian Army Commander Admiral Thomas Braymy boarded a yacht riddled with bullet holes and withdrew from the devastated Melbourne city.The yacht's lower decks are stacked with Australian government gold and silver bullion.The desperation of the passengers contrasted sharply with the silver moonlight beauty of Philip Bay; someone sang "Quiet Night" alone, but no one echoed.

And just as the Australians in the rear moved supplies from Melbourne to Cape Shank like ants moving.The Allied forces on the front lines are still relying on the trench fortifications, risking their lives to resist the Japanese invasion.In order to buy time for the transfer work, the Australian federal government issued the last conscription order, and all men over the age of 14 and under the age of 70 were all organized into a volunteer army to fill the gaps in the trenches and use their lives to Delay the collapse of the front line, and at the same time replace those elite veterans and withdraw to Shank Point for the final resistance.

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Among the chaotic and noisy crowd, Corporal Downey of the No.17 Division of the U.S. Army walked into downtown Melbourne in a daze.

After withdrawing from the outpost in Broadford Town, he participated in several blocking battles with the troops, like a copper wall and an iron wall, firmly nailing the 152nd Division of the Japanese Army on the opposite side more than 30 kilometers away from Melbourne.Lieutenant General Tsuji Masanobu, the head of the division, found that he could not break through the seemingly weak defense line of the Allied forces from the front, so he tried to make a detour under the cover of night.But his enemies have long been guarded against this move, constantly using the advantage of the inside line to move troops, repeatedly entering the battlefield first to block the enemy, and beating up the Japanese 152nd Division on the northern front time and time again.

However, although Corporal Downey and his troops withstood the invading enemy from the north time and time again, they couldn't stand the fire in the backyard. The main force of more than 17 Japanese troops on the eastern front successfully broke through the pass guarded by the Australians. , into the narrow plain to the east of Melbourne.Not only did it cut the Allied forces deployed there to pieces, but its leading troops even penetrated behind the No. [-] Division of the US Army, and it seemed that it was about to form a pincer attack.Next, the defense line on the west side of Melbourne also collapsed, and the US military's persistence in the northern suburbs of Melbourne has completely lost its meaning.

Although they were not defeated, they did not have enough troops to hold their positions while smashing the flank attack of General Yamashita Fumomo...Corporal Downey and his companions had to be ordered to abandon the positions and forts that they had held for many days. While laying mines to destroy the road, they retreated to the city of Melbourne in great strides.In the continuous melee and mobilization, Corporal Downey's No. 17 Division has been torn apart, and no one knows which general he is currently commanding.They obey orders mechanically, and fight or march numbly by instinct.

At this moment, he and his companions were all exhausted by the battle and march that lasted for more than half a month. Corporal Downey's face was blackened by gunpowder smoke and mud, and his hard work and fatigue made his expression even worse. Nervous, suffering unspeakably, two pieces of cotton wadding were tied on the bare feet that had stepped on the shoes.His companions are also covered in mud, bearded, ragged, disheveled, hungry and tired, so tired that they doze off while marching, whether they are Australians, New Zealanders, Americans or British, most of them The soldier couldn't think of anything anymore, and he walked like a scarecrow...

When these American soldiers who suffered heavy casualties abandoned their positions and retreated, there were still a large group of refugees fleeing in front of, behind, and around, most of them were local farmers. The wounded were on crutches, and the dying were lying on stretchers with big bellies. Pregnant women, gray-haired old people, and unsteady children all dragged the carts full of boxes and household items—because the cars and livestock were confiscated by the army, the refugees could only rely on manpower. The roads around Melbourne are congested with the carts dragging household items.Along the way, there are deserted villages, abandoned farms overgrown with weeds, and lonely huts with open doors.Occasionally, a few lonely old men and women can be seen sitting on the side of the road, like walking dead.

Although the atmosphere of retreating all the way was very depressing, in any case, they had temporarily bid farewell to the battlefield, far away from death and blood.

And just as Corporal Downey withdrew from the battlefield, another group of people stepped onto the battlefield even more tragically—when they entered downtown Melbourne, the old men and children who were conscripted into the Volunteer Army were on the same road as these American soldiers. They passed each other in opposite directions.The old men with gray beards were so trembling that they could barely move their legs, and the children were full of fear and despair, because they were forced to shoulder the tasks of adults too early.

When the regular army gradually withdrew from all fronts, they, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled who were scheduled to be abandoned, these volunteers who were full of dying old men and half-grown children, were ordered to drive to the front line, dig trenches and line up, and stick to it desperately. Buy time for the transfer and evacuation of the government and the army.

Enemy planes were roaring above their heads, shells were whistling in their ears, and many people were killed in the bombing before reaching the front line, but the remaining volunteers who had just picked up their guns were still persistently trying to complete their tasks Foxholes were dug on the hills for the garrison, field artillery was set up on the high ground, and the Japanese invasion was indeed repelled for a time-after driving so far, the Japanese army began to be a little tired.

However, the Japanese invested too many troops this time, and their firepower was too fierce. They fired more shells every day than in previous battles. It's like a machine gun, taking artilleryism to the extreme.

Therefore, although the Japanese army, which invaded from all directions, suffered repeated setbacks and suffered heavy losses in front of the solid defense line, after all, they had sufficient troops, and the supply of ammunition was endless, so they could fully withstand the losses.Even if it is temporarily impossible to break through the bunkers and trenches of the Allied forces, there are still at least hundreds of planes dropping aerial bombs and indiscriminate bombing into the urban area of ​​Melbourne every day, killing and injuring a large number of troops and citizens in the city, and destroying many bridges and buildings. The buildings have added a lot of huge craters to the street, and it has also made Melbourne, a doomsday lonely city, more and more precarious and catastrophic.

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After entering the city, Corporal Downey first left the team and went to a hospital for wounded soldiers in a high school auditorium, hoping to get some iodine or sulfa powder to relieve inflammation on his arm scratched by stray bullets.Then, he saw an extremely terrifying scene: hundreds of wounded and sick Allied troops, shoulder to shoulder, head to toe, lying in rows on the dirty ground, walking from the dilapidated auditorium Along the corridor and the playground, it stretches continuously.The crowd was so dense that it was almost impossible to get in.The better ones were lying on stretchers, and most of them were lying directly on the concrete floor or grass, in various postures.Some lay still and stiff, and many curled up in the sun moaning.Here and there swarms of flies were flying over their heads, crawling over their faces, and buzzing.The smell of blood, sweat stains, dirty bandages and feces made people nauseous, and the continuous groans were even more ear-piercing. People with weak nerves would go crazy lying in this place for a few hours.In fact, many of the wounded were already insane.

Corporal Downey held his nose and walked around in this wriggling blanket, but he didn't find any doctors or nurses.During the period, they often stepped on the wounded who were too closely arranged, and those who were stepped on had to turn their eyes slowly and look around... Next, Corporal Downey took a lot of effort to find a person who was still awake. The one-legged Australian second lieutenant figured out from him what happened here.

——It turned out that as early as two nights ago, Melbourne's hospitals began to organize evacuations. Doctors and nurses withdrew from the urban area with medicines and equipment, and moved to the "final defense base" at Cape Shank by boat.As for the wounded and sick in the hospital, anyone who could move also left with them.But those who were so seriously injured that they couldn’t move were basically thrown away—because there were not enough ambulances and stretchers.Except for a few seriously injured officers who were able to get on a car or ship and be transferred to Shank Point, the rest were left to fend for themselves in this abandoned empty city.

What's more terrible is that when all the doctors and nurses here are gone, it seems that due to lack of information, the wounded on the frontline positions around Melbourne continue to be transported in batches, and then they are not responsible. The responsible transportation team was left here.These poor wounded soldiers can't get any treatment or ambulance here, they don't even have food to eat, no water to drink, and nowhere to escape. They are dying, only waiting to die...

"...So, please, please, give me some water! It's better to have some food." The second lieutenant of the Australian Army whose right leg was blown off licked his chapped lips and coughed to Corporal Downey. Begging, "...cough cough! I haven't eaten or drank all day..."

"...Sorry, there's still a little water, and I don't even have anything to eat." Corporal Downey sighed, opened the lid of the portable water bottle, poured the last bit of drinking water into the other party's throat, and then He gave the other party a few cigarettes, then turned around and left.

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PS: Recently, Taiwan only announced after driving away the mainland family members that the death of a mainland tour group bus was a malicious crime committed by a Taiwanese driver who drove drunk + poured oil on fire and set himself on fire. This driver was sentenced to five years in prison in June, but I don’t know why he was not arrested and sent to jail (suspected to be a suicide bombed by extremist forces.) And President Tsai also wrote a commendation couplet for this guy-the treasure island in the old textbooks has been reduced to lunatics, liars, fools and Terrorists are living here, and it is not surprising that any strange things happen. We really must have the spirit of bravely exploring the island of death before we dare to go to Taiwan to play.