Great time travel

Chapter 75 The Fall of Melbourne
Corporal Downey, who did not get any medicine and was hungry, drooped his head, and walked out of the hospital that had become a concentration camp waiting for death, and then found out even more tragically that the unit he belonged to had already left without knowing what to do at this moment. Where is it—in simple terms, he is left behind!

As a result, Corporal Downey had no choice but to step blankly on the foot-deep sewage and walk on the dilapidated streets of Melbourne. All he saw along the way were deserted and deserted ruins, and he could hardly find a truly complete building or A few moving figures—Melbourne, which used to have a population of nearly one million before the war, now has only a handful of 10,000+ citizens, and they usually hide in dark cellars, not daring to go out for a walk.

When the war just broke out a few years ago, the white ladies in Australia would still sit curiously on the top of the mountain or on the roof, holding a small parasol in their hands, watching the flames of planes, warships and shell explosions appearing in the distance.But soon, when the aerial bombs began to fall and bloom around them, they all learned to escape to the cellar, squatting down in the dark corners full of cobwebs and dead mice, trembling with their hands over their ears.

Then, their houses were also reduced to ruins in repeated air raids-despite the opening of firewalls and fire trenches, each air raid is still destined to burn large areas of houses.They can only continue to live in the smaller and smaller houses that were left by the fire, and endure the miserable days.

However, although most of the blocks are desolate and empty, like a ghost land, there are still a few lively places in such a big city.

For example, the street near the pier is full of people, like a collapsed anthill, and from a long distance, you can hear a sky-shattering noise rolling in like raging waves.Looking closer, citizens and soldiers from various countries are running around in panic in the streets, and unattended children are sitting on the side of the road howling.The streets were crowded with vehicles laden with soldiers and goods, and carts piled high with luggage and furniture, with children sitting on top of them.

Between the gaps in the congested traffic, many unkempt women and little girls, holding up their dirty skirts and running around blindly, chanting, "The Japanese devils are coming! The Japanese devils are coming!" As if to beat their footsteps.

Then, in the next moment, Corporal Downey, who was hungry, found an exciting scene. Groups of women came rushing from somewhere with baskets full of biscuits, cans and Wine bottles; a few young men with cigarettes in their mouths, dragging bags of cornmeal and wheat flour slowly walking; there is also an old man struggling to push a bag of potatoes on a cart, being overwhelmed by the crowd , but still struggling to move forward.Everyone was running and shouting nervously, dragging bags, bags, and boxes of food in their hands... So much food has not been available in Melbourne, where supplies are scarce, for a long, long time. People have seen it.

The crowd, who were as numb as walking dead, were soon agitated by the food that came from nowhere, and began to fight and fight with each other for the food.Those women with large and small bags in their hands screamed helplessly, trying to keep the harvest in their hands, but they were ruthlessly knocked down to the ground, and then ransacked... In the chaos, a certain The sack of the dried peas was split open, and the round dried peas were scattered on the street and rolled in a large piece, causing at least dozens of people to slip on the soles of their feet on the spot, and fell into a messy pile of meat on top of meat.

It took a long time for Corporal Downey, who was baffled, and was punched twice in the chest by an unknown guy, before he finally found out what happened—it turned out that the federal government's strategic material reserve is at the pier Next to it, there are a large number of American aid materials that were rushed over not long ago.Although the government removed some of the food, fuel and clothing before the transfer, there was still much left over.The last soldiers who retreated rejected the government's order to burn the remaining supplies, but opened the warehouse door and let the citizens who hadn't escaped take it away...

So, Corporal Downey, who was also hungry, rushed over immediately, pushed left and right through the crowd, and then did not squeeze into the warehouse, but bent down to grab some food in the yard full of debris. things, and hurriedly backed out.But even so, he still felt as if he had fought a big battle. He was so tired that he was dizzy and panting, his stomach was also very uncomfortable, and his bones seemed to be squeezed to the point of breaking.

Corporal Downey sat down on the front steps of a wrecked building, cupped his head in his hands, let his breathing gradually ease, and then checked what he had just found: a bottle of beer, a box of trampled military chocolates, and A piece of fat bacon... He devoured the military chocolate and drank the bottle of beer. Feeling slightly recovered, he stuffed the last piece of fat bacon into his rucksack and got up to look for the ferry to Cape Shank.

However, the docks in Melbourne are now empty, with no ships, no warships, not even a small sampan, only a few scorched black hulls full of holes-they were landed by Japanese planes. Blown up yacht.In addition, he was almost stunned to see an old man put a wooden bathtub into the sea, and then jumped on it with a wooden oar, preparing to paddle fifty kilometers across the sea with this thing...

Hey, this is too crazy!Port Phillip Bay is much wider than the Strait of Dover that divides Britain and France!

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Fortunately, although the sea route across Port Phillip Bay has been impassable because no ship can be found, the land road to withdraw from the city has not been cut off for the time being.Corporal Downey soon found a group of dusty and exhausted New Zealand soldiers.There was about a battalion of them, bearded, dirty fellows, with guns slung over their shoulders, walking briskly at a marching pace.Behind them were gun carts rattling and rolling, drawn by bony mules and horses, and military trucks covered with ragged canvases staggering through the chaotic ranks, kicking up clouds of suffocating dust.

After some chatting, Corporal Downey learned that these New Zealand soldiers were also withdrawn from the Western Front and were preparing to transfer to the last position at Cape Shank through the coastal road east of Melbourne...Because of their retreat, the Japanese had just Port Gillang on the west coast of Phillip Bay has been taken, and this last safe haven is no longer safe. If the Japanese army transports torpedo boats into the harbor by railway, it is like the Turkish sultans in the [-]th century pulling warships across land and into the Golden Horn. Just like attacking Constantinople in the harbor, the transport ships and refugee ships shuttling in the harbor will be slaughtered like prey!

Therefore, the sea evacuation across Port Phillip Bay has been interrupted. If you want to escape Melbourne to Cape Shank, you can only take land.

Fortunately, after some negotiations and prayers, the leading New Zealand battalion commander kindly agreed with Corporal Downey to follow them to retreat to Cape Shank, and seeing that his arm was injured, he even called a military doctor to help him. Re-wrapped and anti-inflammatory, and made room for him in the truck.

In this way, Corporal Downey, who was left behind, got on the New Zealander's truck with a look of joy and gratitude, and finally heaved a sigh of relief.However, not long after that, before the New Zealand motorized infantry battalion had time to leave the urban area, he vaguely heard an ominous roar coming from a distance... This made him feel very strange, because there was no sound in the sky above his head yet. Japanese planes appeared.

Suddenly, a deafening explosion sounded not far away, and he felt that his entire field of vision seemed to be torn apart by a huge flame, and he himself was blown off the truck by the air wave, rolling on the ground in a daze.Then there were deafening explosions one after another, and the whole world became a hell full of noise and flames. Corporal Downey was almost stunned on the spot, and managed to get up with difficulty.

Then, he saw bright tongues of flames emanating from several houses not far away, rising high into the air, reflecting the evening sky into a frightening crimson, with large groups of black The smoke swirls and hangs above the flames like a cloud.The dazzling sparks merged into torrents into the sky, and then slowly and lazily fell down, igniting more houses, and filling the oncoming wind with scorching heat and scorching smell.

Upon seeing this, Corporal Downey jumped up, his heart pounding non-stop, "...God! Is this... the Japanese coming in?"

"...no, the Australians did it themselves, they planted time bombs in the ammunition depot in Melbourne!"

The New Zealand battalion commander looked sadly at his team that was blown up and down by the "street bomb", and said with a dark face, "...But according to the plan, it should not detonate until tomorrow! It must be that Helping idiots set the wrong time...Damn it! Run if you don't want to be burned to death!"

Therefore, the hot wind full of scorching smell, the collapsed buildings in the flames and the panic-stricken crowd became Corporal Downey's last memory of Melbourne.

——Late at night on the sixth day when the Allied evacuation operation was launched, the burning Melbourne was finally occupied by a Japanese reconnaissance force...

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PS: Taiwanese capitalists who are full of human touch have found experts to advocate that employees should be allowed to work 72 hours of overtime without pay every month, saying that it is good for health, and Taiwan currently still has a single day off every week, which is equivalent to working overtime for more than one hour a day without a day off for a whole month——as expected It is full of conscience!President Tsai appreciates this!She complained all day long about too many holidays and too high benefits. It is estimated that the living standards of the people of Taiwan will soon be on par with the British Empire in the Marx era.It would be even more fun if one day some experts jumped out and advocated that the great Taiwanese people should not use electricity, sleep or eat.

In addition, the privatization of Taiwan's electric power has already begun, and it is expected that it will soon use love to generate electricity, or slap itself in the mouth, and reopen the nuclear power plant.