Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 859 The Battle of Penang Island , Burning the Japanese Vanguard

Upon receiving the order, Zhou Pomen immediately dispatched 120 special operations engineers.

They carried mine boxes, entrenching tools, camouflage nets, and radio detonators as they marched rapidly toward the northern outskirts of Butterworth.

We arrived at the highway on the northern outskirts of the town twenty minutes later.

The road here is flanked by continuous tropical rainforests on both sides.

It's a good minefield.

"Launch mines according to plan!" Zhou Pomen ordered.

The team then split into two groups.

One team entered the dense forest on both sides of the road and laid anti-personnel mines.

This includes pressure-activated infantry mines, tripwire mines, and bounding mines.

This was used to block the flanking maneuvers of the Japanese infantry.

Another team laid anti-tank mines on the road.

This type of landmine has a dual detonation device: gravity-triggered and remote radio-triggered. It can be triggered by gravity or detonated remotely by human intervention to deal with situations where the tank tracks are not pressed down.

Braking is part of the special forces' daily training, and the special forces members are skilled at it.

Within the dense forest, tripwires were entangled in the tree trunks and low branches, and pressure-activated landmines and bounding mines were buried under fallen leaves and decaying soil, making them completely indistinguishable to the naked eye.

The main road surface was dug into the ground, and anti-tank mines were laid horizontally at 15-meter intervals, mimicking the movement of tank tracks. After being covered with soil and compacted, gravel and sand were spread to restore the original appearance of the road.

An hour later, the entire complex minefield in the northern suburbs pass was completed.

Zhou Pomen selected ten special operations team members to lie in ambush and hide on the spot, relying on the high ground of the dense forest to set up observation and sniping positions, specifically to monitor the Japanese army's situation in the minefield and to use wireless remote detonation devices.

The remaining 110 special operations engineers packed up their engineering equipment and retreated to the town of Butterworth to await further orders.

Time passed little by little.

Two hours had passed since Fang Wen's aerial reconnaissance.

The transfer of goods at Butterworth Port is basically complete.

The ammunition, clean water, flour, combat rations, field medical supplies, and coastal defense spare weapons of the logistics camp were all loaded onto ships, crossed the strait, and transported to the Penang island warehouse for storage.

Dock barges and landing craft began to transfer British soldiers into the town at full speed.

As the British soldiers boarded their ships and left, the townspeople were filled with unease.

Large numbers of people, with their families, luggage, and food, flocked to the pier, hoping to evacuate with the army to the island of Penang for safety.

Some local villagers abandoned their homes and fields and fled south together.

Half of the residents chose to stay in the town, hoping that the Japanese army would not attack them, or that they would submit to the Japanese army.

Fang Wen and Terry did not interfere with the common people's choices.

However, the group that landed on the island must be verified.

Lieutenant Colonel Terry heeded Fang Wen's advice and set up screening checkpoints at the dock boarding gates to prevent Japanese spies from infiltrating the retreating soldiers and civilians. British military police checked the identities of each person and searched their belongings.

Anyone whose whereabouts are suspicious or whose identity cannot be verified is strictly prohibited from landing on the island, in order to prevent spies from infiltrating the Penang fortress.

An hour later, all 3000 or so reorganized defeated soldiers and refugees boarded boats and went to Penang Island.

The once bustling town of Butterworth is now completely deserted, with empty streets and closed shops.

Even the nearby British logistics camp at Butterworth was deserted.

At that moment, dust billowed up on the northern highway as the vanguard of the Japanese armored convoy appeared.

The vanguard armored units of the Japanese Imperial Guard Division advanced south at full speed.

More than 30 tanks lined up end to end to form an assault column, with the Type 97 medium tank leading the vanguard.

Following closely behind were vehicle-mounted infantry and mountain artillery tractors, the marching column stretching for two kilometers, heading straight for Butterworth with a menacing air.

In front of the tanks were Japanese reconnaissance cavalry.

The cavalry galloped along the road.

Because of insufficient gravity, the horse's hoof did not detonate the anti-tank mine when it stepped on it.

They scouted ahead and found no British positions or fortifications, then immediately reported back.

The Japanese lieutenant colonel leading the team immediately ordered the armored column to pass through the pass at full speed and head straight for Butterworth.

Two Type 97 medium tanks led the way and entered the main minefield on the main road.

Boom!!

A dull, heavy explosion rang out, and the gravity-triggered anti-tank mine detonated instantly.

The bottom armor of the Type 97 tank was torn apart by the high explosive, the road wheels and tracks were blown to pieces on the spot, and the hull was lifted half a meter high by the shock wave.

Subsequently, the fuel tank exploded.

The tank at the very front burst into flames, and its crew died instantly.

The second Type 97 tank braked suddenly and came to a stop, causing a traffic jam in the convoy behind it.

"There are landmines! The British have laid anti-tank mines!" the Japanese armored commander exclaimed angrily.

He ordered the infantry to dismount and pass through the area from both sides of the road to establish defensive positions ahead.

Upon receiving orders from their officers, hundreds of Japanese infantrymen jumped out of the military vehicles.

These Japanese soldiers, carrying Type 38 rifles and grenade launchers, poured into the rainforest on both sides of the road, intending to use the flanks of the forest to bypass the main road, destroy the tanks, and seize the area in front to build a temporary defensive line.

But once they stepped into the dense forest, danger followed one after another.

A Japanese soldier in the front row stepped on the top layer of humus, causing the pressure-activated infantry mine beneath his foot to be triggered instantly.

The explosion blasted through the soil, scattering fragments. The soldier's legs were blown off, and he fell to the ground screaming in agony.

The soldiers around him hurriedly made way for him; there was a thin nylon tripwire where he was going.

Instantly, the tripwire detonated, sending tiny steel ball fragments flying in a fan shape across a five-meter radius.

Seven or eight Japanese soldiers nearby were instantly pierced through the back and abdomen by shrapnel, and fell to the ground spitting blood and howling in agony.

The Japanese infantry then hastily halted and retreated, their formation thrown into disarray. However, this disarray made them more likely to trigger anti-personnel mines.

Bounding mines buried deep in the soil were activated in batches, suddenly launched to the height of a person and exploded in mid-air.

The shrapnel had a kill radius of ten meters, with scorching shrapnel flying everywhere, accompanied by constant screams of agony.

In a short time, over a hundred Japanese infantrymen who rushed into the woods were killed or wounded, and the remaining soldiers retreated back to the road, too afraid to go in again.

The dense forests on both sides were filled with deadly traps, completely blocking the Japanese army's flanking maneuver.

Faced with this situation, the Japanese armored lieutenant colonel turned ashen-faced and was filled with astonishment.

This was the most dangerous situation he had encountered since his attack on northern Malaya.

If the British army had this level of skill and equipment, the Japanese army would never have been able to advance so quickly to this point.

Could it be that the British have some kind of secret force?!

The Japanese armored lieutenant colonel did not report his thoughts to his superiors; he was still hoping to get out of the current predicament and break through the minefield.

"Sappers, advance! Check for anti-tank mines on the main road and clear the way!" the lieutenant colonel ordered.

More than ten Japanese engineers, carrying ring-shaped mine detectors and mine-clearing tongs, stepped forward.

They kept a low profile and slowly advanced along both sides of the road, scanning back and forth with metal mine detectors close to the road surface.

buzz

The mine detection alarm suddenly sounded, and a deeply buried anti-tank mine was precisely locked on 15 meters directly in front of the burning tank.

Two Japanese engineers crawled on their hands and knees, carefully digging away the surface sand and gravel with their entrenching tools, completely exposing the dark, heavy mine casing to the sunlight.

On the side of the casing, neat and clear Chinese characters were engraved: "Produced by Taishan Military Industry." Two Japanese engineers stared blankly at the unfamiliar Chinese markings, exchanged a puzzled look, and then shouted to their engineering squad behind them, "Captain! There are characters engraved on the casing, in Chinese. Does anyone in the squad understand Chinese?"

Seeing that the landmine remained stationary without any signs of detonation, the three sappers behind them lowered their guard and quickly gathered around it, bending down to examine the markings on the casing in an attempt to determine the landmine's model and detonation mechanism.

At a high vantage point 1,500 meters away, ten Taishan special forces members, clad in camouflage and blending into the vegetation, observed the movements of the Japanese army using high-powered military binoculars.

The camera shows five Japanese engineers.

The squad leader whispered, "You little devils, let's all go to our graves together."

As he spoke, he pressed the radio-controlled detonation button.

Boom!!

The anti-tank mine detonated instantly, sending blinding flames soaring into the sky. A high-pressure shockwave swept across a ten-meter radius of the road, scattering soil, rocks, and metal fragments in all directions.

Five Japanese engineers gathered around the landmine were engulfed by the shockwave. Their flesh and blood, mixed with dirt and rubble, were scattered everywhere, and their bodies were gone in an instant.

The violent explosion shocked everyone present. The remaining Japanese engineers trembled and stood rooted to the spot, no matter how much their officers scolded and berated them. They dared not go forward to clear the mines.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!" The Japanese armored lieutenant colonel roared, drawing his sword and pointing it at the necks of the engineering squad. He sternly threatened, "Advance in dispersal, five meters apart. If you don't go, I will execute you on the spot for disobeying orders!"

Under the threat of the blade, the remaining sappers had no choice but to grit their teeth and stand apart, slowly moving forward at five-meter intervals to clear road mines.

The special operations observation team members saw that the Japanese troops were scattered in their mine-hunting, with only one sapper approaching the mine site at a time. Detonating the mine rashly would only kill one person, which was too wasteful.

The squad leader hesitated, remaining still and abandoning the decision to detonate.

After discovering the anti-tank mine, the Japanese engineer planted a small flag, then retreated and signaled to the armored units behind him.

Two Type 97 medium tanks turned their main guns around, aimed them at the coordinates of the landmines on the road, and loaded high-explosive shells.

The artillery continued to bombard the locations marked with small flags on the road, and the underground anti-tank mines were detonated by the sustained bombardment.

The Japanese army's method of bombarding mines from a distance with tank artillery and having engineers conduct individual searches precisely exploited the weaknesses in this minefield.

The special operations team leader, with a solemn expression, took out a military radio communication device and reported the battlefield situation.

"Reporting to Captain Zhou, the Japanese are clearing mines in a dispersed manner, and our remote-controlled mines have lost their advantage. They are expected to break through the minefield in an hour!"

West side of Penang Island jetty area.

Upon receiving the telegram from the frontline special operations team, Zhou Pomen immediately rushed to the dockside.

"General Manager, urgent report from the frontline observation team." Zhou Pomen stood at attention and saluted, reporting the battlefield intelligence word for word, recounting the entire battle situation of the Japanese artillery fire clearing mines and the imminent loss of the minefield.

Fang Wen listened to the report with a calm expression.

"As expected. Landmines are inanimate objects. Laying minefields was only meant to disrupt the marching rhythm of the Japanese armored columns and, incidentally, trap them in a place suitable for air raids."

What he wanted was never to kill the enemy with landmines, but to trap this elite armored force and compress the Japanese army into a narrow pass on the northern outskirts of the city.

"Ground jamming mission accomplished. Now it's time for air power to take advantage."

Fang Wen looked at the ten Taishan gunships and gave the order in a deep voice.

"All crew members, board the aircraft and prepare for takeoff and combat operations!"

"Yes!" Pan Jiafeng replied, and the pilots and crew members who were on standby quickly boarded the plane.

The engines of ten Taishan gunships roared.

Subsequently, the gunboats and aircraft glided across the water, accelerated, and took off.

After taking off, the aircraft quickly formed a combat formation, with Fang Wen piloting the lead aircraft to lead the formation.

To ensure the safety of this operation, Fang Wen activated his special ability and used a radar target acquisition device to detect the nearby airspace.

No aircraft responded within a 300-kilometer radius of the airspace.

After confirming that the airspace was safe, Fang Wen pushed the throttle and led the group of aircraft straight to the minefield airspace at the pass north of Butterworth.

The flight took only fifteen minutes, and the formation arrived over the target area.

Looking down from the air, Japanese tanks, infantry trucks, and mountain gun tractors were crammed together on the narrow coastal highway below, while armored vehicles and soldiers were densely packed on the narrow section of road behind the minefield.

They're practically the perfect targets for gunboat and air strikes!

Fang Wen gripped the communication microphone and issued the attack order: "The aircraft group will split into two groups. Pan Jiafeng will lead aircraft 6-10 to attack the Japanese front line; I will lead the remaining four aircraft to attack the enemy's rear supply and artillery convoys and block them on this road!"

Upon receiving the order, the 10 gunboats split into two groups and began their own operations.

The battle has begun.

Under high-altitude circling firing.

The aircraft-mounted 12.7mm heavy machine gun and 20mm airborne cannon fired simultaneously, and the dense bullets rained down on the congested Japanese troops below.

Armor-piercing and high-explosive fragmentation rounds swept across the road, hitting truck bodies, tank armor, and groups of people.

The Japanese ground forces were suddenly attacked from high altitude, and the entire army was stunned.

The soldiers fled in panic to avoid the aerial attack, but the dense forest on both sides was full of landmines, and stepping into it meant certain death.

The narrow and congested roads caused vehicles to get stuck and people to huddle together, leaving no room for evacuation or avoidance.

Japanese soldiers could only run and hide on the road, becoming easy targets in the air.

The Japanese troops also retaliated.

The Japanese ground troops hastily turned their vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft machine guns around and began firing at the enemy aircraft.

The bullets struck the gunboat's fuselage but were stopped by the alloy bulletproof shields on the bottom and sides of the fuselage, leaving only dents but not penetrating it.

They faced no pressure from the Japanese army's light anti-aircraft weapons and continued to fire from gunboats.

Japanese casualties continued to rise.

Within minutes, the Japanese troops could no longer hold out.

The lieutenant colonel leading the team, his face ashen, made a decision.

"Abandon the road! Infantry and tanks, rush into the woodlands on both sides for safety! Quickly!"

In his view, although there were landmines in the woods, it was better than being used as a live target by fighter jets in the air.

At least in the woods, the plane has no field of vision.

Large numbers of Japanese infantrymen panicked and fled in disarray, while tanks turned in tandem, risking triggering landmines as they charged into the tropical rainforest on either side.

Inside the cockpit of the lead aircraft high in the sky, Fang Wen looked down at the movements of the Japanese troops below, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.

He picked up the microphone: "All aircraft, cease ground attacks and switch firing ports to napalm incendiary bomb launchers."

Ten gunboats circled high in the sky, while the crews inside were busy changing into aviation napalm incendiary bombs.

After confirming that the costume change was complete, Fang Wen gave the order.

"projection!"

At a command, napalm bombs were launched from the launchers, falling in parabolic arcs and crashing into the rainforest on both sides of the road.

Incendiary bombs landed and detonated one after another, with sparks flying in all directions. The flames instantly ignited the thick layer of decaying leaves, dead wood, and vines in the forest, and the raging fire quickly swept across the entire mountain forest on both sides.

Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and the dense forest instantly turned into a raging inferno.

The fire spread rapidly through the dead leaves and vegetation in the forest, engulfing the Japanese infantry who rushed into the woods for refuge. Soldiers screamed in agony as they were instantly consumed and burned by the flames.

The Japanese tanks that drove into the woods for refuge were also trapped in a desperate situation.

The forest fire continued to scorch the vehicle, and the steel armor rapidly conducted the high temperature, causing the temperature inside the cabin to soar to an alarming level.

The sealed tank compartment was like a sauna. When the Japanese drivers inside tried to open the hatch, their hands were instantly blistered from the intense heat.

Some opened the hatches in an attempt to escape, but the fire outside intensified.

Tanks were engulfed in flames, and the woods lining the roadside transformed into a hellish killing field. (End of Chapter)