Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 509: French Siam War (4)

The Siamese navy has its own aviation force. The scale is not small. Except for the two British Aphrodite 504n biplane trainers, all the rest are Japanese.

Because the Siamese Navy and the Japanese Navy have established a long-term and stable cooperative relationship since Phibun Sokham came to power, and the Japanese manufacturers have also given sufficient rebates, so the Siamese Navy has always been biased in equipment procurement. Products made in Japan.

Forty-five Type 95 water reconnaissance aircraft and six Type 96 water reconnaissance aircraft are the main equipment of the Japanese Navy. Both aircraft can carry two 30-kilogram aerial bombs.

These aircraft can take off from the harbors near Siam and bomb the enemy’s water targets. Although the flight parameters such as speed and maneuverability are somewhat low, if they reach a certain number, they can be used for small and medium-sized coastal defense ships and A submarine under surface navigation can still produce some threats.

In addition to submarines and aircraft, the Siamese Navy also purchased a number of surface ships from Japan. The most dazzling of these are the two two thousand-ton shallow-water heavy gunboats. The Siamese navy has established the [Thonburi] class and is called [Thonburi] and [Ayutthaya Ayutthaya]. The flat-bottomed boats with a draft of just over four meters are equipped with four heavy cruiser-class 200mm heavy guns.

These are the old guns that were disassembled during the modernization of the Japanese aircraft carriers [Akagi] and [Kaga]. Kawasaki Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. used them to refurbish a bit, and sold them to the Siamese after replacing them with a twin turret. .

This 50-caliber three-year Type 20 Tortoise 1 naval gun has a maximum range of 26,000 meters. It uses the Japanese Navy’s old-style 88-type armor-piercing projectile, which is enough to cause lethal damage to surface ships below the Treaty-class heavy cruiser. Damage, the premise is if it can be hit.

The Royal Siamese Navy also owns two British-made [Lanexine City]-class shallow-water heavy gunboats, with a displacement of 1,000 tons, each equipped with two light cruiser-class 152mm main guns, respectively For the [Raneksin City] and [Sukhothai], although the ships are more than ten years old, they were once the main backbone of the Siamese navy.

In addition, there are two light coastal defense ships made by Japan for Siam, the [Yukong River] and the [Tajin River]. The Siamese government originally had great expectations for these two 1,300-ton new warships. When returning from a Japanese shipyard, even the king rushed to the dock to meet him.

However, it was discovered after the Siam Navy actually used it. Because of the greed for cheap and more rebates, the naval power used cheap old steam engines instead of steam turbines, so this coastal defense ship that was originally intended to be used as a destroyer is the highest The speed is only 15 nautical miles, even some high-speed freighters.

Because the procurement case involved some privacy of the Siamese Navy, this matter eventually disappeared. The Siamese Navy simply offered these two ships as treasures. In addition to serving as the king’s yacht, they were equipped with one. The batch of naval trainees trained in circles in the Gulf of Siam.

The Siamese Navy also got an R-class destroyer launched in 1920 from the United Kingdom. It was a gift from the United Kingdom to the King of Thailand. It was named the "King Phra Luan" by the Siam Navy because the ship was too old. Coupled with poor maintenance, it can only be used as a training ship for the Naval Academy.

Looking back on the French side, the East Asian fleet now has two [Dunkirk] class battlecruisers, one [Suffolon] class heavy cruiser, and one [La Galisonière] class Light cruisers and two colonial [Dige Truan]-class light cruisers, in addition to six [Storm]-class destroyers and one [Fantasy]-class [Terror] destroyer, four minesweepers and nine Inland river gunboat.

The strength of this colony squadron has surpassed most of the main fleets of small countries. If coupled with the powerful air force in the colony, the French Far East Fleet can easily destroy the entire Siamese navy.

In fact, the French fleet has received the order that the capital ship must be dispatched within twelve hours. The task of the capital ship is to shell the port cities along the coast of Siam, forcing Siam to admit that it has been defeated.

The ground combat in the border area has ended at this time. The French army did indeed send a motorized infantry unit to the rear of the Siamese invading army at night, as the German chief military officer had deduced. This unit launched a successful night attack and annihilated one of the two Siamese artillery battalions. The other artillery battalion was far away and the commander responded quickly enough. After discarding all the heavy equipment, luckily Jumped out of the ambush ring and fled back to Siam.

In the early morning of the 10th, France mobilized a total of 47 battalions of ground troops and completed the siege of the incoming Siamese army.

The battle started after sunrise. The French Army, which had a large number of heavy artillery, launched an all-out attack on the Siamese Army in the encirclement with overwhelming firepower.

The fighting was very fierce, and it quickly became heated. The Siamese troops, who did not understand what had happened, made a tenacious resistance to the French army.

Siam implements strict hierarchical education within the army. These soldiers have a strong obedience to the orders of their superiors. Similarly, when the commander is killed, the army can easily fall into chaos.

This is also an old-style army that is more dogmatic than the French army before the war. I don’t know what the flexibility is. Waves of soldiers fall on the road to break through, but the officers still follow the tactics learned in the military academy. , Ordered the soldiers to continue to charge towards the enemy's artillery fire.

Although the Siamese Army’s infantry has received strict training, it is difficult to obliterate the characteristics of the soldiers themselves. Most of these ordinary soldiers come from the countryside and grew up in a peaceful environment full of Buddhist atmosphere. The blood on the battlefield before them The degree has seriously exceeded the endurance of most of them.

Some soldiers soon developed mental problems, which subsequently caused a chain reaction among surrounding comrades. The infantry abandoned heavy weapons, vehicles and baggage, and began to scramble to break through in the direction of Siam.

But the entire combat situation has taken shape, and no one can break out of the encirclement of the French army. After discovering that their return has been cut off, the Siamese Army collapsed faster than the French thought.

Before noon, in the wilderness of Banteay Meanchey Province, a whole row of Siamese infantry raised their weapons and surrendered to the nearest French unit.

In the fifteen kilometers surrounding area, Siamese army equipment and ammunition were discarded everywhere, and burning vehicles and human corpses were everywhere near the highway. The scene looked like hell.

As General Lyon said, this was a brilliant victory. The French regained their confidence and honor here, and they proved to the world that they were still a first-class army capable of winning battles.

Furthermore, the Siamese Army is really the same as the intelligence shows. There is no preparation for the follow-up reserve. After the main group of the eastern theater is annihilated~IndoMTL.com~ they do not even have enough troops to defend the border. Up.

The Northwest Corps of the Siamese Army has begun to move to the south, seeming to be preparing to fill the vacuum left by the Eastern Corps. There should be something wrong with Siam’s command structure. Their orders were issued a bit too late, and the Siam-Cambodia border line runs from Chenburi, Pakcho, and Quincy Yufu to the capital, Bangkok. The county is almost completely exposed to the French army.

General Degu did not hesitate to give orders to the frontline troops: "Cross the border and teach the Siamese a memorable lesson.".

The governor of the colony is an admiral. Of course, he will not let the French colonial fleet take on a supporting role. The fleet has also worked hard to perform well in this war and let the French people see the courage of the French navy officers.

But just as the colony fleet was replenishing ammunition and fuel and was preparing to set sail, a long-range reconnaissance plane sent an emergency report. They found a huge fleet on the high seas east of Saigon, fast moving towards French Indochina The territorial waters came, judging from the flags flying on the ships, it should be the Japanese navy fleet.

Visually inspecting that there are two battleships and four cruisers in this fleet, as well as an aircraft carrier and ten destroyers. Judging from their speed and course, it is obvious that some of them are not good.

A combat alert sounded over Saigon Port, and all the warships in the port set sail in an emergency no matter whether the supply was completed or not. After making some adjustments outside the port, the French Far East Fleet formed a standard battle formation and bravely greeted the Japanese fleet. It was 2 pm on November 10, Hanoi time.

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