Chapter Thirty-two: Madagascar Part One

  Madagascar is rich in natural resources, with graphite deposits ranking first in Africa, and also has mica, uranium, lead, gemstones, quartz, gold, silver, copper, nickel, bauxite, chromium, coal, etc.

  The island's rivers are turbulent and have great potential for hydroelectric power generation.

  The forest area is 147 million hectares, and food crops include rice, cassava, corn, etc., with rice nearly self-sufficient.

  The main cash crops are coffee, cloves, sisal, sugarcane, peanuts and cotton, while its vanilla (vanilla) production and export volume both rank first in the world.

  Almost all kinds of colored gemstones have been found on the island of Madagascar, with at least 30 varieties visible in the market.

  Peridot, Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, Aquamarine, Tourmaline, Sunstone, Jadeite, Quartz, Garnet, Opal, Phosphorite, Serpentine, Jade, Zircon, Euclase...

  Although many mining areas were discovered relatively late, Madagascar is becoming an emerging but important gemstone-producing country.

  Djibloho - Souares Port is located on the northeast coast of the country.

  The main berth of Gangkou District has 5 berths, with a shoreline length of 1020m and a maximum water depth of about 10m.

  The loading and unloading equipment includes various shore cranes, electric hoists, mobile cranes, loaders, belt conveyors and tugboats, among which the maximum lifting capacity of the mobile crane is 45 tons, and the maximum power of the tugboat is 1240kw.

  The Hongkou District has warehouse space of approximately 270,000 square meters.

  The largest reliable tanker in Hong Kong has a load capacity of 50,000 tons and an annual cargo throughput of approximately 5 million tons.

  The objective of the Southern Army was Diego-Suarez Harbour in northern Madagascar.

  The port is deep and calm, a famous good harbour on the Indian Ocean, 35 km from the northernmost point of Madagascar, and can only be entered through a waterway that is only 1.5 km wide.

  In addition, there is a narrow peninsula that separates the harbor and anchorage areas, where the French built extensive defensive works.

  The scale of the military mobilization in South Vietnam must have been known to the French, so the entire Dien Bien Phu - Son La area was turned into a huge fortress by the French, making it extremely difficult for landing operations.

  At that time, France had a garrison of 3,400 men in Djibouti (including the garrison on the island of Mayotte), consisting of 2,200 soldiers, 300 sailors and 350 airmen, under the command of the French Armed Forces in the Southern Indian Ocean.

  In addition, there are 200 gendarmes out of 600 in Madagascar.

  It's really killing a chicken with a bull knife for the Southern China Tigers.

  The initial landing plan of the Nanyue Army was to land near the anchorage and occupy the naval port, but this plan was soon vetoed by the commander in charge of this action.

  The naval commander for this operation was Admiral Yang Shengtian, while the landing force was commanded by General Lin Zongtang of the Marine Corps, who also oversaw the overall planning of the operation.

  Air reconnaissance and espionage work were also proceeding in an orderly manner at the time of the landing force's departure.

  According to intelligence received, Yang Shengzhang and Lin Shengtian decided to launch a direct attack on the port itself after discussion.

  The landing operation was carried out by the 2nd Marine Brigade of the Nanyue Military Region, followed closely by the 10th Armored Brigade.

  On 26 March 1961, the fleet sailed from East Timor, controlled by the Union of South Pacific Nations, in two batches to Madagascar.

  The task force was escorted by the 1st Aircraft Carrier Battle Group and the 3rd Amphibious Assault Battle Group of the South China Federation.

  Due to reports of French naval submarines surfacing at the northern and southern ends of Madagascar and in the Mozambique Channel, Lin Zengtian brought two sets of staff officers, one on the cruiser Chongqing and the other on the destroyer Baotou.

  As the fleet sailed towards Madagascar, everyone in the fleet was thinking about one thing - would the French surrender or fight back?

  Now that the French military knows about the scale of the South China Federation's fleet and army, it can be expected that the French in East Africa will make a wise choice.

  On April 10, the fleet arrived at the designated location.

  On the 11th at dawn, the South China Federal Navy's Mi Yun mine sweeper sneaked into the waterway at the entrance of the port and began to sweep for mines, quickly clearing a path through the minefield.

  At 2:00 am, Changchun-21 mine sweeper followed Muyun-21 into the outer anchorage. After confirming there was no danger, the remaining ships entered one after another.

  The South China Sea Fleet quickly dropped off the landing troops to grab a beachhead, while naval minesweepers were busily clearing sea mines in the inner anchorage as marines landed.

  But what was most astonishing was that the roar of the engines of the South China Sea landing craft and the explosion of the detonated sea mines were not detected by the defending troops.

  Before the large-scale landing of the South China Sea Army, the 523rd Regiment of the 2nd Marine Brigade of the South China Sea had already secretly landed ashore. Its mission was to occupy a fort that could control the outer anchorage.

  After a brief exchange of fire, the French troops surrendered, and over 100 French soldiers were captured in this battle.

  On the morning of the 11th, at 6:20 am, more than 100 sorties of fighter jets and fighter-bombers taking off from the aircraft carrier arrived over Diego-Suarez port, almost completely destroying the merchant ships in the harbor and the airport near the city.

  By the end of the air raid, more than 2,000 troops of the Southern Army had landed.

  The 2nd Naval Infantry Brigade's 235th and 236th infantry regiments, as well as the 126th tank regiment of the Southern Military District, were responsible for storming the urban area of Diégo-Suárez. The landing site was still 35 kilometers away from the city.

  During the advance towards the city, the Southern Han army captured a French officer and three French soldiers. After a brief interrogation, the Southern Han army sent the officer to persuade the French commander to surrender, but this soon proved to be an unwise move.

  When the Southern Army and their tanks arrived at a narrow pass leading to Yaoundé-Souarès, they encountered organized and fierce resistance from French troops, clearly due to the warning issued by the officer released by the Southern Army.

  The NVA Marine Brigade and Armor Brigade chose two non-adjacent beaches for the landing, due to a higher-than-expected mine density in the inner anchorage.

  Moreover, at noon a destroyer escort struck a mine and sank, so larger ships could not enter the inner anchorage, thereby increasing the transit time from transport ships to beaching craft.

  This resulted in shortages of ammunition and food on the beaches.

  The Huanghe landing ship was unable to put the urgently needed heavy artillery ashore until nightfall, when it finally found a deep water location to offload the guns.

  Moreover, due to the remote location of the unloading site and lack of access roads, those poor gunners had to spend some time bringing these heavy weapons together with the main forces.

  Other problems continued to emerge as the battle progressed, and due to the need to transport as many personnel as possible, the vehicles of the 132nd Tank Regiment of the 10th Armored Brigade, which was in charge of the main attack, were limited to less than 200.

  Communication equipment was severely damaged when it came ashore, and the quantity began to be seriously insufficient, which made communication contact a big problem.

  In an attack launched on the 16th at dawn, the 231st Regiment, belonging to the 10th Armored Brigade, successfully broke through the French defensive line, but due to lack of contact with neighboring troops, they had to withdraw back to their original position with prisoners.

  Other units of the 10th Armoured Brigade also arrived at Diego-Suarez on the 15th, but were unable to find sufficient transport to move to the French base.

  On the afternoon of the 16th, the entire 10th Armored Brigade landed.

  Lin Sheng Tianzhong began to adjust his deployment and ordered a full-scale attack at 20:30 on the 16th.

  However, the key to the battle was a marine corps company who boarded the Zhangjiakou destroyer half an hour after the general offensive and landed on a dock in the French military base.

  As the French troops were all attracted to the positions west of Diego-Suarez, there were very few men defending the wharf, so they entered the base without any effort.

  After the French military headquarters located inside the base was occupied, organized resistance by the French military ceased.

  However, the French fortifications and batteries guarding the entrance to the harbour did not surrender.

  For this, Lin Shengtian sent two boxes of baijiu to the French military commander, after which a white flag was raised on the French position.

  During the landing of the South China Sea Fleet at Diego-Suarez Port, a French submarine attempted to launch a sneak attack on the Chinese fleet but was immediately sunk by helicopters from an escort vessel.

  Unfortunately, the Lanzhou and Xining were sunk one after another, but due to the shallow water of the port, the two warships sank to the bottom of the sea and were salvaged shortly afterwards.

  The next day, another civilian tanker carrying fuel was sunk.

  All three ships were sunk by French Navy Laubie-class submarines.

  During the landing battle, the South China Sea Fleet had 105 deaths and more than 600 injuries.

  The French army suffered more than 150 deaths and about 500 injuries.

  At 18:35 on the 19th, the second row advanced in a dispersed formation under my artillery cover, with each squad alternately covering and advancing from position 2 to position 3. In just 8 minutes, they reached the enemy's front line and quickly occupied the assault departure position.

  At 18:45, our artillery fire began to expand, fiercely suppressing the main peak of Hill No. 3, and the 82nd cannon immediately destroyed three enemy firepower points. The second platoon took advantage of the momentum to launch a charge.

  At this time, the enemy in the bunker was in a state of chaos. The fifth squad leader led the machine gun to suppress the remaining enemies in the trench, while organizing some soldiers to throw grenades into the first line of enemy trenches and taking advantage of the explosive effect of the hand grenades, they suddenly broke into the first line of enemy trenches.

  The 4th squad discovered enemy firepower points during the charge, and the squad leader immediately ordered the machine gun to cover, taking a flanking approach, and immediately eliminated two enemy firepower points.

  After the Fifth Squad broke through, the Fourth Squad rushed into the enemy's first trench. The Fifth Squad quickly rushed into the first trench after annihilating the enemy near the saddle and rolled northward.

  When the second platoon was about to launch an assault, the regimental command found that the third platoon had gone in the wrong direction. Immediately, it ordered the first platoon to take advantage of the favorable terrain and quickly move forward into battle.

  When a squad approached the enemy's front line, they found 4 enemies setting up a machine gun to occupy a shooting position. The squad leader quickly ordered the machine gun team to occupy a favorable terrain, fire first, and killed all of them, capturing one light machine gun and two submachine guns.

  After breaking through the first trench in two waves, as we charged towards the enemy's second trench, the enemy artillery began to fire at us with blocking shots.

  The fourth squad leader and the fifth squad leader were successively injured, but they still insisted on fighting. When approaching the enemy's main position, they were again suppressed by the enemy's heavy machine gun fire. The fifth squad leader ordered the whole class to throw grenades into the enemy's trenches, but it was ineffective due to the steep slope.

  At this time, the 4th company was advancing smoothly and had reached the left side of the 5th company. Xu Xiaquan, a machine gunner in the 5th company, saw the situation and rushed forward without regard for his own safety. He moved from the left side to the rear of the enemy, suddenly jumping up at a distance of 10 meters from the enemy, and with one burst of fire, he killed the enemy, ensuring that the 5th company could advance quickly.

  Accordingly, the second row of long fruit adjusted its deployment, ordering the fourth squad to roll down from a high position and attack the enemy from the south, while the fifth squad launched an offensive to the west. The original direction of the fourth squad remained unchanged.

  The 4th squad, with the support of the 5th squad, first broke into the enemy's main position. Soldier Min Zhongyou skillfully utilized the terrain, using hand grenades and close-range shooting to continuously eliminate three enemy firepower points, killing four enemies.

  After the 5th squad rushed to the top of the mountain, they were suppressed by the enemy's No. 4 highland firepower. The deputy battalion commander ordered the 5th squad to suppress the enemy's firepower while calling for artillery fire.

  At this time, the first squad of the 3rd highland's northern protrusion had already occupied it. Seeing that the second squad was being suppressed by firepower, the squad leader actively used firepower to attract the enemy's firepower from the 4th highland and directed the rocket launcher to aim and fire, hitting all three targets with three shots, quickly destroying three enemy strongpoints.

  The 4th Battalion then launched an attack down from the western end of the high ground.

  At 19:02, the second company cooperated with the first company to annihilate the enemy on the third high ground. The platoon leaders ordered each squad to quickly reinforce their fortifications and prepare to counterattack against the enemy.

  Such combat reports were constantly being sent to Lieutenant General Lin Sheng Tian's command post.