Chapter Sixteen: The Final Battle in Malaysia (Part Two)

  2.

  The 57th Mountain Division of the Indian Army is under the III Corps, with three brigades. Although it's named as a mountain division (i.e., supposed to be adept at mountain warfare), in reality, this division is actually one of India's premier and elite rapid reaction force. Internally, they can take on special counter-insurgency tasks, while externally, they can undertake long-distance expeditionary missions. The division not only excels at combat but also has a deep understanding of the social, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds of all the dangerous regions in India, making them suitable for combat operations in tropical jungles and treacherous mountainous areas. Additionally, notably, the active units of this division also include civil affairs teams and psychological warfare teams.

  Since the start of ground combat in Sumatra, the 57th Mountain Division of the Indian Army has been acting as the long arm of the Indian Army, using helicopter groups to maneuver and rapidly advance into the mountainous areas of western Sumatra. After a 4-day journey of over 1,000 kilometers, they controlled the key city and port of Padang in western Sumatra. By this point, the entire flank of the ASEAN coalition forces was exposed to the blade of the Indian Army.

  With the explosion of Lava-3, ASEAN Allied Forces lost air superiority. The Indian Army's "Hook Punch" began to launch a full-scale attack.

  The 77th Mountain Brigade of the Indian Army, which was moving in tandem with the 57th Mountain Division, began a large-scale assault after establishing a solid forward base at Padong. The heavily armed Mi-28H "Night Hunter" and Mi-35 "Akbar" (Russian-made Mi-24 upgraded by India) helicopter squadrons swooped down along the mountain slopes like greedy vultures, pouncing on the retreating ASEAN coalition forces to the south.

  Just as General Sainthamaruthu had anticipated, although the distance from Kuantan to Gambir was less than 400 kilometers. However, due to the dense water network along the way, the Indian Army Aviation Corps quickly cut off the ASEAN coalition's southern retreat route with major bridges as nodes. With the airborne destruction and control of Indian special forces on the banks of the Gombak River, Klang River, and Hari River, including 2 divisions of the Singapore Army, the ASEAN coalition's 40-battalion mechanized combat troops of nearly 27,000 people were divided and surrounded in the swampy area in central Sumatra.

  Although there are still about 9,000 ASEAN ground troops in both Kupang and Pontianak, they are all engineering and logistics support units lacking field combat capabilities. It seems that the complete annihilation of the ASEAN coalition forces on the battlefield in Sumatra is only a matter of time. Meanwhile, at the Andaman-Nicobar Strategic Defense Command far from the battlefield, the gaze of General Asit P. Prasad, Commander-in-Chief of India's Far Eastern Theater, began to shift towards the homeland of various ASEAN countries.

  The purpose of war is not to destroy the war potential of a nation, but to crush its will to wage war by destroying its war potential. Major General Prashad has always believed that for this war against India and ASEAN, Sumatra does not determine the direction of the war. As early as during the Pacific War, the Americans knew that if they hit the head of an octopus, its tentacles would naturally be useless.

  Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok, the eyes of Prash are fixed on these twinkling metropolises on the map. They are the core of ASEAN's will to resist. As long as they are destroyed, those 14 camps in the swamp will immediately become 2.7 prisoners with their hands up, and it seems that the time for landing on the Malay Peninsula has arrived.

  On the Malay Peninsula, Indian airborne and special forces are currently engaged in a fierce battle with the armies of Thailand and Burma in two directions.

  The 9th and 10th Paratrooper Strike Battalions, who were transported by Russian-made Il-76MD transport planes to the provinces of Chumphon and Ranong in southern Thailand, initially occupied some towns in southern Thailand. However, with the arrival of three regiments from the Royal Thai Army's 5th Infantry Division, which is specifically responsible for special operations, the area of activity of these two battalions is being increasingly compressed. If they did not receive air support from the Indian Navy and Air Force, it would only be a matter of time before they were annihilated.

  Meanwhile, in Penang Island in northwest Malaysia, the four battalions of Indian Navy Marine Special Forces that infiltrated and landed on the 100-kilometer Malaysian coastline centered on George Town have been fiercely battling the Malaysian Army led by the Malaysian Royal Navy Special Forces for four days. Without subsequent support, the Indian Navy Marine Special Forces faced the Malaysian army pouring onto the island, and their fate of being driven into the sea was unlikely to change.

  Although the operations of these two special forces were not successful in themselves, they did tie down a considerable number of ground troops from both Thailand and Malaysia. In particular, Malaysia, with its population of over 20 million people, had only an army of 80,000 men, lacked main battle tanks and heavy artillery capable of fighting large-scale land battles, and was divided into two military districts in the east and west. In the Pracha plan for war, once Indian troops landed successfully at Malacca and Tanjong Piai, it would be difficult for the weak Malaysian army to resist their advance on Kuala Lumpur.

  After taking Kuala Lumpur, the Indian Army's tanks would head south over the Johor Causeway and crush vulnerable Singapore. Then drink from the Gulf of Thailand forcing the Thai government to withdraw from the war. Although the opening was not smooth, Prash believed that within days of the start of ground fighting in Malaya, all ASEAN countries would fall under India's bayonet.

  If within a month or so, all ASEAN countries are conquered. Such achievements would be enough to make Prash's name comparable to the many lightning war generals in history. "It's time for our Indian Navy's Trishul flag to fly over the Malacca Strait."

  The Indian Navy's ensign is made up of three lions, nurtured by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, symbolizing unity in South Asia, and an anchor. Although the Indian Navy had secured control over the Malacca Strait, Prashad needed the fleet to sail into the strait to ensure a large-scale mechanized landing force.

  But Prash did not know that an unexpected encounter battle was being fiercely conducted at Dumai Port: In the face of Shan Yu Cheng's Cambodian army, the gunners loyal to Dabraqui were not enough to worry about. However, the sudden appearance of 2 Mi-28H "Night Hunters"

  Armed helicopters and several 'Abhay' infantry combat vehicles made Shan Yu-cheng somewhat uneasy. Such equipment was obviously from a different unit than the 9th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Indian Army, which had clashed with him at the Luo Gan River. But Shan Yu-cheng did not know that his opponent was even more confused than he was at this moment.

  Three Indian Army divisions landed in Sumatra, each from a different military zone, without even having conducted joint exercises beforehand. Prasad had suggested that New Delhi send an entire corps to land on Sumatra, but this was rejected by the army. The reason was that the corps organization was too large and not suitable for overseas deployment. This decision directly led to the mutual restraint between the various troops landing on the island.

  The 9th Mechanized Infantry Division troops had been fighting for many days and were exhausted, so they refused the order of Prash to capture Doumei. The 57th Mountain Division could only withdraw some troops from the assault group on the left wing. At this moment, Shan Yu-cheng encountered a shock detachment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Prejji of the 57th Mountain Division.

  Lieutenant Prejgi's unit had only about 150 men, roughly equivalent to the strength of a reinforced mechanized infantry company. The original mission was simply to reach and control the port area. Nor did they expect to encounter strong resistance. Fortunately, the other side did not have any heavy weapons worthy of the name, and the 1 x 40mm autocannon on the 'Abu-I' armored personnel carrier was enough to suppress them.

  "Damn it, if only we had a few anti-tank rocket launchers."

  Shan Yuchen looked at the 4 infantry fighting vehicles in the harbor area, which were lifting high-angle jet bullets. In his heart, there was only anxiety and no way out. Mi-28H "Devastation"

  The helicopter's machine gun bullets are closing in step by step...

  "Boom~~~" With a loud explosion, the Mi-28H "Night Hunter" that was about to fly over Shan Yu Cheng's head

  The armed helicopter shook violently and exploded into a fireball. Among the flying debris, Shan Yucheng saw a low-profile tank rushing into the port area, which was the Thai Army's US-made "Stingray" light tank. They had fought together more than once on the banks of the Rogan River.

  Another Mi-28H roared in the air, turning to destroy its new target with the rockets it carried. But Shan Yucheng didn't give it a chance. Dense bullets and cannon shells swept fiercely across the empty side of the Mi-28H, finally a rocket-propelled grenade launcher fired a grenade that blasted off one side of the Mi-28H's engine casing. The fighter jet spewed out thick black smoke, spinning towards the ground. At this moment, more "Stingray" light tanks rushed into the port area. 2 "Abui" infantry fighting vehicles were turned into scrap iron by the 105mm low-pressure tank gun of the "Stingray" tank. All Lieutenant Preji could do was lead his troops to retreat quickly.

  On the other side of the strait, in Tanjong Kling, a coastal town northwest of Malacca, Malaysia, a ruthless massacre was spreading like wildfire. Thousands of armed personnel infiltrating Malaysia as refugees were led by Japanese spy Naka Kamarudin, alias Nakahara Tsuneo. In Nakahara's mind, there was no moral bottom line; for Japan to survive better, more blood had to flow in Asia. Of course, he did not forget to quickly take control of the nearby power plant, oil depot and deepwater wharf in Tanjong Kling.