Chapter 268: Progress is Rapid

The recapture of Port Blair went very smoothly, and the rioters had little capital to put up a fight, at least not on the surface; the real test was the jungle combat on the island.

The two sides were not particularly unfamiliar with jungle warfare, as the Southeast Asian theater itself was the home of jungle warfare, and the British and Indian Allied Forces and the Japanese had fought here for years.

The Sikh regiment, which was the advance army for the landing, moved into Port Blair under the leadership of its chief, Das Singh, and the Sikhs who landed were also shocked by the skeletons on the island, and it was only after rescuing the prisoners who hadn’t been killed, but rather held captive, that it was realized that the prisoners and natives on the island were being used as rations.

Although there had been speculation before the landing, it still angered everyone that the speculation had become reality.

Das Singh had also followed the British in the war in the north and south, and had faced no less than a handful of Japanese troops, but it was also the first time he had seen such a large-scale cannibalism.

“They must be completely wiped out, it would be blasphemy to the whole world to leave a single one of these maniacs behind, and the Guru would agree with us in doing so.” The commanders of the Sikh regiments were all filled with righteous indignation.

In the subcontinent, Sikhism was extremely special, with teachings that were both anti-peace religion and anti-Hinduism, and as a result of the mixing, it had instead become like a group of sane people, with few taboos, and had been relied upon by the British Empire.

This reliance has led to the Sikhs in the Indian army, a disproportionate number of service, Sikhs are also willing to join the army, through the war to change their lives, this operation naturally did not forget them.

The Indian troops that landed could be said to have regained control of Port Blair almost immediately, but victory was still very far away, plus there was not much time left, only two or three hours of daylight left, and it was quite risky to go into the dense forests in pursuit.

After consultation, including Das Singh, several unit commanders decided that the facilities at Port Blair should first be brought back into operation and that clearing the jungle rioters would not be an overnight task.

Telegrams were then sent to New Delhi, which at the moment was discussing how to dump …… well, discussing a foolproof solution, after all, this is not something honorable, although essentially nothing to do with the gentlemen of the British Empire, but spread the word will inevitably be made, leading to the emergence of some unforeseen consequences.

This is not good for everyone, after receiving the telegram from the landing force, not responding is not an option, too obvious response is also easy to fall into the hands of the people.

“How about we just income full command to the Indian commanders at the front, they can do whatever they want.” Alan Wilson looked at Sir Barron and General Erwin, and since the argument was over, gave the responsibility to the Indians to see what they did.

Port Blair, including the commanders of the Sikh Regiment were present and Arimantakar, as the supreme commander, held up the telegram from New Delhi for everyone to express their views, “It’s actually very obvious that this telegram from the British is telling us to get rid of the problem, as the British have been doing for a hundred years.”

“Divisional Commander, the British want us to get rid of all our problems?” Dassinger spoke up to confirm, “Truth be told, even if we kill all these people, it won’t be wrong.”

“It’s true that word of what happened on this island will surely be slammed all over the world, but surely Japan, a defeated nation, won’t feel a thing, those gentlemen in New Delhi are afraid of being dragged down with them.” Arimantakar raised the telegraph report in his hand, “The note at the end of the telegram that disarmament will never be allowed to fall on our troops is more than obvious.”

Anyone who knew that the Viceroy’s office was now pushing for disarmament already had a number of troops being laid off to claim farmland where they were allotted and become a farmer.

Such a resettlement could certainly be called conscientious, but that was for ordinary soldiers, for the senior commanders in the army, they definitely did not want the goal of disarmament to fall on them.

Seeing all the commanders nodding heartily, Arimantakar began to formulate a battle plan, it was clear that the rioters, though numerous and with some weapons, were not destined to be a match for the heavily armed regular army, especially since the Indian troops who had landed were still known to have few weapons in their opponents’ hands.

Essentially this time, it was considered a low-risk, high-reward operation, and doing a good job and everyone getting promoted together was also possible; the war was over, and these kinds of opportunities didn’t come around very often anymore.

As long as this was handled cleanly and without embarrassment to the English gentlemen in New Delhi, a large part of the difficulty was solved.

“The situation is well known, so I will begin with the present situation.” Arimantakar cleared his throat and said, “First, the purpose of destroying the enemy’s camps has been attained, but it has not been possible to extend the results of the battle; secondly, the purges originally imagined could not be effected, as the troops are difficult to run as soon as they set foot in the jungle, and, thirdly, many dispersed insurrectionists have been making raids upon us in the dense forests; their roads are familiar to them, and they are so agile that they hide themselves in the jungle at once after the attack, and are unable to be pursue, and even when there was open ground, in pursuit, bullets often flew head-on and all you saw was a patch of brush and deep grass. Fortunately we had strong and heavy firepower. Shooting blindly into the jungle, sometimes crookedly, killed a few men among the trees.”

“Can we get a clear picture of where the rioters are hiding through the scouts?” Das Singh offered his opinion.

Arimantakar shook his head slightly and said, “It’s an isolated island, of the few bombardments that have already been made have already been destroyed, and the reconnaissance planes that take off through the surrounding land will have to return not long after they’ve flown over the archipelago, and there’s still a lot of pressure on them.”

There was a silence in the war room as the aggressive attack that had been planned suddenly could not be carried out because of various conditions. Completely unexpected, the operation that was thought to be well-informed and well-deployed had to go back to the drawing board, which was to go deep into the dense forest and play hide-and-seek with the enemy.

“Although the number of rioters is large, but there are not many weapons, the risk is still manageable.” Arimantakar said after a long silence, “Prepare for deep jungle combat, it’s an island at least, they won’t be able to run away.”

“Yes, Division Commander.” Several unit commanders, including Das Singh, nodded at the same time.

As a result, the night was uneventful except for sporadic raids. At this point, the atmosphere in the command headquarters took another turn, and the Japanese POWs knew that their weapons couldn’t be compared to the landing force, and didn’t choose to fight hard. Arimantakar seemed to regret yesterday’s over-cautious move and ordered his troops to continue deeper into the jungle the next day in search of a fighting chance.

Although the terrain on the island was not high, the dense jungle was a trap for the rash intruder, and the units changed from encirclement to advancement, company by company, from the coastline to the hills.

According to the reports from the units, there were dozens of small-scale attacks, and the troops suffered casualties and extreme fatigue, with some of the soldiers having fainted from dehydration due to the sweltering heat of the jungle and the sweating.

In fact, the atmosphere of the Governor General’s Office is not more tense than the front line, everyone is eager to get good news, Allen Wilson as a thief, something to run to the British Army Command in India.

General Erwin just made a shower, rosy face in the milky white light looks radiant, his chin angular, the bridge of the nose is high and straight, under the two thick eyebrows is a pair of slightly sunken brown eyes, he is dignified, but no arrogance degree.

But there was a deep sadness in the gaze cast upon Allen Wilson, “Allen, I am tired of endless military conferences; the war is over, but it is surprising that it isn’t here; not only do I have to cope with the mutinies that have arisen in British India from time to time, but this time there has been another of these things.”

“General Erwin, we stayed in British India solely for the sake of buying time for recovery on the mainland, and this matter is also very important and must be persevered with.” Alan Wilson opened his mouth in relief, “There may be things that we have done wrong, but as a British citizen, this is no choice, as long as the homeland is restored, the citizens will have a good life.”

Allen Wilson in the end is not a soldier, and does not need to be like the other side of the staff, but also to show insights into the military and its own talent, but also to consider not to clamor, and give all the credit to the superior.

Alan Wilson, who was in command of the British forces in India, was rather more relaxed than in the Governor-General’s House, which was the purpose of his coming over in general.

“It is a fact known to all that the island cannot resist much longer with few arms. If there is no progress for a long time, it is definitely the Indians. We’re going to have to wonder if the Indians are reliable.”

Hearing Alan Wilson’s words, General Erwin let out a loud laugh, and it was hard for him to stop pointing at Alan Wilson, “If it were a hundred years ago, you would have been a distinguished governor of British India.”

“That I shudder to think of.” Alan Wilson shook his head and shrugged it off, “I’d just like to be friends with a lot of people.” Ali Khan for example ……

Alan Wilson was actually plotting to relocate the island’s leakage to the subcontinent after this suppression of the riots was over, realizing that the survivors might already feel shaky from their experiences on the island, and that a change of scenery would help to take their minds off of it.

As for the Andaman Islands, they would rightly come under British jurisdiction and would be separated from the subcontinent in due course when British India became independent.

Alan Wilson expressed optimism about the operation in the Andamans, and that is exactly what happened.

Once the landed Indian troops began their siege, there were inevitable losses, but the price paid was minimal compared to the killings they inflicted on the rioters.

With determined repression, the forces gradually reduced the encirclement until it was compressed to Sadr’s Peak, a high point in the archipelago.

It was at this time that the real battle was considered to have officially begun, countless rioters were already ready to resist, they already knew that they would definitely not have a good ending, bringing up everything they could eat for a resolute hold.

Because of the constant urging from the Governor’s Office, Division Commander Arimantakar could only order an attack, ignoring the objective reality that a siege of a few days would solve the problem, and wipe out these enemies completely.