Chapter 261: A Perfect Strategy

"General Irvine, I believe you have also learned about the situation in the Andaman Islands." In the Governor's Palace, Sir Barron came up to him and extended his hand, shaking hands with the military chief of the British Army currently stationed in India.

General Irwin reached out and shook Sir Barron's hand, and said at the same time, "I don't know all about it. Now I only know that all the residents on the island have been evacuated. As for the situation on the islands, I don't know very well. In fact, I don't know how many people participated in the riot on the island, but Sir Barron knows?"

Sir Barron glanced at Alan Wilson, who made a gesture of invitation, and led General Irwin to the side of the map of the Andaman Islands on the table, explaining, "The Japanese prisoners of war in the Andaman Islands started to have The 26,000 people are the direct line troops of Fengwen under the Malay Tiger Mountain. They were exiled to the Andaman Islands, and they also had the function of building a military base. The general is a soldier. He should know that the Andaman Islands block the Strait of Malacca, which is representative of the military. What are you wearing?"

General Irwin nodded in approval, and Alan Wilson continued to introduce, "The Andaman Islands have long been a place of exile, because the position of being isolated overseas is the most suitable for this kind of work. We put Japanese prisoners of war in it to establish A modern military base, after all, the mainland has just come out of the war, and the situation in British India is not particularly optimistic. The use of these free labor will not be held accountable, and it is all for cost savings.”

"The island, together with the initial prisoners of war, and pro-Japanese elements from Burma, Malaya, Thailand, and some French colonies, were exiled on the island. The number was about 70,000."

"Seventy thousand? What an astonishing number." General Erwin glanced back at the staff officer behind him. The staff officer nodded and stepped forward and said, "There are two Indian battalions on the island, equipped with a 105mm infantry guns, but if the 70,000 people mentioned by Assistant Allen participated in the riot, the garrisons of the two battalions may have disappeared. There are two tribal-level destroyers in Port Blair, and the telegram we received is a warship Sent when evacuating."

The situation is still very serious. Even now, due to various reasons, there may be no more than 70,000 hostiles on the island.

But it is still troublesome. You must know that after the war, the scale of the British troops stationed in India was reduced, and a large part of the force went to British Malaya, and that part of the British troops going to British Malaya was close to 50,000.

There are only 50,000 British troops stationed in India now, which is not as large as the number of rioters on the island.

"It's an isolated island, and the food self-sufficiency rate on it is also very low. In addition to the original natives, even if the Japanese prisoners of war rioted, what would they eat?" Alan Wilson was not so pessimistic. Among the people in the Governor's Mansion, he might He is the most knowledgeable person in the Andaman Islands.

Not only do they know how many people there are on the island, how much strength the garrison has, how many weapons are equipped, and even how much food has been stored.

Even if the rioting Japanese searched the island, they would never find enough food to eat.

Of course, since he is a pirate, of course he can fish, but it is quite a challenging job to rely on fishing to support more than 70,000 people, not including the aborigines on the island.

"Even if the Indian garrison has been wiped out, what can the weapons of the two battalions do?" Allen Wilson said lightly, "A group that has no backup, is abandoned, has no supplies and no weapons, and what they can do is quite limited. Although the commotion is quite big, the environment of the archipelago has caused it, and it is still a controllable situation.”

"Yes, the mobilization of the fleet will immediately quell this riot." The staff officer behind General Erwin nodded in agreement.

"There's no need to rush!" Alan Wilson shook his head. "I'm not opposed to a tough policy, but although things are controllable, we still don't know the situation on the island, so to be on the safe side, we still use the fleet to Blockade to ensure that the remnants of the Axis powers on the island do not disperse. The Andaman Islands are also two hundred miles away from the nearest British Burma.

But once all the prisoners of war want to escape, it is still possible to escape using simple rafts. "

"Even if there are not many people who escaped in the end, once the people on the island disperse to the surrounding area and enter the mainland, the nature of this matter will change, and we will not be able to control the situation within a controllable range."

Alan Wilson has no selfishness at all, and he is all considering the overall situation, but the riots in the Andaman Islands are controllable. Once things spread outside the island, it became a big deal.

Considering the current environment of British India and the unknown situation in the Andaman Islands, it is safer not to send troops immediately, but to focus on the blockade of the fleet, first to prevent the Japanese prisoners of war and Japanese traitors on the island from escaping the islands, and then How to calm things down.

"Alan is right. It is more appropriate for us to wait and see for a few days." Sir Barron nodded. "At present, there is no one in British India who has made the final decision. There is a vacancy for the Governor, so if we take an overly radical approach, we may not be able to do so later." Good explanation."

"That may require Xiangjiang's Pacific Fleet to dispatch some destroyers to help, and the Malaya fleet is closer." General Erwin thought for a while and said, "If it is enough, there is no need to use the Pacific Fleet."

"It shouldn't be necessary to use the Pacific Fleet. If we are facing a group of prisoners with only cold weapons... If it is not for prisoners of war holding wooden sticks, we need to use the Pacific Fleet. It is a bit too much." Alan Wilson smiled and agreed with General Irwin. Opinion "The Indian fleet plus the power of Malaya should be more than sufficient."

India also has naval power at present. The Royal Indian Navy originated from the East India Company Fleet and has an Eastern and Western Fleet based in Calcutta and Mumbai.

As World War II approached, the Royal Indian Navy had grown considerably. Before the war, the Royal Indian Navy had 2,000 people, equipped with five escort boats, and a survey ship.

By the end of the war in 1945, the navy had reached 30,000 men, with four frigates, four small frigates, seven escort boats, fourteen minesweepers, one hundred and fifty landing craft, and sixteen tugboats , thirty-two auxiliary vessels, and two hundred and forty-five boats and motorboats of various types.

At that time, peace believers mainly worked on the deck of ships, while the officer class was dominated by Hindus. This meant that if British India became independent, the newly formed Pakistan Navy would lack officers, while the Indian Navy would lack well-trained and specialized deck personnel.

If the Royal Indian Navy is used, not to mention that the fleet in Mumbai is already bigger, and the two frigates under its jurisdiction have to go around the subcontinent to reach the Andaman Islands. Even if there are four frigates, they want to block the Andaman Islands Also unlikely.

As for letting Xiangjiang's Royal Navy Pacific Fleet come over, on the one hand, it is because of the long distance, and on the other hand, it is too much of a fuss. The Pacific Fleet is not the size of the Royal Indian Fleet. Although the commanders of the fleet are all called commanders, the commander is different from the commander. , fleet and fleet are also different.

The Royal Pacific Fleet is a large fleet in terms of strength. Currently, the Royal Pacific Fleet has six aircraft carriers, four light aircraft carriers, nine escort aircraft carriers, and two aircraft repair ships.

Four battleships, eleven light cruisers, three minelaying cruisers, thirty-five destroyers, fourteen frigates, eighteen escort gunboats, nineteen submarine destroyers, and thirty-one submarines.

If you ask the Pacific Fleet for help, one of the most basic consequences is that if the commander of the Pacific Fleet knows, it means that London knows, and this cannot be kept secret.

Moreover, once the cannon fired, the Pacific Fleet came over, even if it was just some light warships, the cost incurred was a huge sum.

On the contrary, although the fleet of British Malaya is not much stronger than the Royal Indian Navy, it is better because of its short distance. As long as it participates in the blockade, it is barely enough.

In view of the current situation in the Andaman Islands, the civilian and military officials of British India in the Governor's Palace discussed and determined that the current situation is preventable and controllable. Although the Andaman Islands are likely to have been controlled by rioters, but an isolated island, these rioters If you can't run away, the most appropriate response is to take a fleet blockade.

It is more appropriate to wait until the real situation in the Andaman Islands is determined before taking the next step.

The Andaman Islands, controlled by Japanese prisoners of war, consist of two large islands, the north and the south. The South Island has a higher self-sufficiency rate. The capital Port Blair is also on the South Island, while the North Island has very little flat land, limited to a few valleys such as Bidampur. and Digripool.

The islands of the Andaman Islands are all composed of Tertiary sandstone, limestone and shale, which are deeply cut. The rocky surface is covered with dense forests, and there are large mangrove swamps in the northern part of North Andaman Island. There are few rivers all year round, and insufficient water supply is a long-standing problem.

This environment makes the animals less happy to make their homes here. There are only about twenty species of animals on the island.

There are small wild boars that can eat meat, as well as long-tailed civet cats, bats and some rodents. These animals account for 80 percent of the island's mammal population.

Therefore, when there is a shortage of food and even drinking water cannot be guaranteed, cutting off the only possible source of food, that is, fishing, is the most important thing to quell the riots in the Andaman Islands.

Sir Barron and General Irwin reached a consensus on this matter. As long as the blockade operation is successful and the matter is controlled on the island, there is no need to report to London at all, and the riots on the island will naturally subside after a few days.

"As long as the blockade lasts for a month, and the nearby blocked warships are bombarded, the landing troops can go up." For the sake of safety, Alan Wilson still suggested extending the blockade.