Southeast Asian jungles.
The 18th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, consisting of 18,000 soldiers, was known as the king of jungle warfare, with a reputation for jungle combat prowess that resonated throughout the world.
Equipped with only the standard Type 38 Arisaka rifle, the 18th Division could annihilate enemy forces several times its size in jungle battles.
The defeated Yamashita Tomoyuki, barking like a mad dog, boasted, "I, Yamashita Tomoyuki, master of jungle warfare! The 18th Division, the elite of jungle combat..."
During World War II's Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Forest, 33,000 American soldiers perished and 22,000 were wounded. In the jungles of the Vietnam War, the United States lost another 58,000 soldiers. The casualty rate in forest battles was nearly 60%, highlighting the brutal nature of warfare in such environments.
The dense forests, with trees towering over ten meters and canopies blocking the sky, offered a degree of concealment.
Yamashita Tomoyuki, brandishing his command sword, led the 18th Division with unwavering determination, dividing his troops into five sections and deploying them to five different forested areas.
…
The night grew deeper,
Its darkness enveloping everything within the forest.
Yamashita Tomoyuki and the 18,000 soldiers of the 18th Division prepared to fight to the death in the forest's embrace.
The rumble of Black Hawk helicopters echoed through the forest canopy.
A squadron of two hundred Black Hawks successfully pinpointed the location of the Japanese 18th Division in the jungle.
Unlike the bombers of World War II, which relied on visual targeting by human eyes, the Black Hawks employed electro-optical systems, using infrared sensors to locate their targets.
The temperature in the night forest was only 20 degrees Celsius, while the human body radiated a heat signature of 37.5 degrees Celsius.
Through the infrared night vision system, the Japanese soldiers appeared as a bright red mass.
Guided by their infrared night vision instruments, the two hundred Black Hawks, each carrying twelve bomb racks packed with cluster munitions, began their bombing run.
The GBU55B thermobaric bomb, weighing 750 kilograms, had a kill radius of 20 to 30 meters per unit!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Flames erupted across the forest under the cover of night, punctuated by swirling clouds of smoke. The intense shockwaves from the explosions ripped through the ranks of the 18th Division, sending soldiers flying through the air, their bodies shattered, vaporized, or choked to death.
Thousands of cluster bombs rained down upon the forest, illuminating the night as if it were day. The forest was ablaze, its fiery glow illuminating the darkness.
The dense smoke billowing from the inferno was toxic, choking and suffocating.
Utilizing the fiery light cast by the forest blaze, the two hundred Black Hawks descended, unleashing a barrage of 30mm cannon fire upon the fleeing Japanese soldiers.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Da-da-da-da-da-da!
A single Black Hawk blasted a two-pronged spray of blood and flesh upon the ground, obliterating an entire company of one hundred Japanese soldiers from head to toe. The cannon fire then turned towards a Japanese general, Yamashita Tomoyuki, who was brandishing his command sword. Rat-a-tat-tat! Yamashita Tomoyuki was instantly reduced to a bloody mess.
The five sections of the 18th Division, caught in the crossfire of the cluster bomb bombardment and the machine-gun fire, suffered a casualty rate of 90%. In the space of a single night, 18,000 lives were lost, and the world-renowned jungle fighting force of the 18th Division was wiped out.
…
The Situation in Southeast Asia
The Kingdom of Siam.
Siam, though nominally a sovereign nation, held immense political acumen. It had always aligned itself with the most powerful force in the region, first with the Western powers, then with the Japanese Empire as it swept across Southeast Asia, even transitioning from a defeated nation to a victorious one.
King Rama VIII of Siam curiously inquired, "Songkram? Have you heard... the Japanese 25th Army Group engaged in jungle warfare... and were defeated by the Red Alert Legion...?"
Prime Minister Songkram wiped the sweat from his brow, "Your Majesty! No one could have predicted that the Japanese Army would fall in the jungle within a day! Rumor has it that they were wiped out by a barrage of cluster bombs!"
Prime Minister Songkram's eyes darted nervously, "The most important thing now is for Siam to decide its future! Should we switch sides?"
Prime Minister Songkram did not hold high hopes for Great Britain, the once mighty Empire, which he believed would become a second-rate power after World War II.
Prime Minister Songkram also held reservations about the Japanese Empire, believing that sea power was paramount. Without control of the seas, the Japanese Army would be trapped on their islands and doomed to perish. Prime Minister Songkram decided to throw his lot in with the Australian Red Alert Legion!
This is what we call a wise man who knows when to adapt and seize opportunities! Flexible and shrewd diplomacy!