The U.S. offensive on the Gilbert Islands entered its second day, and after capturing Makin Island with lightning speed, Halsey targeted Tarawa for the next attack. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Said to be an island, Tarawa is an atoll composed of a string of coral reefs, with a triangular shape and about 20 small islands outcropping. Betio was the largest of them all, and it was also the most fortified island defended by the Japanese army, which was the main target of the American attack.

There is an airfield in the middle of Betio Island, with 3 runways, and its main runway is more than 1,200 meters long, which is the only bomber runway in the entire Gilbert Islands. The island is surrounded by coral reef islands with a width of 150 to 400 meters. A 500-metre-long coconut trestle bridge juts out into the lagoon for ships to unload, like Betio's bird's legs. However, during yesterday's bombing by the US aircraft carrier squadron, this airfield was completely paralyzed and unusable, and the naval combat planes were basically exhausted yesterday, and the remaining few planes were protected by the ground forces and no longer went out to die senselessly, and now the US military occupies absolute air supremacy.

On this coral island with an area of only 1.18 square kilometers. The Japanese garrison of 2,500 troops, all marines, commanded by Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, and an engineer battalion and nearly 1,000 Korean laborers, brought the total number of troops on the island to about 4,500. Due to Gilbert's isolated geographical position and the importance of protecting the absolute defense circle, Shibasaki has been building fortifications since he came to the island, and the current location, the overall fortification construction has not reached the level he expected, but the general outline has completely changed.

On the outer shallow reefs, he set up a large number of concrete triangular cones, cutting humps, iron barbed nets, and coconut fences, accompanied by a large number of artillery and infantry weapons, to block the enemy's landing boats. A large number of semi-underground pillboxes, covered with thick layers of coconut wood, steel plates, and coral sand, were enough to withstand the bombardment of large-caliber naval guns. There are a total of 11 shore gun positions on the island, all of which are made of concrete and steel plates, and all of them are equipped with 8-inch naval guns commonly used by the navy. There are also 25 field guns on the beach, all of which are located in fortified firing points.

In the depths of the island, the sappers successively built an extremely complex system of air-raid shelters, crisscrossed trenches and ravines, and built a line of communication underground, and Shibasaki's own headquarters was set up in a huge blockhouse surrounded by steel plates and one-meter-thick concrete, and he boasted to his subordinates that "the Tarawa project will be impregnable when it is completed, even if a million American troops come to attack!" ”

Compared with history, the Japanese defenders on Tarawa Island have added several variables: first, the island has weapons and equipment that have never been seen in history, including mass-produced multiple models of Iron Fists and a total of 10 kamikazes; Second, the island fortifications were not fully completed, but Shibasaki himself expected an attack.

The greater variable comes from the US military itself, and the offensive strength of the Pacific Fleet is far less powerful than in history: in history, the US Pacific Fleet was dispatched and mobilized a total of 9 battleships, 14 cruisers, 14 escort aircraft carriers and 5 regular aircraft carriers, and countless other transport ships and support ships, but due to the losses in the South Pacific Campaign, the Indian Ocean Campaign and the Panama Campaign, the fleet force of the US military into the attack this time was only 4 battleships and 7 cruisers. 6 escort aircraft carriers and 2 regular aircraft carriers (one each for fleet aircraft carriers and light aircraft carriers).

Still, Nimitz, Halsey, and Holland-Smith were confident in the "electric shock" campaign: intelligence showed that the main forces of the Combined Fleet were still in Ceylon, and even if they received a warning telegram and arrived immediately, it would take at least 15 days, and the entire Pacific Fleet could devote itself to fighting a good battle. Although they could not have accurate information on the number of troops stationed on the island, judging from the size of the island and the fact that there was no resistance on Makin Island, they believed that the Japanese troops stationed on the island were about 1,000 at best, and no more than 2,000 at most, and the 5th Amphibious Army was prepared to devote two divisions for this campaign.

Nimitz's expectation for the battle was to launch an all-out attack with a lion fighting a rabbit, take the island in five days, restore the island airfield and other defenses in the second five days and send troops to garrison it, and then decide on the follow-up battle according to the situation. If the Combined Fleet sends a partial division to support and try to eat him, if it is the main force that comes, then it will work hard, if it does not come, it will be better, with Gilbert as a springboard, it will be much more advantageous to fight the Marshall Islands in the next step.

Due to the sudden launch of the Ceylon campaign by the Japanese army, the comprehensive reconnaissance of Tarawa could not be perfect, and could only be carried out through the reconnaissance of the air force, and the degree of meticulousness and rigor was insufficient, and Tarawa could not see too many abnormalities from the air, which was also the reason why the US military judged that there were only more than 1,000 defenders.

The Pacific Fleet was optimistic, but the cautious Nimitz still ordered Halsey to bring all the main combat forces, and at the same time ordered Rear Admiral Levy to mobilize a sufficient number of supply ships, repair ships, tugboats, minesweepers, barges, ammunition ships, and nine oil tankers to form a logistics fleet, which carried food, medicine, various ammunition, landing machinery, communications equipment, and fuel to support the Pacific Fleet in a month of continuous high-intensity operations. Even so, he was not at ease, and he had follow-up war materials prepared in Australia, New Zealand and the West Coast of the United States.

In addition to the front-line combat units, Nimitz also called in the long-range bombers of the Army's 7th Air Force deployed on the bases on Funafuti and Kanton Islands in Tuvalu, with a total of more than 100 B-24 bombers and 24 Catalina seaplanes crossing a distance of 1,500 kilometers to bomb Tarawa in order to destroy Japanese fortifications, kill and wound people, and carry out early fire coverage.

Amid the deafening sound of bombing and shelling, the US military slowly opened the curtain of the "electric shock" campaign.

The telecommunications staff officer hurriedly reported to Shibasaki Keiji, who was located in the underground fortifications: "Report sir, I have received a telegram from the Combined Fleet Command that the main force of the fleet has set off from Ceylon Island to support, and I hope that our troops can hold on to the spot for a month, and we must not sacrifice lightly unless it is absolutely necessary." ”

The three main officers, Keiji Shibasaki, Keiko Matsuo, and Takeo Tsukui, were overjoyed: in the end, it was the navy's own people, and as soon as the telegram for help was sent, even the main force of the combined fleet was alarmed. According to the Haikou boasted by Keiji Shibasaki at the beginning, Tarawa was enough to hold on for a few years, and now the telegram only asks for a month, which is really not a problem. Moreover, the fleet came from such a long distance as Ceylon, and a month was indeed very fast. He has a lot of confidence in winning a battle.

"Inform the news so that all officers and men know that the Combined Fleet cares for us, we are by no means alone, and the Navy will attack the British and American ghost animals in Tarawa!"

None of them expected that Nimitz and Tsukahara 243 would be surprisingly close in their estimation of Tarawa's ability to hold on to Tarawa - only 5-7 days, and only the defenders themselves believed that they could hold it for a few years.

Beginning at dawn, the shelling and bombardment of Betio lasted for seven hours, and countless large-caliber naval guns and large-caliber aerial bombs dropped by army bombers poured fire on the island, which was only one square kilometer in size, and the entire island was shrouded in smoke. The Japanese did not fire even a single shell to return fire, and the whole island seemed to pass out.

According to Holland's landing plan, the landing force was to avoid the heavily fortified southern shore of the Japanese army, and the landing craft convoy entered the lagoon through the channel of the gap in the atoll, and landed on the northern shore where the Japanese defense appeared to be weak. From west to east, the command designated the beachhead locations as "Red 1", "Red 2", and "Red 3", landed one battalion on each beach, and planned to use 125 amphibious tracked armored vehicles to transport troops ashore in several batches. Holland deliberately stressed that the landing craft should be as close to the shore as possible, reduce the round-trip distance of the amphibious vehicle, and speed up the landing efficiency. On the timetable he envisaged, on Day D (landing day), the American forces swept across the island, occupied the airfield, and blockaded the remnants of the Japanese forces on the southeastern tip of Betio, and the next day they were completely annihilated, and on the third day they swept away the remaining remnants of the enemy -- in an effort to end the battle in three days.

The 3rd Marine Division led by Rear Admiral Devin Colin carried out the landing order, and historically this task was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, but due to the impact of the hellish night when the Combined Fleet shelled Kuah Island, the 2nd Marine Division suffered heavy losses, and it was barely replenished and recovered until now, and it was temporarily unable to undertake this task, so Holland replaced the main offensive force with the troops transferred from the west coast later.

Around 12 noon, the sun had risen high, the Army bombers had dropped all their bombs back to Tuvalu, and the naval gunners had entered a pause phase, and the time for landing was approaching.

More than 100 dive bombers, attack planes, and fighters took off from the aircraft carriers of the task force to bomb and strafe the Betio beachhead in turn, and the fleet with destroyers as the main force also moved forward to cover the landing craft, and the rest of the planes, Halsey, ordered them to monitor the surrounding waters to prevent the sudden appearance of the enemy fleet.

The preparation of close support fire lasted for 60 minutes, and more than 2,000 tons of shells and bombs were dropped.

"What the hell is wrong with the enemy?" Holland, who was watching the battle on Iowa, said to himself strangely, "Why is there no movement at all?" Didn't they say that they had at least one brigade of troops and artillery? ”

Major General Devin Collin, who was next to him, shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly: "I don't know either!" I guess the constant bombing and shelling have almost done them all, right? This firepower is only weaker than the firepower encountered on Kuah Island at the beginning, but how much area is Betio? Only a few tenths of Kuah Island! I suspect that every Japanese soldier has to spread 10 tons of bombs or shells, and the taxpayers will be mad to know that we are squandering ammunition like this? ”

The joke amused everyone else, and even Holland, who had never been smiling, smiled.

The ordinary officers and soldiers below were not so optimistic, they packed their personal belongings, handed over their personal letters and wills to the papers, and prayed with the priest. Although everything was fine at the front, in this atmosphere, the soldiers did not dare not pay attention to it, and many recruits who went into battle for the first time trembled even more when they looked at the landing site with the rumbling of artillery - although they all knew that it was their own artillery fire, what if the blow fell on their own heads? (To be continued.) )