PS: I wish all readers a happy New Year's Day 2017 and a prosperous New Year!

"If you want me to say that it is still good to fight a dozen Cape Verdean, otherwise where can I find a suitable training ground to simulate the overlord operation?" Without hesitation, Ingersoll gave the order, "Send a signal, let the army land!" ”

At 16:09, the Cape Verde landing campaign was officially launched, a large number of LCT (tank landing craft) and LCM (personnel landing craft) rushed out, under the cover of light warships, towards the predetermined beachhead, the main guns of the battleships suspended shelling, only with the 6-inch naval guns on the light cruiser and the 5-inch naval guns of the destroyer for suppressive fire, Ingersoll and other high-ranking naval officials who were watching the battle in the rear stared intently at the island, ready to suppress the fire once there was an abnormal situation. However www.biquge.info the Germans on the island did not move after a few batteries were silenced, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"How many German troops on the island survived under such heavy shelling?"

"I think I'll live at least half of it."

"Half? That means that there are still 3,000 people, and an army division will not be uneven, right? ”

"I can't guarantee it, honestly, I don't have any bottom at all." Turner smiled wryly, "I'm still worried about Machar's fleet, and the German deployment always feels a little strange." ”

"Up, up." A sharp-eyed fleet staff officer burst into cheers, and a Sherman tank rumbled up the Cape Verde beachhead and began firing with its tank guns.

Turner looked at the time, exactly 39 minutes had passed, he was very surprised that the Germans had not yet made any counterattack, but since the landing had begun, no matter what problems ahead, they could only move forward bravely, he couldn't help but shout hello, although he expected that 4 days would not be enough, but no one would be afraid to fight quickly. As the minutes passed, one after another US tanks climbed onto the beachhead, and a large number of officers and men of the army also landed on the beachhead without danger, and apart from the occasional sound of mines, there did not seem to be a special threat.

"Sir, the enemy has come up, and there are probably 19 tanks and nearly 400 people." In a hidden bunker in Cape Verde, the staff officer reported to the island's supreme commander, Colonel Link.

"Wait a little longer, the artillery fire of the enemy ships is too strong, put the Americans closer, closer, closer." Colonel Link was a man who was very willing to learn, and the greatest inspiration he got from the Japanese army's battle to defend the island in the South Seas was that if there was a huge disparity in firepower between the enemy and us, the traditional concept of annihilating the enemy on the beachhead would not apply, and the enemy troops must be fought in close proximity, and the opponent must be destroyed and saved by close combat, melee combat, chaotic combat, and even night combat.

As more and more US officers and men poured onto the beachhead, in order to avoid accidental injuries, the naval artillery fire gradually extended into the distance, and the US engineering units took advantage of this favorable opportunity to begin to erect small artificial docks to facilitate the unloading of follow-up materials and vehicles.

At 17:18, the American troops on Cape Verde have exceeded 1,000 people, some of the landing craft began to return after completing the first wave of personnel unloading to prepare to receive the second wave of personnel ashore, the earliest infantry unit advanced more than 1,000 meters under the cover of tanks, all the way, they encountered mines planted by the Germans, and the advance speed was not fast at all, so they could only summon sappers to speed up demining, and carefully break a way in the minefield, Even the thick-skinned Sherman had 2 smashed tracks and had to be repaired urgently.

"Sir, the enemy has entered the A3 position and has begun a large-scale demining process, numbering at least more than 1,000 people."

Link nodded: "Let the mortar company fire, priority target minefield access!" ”

After 15 seconds, 36 four-two 120mm mortars immediately began to fire, this mortar is a copy of the Soviet-made 120mm PM38 mortar, the performance is quite outstanding, after the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, Germany captured a large number of this type of artillery and immediately used it, and then also imitated it in China - the gun weighs 285 kg, the barrel is 1865mm long, and the firing is 15.8 kg. The muzzle velocity of the projectile is 283 m/s, the maximum firing range is more than 6000 meters, and it can also be used with Soviet-made ammunition.

This product is very popular with the German front-line officers and soldiers because of its easy to carry and strong firepower, and the cost is quite cheap, each is only 1200 Reichsmarks (12,000 main guns of the No. 4 tank), and all the belongings of a whole mortar company are not worth as much as a No. 4. In the Marine Brigade, due to the downsizing of the Army, there are fewer barreled artillery (howitzers or cannons) than the ordinary Army, but there are more mortars than the Army, and the two Cape Verde regiments have two standard mortar batteries and a full 36 120mm large-caliber mortars.

When they heard the sharp sound of breaking the air, the faces of the American officers and soldiers changed greatly, and they immediately lay down as if they were conditioned, but since Link was so good at forbearance, of course, he also had his special killing moves, half of the mortars in this batch were normal shells, and the other half were special steel ball shotguns, which exploded at an altitude of 5 to 8 meters above the ground, and each shell could burst out hundreds of high-speed flying steel balls after exploding -- in other words, the area covered by the lethal damage of personnel after lying down was greater.

"Ahh Screams rang out one after another, and there were not many US officers and men who were directly killed by the shells, but there were quite a few people who were hit by steel balls, and the area covered by the 36 mortars was not small, and almost all the US troops in the minefield were hit, and the most unfortunate were a few soldiers who were directly in the center of the explosion, and their bodies were blown up and down like honeycombs.

"Sanitary soldiers! Sanitary Soldiers! A bunch of people tore their throats and shouted directly, and more people were so painful that they only rolled on the ground, and if they were unlucky, they detonated 1-2 mines, and then they were killed.

The lethality of shotguns is actually not large, except for the unlucky ones who have been hit too much, others will not be in danger of life, but they will lose their combat ability in a short period of time, and they must be rescued, if it is the Eastern Front, the Red Army will not look at these wounded people at all to directly launch a sea of people attack, but Link has a thorough understanding of the American army's behavior, and they will definitely come to the rescue - the curriculum of the military academy clearly states that killing an enemy can only make the enemy lose one soldier, but if one enemy is injured, it may occupy 3-4 soldiers of the enemy.

The naval guns in the distance began to fire back as if they had just woken up from a dream, but after fighting for a long time, they found that the effect was very poor - the two mortar batteries were settled by Link in the depression between the anti-aircraft tower and a hill, and the fire of the American naval guns was at best a cannon ballistic, straight and long, either too close to the anti-aircraft tower, or too far to cross the depression, and it was impossible to kill the Germans. They had been bombarding for a long time, but they still couldn't suppress these mortars with strange ballistics.

"Damn, the enemy is cunning." Ingersoll stared anxiously, but couldn't think of anything he could do.

"Let the army use mortars against them, otherwise the naval artillery will be useless until tomorrow." Turner sighed, "The German commander is very smart, he is a great character. ”

The Army liaison officer next to him happened to hear it and rolled his eyes, as if asking: Who is General Turner?

Ingersoll nodded and followed: "Let the plane figure out a way." ”

Commander Collins, who came ashore, immediately ordered the 107mm mortars of his artillery to come forward to provide suppression, and then, considering that his own mortars were few in number and did not seem to be as powerful as the Germans, he arranged for another battalion to detour from the right side, and at the same time desperately called for air support, hoping to suppress the Germans in the depression with dive bombardment.

The sbd immediately swooped down to support, but since Link deployed the mortar company on the edge of the air defense tower, and then would not ignore the air threat, just when the US plane pounced down to attack, several shooting holes on the third floor suddenly opened, and more than 10 20mm machine guns lined up and began to fire violently, 2 SBDs were hit the key point immediately, and the pilot did not even have a chance to parachute, so he directly planted himself in the depression, and even the plane with bombs completed the decisive attack. At this moment, the mortar battery had dispersed through the communication trenches, and the air raid destroyed only nine mortars, but the American troops were shot down four planes.

The loss was a shock to everyone aboard the New Jersey, and now everyone finally understood what Turner meant by "great character".

"Sir, there are about 300 U.S. troops and 10 tanks have made a detour back to the B12 position."

Link, who was sitting in the Dark Castle, was not afraid of danger, and immediately connected to another phone: "Organists, it's your turn, cover B12 at full speed, and the speed must be fast." ”

"Roger!"

Half a minute later, the only rocket artillery company of the Cape Verde defenders drove out of the dark tunnel, and under the cover of rubble, 12 powerful SDKFZ251/1 half-track armored vehicles launched the 24-pipe Himmler organ-150mm rockets with a breathtaking "whoosh", and the ammunition they were equipped with adopted a modular method, which could completely destroy all 24 rockets in 7 seconds at a time.

The flames of the 288 rockets fired red half of the sky, contrasting with the setting sun, and all the officers and men of the navy watched this rare scene in a daze, knowing that the sound of "rumbling" was constantly coming to their ears, and only then did they launch a counterattack as if they had just woken up from a dream, but it was too late. On the other side, the detour troops of the US troops covered by rockets were miserable, and nearly two-thirds of the 10 tanks and more than 300 people were reimbursed by the rain of skyrockets.

Coupled with the losses just now, the US troops, which totaled more than 1,500 people, received nearly 500 casualties in just two hours, and the entire Cape Verde was like a man-eating monster, and a hole appeared out of nowhere to swallow the troops.

"If you can't get in, let's go back." Turner shook his head and sighed, "It's getting late, let the army have more troops and supplies, and fight again tomorrow, tomorrow we will cooperate with the army, first cover it with artillery fire and planes, and then fight ......" (to be continued.) )