The east revealed the white belly of the fish, and the commander Bai Chongxi was awakened by his subordinates. He washed up briefly, ate something indiscriminately, and walked into the headquarters. "Where has the fleet arrived, it is still 40 nautical miles from Dalian." The operational staff of the command entered the working state. The communications facilities of the US warships are first-class, so there will be no problems with the battlefield command because of telecommunications. The operational staff officers performed their duties and marked the location of their headquarters and the deployment of the enemy's forces on the military map.

"Commander, according to intelligence, the Japanese army has deployed two divisions on the front line of Dalian, and there is no sign of increasing troops. It is estimated that Gangcun put heavy troops on the 2nd line. After our judgment, the Japanese 2nd line defense force will not exceed two divisions. "Inaccurate intelligence is a taboo for soldiers! But it's too hard to get accurate information. Having heard that civilians were killed as soon as they approached the Japanese defensive positions, our intelligence officers had no way of figuring out the true strength of the Japanese troops. ”

"The figures given to us by the high command are also approximate, which are calculated based on the total strength of the Japanese army, and the difference will not be too big. The Japanese defense on the Liaodong Peninsula will not exceed 10 divisions. In fact, Bai Chongxi miscalculated, and after Gangcun Ningci accurately judged the landing site, he quickly increased his troops on the Liaodong Peninsula. At present, the Japanese army has rapidly increased the number of divisions and regiments on the Liaodong Peninsula, bringing the total strength to 14 divisions with a total of 300,000 people, of which 8 divisions are Class A divisions and 6 divisions are Class B divisions.

It was dawn and there was a roar in the sky. Bai Chongxi glanced at his watch, and the hour and minute hands pointed to 5:30. "Very punctual, the bomber group of the Eighth Route Army has arrived!" Bai Chongxi walked out of the command cabin and saw the bomber group hugging towards the sea level, whistling away in the direction of Dalian, and the roar was deafening. Bai Chongxi leisurely gave rise to a sense of pride, the era of China's bombers soaring in the airspace, heralding the rebirth of a military power.

At this time, Admiral Raymond, commander of the US fleet, came out and said: "General Bai, in another hour, my fleet will reach the designated sea area, and there will be no problem with the shelling coordinates!" "General Raymond, no problem, let your artillery speak when you enter the shelling position!" “OK！ It's still early and I'm going to enjoy a wonderful breakfast! Bai Chongxi secretly thought in his heart: This guy is really a lucky general, he didn't encounter the Japanese attack submarine.

In fact, Bai Chongxi did not know that the Japanese attack submarines suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Ryukyus, and then the Japanese army learned that the US submarine hunting warships were equipped with more advanced electronic equipment and submarine hunting weapons, so the Japanese army did not dare to put a number of attack submarines into combat again. In addition, the task of defending Tokyo Bay was imminent, so almost all of the Japanese attack submarines were transferred to the Japanese mainland. The reason why the landing fleet was safe and sound, and successfully reached the landing area, is directly related to this.

, "General Bai, let the Japanese monkeys taste the power of my powerful artillery fire!" The fortifications on the shore are not strong, and my shells must clear the way for your landing in the air! On the bridge of the battleship, Raymond put down his binoculars and said proudly. The front landing coast was filled with gunsmoke, and in the deafening roar, countless shells flew towards the coast, forming a terrifying scene. Bai Chongxi also put down the binoculars and said, "General Raymond, your artillery fire can be extended!" ”“OK！”。 After the artillery fire was extended, Bai Chongxi ordered: the assault force sent a regiment to launch a feint, and Bai Chongxi wanted to see the Japanese defense on the coast.

Soon several landing ships came out, and one after another landing craft kept coming out of the belly of the landing ships and forming an impact formation on the sea surface. The landing craft rushed to the shore, and to great surprise, the Japanese had neither artillery fire nor a dense rain of bullets to meet the head-on attack. Bai Chongxi asked Raymond to order a halt to the shelling and continue to observe the landing. "Haha, General Bai, the Japanese monkeys have been wiped out by my artillery fire, your soldiers only need to go to the shore and occupy positions." Raymond was smug. But with Bai Chongxi's understanding of the Japanese army, it is definitely not so simple.

Seeing that the landing craft ran aground on the shore, the soldiers jumped into the sea and went ashore. At this moment, the Japanese concealed artillery fire suddenly opened fire, and the landing force that had landed ashore was immediately enveloped in heavy artillery fire. "General Raymond, ask for artillery suppression, order the attacking troops that have come ashore to retreat immediately." About half an hour later, the chief of staff came over from the radio and said: "Commander, the forward regiment suffered heavy losses, only two-thirds of it was withdrawn. Now it can be concluded that the Japanese completely abandoned the beachhead in order to attract us ashore! ”

"There's no doubt that Okamura knows exactly where we landed. Abandoning the beachhead will, on the one hand, avoid the blows of our naval guns and reduce the pressure and battle losses of the soldiers on the forward defense, and second, it will be able to effectively conceal the defensive forces, especially the counterattack artillery fire, which will cause a large number of casualties among our landing troops. This move can slow down our landing, and even if we land successfully, it will be difficult to achieve the goal of the campaign in the short term due to excessive casualties. Bai Chongxi's heart was clouded, just as Commander Su analyzed, Okamura Ningji really accurately judged the landing site.

No wonder Lao Chiang repeatedly emphasized at the military meeting that this attack on the northeast is related to the great plan of the party and the state, and no matter what happens, it is necessary to implement the operational plan of the general headquarters without hesitation to achieve the goal of the campaign, and there is no time set at the military meeting, which is obviously to give the front-line commander a certain right, that is, to avoid battle losses to the greatest extent, it seems that Lao Chiang thought of this result. At this moment, Bai Chongxi felt the pulse of Lao Chiang, that is, to make full use of the artillery of the American battleship and the air force of the Eighth Route Army to consume the living force of the Japanese army.

"Immediately send a report to the headquarters in Beiping, the Japanese army accurately judged the landing place of our army, and asked the headquarters for instructions!" Soon! The call from the headquarters in Beiping to command the operation can be handled as appropriate! In a few words, the signature is Li Zongren, and the commander-in-chief of the joint operation on the sea route is Li Zongren, which can completely show Lao Chiang's good intentions. Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi are a pair of difficult brothers, although during the Beiping Military Conference, in order to avoid suspicion, the two did not meet separately in private, but their hearts have already been perfected.

"Order the General Staff to draw up a new landing operation plan, that is, to land at multiple points with small forces, expand the landing area and gradually suppress the Japanese army, so as to consolidate the beachhead!" Bai Chongxi took a few steps and continued: "Send a report to Commander Su of the First Corps of the Eighth Route Army, asking the Eighth Route Army Aviation Unit to adopt high-intensity and long-lasting bombing against the deep defense line of the Japanese army!" Then Bai Chongxi picked up the phone again and said: "General Raymond, I request that the naval artillery cover the area from the shore to a depth of 5 kilometers from the landing point to our landing point with high-intensity carpet artillery fire to alleviate the threat of Japanese artillery fire to our landing troops." ”

The U.S. military advocates the supremacy of firepower, and naturally it is right in the middle of it. By dusk, the results were high, and the landing force had established itself at more than a dozen landing sites, but the number of troops ashore was another matter. As for the fact that it did not matter how far the landing force advanced in depth, Raymond faithfully carried out Bai Chongxi's operational policy, and sent the ship's guns, destroyers, and another battleship into formation to bombard indiscriminately and indiscriminately. In order to prevent the Japanese counterattack at night, it was required that the artillery fire on duty at night should not stop.

As night fell, the atmosphere in the Japanese headquarters in Mukden was tense. The chief of staff of the Japanese army said: "Commander, the enemy's 4th Corps, 8th Corps, and 9th Corps launched a fierce offensive at the same time on the front line of Shanhaiguan and the coast of Dalian at 5 and 30 minutes in the morning. The commander was wise enough not only to accurately judge the place of the enemy's landing, but also to abandon the beachhead on his own initiative. This tactic effectively curbed the time for the enemy's landing operations and greatly relieved the pressure and battle losses of our forward defense troops. ”

"What progress is there on the front line at the moment!" "After the enemy's first wave of attack on Dalian failed this morning, it was followed by large-scale, carpet artillery bombardment, and enemy fighters carried out deep and high-intensity air strikes on us. The enemy used small units to land at multiple points, and our counterattack artillery fire was contained. Although the enemy troops came ashore at many points, they still stayed on the shore and did not storm in depth. "How is the front-line offensive at Shanhaiguan?" "By 7 p.m., the enemy had stopped the offensive. Although the enemy's offensive was huge, the attack was not strong, but the enemy's artillery fire was very fierce. ”

Okamura Ninji pondered for a moment and said, "Now I understand, this is Lao Jiang's fool's tactic. He not only wants to monopolize the Northeast, but also wants to avoid losses, and his abacus is very fine. Frankly speaking, although this method of operation will not achieve actual combat results in the short term, it will increase our battle losses and attrition if we engage in a long-term fierce battle. Our policy on the Shanhaiguan line remains unchanged, and we must not allow the enemy to break through. The first-line defensive troops of Dalian were ordered, leaving a small number of troops in the forward positions, and the main forces were withdrawn to the second line of positions. ”

"The enemy's naval guns are extremely powerful, and the withdrawal of the main forces to the second line of positions can eliminate the threat of naval artillery to us. Ordered the defending troops in Dalian to let the enemy troops enter the city to fight street battles. I will make full use of the favorable conditions that the enemy does not dare to use heavy weapons against the city and drag the enemy army inside the city of Dalian. "Okamura Ninji knew in his heart that the enemy was bombing indiscriminately in the early stage, but he had never bombed the densely populated areas of the cities, so he had to make full use of this to contain the enemy's attack."

"Report! Call from base camp! A Japanese combat staff officer reported. The chief of staff of the Japanese army took the telegram and glanced at it and said worriedly: "Commander, the call from the base camp, in the morning, the US carrier-based fighters launched a high-intensity air attack on Iwo Jima and other islands, and it is obvious that the US military is about to launch a ground operation on Iwo Jima!" "It seems that this is a unified operation of the US military and the Chinese army. Iwo Jima is at stake in Tokyo's safety, and where is the real focus. Okamura sighed.

"Commander, the ground forces of the US army dare not compliment, if the US military wants to take Iwo Jima, it is wishful thinking. One Shiheng Island, the U.S. military paid the price of 10,000 casualties, Iwo Jima? How much can the US military afford, therefore, I have confidence in Iwo Jima, and there is no need to worry about Iwo Jima. "It's useless to worry, the key is how we fight in the northeast, which will directly affect the war situation on Iwo Jima, and the fate of the empire will be in one fell swoop!"