Chapter 252: Ryukyu (13)
"Lie down!" Before the young Marine with a rifle could react, he was thrown to the ground by the veteran soldier on the side. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info Immediately, several loud noises were heard, and several shells fell not far away, stirring up large clouds of dust. Occasionally, the screams of the unlucky ones were heard.
"Damn." After dragging the stupid recruit egg to the dry ditch on the side of the road, the veteran with a beard on his face scolded and scolded, put his arm up and touched his waist to get the first aid kit.
"Squad leader? What happened to you?! The young recruit, who finally came back to his senses, saw that blood began to ooze from his squad leader's arm, and he was immediately frightened, straightened up and began to shout, "Medic!" Medic! ”
"Shut up!" The bearded squad leader was so angry that he pushed the recruits to the ground and yelled viciously, "Crazy, you?!" Don't pull me if you want to die! It's full of Japanese snipers and mobile gun emplacements, so if you fucking want to die, get up and walk out! Don't hurt Lao Tzu! ”
The recruit sat in the ditch in a daze and stopped talking. The recruits, who only landed on Ryukyu Island yesterday as reinforcements, had no idea what the real battlefield was like. He only received three months of recruit training and one month of pre-war training. When I was in school, I also participated in military training, but it was the first time I had a real battlefield.
"What else to see? Hurry up and help Lao Tzu with medicine. The non-commissioned officer squad leader grinned and took out the scissors he brought to cut the sturdy military uniform, sprinkled it with hemostatic medicine, and then asked the recruit to bandage himself with a bandage to stop the bleeding.
"This is the hellish Ryukyu Island." After stopping the bleeding and bandaging, the veteran lay on the ground and looked at the recruit on the side, "You don't read the newspaper?" ”
By this time, it was the middle of August. More than ten days ago, after the Ming Marines successfully landed on Ryukyu Island, they advanced inland with high morale. The initial operation was very smooth, and the resistance of the Japanese army was very weak. And the defense of the beachheads, which are vital to the landing, is fragile. The Marines also thought that the Japanese had given up resistance.
But the real battle has just begun. As the Marines advanced inland, Japanese resistance gradually began to grow stronger. Especially when they left the coastal plains and began to attack those mountainous areas, the Marines finally met with real strong resistance from the Japanese army.
Hiding in trees, in holes in the ground, and hiding among fortifications and numerous hiding spots, the Japanese opened fire on the Marines with a variety of weapons. Thousands of casualties were inflicted on the Marines that day. And when the sky darkened, thousands of Japanese soldiers howled and launched a Banzai charge against the marines.
The Marines, who had never encountered such tactics, were attacked by surprise, and fierce hand-to-hand battles broke out on many positions. In the end, it was only with a large number of machine guns and automatic weapons that the Japanese attacked at night were repulsed, and the losses of the marines were very large.
The night battle on the night of August 3 resulted in the death of more than 1,000 Marines and the wounding of many more. The corpses of the Japanese army are innumerable, and it is roughly estimated that there are at least thousands, if not tens of thousands.
Since then, the Marines have paid a terrible price for every step forward. Japanese soldiers hid in any place they could, firing at them. In particular, the mobile fire points of the Japanese armed with mortars and grenadiers caused heavy casualties to the Marines.
This recruit named Song Tieniu was a reinforcement sent because of the large casualties on the front line.
"If you want to live longer, don't be stupid." The veteran shifted his position to look at the soldiers in the fire support platoon not far away, fiddling with mortars and preparing to return fire, and grinned, "Don't be as brainless as those fools, the Japanese have already run away." Waiting for them to get the artillery bombardment is just a waste of shells. ”
As soon as the words fell, the mortars on the other side opened fire closely. Several rounds of shelling blew up rocks and soil in the distance on a mountainside, which looked spectacular. As for whether there were any results, it is not known.
"Here." Song Tieniu raised his hand and scratched his head, watching several medical soldiers not far away carry a wounded man who was injured in the shelling just now and screaming miserably onto the transport jeep, swallowed his saliva and asked with some difficulty, "Why is it different from what the newspaper says?" ”
"Oh?" The veteran became interested, and while waving to the medical soldier not far away, he asked curiously, "What do you say in the newspaper?" Tell me about it. ”
"The newspapers said that the war on Ryukyu Island was going well, or it would not be long before the Marines would completely regain their lost territory. The Japanese army is already at the end of its rope under the blows of our army, and it will soon be completely wiped out. Song Tieniu looked around and wondered, "Why do I feel different from what the newspaper says after I come?" ”
"Hey, hey." The veteran straightened up, stretched out his wounded arm for the medic who ran over, squinted his eyes and said with a smile, "It's all fucking nonsense." Is the war going well? You can't travel a few kilometers in a day. The Japanese army was quickly wiped out? Have you drunk too much? Lao Tzu felt that no matter where he went on this island, he would encounter Japanese soldiers. They will hide anywhere and shoot at us. Lao Tzu's class is about to change with new recruits. The fastest afternoon reported that he was killed in the evening during the night attack by the Japanese. ”
"......" Song Tieniu paused, and a look of fear flashed in his eyes. He is just the most ordinary recruit, and the first time he went to the battlefield, he caught up with this kind of brutal bloody battle, and it would be pure nonsense to say that he was not afraid in his heart.
"That's it!" The medic carrying a large first-aid kit half-squatted on the ground and raised his hand to support his steel helmet, "It's done, slightly injured." No need to go to a field hospital. ”
"Is there a mistake?!" The old soldier's eyes widened in an instant, and the boss with his mouth open, shouted with an unhappy face, "Liu, you're blind, I didn't see that Lao Tzu was injured!" Look at the blood, look at the blood. The veteran shouted as he picked up the bloodstained bandage on the ground, "Lao Tzu is going to the hospital." ”
"Alright, you." The medic stood up and clapped his hands, "He Dazui, what are you thinking in your head, when I don't know?" Don't you just want to hide in a field hospital and lie down and let the nurses take care of you? Lao Tzu tells you, no way! ”
"It's like those nurses are your people." Looking at the figure of the medical soldier in the distance, He Dazui pursed his lips, stood up with an unhappy face and shouted loudly, "The third class!" Come and gather! Ready to go! ”
The nurses in the army will definitely not be those delicate and fair-skinned beauties in movies and TV series. That's not real, it's all acting. If that were the case, the army would have been chaotic a long time ago.
The real nurses in the army, especially those who follow the army to the battlefield, are all tigers with their backs, their arms can run horses, and their legs are as thick as stone piers. Five big and three coarse, with a fierce face and dark and rough skin, is the standard configuration of nurses in the field hospital.
But even so, for the soldiers who live in an army full of men all year round, these nurses are all like fairies in their eyes.
Look at the dense crowd of soldiers' vehicles and various supplies around you, and look at the wounded who have been carried on stretchers and put on transport jeeps to be sent to the rear hospital. Song Tieniu rubbed his eyebrows, feeling that the battle of the Ryukyus he participated in was far from being as simple as he imagined.
"What do you think?" He shouted at Song Tieniu, "Let's go!" ”
"Oh, yes!" Song Tieniu, who came back to his senses, hurriedly responded, put the rifle behind his back, tightened the backpack on his body, and strode into the huge army.
The Battle of the Ryukyus was fought very hard. Ushijima made a smart choice, he did not place the main force on the beachhead to accept the bombardment of Ming fighters and warships, but chose to shrink the main force in the central mountains and fight the Ming Marines to the end.
In addition to the shortcoming of launching a long-lived charge at night and being hit by the Ming army with heavy firepower, Ushijima's command can be said to have reached the ultimate level.
The bloody and brutal battle on Ryukyu Island dragged on for a long time, which made Zhang Cheng very dissatisfied. He quickly made adjustments to the attacking forces.
Since the shelling and bombardment did little to the Japanese troops hiding in caves and hidden corners, they went straight to the weapons of destruction.
Instead of throwing ordinary high-explosive bombs, bombers were replaced with terrifying white phosphorus incendiary bombs. Flamethrowers and Spitfire tanks have been massively added to the ground forces. The Japanese positions were no longer required to be captured, but instead to be destroyed by the living forces of the Japanese army. At the same time, a special engineering unit was sent to the island of Ryukyu.
The unit, numbered 219 Special Engineer Brigade, is equipped with a large number of construction equipment such as bulldozers and concrete mixers. This unit was originally one of the engineering units that built military bases and barracks. Zhang Cheng sent this army to Ryukyu Island and ordered them to seal all the caves dug by the Japanese army in the mountains with cement.
Since you don't want to come out to fight, it's better to stay inside forever.
The advent of these new tactics quickly changed the tide of battle that had previously left the Marines at a loss. A large number of the living forces of the Japanese army were wiped out. And their space for activity is constantly being squeezed and narrowed. In desperation, many fanatical middle and lower-level Japanese commanders led their men to launch a decisive charge against the attacking Ming army.
With the rapid development of weapons and equipment technology, the traditional tactics of large-scale crowd charge have lost their living space. In front of a large number of automated weapons, especially machine guns with a high rate of fire. The crowd tactic does nothing other than add to the casualty figure for yourself. It's the same even with night raids.
Mines, barbed wire, trenches, flares and guard posts. Under such tight precautions, there was basically no chance of success in a large-scale night raid. The Japanese army was facing a well-equipped and well-trained Ming regular army!
As the Marines continued to advance, Japanese casualties rose rapidly. By the end of August, most of the Japanese had been cleared, and the remaining Japanese forces had been largely squeezed into the last small mountainous area of the island. The end of the Japanese garrison is near. (To be continued.) )