Also on the 15th, Bao Gang, commander of the first column of the Haitang Army, took over the task of attacking the northern part of Okinawa by the Allied forces.

The Allied landing site was located in the south-central part of Okinawa, and if you look at the map, the Haitang Army had to take on almost half of the tasks of the Okinawa campaign.

But in fact, the focus of the defense of Okinawa deployed by the Japanese defenders, Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, was to the south.

The Japanese army concentrated its main efforts on defending Shuri, the historic capital of the Ryukyus, including Shuri Castle, the royal palace of the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom, built on a steep ridge.

In other words, the Haitang Army seems to have taken over half of the geographical area of Okinawa, but in essence, the task accounts for less than half of the entire campaign.

In fact, in the battle plan, MacArthur's expectation for the Haitang Army was only to ensure that the offensive would advance for ten days, and after the troops were exhausted, the American army would take over again.

It should be said that MacArthur's assignment of tasks was quite fair. MacArthur's ability to become a famous general of a generation was by no means a fluke, and his grasp of the target of the battle and his judgment of the combat mission of the assigned troops were quite measured.

The Allies are not the US military, you must know that in the Pacific theater, in addition to the Haitang Army, there are also the Australian Army and the New Zealand Army, all under the command of MacArthur. Although it is difficult to settle the combat mission in a bowl of water, under the relatively fair command of Marshal Mai, there are not many disputes between the troops of various countries in the Pacific theater.

From this point of view, the cooperation of the Allies in the Pacific Theater was much better than that in the Atlantic Theater. On the Atlantic Theater, from the Normandy landing campaign to the current strangulation battle, the offensive was blocked and the losses were heavy. The quarrel between American General Patton and British General Montgomery grew fierce. This is the main manifestation of internal contradictions on the European battlefield.

If that were all there was to it, the contradiction would not seem excessive. But lately, even the Canadian Army has been talking about the Free French de Gaulle.

To know. At the beginning of the Normandy landings, the Canadian Army undertook the attack on one of the five beachheads in Normandy, while the United States contracted two and the British contracted two. As a result, the Free French troops, the biggest beneficiaries of the Normandy landings, actually acted as masters in the back in the campaign to recover France.

If it is said that in the early days of the campaign, there were some reasons for de Gaulle's prevarication. But the war is going on to this point. The Canadian army alone suffered more than 40,000 casualties. Canada has a poor population, and in total, there are only about 200,000 troops. In just a few months, a fifth of the casualties were lost, a proportion of casualties that no country could afford. Therefore, the French army is the master in the back, which naturally becomes something that the Canadian military is not used to.

In this case. After coordination (in fact, it was a quarrel) in November. De Gaulle's Free French army had to be on the front line of the battlefield.

As for Belgium and the Netherlands, their forces are already weak, and they are even more unwilling to undertake slightly more difficult combat missions. Eisenhower claimed to be good at coordinating relations between all parties, but at present, the commander of the Allied Atlantic Theater was not troubled by the situation on the battlefield, but by the disputes between various departments.

In view of his appreciation for MacArthur's level of coordination, Li Guang slightly changed the habits of the Haitang Army in the use of servant troops during this period. First things first: in all kinds of formal language and formal occasions, the former servant army is renamed as a friendly army.

Present. Due to the fierce fighting between the Japanese army and the British and Indian troops on the battlefield in Burma, the Japanese army was at a disadvantage. So the devils in order to disperse the power of the allies. An offensive was also launched in northern Burma. Due to the lack of troops of the Haitang Army in the direction of Myitkyina in northern Burma, 6,000 men of the Black Kunlun Battalion and 6,000 men of the Ceylon Army were mobilized to fight together.

Under the command of Xu Zhan, the commander of the second detachment, the friendly forces suffered some heavy casualties. There is no way not to be miserable, you must know that the usual tactics of the Haitang Army are to explore the path of the servant army, and the elite troops of the Haitang Army will focus on attacking. With this tactic, the servant army is actually similar to the cannon fodder army, and the losses must be staggering.

Although like the Black Kunlun Battalion, a group of black people have limited IQ, but after all, they still belong to the category of people, and they still have a huge fear of resisting the bloody casualties.

After tactical adjustments, the casualties of the Black Kunlun battalion dropped rapidly. In addition, Li Guang gave Mole, the leader of the Black Kunlun Battalion, a nominal title - Guogong. In the West, the duke title is second only to the king, and it is a truly top-notch title. In ancient China, there were only princes and county kings above the princes, which were also top-level titles. After some flickering by Major Yanjing, the "military division" of the Black Kunlun Battalion, Mo Le was desperate, and the Black Kunlun Battalion continued to maintain loyalty to fight for Haitang.

The topic returned to Okinawa again, to MacArthur's surprise, and the Battle of Okinawa was held in the following time. Under the command of Bao Gang, the Haitang Army never once asked for a replacement from the American army until it was completely victorious.

The general has the pride of a general, and Bao Gang, as the commander of the first column of the Haitang Army, is actually the No. 1 general in the Haitang Army. As a soldier, it is enough to create a victory in his life. The Ceylon campaign commanded by Bao Gang was a great victory, which is almost a classic. But Bao Gang's ambitions don't stop there.

Since the Battle of Ceylon, the Haitang Army has not had any big battles, and Bao Gang has been resting and training troops for two years, and he has long been looking forward to fighting on the battlefield and eager to make meritorious contributions.

On the battlefield of Okinawa, the Haitang Army not only had enemies, but Bao Gang also had a secret competitor -- the US army. Defeating the Japanese army is Bao Gang's duty. Winning the competition with the US military is Bao Gang's pride.

In the northern Okinawa theater, the Haitang Army only used the strength of four regiments plus the army aviation of the Haitang Army, and in the next half a month, it displayed an exquisite and gorgeous tactic, completely eliminating the Japanese army in northern Okinawa in half a month. Since then, Bao Gang's reputation has not only enjoyed a great reputation in the Haitang Army, but also in the US military, and the Haitang Army has also impressed the US military since then.

Although the battlefield in northern Okinawa was not the main aspect of the campaign, in terms of numbers: more than 30,000 Japanese troops perished in less than half a month, and the results were brilliant enough.

If it was just a victory, in fact, the U.S. military was not much shocked, but when the Haitang Army took half of Okinawa Island, the U.S. military still failed to annihilate the Japanese army in southern Okinawa, and this progress made the U.S. military shocked enough.

One of the more shocking figures in the post-war assessment was casualties. In addition to the 1,500 casualties suffered in the most tragic landing battle. In the northern battle for half a month, the casualties were still 1,500, of which less than 500 were killed.

That is, the Haitang Army was in battle with the Japanese army. The ratio of casualties reached 1 to 60. (As for why there were not many Japanese prisoners, according to the history of the U.S. military, it was said that the Japanese devils would rather die than surrender, so they all died.) One thing that the officers and men of Haitang knew was that the Japanese commander was Ushijima Man, who was the executioner of the Nanjing Massacre. ）

MacArthur was once most proud of the statistic that the American casualties ratio in the Battle of New Guinea was 1 to 30 with the Japanese, but this already amazing result was now far surpassed by the Haitang Army.

In fact. There is another figure that the US military does not pay attention to, but the Haitang Army attaches great importance to - weapon consumption and ammunition consumption. In the course of the entire northern operation, the Haitang Army only lost more than 30 armored weapons and heavy weapons such as tanks and assault guns. And the American army paid for the loss of almost four hundred tanks. As for ammunition. The Haitang Army eliminated 30,000 Japanese troops and consumed more than 3,000 tons of ammunition, while the US Army eliminated 70,000 Japanese troops, consuming a total of nearly 70,000 tons of ammunition.

The U.S. military is good at learning, but it takes a lot of time. The conclusion was made: on the hardware. It is not difficult for the US military to meet the equipment standards of the Haitang Army, but the tactics of the Haitang Army cannot be replicated.

First, the most brilliant tactic of the Haitang Army in this campaign was the precision strike of land-based aviation. At the beginning of the Ceylon campaign, the Haitang Army had a tactical idea to use SBD dive bombers as super-caliber long-range artillery. This tactical idea has been perfected and brought into play by the officers and men of the Haitang Army several times, forming the current precision strike tactics of the Haitang Army (internally known as quasi-missile tactics).

You must know that the Haitang Army Army is only equipped with P51 Mustang fighters and SBD dreadnought dive bombers. In the hands of the pilots of the Haitang Army, who are the best at dive bombing, the effectiveness of these two fighters is hardly inferior to that of the missiles of the 21st century. Although it is not yet possible to achieve 100 shots, almost three or two heavy bombs can destroy a Japanese army's solid firepower point. Compared with the high-powered naval guns of the US military and the horizontal bombers with low hit rate, the effectiveness is not at all the same level.

In this regard, the US military can easily reach the level of equipment. After all, whether it is a bomb or a fighter plane, it is made by the United States. However, in order for pilots to reach this level of dive bomber operation, even the pilots of US carrier-based aircraft are extremely proficient, and the pilots of the Haitang Army who have this level of bombing, although they are not said to abound, can easily pull out hundreds of people. If the US military wants to draw out such a group of pilots, it can only draw them from aircraft carriers. However, with the transfer of such a group of pilots, many of the elite backbone forces on the aircraft carriers will be exhausted, and the combat effectiveness will immediately plummet. As for the U.S. Army Aviation, there are very few training dive bombing subjects.

Therefore, the US military cannot do it.

The second point. The tanks equipped by the Haitang Army weigh only about 25 tons, and their appearance is relatively low, which seems to be less majestic than the tall Sherman tanks of the US army. However, in actual combat, the Tiger and a tank of the Haitang Army comprehensively overshadowed the Sherman of the US Army.

The wide tracks ensured better cross-country performance of the tank, and the long-barreled tank gun had greater penetration and a longer firing range. The low size of the Tiger One tank makes the frontal bomb area smaller and more survivable. As for the use of diesel engines, it is not easy to burn when hit, but it is a small advantage.

The quality of the officers and men of the armored units of the Haitang Army is more than one step higher than that of the US military. This is the most surprising thing for the U.S. military, in the world's armies, if you say that the U.S. soldiers are familiar with machinery, the U.S. soldiers deserve to be the first, which is even higher than the German army, after all, the United States has the highest car penetration rate, far surpassing Germany.

The Haitang Army can have such an armored unit because Haitang has spent huge material and financial resources to come. If the funds are invested in each tank, the investment of the Haitang Army in this area far exceeds that of the US army, and of course exceeds that of the Soviet army.

You must know that Haitang had armored troops early on, occupying two regiments of the army. But in fact, until the end of '44, only one regiment could go to war (the other armored regiment was still training and building roads). The training is no worse than that of pilots. At the beginning of the selection of pilots, the quality of the pilots surpassed that of the armored forces, and the primary school education level was the minimum. In the armored forces, illiterate officers and soldiers abound, and for such a group of people to master the use and maintenance of modern weapons, it is not only training, but also a considerable proportion of cultural learning. Therefore, Haitang spent several years of energy, and the huge financial investment only created such an elite armored force. There are many debates in the army, and many people believe that Haitang is located in the Indian Ocean, and the geography of the local territory and the surrounding battlefields are not suitable for tank combat, and there is no need to invest such large material and financial resources to build an armored force. It is better to invest these funds in the construction of mountain regiments, that is, light infantry units.

In the First World War of Okinawa, the irreplaceable power of the armored forces was revealed, and several battlefield breakthroughs were all completed by the armored forces. IN FACT, THE HAITANG ARMY SURPRISED THE US ARMY NOT ONLY TANKS, LIKE 122MM SELF-PROPELLED ASSAULT GUNS, WHICH ARE EVEN MORE POWERFUL ON THE BATTLEFIELD. Provide long-range fire support for better efficiency.

In short, the huge investment of the armored forces of the Haitang Army was exchanged for the glory of the war record. So much so that in the later stage of the campaign, the U.S. Army often borrowed tanks and assault guns from the Haitang Army, and a series of weapons from the Haitang Army became the fist products praised by the U.S. military.

The third point is the quality of the officers and men of Haitang. U.S. soldiers generally have the ability to write, that is, they have basic cultural literacy. From the end of '42, the Haitang Army was actually an establishment of 20 regiments, but now it is only an establishment of 22 regiments, and the pace of expansion is slow; although it has an impact on the overall combat capability of the army, after one or several years of training and study, the cultural quality of the officers and men of the Haitang Army is not below that of the US military.

The lack of military expansion for a long time has made the tactical literacy of the officers and men of Haitang surpass that of the US military in an all-round way. You must know that the US military has expanded from 1 million troops in '42 to 10 million troops by the end of '44, and even if the United States has a perfect military education system and training system, it will not be able to raise the combat effectiveness of US officers and men to the point of the Haitang Army.

The combat effectiveness of the army and the command level of the commander complement each other, and no famous general can command a bunch of garbage troops to win a brilliant battle.

Soldiers with high tactical literacy can use more subtle tactics. No matter how high the standard of the commander is, the commander can only be tactically conservative, and it is very difficult to be clever in tactics.

In fact, the advantages of the Haitang Army are not only here, but also a more important point, all the officers and men of the Haitang Army have participated in battles, and many officers and soldiers have also participated in many battles.

And the US military is simply unable to do this because of the rapid pace of military expansion. In this regard, the US military will not be convinced. Moreover, in the war, the US military has the specific situation of the US military, and the experience of the Haitang Army cannot be replicated by the US military.

In fact, there is another point that the US military is unwilling to admit, but it knows very well: The fighting spirit of the officers and men of Haitang is incomparable to that of the US military. Don't forget, from the commander of the Haitang Army, Bao Gang, to every officer and soldier came from Chinese mainland, and the enemies of the country and the family were all gathered in one, and the devils were all scrambling to be the first.

Another point is that the US military has long had it, but the Chinese army has always lacked it. But it is vital - the superiority of the nation, the superiority of the race, the superiority of the army - pride.

And this is what Li Guang is proud of.

After many years of war, the Haitang Army has never been defeated on the battlefield (this is related to Li Guang's overall guiding ideology of always managing carefully and never fighting rashly, and of course it is also the result of the tricks of the traversers), and one victory after another has forged the belief in the invincibility of the Haitang Army, the confidence of victory, and the spirit of the army.

This is completely different from the Chinese army in China, which, to the dismay of the reader, did not have confidence in Japan's victory until the end of '44.

The country has been weak for a hundred years, and the people have been weakened in both body, body and spirit. "Guns are inferior to people, artillery is inferior to people, and training is inferior to people" has been the consensus of the whole army, the difference is that under this cognition, the brave dare to work hard and shed their blood.

What makes Li Guang proud is that the Haitang Army has been building for several years and fighting for several years. In particular, in the Battle of Okinawa, the whole army gained an advantage in the competition with the US army, and the whole army was proud from the bottom of their hearts -- Haitang was invincible.

This pride is not the pride of the other, this is the pride of national self-confidence, but the pride of the rise of Haitang. This is not just the morale of the military, but the pride that can support the confidence of the entire country and the nation.

The victory of the war has an incomparable power for the self-confidence of a country and a nation. This is irreplaceable by the brilliance of the economy, culture and other fields. (To be continued......)