Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryukyu archipelago, located between mainland Japan and Taiwan, 630 kilometers north of Kyushu. It is about 108 kilometers long from north to south, about 30 kilometers at the widest point from east to west, and only 4 kilometers at the narrowest point, with an area of about 1,220 square kilometers.

The landing site chosen by the Allies was located south of the narrowest point, in Hagoki, south-central Okinawa. The difficulty in choosing to land here was that the first stage of the landing was inevitably under pressure from the Japanese forces in both the north and the south. The advantage was that there were two Japanese airfields in this area, and once occupied, the Allied air superiority could be exploited as soon as possible.

The battle plan was very clear, as long as they landed, they would immediately be pressured by the Japanese army from both the north and the south, and it would be difficult for the first batch of troops to land. But it was very advantageous for the follow-up battle: the communication between the north and the south of the Japanese army was cut off.

What's more, before the battle began, no one dared to say 100 percent victory, even if the commander was sure enough. Therefore, in the event of a failed landing, the losses of the first landing force would be absolutely heavy. And the Haitang Army took the initiative to take on this arduous task.

In the early morning of 11 November, when the Allies launched the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese army was unprepared. The timing of the Allied choice was just right, less than twenty-four hours after a typhoon, the little devils were busy with disaster relief, and the Allies had already begun the first wave of air strikes. The importance of technology in war is once again demonstrated, and without a complete weather forecasting system of the US military, it would be difficult to achieve such a proper sortie.

The two aircraft carriers of the Haitang Army, the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean (the Indian Ocean was sold to Argentina, and the Liberty Dragon returned to the mainland for refitting. Preparing to change to a helicopter carrier, which was unique during World War II), three regular aircraft carriers of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, plus fourteen escort carriers. More than 400 sorties were dispatched in one wave. Four airfields built by the Japanese army on the island of Okinawa were destroyed with almost zero casualties.

At eight o'clock in the morning, after a wave of air strikes, the Japanese did not realize that the Allied campaign to capture Okinawa had begun. Anyway, since the US military occupied Saipan, US bombers have been bombing at two ends for three days, and the little devils have become accustomed to being bombed, and they die every day. Funerals are held every day, so that they are numb.

When the Allied powerful fleet appeared in the sight of the Japanese army, the little devil panicked. The supreme commander of the Japanese forces in Okinawa was Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima. This is one of the executioners of the Nanjing Massacre, a guy full of evil. As a veteran "famous general" of the Japanese army, the battle plan formulated by Ushijima Mitsuru can be regarded as "reasonable".

The so-called reasonableness is actually a very simple guiding ideology, which is not to compete with the US military for the beachhead at all. Only in the interior and fighting with the American army. The Japanese army has been fighting the American army in the Pacific for a long time. The experience and tactics summed up are also a set of sets, such as avoiding fighting the US military in an area within 50 kilometers of the coastline, and another example is that the US military is afraid of mountain warfare. To put it bluntly, the little devils have now figured out that their so-called modern troops are capable of bullying troops like the Chinese army, which is seriously lacking in heavy firepower. Japan simply cannot afford to fight a modern war with a country like the United States, whether it is a coastal operation or a plain operation. The heavy firepower and armored forces of the American army were the nemesis of the Japanese army.

In anti-landing operations, the best strategy is to prevent the adversary from landing. But. This optimal strategy may be feasible for the German army, but for the Japanese army, it can only be imagined. Under the powerful naval artillery of the US army, the anti-landing on the beachhead was not even a death for the Japanese army.

At ten o'clock, even if there were no Japanese troops on the beachhead, the American battleships, cruisers, and destroyers had already begun a heavy shelling. In the two-hour naval artillery strike, the US naval guns unleashed nearly 3,000 tons of shells. The power of the naval artillery was thoroughly demonstrated, not only the beachhead, but at least 30 square kilometers of an area was covered by artillery fire several times, which weakened the strength of the Japanese resistance to the greatest extent.

At the same time, the second wave of Allied air strikes struck again, with more than 400 carrier-based aircraft and more than 300 long-range bombers, which were like an overwhelming iron bird. In this wave alone, the Allies dropped more than 3,500 tons of bombs, and the key points of communication on Okinawa Island were completely destroyed.

At noon, the amphibious regiment of the Haitang Army took the lead in landing, and with the consistent tactics of the amphibious regiment of the Haitang Army, as soon as it landed, the whole regiment immediately advanced in depth. Immediately, a field regiment and a mountain regiment of the Haitang Army quickly landed. In the afternoon, the three regiments of the Haitang Army took turns fighting fiercely, and by the evening, a landing ground of 14 kilometers in front and 5 kilometers in depth, including two airfields, had been established.

That night, with the strength of three regiments and at the cost of more than 1,500 casualties, the Haitang Army withstood more than 10 Japanese attacks and firmly held the landing ground, creating excellent conditions for the US troops to land.

By dawn on the 12th, the number of US troops had landed had exceeded 60,000, and a large number of artillery and tanks had landed. More importantly, an engineer brigade of the US military and tens of thousands of tons of building materials and equipment also landed. Only then did the Haitang Army, which had been fighting hard day by day, retreat and be taken over by the American army.

The benefits of the Allied forces choosing to attack just after the typhoon had passed began to be felt, and during the day of the 12th, the air power from the Japanese mainland or Taiwan was extremely weak, with a total of less than 100 fighters, and it was almost impossible to break through the interception of the Allied carrier-based aircraft. However, the Allied bomber group did not rest, and made thousands of sorties, carrying out a frenzied bombing of Japanese airfields on the Japanese mainland and Taiwan.

On the 13th, the Japanese air power made a big response. It was the most difficult day for the Allied fleet, during which Allied carrier-based aircraft made more than fifteen hundred sorties, especially fighter pilots, almost every pilot took off more than three times.

According to later statistics, the Japanese land-based air force lost more than 800 fighters in this day, and although the Allied pilots worked hard, the total loss of more than 80 fighters and the death of less than 40 pilots were carried out. The loss of the Allied ships was only the sinking of an escort aircraft carrier, the serious damage of a destroyer, and the minor damage of a battleship, which was not a terrible price.

By the end of the fourth year of the war, the Japanese army, whether in the army or navy, had almost lost all its elite pilots. On the other hand, on the Allied side, even the US pilots on the escort aircraft carriers, who were not as capable as the Zero fighters, still did not fall behind in the air dogfight. As for the elite pilots. One of the most significant changes in the four or four years of the Haitang Army is that it is no longer measured by flight time and experience, but by the number of combat attendance. on two aircraft carriers of the Haitang Army. Pilots who have made more than 100 combat appearances abound, and a few ace pilots have reached more than 300 times. Such qualities, coupled with the complete superiority of the fighters, made the Japanese air power almost vulnerable.

In the Battle of Saipan, the US military pilots whispered "Mariana Turkey Hunting", and in the Battle of Okinawa, the pilots of the Haitang Army and the US Army pilots performed the turkey hunting to the fullest. Faced with a battle loss ratio of 20 to 1, the little devils armed with the spirit of bushido can only lose their fighting spirit. No matter how arrogant the generals in the Japanese army are, they can only be gloomy.

By the 14th, when the effects of the typhoon had subsided, the Japanese army had once again mustered up the courage to organize a larger air support. A considerable amount of kamikaze suicide attacks were invested.

But. It's all late.

On the night of the thirteenth, the American troops had not only consolidated the landing field. Its engineering units have repaired two airfields and the runway has been cleared. The U.S. military has created a miracle that the battlefield can repair airfields faster than the Japanese army can repair airfields on the mainland.

In the early morning of 14 July, the US Army and the Army Aviation of the Haitang Army were stationed, and as many as 600 fighters were ready for battle. What's more, the US military's ground-based radar has already begun to work.

When the Japanese planes swooped down, hundreds of fighters from the Allied land-based planes waited in the air for a long time. And the Allied carrier-based aircraft were not idle. Resist the Japanese aircraft group with all your might.

The Allies landed on the island of Okinawa and really stepped on the little tail of the Japanese devils. The pressure of proximity to the homeland had brought the Japanese army to the brink of madness. On the 14th, the Japanese army dispatched not only fighter planes, but also a huge number and a wide variety of suicide weapons, such as torpedoes and suicide boats. However, no matter how crazy the Japanese army was, there was no hope of victory in the face of the steely defense of the Allied fleet.

On the 14th, the Allies shot down more than 1,000 Japanese fighters with the loss of 100 fighters. Again, it was a 1-10 result. On the naval side, the Allied losses on this day were not small, the Japanese kamikaze attacks repeatedly worked, three Allied warships were sunk, six were wounded, and nearly 1,000 people were killed or wounded.

The 15th was a very meaningful day in the Battle of Okinawa. On this day, the Japanese Navy dispatched the only remaining battleship Yamato. Like the Japanese fighters, the Yamato battleship was essentially a suicidal operation, a purely dying struggle.

The Allied fleet was still the Great Circle Battle Formation formulated by Li Guang, but there were slight differences. This time, the First Task Force of the Haitang Army was deployed in the East China Sea west of Okinawa, while the regular aircraft carrier formation of the US military was deployed in the Pacific Ocean east of Okinawa, and the US battleship formation and escort aircraft carriers were deployed in a relatively safe position south of Okinawa.

Kincaid, commander of the US Seventh Fleet, did not have any bias in deploying troops in this way, and he did not intend to let the Haitang Army undertake dangerous tasks. You must know that during this period, the cooperation between the Haitang Army and the US Seventh Fleet was the most pleasant.

Although the strength of the First Task Force of the Haitang Army is slightly weaker, its combat effectiveness is definitely not lacking. The East China Sea direction is relatively dangerous due to its location between Chinese mainland and the Japanese mainland, but according to US estimates, the Japanese fleet is unlikely to attack from this direction.

However, no one can fully control the battlefield. The Japanese Yamato's suicidal sortie route was west of Okinawa, so it landed right in the basket of the Haitang Army.

During this period, the Pacific aircraft carrier, which was converted from Japan, was nicknamed the No. 1 attack aircraft carrier in the U.S. military after months of fighting. This aircraft carrier, which is currently the largest aircraft carrier in the world, is capable of carrying 48 twin-engine dive bombers and dropping 60 tons of bombs in a full-deck sortie. Regardless of the US military, the British aircraft carrier is far behind, and it is a well-deserved first.

The first attack aircraft carrier against the world's first battleship, the battle process is really not exciting. The First Task Force of the Haitang Army launched only two waves of strikes, and it took less than five hours to easily sink the aircraft carrier Yamato. A technical question that had been haunting the minds of the Tang Army for a long time was answered: could the battleship be killed without torpedoes, just aerial bombs? The answer is - yes.

Since then, for the remainder of the Okinawa campaign, there has been no large-scale fleet attack by the Japanese army, and the remaining combat effectiveness of the Japanese navy is no longer a cause for concern. (To be continued......)