The main fortifications of the Japanese army were set up at the commanding heights of Harlem Airport, more than 30 kilometers away, and Harlem Mountain, a hill composed entirely of hills and cliffs. The top of Mount Harlem offers a view of most of the island, including the airport on the south side of the island. There are more than 500 limestone caves on Mount Harlem, which are connected to each other by passages. Most of these caves were mine-holes, which were then used by the Japanese and built into fortifications, and sappers installed sliding armored iron doors at the entrances of the caves for erecting cannons and machine guns. At the same time, the Japanese army also installed 81-mm and 150-mm mortars, 20-mm twin machine guns, and anti-tank and anti-aircraft squads in other fortifications on the mountain. In order to defend against flamethrowers and grenades, the entrance passages to the caves where the Japanese were stationed all went up the slopes. These caves and forts formed a huge and extensive defense system for the central part of the Harlem Mountains, which was very conducive to the tactical retreat and reoccupation of these areas by the Japanese army, and well consolidated the Japanese defenses.

In order to occupy Harlem Mountain, the 3rd Marine Brigade has paid the price of more than 1,000 people, and the soldiers of the 3rd Marine Brigade have been physically and mentally exhausted after more than a week of continuous attacks, and today they finally welcomed their first batch of reinforcements.

When Liu Jun, the commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade, took several of his advisers to greet the reinforcements who had just arrived, Colonel Ren Ran, the commander of the 2nd Marine Brigade who had just arrived, saw the faces blackened by gunpowder smoke and the tired eyes of the officers and soldiers next to him.

"Smack!" Ren Ran saluted his colleagues who had been fighting here for a week and said, "Brothers, you have worked hard! ”

Liu Junqiang supported his tired body and said to Ren Ran: "The old battalion commander (Liu Jun was Ren Ran's battalion commander when he served in the 10th Infantry Division before), I will leave it to you here, the devil on the opposite side has gone crazy, and now the devil has come to reinforcements, you have to be stable!" ”

Ren Ran patted his old companion on the shoulder and said: "Good brother, you can rest assured, this time our three Marine brigades have come over, Brigade Commander Zhou and they have already rushed to Harlem Airport, I don't believe that I can't gnaw on this hard bone of Harlem Mountain." ”

Just as Ren Ran was speaking, "The soldiers of the 1st Marine Brigade who have rushed to Harlem Airport have already instigated a new round of attacks on Harlem Airport under the leadership of Brigade Commander Zhou Zhen and Wang Xiaoguo's Eighth Company.

However, this attack will not be the same as in the previous days, and the iron-hearted Guan Zhenglin gathered more than 30 "dreadnought" dive bombers to bombard the defenders of the airfield indiscriminately, and the flames of the explosion carefully sifted through the Japanese positions several times.

Under this kind of wanton and indiscriminate bombing at all costs and the desperate onslaught of the Marine Brigade, the Harlem airfield was finally occupied at 3 p.m.

"Jianming, good news! Just now, Guan Lin sent a message to say that Harlem Airport was occupied by us! Bai Chongxi hurriedly broke into Su Tong's office and handed him the telegram that had just been sent by the Pacific Fleet.

"It's finally captured!" After reading the telegram, Su Tong's heart that had been hanging for several days was also relaxed.

Su Tong sat on the sofa and drank. Chacai smiled bitterly at Bai Chongxi and shook his head, "Brother Jiansheng,

I didn't expect the battle for Sakhalin to be so tragic, it was completely different from the Japanese troops we had fought in the past, and the Japanese themselves had learned to use all favorable means to resist our attack. ”

"Yes, we are all improving, and this is not the case for the day itself." Bai Chongxi also said with some emotion: "Now our equipment is becoming more and more advanced, but the Japanese army itself is not idle, since the Japanese army was driven out of the mainland by us, it has strengthened tactical drills against us and formulated relevant tactical tactics. ”

"That's it!" Su Tong waved his hand, "At least we have captured Harlem Airport, so that our air force and heavy bombers can also come in handy, didn't I add another division of reinforcements?" Then let's show them what "carpet bombing" is! ”

Yes, Su Tong is determined to use the "carpet bombing", a bombing style discovered by later generations of Americans, to let the "Day" himself try the hardship!

In layman's terms, "carpet bombing" refers to the use of a large number of unguided bombs to cover and bomb a certain area like a carpet on the floor, killing and destroying personnel and equipment in that area.

The amount of ammunition consumed by this kind of bombing was very staggering, so Su Tong only dared to carry it out after occupying the airfield and having a platform for heavy transport planes and bombers to take off and land.

On 27 November, after occupying the Harlem airport, the Chinese army dispatched a battalion of engineers and nearly 3,000 marines and men to quickly begin repairing the airport. By ten o'clock the next morning, more than twenty giant transport planes had landed on the newly repaired runway, and a large amount of fuel had been written down from the planes. After unloading the ammunition and supplies, the plane flew back. Before leaving, they also carried a large number of wounded with them.

On 28 November, 60 Stuka bombers and 70 P-47 fighters transferred from Vladivostok officially settled at the airport.

On 29 November, with the joint efforts of more than 3,000 marines from the Engineer Battalion and the Navy, Harlem Airport was completely restored, and 36 B-17 heavy bombers were stationed at Harlem Airport.

At the same time, the 5th and 41st Divisions of the Chinese Army were also transported to Sakhalin Island on giant transport planes.

After the airway was bought, the Huaxia Pacific Fleet was finally free to deal with the Japanese task force.

On 30 November, the Pacific Fleet, which had already made up for its carrier-based aircraft, dispatched 200 carrier-based planes to engage in a major battle with the Japanese task force, which was still hovering outside Sakhalin Island, and in this battle, the Pacific Fleet shot down 87 fighters of the Japanese task force at the price of losing 76 carrier-based aircraft, sank the battleship "Haruna," more than 20 destroyers, and two cruisers, and severely damaged the "Kaga" aircraft carrier and the battleship "Yamato."

This heavy impact made Vice Admiral Nakamura Masan unable to resist and order the task force to retreat to the Hokkaido target, which also meant that the Japanese navy was temporarily unable to support Sakhalin.

The evening sun shone on the Cambridge of the aircraft carrier "Chicheng", and Vice Admiral Nakamura Masan showed a dead look on his face, looking at the sailors on the ship who were driving the rescue boat around to search for the sailors who had fallen into the water and the trick of the battleship "Haruna" that was only a corner not far away, Nakamura Masan could not help but admit that his mission to reinforce Sakhalin had failed, and the task force with heavy losses was no longer able to reinforce the Japanese troops on Sakhalin Island. If the task force does not retreat, it is expected that it will be completely annihilated.

"Your Excellency Commander, the Tokyo base camp has called us to ask about the results of this air battle, how should we answer?" A young combat adviser walked up to Nakamura and asked in a low voice.

"How do you answer?" Nakamura Masan smiled bitterly: "Your honest answer is that the task force has suffered heavy losses this time, and if the base camp wants to be held responsible, let me bear it alone!" Fumitsu-kun, order the fleet to retreat to the Hokkaido mark in half an hour, we must take advantage of the cover of night to evacuate the battlefield as soon as possible, otherwise we won't be able to leave! ”

"Hello!"

Soon, after rescuing the soldiers who fell into the water, the task force began to withdraw to the southwest.

On the southwest side of the five-island archipelago in the Honhai Sea, there is a group of four aircraft carriers, five battleships,

A huge fleet of 12 cruisers, 53 destroyers, and more than 30 other ships was the main fleet of the Combined Fleet under the command of Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Navy.

At this time, Yamamoto Isoroku was in the war room of the "Fengxiang" aircraft carrier to discuss the current battle situation with a group of advisers.

"Your Excellency Commander, this is the battle report that Commander Nakamura just sent!" A communications consultant pushed the door in and handed a telegram to Isoroku Yamamoto.

Yamamoto was silent after reading the telegram, but handed the telegram to Lieutenant General Yuheng, the adviser on the side. After everyone circulated the documents, Vice Admiral Yu Heng asked softly: "Your Excellency Commander, Nakamura-kun has been defeated, do we still have to hold on to the East China Sea Fleet in China?" ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head bitterly: "Since Nakamura-kun has been defeated, we don't need to entangle with the Shina people anymore, the East China Sea Fleet of the Shina people is obviously trying to hold us back, and now that their task has been completed, naturally there is no need to hold on with us, you see, no matter what we hint at, the Shina people will soon retreat on their own." ”

There was silence in the war room, and everyone knew from the telegram sent by Vice Admiral Nakamura Masan that the Pacific Fleet in China now had quite a strong strength, and that they were already capable of confronting the main force of the Japan Combined Fleet. In order to send the 58th Division to Sakhalin Island, it has already lost one battleship, more than 10 destroyers, cruisers, and more than 100 carrier-based aircraft.

Yu Heng said bitterly: "Your Excellency Commander, you can't help but entangle with the people of China anymore, if it continues like this, our empire will disintegrate!" From the army to the navy, we have already suffered too much from the people of China. Why do some people in the empire provoke them again and again? ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six couldn't say anything when he heard this, and he couldn't say anything to refute Yu Hengtang's words for a while, yes! Since when has Huafu people become the object of provocation? @