"Firebird Four calls the lizard, and Firebird four calls the lizard. Provide coordinates, provide coordinates. ”

After deciding to use Kume Island as a rehearsal for landing on the Ryukyus, training troops, and practicing tactics, the navy, army, and air force worked together to come up with a lot of new equipment. In addition to the Marine Corps' "Sea Cavalry" helicopters, the newly equipped H-7 ground gunboat aircraft is also one of them. Ground gunboat aircraft were used in the Kyzylorda blockade, but previously they were used in smaller lower monoplanes. In use, it was found that the wings of the lower monoplane would affect the shooting angle, and the aircraft was too small to carry a larger gun, so the Air Force deliberately selected the H-7 on the upper wing, converted five of them into gunboat aircraft, and equipped it with an 85 mm cannon howitzer, a 40 mm rapid-fire gun, and four 12.7 mm heavy machine guns.

"Listen to my orders, all fire ready, fire!"

Hearing the radio call, the company commander immediately concentrated all his firepower to suppress the Japanese army. Taking advantage of this opportunity, two grenadiers jumped out of the protective circle and, with their grenades, fired two smoke flares into the densest area of the Japanese army. After the orange smoke rose, the gunboat pilot quickly deflected the fuselage and flew in a circle with the smoke as the central axis.

"Shoot at full speed!"

"Knock knock." The sloping fuselage and the upper wing provide a good underground view, allowing the gunboat to give full play to the advantages of condescending fire support. In particular, the 85-mm cannon howitzer, although the caliber is not large, but compared with the tank gun with a relatively straight trajectory on the ground and an insufficient angle of view, it shows its superior ability, constantly hitting Japanese fortifications and bunkers on the mountain slopes. In the face of some relatively solid bunkers, you can also use explosive armor-piercing shells to bombard by name. The improvised firing craters clinging to the ground could not stop the shells falling from the sky.

With the support of gunboat aircraft, the Marine Division finally stabilized the defensive line. With the second batch of landing troops quickly arrived to support. The battle entered a stalemate for the time being. By two o'clock in the afternoon, the 2nd Marine Division had all gone ashore and carved out a temporary wharf on a narrow sandbar. "You see, the firepower points on the sea-facing side have basically been wiped out, but on the sea-facing side, there are shelling dead ends, and the troops who came ashore said that these permanent firepower points have steel sealing covers, which can prevent surface flames. In this way, as long as we push into the island. Gumi Mountain, Alashan Mountain and Tianhou Mountain form an iron triangle that can support each other, and no matter which direction it goes, it will be attacked by fire from three sides. ”

"Can you disperse the battleships and provide fire support from four directions at the same time, shelling a mountain behind the sea."

"Yes, but it may not be good. Except for the southwest side, which has a wide view, the other three sides are blocked by mountains. Support from the sea, unable to obtain the perspective of artillery strikes, and unable to accurately destroy some low-altitude bunkers and fortifications. ”

"The best thing to do is to separate the three mountains. Attack Alashan first. This place happens to be sandwiched between two landing fields, and if we can take this place and grab the commanding heights, we can deploy heavy artillery on them and condescendingly use our firepower superiority. ”

Zhou Yafu on the aircraft carrier. In view of the situation on Kumejima, the staff officers actively adjusted their research and tactics. Zhang Zhaoyang, who was next to him, was not surprised that the landing started unfavorably, and it was extremely difficult to go from sea to land. On the contrary, he was very interested in the Japanese officers who were defending Kume Island. Asked, "Is it that division?" "The intelligence says that it is the 36th Division, and the commander of the division is called Kuribayashi Tadamichi."

"There are some means." Zhang Zhaoyang wrote down the name and quipped: "Old Liao." I don't think I'm worried about how you look. ”

"What is there to worry about, what if he Kuribayashi Tadamichi has the ability? If you're too clever, you shouldn't let me go ashore smoothly. Liao Changfeng snorted coldly. In his eyes, the last thing Kuribayashi Tadamichi should have done was to let the Marines get to the island smoothly and give up the brutal beachhead scramble. Although on the surface it is possible to shrink the strength and reduce the attrition, it cannot be denied that what the landing side is most afraid of is undoubtedly the open beachhead, as long as they go ashore, the Wehrmacht, who has seen the more perverted fortifications of the Soviet Union, has a way to toss the opponent to death.

"Sir, the latest weather data. The winds have started to increase and we are expected to have strong winds and waves at sea tonight, so we have to take shelter. While speaking, the staff officer came over and handed over the latest information: "This is sent by the commander, one of our submarines has spotted the Japanese Fourth Fleet in Leyte Gulf, Philippines, and the 21st Southwest Battle Group is rushing there." ”

"Yamamoto can't sit still." Liao Changfeng said: "If Kume Island is breached by us, the door to Ryukyu will be opened, and the military department will force him to come to a decisive battle." ”

"If nothing else, there should be an aircraft carrier that will go over to reinforce Inoue Narumi. Lao Liao, you are here. ”

Liao Changfeng understood what he meant, and it was extremely dangerous to let the fleet anchor in unsafe waters under the conditions of high wind and waves at night. What's more, the 12th Aircraft Carrier Formation also has to take care of attacking the main force of the Japanese Navy, and it will definitely move south, so it nodded: "Give me three more hours, and after sending the 151st Infantry Division and the Heavy Artillery Battalion up, you can go." There are 30,000 people, and I can keep it. ”

"What about the Naval Cavalry Brigade?"

"The wind is too fast, let's talk about it tomorrow."

"Okay." Zhang Zhaoyang turned his head and gave an order to the staff officer: "The 125th Patrol Formation is searching and advancing to Isina Island, the 126th and 128th Patrol Formations are going to the sea off Kerama, and the 124th Patrol Formation is left behind to protect the landing force and reach the shore as close as possible to support, and all formations must be prepared to guard against a night attack by Japanese ships on the landing site." The 122 aircraft carrier formation retreated for a night maneuver and returned tomorrow morning, and the 121 aircraft carrier formation and the 123 battleship formation moved with the flagship. Inform the reconnaissance units to be especially careful of the sea area between Miyakojima and Ryukyu Oshima, which is open and from which the Japanese fleet is most likely to penetrate. ”

After learning that the fleet was going to take refuge temporarily, Liao Changfeng immediately changed his tactics and concentrated his forces on attacking Aowu Island, which was holding the sandbank, and Alashan in the south. With the 151st Infantry Division speeding ashore, the total strength of the upper island has increased to 30,000. Ashore at the same time as the infantry division, there was also a separate heavy artillery battalion with a total of 12 210-mm self-propelled howitzers, and 2 of the latest 305-mm "Crusher" heavy mortars.

The latter was urgently developed at the request of the army after suffering losses in front of the Tashkent fortress. At that time, the army was blocked in front of the fortress and could not move an inch, so it was rushed to the hospital, and even the large Berta captured in the European war was almost dragged to the front line, and many factories were given the task of developing heavy barrier-breaking guns. Among them, the Nanjing Navy Naval Gun Factory is the fastest, and they took the Skoda M.11 305-mm heavy mortar from the European war period as the prototype, and after a slight modification (mainly weight reduction), it passed the experiment at the end of last year. To strengthen the power. The designers also developed a special extra-heavy ground-penetrating bomb for it, named it "Roller".

The shape of the "roller" is basically similar to that of the Skoda M.11, with a total weight of 25 tons, the same monolithic baseplate, and the new ammunition loader, which only takes 12 people to prepare in 40 minutes, and can also be used on soft ground. The maximum elevation angle is 70 degrees, the firing range is 13,500 meters when using a 280-kilogram grenade, and when using a particularly heavy 460-kilogram ground-penetrating projectile. The firing range is 10,700 meters, which ensures penetration of 3.5 meters reinforced cement shield or 5 meters of granite mountains. After the test, the army was very satisfied, and immediately ordered 12 guns, and the Marine Corps, hearing about it, also ordered 6 guns.

The disembarkation of the army's heavy artillery battalion was of great help to the 2nd Light Marine Division, which, with the help of 12 210-mm howitzers, quickly captured Owu Island and opened the passage between the sandbar and the main island.

As more and more troops and equipment came ashore. The haze of the setback of the tentative offensive in the morning gradually dissipated. Zhang Shuisheng's armored company also received an order to adjust its tactics, and at 5 p.m., it cooperated with friendly forces ashore at Jianchenggang to cut off the communication between Alashan and Gumi Mountain and Tianhou Mountain. Make it an island. Due to the unfortunate death of the platoon commander of the third platoon in the ambush, the squad leader who protected him became the new platoon commander and led everyone to continue the attack on Alashan.

The cost of seven killed and eleven wounded in one day. Even the reporters who protected him were seriously injured, and the eyes of the three rows were bloodshot, and they wished that the entire island would be completely bulldozed. After nightfall. The main forces of the fleet disappeared into the open sea, but the fighting on the island did not stop. With the help of flares, the battle for Alashan intensified. "Bring the tubing!" After the platoon commander led everyone to seize a hole, he immediately spliced an arm-thick gas pipe from the foot of the mountain to the hole and stuffed it in. At the other end of the pipeline, a small oil tanker is connected to the sea.

After being pressurized by the oil tanker, dozens of tons of gasoline quickly rushed into the cave like a firefighting hose and spread deep along the rammer. The pungent smell of gasoline permeated the mountain peaks, lying on the surface, and you could faintly hear the terrified screams of Japanese soldiers in the depths of the cave. "Bastard, look how Lao Tzu burns you!" After about two or three minutes of spraying, the platoon commander, who was already red-eyed, gave the order to retract the oil pipe. Then, from a long distance, he was not afraid of the oil and gas igniting the fire, and after taking out the smoke and lighting it, he smiled fiercely and threw a grenade into the cave full of oil and gas.

"Boom." The cave, which was already full of oil and gas, suddenly burst into flames, and even the entrance of the cave that was connected hundreds of meters away burst into flames. "Fire! Fire! Kill them! After the oil and gas ignited, hundreds of Japanese soldiers hiding in the cave were burned out, with flames, shouting wildly, and rolling on the ground. But they were soon met with frenzied fire from the Marines with light and heavy weapons, and more Japanese soldiers were burned to char before they could even escape.

In less than half an hour, all the Japanese troops hiding in this hillside were cleared.

This style of fighting frightened the Japanese troops stationed in Alashan, and when they saw their soldiers being driven out of the cave by the fire and burned alive, they had to defend every cave entrance. In this way, on the contrary, the Marine Division and the 151st Infantry Division were left with clear goals. Dozens of tanks covered the infantry, fighting back and forth according to the faint fire of the hole. As soon as you find one, either throw a grenade in it or a flamethrower waits. After seizing the entrance to the cave, he learned three rows, made an oversized injector out of oil pipes, and sprayed gasoline into the cave.

As Liao Changfeng said, the biggest problem of Kuribayashi Tadamichi is that he does not understand the Central Asian war. In the face of Soviet fortresses and fortified cities that were many times stronger than Kumejima, the Wehrmacht had long since trained a set of bizarre but practical tactics for attacking fortifications. Such "fire attack" tactics were also forced. In the storming of the Tashkent fortress, in order to clear the dark and crooked rammers and underground fortifications, I don't know how many soldiers fell in pools of blood, and finally the troops were in a hurry, so they simply called in tanker trucks and sprayed full gasoline into these fortifications.

In order to deal with the fortresses and various caves in the Ryukyu Islands, the Marines have long since converted several special oil tankers and ordered hundreds of heavy armored tankers converted from discarded tanks, in order to carry forward the "fire attack tactics."

The news of the burning of Alashan by the Wehrmacht made Kuribayashi Tadamichi unable to sit still and decided to launch a night attack. At one o'clock in the morning, he personally led the infantry in two night attacks. However, after the troops got out of the cave, they were covered by frantic fire, especially the gunboats that arrived overnight, and finally left behind a full 2,000 corpses and continued to retreat the local rats in Gumi Mountain.

By the next morning, after 20,000 soldiers had fought all night and consumed a full 2,000 tons of gasoline, the Japanese army in Alashan was no longer in a climate. The triangular array on Kume Island has finally revealed its flaws...... (To be continued......)