On 16 February 1945, the US military dispatched 1,000 carrier-based aircraft to carry out air strikes on various coastal airfields in Tokyo Bay. On the morning of 17 February www.biquge.info US military dispatched another 500 carrier-based planes to sweep across Tokyo Bay. On this day, the US landing fleet, under the cover of a large number of fleets, officially launched the Iwo Jima offensive campaign.

It's just that the U.S. military has focused its attention on the Japanese mainland, which is a thousand kilometers away. But he ignored the mother island archipelago not far from Iwo Jima in the Ogasawara Islands under his nose. Although these islands are not large, there are no airports on them, and they are almost uninhabited.

But these islands are so numerous that they are only a few hundred nautical miles away from Iwo Jima in a straight line. It is still more suitable as a base for some small warship sorties, but the US military has neglected these small islands. The Japanese Navy not only deployed a peculiar number of suicide speedboats here, but also transferred almost all the torpedo boats of the mainland in this direction.

Although before the campaign was launched, the US military had sent a large number of army and navy planes from Saipan to bomb this small island indiscriminately. On 16 February, the final stage of the campaign, the US army's firepower preparations were carried out for three full days. In the course of three days, the US military poured more than 24,000 tons of artillery shells and bombs on this small island, which is only 21 square kilometers in size.

At the time of the landing, the American forces were covered by a large number of naval guns, including seven battleships, and a large number of carrier-based aviation. However, the US military landing operation on the island was still mired in bitter fighting and huge casualties. The Japanese army, which abandoned the beachhead and concealed the main force and firepower in the mountains, fought the landing American troops with unusually accurate and fierce crossfire, and suffered heavy casualties.

From the official landing on 19 February to 22 February, the number of US casualties reached more than 7,000. The 3rd Division of the US Marine Corps, which landed in the first wave, lost two-thirds of its combat effectiveness in just three days. The tanks that landed in coordination with the operation lost a full two-thirds of them under the crossfire on the Ori Bowl Mountain.

The Japanese army's 240-millimeter large-caliber howitzers hidden in the cave of the Oribo Mountain continued to shell the landing area of the US troops. Although there are only three howitzers of this caliber caliber, in addition to bringing a real threat to the US troops landing, the psychological shadow is even more serious.

The huge sound of the 240-mm shells breaking through the air made the landing American troops tremble. Once hit, lose at least one platoon. Its tremendous power even directly blew up the M-4 tank that the US military landed in the sky. The four Meiji 45-year 150-mm cannons deployed by the Japanese army on Iwo Jima also carried out fire strikes against the American fleet.

Before the war, the Japanese set a firing scale for the entire Iwo Jima according to the range and power of the various guns at hand. Except for some rapid-fire guns and infantry guns, the rest of the artillery was hidden in the cave of Oriba Mountain. The fire attacks of the US troops basically did not cause any damage to these artillery. The Japanese cross-fire was accurate and ruthless.

In order to resist the Japanese artillery fire, the M-1 240-mm howitzers that the US troops transferred to the island were lifted into the sky by Japanese artillery fire before they could be launched. Several destroyers that arrived and opened fire were also seriously injured by the Japanese long-range cannons.

In order to destroy the Japanese artillery positions that were exposed only after the start of these battles. The Americans mobilized the three battleships North Carolina, West Virginia, and South Dakota and ventured to the sea closest to Iwo Jima, where they concentrated all the 406-millimeter naval guns. Under the guidance of forward artillery guides and aircraft, they carried out a fire attack on the Japanese artillery positions in Oribayama.

Behind them were the USS Missouri and the USS New Jersey, two of America's newest battleships. Also behind these three battleships, they opened fire on the Japanese artillery positions at Ori Bowl Mountain. These US battleships, which had huge naval guns, directly joined the suppression of the fire on Oribo Mountain, which somewhat relieved the pressure on the landed US troops.

The United States, which has deep pockets, fired 3,000 rounds of 406-millimeter artillery shells in one go, plus countless 203-millimeter shells, to bring these large-caliber guns to the landing US troops and cause heavy casualties in the hidden caves, so that these large-caliber artillery pieces could be shut up.

After the war, it was called the most brutal and bloody battle of the U.S. military in the entire World War II. During the battle, the Japanese not only put up stubborn resistance on the islands, but also carried out suicide attacks on the U.S. fleet under the cover of new fighters.

The Japanese Navy's suicide attack boats, which are hidden in the Chichijima archipelago and the mother island islands north of Iwo Jima, also cooperate with suicide planes in the sky and submarines in the sea to carry out frenzied attacks on US warships. The entire island of Iwo Jima and the surrounding seas have become a brutal and extraordinarily bloody battlefield.

During the naval battle around Iwo Jima, the Japanese sent a large number of submarines because of the tight anti-submarine net built by the American army around their fleet. Instead of doing anything, they sank only one ammunition carrier, an empty troop carrier, and two escort destroyers, while seven or eight of them themselves were sunk.

The Japanese Navy, which was afraid that it would lose all the remaining forces of the decisive battle on the mainland, was transferred back to the mainland in a short period of time, except for the torpedo boats operated by the Huitianren. However, the Japanese suicide boats deployed on the islands north of Iwo Jima, as well as the suicide planes flying all over the sky, brought countless troubles and casualties to the US Navy.

Under the cover of fighter groups, these formed a network of fire with US antiaircraft guns in the sky, as well as a perimeter defense circle formed by carrier-based aircraft. Aircraft loaded with explosives to launch a suicide attack, although there were few chances of breaking through the defenses of the American army. However, some results were achieved, in addition to damaging a battleship, a heavy cruiser, and even sinking an American escort aircraft carrier and two escort destroyers.

In contrast to the overwhelming number of suicide planes during the day, at night the Japanese Navy dispatched a large number of suicide speedboats. In addition to the Jiaolong special attack boats based on the mother island archipelago and with a long combat range. and taking advantage of the cover of night, the submarine secretly infiltrated the U.S. fleet and released the Huitianren torpedo.

The large number of Zhenyang speedboats that attacked from Iwo Jima made the US fleet suffer enough. These crazy Japanese soldiers, braving the dense interception artillery fire of the US fleet, took advantage of the maneuverability and flexibility of their small boats, and directly collided with the ships when they caught them, which was far more difficult to deal with than those suicide planes.

Despite this crazy move by the Japanese, the Americans, who had experienced it as early as the Philippine battlefield, were prepared to a certain extent. But attacking at the same time in the face of so many suicide weapons at once is enough to catch the Americans a little off guard. If it is said that the special attack tactics of the Japanese army in the Philippine battlefield are still in the stage of small fights. Then during the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese had already done a full-fledged launch.

Americans are overwhelmed by these suicide weapons. But the U.S. military is the U.S. military after all, and its reaction speed is still quite fast. A huge number of landing craft, temporarily equipped with recoilless guns and large-caliber machine guns, were specially used to deal with Japanese suicide attack speedboats and man-operated torpedoes on the sea, but they were still exhausted.

Unlike the Philippine operation, the time chosen by the Japanese army for the special attack was at night when visibility was quite poor. Moreover, a variety of special attack speedboats, simultaneous attacks with man-operated torpedoes, and the tactics of combining far and near. The most important thing is that the amount of one-time investment is enough to make the three-line defense system built by the Americans scramble.

These speedboats, which were only a dozen or even a few tons and possessed high speeds, were in a hurry to mess up the American fleet under the cover of torpedo boats desperately releasing torpedoes. On the night of the first day, the Americans were sunk several destroyers and a light cruiser. Several large and medium-sized ships were seriously damaged by the explosion and had to be towed back to the mainland for repairs.

Three tank landing ships loaded with tanks, as well as two ammunition carriers, were also sent directly to the bottom by these speedboats. In desperation, the Americans could only withdraw all their large and medium-sized ships to the open sea after nightfall, except for the expulsion of light escorts, and leave the landing force on the island.

When the sky cleared, the speedboats disappeared and returned to the waters of Iwo Jima to support the ground forces. However, although this tactic reduced losses, it also greatly reduced the attack efficiency of the Americans. Because as soon as the American fleet withdrew at night, the Japanese army on the island constantly launched counterattacks, trying to drive the landing force out of the sea, which had lost fire support.

The U.S. Marines and Army who landed on the island were miserable. It often takes a lot of effort during the day to advance a few hundred meters. At night, having lost cover by fire, the Japanese, who had gone crazy again, were driven back to the place of departure. If it weren't for the superiority of the Americans in infantry weapons, the Japanese would have really driven them directly into the sea.

But the price paid for this tug-of-war, that is, the number of American casualties, is rising every day, and the offensive efficiency is intolerably low. The most important thing is that the supplies can only be unloaded during the day, so that the Americans, who are accustomed to spending heavily on the battlefield, also have an extremely rare shortage of supplies.

Although the U.S. military had drawn almost all the PT torpedo boats from the Philippines and Guam, the number of these PT torpedo boats was insufficient in the face of continuous Japanese suicide attacks. The most critical thing is that the four torpedoes on these torpedo boats, it is useless against these small boats. There were only two twelve-mm machine guns, and the firepower was too weak.

Although the Americans were filled with small-caliber anti-aircraft guns on these torpedo boats, they still could not meet the needs. The gunboats converted from the landing craft not only affected the accuracy of firepower because of the poor seakeeping of the flat-bottomed boats, but also could not expand the defensive range and played a limited role.

The huge number of suicide speedboats and planes not only made it scramble, but also directly affected the operation on the island, plus the admiral who commanded the covering fleet of Iwo Jima with heavy losses. Under the deliberate reminder of some people, the idea was hit on the anti-coalition that had a small fleet of gunboats and only a small number of light ships.

Urgently sent personnel to Harbin to meet Yang Zhen in the hope that the Anti-Japanese Federation could send their gunboat team, which had never been seen by the US Navy with deep pockets, to Iwo Jima to participate in the war. After all, it is more suitable to deal with those suicide speedboats, and those fire hedgehog-like gunboats of the Anti-United Nations.

The tonnage of the US ships is too large, and although a large number of small-caliber guns are installed, they are also much less flexible. Even the smallest escort destroyer has a full load displacement of more than 1,600 tons. These ships are good at air defense and anti-submarine warfare, but it is somewhat difficult to deal with these deadly suicide speedboats.

To deal with these large numbers of suicide speedboats, it is more suitable to use small to small. The U.S. military in the Pacific theater is seriously lacking in such small tonnage, but flexible speedboats. Even the torpedo boats transferred from the Philippines were seriously undernumerous. The red-eyed U.S. military, this is also considered desperate.