For a small and medium-sized battle, this time, the coordinated firepower coverage of land, sea and air can be described as quite fierce.

Hundreds of tons of steel and explosives were shelled and bombed by shells and aerial bombs that nearly turned the Resistance positions across the river upside down.

There are more than a dozen houses along the road connected to the blown bridge, as well as a small statue of Jizo Bodhisattva, which is roughly a product of the Edo period. But after an hour of artillery fire, they had completely disappeared from sight, leaving only fragments of bricks and tiles everywhere.

Several seaplanes flown by the Zhanghe and Yongping had been hovering at an altitude of about 300 meters, and were responsible for reporting the shell landing points to the battleship so as to facilitate the correction of deviations.

From the perspective of pilots and observers, about eight or nine hectares of fields on the west coast of Arakawa have been turned into the surface of the moon, and there are craters of various sizes.

"Tsk, I'm afraid it's all dead."

"I'm afraid that I just need to cross the river and clean up the battlefield later......"

"Yes, such an exaggeration, it's amazing to be able to live a lifetime."

The officers and men were squatting or lying on the riverside on the east bank, and they could not help but sigh after witnessing such a magnificent scene.

Yao Liangchuan also wrote in his notebook: "...... Since 7 o'clock, all kinds of weapons of our unit have been fired in unison, naval planes and naval guns have also vied with each other, and the bullets have rained down, and the Japanese front has been like a sea of fire, and smoke and dust have covered the sky......

The captain of the third team of the first battalion carried a three-four submachine gun, blew a whistle, and then greeted loudly: "Damn! Bunnies, get ready to go! ”

Immediately, two red flares were launched into the air, and a sharp and short suona sound also sounded, both of which expressed the same meaning - the offensive operation began.

The amphibious tank's 85 hp six-cylinder air-cooled gasoline engine roared loudly, and it seemed that it could not wait after being idle for a long time.

Eighteen Type 35 floating chariots drove into the water from the river bank in a fairly uniform manner, and while the tracks continued to paddle, the small propellers in the tail also rotated, rolling out streams of snow-white waves.

"Sharp! What the hell?! ”

Amid the shouts of the non-commissioned officers, the heavily armed soldiers pulled and pushed half-to-half, and worked together to get the standard rubber boat into the water, and then began to cooperate with the paddles.

The frontal width of the attack of the 18 amphibious tanks and the 2 teams of more than 400 rubber boats in the combat convoy was about 400 meters wide, and the quality of the two Britons three kilometers away could not help but admire.

Lieutenant Allen and Captain Olier were unlucky people who had been sent to the Tokyo Concession in October last year, but the garrison was due to be evacuated within a few months.

They had hoped to come to Tokyo to enjoy a year and a half, but they were not happy for a few days, and before leaving, they were instructed to stay on a military observation mission.

"Which unit is this?" The bearded Captain Olier took his eyes off the artillery mirror, "The quality of the Chinese is completely different from the rhetoric of those in the country. ”

"The turquoise uniforms indicate that they are marines, and the Chinese have many battalion-level units, but there are only two regiment-level units, and I think this should be one of them." Lieutenant Allen replied.

"I don't know how their Army is doing, at least the Marine Corps is very good." Olier snorted, "The politicians of the British Empire are really funny, ridiculing the Chinese while agitating for the strengthening of defenses in the Far East. ”

Alan sighed: "Arrogant, cunning, selfish, the bureaucrats and politicians of the British Empire seem to have always been like this, and my grandfather said the same. ”

The two seemed to have forgotten their jobs, and instead complained about being sent to do hard work.

At the same time, where the fighting was taking place, a dozen amphibious tanks had already rushed to the West Bank.

The scattered positions, the smoke had not yet cleared, and the ground was in ruins, and the resistance seemed to be all dead, with no sign of firing.

"Bang!"

A Bofors M34 anti-tank gun, arranged on the edge of the side of the position, survived the ferocious artillery fire that had been fired on the Ming amphibious tanks by the disgraced Resistance gunners.

"Bang-boom!"

The 37mm armor-piercing high-explosive shell easily pierced through the 12mm carburized case-hardened armor steel and exploded inside with a dull roar.

The tank, painted with the white "One Three" number, took advantage of inertia to rush forward another six or seven meters, and then slowly stopped, partially detonated shells and bullets bursting through the hatch, and red and yellow fireworks erupted from the turret seat and hatch, like a steel fountain of flames.

"Car No. 13 is gone! Where is the enemy artillery?! ”

"See! Nine o'clock over there! ”

Car No. 6 reacted most quickly, and while the other vehicles were still surprised, it was already firing tracer rounds in the direction of the Resistance anti-tank gun position.

The importance of good teammates is self-evident, which directly points out the direction for other Ming army tanks, whether you see it or not, bomb it first!

In just ten seconds, more than a dozen 37mm anti-explosive rounds and more than 200 7.36mm machine gun rounds were poured there.

At this time, some rubber boats also rushed onto the river beach, and the soldiers threw their oars and quickly looked for cover with weapons.

The previously dead and silent position was lively in an instant, with the sound of "bang-bang" gunfire accompanied by countless bullets from the left, front, and right, and the screams of being shot one after another on the entire river beach.

I don't know where the mortar shells came from also fell one after another, as if they had eyes, and they smashed on the heads of the Ming soldiers who had just come ashore.

The officers and men immediately lay down, then took out the shovels they had with them and began to dig foxholes.

In this case, there is no need to return fire, there are more than a dozen tanks, and the firepower of the infantry detachment is better than nothing, and it is the king to seize the time to build individual bunkers.

Different types of military commanders have different mentalities when witnessing the casualties under their command, and even if they are the same "regret" and "anger", the core is often very different.

The regret and indignation that the soldier is regarded as a consumable tool and that the thing is destroyed by others, and the soldier as a sibling is the regret and indignation that the flesh and blood are hurt by others.

Perhaps because of his background, Fan Qijin, who is the grandson of Lai'anbo, is obviously inclined to the former.

However, given that Zhou Changfeng did not have additional requirements on the time limit, there was no need to rush this battle and could calmly counter.

So after examining it with a telescope for a while, Fan Qijin said in a deep voice: "Is it so resolute to be bombarded by a battleship? Tsk, the order passed, the front diagonally cast a smoke screen, and several chariots on the left, with two platoons, inserted 200 meters into the enemy's depth and jammed their ribs! ”

The Type 36 radio transceiver played no small role, and his orders were conveyed to the other side of the river in an instant, which was a direct manifestation of the improvement of combat efficiency by technical equipment.

"The viewing distance is 820, the elevation is 11, the enemy's first-line position and depth, one to four artillery guns increase by 10 dense positions one by one, smoke screen bombs!"

"Bang! Bang! ”

The four 80mm smoke bombs landed at different points, roughly at intervals of more than ten meters longitudinally.

In succession, a gray-white wall of smoke appeared on the flank of the resistance position, which was composed of smoke clouds released by twelve smoke bombs, about 150 meters long and more than 10 meters wide, directly cutting off the right side of the enemy position, making it difficult for enemy troops in other places to detect the situation there.

At the same time, a detachment of four amphibious tanks and more than 60 people made a bold attack, broke through the resistance of the enemy in front of them, and quickly and decisively advanced to a distance of 200 meters.

They then built fortifications in situ, or simply borrowed ready-made craters as shelters to establish a solid support point.

Someone stuck a nail between the ribs? No one is happy to change it.

Fujiwara Yoshiharu Nakasa hurriedly ordered mortars to suppress these Ming troops who were directly penetrating them, and mobilized a squadron of reserves to launch a counterattack against them.

By the time the attention of the Japanese was drawn to this detachment, the main forces on the front had recovered from the confusion of the sudden blockade when they had just come ashore, the infantry were attacking, and the tanks were standing still.

In this situation, the tank plays the role of an armored archer, rather than an armed cavalryman.

Hundreds of officers and men of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment slightly widened their lines to the two flanks, and then leaped forward alternately to cover the oncoming fire.

Although it is the same period, the image of the brave defending army is very different from the appearance shown in later film and television dramas - the steel helmet on the head is a British-style pot lid style MkI Tommy helmet, not a Type 90 steel helmet; The light machine gun used was a Lewis or Madsen, not an Eleven-Year crooked handle; The heavy machine gun was not a plate-fed Type 92 chicken neck, but a canvas belt-fed water-cooled Vickers.

Lacking direct anti-tank firepower, they can be said to be helpless in the face of such an offensive, and once their machine gun fire points are fired, they will be attacked by Ming tanks, and the dozen or so Type 35 floating combat vehicles lined up on the battle line are like more than a dozen mobile pillboxes.

Therefore, the Resistance can only hope that they will be able to regain a city in close combat.

Because the machine-gun fire points were almost suppressed, it was almost impossible to stop the impact of the Ming soldiers with rifles alone, and in tens of seconds, the Ming infantry who alternately covered the advance had already rushed into the forward position.

Although the degree of industrialization of the Ming Dynasty did not rank in the first echelon of the great powers, the abundance of automatic firepower equipped with infantry units can be said to be second to none.

In the 36th year of Zhichang, the army establishment table was revised, and each team headquarters had 10 Type 34 submachine guns and 10 Type 20 automatic guns, which could be allocated and used by themselves when necessary, which meant that on average, each squad could get two additional automatic weapons.

From the perspective of the latter part of the war, this may not be a big deal, but it is only thirty-eight years now, and the British army is not even equipped with standard submachine guns.

There is no damage without contrast, and the number of automatic weapons directly determines which side will have the upper hand in close combat.

Hundreds of resistance troops launched a counterattack and the Ming troops rushed into the position, and the roar and howl of grenade explosions came and went.

The resistance in rags, armed with bayonet rifles, charged with white-knuckled charges, chanting "Banzai Japan" or "Banzai Yamato", but there was no "dark cardboard".

The short, loop-legged Resistance was armed with a slender bolt-action rifle that did not match his stature, which seemed comical to the officers and men of the 1st Marine Regiment.

A shot of 9.6×20mm pistol rounds and .351 Winchester rifle rounds slashed through the face, and the downed Japanese threw themselves to the ground or fell into the trenches from above.

It didn't take much effort for the Fujiwara detachment's counterattack to be crushed.

On the flanks, the detachment of four tanks and dozens of infantry remained firmly in place, and a squadron that counterattacked them was in vain.

At this point, the reserves of all three squadrons suffered heavy losses, and only two squadrons of the reserves were fully manned. But the forward position has been taken by the Ming army, and the main position is crumbling.

The defense line that had been built with all his might and spent several days and nights was easily broken through most of it?

I thought that I could block the Ming army for at least two days and nights, but it only lasted for two hours before it was in danger, and the exchange ratio between the two sides was even more unbearable, and as the defender, the casualties were several times that of the attacker.

"Prepare to retreat!"

"Now? Your Excellency, we should at least wait until it gets dark, right? ”

"No way, we'll be dead before then."

The expressionless Fujiwara Yoshiharu Nakasa deeply felt the disparity in national strength, and abstract statistics such as industrial output were now intuitively and concretely reflected on the battlefield.

After haphazardly casting some smoke canisters to obstruct the sight of the Ming army, Fujiwara's detachment quickly broke away from the defensive line and retreated in the direction of the city of Tokyo.

When the number of people was counted at noon yesterday, the Fujiwara detachment still had more than 5,700 men, and so far it had suffered more than 2,000 casualties after only one failed night attack and more than two hours of frontal defense.

Heavy artillery fire and air raids accounted for the majority of the enemy figures, about 1,400 were the result of artillery and aerial shells, and of the remaining 600, a considerable part were the result of grenades and grenades, and the casualties caused by rifle and machine gun bullets were nothing compared to those of explosive weapons.

The intensity of the fighting has shattered the hearts and minds of many – the friend who was talking with him last night was reduced to a corpse or a severed arm a few hours later.

The retreat was only a few kilometers away, but the air raids of the Ming carrier-based aircraft made it seem to be ten times longer.

Along the way, there were hundreds of corpses, and many people fled timidly, and when the remnants of more than 3,700 people were defeated and retreated to the predetermined area, there were less than 3,000 people left.

"According to naval aircraft, there are no other suspicious enemy forces in the vicinity."

"Okay, then let's keep pushing forward and stop when we reach the city."

The operation of the 1st Marine Regiment to force the crossing of the Arakawa was quite successful, and Zhou Changfeng was very satisfied, and he was determined to continue to advance while his morale was now excellent.

At the same time, in the direction of Kawasaki in the southwest, the enemy's will was far beyond the imagination of the 4th Division, so at first it suffered a loss due to carelessness, but then it was able to achieve a breakthrough smoothly.

The fate of the Matsumoto detachment was even more miserable than that of the Fujiwara detachment, as the Fourth Division annihilated most of it, leaving it completely unorganized, and only less than 1,000 troops were defeated and fled.

In the city of Funabashi to the east, the progress of the 7th Division was also quite smooth, and the Qingshui detachment that blocked them was seriously killed and wounded by land, sea and air fire because it chose the beachhead defense.

After that, the Qingshui detachment, which had suffered half of the casualties, swam without attacking, and deployed tricks and mines everywhere to delay the movement of the 7th Division.

By noon of the same day, the Ming troops who had landed from the three positions had all finished their frontal obstacles, and the city of Tokyo was surrounded on three sides.

(End of chapter)