Arranged on both flanks of the offensive starting position were Type 37 heavy machine guns and Type 31 anti-aircraft machine guns, with at least ten machine guns firing at the same time.

All of the machine guns fired in long bursts, and the strings of bullets slashed at any point in the U.S. position.

The officers and men stepped on the sloping dirt slope and slowly advanced forward in groups of three or five in groups of alternating cover.

People are constantly being hit by incoming bullets or injured by falling mortar shells.

Zhou Changfeng could see clearly in the mirror of the large magnification artillery team - it looked like an ordinary bush in one place, but when five or six soldiers passed by, they suddenly began to spit tongues of fire!

One of the most horrific situations in actual combat was being killed by side-firing machine gun fire, and almost in the blink of an eye, the men were knocked down.

The other Marine infantry in the vicinity immediately lay down for cover, and at the same time, at the beginning of the attack, two heavy machine guns immediately turned their muzzles to suppress the exposed fire point.

Dozens of seconds later, another recoilless gun began to fire at it, firing as many as seven or eight rounds in succession, until it completely hit this hidden fire point until it was completely dumb.

Then there was a 112mm infantry gun aimed at the area and fired a shot, and in the smoke of gunpowder, weeds and logs were scattered all over the sky......

And this is only a corner of the huge battlefield - at this moment, the participating units of the 1st Marine Regiment are attacking the American positions on the west side of Adelson Heights from three directions.

In fact, this kind of ordinary civil fortification is relatively easy to deal with, and some of the bunkers reinforced with cement or I-beams cannot be destroyed by bazookas and recoilless guns, and even the powerful 112mm infantry guns can only be silenced for a moment.

It is obvious that the US troops have not been on vacation on the island for more than a month, and the large number of bunkers and firing points they have built between the mountains have made it difficult for the Ming army to move an inch.

When encountering such targets, you can only rely on blasters, explosive packs, and flamethrowers to risk attacking at very close range, and how dangerous the process is!

Through the artillery mirror, it can be seen that in this direction, the impact of the first echelon has been stopped, and the soldiers can only lie on the ground.

Under the coordinated suppression of light and heavy machine guns, several soldiers of the second squad of the third platoon of the anti-chemical warfare team crawled forward little by little.

A solid machine-gun bunker had been hit by a dozen rounds of anti-personnel shells or rocket-propelled grenades of various calibers, and the outer turf and soil had been largely blown apart, but whenever the smoke cleared, the Browning heavy machine gun inside would still fire again as if nothing had happened.

From time to time, sporadic mortar shells fell nearby, and the soldiers with flamethrowers on their backs and the rest of the people slowly moved in the rain of bullets until they were only about 30 meters away from the target.

Driven by high-pressure nitrogen, a dazzling fire dragon erupted and pounced on the stubborn bunker.

Partially burning gasoline poured through the firing port, and the entire bunker was engulfed in orange flames, sending black smoke into the sky.

In the future, even if you don't consider the PF97 Cloudburst Bazooka, a powerful individual attack weapon, even the ordinary FHJ84 incendiary rocket launcher or M202 rocket launcher may be easier to attack at a long distance.

[Picture]

However, the incendiary bombs fired by both of them were filled with napalm, and the Type 37 rocket launcher and Type 40 recoilless gun used by the Ming army today were also equipped with incendiary bombs, but they were filled with white phosphorus.

The incineration ability of white phosphorus is weak, and it is more often used to generate smoke and fire, and the damage effect on this strong support point is not satisfactory.

After removing several enemy firing points, the offensive was able to continue, and dozens of officers and men of the 1st Marine Regiment rushed forward with all their might.

Their own 80mm and 128mm mortar shells fell on the American positions in the hope of suppressing the enemy troops crouched in the trenches.

The pressed U.S. Marines opened fire with whatever weapons they had, and even a pound of explosives for the sappers was thrown around the detonator.

The remaining 37mm anti-tank gun, which was also loaded with shrapnel shells, opened fire on the Ming soldiers who were only a few dozen meters away and were charging with submachine guns.

This cannon instantly turned into a large shotgun, and more than a hundred steel balls erupted from the muzzle, sweeping across the fan-shaped area of hundreds of meters in front.

The main position, which was close at hand, seemed to have become an impassable moat, and the road of attack was almost covered with blood and corpses!

The bullets clanged against the shield of the anti-tank gun, and soon another rocket-propelled grenade exploded head-on, killing the two gunners behind them and overturning the gun commander and observer on the right.

The wounded duo got up and continued to fight, only to find that the direction machine had been destroyed by the metal jet and could not adjust the direction of the fire left and right.

After reloading, the two of them could only adjust the direction of the gun by forcefully lifting the open-foot frame, and so on they fired multiple shots in succession until they were killed by the flying grenades in the battle position......

More than a dozen Ming soldiers then rushed into the main position, jumped into the trench and engaged in melee combat with the American troops, and several subsequent squads followed suit.

After fierce close combat, the participating troops finally tore a gap about 100 meters wide in the US position and began to clear the remaining enemy troops.

But the U.S. military also sent reserves in time to carry out a counterattack, and Zhou Changfeng saw that at least 50 enemy soldiers came from two directions to reinforce it, and the interdiction fire was also visibly strengthened, and in addition to mortar shells, it seemed that 75mm high-explosive shells had been added?

The two platoons that followed up could only further widen the distance and cautiously pass through the blockade area little by little.

In the end, not surprisingly, the battle did not work, and the positions that had been taken were still recaptured by the 5th Marine Regiment on the opposite side.

Zhou Changfeng stood up from behind the artillery mirror, frowned and asked, "Are you sure you're in the right place?" Stopping artillery fire does not appear to be working at the moment. ”

The 80mm mortars of the battalions of the 1st Marine Regiment continued to fire interdiction after the artillery preparation was completed, so as to cut off the path of American reinforcements.

But it doesn't seem to have worked so far.

Xue Can sighed helplessly: "It's always been like this, we've tried to change it a few times, but no matter what happens, their reserves can always fight back in time." ”

It can be said that the offensive and defensive mode of Adelson Heights has gradually evolved into the famous battles of the Korean Peninsula War.

The specific pattern is: the attacker rushed up the hill after hard work→ occupied the hill after the bloody battle→ the defender suffered a lot of losses, but the survivors relied on strong fortifications to resist and delay time, until the reserves arrived to reinforce → the attacker was forced to retreat...... And so on and so forth, and the meat is constantly grinded.

The difference is that the Ming army, which is now the attacking side, has few heavy weapons because it has to cross the jungle, and there is no extremely powerful artillery support.

The 1st Marine Brigade, equipped with a series of excellent individual weapons, had such a difficult time fighting here, and it is not surprising that the 2nd Division, which was historically inferior in weaponry, was killed or wounded by the US troops in the thousands.

"Let's stop." Zhou Changfeng said calmly as he walked back.

A staff officer then shouted loudly: "Order, collect the troops!" Someone came to organize the rescue of the wounded. ”

After returning to the headquarters, Zhou Changfeng, who was in a bad mood, first inquired about the situation of the 42nd T-shaped fleet.

At present, the wounded ships in the fleet have returned to Rabaul, and the rest of the ships are still on standby in the waters near Cape Esparnes.

They had already consumed a large amount of ammunition during the shelling of the opposite shore on March 23, and then the attack was suspended during the replenishment operation at sea, and thousands of shells were also fired in the ensuing naval battle.

The navy can't count on it for the time being, and it seems that the only foreign aid that can be called in at the moment is the air force units stationed in Rabaul.

A telegram was sent to the command of the Rabaul garrison.

Knowing that the battle situation on the front line of Kuah Island was not going well, Wang Wenzhen and others were a little surprised-didn't they drive straight forward and break through the momentum a few days ago? Why did you suddenly get deflated?

"Didn't the Navy say that the enemy fleet had already run away? What's going on? ”

"Wait a minute, the commander will go get a few photos."

Wang Wenzhen and his staff officers distinguished the map and aerial photographs for a long time, and figured out the reason why the 1st Marine Brigade had blocked the attack as stated in this telegram.

"Strange thing, isn't it smooth to attack along the coastline? The progress was so fast a few days ago, why did they divide their troops to the rear? Isn't it self-inflicted hardship to attack fortifications lightly? The communications staff officer of the 4th Destroyer Detachment said suspiciously.

"Zhou Changfeng doesn't look like a person with no purpose, maybe he has his plans." Wang Wenzhen muttered: "How is the progress of the airport on Bushima? ”

Someone immediately replied: "The first section is ready, and the extended section has just started." ”

Because Rabaul was too far away from Guadalcanal, the bomb load and air time of the Ming army aircraft were severely limited.

The Air Force sent an engineering battalion to land on Bougainville, the westernmost point of the Solomon Islands, and built a backup transit airfield at that site. The airfield will be built in two phases, and after completion, bombers can be taken off and landed.

At present, the airport has completed the construction of a 600-meter runway, which is enough to support the emergency diversion needs of most aircraft.

Perimeter Feng asked Rabaul for air support, hoping that the air force could throw incendiary bombs deep into the US defense line, so as to block the counterattack of the US reserves deployed on the second line to the greatest extent.

At the same time, he also stressed that standard aviation incendiary bombs should not be used, requiring gasoline filling, a large range, and a long burning time.

Before the birth of napalm, incendiary bombs were usually two types: thermite and white phosphorus - the former is powerful, but the duration is shorter and the diffusion range is smaller; The latter is weaker and lacks sufficient deterrence.

In order to meet Zhou's demands, the 1st Light Bombardment Detachment stationed at Rabaul No. 5 airfield could only rack its brains to find a way.

As the saying goes, "as long as the mind does not slip, there are always more ways than difficulties." Facts have proved that the subjective initiative of the Daming Air Force units is still good.

Ground crews and mechanics collected a large number of fuel tanks, and at the same time unpacked several boxes of fire grenades and installed them as ignition parts inside the fuel tanks.

Next, they mixed the No. 66 gasoline used in ordinary cars with the heavy fuel oil used in second-class ships, and prepared a large amount of fuel similar to the viscosity of cooking oil according to the ratio of three liters of heavy oil to each large barrel of gasoline.

These improvised hastily concoctions certainly can't compare to the napalm that the Ming army had prepared for the capture of Fort Drum last year, which was a special fuel infused with oleic acid and palm oil.

"By the way, the supplies of the front-line troops have to be transported dozens of miles from the beach to the dense forest, so you can come up with a strategy and organize a certain amount of airdrops to relieve some pressure on them."

"But... We don't have an air transport unit. ”

"Find the two detachments from Mocheng and ask them to transfer over, hurry up."

"Yes."

While the Ming army in the southwest Pacific suffered setbacks and had to reprepare for the next phase of the offensive, the island-grabbing operation in the Central Pacific region went unexpectedly well.

Following Chester Nimitz's orders, an evacuation operation was organized that could be described as god-speed, codenamed Operation Magic Broom.

The Pacific Fleet and Army Air Force dispatched a large number of destroyers and bombers to rush around the clock to transport American troops stationed at Midway and Wake Island.

Operation Broom was undoubtedly a success, so when the menacing Ming fleet arrived, the two islands were almost empty, and all that remained was a large number of mines and mines.

From beginning to end, taking into account the casualties of the accident and the casualties caused by these explosives, the Ming army lost 19 killed and 102 wounded on Wake Island; The American side lost only one PBY Catalina seaplane, killing 5 people.

Victory! The ratio of casualties to friend and foe was 5 to 126!

That's the beauty of journalism... Don't miss it.

In addition to deploying a large number of explosives, the US military also destroyed all the facilities before evacuating, including docks, cranes, runways, towers, barracks, warehouses, etc., all of which were blasted or burned.

So much so that Song Zhongkai, who landed on the island to inspect, couldn't help but sigh that he could actually see the scene of the strong wall and clear field here.

Despite this, the Ming army was spared hundreds of casualties and hundreds of tons of ammunition, and the process of taking Midway and Wake Island was as easy as a scout.

This was immediately widely publicized by newspapers in the north and south of the country, claiming that the US troops would retreat without a fight and flee in despair, which shows that the courage and morale have been lost.

Jingshi Yingtianfu, Zhonggulou Business District, and Yingtian Stock Exchange have been more popular than ever in the past few days.

The citizens who were watching the market rubbed shoulders, and there was a long queue in front of the trading window that stretched for more than half a block, and the companies that were involved in the military industry without exception rose wildly, and the shipping companies that were slightly inferior also soared.

In such a jubilant atmosphere, the heat of the European battlefield was much lower, and news about the situation in the Iberian Peninsula was basically on the second or third page rather than the front page.

Since the launch of Operation Sanjianlan on February 29, the German forces on the northern and southern fronts have advanced rapidly, and the Spanish army, which is between the second and third rates, has rarely been able to fight back in the face of the rolling German People's Army, and can only passively defend.

The Germans advanced at about half the average daily march speed of the infantry divisions, and after leaving the mountainous area, the Spanish defensive line on the outskirts of Madrid collapsed in less than a few days.

Now that more than 100,000 troops from the Northern Army and the Southern Army have arrived in the city, the capital city, which had been devastated by the civil war three years ago, is now about to usher in a new war.

On March 27, Washington's diplomatic attaché to Lisbon sent back the unmistakable news that the US-Portugal Security Treaty had been successfully signed.

(End of chapter)