「…… The situation that Yu had predicted had not happened, and the enemy was menacing, but it was extremely inefficient and very unyielding, as is briefly described below:

"Yesterday during the day, artillery was fired at the enemy on the beachhead, but the enemy did not gain an inch of advance and trapped the beachhead, suffering heavy losses, and it is estimated that 1,000 people were killed or wounded."

「…… If the enemy maintains today's offensive, he will certainly lose his combat strength within four days, and the losses of his headquarters are extremely light, with less than 200 casualties, which shows that the hasty battle is very harmful, and the enemy's upper echelons are guilty of harming the army."

"The ammunition surplus in this section is acceptable, enough for 10 days. If the enemy postpones the attack, the remaining ammunition can be used for a longer time, so you need not worry, and the navy should calmly dispatch it. Special electricity."

This telegram was copied by the Metropolitan Governor's Office and soon sent to the palace.

"He's confident, so bold, and he's not afraid to fold himself there."

Zhu Lingjing has always believed in Zhou in matters related to military affairs, but she still couldn't help but complain.

While there are risks associated with leading troops into battle, there is a fundamental difference between fighting normally and leading a lone army stranded on a remote island.

If you are not careful, it will be over, and he is so calm! It seems that the gentleman does not stand under the dangerous wall.

In fact, Zhou had a completely legitimate reason to run away, and Zhu Lingjing had already paid more attention-

In the personnel arrangements for the expeditionary operation, Zhou Changfeng's duty on paper was to lead the first echelon to carry out the landing operation, and after the landing ground was secured, the army side would take over the command.

"Your Majesty, in fact, Zhou Zhizhao is quite thoughtful." Su Yiyi, who walked slowly, poured a cup of tea for her, "The minister feels that he is very shrewd, and he will not do anything that he is not sure of." ”

"There are many examples of being smart and being mistaken by being smart throughout the ages, and the authorities are confused, who can guarantee that every judgment is correct?" Zhu Lingjing rolled her eyes as she spoke.

She was quite depressed when she thought that someone Zhou had rejected her proposal to send a submarine to evacuate her a few days ago.

To tell the truth, there is a feeling of wasting good intentions, which is very unpleasant!

This is okay, but more importantly, I am uneasy - it took a lot of effort to bet on the treasure back then, and now there is a high risk of jade shattering, and everyone feels tormented.

Zhu Lingjing in the Forbidden City is very anxious, but the perimeter wind in Kauai Island is diametrically opposite.

The losses of the Ming army on Kauai were slight, the food was relatively sufficient, and only the ammunition needed to be treated with care, so the principle formulated by Zhou Changfeng was "first fierce and then slow, and no more fights without urgency".

Yesterday's landing was the most vulnerable, so it continued to fire heavily in pursuit of maximum lethality; After that, it is necessary to carefully control the amount of shells used, and unless there are special circumstances, the principle of "only two or three rapid shots at a time at a single target" should be followed.

The blood-red sunset gradually dimmed, and the cruel day passed.

It was the next day, June 13th.

Although the 3rd Marine Brigade is inferior to the 1st Marine Brigade led by himself in all aspects, objectively speaking, it is already a first-class level among the Ming army.

The 7th Infantry Division, which lost thousands of men in two days and paid bloody tuition, has obviously improved, but it is still some way from passing.

The officers and men of the Marine Corps on the front line have the most right to speak, and Fan Canyuan, who gave the US troops a surprise surprise yesterday, noticed that the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the US Army, which came to attack today, has made some progress.

Yesterday, the US troops, suppressed by heavy machine-gun fire, could only fire smoke bombs to block their vision and cower in place, and the result was that they were blown up by the Ming mortars.

Today, the same sudden encounter with heavy machine guns, the US military has already known to organize light and heavy fire returns, and at the same time carry out tactical transfers while releasing smoke screens.

The 32nd Infantry Regiment paid the tuition for more than a hundred casualties and learned this small subject.

In fact, these conditions are clearly stated in the army's field doctrine, and the theory and training of the 7th Infantry Division are good, but it is a pity that the correct practice of them in actual combat is another matter.

Like flies biting eggs, the combat patrols sent by the US military repeatedly attacked tentatively, trying to find a suitable joint for a breakthrough on the first line of defense, and incidentally forcing the Ming army to open fire.

Any exposed Ming heavy machine gun positions would then be attacked by powerful artillery fire, and 105mm high-explosive shells would be smashed down as if they were not paying for money, and the average number of shells dropped on a single target exceeded 30.

The U.S. military has been very active in this regard, carrying out saturation strikes on every marked firepower point.

In the easternmost part of the first line of defense, G was connected to the order "Try to bypass the front of the Ming position."

Captain Thomas, the commander of G Company, had one squad at the head of the squad and the rest to follow, starting the detour as low-key as possible.

The 2nd Battalion and 2nd Brigade of the 5th Marine Regiment were stationed on this flank, and the position was arranged as a horseshoe-shaped position consisting of two solid support points, three bunkers, and seven squad positions, and a number of minefields, obstacles, and back-fire points.

The outermost ones are a few cordoned off positions, which are actually just one or two double foxholes.

Seeing the enemy's sneaky approach, the four Marine infantrymen here immediately opened fire, and after knocking down a few people, they fled.

Next, G Company demonstrated a textbook company-level infantry offensive operation.

Captain Thomas ordered one platoon to be the reference unit, and the rest of the platoon was to be used as the benchmark during the engagement and breakthrough.

Subsequently, G Company deployed three infantry platoons, with three Browning M7919A4 heavy machine guns on the left and right flanks and three M2 60mm mortars in the rear.

Soon, they received fire support from 81mm mortars from their superiors.

After the soldiers completed the tactical development, they trotted forward with their guns under the cover of heavy machine gun and mortar fire, and engaged the enemy.

When they approached the jump point 500 yards (455 m) from the Ming position, the three infantry platoons officially launched an assault and prepared to break through.

Of course, all this was fully seen by the officers and men of the second battalion and the second team on the position, and in their opinion, this set of operations was too rigid.

This is not an open plain, there are certain ups and downs, and it is completely possible to launch the attack later to reduce physical exertion.

And the three platoons were arranged in a regular triangle in the frontal attack...... It's not impossible, but it would have been better if one of the platoons had a feint on the flank.

All of this is probably similar to a college student who has learned calculus and sees that high school students are still solving areas step by step.

"Captain, don't fight yet?"

"What are the monkeys anxious about? It doesn't matter, wait a minute. ”

The officers and men of G Company in the shock were quite excited, completely unaware that the crisis was approaching.

"Bang!"

"Sniper! Note! ”

The sporadic gunfire came from a small number of snipers, and the gunfire fell to people, and the American soldiers who were suddenly hit fell to the ground by inertia, pulling the trigger indiscriminately in the direction from which the gunfire came.

A few seconds later, there was a crisp sound on the battlefield, and one Garand rifle after another ejected empty magazines.

After waiting for two minutes, and after the snipers were silent, the officers and men of G Company got up again and ran towards the target, which was less than 200 meters away.

It was only then that the various support points and bunkers on the Ming army's position opened fire at the same time!

In the dense gunfire of "da", light and heavy firepower came from three directions, and more than 10 people were shot and fell to the ground in an instant.

On the starting position of G Company's attack, the three Browning heavy machine guns tried to help their comrades break the siege, and fired at the exposed Ming heavy machine gun fire points, hoping to suppress them.

The heavy machine guns of the two sides were competing with each other, bullets were flying nearby, and shells from the Ming mortars were constantly falling, which made the American soldiers extremely nervous.

No one noticed that just a few dozen meters behind them, some of the firing ports were revealed, and the muzzles of the black holes were pointed at their backs.

"Bang!"

"Da-da-da-"

"What's going on?!"

"Someone was knocked down!"

"Where are they?!"

Five or six inverted firing points were fired one after another, and the ambush from behind them was unexpected, and they lay on the ground as if they were fixed targets.

The backfire point is usually occupied by a two-man team, with one person carrying a Type 20 automatic gun or a Type 35 semi-automatic rifle and the other carrying a Type 39 submachine gun.

This kind of concealed firing point is quite well camouflaged, unlike those arranged on the front, the direction of the reverse firing point is the direction of the Ming army's own position, and the soldiers in ambush will only wait for the opportunity to shoot at the enemy's rear or flank and rear only after the enemy attacking force has passed.

As a result, the enemy's attention in the impact is concentrated in front, but it is suddenly hit by a bullet from behind, and it is very easy to disintegrate when caught off guard.

This was the case with G Company, where the American soldiers who were attacked from all sides were completely disorganized.

The bullets of the Ming army seem to be coming from all directions!

Four minutes later, G Company, driven by mortar and machine-gun fire, retreated back in a panic, leaving 20 corpses along the way, and three infantry platoons suffering a third of the casualties, but not even touching the edge of the target position.

Captain Thomas, who was shot in the thigh, was evacuated, but because of the massive blood loss caused by the rupture of the femoral artery, the medic was splashed with blood all over his face, and he tried his best with hemostats to find the blood vessels......

The flank detour attempt ended in failure, but the 184th Regiment, with the cooperation of the 701st Tank Battalion, launched a decent offensive.

They found the joint of the two battalions on the Ming defense line and launched a fierce attack.

The Ming troops on both sides of the position were unable to reinforce in time due to artillery fire, resulting in a gap about 300 meters wide and more than 200 meters deep in the joint.

Company after company, a steady stream of American infantry rushed into the front-line positions, and extremely fierce firefights broke out between the infantry on both sides in the criss-crossed trenches.

More than 20 tanks and more than 300 men from two infantry companies, which were the first to achieve a breakthrough, continued to advance in depth in an attempt to penetrate the second-line positions in one go.

However, they advanced only another 400 meters, and when they were still a kilometer away from the target, they unknowingly encountered the middle diagonal position, and the left flank of the 701st Tank Battalion was completely exposed to the firing boundary of the Ming army's diagonal position.

Subsequently, the three 34-type 25.6mm anti-aircraft guns scattered in the three bunkers had already colluded through field telephones to strike at different targets under unified command.

The small-caliber anti-tank gun, which had an extremely fast rate of fire, fired at the side of the American tank at a rate of less than four seconds!

One after another, the 25.6mm armor-piercing tracer rounds dragged the trail towards the tank like a javelin, piercing through the weak side armor of the M2 medium tank and turning it into a steel bonfire that erupted into flames.

More than a dozen 80mm howitzers of the 3rd Battalion of the Mountain Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Marine Brigade also fired a round of effective fire at this, completely disintegrating the American troops who were coordinated with the infantry and tanks, forcing them to retreat in a hurry.

The futile assault of the whole day on June 13 basically dispelled the American troops' thoughts.

Faced with excessive casualties and negligible progress, Brigadier General Charles White, commander of the 7th Infantry Division, was both disappointed and angry, "I've had enough! The operation should be stopped immediately, such an offensive would have been wrong from the start. ”

The indignant words of the division commander echoed across the bridge of the battleship Colorado, and the generals of the Pacific Fleet were silent.

The battle has already been fought to this point, do you really want to give up? That means all the work done is lost.

"Maybe we were too optimistic." Raymond Spruance said in a deep voice.

This sentence is tantamount to declaring the failure of the counterattack on Kauai.

Brigadier General Charles sighed, "I think we have to retreat, the lads can't continue to bleed here." ”

At this moment, it is almost impossible to call a stop in time - the huge casualties of two days and two nights almost disable the 17th and 32nd regiments, the number of killed and missing soared to 811, the number of wounded is three times that number, and the 701st tank battalion has also lost half of its tanks.

The 7th Infantry Division, which was originally fully equipped, ended up like this in just a few days, and the battle was truly unbelievably tragic.

Midnight on the same day.

Zhou Changfeng, who was calm and unhurried, maintained a good attitude, he first played a few games of chess, and then planned to sleep.

At this time, the first line of defense called to report the urgency, claiming that the scout detachment that had infiltrated the enemy at night had found that the enemy had retreated, and now the main force had retreated to the beachhead, except for a few troops holding a few positions behind the main force.

This finding was also confirmed by the radio listening team, and most of the communication discourse in the band was related to retreat.

Forty minutes later, Zhou Changfeng rode to an observation post in the second line of defense.

"Let the artillery battalion fire a few flares."

"Order."

Zhou Changfeng leaned over to the gun mirror, and as the white light lit up the beach, he was greeted by groups of figures and landing craft on the shore.

On top of that, some figures were carrying long bags to two of the landing craft, which he quickly realized were body bags.

As if fearing that the Ming army would take the opportunity to make a surprise attack, the American fleet on the sea began an aimless shelling.

"Ran away? I'm afraid I'm going to hurt them this time. Yu Daixin said with a smile.

"It can only be said that I am asking for hardship." Zhou Changfeng shook his head slightly, crossed his waist and commented: "It's okay, it can save a lot of things for the next Oahu." ”

The total casualties of the Ming army on Kauai were not much, with 179 killed and 767 wounded, and considering that a considerable part of them were caused by US air raids and fleet shelling from the shore, the actual losses in the land battle had to be discounted.

It's too vegetable, and the dish has reached the point where those who hear it are sad and those who see it cry.

No way, dish... You can only practice more, and if you can't fight, don't fight.

Zhou Changfeng stood up from behind the artillery mirror and said casually: "Let the artillery regiment fight hard and send them away." The remaining shells...... Hit half out. ”

After speaking, he muttered again: "Isn't there any news from the navy yet?" After calling back in the morning, I haven't said anything until now. ”

(End of chapter)