All the remaining units of the 9th Division of the US Army stationed in the Haleiwa area, including the 47th Infantry Regiment, the 34th Artillery Battalion, the 84th Artillery Battalion, the 15th Engineer Battalion, etc., have a total strength of about 5,000 troops.

Heavy weapons were lost due to the air raids of the Ming army, and the existing 10 155mm howitzers, 11 105mm howitzers, and 24 M2A1 half-tracks are still usable.

The 9th Infantry Division can be said to be an old unlucky bastard, at the beginning of the year, when the 1st Marine Brigade was fighting fiercely on Kuah Island, the 39th regimental combat team was formed by the division, and finally ended up almost completely wiped out.

When the Ming Army landed on Kauai in May, the U.S. forces defending the island were the division's 60th Infantry Regiment and 60th Field Artillery Battalion. Unable to resist the attacking Ming army, they retreated and tried to hold the defense line of Mount Cavichini, but were also completely annihilated.

Having lost two infantry regiments and two artillery battalions, the unfortunate 9th Infantry Division, although it seems to have 5 or 6,000 men, actually contains many division-level service personnel, and its combat strength is only equivalent to a reinforced regiment.

The division commander, Brigadier General Jacob Devers, could only lament the impermanence of the world, and his subordinates were broken up and destroyed one after another.

Brigadier General Jacob, a typical academy general with little combat experience, has been working hard since graduating from West Point, and has also completed his studies at Fort Leavenworth Staff College. After the outbreak of the Great War last year, a large-scale expansion of the army led to the ascension of many officers to heaven, and Jacob was promoted from colonel to brigadier general and assumed the command of the 9th Division.

Ironically, the 9th Division had lost half of its troops, but Brigadier General Jacob, who was the division's commander, had never commanded a single battle – he had been with the division headquarters on Oahu.

However, as a qualified general, Brigadier General Jacob's theoretical level is still passable, and he has well summarized a series of battles in which the Ming army attacked and the US army defended, and formulated a complete blocking plan according to local conditions.

It is impractical to annihilate the enemy on the beachhead, and not only will it be in vain, but it will also cause heavy losses due to the enemy's naval and air firepower.

Last month, during a surprise attack on Oahu by the Taiwei Zuoyuan fleet, the pilots saw a large number of fortifications on land and worried about whether they would suffer if the ground forces landed on the island in the future.

It is also true that the Haleiwa area is deeply fortified with four lines of defense combining ample and strong field fortifications and semi-permanent fortifications, and the depth of the defense is about thirteen kilometers, and Brigadier General Jacob thinks that he is fully prepared to fight a protracted and war of attrition against the invading enemy.

Some optimists even boasted in the officers' club that they had built their defenses so well that if the Chinese attacked head-on, Haleiwa would become the Somme of Hawaii!

At 14:30 p.m. on July 23, the heavy rain finally subsided and turned into a drizzling rain.

Battalion after battalion of Ming troops smoothly went ashore, and several Type 37 ships drove from the light aircraft carrier Beiluo Shimen to glide into the air, hovering in the sky to be responsible for guarding.

Landing craft come and go back and forth between freighters, landing ships and beachheads, carrying large quantities of heavy weapons and supplies ashore.

Every minute, shells from the depths of the land fall on the beach and explode, 75mm, 105mm, 155mm......

The soldiers had become accustomed to continuing their operations under enemy fire, no longer in a panic looking for cover, as they had been a few hours before, and were in good order.

"How's A-1-A-2?"

"Tell the chief officer that all the battalions of the Fifth Regiment have now all landed, and the regimental headquarters and artillery battalion are still disembarking, and it is estimated that it will be completed in two quarters of an hour."

"Yes." Zhou Changfeng was a little surprised, and praised in surprise.

The so-called "artillery battalion" actually refers to the heavy firearms battalion, which is a unit under the establishment of an infantry regiment, and the marine corps is basically the same, including the combat defense artillery team, the heavy mortar team, the infantry artillery (wheeled assault gun) team, and the air defense team.

In terms of battalion and regimental firepower, the Ming army was slightly higher than the armies of the Western powers. However, because the Ming infantry division does not include 6-inch (152mm) howitzers in its establishment, it will be obviously at a disadvantage if it does not get the field heavy artillery brigade to be attached to the battle.

Due to the small number of total personnel, the 3rd Marine Brigade and 5th Regiment were the first to complete the entire disembarkation.

The efficiency of the first and second beaches is much lower, and after all, the army is an army, and it is still difficult for the army to catch up with and surpass the professional marines in the matter of rushing to land on the beach.

In the evening of the same day, the 49th Regiment and the 50th Regiment of the 17th Division had gone ashore, and the mountain artillery regiment had also begun to unload.

Looking through the gauzy drizzle, howitzers were dragged forward by trucks, wheeled assault guns slowly drove up the beachhead, and a steady stream of personnel and equipment climbed the beachhead, which was magnificent.

The 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Brigade was only allowed to be transported ashore the next day, and the cumbersome 144mm howitzers and 112mm cannons were cumbersome to transport, requiring special tracked tractors and even reinforcing the unloading site.

Just last night, the 3rd Marine Brigade in the north and the 17th Division in the south sent reconnaissance teams and patrols to the depths in an attempt to obtain some direct information.

Some of the teams returned without success, and some of them were not heard from at all, but a four-man reconnaissance group returned to the forward position of the 17th Division before dawn and brought back two canvas bags.

The result they reported was that they attacked an American officer who went to the toilet, and they tried to catch him alive, but the other party resisted violently and had to be killed.

Both bags are U.S. military-standard waterproof canvas bags, one for maps, and the other for notebooks and memos.

Based on a comprehensive analysis of the reconnaissance results and captured documents, it can be said that the defense-in-depth defense system deployed by the US military in the Haleiwa area is quite solid, and at first glance there are no flaws.

Oahu is sandwiched between the Wai Nai Ridge to the west and the Koolao Ridge to the east, and the gentler wilderness is sandwiched between them, which can be seen as an inter-valley plain.

The U.S. military laid out three lines of defense along the valley plain, and the defensive front was about five kilometers wide. This width is narrow, and the attacker cannot deploy too many forces, but the defender can concentrate his forces and firepower well.

Zhou Changfeng and the staff officers also couldn't figure out a better way, and for the time being, they couldn't find a weak link suitable for a breakthrough, so they could only prepare for the offensive step by step, and first concentrate on attacking the weaker flank.

On the afternoon of July 24, the 21st Regiment of the DPRK Army was transported ashore.

On the evening of July 24, the first battalion of the Ming Army landed on the beachhead, the battalion had lost half of its strength due to a submarine attack during the sea transport, and the technical equipment of the battalion headquarters and the logistics team was lost, leaving only two teams.

In the early morning of July 25, the Second Field Heavy Artillery Brigade of the Ming Army was all in place and began to deploy at the predetermined position.

Early in the morning, the troops who planned to participate in the battle marched to the front line and prepared for the attack.

Like Zhou Changfeng, Chung was skeptical about the fighting power of the Koreans, so he did not involve them in a frontal attack, and only took on the task of covering the flanks of the attacking troops.

The difficulty of this task is actually not low, because from the enemy's point of view, it is difficult for them to distinguish who is attacking and who is feinting, so this North Korean unit also has to bear a considerable degree of defensive firepower.

At 15:00 in the afternoon, the battleship Yongping on the sea was the first to fire, and the thunderous salvo sound made people's hearts tremble.

Huge artillery shells smashed heavily into the US positions, bursting with gunpowder smoke, and clods of earth and cement of different sizes flew in all directions.

Subsequently, the entire landing fleet opened fire one after another, raining shells of different calibers on their assigned targets.

Seaplanes belonging to different warships hovered in the sky, observing, guiding, correcting fire deviations.

"If I drop a day, it will really explode into a sea of fire."

"Rejoice! Then fry! ”

"Look! Look at that, this one is strong enough. ”

The soldiers had not seen much of the bombardment of the fleet on the other side, and they all looked excited and cheered.

"Ready to go! The divisions enter the starting position! The herald galloped on his motorcycle, shouting at the top of his voice.

"It's too close! Got stupid to be kicked in the head? Pull out a little farther away and don't stay next to each other! "There are officers who are harshly reprimanding.

The soldiers climbed up from the starting position of the attack, opened the distance, carried rifles and light machine guns, and walked quickly forward, heading straight for the starting position of the assault in front.

More than a dozen Type 38 heavy tanks weighing nearly 30 tons roared in, and the commander put his hands on the hatch cover and looked around at the surroundings.

The U.S. forces then launched an artillery bombardment in an attempt to disperse and disintegrate the Ming army's upcoming offensive.

Seeing that the enemy's artillery positions were exposed, several Type 37 ships that were watching the battle stopped watching the show and swooped down towards the target in groups of two.

The well-camouflaged artillery positions were difficult to detect, and if it weren't for the conspicuous muzzle flames and smoke they fired, it would have been hard to believe that these unrecognizable targets were hidden there.

The shelling of the American army was quickly stopped, but the hundreds of shells that fell during this period still caused a lot of trouble for the Ming army.

The commander of the 1st Battalion of the 50th Regiment of the 17th Division was wounded, and the regimental headquarters simply sent a chief of staff to take over the command, and dozens of other officers and men were also killed or wounded.

The start of the offensive was forced to be delayed by an hour, it was scheduled to start at 15:45, and it was not regrouped until 16:45.

The sky had not yet cleared after the rain, and the sky was gray, and with the launch of two red flares, the attack on the first line of defense of the American army began.

According to the design of the Military System Bureau of the Ministry of War, the first and second platoons of each combat vehicle battalion are equipped with heavy tanks, the third platoon is equipped with medium tanks, and the team headquarters has two heavy tanks and two medium tanks, with a total of 10 heavy tanks and 6 medium tanks.

The V-shaped twelve-cylinder gasoline engine roared, driving the tank forward steadily, leaving track ruts on the wet mud.

Relying on such powerful weapons, the morale of the Ming soldiers who accompanied the attack was high, and they vowed to crush all the enemies who were blocking the car.

More than 1,000 infantry and dozens of tanks coordinated to attack, swaggering towards the US position, the US troops defending the position suddenly opened fire, 81mm mortar shells and 37mm armor-piercing shells instantly beckoned.

The Type 38 heavy tank was born earlier and was designed in the style of an interwar tank, but it did meet the Army's needs for a low-caliber anti-tank gun that could provide a powerful direct-aim fire aid for infantry units.

The armor-piercing tracer bullet fired by the M3 anti-tank gun smashed to pieces on the 64mm rolled homogeneous steel armor on the front of the hull of the heavy tank!

The smaller angle of incidence slides away and jumps away, leaving a clear line of light marks.

The accompanying infantry was not very comfortable, and the whizzing mortar shells killed and injured many people, and the enemy's heavy machine guns were also spraying bullets, and the dense machine gun shells clanged at the tanks or passed through them, which was terrifying.

The Type 38 heavy tank's 80mm tank guns opened fire in succession, bombarding any exposed U.S. firing points, and then continued slowly forward.

The battle lasted more than an hour, and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 50th Regiment successfully captured the left flank position of the US troops, tearing open a corner of the first line of defense.

But the battle that followed was even more difficult, and gradually turned into a tug-of-war.

All kinds of fire came from the left, left, and front, and every time the Ming troops pushed forward, they had to pay a lot of casualties.

Heavy tanks could not be destroyed from the front, and the US military moved positions with jeeps towing anti-tank guns, trying to attack from the flank, destroying several vehicles in one fell swoop.

The main car of the 1st Battalion and 2nd Brigade of the Stormed Vehicle was also destroyed, and after losing control, it rushed forward uncontrollably for dozens of meters before stopping.

Because it was a commander's car, the 1-2-1 tank contained deployment maps and important documents, and in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy, the 2nd Battalion of the 50th Regiment sent a squad to try to destroy it.

As a result, they were discovered by the U.S. military and were suppressed by firepower and were in a dilemma. A few people crept back under the cover of smoke bombs, but the rest waited until dark to retreat.

In the second half of the night, the Ming army sent a detachment again, but it ran into an American patrol that also came to find out, and the battle broke out in surprise on both sides.

The close encounter at night was short and fierce, the American troops chose to retreat after suffering more than 10 casualties, and the Ming infantry detachment was also bombarded by multiple mortar shells after disposing of important information, and the corpses of both sides were scattered across a radius of only 100 meters.

Because the road was blown up and heavy rains were taking place, American reinforcements were slow, the 501st Airborne Regiment arrived in the evening, and the 703rd Tank Battalion did not arrive until the second half of the night.

As soon as the reinforcements arrived, Brigadier General Jacob, who had been greatly emboldened, began to plan a counterattack, trying to force back the attacking enemy in one fell swoop, and try to annihilate the enemy.

In the sturdy headquarters, he pointed to the map, crossed his waist and said, "They occupy areas A2 to A3, this salient may be a good opportunity, we should be brave enough to try." ”

At 6:15 a.m. the next day, July 26, more than 30 US tanks and more than 500 paratroopers set out from their positions and launched a counterattack against the 21st Regiment of the DPRK Army in front of them.

The regimental position fell in a quarter of an hour, and American tanks appeared near the regimental headquarters at 6:41 and opened heavy artillery fire on the headquarters.

The North Koreans sent their reserves to launch a messy and failed counter-charge, only to be beaten to pieces by M2 medium tanks and American paratroopers, and the regiment began an uncontrolled rout.

The only thing to be commended is that an anti-tank gun position insisted on destroying two American tanks, and it was not until the American paratroopers rushed over that these North Korean anti-tank artillery men escaped.

The defeat of the 21st Regiment of the Korean Army immediately triggered a crisis - the flank and rear of the attacking troops of the Ming Army were thus exposed to the American troops!

Zhong Dexin was shocked when he heard the news, who would have thought that this group of presentable-looking North Koreans would only last less than half an hour?

"Order, order, the fifty-first regiment immediately reinforces and drive the enemy back! The artillery regiment fired obstructively at the front of our salient and opened two blocking lines on the left. ”

"Yes!"

Zhou Changfeng, who was on the Lu Xun, woke up this morning and found that his right eyelid had jumped several times in a row, and he was a little vigilant when he learned that the US troops had launched a counterattack, and asked the Beiluo Division Gate to take off several additional carrier-based aircraft to be ready to provide support at any time.

As a result, it didn't take long for a whole regiment to retreat?

He put the half-eaten canned food on the table and complained: "Foolish, it's just playing the piano randomly, and it can drag on for half an hour if it is replaced by 3,000 pigs!" Send them away, waste Lao Tzu's precious capacity! ”

【Situation Map】

(End of chapter)