afterglow

Chapter 479 A bad ambush; Dawangling? Centipede Ridge?

The air waves and high-speed flying fragments knocked down several American soldiers in the heavy machine gun team, and the water-cooled heavy machine gun fire suddenly stopped.

The inexperienced officers and soldiers of the 39th Regimental Combat Team were obviously not sophisticated, and the ambush that was waiting for work was full of loopholes.

Not only did they fail to properly use firepower to separate the Ming army's search team, they also failed to coordinate the timing of using rifle grenades and hand grenades - they flew out one after another several seconds after the shot was fired.

Suddenly being ambushed and in an emergency situation, the mortar operator of this unit held the barrel of the gun with his left hand and fired two rounds at the enemy, killing the heavy machine gun accurately.

Seeing that the ambush enemy had been suppressed, a squad of Marine infantry took the attached rocket launcher team and began to circle to the right under cover of fire.

Such infantry tactics are too common. For a small team, there are few options for response after encountering an ambush.

If you cannot suppress the enemy, you must try to retreat.

If you can counterattack the enemy by fighting back, then there are two ways to do it - be proactive and try to actively counterattack, or be passive and just stay where you are and continue shooting.

Bullets were being poured back and forth from both sides, and soldiers were constantly being shot and wounded, making screams that were either sharp or painful.

When the squad of the search team moved to the right, the U.S. military on the ambush position suddenly felt a sharp increase in pressure.

A dozen Ming soldiers formed a sparse formation and launched a counterattack with the support of light machine guns.

Half of the people bent down and ran for more than ten meters before falling down, and then raised their guns to shoot; the other half took the opportunity to get up and sprint towards the enemy's position. This cycle continued, alternately leaping towards the enemy's position.

"Damn it! I can't hit them!"

"They're coming towards us!"

"Grenade, idiot!"

The magazine of the Garand rifle made a crisp "ping" sound when it flew out; some of the hurried soldiers were reloading the rifles and some were taking grenades; the corporal shouted at the top of his lungs to the second lieutenant not far away.

"Second Lieutenant! The Chinese infantry is moving to the left!"

At this moment, some of the Ming soldiers who were leaping forward picked up the rocket launcher at the right time, half-kneeling and fired a jump-explosion anti-personnel bomb towards the front.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The rocket-propelled grenade drew a parabola and fell to the ground. The celluloid propellant in the head was first triggered, sending the entire grenade flying to a height of more than one meter. At this time, the detonator inside the projectile detonated the main charge. .

The grenade exploded in the air, and in an instant, five hundred short steel rods and steel balls scattered in all directions!

The platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Jonas, was killed on the spot, and several soldiers nearby were beaten into a hornet's nest.

Before the smoke cleared, several grenades were thrown over.

The two sides were in a stalemate for half a minute at a distance of less than 30 meters apart, throwing grenades at each other and shooting fiercely.

In the end, it was the soldiers of the Ming Army who took the lead in attacking, placing submachine guns and automatic guns on their waists and shooting, knocking down the enemy soldiers in front of them one by one.

"It's our turn! Don't wait!"

"leave!"

"Follow me and kill!"

At this time, seeing that the roundabout squad had already entered the enemy's formation, the rest of the Ming army who were lying in ambush immediately got up and rushed towards the enemy in front of them, shouting...

The little encounter only lasted about twenty minutes from start to finish.

The US patrol that set up the ambush was a platoon from Company A of the 39rd Battalion of the th Regimental Combat Team. Seventeen people, including the platoon leader Second Lieutenant Jonas, were killed. They claimed to have killed enemies.

The combat log of the 39th Regiment that day states:

"At 16:10, the patrol led by Second Lieutenant Jonas discovered a group of Chinese infantry and commanded an ambush. The ambush was unsuccessful. The enemy immediately took effective measures after being attacked and attacked the patrol. Counterattack. Lieutenant Jonas was killed by an enemy grenade launcher, and the patrol immediately fell into crisis."

"Private First Class Kyle was wounded by a grenade. He picked up the Browning automatic rifle of the dead automatic rifleman and fired at the approaching Chinese infantry. The enemy knocked him down, but he struggled to climb to a tree and continued to shoot. Automatic rifle fire knocked down at least five enemies until enemy bullets killed him."

The large-scale landing of the Ming army on Guadalcanal made the US military extremely vigilant. Reports of encounters between US military patrols and Ming army reconnaissance units poured into the headquarters one after another.

Intelligence staff Major Porter judged that about 5,000 to 6,000 Ming troops had landed, but the actual situation was still unknown.

Colonel Wadsworth asked to find out the enemy's situation as soon as possible. Then, more than a hundred indigenous scouts left their station like dexterous monkeys and plunged into the jungle.

Subsequently, more and more encounters occurred between small groups of troops on both sides.

However, there were no more intense battles, and most of them were sporadic conflicts that ended with a few shots.

The next morning, the results of intelligence gathering from all parties pointed out that a large number of Ming troops were marching to the west and south of Richard Airport.

The Ming army on the western front was less than eight kilometers away from the airport, and the Ming army on the southern front was still 13 kilometers away.

"How long will it take for the airport to be repaired?" Colonel Wadsworth asked the adjutant.

Major Bishop next to him raised his hands in salute and replied: "Sir, about three hours, but their ships can be bombarded again at any time."

昨天夜里，丁字四十二分舰队对理查德机场进行了长达三个小时的炮击，一共发射了168发320㎜炮弹、207发208㎜炮弹、481发128㎜炮弹，将机场跑道炸得犹如月球表面似的。

The fleet then turned around and sailed away, returning to the vicinity of Cape Españas to join the transport fleet.

As soon as the Ming fleet's bombardment stopped, Company A of the 15th Combat Engineer Battalion swarmed forward, driving bulldozers to fill the potholes of varying depths.

News of the approaching Ming army quickly spread among American officers and soldiers, but everyone still didn't know their details.

Combined with the personal descriptions of the officers and soldiers of the patrol team of Company A of the 3rd Battalion who participated in the battle, the uneasy mood lingered in the hearts of the frontline soldiers.

Compared with the U.S. military who stayed on the ground waiting for an unknown fate, the 1st Marine Brigade had suffered a lot in order to arrive on time.

The time has come for sure! These four words are easy to say, but extremely difficult to implement in practice.

The Second Regiment and the Artillery Regiment were in better condition as they advanced along the coastline, but the Regiment ordered to attack Edson's Heights from the south had to march into dense jungle.

Despite having accumulated sufficient experience in jungle warfare in Malaya and Papua, everyone underestimated the power of the Solomon Islands.

God! Where is the road in this damn place?

The soldiers could only use machetes and engineering shovels to clear the way while advancing hard, so that the path opened could only be passed by one person.

The messenger running forward and behind can only move sideways and like a crab.

In order to accommodate the passage of mules, horses and powered carts carrying baggage, these temporary trails had to be widened a second time.

The transportation of food, ammunition and heavy weapons was extremely difficult. Soldiers were constantly tripping over the snarling roots and shrubs, leaving bloody scratches on their hands and faces. The mules, horses and power carts often got stuck in the mud, and at this time they had to call on others to work together to pull them out.

Unexpected and strange situations occurred one after another. It is not known whether it is because of the iron ore contained in the underground of Guadalcanal. The compass sometimes failed to move around.

The troops who were in a hurry had no time to take a big rest, and naturally had no time to light a fire and cook. Everyone could only eat some field rations in a hurry during the short rest.

The arduous march made all the soldiers exhausted. The leading troops of the regiment crossed the Truna River at noon on March 3, and then built two pontoon bridges to allow the following troops to pass.

By the time they arrived at the target location and joined the search team dormant here, it was already sunset, and there were less than twelve hours left before launching the attack.

Today, Xue Can still maintains the hip-hop and informal style of four years ago on weekdays, but these are not ordinary days.

The troops have moved into place and are located 3 kilometers south of the target hill. The surrounding terrain has become gentler and there are fewer thorns and shrubs, but the towering trees are still dense.

"Report! This is the map prepared by the search team."

A hand-drawn map was handed to Xue Can, and the officers of the regiment gathered together to study it carefully.

"Okay, let's do this. The first battalion is responsible for the left, and the second battalion is responsible for the right. We will form a formation to break the enemy's two flanks, and attack the No. 80 height."

"The third battalion stayed two miles southwest and was on standby. Once a breakthrough was made on the front line, it would immediately join the battle and quickly rush through the gap and directly take the airport."

"The regimental infantry and artillery team is assigned to the first and second battalions. The mortars will pick a position on the main axis; then... the scout platoon will make a large circle to the east to see if they can find an opportunity to insert themselves behind the enemy."

Xue Can confirmed the offensive deployment, and several staff officers immediately began to work on the map according to the instructions, and completed the tactical strategy map.

Adelson Highlands consists of three hills from south to north. The south is 80 Highlands, the middle is 92 Highlands, and the north is 123 Highlands. Each of the hills protrudes a little to both sides, so the entire hills look like one The elongated "王" shape.

【Picture】

Based on the three horizontal lines, Major Edson, deputy commander of the 5th Marine Regiment, deployed three lines of defense.

He divided the hill into two parts in the middle, with the second battalion responsible for the west side and the third battalion responsible for the east side.

The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty called it "Dawang Ridge" because of its magical topography, but some people also called it "Centipede Ridge".

While the regiment headquarters was formulating a battle plan, the Marine Corps officers and soldiers were racing against time to rest.

The continuous hard march day and night is too tiring. In order to be able to face the battle with sufficient physical strength, it is necessary to rest as much as possible at this time. No one dares to joke with their own lives.

However, the cooking soldiers still had to work overtime. Smoke was rising from the stove trucks, and the aroma of rice, steamed buns, and vegetable soup wafted hundreds of meters away. Many soldiers who were curled up sleeping on the ground dreamed of fine wine and delicious food.

"The fleet will carry out artillery bombardment on enemy airports and deep positions at six o'clock. In order to avoid accidental damage, only places in the frontline area clearly marked with red and yellow colors will be bombarded."

"In addition, the fleet's firepower will be tested twice first. If we are accidentally injured, blue smoke bombs will be fired immediately..."

At around four o'clock in the morning, the naval liaison officer was explaining the latest situation to the regiment personnel of the 1st Marine Regiment. Immediately afterwards, an inquiry message from the brigade headquarters was also sent.

"The brigade commander asked us if there were any accidents, if there were any difficulties, and if we could attack on time?"

Xue Can, who was lying in his clothes, got up from the camp bed and replied firmly: "Reply the call, the staff is relatively sleepy and in average condition, but can still act on time."

The bespectacled captain's communications officer repeated it once, and after confirming it, he clasped his fists and ran away.

In the dark night, time passed by minute by second.

As time passed, the T-42 Squadron set sail again, sailing towards the place where it showed its prowess last night, preparing to bombard the enemies on the shore.

At 5:30 before sunrise, south of Edson Highlands, countless figures were running quickly in the dark forest, and there were crowds of people.

Due to the darkness and low visibility, two teams of the first battalion on the western front became separated and could not find the previously selected offensive starting position.

The situation on the eastern front was even worse. After getting lost, a squad of the 1st Team of the 2nd Battalion accidentally walked to the outer security position of the US military.

After a brief exchange of fire, the squad, with half its men missing, hurriedly retreated along the same route.

Xue Can had to order to postpone the launch of the attack by two quarters of an hour, and the artillery preparations were also postponed.

3月23日6：00，原本万籁俱寂的山岭之间突然响起了隆隆炮声，80高地左右两翼都闪现出一团团耀眼夺目的火光。

"Boom-boom-boom-"

The six 6mm mortars of the heavy mortar team of the heavy firearms battalion projected huge shells at the target, and the 128mm mortars of the mortar platoon of the battalion also followed suit.

The explosions continued, and large amounts of scattered wood chips and soil were thrown up from the U.S. military's forward positions.

Without the support of body-barrel suppressed artillery, the artillery preparation based on mortars alone is actually ineffective, and firing for a while may actually lose the surprise of the attack.

During this period, the Ming soldiers in each team and platoon left the offensive starting position and moved forward to the attacking starting position farther forward in a formation with five steps between people.

Several rounds of 75mm flares flew up into the night sky from the direction of Richard Airport, shining brightly. The brightness of hundreds of thousands of candelas illuminated the Edson Highlands as if it were daytime!

The U.S. field artillery group immediately opened fire according to the parameters that had been calibrated long ago, so it started firing directly from the beginning. Nearly a hundred artillery shells fell in one minute.

But somehow it was clearly missed, and all the shells landed on the left, with the nearest one fifty meters away.

Major Bunier, commander of the 5nd Battalion of the th Marine Regiment, quickly grabbed the microphone and yelled for the artillerymen to immediately correct their shooting at Zhu Yuan.

Nearly two minutes later, dense shells rained down.

"Boom-boom-boom-boom-"

High-explosive shells fired by the M1 75mm howitzer exploded one after another on the right half of the Ming army's team!

Although some people were knocked down by bullets on the way, half of the officers and soldiers had safely arrived at the starting position for the attack.

The ones who suffered were the remaining people who had not yet arrived. Their bodies were torn apart by the shock wave, and high-speed fragments flew freely!

A tall private was knocked to the ground by the air wave, but he felt that he was fine, so he reached out to grab the dropped submachine gun, but he couldn't pick it up, as if he couldn't hold anything.

He put his right hand in front of him in surprise. Under the light of the explosion, he saw that his little finger, ring finger, and middle finger were all cut off by fragments, leaving only half of them. Dark red blood was seeping out...

Three minutes later, at the impact starting position.

Peng Mougui, captain of the second team of the first battalion, reached out and took the microphone from the hand of the signal corpsman and shouted: "The staff is in place! The staff is in place! Why doesn't the fleet open fire?!"

【Picture】

(End of this chapter)