afterglow

Chapter 512 The mentality of the bettor; the food is touching
"...The situation that I predicted before has not happened. The enemy army is coming fiercely, but it is extremely ineffective and its combat power is extremely unbearable. Here is a brief summary:"

"The headquarters deployed according to the rest of the plan, and the force distribution was light at the front and heavy at the back. During the day yesterday, we fired artillery to attack the enemy on the beach. The enemy did not advance an inch and was trapped on the beach. The losses were very heavy. It is estimated that thousands of people were killed and injured."

"...If the enemy maintains today's offensive, it will definitely lose its combat power in less than four days. However, the loss of our headquarters is very light, with less than 200 casualties. It can be seen that rushing into battle is very harmful, and the enemy's superiors are guilty of harming the army."

"The remaining ammunition of this headquarters is still enough, enough for ten days. If the enemy postpones the attack, the remaining ammunition can be used for a longer period of time. There is no need to worry. The navy should make calm arrangements. Special call."

After this telegram was copied by the Governor's Office, it was quickly sent to the palace.

"He is quite confident. He is so bold and not afraid of putting himself in trouble."

Zhu Lingjing always believed in Zhou when it came to military matters, but she still couldn't help but complain.

Although there are risks in leading troops into battle, there is an essential difference between normal operations and leading a lone army to be trapped on a remote island.

If you were not careful, it would be over. Fortunately, he was still so calm! It seems that the principle that a gentleman should not stand behind a dangerous wall has not been kept in mind.

In fact, Zhou had a completely legitimate reason to run away, and Zhu Lingjing had already been more cautious——

In the personnel arrangements for the expedition, Zhou Changfeng's duty on paper was to lead the first echelon to carry out landing operations. After the landing site was stabilized, the Army took over the command.

"Your Majesty, Zhou Taizhao is actually very thoughtful." Su Yiyi walked over slowly and poured her a cup of tea. "I think he is very shrewd and will not do anything that he is not sure about."

"There have been many examples throughout the ages of being clever but being misled by cleverness. The authorities are confused. Who can guarantee that the judgment is correct every time?" Zhu Lingjing rolled her eyes as she spoke.

She felt quite depressed when she thought that someone Zhou had rejected her suggestion to send a submarine to assist in the evacuation a few days ago.

To be honest, it feels like a waste of good intentions, which is very unpleasant!

This is okay, but what's more important is the uneasiness - the treasure that took a lot of effort to win now has a high risk of breaking into pieces, which makes everyone feel miserable.

Zhu Lingjing in the Forbidden City was very anxious, but Zhou Changfeng in Kauai was completely opposite.

The Ming army on Kauai suffered slight troop losses and relatively sufficient food. Only ammunition needed to be treated with care. Therefore, the principle formulated by Zhou Changfeng was to "strike hard first and then slow down, and do not fight too much without urgency."

Yesterday, when the US military landed, it was the most vulnerable time, so it continued to fire violently in pursuit of maximizing the lethality of its effective forces; after that, it is necessary to carefully control the amount of artillery shells. Unless there are special circumstances, it should follow the principle of "only two to one target at a time." Three quick shots" principle.

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

Time soon came to the next day, June 6th.

Although the Third Marine Brigade is not as good as the First Marine Brigade that he personally led in all aspects, objectively speaking, it is already at the top level among the Ming Army.

The 7th Infantry Division, which lost thousands of men in two days and paid bloody tuition, has obviously made progress, but it is still far from passing the grade.

The Marines on the front line have the most say. Fan Canyuan, who gave the U.S. Army an unexpected surprise yesterday, noticed that the U.S. 32nd Infantry Regiment that came to attack today has made some progress.

Yesterday, the US troops, suppressed by heavy machine gun fire, could only use smoke bombs to obscure their vision and huddle in place. As a result, they were blasted by Ming army mortars.

Today, they also encountered heavy machine guns suddenly. The US military already knew how to organize light and heavy firepower to fight back, and at the same time released smoke screens while conducting tactical shifts.

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

In fact, these conditions are clearly stated in the Army's field doctrine. The theory and training of the 7th Infantry Division are good, but unfortunately it is another matter to practice it correctly in actual combat.

The combat patrols dispatched by the US military were like flies biting eggs, making repeated tentative attacks in an attempt to find a joint suitable for a breakthrough on the first line of defense, and at the same time forcing the Ming army's firepower to open fire.

Any exposed heavy machine gun position of the Ming army would be attacked by powerful artillery fire. 105mm high-explosive bombs were dropped as if they were free. The average number of bullets dropped on a single target was more than thirty.

The US military was very active in this regard and carried out saturation strikes on every marked firepower point.

At the easternmost edge of the first line of defense, G was connected to the order "try to bypass the front of the Ming army's position."

Captain Thomas, the commander of G Company, asked one squad to take the lead as the vanguard, and the rest followed behind, starting to make a detour as low-key as possible.

The flanking position is garrisoned by the 2nd Battalion and 2nd Team of the 5th Marine Regiment. The position is configured as a horseshoe-shaped position consisting of two solid support points, three bunkers, and seven squad positions. In addition, there are several minefields, obstacles, and fallback positions. Light up the firepower.

The outermost ones are several warning positions. They are called positions, but they are actually just one or two double foxholes.

Seeing the enemy sneaking up on them, 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 benchmark unit. During the process of engaging the enemy and breaking through, the remaining squads and platoons must use it as the benchmark.

Subsequently, Company G deployed three infantry platoons. The weapons platoon placed three Browning M7919A4 heavy machine guns on the left and right wings and three M2 60mm mortars in the rear.

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

After the soldiers completed their tactical deployment, they trotted forward with their guns in hand under the cover of heavy machine gun and mortar firepower to engage with the enemy.

When they reached the jumping point 500 yards (455 meters) away from the Ming army's position, three infantry platoons formally launched an attack, preparing to implement a breakthrough.

Of course, all this was seen by the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion and the Second Team on the position. In their opinion, this set of operations was too rigid.

This is not a plain and open area, and there are certain ups and downs. You can launch the attack later to reduce physical exertion.

Moreover, it is not impossible to arrange three platoons in an equilateral triangle to attack from the front... but it would be better if one of the platoons performs a feint attack from the side.

All this is probably similar to a college student who has learned calculus and sees a high school student still solving the area step by step.

"Captain, why don't you fight?"

"Why are you so anxious? It doesn't matter, just wait a moment."

The officers and soldiers of Company G were very excited during the impact, and they were completely unaware that the crisis was approaching.

"boom!"

"Sniper! Attention!"

Sporadic gunfire came from a small number of snipers. The gunshots knocked people down. The American soldiers who were suddenly hit fell to the ground by inertia and pulled the triggers indiscriminately in the direction of the gunfire.

A few seconds later, crisp sounds were heard on the battlefield, and empty magazines were ejected from the Garand rifles one after another.

After waiting for two minutes, and after the snipers fell silent, the officers and soldiers of G Company got up again and ran towards the target less than 200 meters away. It was only then that all the supporting points and bunkers on the Ming army's position opened fire at the same time!
Amidst the intensive gunfire of "ta da da da", light and heavy firepower came from three directions. In an instant, more than ten people were shot and fell to the ground.

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

The heavy machine guns of both sides were competing with each other. Bullets flew nearby, and shells from Ming army mortars continued to fall. This situation made the American soldiers extremely nervous.

No one noticed that just tens of meters behind them, some shooting ports were revealed, and the black muzzles pointed at their backs.

"boom!"

"Ta-da-ta-da-"

"what happens?!"

"Someone got knocked down!"

"Where are they?!"

Five or six firepower points fired one after another. The ambush from behind was unexpected by the US military. They lay on the ground like fixed targets.

The firepower point is usually occupied by a two-person team. The standard configuration is that one person carries a Type 20 automatic gun or a Type 35 semi-automatic rifle, and the other person carries a Type 39 submachine gun.

This kind of hidden firepower point is quite well camouflaged. Unlike those arranged on the front, the direction of the inverted firepower point is towards the Ming army's own position. The soldiers who are ambushing it will only wait for the opportunity to attack after the enemy's attacking troops have passed by. Fire at the enemy's rear or side.

As a result, the attacking enemy's attention is focused on the front, but they are suddenly hit by bullets fired from behind, and they are easily disintegrated by being caught off guard.

This was the case for Company G. The American soldiers, who were attacked from multiple sides, were completely in disarray.

The Ming army's bullets seemed to be shooting from all directions!
Four minutes later, the entire G Company, driven back by mortar and machine gun fire, retreated in panic. Twenty corpses were found along the way. Each of the three infantry platoons suffered one-third casualties, but the edge of the company's target position None of them got hit.

Captain Thomas, who was shot in the thigh, was pulled out. However, due to the rupture of the femoral artery, he lost a lot of blood. The medical soldier's face was spattered with blood. He tried his best with a hemostat but could not find the blood vessel...

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

They had the rare opportunity to find the junction of the two battalions' positions on the Ming army's defense line, and launched a fierce attack on it.

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

Company after company, a steady stream of U.S. infantry rushed into the front-line positions, and an extremely fierce exchange of fire broke out between the infantry of both sides in the criss-crossing trenches.

The more than 20 tanks and two infantry companies with more than 300 men who were the first to achieve a breakthrough continued to develop in depth, trying to penetrate the second-line positions in one go.

However, they only advanced another 701 meters, and when they were still one kilometer away from the target, they unknowingly encountered the oblique position in the middle. The left wing of the st Tank Battalion was completely exposed to the firing range of the Ming army's oblique position.

Subsequently, the three Type 25.6 and mm combat anti-aircraft guns scattered in three bunkers had already been colluded through field telephones to attack different targets under unified command.

The extremely fast-firing small-caliber anti-tank gun fired at the side of the US tank at a rate of less than four seconds!
The 25.6mm armor-piercing tracer bullets were fired one after another, dragging light trails towards the tank like javelins, piercing the weak side armor of the M2 medium tank, turning it into a steel bonfire spewing flames.

More than a dozen 80mm howitzers from the Third Battalion of the Third Marine Brigade's Mountain Artillery Regiment also fired a round of effective fire at this, completely disintegrating the American infantry-tank coordination and forcing them to retreat in a hurry.

A whole day of futile attacks on June 6 basically dispelled the U.S. military's thoughts.

Faced with excessive casualties and minimal progress, Brigadier General Charles White, commander of the 7th Infantry Division, was both disappointed and angry. "I've had enough! The operation should be suspended immediately. Such an attack was wrong from the beginning."

The division commander's indignant words echoed on the bridge of the battleship Colorado, and the generals of the Pacific Fleet fell silent.

The battle has reached this point. Do we really want to give up? That means all previous efforts have been wasted.

"Maybe we were too optimistic before." Raymond Spruance said solemnly.

This sentence was equivalent to announcing the failure of the counterattack on Kauai.

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

At this moment, it was almost impossible to stop the losses in time - the huge casualties in two days and two nights almost caused the 17th Regiment and the 32nd Regiment to lose their combat effectiveness. The 701st Tank Battalion also lost half of its tanks. Army and Navy personnel were killed and missing in action. The number soared to 811, with three times the number of injured.

The 7th Infantry Division, which was originally fully equipped, ended up like this after only a few days. The battle was so tragic that it was beyond imagination.

midnight that day.

The calm Zhou Changfeng maintained a good attitude. He first played a few games of chess and then planned to take a nap.

At this time, the first line of defense called to report the urgent situation, claiming that the scout team that reverse-infiltrated at night had discovered that the enemy had retreated. Now, except for a small number of troops holding several positions to back up the larger troops, the main force had retreated to the beach.

The radio monitoring team also confirmed this finding. Most of the communication words in the frequency band were related to retreat.

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

"Let the artillery battalion fire a few rounds of illumination bombs."

"Order."

Zhou Changfeng bowed in front of the artillery mirror. As the pale light illuminated the beach, he saw groups of people and landing craft approaching the shore.

In addition, some figures were carrying long bags to two of the landing craft, and he soon realized that these bags should be body bags.

As if worried that the Ming army would take the opportunity to make a surprise attack, the US fleet on the sea began aimless bombardment.

"Run away in despair? I'm afraid I'll give them a painful beating this time." Yu Daixin said with a smile.

"It can only be said that you are asking for trouble." Zhou Changfeng shook his head slightly and commented with his hands on his hips: "It's good, it will save a lot of trouble for the next trip to Oahu."

The total casualties of the Ming Army on Kauai were not many, with 179 killed and 767 wounded. Considering that a considerable part of them were caused by US air strikes and fleet shelling, the actual losses in land battles were even more than half.

It's so delicious that it makes those who hear it sad and those who see it cry.

There's no other way, Cai... I just have to practice more. If you can't beat it, don't beat it.

Zhou Changfeng stood up from behind the artillery team's mirror and said casually: "Let the artillery team fire hard and send them away. The remaining shells... shoot out half of them."

After saying that, he pondered again: "Is there no news from the Navy? They haven't said anything since I called back this morning."

(End of this chapter)