afterglow

Chapter 604 Chapter 0.45 When We Fell, the Flag Flying; 1 Square Miles and People
Luo Fu stood up straight and said in an extremely solemn tone:

"Shangguan Xun, the commander of the Tarawa defense, reports to His Majesty, the Grand Commandery, the Ministry of War, and other senior officials that our army has held its ground firmly until now, and our soldiers are fearless and brave, fighting bravely to the death."

"Up to this moment, we have damaged one enemy battleship, two destroyers, sunk one minesweeper, and countless small boats, shot down six planes, and destroyed more than sixty tanks of various types. We have killed more than 2,000 enemy soldiers, five officers, and wounded nearly 6,000 enemies."

"The soldiers under my command are now scattered and fighting alone. It is difficult to contact them. All the heavy weapons have been destroyed. Almost all 6,000 soldiers have been killed. However, the enemy's reinforcements are continuous and the offensive has not stopped. The fall is inevitable."

"We have now retreated to the bunker as the last stand. We will fight to the end and will not give up until our death. I wish you a final victory in the war, prosperity for the country, and good health for your Majesty. The enemy is only 200 meters away, and we are ready to fight. Your Majesty."

After he finished reading, he placed the telegram paper on the imperial desk with both hands.

Zhu Lingjing listened to the content of the telegram very calmly, her lips trembling slightly, she seemed to want to say something but stopped herself, and finally nodded to indicate that she understood.

Seeing this, Luo Fu bowed and saluted, and whispered to Zhou Changfeng beside him: "Kexing, the Aleutians are still stable as usual. There has been no unusual incident in the past few hours."

"Have all the troops landed on the island?"

"It's almost there. Only the service units of the 137th Division are left."

Luo Fu, with a serious expression, then took his leave and went to deal with pending matters.

Zhou Changfeng could feel that Zhu Lingjing was unable to calm down. She stood up and paced around the room anxiously.

"Nowadays we have telecommunications, but it's much more painful than in the old days when we only knew the results after receiving the newspaper." She clenched her right fist, turned her head and looked out the window at the bright sunshine, her tone was rarely sad, "Telecommunications must be decoded first and then copied. I'm afraid now..."

"Considering the time difference, it's already sunset in Tarawa. The US military usually doesn't continue the attack at night. If they can hold on until now, they can hold on for another night," Zhou Changfeng said calmly.

"It's only one night late. Going to death calmly is very painful. Under such circumstances, maybe it's better to die earlier..." Zhu Lingjing sighed softly and looked at Zhou Changfeng, "Once you calm down after the excitement, it will be even more painful."

The latter did not comment, but bowed and said in a deep voice: "The results of the battle are not small, and their sacrifice is of extraordinary value. I hope you can show extraordinary sympathy."

Zhu Lingjing blinked quickly with a gloomy look on her face and said calmly, "You worry too much."

There was a long silence in the room.

She thought of Demaggi, the witness and commander of that famous battle, who was right in front of her.

"What were you thinking at that moment?" she asked.

"We just want to complete the mission." Zhou Changfeng replied.

After saying that, he turned to face southeast and raised his hand in a standard military salute.

However, the facts were different from what he expected.

After sunset, the U.S. troops on Tarawa continued their attack, contrary to their usual practice.

The Tarawa Defense Command retreated to the last fortified area, located southeast of the airport. This is the narrow "tail" of Betio Island. The fortified area located here is like a bottleneck.

These sturdy fortifications are semi-underground and built of reinforced concrete. There is a main bunker and five sub-bunkers, and trenches crisscross between the bunkers. However, some of the trenches, barbed wire, chevaux de frise and minefields have been destroyed by US artillery fire.

Shangguan Xun knew very well that they would not be able to hold out for long under the repeated attacks from American warships, planes, tanks and infantry.

An hour and a half had passed since the farewell message was sent. The U.S. military launched a tentative attack and a formal attack, both of which were repelled.

After dark, we thought we could hold out for another night, but unexpectedly the enemy launched an abnormal attack all night long.

Due to heavy casualties, the 1st Marine Regiment was forced to withdraw to the beachhead for rest. The 7th Marine Regiment is now responsible for the attack.

They pushed several M1A1 light howitzers to a distance of less than 75 meters, aimed directly at the target and bombarded it, with a continuous stream of mm high-explosive shells that sent debris flying everywhere.

Under the cover of tanks, US infantry approached little by little, machine guns and bullets smashed the tank armor, sparks flew, and tanks were occasionally hit and paralyzed by recoilless guns or rocket launchers.

After the engineers cleared all obstacles, the Marines used flamethrowers to clear the sub-fort that was frantically firing, then jumped into the trenches and fought fiercely with the Ming army inside with shotguns, carbines, and submachine guns.

After paying a heavy price, only one of the five sub-forts remained, and the rest were all captured by the US military.

The huge mother fortress was built very solidly, with two floors above ground and underground. Behind the main firing port were independent small rooms, which had to be closed with sealed steel doors during combat, so that even if attacked by a flamethrower, not all personnel would be killed or injured.

Although it was bombarded by multiple 6-inch and 8-inch semi-armor-piercing shells, it still stood tenaciously, guarding this bottleneck.

Hundreds of men from the 7rd Battalion of the 730th Marine Regiment and 11 tanks from the th Independent Tank Battalion formed a semi-encirclement of the remaining concrete bunker, preparing to launch a siege after taking a break.

It was 2:7 in the morning of February 4, and the waxing moon moved to the western half of the sky.

The remaining ninety-nine soldiers, including Shangguan Xun, were all the people still alive. Among them were headquarters staff, logistics soldiers, motor vehicle soldiers, cooks, anti-aircraft artillery soldiers, coastal defense artillery soldiers, and airfield maintenance personnel...

But there must be more resistance on Betio Island now, because intermittent gunfire could be heard from afar from time to time.

"Burn the flag." Shangguan Xun gave the order in a hoarse voice.

"Yes!"

The large flag and the general flag of the Tarawa Defense Command were taken out of the wooden box. Several soldiers from the flag guard squad stuffed them into a cut-off oil barrel, poured gasoline on it, and threw it in with a match.

Bright yellow flames sprang up and engulfed the flags inside. The silk was quickly carbonized, and soon the two flags were reduced to charred residue.

Now there is only one pennant left, which is not important. One of the flag guards put it on the top of the mother fort.

"They will attack at daybreak."

"I don't know what happened to the fleet."

"The fleet is still in the Aleutian Islands, covering the expeditionary force's landing. It's said to be going smoothly. The tens of thousands of enemy soldiers in the Aleutian Islands are definitely doomed."

"Okay, okay, these Americans are picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons, hahahahaha."

"Yeah, isn't it also a loss of troops when they come here?"

At this time, a staff officer looked at his pocket watch and reminded calmly: "There is still an hour until dawn."

After this remark, the atmosphere became stagnant.

Soon, the topic turned from light-hearted ridicule to serious discussion.

"We still have to find a way to kill more of them. We can't let them have it easy!"

"It's no use relying on a single fortress alone. You need to place some ambushes around the enemy and suddenly attack their flanks when they attack."

"Yes, we also need to watch out for flamethrowers." "Pick the people, five two-man ambush teams, those who are willing to go stand up, and we need to be good at shooting, those who are not good at shooting will not be accepted."

Soon, more than a dozen people stood up.

An Air Force ground crew mechanic came over holding a strange-looking machine gun. "This thing is an aircraft machine gun removed from an airplane. It has a fast firing rate and is perfect for ambushes. I put a buttstock and a bipod on it. Who wants it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, this hand-made thing was snatched away.

Suddenly, a melodious tune was heard in the night, along with awkward calls for surrender.

The U.S. military set up loudspeakers and played captured records on phonographs while calling for surrender, which gave them a glimpse of the allusion to being surrounded on all sides.

Shangguan Xun, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up. He said calmly: "The enemy is playing songs to accompany us. Let's sing a few songs to liven up the atmosphere."

Dozens of people sang military songs that were not completely in tune with each other in different accents.

The melody of "March Song" came from afar, and they sang "March Song"; the melody of "March to the Army" came from afar, and they sang "March to the Army"; the melody of "Onion Song" came from afar, and they sang "Potato Song"...

The mother fort was filled with discordant singing, which passed through the firing holes and was heard far away in the eve of dawn.

The U.S. military stopped playing music and persuading people to surrender.

The ambush team, carrying light machine guns and submachine guns and covered with camouflage cloth, quietly left the mother bunker along the trench and searched around for a suitable ambush position.

2月7日清晨5：15，陆战7团发起总攻。

The half-salvos from the North Carolina, Washington, and South Dakota shook the heavens and the earth. The shells, as heavy as cars, exploded, sending up clouds of dust hundreds of meters high.

Sherman and Stuart no longer dared to go into battle naked. All the tanks participating in the battle were equipped with spare track plates, palm trunks, perforated steel plates and Marston pads to block the Ming army's recoilless guns and rocket launchers.

Countless olive green figures dispersed into a battle formation, holding Thompson submachine guns, Johnson semi-automatic rifles, and Browning automatic rifles and rushed towards the dilapidated concrete bunker.

Several key trench intersections became mini meat grinders, where the remaining Ming army officers and soldiers and US Marines fought repeatedly, resulting in countless casualties.

The US military had successfully broken through many times, but was driven back every time. The bodies of officers and soldiers from both sides were piled up at these intersections, with you in me and me in you.

In such a close-range battle, the firepower advantage that the US military is proud of could not be used - the fleet at sea remained silent, and the fleet in the sky circled repeatedly, and they were powerless.

"Closer, closer, there are only a few Chinese left... Damn it!"

Major General Alexander Van Grift was standing next to a half-track vehicle, watching the fierce battle in the distance through a telescope.

The Ming army equipped with individual protective gear was very difficult to deal with. Shotguns and submachine guns could not penetrate them at all. Only rifles could be effective.

Several Marines rushed into the trench intersection for the fourth time, and what they saw were twenty or thirty bloody corpses piled together.

Before they could recover, two mortar shells were thrown at their feet.

"Boom! Boom!"

After two violent explosions, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the US troops who had made a breakthrough for the fourth time were blown back to the nearby starting point again.

Captain Dominic, the unwilling commander of Company C, was furious. He called on an M4A1 Sherman tank next to him to continue bombarding the trenches, and then sent out the two most complete squads in one go.

Just as they were approaching with their backs bent, unique gunshots suddenly came from the flank, not "da da da" but "zi zi zi".

The unprepared U.S. troops were like bowling pins being hit, knocked to the ground and staggered by the terrifying flanking rapid-fire power.

The Type 7.36 aircraft machine gun fired 56×㎜ rimless heavy-pointed bullets at a rate of one thousand rounds per minute. In the blink of an eye, ten people might be shot and fall to the ground.

Captain Dominic couldn't believe what he saw and stood there in a daze.

Then, he was shot in the head by a Ming army sniper who was nowhere to be found. His helmet flew up, and the red and white thing added a bright abstract graffiti to the side of the Sherman next to him...

How long can ninety-nine people resist?

As time went by, only a few people were left in the mother castle.

"The enemy has surrounded the bunker, only 30 meters away. The staff has fought hard, the flag has been burned, and the code will be deleted after the telegram. Sincerely, no telegram."

After Shangguan Xun finished speaking, while the radio operator was sending messages, he drew his sword, thrust it into the crack of the reinforced concrete and broke it with force, then put on a helmet and picked up a submachine gun.

After sending the telegram, the operator dragged the radio to the ground and shot it to pieces, and threw the communication code book and white phosphorus incendiary grenade into the half-broken oil barrel.

"Let's go."

"Yes."

The sound of gunfire outside the mother fort became sparse. Shangguan Xun and the last few people pushed open the thick steel door and rushed into the messy trench...

A few more people fell on this South Pacific coral atoll, which is only a little over one square kilometer in size. The crimson pennant covered with craters and smoke marks flew for a few minutes longer than they did.

The organized defense ended here, but sporadic resistance on Betio actually continued until three days later.

When the Guam Garrison Command was forwarding this message, the female communications staff officer couldn't help sobbing. Her crying triggered a chain reaction, and the entire command center changed in an instant.

The Ming army deployed a total of 6780 garrisons on Tarawa Atoll, and 533 indigenous laborers from Southeast Asia. Excluding the laborers, except for a few who were wounded and captured, the rest were all killed in battle. The survival rate was so low that the U.S. Pacific Fleet Command called back to ask if a zero was missing. How could there be only single digits?
The bloody and brutal Battle of Betio Island also cost the US military a heavy price.

The fully equipped 1st Marine Division suffered 2227 killed and 5620 wounded.

The Army's 124th Regimental Combat Team suffered 600 killed and 1489 wounded.

The Army's 730th Independent Tank Battalion suffered 95 killed and 133 wounded.

The destroyer USS Bronson (DD-518) was sunk by the Nauruan shore-based aviation, killing 310 people and injuring 22.

Many other warships were also damaged to varying degrees, with a total of 371 people killed and 2105 injured.

A total of 3603 U.S. troops died and 9369 were injured, with a total casualties of nearly 1.3.

TF-44 Task Force Commander Raymond Spruance inspects the battlefield in an OS2U Kingfisher seaplane.

Looking down from the sky, the small Betio Island was like the surface of the moon, only gray-green. There were only a few palm trees left on the ground covered with craters and corpses, and the trunks were bare and full of shrapnel.

He said sadly: "How can we explain to the president that a total of 0.45 people died in a 1 square mile coral reef?"

(End of this chapter)