afterglow

Chapter 619: Difficult Assault; Bottle Opener and Blowtorch!
The air forces of both sides chose to take off and attack at dawn, and arrived almost at the same time.

The Ming Air Force dispatched a total of 53 Yuannian medium bombers, which took off from two airports, converged, and rushed towards Maui under the escort of 46 fighter jets.

美军陆航派出了27架A-20重型攻击机和26架B-25中型轰炸机，由36架战斗机护航，旨在攻击明军登陆舰队。

When enemies meet, they are extremely jealous of each other, and hundreds of planes are soon entangled together.

The Ming army's fighter formation was actually divided into two waves. One was 35 Type 11 J-109 fighters accompanying the escort, and the other was 2 Bf-G fighters two kilometers away and one kilometer high.

The Ming army pilots had a good opinion of this small German-made aircraft, thinking it was very maneuverable, but the narrow and short landing gear was very annoying - during adaptive training, several pilots died in rollover accidents during taxiing and takeoff.

This batch of Bf-109G2 (P) is a customized model for the State-owned Vienna Aircraft Manufacturing Plant. P stands for Pazifische in German. The primer uses anti-sodium chloride corrosion paint, the air intake is larger, the critical height of the supercharger is lowered by meters and the adjustment is more aggressive.

Because the Fw190A4 was too delicate - it could only perform its functions when filled with high-grade C3 fuel - the Ming Air Force did not deploy them to Hawaii, but sent them to the Western Front.

After just one encounter, several planes of the two armies caught fire and fell into the distance, trailing smoke.

【Picture】

The fighter planes of both sides were engaged in an indecisive dogfight. The Ming bombers continued to fly deeper into Maui, while the U.S. bombers also insisted on rushing towards the Ming fleet. The Ming surface ships below also opened fire at full capacity.

This dawn brawl is chaos!
"Small group of enemy aircraft glide bombing, sight angle twenty-three, take your positions, usual!"

The air defense officers of each Ming army ship held high-magnification binoculars and directed the anti-aircraft firepower to concentrate on attacking the targets that posed the greatest threat.

The twin 131.2mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns of the Dujuan anti-aircraft cruiser fired 15kg anti-aircraft fragmentation shells at the US aircraft in the sky at an ultra-fast firing rate of 32 rounds per minute. The killing radius of the 4.2kg Korean explosives exploding in the air was unparalleled!
The ship immediately achieved its first victory. A B-25 Mitchell was broken into two pieces by the violent explosion and rolled into the sea.

Groups of American bombers roared by and dropped a series of heavy bombs on the Ming fleet below.

More than a hundred 500-pound and 1000-pound bombs fell down. From a bird's eye view, one could see the sea surface covered with arc-shaped or snake-shaped white tracks. Those were the Ming army warships that were maneuvering to evade. Then, large and small columns of water suddenly appeared and rose up!
The He Shouwu frigate was severely damaged by a near miss of a 1000-pound bomb, taking on a large amount of water. Then the bridge was destroyed by the bomb, and the main officers were either killed or injured!

The navigation officer found that the rudder had been blown to pieces, so he rushed to the lower cabin to perform emergency manual steering; the medical soldiers rushed into the messy and bloody ruins of the bridge to rescue survivors.

"Boom!!!"

Another bomb fell into the sea on the left, only a few meters away. A water column dozens of meters high rose instantly. The sailors who were staggering felt like they were blown away, and then they were drenched by the splashing sea water.

This frigate, which had been in service for less than two months, could not hold out for long and soon began to tilt severely due to uncontrollable water ingress. The acting commanding officer in charge of the smoke and torpedo operation immediately ordered the ship to be abandoned.

The whistling sound of diving planes, the dull explosion of falling bombs, the roar of anti-aircraft guns firing, and the shouts of officers and soldiers intertwined into a steel sonata.

The light trails left by tracer bullets, the gray-black smoke clouds from the exploding grenades, the damaged and crashed planes, and the warships that were bombed and caught fire formed a magnificent picture.

The fierce air battle lasted for more than twenty minutes and finally came to an end.

There were clumps of leaked heavy oil floating on the sea surface, and hundreds of crew members and marines on board were clinging to the wreckage and lifeboats.

Officers answered the radio, asked questions loudly, and summarized the fleet's losses.

"…One landing ship was lost and three were seriously damaged; one destroyer was slightly damaged; one frigate was lost and one was slightly damaged; one fire support ship was seriously damaged and two were slightly damaged." Zhao Hanfeng reported.

"Accept the officers and soldiers who abandoned the ship." Zhou Changfeng stood behind the gunnery telescope and said intently, "The landing launch time will be postponed for a quarter of an hour."

"Under orders, take in the officers and soldiers, and postpone the operation for a quarter of an hour."

"Have the hydrological conditions not changed?"

"The report is consistent with the previous investigation."

Everyone knows that this wave of air strikes is just the beginning.

At 6:15, the sky was already bright, and the fiery red sun completely jumped out from where the sky and the sea met.

Landing craft were lowered from both sides of the tank landing ship, and the soldiers climbed down into the landing craft using ropes and nets.

Dock landing ships are more convenient. After the dock is opened and filled with water, the amphibious tanks or landing craft inside can drive out directly from the stern of the ship.

The first wave of assault landing was the entire 2nd Regiment of the 1st Marine Brigade, with the target being three beaches; the 217th Independent Afloat Tank Battalion of the Navy was split into three and assigned to reinforce the three battalions of the 2nd Marine Regiment.

The three beaches are Sugar Beach, Cornelio Beach and Capquina Beach, which the Ming army named A1, A2 and A3 respectively.

The width of each beach planned to be captured was increased to one kilometer, wider than previously set, in order to disperse the density of troops and reduce casualties caused by sudden artillery attacks by the US military.

The disadvantages are also obvious - if faced with a counterattack, they are more likely to be dispersed, but Zhou Changfeng is fully confident in his old troops.

Right on time, more than sixty landing craft and more than forty amphibious tanks completed their assembly and set off immediately.

Looking down at the sea from the sky, they are like three white combs placed side by side, sweeping steadily and neatly towards Maui.

The U.S. coastal defense artillery opened fire, and this time it was clearly a salvo fired under unified command.

"Swoosh—plop—splash—"

The high-explosive shells fired by twenty or thirty M1 155mm cannons flew in a parabola with a very small arc, making a sharp sound of breaking through the air. Dozens of water columns rose up around the Ming army's landing formation in an instant.

An amphibious tank was overturned by the impact of a near miss and landed upside down in the sea.

The airtightness of the vehicle must have been compromised as the escape hatch under the vehicle was opened. The driver climbed out at the last moment, and the rest of the people sank to the bottom of the sea with the vehicle.

The remaining landing craft and amphibious tanks continued forward fearlessly, trying to keep the formation in order.

When it was about 300 meters away from the beach, a landing craft hit a remaining mine that had not been cleared.

After a loud "boom", a huge splash of water swallowed everything, and the boat was destroyed and everyone on board died.

As the first echelon approached the beach, the anti-tank guns on the American beachhead opened fire sporadically.

The Ming army's previous artillery preparation destroyed half of the bunkers and semi-permanent fortifications and disrupted most of the wired communications.

During the assault, at least twenty landing craft and amphibious tanks were hit by direct fire, and half of them were destroyed.

Many landing craft were damaged, sunk at sea, or even lost control and collided.

The landing craft where the headquarters of the 5th Battalion of the 2nd Regiment was located were damaged by US anti-tank artillery and were paralyzed less than 100 meters from the beach.

The landing fire support ship, which was still capable of combat, fired another round of salvos, pouring hundreds of rockets onto the beachhead. In addition to ordinary anti-explosive bombs, there were also some hexachloroethane smoke bombs.

The scene was extremely spectacular. The three-kilometer-long landing front was engulfed by the flames of explosions one after another, and smoke and dust billowed. A large amount of thick gray smoke formed a continuous wall of smoke.

At 6:49, four minutes later than expected, the th Battalion of the nd Marine Regiment took the lead and landed first on the Jiasan Beach.

Just two minutes later, the fifth battalion also landed on the Jiaer beach.

The 4th Battalion, which was ordered to capture the Jiayi Beach, was blocked by the breakwater. Because there was a pier to the west of Sujia Beach, there was a breakwater made of stones and cement blocks.

More than a dozen US military firepower points attacked one after another, dense machine gun bullets came in the face, and mortar shells also whistled down!

In an instant, dozens of people were knocked down by the incoming fire. The Marines lay prone on the reverse slope of the breakwater. Sharp stones and rough cement blocks scratched their skin, which was then scratched by the salty sea water, causing burning pain.

"The chariot is coming! Get out of the way! Are you deaf?!" "Make room!"

A dozen or so Type 1 amphibious tanks that followed rushed onto the breakwater, and seawater poured down from the vehicles.

A captain found the battalion commander and shouted: "We can't be trapped in this damn place, we have to cross the breakwater and get to the beach!"

There is no doubt that the US military has calibrated the firing parameters of each area, and the reaction speed of the artillery positions is frighteningly fast. After a few minutes, the fierce artillery fire covered the breakwater.

The amphibious tanks were unable to gain an advantage when firing against the enemy's heavily fortified positions. They were targeted by anti-tank guns and destroyed one after another on the breakwater.

"Staying here is a dead end! Go!"

"Listen carefully, the water is shallow here. Come with me to the shore!"

This rectangular area was filled with flying debris and surging air waves, and the hot blood of the dead and wounded soldiers dyed the sea water here red.

The soldiers continued to swim with their heavy equipment on their backs, or waded through the water with their rifles raised above their heads, bravely advancing in the face of dense bullets...

Compared with the unsuccessful start of the Fourth Battalion, the progress of the A2 and A3 beaches was quite rapid.

After the assault landing, the fifth and sixth battalions opened up the landing site in an orderly manner, like flowing water.

The most complete company team selected the best and brightest to form a breakthrough team, which raided the enemy in front of them and captured the US beachhead.

The more disorganized teams held the landing site, deployed mortars and heavy machine guns, and set up forward command posts and observation posts.

Those whose organization was completely broken up went to temporary shelters to reorganize themselves, and once they had formed a squad or a platoon, they would go to the designated location.

The breakthrough teams were large and small, with the largest having more than 20 people and the smallest having less than 10 people, but they were all wearing individual protective gear and carrying flamethrowers and a large number of blasting tubes.

In response to the needs of officers and soldiers on the front line, the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of War ordered the development of a mini flamethrower, which was finalized as the Type 2 individual flamethrower. After mass production, it was sent to the front line for use.

The main body of this flamethrower is a cylinder made of rolled thin steel plates, which is divided into two chambers: fuel and compressed nitrogen. The nozzle is at the front, and there are two simple handles made of steel bars at the bottom of the cylinder.

Its flamethrowing distance is relatively short, only 20~25m. Once fired, the 0.8kg of fuel inside will be completely ejected. It uses bullet primer as the firing ignition material, which is much more reliable than electric ignition. The Type 80 individual flamethrower is 2.4cm long and weighs only kg, which is quite light.

Although it is a disposable weapon, regulations require that it be recovered when cleaning up the battlefield, as the unit's field repair shop can reload it.

Having learned from the failure on Lanai Island, the US military never thought of launching a counterattack on the beach again.

According to Lieutenant General Simon Buckner's order, there was no need to hold the beachhead and they could decide to withdraw after inflicting certain casualties on the landing Ming troops.

However, the battlefield environment is intense and complex, and soldiers with boiling blood can easily make wrong judgments. Not everyone can remain calm and decisive.

What's more, the Ming army's artillery bombardment and air strikes on the other side destroyed most of the wired communications, and radio was often unreliable.

Some American soldiers who were too angry were still stranded in their respective positions, at a loss as to what to do.

Continue fighting or retreat?

Where are the officers and sergeants?
Why can’t I hear messages on my walkie-talkie?
"Wait, DeWitt, where the hell are you going?"

"Listen to me, we have to get out of here."

Two American infantrymen dropped their heavy machine guns and ran out of the semi-permanent fortifications one after the other. As they were groping their way back, they ran into a Ming army breakthrough team that came up from the flank.

Caught off guard, the two were knocked down by several medium-power bullets as soon as they came into contact.

The Ming Army Marine Corps infantry threw a grenade in, and another figure ran out in panic, and was knocked to the ground by the explosion.

But before he could get up, he was shot dead in front of the exit of the fortification.

At the same time, on the flank of the Jiasan beach, two bunkers that supported each other were firing crazily at the beach position, posing a huge threat!
The destroyer Pei fired two consecutive salvos at them, but with little effect. The two bunkers fell silent for a while before resuming their strafing.

Therefore, the responsibility of eradicating it fell on the landing troops.

Under the fire cover of the amphibious tanks, the two breakthrough teams finally approached the two forces in the hail of bullets.

It was obvious that the enemies inside were already blood-thirsty - especially after being bombarded, they were even more excited and had no idea that the friendly forces in the nearby positions had already retreated one after another.

The Ming army's breakthrough team first fired a smoke bomb at one of the bunkers to block its view, and then used a blasting tube to clear the remaining barbed wire in front that had not been completely blown up.

A dozen Marine infantrymen broke into the enemy camp in a sparse formation. Three of them took turns using individual flamethrowers to attack the firing hole of the bunker.

"Go ahead! Burn the son of a bitch!"

The short-lived fire dragon was gone in a flash, and the bunker suddenly caught fire, with sharp and miserable howls coming out of it.

A flamethrower? It's a blowtorch!

"Damn it! Bring us the explosives! Cover us!"

"Eat grandpa's big thunder!"

The Ming army did not have standard large-sized explosive packs, but only prefabricated blasting blocks of two specifications, two taels and one jin. In actual combat, they made them into group packs or in-line packs according to needs and circumstances - wrapped them with tape or cloth strips, and the individual blocks inside were connected to each other by detonating cords.

This burly model soldier wrapped eighteen one-pound medicine blocks around a steel pipe!
He crawled until he was a few steps away and pulled the firing tube, then held the steel pipe with both hands and stuffed the heavy explosive pack into the shooting port.

Then he immediately leaped backwards and rolled several times to get as far away as possible.

"Boom!!!"

This bunker, which was destroyed by artillery shells, obviously could not withstand such a powerful explosive pack, and it exploded inside.

With a deafening bang, the bunker popped like a champagne cork, and several pieces of concrete on the top flew up to the height of two stories.

Dynamite? It's a bottle opener!

"rush!"

"Kill these bastards!"

"Cover! Jump in and clear it out!"

Before the smoke and dust had cleared, the remaining dozen or so Marine infantrymen rushed forward...

At 7:30, through the telescope, you can see several crimson pennant flags flying on the front line of the US military.

"It seems that they suffered a heavy blow on Lanai Island last time, and they dare not fight back this time. Not even a single battalion charged the two-mile-wide front." Zhao Hanfeng, who had a nervous expression, breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's a little better than expected." Zhou Changfeng stretched his sore legs and said, "Hurry up and send the chariot up, and pay attention to evacuating the wounded."

[Chris's illustration is out! According to the previous voting results, Zhou is far inferior to Chris. 乐.jpg]

(End of this chapter)