afterglow

Chapter 620: Widow Cannon! Kill her quickly; don’t be happy too soon

There is no doubt that launching a counterattack on the beach during an anti-landing operation is extremely risky. Any slight mistake will result in casualties and a waste of manpower.

The lessons of the Battle of Lanai were still fresh in our minds, where we nearly failed.

If the two subsequent companies had not been blocked by artillery fire, and if the Ming army's anti-aircraft cruisers had not risked providing support... then it is very likely that the Ming army that had already landed would have been successfully driven into the sea.

Unfortunately, there is no "if" in history, and the failure of the counterattack on the Lanai beach will eventually become a typical case.

Lieutenant General Simon Buckner learned this lesson and gave up the idea of ​​deploying troops to launch a beach counterattack from the very beginning.

It is obvious that the US military does not have the courage and determination to carry out another counterattack operation in which there will be a risk of death and three lives.

At 7:45, Beachheads A75 and A81 were successfully occupied and the beachhead positions were cleared. However, the landing site was constantly under artillery fire from multiple directions, with shells of various calibers including 105mm, 107mm, 155mm, mm and mm hitting continuously.

The wider landing front than before dispersed the troops, and the losses suffered by the 5th and 6th Battalions were far lower than expected, with only about 200 casualties in total, of which less than 40 were killed, so that the staff officers all smiled at this surprise.

Only the 4th Battalion, which was responsible for capturing the Jiayi Beach, suffered heavy casualties. The breakwater seriously hindered and slowed down the pace of the assault and landing, so that the officers and soldiers had to wade through chest-deep water to move forward.

They received special attention. The several hundred meters of water between the breakwater and the beach was filled with the remains of fallen officers and soldiers. Nearly half of them were injured or killed, and the battalion commander died of his injuries.

Despite the difficulties, they still wiped out the enemy in front of them, took out more than a dozen bunkers and reinforced firepower points, captured the US military's beachhead in this area, and reportedly killed more than 30 enemies.

Afterwards, an infantry unit temporarily assembled from the scattered officers and soldiers of the second and third squads was given the task of destroying the hateful mortar positions.

There is a small cape to the northwest of Sugar Beach, or Jiayi Beach. The cape is slightly higher, and the U.S. military chose a low-lying area next to it and built a solid mortar position.

The bunker is a circular pit. After digging the pit, empty oil barrels filled with mud and sand are stacked around the edges to form a circle. Then the "barrel wall" is buried with soil, and then a layer of sandbags is piled on top.

In addition to this open-air bunker, the mortar position also has several underground ammunition depots and shelters, each of which is connected by serpentine trenches.

This area belongs to the defense zone of the 27th Infantry Regiment of the 105th "New York" Infantry Division of the US Army. They deployed the six 107mm heavy mortars of the regimental headquarters company here.

This weapon, also known as the 4.2-inch chemical mortar, is an alternative rifled mortar that was originally designed to fire poison gas bombs. In actual combat, the U.S. military generally uses it to fire white phosphorus incendiary bombs and high-explosive bombs. The latter weighs 11.4 kg and is loaded with 3.87 kg of TNT, which is more powerful than the high-explosive bombs of the 105 mm howitzer.

【Picture】

This mortar position had a geographical advantage, and the Ming fleet found it difficult to completely eliminate it. After repeated bombardments, they only destroyed three bunkers.

The few remaining mortars were the main culprits that caused heavy casualties to the First Battalion. In fact, half of the First Battalion's personnel losses were caused by them. Until now, they are still unscrupulously firing at the A1 and A2 beaches.

"The damn widow cannon is still firing!"

"I'll kill all these bastards later!"

The soldiers gnashed their teeth and wanted to kill him as soon as possible.

Revenge! Blood debt must be paid with blood!
People call these mortars widow guns as a pun, because the sound of their shells breaking through the air is a "woooo" sound, like a woman crying; another reason is that their power is so enormous that every explosion means a few more widows in the homeland thousands of miles away.

The infantry squad of sixteen men set out from the captured American beachhead and marched westward along the trenches.

The style of the US military is still reflected here. As always, the US military does not like long continuous trenches, but rather small sections of trenches forming horseshoe-shaped positions.

The sound of artillery fire was getting closer and closer, and the estimated straight-line distance was less than 200 meters.

"Take a few people and set up the machine guns there to provide cover, and the rest of you follow me."

"to make!"

Although this squad was a temporary assembly of scattered soldiers without any organization, they were well-organized. The highest-ranking warrant officer handed over the command to the most experienced sergeant.

The warrant officer led the three men to a dirt ridge several dozen meters away and quickly set up two Type 33 light machine guns.

The sergeant was carrying a lot of grenades, both Ming and American made, a total of ten grenades, and the magazine of the automatic rifle in his hand was tied back with tape.

The twelve men approached quietly in a dispersed formation until someone stepped on an anti-infantry mine.

"Bang-boom!"

The encounter broke out suddenly, and the heavy machine guns at the US mortar position began firing without thinking.

The US artillery is well equipped with light weapons, including not only carbines but also heavy machine guns. Its self-defense firepower is powerful, which is also its distinctive feature.

The Ming Army Marines were not afraid. Now that the distance was very close, the soldiers lying on the ground took turns throwing grenades and smoke grenades to suppress the enemy's firepower points.

"Ready! Charge!"

They quickly got up and leaped forward, throwing grenades at the first "pit" as they moved.

Before the smoke from the explosion had dissipated, several figures jumped in nimbly, and the American artillerymen, who were either dead or wounded, were shot to death before they could react.

It happened that two enemy soldiers were rushing over along the communication trench. One of them was shot dead immediately, and the other raised his gun to fight.

The sergeant rushed forward and smashed the carbine out of the enemy's hand with the butt of his rifle. Then he pulled out a bayonet from his waist and stabbed it into the enemy's abdomen. After pulling it out, he stabbed it into his neck.

The bright red arterial blood gushed out like a small fountain!
The soldiers ran straight to the next bunker without stopping.

First they threw a grenade, then rushed in and fired short bursts of fire. In several places, hand-to-hand combat even broke out!

When three soldiers broke into a mortar bunker, they encountered seven or eight enemy soldiers. After a brief exchange of fire, both sides suffered casualties.

In a flash, the remaining two people, Li Jian and Ding Yongyi, fought with the remaining three enemies.

You punch me and I punch you, you kick me and I kick you. In this situation, there is no time to think about fighting skills and you can only rely on muscle memory to deal with it.

During the scuffle, Ding Yongyi was outnumbered two at a time. The tall American artilleryman held him tightly, and the other enemy soldier hurried to pick up the carbine that had fallen to the ground.

Ding Yongyi pulled out his bayonet and killed the tall enemy soldier who was entangled with him. He had no time to stop him and could only shout: "Li Jian! The bastard is picking up the gun!"

Li Jian, who had two teeth knocked out, heard it and kicked the enemy soldier's arm, causing the carbine to fall back to the ground.

However, Li Jian's distraction exposed his flaw. The American artilleryman who was fighting with him took the opportunity to step back a few steps, distance himself, pulled out his pistol and fired six shots at Li Jian.

At this moment, Ding Yongyi had dealt with the enemy soldier who had tried to pick up the gun before. Seeing this, he rushed forward with his bayonet in anger.

The last .45ACP pistol bullet fired by the enemy soldier smashed into the 2.5mm surface-hardened steel plate of the individual protective gear. Ding Yongyi stabbed him in the abdomen with a knife, then dragged him to the ground and stabbed him in the throat again.

The fight in the corner was over, and the circular bunker was filled with corpses from both sides.

To the southeast of the mortar position, a warrant officer led three soldiers to ambush a U.S. Army squad that was trying to reinforce them. Amid the sound of "da da da", two light machine guns fired short bursts of fatal machine gun bullets into the distance, and the enemy soldiers retreated in a panic after leaving many corpses behind...

This hastily assembled detachment of the 4th Battalion of the 2nd Marine Regiment effectively eliminated the mortar position at the cape of Sujia Beach, which posed a great threat, killing and capturing more than 40 enemies and seizing a number of guns and artillery.

At 8:33, Jiayi Beach finally settled down.

In the temporary command post, the acting battalion commander reported the progress to Fa Zhenghao with the radio carried by the communications soldier, indicating that they had occupied the landing site and eliminated the enemy in front of them, but the 4th Battalion suffered heavy losses and was unable to advance in depth.

Due to limited manpower, the Ming army at the Jiaer and Jiasan beaches did not advance deep into the enemy territory on a large scale, but only sent out reinforced platoon-level infantry units for combat reconnaissance.

"The enemy's defense on the front line is so weak that it can only be considered a symbolic resistance," said a lieutenant colonel staff officer.

"This also shows that the U.S. military is determined to fight a protracted war." Zhou Changfeng drew an oval on the map with a red pencil and said, "Just like the aerial photos, the main resistance position is five miles deep."

Zhao Hanfeng looked up at him thoughtfully and asked, "Should we continue to attack the main axis as planned?"

"We still need to make some changes." Zhou Changfeng pondered for a few seconds and ordered: "Make some changes to the original plan, but keep the route unchanged. Postpone the time of the attack. The 603rd Heavy Tank Team will also join the reserve team and be on guard against the US military's counterattack."

From a tactical point of view, the first priority is to capture the bottleneck area and cut off the connection between the US troops on the east and west sides of Maui.

The US military is certainly aware of this and will most likely launch a pincer attack when the Ming army advances in depth, encircling and attacking the Ming army on the main axis.

At 9:23, the second echelon, which was eight minutes late - the st Marine Regiment and the rd Independent Tank Battalion, began to land; the st Special Service Battalion of the Navy began to assemble a temporary floating dock with prefabricated pontoons.

At 11:30, the third echelon - the rest of the st Marine Brigade and the th Ocean-going Mixed Brigade went ashore; a floating dock was bombed by US aircraft.

At 11:41, the battleship Yuanding was directly hit by an aerial bomb and was slightly damaged by six near misses; the landing ship Xuzhou was sunk.

At 11:45, based on the feedback from combat reconnaissance, the Ming army units began to advance in shallow and deep areas and open up new defensive positions in front of the landing site.

At 12:30, the Ming army converted the frontier positions left by the U.S. troops into their own reserve positions, stopped briefly to eat some rations, and then continued to advance.

At 14:45, the Ming army units on the entire front line advanced an average of about two kilometers. Zhou Changfeng thought that this was enough for the time being and ordered the troops to defend on the spot.

At 15:30, in accordance with his orders, the various Ming army units met up on the left and right sides to communicate, established mutual contact, flattened the battle line, and eliminated the salient.

At 15:59, the frigate Aicao was hit by five near-misses and quickly capsized and sank; the minesweeper Wuwei was seriously damaged; the landing ships Huizhou and Pizhou were slightly damaged.

By evening, the 751st Ocean-going Mixed Brigade, the 16th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, and the 9th Assault Tank Battalion landed one after another.

At this point, almost all of the more than 20,000 people of the First Landing Army had already stood on the land of Maui, except for the motor vehicle regiment and some service personnel.

The Hawaii Air Force of the Ming Air Force made every effort to carry out the blocking mission, and the naval fleet also spared no effort to provide artillery support to the other side.

This greatly hindered the actions of the US artillery, causing the actual firepower projection of the US military to be nearly half lower than planned, which effectively guaranteed the progress of the landing operation and significantly reduced the losses of their own personnel and equipment.

The Ming army's ground forces suffered 366 deaths and 1015 injuries; the Ming army's naval forces suffered 240 deaths and 932 injuries.

舰艇部队损失登陆舰2艘、护卫舰2艘，另有13艘舰艇不同程度损伤；航空兵部队损失战斗机34架、轰炸机19架、侦察机1架。

"It's one third less than the estimated number. That's cause for celebration." A staff officer said thankfully.

"Don't be too happy too soon." Zhou Changfeng twirled his pen while staring at the sand table, and casually ordered: "Send some small teams to try to infiltrate, and also ask the dock to transfer more explosives."

At this time, the communications staff came to report and conveyed the fleet commander's reminder.

"General Zou said that we should be careful and alert at night. The enemy may send night-flying planes and ships to launch a surprise attack."

"it is good."

Although it went more smoothly than expected, Zhou Changfeng couldn't be happy.

It might not be a bad thing if the US military launched a massive counterattack. Losing manpower early would mean that things would be much easier next time. It would be difficult to shrink the troops and defend cautiously now.

An unexpected battle broke out at midnight.

A squad from the 1st Marine Brigade's Reconnaissance Battalion found a weak joint and successfully infiltrated it.

They ambushed a passing jeep and wanted to capture the person alive, but failed. The American lieutenant pulled the trigger desperately and exposed himself after a gunshot.

The encounter happened inexplicably, and the US military sent a patrol team to find out what happened, and the Ming army sent a platoon to respond.

After a moment of fierce shooting, both sides, who were fighting hard, called for reinforcements at the same time.

Thus, the tactic of adding fuel to the fire came into being.

The small battle involving less than a hundred people turned into a night battle involving nearly a thousand people in an hour!

The U.S. military first sent out four armored vehicles and seven Stuart light tanks, and the Ming army also hurriedly dispatched tanks after suffering a setback.

The battle was extremely fierce. It was the first time such an intense battle had occurred since the Battle of Maui. The flares fired by the Ming and American armies were floating over their heads.

Four Type 37 medium tanks destroyed several US armored vehicles in succession, and they themselves were either destroyed or damaged. Fortunately, Stuart's 50mm tank gun could not penetrate the mm inclined armor on the front of the Type . The only one lost was destroyed by a US tank that quietly went around to the side.

The fierce night battle lasted until 4:3 on April 2. Xue Can realized that the battle should not continue to escalate like this, so he ordered a retreat.

At this time, the American lieutenant captured by the officers and soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion of that squad was already dead.

In the special room in the lower cabin of the Fazheng, Zhou Changfeng, who was sleeping in his clothes, woke up. He covered his eyes and asked, "What time is it? How long have I slept?"

"It's half past two, and you've only been asleep for more than half an hour, Commander."

"What did I just hear in my dream about 'calling to ask about progress'?"

The guards could not answer. Zhao Hanfeng happened to come over after hearing the news and said in surprise, "Yes, the palace called to ask about the battle situation. Please call back in the morning. Your Excellency, you should have a rest. It's not even the hour of the tiger yet."

Zhou Changfeng nodded and said, "Well, I'll sleep a little longer..."

Before he finished speaking, two gunshots were heard from the direction of the Honeysuckle frigate not far away.

On the sea, several searchlights were moving and searching, and the cannon-fired flares fired by the Honeysuckle illuminated the waters!

[Today's photo - Ma Run's hip-shot water-cooled Browning. ]

(End of this chapter)