Age of Rebirth

The Battle of the Korean Peninsula is divided into three battlefields, one is Incheon, the other is the mountains, and the third is Mokpo. The key battlefield is Mokpo at the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula. General Tanaka Shin, the commander of the Japanese Korean Garrison, abandoned Incheon The troops to the north and the troops to the south of Incheon were all concentrated in the direction of Busan, Gwangju, and Mokpo. It seemed that they had no choice but to shrink in the face of the three-way attack of the hundreds of thousands of troops from the Southeast Mobile Corps.

But the actual effect is very obvious. The Japanese army on the line from Busan to Mokpo has become stronger than ever. More than two-thirds of the Korean garrison troops are concentrated in this direction, which has become a hard nut to crack. On the other hand, it is backed by the Japanese mainland and can receive continuous reinforcements. Mokpo is also the new general of Tanaka, the bridgehead of the Pusan ​​defense line. It is strange that he does not fight his old life.

Ma Chaoyang has a very clear grasp of all this. In terms of the situation of the Japanese army in front of him, there are more than 6 troops concentrated on the line from Busan to Mokpo. Timely reinforcements from the Japanese army in Gwangju can be obtained at any time, so Ma Chaoyang knows that the battle of Mokpo cannot be rushed.

From the point of view of the comparison of troops, the Southeast Mobile Corps attacking Mokpo has four brigades, plus three brigades of the Marine Corps, and the seven brigades have a total of 12 people. Compared with the Japanese army, they are at a disadvantage, but Shinichi Tanaka needs to defend The main point is not only Mokpo, but also Gwangju and Busan. Therefore, the number of troops that can be used in the direction of Mokpo will not exceed 10. This was carefully calculated by the staff of the Southeast Mobile Corps when the plan was drawn up. .

After fighting for a whole day, the troops commanded by Ma Chaoyang successfully penetrated the Japanese defensive position at Mokpo Port, forcing the Japanese army to retreat to the second line of defense. All 10,000+ troops went ashore and consolidated the beachhead.To the west of Mokpo, there was a confrontation with the Japanese army.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Ma Chaoyang got off the landing command ship and walked slowly onto Mokpo Beach. On the clean beach in the past, there were pools of bloodstains, which were vividly visible. The rising tide of the sea continuously washed the bloodstains into the sea, and the sea breeze gradually rise.But the smell of gunpowder smoke could not be blown away. Bullet craters, broken guns, broken arms, and everything on the battlefield can be seen everywhere on the beach.It all explained the intensity of the battle just now.

Colonel Xu Guangqi, Chief of Staff of the Corps.Come up from behind. "Reporting to the commander, the casualties of each unit have been counted. The ninth brigade has more than 870 casualties, of which 420 were killed in action. The tenth brigade suffered more than 11 casualties, of which 380 were killed. People, the No.12 Brigade suffered more than 310 casualties. Among them, [-] were killed in action, and the No.[-] Brigade suffered more than [-] casualties, of which [-] and five were killed.

"According to statistics, the four brigades we participated in the offensive had a total of more than 92 casualties, of which [-] were killed! About two-thirds of the casualties occurred during the beach landing stage!" Said At this point, Xu Guangqi's voice sank, and a look of sadness appeared on his face.

Ma Zhaoyang took a breath and did not speak, but the muscles on his cheeks were twitching uncontrollably. In just one day of fighting, the casualties exceeded half of the main brigade. Nearly 9000 casualties and 2000 were killed in one day. Within the period, such huge casualties were unprecedented in the combat history of the Southeast Mobile Corps. Ma Chaoyang's heart was bleeding, and the pain was almost broken.

The sunset faded away the last ray of light, and night fell. Ma Chaoyang stood on the beach, like a sculpture, motionless for a long time. The sea water of the evening tide rushed up one after another, and wet his trousers. Xu Guangqi reminded worriedly: "Commander, Go ashore, the tide is rising!"

"Chief of Staff, how many troops should we annihilate the Japanese army?" Ma Chaoyang asked suddenly.

Xu Guangqi was silent for a while, and replied: "According to the statistics of various brigades, the number of Japanese troops annihilated is about [-]!"

Ma Chaoyang sighed a long time, "The casualty ratio of one to one, this is still in the air supremacy and the naval gun fire support on the sea, if there are no such favorable conditions, the casualties of our regiment will be much greater, By the way, Chief of Staff, why did the Ninth Brigade suffer so many casualties? It accounted for more than one-third of the total casualties, what did Hao Jiasheng do? Is this how he commanded the war?"

Ma Chaoyang's voice was a little angry, and two brigades were launched to land on the beach at the same time. The casualties of the tenth brigade were only more than [-] people. Only the ninth brigade suffered such huge casualties, which is very abnormal. The ninth brigade Brigadier Hao Jiasheng must take responsibility!

Regarding this situation, when the casualty statistics were made after the war, Chief of Staff Xu Guangqi personally went to the Ninth Brigade to understand the situation. Seeing that the commander was angry because of such heavy casualties in the Ninth Brigade, he explained: "Commander, the [-]th Brigade The casualties of the Ninth Brigade happened for a reason, according to the battle plan, when the offensive started, although two brigades were launched at the same time, due to the limited topographical conditions of Mokpo Port, it was actually the first wave of offensive launched by the Ninth Brigade!"

"The Tenth Brigade and the two subsequent brigades attacked after the Ninth Brigade. Although the aviation bombers and naval guns destroyed all the surface positions of the Japanese army, there are still many underground fortifications left by the Japanese army. Therefore, the Ninth Brigade suffered such huge casualties. When I went to the Ninth Brigade to find out the situation, Brigadier Hao Jiasheng also said that he was willing to take command responsibility because the troops suffered too many casualties!"

What else can Ma Chaoyang say? He knows Hao Jiasheng and is a very capable commander. He doesn't want to see such huge casualties in the Ninth Brigade. After all, those are his soldiers. The biggest casualty is a normal phenomenon, unless the sea and air firepower completely destroys the Japanese beachhead defense positions. Looking at it now, it is obvious that this effect has not been achieved.

It wasn't that the aviation bombers or the naval guns of the warships were weak, but that the Japanese army's underground defense system survived the first wave of bombing and shelling. The Ninth Brigade was the first to bear the brunt of the Japanese counterattack. Fortunately, the troops After paying such heavy casualties, they finally won the beachhead of the Japanese army. After all the troops landed, there will be no such heavy casualties in the future.

Ma Chaoyang walked onto the beach with heavy steps, leaving two rows of deep footprints behind him, but was quickly smoothed by the tide, "Chief of Staff, are there any casualties in the three brigades of the Marine Corps?" He was very abrupt asked.

Xu Guangqi replied: "No, the three brigades of the Marine Corps assigned to our corps landed in the last wave. At that time, the first attacking troops had already captured the Japanese beachhead! Fighting It's already over!"

Ma Chaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed right that the marines were not allowed to participate in the beach landing battle with the most casualties. Those were the three precious main brigades of Hantie, assigned to him. With Han Tie's temperament, can he spare himself?

The two of them had just landed, when more than a dozen figures came facing them. Ma Chaoyang's guards hurriedly took a vigilant posture. When the figures approached, Ma Chaoyang recognized them as Chen Mengqiao, the commander of the first brigade of the Marine Corps, and Chen Mengqiao, the commander of the second brigade. Li Bohan, commander of the third brigade, and Xiao Jinting, commander of the third brigade, followed by more than a dozen guards, were coming from the opposite side.

Ma Chaoyang rushed up to meet him, and before he could speak, the three brigade commanders of the Marine Corps stood in front of him in unison, raising their hands in salute, with serious expressions on their faces. Asked: "Three brigade commanders, what happened?"

Chen Mengqiao, commander of the [-]st Brigade of the Marine Corps, was obviously the spokesperson. He finished his salute neatly and said, "Commander Ma, on behalf of the other two brigade commanders of the Marine Corps, I would like to express my opinion to you!"

Ma Chaoyang was stunned, not knowing why, but he still said: "Brigade Commander Chen, if you have any comments, just say it, you know everything, and you can talk endlessly, I, Ma Chaoyang, am not a tiger's butt!"

Chen Mengqiao said: "Commander Ma, our three brigades are assigned to the Southeast Mobile Corps' combat sequence, and they belong to your troops. There should be no distinction between distant and close relatives. However, in today's beach landing operation, you are Arrange our troops to go ashore in the last wave. After we go ashore, the battle is over. The three of us think that this is unfair to us!"

"Commander Ma, we understand your good intentions, but as a soldier, you are contemptuous of us by doing so. Just now, Brigadier Li and Brigadier Xiao and I went to the troops of Brigadier Hao of the Ninth Brigade After looking at it, there were a lot of casualties, and we felt distressed when we saw it!"

"Commander Ma, please forgive Chen Mengqiao for speaking bluntly. Your deployment is obviously inappropriate. The main combat goal of our Marine Corps is the island landing battle. For beach landing operations, we have been specially trained and are our directors. Among them, the Japanese army is our target, if any of the three of our troops were replaced by any of our three troops in today's beach landing battle, there would not be such a large number of casualties!"

"Commander Ma, I am a straightforward person. When we arrived, our Commander Han also made a special statement. Not to mention other battles, you must plead with Commander Ma to let your troops go up here. In that case, the casualties would be much smaller! However, you did not arrange for our troops, so we are here to give you advice! Commander Ma, treat us like you treat the troops of the Southeast Mobile Corps!"

Chen Mengqiao's eloquence was good, his tone was a little trembling because of his excitement, his words were not violent, but his meaning was very clear, I hope that Commander Ma Chaoyang will not be afraid of heavy casualties just because he is a member of the Marine Corps. Dare to let go and use boldly.

Although Chen Mengqiao and others came to offer opinions, Ma Chaoyang did not feel disgusted at all. On the contrary, there was a surge of enthusiasm in his heart, saying that Chen Mengqiao and others came to offer opinions, but in fact, they came to ask for a fight!

(to be continued) (to be continued...)