New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

Regarding when to attack Iwo Jima, Ron thought the sooner the better.

"Fuel-air bombs are not so effective at all times. According to the experience in Europe, as long as certain modifications are made to the fortifications, its effectiveness can be greatly reduced." Ron explained, "This kind of bomb is very effective. The lethality of underground fortifications comes from two points. One is that the fuel gas can penetrate into the enemy's underground fortifications and explode, and the other is that such bombs can cause severe hypoxia in a large area, which will cause the enemy to suffocate to death. The Germans adopted the perfect underground fortifications The airtightness of the airtightness and the preparation of oxygen cylinders for soldiers to breathe for more than ten minutes can greatly reduce the effectiveness of this bomb.”

Speaking of this, Ron raised his head, looked at General Smith, and continued: "The Germans and the Japanese are allies. It should be easy for the Japanese to learn about the German experience from the Germans. But in the Philippines , we found no signs of the Japanese taking similar measures, as if they had never received relevant warnings. From this we judge that the Japanese did not receive relevant information, or did not receive relevant information after receiving relevant information. However, it is hard to imagine that after World War I in the Philippines, the Japanese army could continue to ignore the changes brought about by this weapon. Whether they researched it themselves or asked the Germans, they should be able to quickly understand this bomb The mechanism, and take corresponding measures. However, the implementation of these measures will take time. The faster our attack, the shorter the time left for the enemy to modify, the better for us.”

Both General Smith and General Spruance agreed with Ron's judgment, but such a large battle does not mean that it can be launched immediately.However, the fleet completed its mission in the Philippines one month ahead of schedule, which gave the fleet the opportunity to complete preparations for attacking Iwo Jima ahead of schedule.As for Smith's Marine Corps, according to Smith, the Marine Corps can always complete combat preparations in the shortest possible time.

"We Marines can go to war at any time," General Smith said.

……

The super industrial capabilities of the United States are undoubtedly revealed in the preparations for this battle.In just a little more than a week, except for some seriously injured warships that had to return to the United States for overhaul, other warships quickly repaired the damage suffered in the Philippines, replenished fuel and ammunition, except for the sailors of the fleet who were still a little tired Besides, the entire fleet is basically ready.At the same time, more newly built warships have also joined the fleet.Spruance estimated that it would be a day or two at most before the fleet could strike again.

At the same time, the transport fleet used to carry marines and various combat materials was also ready.All kinds of combat materials have begun to be loaded.At the same time, more than ten U.S. submarines also began to shift towards the route from Iwo Jima to the Japanese mainland. They will monitor this route, attack Japanese transport ships passing here, and cut off the Japanese army's supplies.

The Pacific War was a war of aircraft carriers as well as a war of submarines. In this war, those little guys with a displacement of less than a thousand tons played no less role than the aircraft carrier. In the war, they not only sank a large number of Japanese The transport ship almost paralyzed the Japanese army's shipping, and also sank a large number of Japanese warships, including targets such as fleet aircraft carriers and heavy cruisers.In terms of the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk, their results are no less than those of the aircraft carriers.Today, under the condition that the Japanese combined fleet has been basically destroyed, such a submarine team is enough to cut off the sea transportation line from Japan to Iwo Jima.

……

Just as Ron expected, the Japanese army on Iwo Jima was renovating their fortifications on a large scale.In the past, on the issue of how to prevent the landing of the US military, the Japanese navy and army had a very normal dispute.The Navy believes that the enemy should be blocked on the beachhead.Because, once the U.S. troops landed on Iwo Jima, the Japanese army would absolutely not be able to drive the U.S. troops into the sea.In this way, reinforcements from the US military came in a steady stream, and the loss of the island became inevitable.Therefore, if you want to defend Iwo Jima, you cannot let even a big-toed leather boot of an American soldier set foot on the beach of Iwo Jima.

However, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi of the Army stationed on Iwo Jima did not agree with this view of the navy. He believed that in the face of the overwhelming firepower of the US military, sending troops to the beach to stop the Americans would be death.The geological conditions on the beach make it impossible to build strong enough fortifications there. The beaches of Iwo Jima are all made up of soft volcanic ash.There, not to mention building fortifications that can withstand the 406mm guns weighing one ton of battleships, it is almost impossible to build fortifications that can withstand the 500-pound bombs of US Navy bombers. It is also extremely difficult to fortify the 203mm guns of the Japanese, or the 152mm guns of the light cruisers. Even if the requirements for anti-guns are reduced to the 127mm guns of the destroyers, it is quite difficult.Stopping the enemy there means exposing yourself directly to the firepower of the powerful American fleet.Although Kuribayashi Tadamichi didn't know what size fleet would appear near Iwo Jima in the future, he was sure that the firepower of such a fleet would be extremely powerful.

In the end, relying on the higher rank of the army and the fact that most of the people on the island are from the army, Kuribayashi Tadamichi's opinion naturally prevailed.So he decided to use Mount Suribachi as the core position, the two airports as the main defensive areas, and the east and west beaches suitable for landing to set up defensive positions with permanent launch points and strong support points as the backbone. Under his auspices, The fortifications of the Japanese army were mostly based on underground tunnel positions. The concrete fortifications were organically combined with natural caves, and there were traffic trenches connected to each other.Most of the artillery positions are also built semi-underground. Although the firing range is sacrificed, the survivability under heavy bombardment is greatly improved.Artillery and communication networks are well protected.He led his men to almost hollow out the entire Mount Suribachi, and in some places the tunnels reached nine floors!In view of the combat characteristics of the U.S. military, Li Lin planted a large number of landmines deep on the beach. Machine guns, mortars, and anti-tank guns formed a dense firepower network. Minimize enemy damage.However, due to lack of time, in the original history, when the U.S. military launched an offensive, his fortification construction was only 70% completed, and there was no time to connect Suribachi and Wonsan with tunnels, which gave the U.S. military a chance to cut off their distance. opportunities for communication.

In this time and space, since the U.S. military started operations earlier, Kuribayashi Tadamichi was able to complete fewer fortifications.In addition, after the news of World War I in the Philippines came, Kuribayashi Tadamichi immediately devoted all his strength to how to improve the fortifications to counter the US fuel-air bombs.Compared with history, in this time and space, the fortifications of Iwo Jima are about 60.00% complete.And Tadamichi Kuribayashi soon got bad news-there was a problem with the transport fleet he was looking forward to.

……

The transport ship Taihe Maru was originally an ordinary bulk carrier with a standard displacement of 4300 tons. After the war broke out, this ship and all the sailors on board were requisitioned by the Japanese Army. This time, this ship and several other ships A boat, escorted by two destroyers, set off for Iwo Jima.

The current sea conditions are not good, and the wind and waves are very strong. On the ocean east of Japan, the waves are as high as [-] to [-] meters.If it was a peaceful era, the crew would definitely scold such a damned sea condition, and those shipowners who let them go to sea under such sea conditions.But now, all the crew members are happy about this, because such a wave will also affect the attack of the submarine, and it can greatly affect the navigation of the torpedo launched by the enemy submarine.

"It would be great if the waves reached 4 meters, and the danger of us being attacked by submarines would be even smaller." In the captain's room, the first mate Matsushima said to the captain.

"It's fine now." The plank leader replied, "I can still handle the sea conditions. If the waves are bigger, it will be too much for an old guy like me. Besides, the goods we loaded can't bear it." It’s not safe enough, it’s really not safe if it shakes too much.”

"Yes!" Matsushima also nodded. He knew that there was a lot of hydrogen peroxide on board. This thing is corrosive. If it shakes a little bit and leaks, it's no fun.In addition, there are ammunition on board, if these things are mixed with hydrogen peroxide, this... always makes people worry.

"Speaking of which, the smaller boats are better, even if it's the Chinese boat, they don't have these messy things on them, just a little bit of cement. Although their boats are small and shake more violently, at least, The things on it are reassuring." Matsushima said.

The Chinese ship that Matsushima mentioned was a small wooden structure boat of less than 800 tons requisitioned from the army after the occupation of Hong Kong.This kind of ship was originally used to run along the coast at most, but as more and more transport ships are continuously sunk, even this kind of ship has to be used to perform such quasi-ocean transportation tasks.

At this time, it was almost dusk, and a blood-red sun gradually sank behind the fleet, and the fleet was soon shrouded in darkness.

After dark, the wind and waves became much smaller.This further increases the possibility that the fleet will be attacked by US submarines.A strict blackout was implemented on all ships to guard against the possible presence of American submarines.But the plank master knew that this method was not very useful-there was moonlight tonight, which made the sky look very bright.The position of the submarine is much lower than that of the transport ship.So from the submarine's point of view, the bright sky is an excellent backdrop to set off the dark silhouettes of those transport ships very clearly.

In order to prevent collisions, a very dim red light that can only be seen at a short distance is still on on the transport ship.The careful manipulator of the wooden board followed the fleet and sailed in a "Z" shape on the dark sea.This can increase the difficulty of attacking possible enemy submarines.However, if this trick really works, Japan will not be sunk so many transport ships by American submarines.

"So, the safety of the transport fleet mainly depends on the escorting warships." While sighing, Muban turned his sight to the right, and he knew where a destroyer named Xuefeng was guarding their safety. .