Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 600 Kamikaze Expendables

The Japanese garrison on Okinawa is the 32nd Army, which has 4 divisions and 2 brigades, as well as some naval ground forces and marines, with a total strength of about 9.8.Lieutenant General Tanaka Jiuichi personally led the 9th, 24th, 62nd and independent 44th brigades to sit in the defensive area centered on Shuri, preparing to use "special attack" operations at sea and in the air to greatly weaken the Chinese navy. fleet, and then concentrate superior firepower on the beachhead.

However, after the fourth formation of the Nanyang Fleet arrived in the combat sea area, it did not prepare to directly attack the main island of Okinawa, but set its first target on the Kerama Islands and surrounding islands.This time they concentrated a water force consisting of 2 warships, a "Typhoon" class aircraft carrier, 5 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, and 23 destroyers, as the sea and air cover force of the landing fleet.The ground troops participating in the landing operations included the 11th and 12th Wings of the Marine Corps, and the army had the 2nd Army of the Sun Hunter Squadron. The total strength of the ground troops was about 6.The commander-in-chief of the campaign is Chen Shaokuan, deputy chief of staff of the Nanyang Fleet.The landing date is finally determined to be October 10, but before that, one or two islands must be cleared out as the starting point and advance base for the landing force, and at the same time, it can also be used for logistical supplies and repairs of battle damage during the battle.Therefore, Chen Shaokuan set his sights on Kerama Islands and Ie Island. On October 17, the air force bomber group took off from Taoyuan Airport, bombed the above two islands for a long time, completely destroyed the Japanese positions on the islands, and destroyed most of the suicide planes on the ground, which greatly reduced the pressure of the landing fleet. pressure.After the bombing was over, the various warships covering the fleet bombarded the two islands at close range.When it got dark, tens of thousands of shells were poured on the island.The Japanese army on the island had little combat effectiveness at this time.

In the early morning of the 12th, Chen Shaokuan sent three waves of landing troops to attack the beachheads of the two islands. Without much resistance, they successfully landed on the beachheads at 9:30.Since the main force of the Japanese army is located on Okinawa Island, the troops in charge of the defense of these two islands are the troops composed of the aborigines of Ryukyu. The aborigines have a strong sense of identity with China. Therefore, the battle for the two islands is not very fierce.On the same day, the Chinese landing force basically wiped out the armed forces on the island.

The benefits of capturing these two islands are not only the possession of a forward base, but also the accidental discovery of hundreds of sea mines buried in the shallow sea area.After receiving this news, Chen Shaokuan immediately broke out in a cold sweat.Although the carrier-based fighter jets shot down more than 200 suicide planes during daytime battles, they did not have any psychological preparations for such a large-scale defense attack from under the sea.

Next, the main island of the Kerama Islands is Tokashiki Island, and there are five small islands in the west of it, forming the Kerama Strait.The sea is wide and the water depth is tens of meters. Water defense nets can also be deployed at both ends of the strait to form a natural wind-sheltered anchorage.Hundreds of ships can be accommodated in the entire strait, so there is an excellent advance base near the landing site.

Since the 15th, various minesweepers of the Chinese fleet have been used to clear the waterway, and frogmen have also arrived at the beachhead, blasting various obstacles one by one.In order to prevent China's clean-up operations, a large number of Japanese artillery also bombarded the sea.However, since there were no large-caliber artillery, there was no threat to all these warships of the Chinese Navy. This also allowed a large number of light cruisers and destroyers in the Chinese fleet to cross the cleared channel and approach the shore to suppress the Japanese artillery fire.

At this time, the notorious kamikaze also appeared in batches. Although these planes are not too fast, with a speed of less than 500 kilometers per hour, they are superior in number.The main target of the suicide planes was not small targets like minesweepers clearing the waterway, but the heart of the Chinese fleet: the aircraft carrier Typhoon and the battleship Yangwei.

The first batch of Japanese kamikazes consisted of about 150 planes, formed a dense formation, and rushed towards the Chinese fleet not far away.Chen Shaokuan gave an order, and the carrier-based fighter jets also took off urgently to intercept them in the air.However, although these pilots of the Japanese army have just learned to fly, they have already made up their minds to die, and even their purpose is to exchange death for the price of Chinese casualties.They are not afraid of the shooting of Chinese fighter jets, and they are not even afraid of the dangerous maneuvers that Chinese fighter jets will almost collide with, and they always maintain their formation.

As the saying goes: if one man lays down his life, ten thousand generals will be defeated.In this way, it is difficult for the Chinese Warhawks to effectively use their air tactics. At first, they wanted to break up the formation of the Japanese suicide fleet by bravely attacking, and then clean up one by one. But now, these deadly suicide planes, It will even take the initiative to hit Chinese fighter jets.In desperation, they had no choice but to keep thinning the formation around them.Facing the desperate rookie pilots, every Chinese pilot is extremely nervous, no one wants their plane to collide with each other, and they die together with some perverted crazy person, that is simply a shame for them. a shame.

However, in such a chaotic swarm, tragedy may happen at any time.After a while, huge sparks appeared in the sky, and the shattered fragments flew everywhere.There is no self-enclosed fuel tank, and half of the fuel tank is filled with TNT explosives. A Lanxiang fighter was hit from behind by a plane, and the plane immediately turned into a mass of burning flames. The huge explosion also made three nearby planes The suicide plane and a Chinese fighter jet were detonated and fell.

In the nearly one-hour battle, although nearly a hundred suicide planes were shot down, this wave of attacks did not end. The remaining about 60 suicide planes soon flew over the landing fleet. Start intercepting these planes.At a distance of 5 kilometers, the anti-aircraft artillery shells with fuzes, such as 105 mm and 76 mm, have a very good killing effect. The shrapnel produced after the shell explodes can easily cut off various pipelines and oil passages on the aircraft. Of course, China at this time The fighter jets were also far away from the area of ​​action of the anti-aircraft artillery shells.

Long-range anti-aircraft artillery intercepted about half of the suicide planes, but about 30 aircraft still flew close to the fleet and began to maneuver in a dive route.The various 40mm anti-aircraft guns on the fleet also began to roar, forming a barrage of barrages in front of the kamikaze squad.The anti-aircraft guns aimed by radar are far more accurate than manual aiming. The Kamikaze was shot down 25 before entering the dive route.

However, there were still 6 planes that escaped unharmed, and began to dive on the cruiser Kaiji, which was the outermost part of the fleet.The captain of the Kaiji ordered an immediate emergency evasion, and more than a dozen anti-aircraft guns on the ship fired violently at the suicide plane. Two suicide planes were shot down as soon as they entered the dive, and the third one exploded in the air when it was hundreds of meters away from the warship.The fourth plunged headlong into the sea forward of the bow, but the fifth made a breakthrough, hitting the side of the ship, destroying several anti-aircraft gun emplacements and detonating the anti-aircraft charge.

The deadliest was the sixth plane, which had already caught fire and exploded before it hit the flight deck.All kinds of debris and fuel killed nearly half of the people on the deck and ignited the upper tower on the warship.The fire quickly burned to the lower floors along the passage, and many soldiers inside were burned to death.Seeing that the Kaiji was in danger of exploding, the captain immediately organized the sailors to evacuate the ship. At the same time, several steel fragments from the explosion pierced into the back of his head, and he fell to the ground without groaning.

Fortunately, two destroyers not far away rushed to the rescue, and more than 4 surviving people on the ship left Kaiji safely. At this time, the raging fire had wrapped the entire warship into a huge fireball, and there were one or two explosions from time to time. Within half an hour, the Kaiji sank into the sea with more than 300 corpses.

Chen Shaokuan was furious after learning the news of the sinking of the Kaiji, and immediately ordered the air force's bomber fleet to carry out carpet bombing of all airports on Okinawa Island.In the next half day, Lanxiang dive bombers and Sirius strategic bombers dispatched 300 sorties, dropped 100 tons of various explosive and incendiary bombs, and completely destroyed the four airports on Okinawa Island.

However, the kamikaze still hid some suicide planes in the jungle or bushes, entered a dormant state, and prepared to wait for the opportunity to launch another suicide attack.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Chen Shaokuan decided to launch a landing operation after discussing with Feng Linge, commander of the 2nd Army of the Sun Hunter Squad. On October 10, all warships were replenished with ammunition, and all tanks were ready to swim. On October 18, all landing troops arrived at the designated starting point for assembly.

At 4 o'clock in the morning on this day, under the guidance of flares and Falcon reconnaissance planes, hundreds of cannons from dozens of warships roared at the same time, carrying out three consecutive strikes at the scheduled landing sites such as Watanabe, Kadena, Chatan and Isa. hours of shelling.Then, several rocket launchers on the landing ship fired at the beach again.

Simultaneously with the bombardment, the first wave of landing operations began.

The landing officers and soldiers on the landing ship began to board various landing craft along the rope net on the side of the hull, and drove to the beach at a speed of 8 knots.Soon after, the landing troops boarded the beachhead, and the mortars and heavy machine guns that survived the Japanese underground fortifications not far away also opened fire immediately, causing heavy casualties to the landing troops.12th Squadron of the Marine Corps as the first wave of landing forces.On the beach without any cover, they had to bite the bullet and launch a strong attack.Fortunately, the firepower of this team is extremely strong.Soldiers successfully suppressed the underground artillery positions with individual rocket launchers and recoilless guns, and snipers also killed many Japanese loaders.

By 3 o'clock in the afternoon, a total of three waves of landing troops came ashore, with a total of 2 divisions and a brigade of troops, enough to establish a relatively strong beachhead.

At this time, the 12th team has occupied the ruined Kadena Airport.At the same time, the long-planned counterattack by the Japanese army suddenly began. Japanese soldiers from five regiments charged towards the beachhead that the Marine Corps had just established.Although under the powerful naval gun fire, its follow-up troops could not follow up at all, but because the Japanese army charged very suddenly, about 5 Japanese regiments still rushed to the position.The two sides immediately launched a hand-to-hand combat.

(End of this chapter)