Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 601 Okinawa "Occupied"

At the same time, the fourth and fifth waves of landing craft were also attacked by Japanese suicide patrol boats. 200 patrol boats loaded with explosives approached some of the larger landing craft at a speed of more than 40 knots.The firepower network composed of a large number of small landing craft cannot completely block the attack of numerous patrol boats.A total of 18 suicide patrol boats collided with their targets, sinking two 300-ton landing craft, seven smaller 7-ton landing craft, and injuring two larger landing craft.The Japanese army saw that the counterattack did not work in the face of the opponent's powerful firepower, and the remaining personnel quickly retreated to the depths of the jungle.

After nightfall, in order to break the Japanese army's attempt to attack at night, Chen Shaokuan ordered carrier-based aircraft and mortars to continuously launch flares into the air.During this process, the armored forces also began to land, and dozens of land-ship tanks, under the cover of hundreds of armored combat vehicles, advanced towards Mugang and Shuri.Due to the need to transport heavy equipment such as tanks, a large number of tank landing ships and large landing craft began to appear near the coast. This move immediately attracted the attention of the kamikaze squad. Dozens of Japanese suicide planes swarmed in. Fortunately, they performed reconnaissance missions. The pilots discovered the movement of the kamikaze in time, and the carrier-based aircraft immediately dispatched, and shot down the kamikaze one by one before they reached the sky above the landing site.

However, there were still two enemy planes that escaped the interception of fighter jets and launched an attack on a tank landing ship.The anti-aircraft firepower of the landing ship was far inferior to that of the combat ship. After shooting down one of them, the other could not be intercepted and hit the deck of the landing ship, causing three tanks to be blown up and the transport board to be broken. , the rest of the tanks could not leave the ship and had to return to the Kerama Islands for repairs.

The second wave of armored troops landed was an armored regiment. Dozens of Tiger Tiger tanks successfully landed. After a brief assembly and rest, they immediately attacked the Shuri position defended by the Japanese 9th Division.

Under the impact of the armored forces, the Japanese army, which was seriously lacking in various anti-tank weapons, quickly broke through its defense line.That afternoon, the Japanese hunting team occupied Shuri, and most of the 9th Division stationed here were wiped out.

After one day and one night, the total strength of the landing force has reached two divisions, about 3 people.Feng Linge divided the troops into two parts. One part went south, preparing to capture Naha, the capital of Okinawa, and the other part went north, preparing to break through the Japanese fortifications in Atsuta and Kinwu. There, there was the Japanese 24th Division. It is a mountainous area, where the most important troops of the Japanese army are deployed in the underground fortifications.

The 44th Brigade of the Japanese Army was stationed in Naha, but the terrain here is flat and there is no terrain to use, which is very suitable for the advance of armored troops.

On October 10, the armored troops easily tore through the Japanese defense line, and with the cooperation of the armored infantry, they occupied Naha.The remnants of the 24th Brigade set up a new line of defense in the Xiwuwu and Mowenren areas. Before they had any effect, they were wiped out in the jungle by the naval gunfire of the Chinese Navy.

At this point, the entire southern region of Okinawa is in the hands of the Sunhunters.

The northward attack encountered greater difficulties. The Japanese army was much less harmed by air strikes and artillery fire in the mountains and dense forests. Moreover, such terrain was not conducive to the advancement of the tanks of the Japanese hunting team, and it was also not conducive to the use of squadrons. firepower advantage.So until October 10, the Second Army was still unable to break through the Japanese positions. Feng Linge was so anxious that he hurriedly informed Chen Shaokuan on the coast by radio. Days of bombing did not have much effect.

These days, the Japanese army built a large number of underground tunnels and fortifications in the mountains, causing the Japanese hunting team to pay great casualties every step forward.After destroying the Japanese army in the south, the tanks that went north also joined the attack as soon as possible, and suppressed every tunnel entrance that the tanks could reach.However, most of the terrain is rugged and the tanks cannot enter the area. There is no loss in the tunnels and underground fortifications, and the threat to China still continues to exist.For this reason, Feng Linge had no choice but to transfer a large amount of sand from the rear, and to seal every tunnel entrance with sand, or simply let the engineers blow up these tunnel entrances.The flamethrowers also sprayed tens of meters of flames into the mouth of the tunnel with their injectors, and the soldiers next to them immediately threw a large number of grenades.This trick really worked. The Japanese soldiers hiding in the tunnels couldn't run away, and couldn't get out. In the end, most of them were burned alive inside. These tunnels eventually became the graves they dug for themselves.

There are a large number of dome-shaped low-rise buildings on Okinawa Island, which were also widely used at this time as various dark forts.At first, Feng Linge had no choice but to call in air strikes to destroy these dark forts because he could not get close to them. However, as he advanced deeper, he discovered that there were at least thousands of such dark forts. It was obviously unrealistic to destroy them by air strikes. Fortunately, There are a large number of individual bazookas and recoilless guns in hand, so that the casualties of soldiers can be reduced.

In this way, taking advantage of the difficult step-by-step approach, on October 10, the hunting team finally broke through the Japanese defense line and destroyed the core position.Meanwhile, the 28th Marine Squad took Aritsuhara and Hirao, the 11th Marine Squad took Nakaoizawa and Daiho, and the 10th Marine Squad isolated the Japanese 12nd Corps headquarters at Nago on the peninsula to the west.On this small peninsula, the Japanese army gathered nearly 32 troops in two divisions, preparing to launch the final resistance to guard Okinawa.

Due to the severe terrain, although the altitude is not high, it is impossible for the armored troops to pass.Without the impact of armored forces, the hundreds of firepower points of the Japanese army located in underground fortifications and tunnels could easily block all offensive routes.Although a large number of artillery and rocket launchers were pushed to the forward position, the firing of these artillery can only destroy the surface positions of the Japanese army on the mountain, and have little damage to the underground fortifications and tunnels.The strong attack launched by the troops, in addition to increasing a large number of casualties, simply cannot enter the range that can effectively kill the tunnel entrance.

In desperation, Feng Linge finally remembered the heavy bombs that the Air Force's heavy bombers could carry, which could collapse the tunnels.Soon, nearly a hundred Sirius bombers began to conduct fixed-point bombing on this mountain, and within a week, dropped more than 1250 heavy bombs of 103 kg and 11 kg.Although the bombing accuracy was not enough, the dense numbers still collapsed a large number of Japanese army tunnels.Then the army's 220mm howitzer also began to bombard the various firepower points of the Japanese army at fixed points. The destructive power of this artillery is the largest among all the artillery of the army, and the results it brought are also very obvious.By early November, some [-] firepower points had been cleared, clearing the way for the troops to advance.

In order to attract the attention of the Japanese army.Four teams of the Marine Corps began to land on the beach on the south side of the peninsula, and were frantically blocked by various firepower from the Japanese army. However, these troops still stubbornly advanced to the edge of the mountain, and used the 20mm cannon on the tank to attack the Japanese firepower point. suppress.

While the Japanese firepower was attracted, the army troops also began to attack the mountains from the east.In order to further reduce casualties, the Chinese army began to use incendiary bombs. As long as they found the firepower of the tunnel entrance or the bunker, they would use individual grenade launchers to launch the incendiary bombs, which had an amazing killing effect on the Japanese army in a small space.

However, due to the very precise construction of the Japanese army's firepower points, the threat to the Sunhunting team was still great, which made the army's progress very slow.By November 11, only half of the area was occupied for such a small mountainous area, and about 8% of the underground tunnels and fortifications were destroyed.

For this reason, Feng Linge received several urgent telegrams from Zhang Zuolin and the Ministry of the Army, urging to speed up the attack.He really couldn't find a better way to advance quickly, and finally decided to use incendiary bombs to completely burn the mountain.On that day, all Chinese soldiers were evacuated from the mountain. More than [-] carrier-based planes carried incendiary bombs and dropped nearly [-] tons of incendiary bombs from the edge of the mountain, turning the entire mountain into a nest of fire pigeons.With the help of the island wind, the fire is getting bigger and bigger, and spread to the top of the mountain at the fastest speed.

By the morning of the next day, the entire mountainous area had turned into a sea of ​​flames.The huge group of flames was hundreds of meters high, and the thick smoke even filled the entire Chongshashun Island.From a distance, it looks like an erupting volcano.Two days later, the fire was finally extinguished because there was no combustible substance, and the whole mountain looked scorched black. Every time the wind blows, it will set off bursts of gray dust and dark red flames.Under such a fire, even the Japanese army in the underground fortification group could never be spared.

None of the 32 Japanese soldiers on the entire peninsula surrendered, and of course none survived.Afterwards, according to the Japanese combat log found in the tunnel, Lieutenant General Hisashi Tanaka, the commander of the [-]nd Army, was also killed in the fire.

After finally gnawing down on this hard bone, Feng Linge immediately ordered an attack on the mountains at the northern tip of Okinawa Island.The 62nd Division of the Japanese Army is stationed here, most of which are composed of aborigines. Although there is no difference in equipment from other Japanese divisions, their fighting will is far behind.The fire on the peninsula also made the soldiers of the 62nd Division panic. They knew that it was impossible to win this battle.As a result, a large number of deserters began to appear, but there were still a considerable number of Japanese soldiers and middle- and high-ranking officers who coerced a large number of Ryukyu residents to resist.

On November 11, Okinawa was completely occupied, and nearly 14 civilians were forced to commit suicide or were massacred by the Japanese army.So far, the entire Okinawa Island has been completely controlled by the Chinese army.

(End of this chapter)