afterglow

Chapter 500 Chapter : Set foot in Hawaii; reload the gunship and attack!

Faced with an unexpected surprise attack, the US coastal defense artillerymen who were caught off guard were shot dead before they even saw the enemy.

Many people who took naps in the shelter were killed by grenades thrown in their sleep and never woke up.

The breech of the first 152mm coastal defense gun was opened and a thermite incendiary grenade was stuffed into it. In the dazzling white light, the alloy steel melted at a high temperature of degrees and was completely scrapped.

It was only then that the US military, who had just woken up from a dream, realized that the nearest infantry unit was several kilometers away, and it was impossible for reinforcements to arrive in a short time.

"Where did they come from?!"

"Damn! Can they fly?"

Coastal defense artillerymen used pistols and old Springfield rifles to fire at the Ming army in an attempt to stop these enemies who came from nowhere.

The forts, shelters, and ammunition depots are all connected by communication trenches. The fortifications built by the luxurious Americans are all made of reinforced concrete. Wires are hung on the side walls of the communication trenches, and there is a light bulb every ten meters.

The officers and soldiers of Yiluan Division advanced along the communication trench and eliminated the stubborn enemies one by one.

Pulling out the pull ring and letting go, the safety grip immediately flew away, the firing pin fell down, and the grenade extension tube began to burn, gradually approaching the detonator.

The scene when Yongle and Xuande fired a salvo was the most shocking. The roar of the triple cannons resounded through the sky. The huge blast made people feel like their internal organs were being violently pulled, and their ears were stinging.

At 6:03, Song Zhongkai ordered all ships to prepare for bombardment across the shore. This time it was no longer a pretentious attack on the east but a serious attack on the west.

However, how can artillery carry grenades with them like infantry?

"The order is as follows: at 8:30, the first echelon will launch a landing on the beaches of A1 and A2; at 10 o'clock sharp, the second echelon will follow up; and the third echelon will start landing on the beachhead of B1."

"boom!"

"Yes! The first echelon faced off at 8:45..."

The explosions and screams were almost in no particular order.

If Yiluansi fails to eliminate the enemy's forts, the carrier-based aircraft formation will carry out low-altitude bombing of the target mountains to suppress the coastal defense artillery as much as possible.

Since the threat of coastal defense artillery has been eliminated, the Ming fleet can boldly approach Kauai Island without having to maintain a safe distance of 20 kilometers.

At 7:05, the first formation and the fifth formation officially began shelling the shore.

A corporal put his automatic rifle on the ground and took a grenade from the canvas chest sling.

In a sense, this situation is completely consistent with the shooting games of later generations!
At the corner of the Z-shaped traffic trench, several American troops stretched out their hands and fired randomly without aiming, which actually caused obstacles to the Ming army's special forces.

About ten minutes later, two yellow signal flares were launched from there, indicating that the assault on the fort was basically successful.

Bolt-action rifles are not easy to use in such a situation, and the most critical disadvantage is that the US coastal defense artillery does not have hand grenades. The lack of this item is fatal for close combat.

At 6:10, over the C- air strike fleet, which was more than kilometers away, more than a dozen carrier-based aircraft had already taken off towards the rising sun.

At 6:18, Zhou Changfeng, holding a telescope, stood on the platform outside the Yongle's bridge and witnessed with his own eyes the fire emanating from the mountain ridge twenty kilometers away.

"Zhou Daizhao, please give the order." Seeing that he was distracted, a lieutenant colonel staff member next to him reminded him.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't hide his excitement at the thought of setting foot in Hawaii soon.

On the other hand, if the raid is successful, the carrier-based aircraft formation will conduct air strikes on the enemy's beachhead.

After holding the grenade and waiting for two seconds, he threw it out with his backhand. At the sea level in the east, the sun has already peeked out, and the faint morning light shines on the dark green grenade, reflecting slightly.

The Type 416 triple-mounted mm main gun ejected a nearly one-ton anti-personnel explosive shell, which hit Kauai Island a few kilometers away. The impact point of the shell was accompanied by a flash of light and a large cloud of smoke.

When the cannon fires, there are thousands of taels of gold, not to mention the big guys on the battleship.

In addition to the value of the shell itself, the Yongle-class battleship's main gun barrel has a lifespan of only more than 200 rounds. The barrel must be replaced after firing, and the actual cost is even higher.

In comparison, the Type 128 mm high-flat dual-purpose gun barrel used by the destroyer has a lifespan of rounds.

Moreover, the damage effect of the battleship's shore bombardment is completely worth its cost. On the contrary, the medium-caliber naval gun is the best support weapon. The role of the big ship's giant gun is more reflected in the psychological level - boosting one's own morale and suppressing the enemy's morale.

Zhou Changfeng put down the blue pencil in his hand and said to the officer in front of him: "There is no need to fire more, just lengthen the interval, fire half a salvo, and then half a round in a few minutes."

The latter hesitated for a moment, then clasped his fists and accepted the order, "Yes."

Next, he left the Yongle, took a transport boat to the fifth formation, and boarded the amphibious command ship Lu Xun.

During this period, five minesweepers ventured close to the coastline to begin demining operations, followed closely by the beach front selection battalion of the Third Marine Brigade.

The U.S. military on Kauai seemed to be able to keep their composure, perhaps because it was suppressed by artillery fire. The leading troops did not receive an organized attack, and only sporadic bullets were fired.

After that, large clouds of water would splash up every few minutes. They were the officers and soldiers of the Front Selection Battalion blasting underwater coral reefs or artificial obstacles in front of the landing point.

At 8:33, 27 carrier-based aircraft from two Ziweiyuan-class ships conducted violent bombing and strafing on the deep positions on Kauai.

According to Zhou's request, eight of the Type 8 torpedo bombers carried white phosphorus incendiary bombs. They set the entire wilderness on fire, and the toxic gray smoke was as thick as a wall.

The communications staff officer of the Third Marine Brigade flew in a seaplane to observe the effect of fire preparations in the sky. He said that all targets visible to the naked eye were destroyed and fire points were everywhere.

Counting down one minute, Zhou Changfeng stared at his watch and watched the second hand ticking away.

At 8:45, as the green signal bomb flew into the blue sky, the first echelon of the landing team set off on time.

The first wave of landing troops consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 5th Regiment of the 3rd Marine Brigade, which were responsible for the A1 Beachhead and the A2 Beachhead respectively, and both reinforced a team with a floating tank battalion.

Looking down at the battlefield, we can see rows of landing craft heading towards the coastline, leaving white trails behind, like a giant comb across the sea.

When they were still more than two thousand meters away from the land, the four fire support ships also seized the opportunity to start salvos.

The rockets trailed the tail flames and roared straight towards the landing point. It is not an exaggeration to call it a hundred tigers running together. The tide brought great trouble to the Ming army and disrupted the order of the first echelon.

The small landing craft became difficult to control under its interference, and the trajectories of many landing craft became twisted.

Less than 400 meters away from Jiayi Beach, two landing crafts collided seriously, resulting in more than a dozen casualties. The deputy captain of the third team of the first battalion was hit hard on the temple by the muzzle of a light machine gun and fell unconscious on the spot.

During the previous blasting and clearing operations of the beach front selection camp, we found that there were two particularly huge coral reefs that could not be solved, so we deployed buoys and smoke canisters there.

However, the waves engulfed and covered one of them, causing a landing craft to hit the rocks without knowing it. The soldiers staggered around, and the bottom of the boat was cut with several holes by the hard rocks, and it just stopped in place.

The US artillery also opened fire at this time, but only two field artillery units in the second-line position were connected to the firing order.

There are still five of the eight 75mm field guns that have not been destroyed. An artillery lieutenant subconsciously thought of a strange connection - the artillery designed by the French years ago was manufactured by the Americans years ago, and is now being used by the Americans. Used to bombard the Chinese?

The high-explosive bombs flew straight towards the Ming army's landing craft approaching the beach. The Ming army's standard No. 2 infantry landing craft was made of wood, with only the lowering pedals at the front made of steel. It could only withstand infantry missiles, but it could not withstand this kind of level of direct fire attack.

Landing craft continued to be destroyed, and the surviving officers and soldiers had to struggle to swim across with heavy individual equipment on their backs after falling into the water.

At 9:23, the first landing craft washed up on the beach.

As the bow pedals of the boat were lowered, a platoon of more than forty officers and soldiers filed out, fanned out in response to the incoming bullets, then lay down on the ground and crawled towards the nearest bomb crater or bunker.

But strictly speaking, soldiers from the beachfront selection battalion came ashore in power kayaks two hours ago.

At 10:10, the assembled first battalion and second team began to try to develop in depth. They were quickly blocked by the US military and were unable to move forward.

Major Mu Xuewu, the commander of the battalion, also came ashore at this time. Before the temporary command post was set up, he went to the front line to direct the available troops to launch the attack.

The tide caused half of the amphibious tanks to deviate from the landing site. Three Type 35 amphibious tanks that successfully landed on Jiayi Beach immediately joined the battle.

The old 38.4mm tank gun is extremely weak, but no matter how bad it is, it is still a gun, not a machine gun.

Five machine gun fire points were killed one after another, and the appearance of tanks dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the US military.

The frightened US military then moved in several Browning M2HB heavy machine guns and fired wildly at the Ming army's amphibious tanks.

Immediately, a Type 35 amphibious tank was destroyed by concentrated fire. White smoke first emitted, and then a raging fire broke out.

The front of the tank is covered with dense bullet holes, which is unacceptable to people with trypophobia.

During the interwar period, when European armies were fielding 37mm anti-tank guns, the naive US military chose to use 12.7mm heavy machine guns as anti-tank weapons for regiment-level troops. It was not until last year that they woke up from their dreams and began to imitate the Germans. Pak35 anti-tank gun.

After an hour of fierce fighting, and at the cost of 18 dead and 47 wounded, the 50st Battalion of the 60th Marine Regiment defeated the enemy in person, roughly wiping out 3 to enemies and capturing alive.

As of 11:45, the st Battalion of the th Regiment not only stabilized the A- beachhead, but also advanced meters in depth. A few leading soldiers even touched the periphery of Lihue Airport.

Quite different from the smoothness here, the Jiaer beachhead one kilometer away seems to have attracted too much attention from the US military?
The shells fired from the depths landed on the beach one after another. The smoke and dust completely enveloped the area, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

Zhou Changfeng stood behind a thirty-fold binoculars placed on a tripod, carefully observing the battle situation.

According to experience, there is about a twelve-gun howitzer battalion firing at the Jiaer beachhead at this moment.

Generally speaking, if the US military on Kauai still has extra artillery, it should be impossible to continue to remain silent, so this is probably all the artillery.

He pondered: "Send a report to the fifth formation, requesting to search for the enemy's deep artillery positions and suppress them, and also request one or two destroyers to come as close as a thousand meters."

"Huh? A thousand meters?!"

"No, eight hundred meters."

The 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment at the Jiaer beachhead suffered huge losses due to the fierce shelling. More than 120 people were killed or injured, and many landing craft and supplies were destroyed.

The twelve M45 2mm howitzers of the US 105th Field Artillery Battalion were dispersedly deployed in a solid rear bunker. They fired continuously so that the gun barrels were red-hot, and the artillerymen did not need to use lighters to light cigarettes.

Artillery is not called the king of war for no reason. Within three hours after the landing, 60% of the total casualties and 70% of the total equipment losses of the Ming army were caused by these dozen howitzers.

In addition to several screen guard ships, the fifth formation sequence also includes the Fomalhaut light aircraft carrier and two seaplane carriers.

Among them, the Fomalhaut Division was originally conceived to serve as both fleet air defense and shore support, but people found that it was impossible to take care of both in practice, because the fighter jets that took off for patrol had to be constantly rotated, and the light aircraft carrier's take-off and landing capabilities were relatively weak.

The light cruiser Liujiang ejected a seaplane and flew deep into Kauai to search for enemy artillery positions.

The 45th Field Artillery Battalion immediately stopped shelling and remained concealed. At the same time, more than a dozen anti-aircraft machine guns deployed nearby opened fire at the same time.

The pilot was startled and quickly flew away from this place of right and wrong.

"I'm hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire! I want to fly farther!"

On the bridge of the Luxun, Zhou Changfeng witnessed this scene completely, and the officers present also heard the pilot's voice coming from the radio frequency band.

"You are so cunning." Someone complained.

The thoughtful Zhou Changfeng looked at Kauai Island, which was under fire in the distance, and said, "If they had machine guns just now, they would definitely open fire. Well... let the gunships take off."

When bidding for a large seaplane, Yanjing Uplink's work was rejected because it was expensive and bulky.

But at that time, the Air Force felt that it was very suitable for use as a gunship aircraft, and Zhou believed the same, so he successively placed orders for more than twenty aircraft.

由此诞生的三九式重装炮艇机安装有8㎜或12㎜厚的钢板、50㎜防弹玻璃、双层自封油箱，使用陆军的三七式112㎜步兵炮作为主要武器，另外还有2座双联装12.8㎜航空机枪。

This type of four-engine large seaplane can only be barely carried by the West Lake-class seaplane carrier. The Taihu in the fifth formation carried three of them specifically for the expedition to Hawaii.

A special 40-ton crane hoisted the heavy gunship to the sea, and the latter immediately accelerated toward the open distance, and then slowly took off from the sea.

After turning slightly in the air, the heavily-equipped gunship with the call sign "Cormorant 7" flew over the fleet calmly and pounced on Kauai like a goshawk.

(End of this chapter)