The American troops who landed on the island were immediately stunned by the overwhelming blow.
Because they had not seen any enemies before, they were so relaxed that everyone just stood on the beach carefree.
There is almost no defense.
In an instant, a large area was mowed down by ferocious machine guns.
"Xie Te, there are Japs, get down quickly!"
Many American soldiers covered their hats with one hand and lay on the ground with a gun in the other hand, looking for cover.
However, the entire beach has been thoroughly cleaned by the Japanese.
Not to mention the bunkers, even the larger rocks and tree stumps have been cleared away.
The entire beach was unobstructed, and the group of American soldiers who came to the island were directly exposed to the guns of the Japanese army.
Moreover, in order to deal with the American troops on the beach, Kurita carefully arranged the location and firing range of the fire points.
Let the American troops on the beach be covered by crossfire.
The Japanese troops at the firing point didn't even have to take aim.
If you shoot casually, you can hit an American soldier.
"Fake, these little devils actually know about the sneak attack."
Nimitz cursed angrily.
In his impression, the Japanese Army were a group of idiots who only defended on the beach.
When attacking, they will only charge in a dense formation.
Unlike now, they actually lead the American troops ashore for a sneak attack.
"Order the battleship formation to carry out bombardment, and the assault boats will go up to pick up the Marines."
Nimitz said.
"yes!"
Each battleship still rotated its muzzle, pointed the direction of the muzzle at the beach, and began to provide fire support.
Boom, boom, boom!
A series of shells hit the forest behind the beach.
A large number of trees were knocked to the ground.
Huge deep pits were made one after another on the ground.
However, under Kurita's guidance, all firepower points were built in rocky mountains.
As long as you don't get hit directly by the shell, it won't be a big problem.
At this time, the Japanese soldiers holding the firepower point were thankful in their hearts. Fortunately, Kurita directed them to build a solid firepower point.
Otherwise, they would have been blown to pieces by artillery now.
"Continue to get involved and take the opportunity to kill a few more American ghosts. There will be no such good opportunities in the future."
Ohba Ei roared.
"Yes!" The remaining soldiers woke up from a dream and continued to shoot wildly at the American troops on the beach.
Many American soldiers couldn't bear it and ran into the sea one after another.
But as soon as they stood up, they immediately became targets of fire.
He was knocked to the ground before he could even take two steps.
The assault boat had already washed ashore, and many American soldiers struggled to climb onto the assault boat, trying to escape from this nightmare island.
But this was what the artillery on the ridge was waiting for.
Every spot on the beach has been marked for shooting.
A 75mm shell accurately hit an assault boat.
It directly blew the assault boat into pieces.
The people inside were all reduced to pieces of meat.
Subsequent assault boats rushed up one after another.
The Japanese artillery fired one after another, and the barrels were overheated.
It caused great damage to the American troops on the beach.
Of course, the Japanese firepower could not wipe out all the American troops.
No matter how dense the firepower network is, there will be gaps.
Many American soldiers took advantage of these omissions and crawled into the sea.
He swam desperately and fell to the nearby destroyer.
As the sun gradually set, the gunfire gradually stopped.
The original beauty of the sunset beach disappeared, replaced by corpses everywhere, and the beach was dyed blood red.
At this time, the sea water was rising, and the turbulent sea water washed away the corpses on the beach, dragging each corpse back into the sea.
Nimitz looked at the report sent by his men.
Of the 5,000-meter troops that landed on the island, more than 3,900 people were confirmed dead.
More than 700 people were seriously injured, more than 200 were slightly injured, and more than 100 people were missing.
I don’t know if he was blown into pieces or if he was captured and turned into a prisoner.
Nimitz's face turned livid.
This loss was greater than the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Just because he underestimated the enemy, one of his own marine brigade was almost scrapped.
This was a great shame for him.
"All fleets, aim your artillery at Saipan and blow them up until the island is flattened!"
Nimitz issued the order.
The navy's large and small naval guns aimed at Saipan and began a continuous bombardment.
Cannonballs fell on Saipan one after another, turning over the soil of the island.
The originally dense woods became sparse, and the rest were blown to pieces.
Nimitz was worried about how to explain to his superiors that he had lost so many people at once.
The Japanese army was extremely happy.
Although, the American army is washing the ground with artillery.
But when Kurita was building the tunnel, he considered the problem of being covered by artillery.
All tunnels are four to five meters above the ground.
It's even more than ten meters deep.
Most of the tunnels have also been specially reinforced.
The tunnels are connected to each other, like a huge underground city.
At this time, Ohba Ei was sending a telegram to Kurita.
"Today, the American army attacked Saipan. According to Lord Kurita's combat ideas, we lurked and did not move until the beach was full of American troops. We killed more than 10,000 American troops and seriously injured more than 30,000 people. No one suffered minor injuries. Plan. Only a few of our soldiers were slightly injured. However, the range of our artillery is limited and cannot threaten enemy warships. We hope that the combined fleet will send out the main fleet to attack from inside and outside to destroy the American fleet."
Kurita was extremely happy when he saw Ohba Sakae's telegram.
Although Ohba Sakae's battle report was a little watery, it still proved that his combat thinking was correct.
Gathering soldiers inside strong fortifications can indeed effectively consume the American army.
As long as all the islands are made into such hedgehogs, the American army will lose a few more times and it will be unable to bear the huge casualties and take the initiative to seek peace.
If a combined fleet can be dispatched to attack Saipan inside and outside, it might be possible to severely damage the US fleet.
It can greatly speed up the United States’ pursuit of peace.
Thinking of this, Kurita immediately submitted his opinion to the current Prime Minister Suzuki Kantaro, hoping to send a combined fleet to attack the American army on Saipan.
After seeing the report handed over by Kurita, Suzuki Kantaro remained silent.
He is a naval admiral, so he naturally has to consider issues from the navy's standpoint.
The current situation of the combined fleet is not very good.
Before the war began, Nagumo lost four of the eight regular aircraft carriers at Midway Island, resulting in a great loss in strength.
In the previous Battle of Guadalcanal, the Fengxiang was also sunk.
The Ryusei returned to China and had its deck refitted. However, after this modification, the deck was too long and could not adapt to ocean voyages, and was eventually forced to be used as a training ship.
Currently, of the eight main aircraft carriers, only two, Shokaku and Zuikaku, are available.
The Shinano is still parked in the port, and its service time is far away.
The entire combined fleet actually only has two main aircraft carriers available.
It's okay to bully those small formations of task forces in the United States.
Facing the large fleet of the American army, there is really no chance of winning.
Therefore, Suzuki Kantaro refused to engage in a head-on battle with the U.S. Navy.
Suzuki Kontaro's eyes turned and he had an idea.
