"Brothers, rush, rush!" Sun Desheng drove the Sherman tank to the front. After hearing the fierce gunfire from the front, he shouted into the walkie-talkie.
All 20 tanks of the first company of the first tank battalion suddenly accelerated and rushed toward the first line of defense of the second attack group with a burst of black smoke.
Behind them, two tank companies followed closely.
Sun Desheng rushed to the front of the second attack group's defense line and saw that the simply dug trenches were filled with gunpowder smoke. They had obviously been plowed by the little devils with cannons. There were craters everywhere, and sacrificed soldiers could be seen everywhere. But on the position, artillery fire The remaining warriors are still fighting back relentlessly.
Sun Desheng's eyes suddenly turned red, "Fire!" Sun Desheng roared as he looked at the group of little Japs charging not far away.
Immediately, the machine gunner and gunner on the tank began to target the little Japanese and fire fiercely.
The Shermans driven by Sun Desheng this time are already the latest m4a3 type. The main gun uses a 76mm cannon, which is more powerful than the previous 75mm cannon. In addition, the two machine guns fire wildly, forming a swarm of fire. The little Japanese began to fall under the attack of Sun Desheng's tanks.
Sun Desheng drove a tank and slowly pressed forward against the Japs infantry. The Japs were killed wherever they went. They were simply ruthless killing machines!
The 20 Shermans following Sun Desheng also gradually joined the battlefield, and the little Jaap Shaozuo who was commanding a large group of charges suddenly didn't know what to do. Should he continue to charge or retreat? The little Jaap Shaozuo's brain was buzzing. Hum, I don’t know what to do?
Following Sun Desheng's charge, the tanks joined the battlefield one after another. More than 40 machine guns and more than 20 artillery pieces on the tanks opened fire fiercely at the Little Japanese Infantry Brigade. The fire strikes were intertwined and crazy like the scythe of death. Harvesting the lives of little devils.
For a steel monster like a tank, it cannot be resisted by flesh and blood.
The densely charging Japs became sparse at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Come on!" The two battalions of the Second Attack Group, which were originally ordered to retreat, did not retreat and counterattack at this time. The surviving company and platoon commanders followed the tactics of usual drills and took the lead to get out of the trenches one by one and began to follow the tanks. Even if Sun Desheng and the others did not ask for the attack from behind, the soldiers on the position began to follow their commander one by one, completed the infantry-tank coordinated attack formation without any stagnation, and began to counterattack against the little devil!
In this way, even if the little Japanese officers who reacted wanted to fight desperately and started to organize death squads to prepare for counterattack with explosive packs and cluster grenades, there was no chance now.
Behind each tank were at least five or six infantry soldiers, and as many as a dozen. They used the tank as a bunker, and used Garand rifles and machine guns to clear away the Japs charging within a hundred meters around the tank. The powerful firepower of the rifles made it impossible for the little devil's suicide squad to get closer to the tank.
Sun Desheng's wave of counterattacks defeated a large group of Japs at once, and then he cleared the remaining Japs stragglers across the battlefield. The infantrymen of the second attack group, who were covering the attack, slowly returned to their positions and calmly carried out their injured comrades and soldiers. The martyrs took them with them and gradually began to retreat to a safe place behind the third line of defense to rest and change clothes.
Faced with the sudden appearance of the tank troops from the Southeast Task Force, the Japs forward was a little confused. After losing a charging brigade, the Japs Miki Daizuo Alliance Captain in charge of the forward command urgently contacted the commander of the Kumamoto Division and requested that The rapid-fire artillery brigade attached to the Tainan Kumamoto Division was mobilized to undertake anti-tank combat tasks.
The rapid-fire artillery brigade under the division is equipped with 12 one-type mobile 47mm rapid-fire guns. If it can hit the Sherman tank head-on, it will still have strong lethality and will not be completely passive. It just wants to fight. It is not something that ordinary people can easily do to attack a moving tank. The little devils do not have a tank brigade in Tainan now, so they can only rely on this to counterattack.
Gao Jianwu received the changes ahead on the jeep, and the Japs did not catch up. He decisively ordered the tank cluster to coordinate with the second line of defense, waiting for the main force to gather to launch a counterattack.
Now his goal is to quickly capture Tainan and, if there is a chance, Kaohsiung. Otherwise, the difficulty of the attack will increase linearly after the main force of the Japanese air force gathers. Without achieving air superiority, it would be difficult for the current air defense battalions alone to effectively counterattack the bombing and strafing attacks by the Little Japanese fighter jets.
As the supporting artillery battalion pulled by jeeps arrived at the second line of defense, Gao Jianwu quickly selected several artillery positions to form an intertwined artillery power coverage area. Together with the two main battalions of the third attack group, the second line of defense was The defense line was re-arranged, and most of the troops of the Second Attack Group returned to Butai Port to change gear and rest.
While coming and going, there was an endless stream of people on the road less than ten kilometers from Budai Port to the second line of defense. The reconnaissance plane sent by the Little Devils had already flown to this area to conduct reconnaissance. In the air, Lu Xingguo and Major General Smith also The swarming Imp fighter planes collided.
The little Japanese navy and air force flying the Zero fighter learned a new tactic this time, that is, four fighter planes work together in a team, not only to cover each other, but also to seize the opportunity to concentrate fire. Major General Smith's air force has just begun to encounter this kind of situation. The situation is still a bit confusing.
At this time, the little devil's fighter jet was like a hedgehog. It couldn't find a place to attack and could only fight in the air to find opportunities.
The two sides continued to chase each other in the air. After a period of familiarity, Smith and the others discovered that the formation of the Little Devils almost always had a fixed flight pattern, that is, one Little Devil fighter was the main fighter, and the other three followed him. More or less a diamond pattern, with three fighter planes forming a triangle at the back.
Since the communication equipment did not allow them to talk in real time, the Little Devils' fighter formation had to maintain this fixed drill tactical mode. Although the grouping of four fighters enhanced their firepower and mutual cover capabilities, Smith and the others keenly discovered that the Little Devils The Japanese have lost their flexibility to change.
For the Zero fighter, the little devil's combat method actually lost their strongest point. So when the pilots of Smith's Flying Team discovered the weaknesses of the new tactics of the Little Japs one by one, they all began to use extreme flexible maneuvers and pulling methods to defeat the Little Japs.
Taking advantage of the Mustang fighter's high horsepower and fast flight speed, it constantly changes its orientation, increases the distance, and then looks for powerful attack opportunities from the side and rear.
As a result, Xiaojiazi's combat team was unable to keep up with the changes in the leading fighter. Because the Mustang fighters changed faster, the fighter in the lead of Xiaoguizi had to follow them desperately to barely keep up, but the three fighters behind him had some difficulty. .
After a period of pulling and pulling, the formation of the Little Devils began to deform. In addition, the Smith Flying Team was much more numerous than them, and began to attack the Little Devils air combat team from two or three directions!
Smith and the others were not in a hurry. After seizing a good attack position, they fought for a while and immediately drifted away, allowing fighters from other directions to take over the side attack. In this way, the Little Devil combat team was soon in a situation where multiple Mustang fighters took turns to attack them.
Due to Little Devil's tactics, the leading ace pilot also has to take care of the three fighters behind him. This is equivalent to locking Little Devil's ace pilot into a group and unable to exert his superior combat advantages.
A seemingly invincible tactic soon turned into a joke. After the first Jaap combat group was shot down, the monolithic grouping tactic began to collapse.
In the end, it still evolved into a scene of being chased and killed by Mustang fighter jets in the air, and one after another was shot down.
In another airspace, Lu Xingguo and the others also achieved results one after another. After a long period of fighting, Lu Xingguo and the others' overall combat level improved to a higher level. Facing the little Japanese, the Nakajima Type-1 fighter jets now had the advantage in single-on-one combat.
Compared with the Smith Flying Team, Lu Xingguo and the others opened the situation earlier.
In the airspace over hundreds of square kilometers above Jiayi, hundreds of fighter jets were fighting desperately in the air. Although the outcome of this battle was already determined, the desperate little devils still caused some damage to Smith and Lu Xingguo.
When the little devils felt that they could not win, they all started the tactic of dying together. If they got the chance to shoot each other face to face, they would never dodge, but would directly accelerate and rush towards them crazily.
This crazy tactic has less effect on elite pilots like Major General Smith. They are experienced and can avoid it through extreme maneuvers against Mustang fighters; but for those pilots under Lu Xingguo and others who have only been in the Air Force pilots for a short time, Xiao The Japs' tactic was difficult to crack for a while, and Lu Xingguo's flying team began to suffer casualties.
But the craziness of the Little Japanese Air Force ends here. Due to the double disadvantages in terms of quality and quantity of fighter jets, they have no chance of coming back.
After the battle, Smith and Lu Xingguo, who had been fighting in the air for a long time, and their victorious fighter jets, hurried back to the base for supplies or repairs.
On the other hand, due to the desperate efforts of the little devils, more than ten fighter planes from the two air groups have stayed in Jiayi. However, most of them were rescued after the pilots parachuted. Although the fighter planes were gone, the people were still there.
But for the little Japanese air force on the Bay Island, the air force of the army and navy on the Tainan side suffered a devastating disaster this time, and very few of them were able to escape. The air power on the Tainan side was completely destroyed.
Regarding the lost fighter planes, Lu Xingguo and Major General Smith jointly requested Allied Forces Headquarters to immediately replenish them. Because the fighters of their two flying teams needed to be repaired, they could not provide air cover for the Southeast Task Force.
After Major General Smith had an urgent communication with General Steven, he mobilized the reserve flying team at the Allied Air Force Base in Hong Kong and Kowloon. When Major General Smith returned, the flying team that received the order from Major General Smith began to take off and rush to The sky above Tainan began to provide air cover for Gao Jianwu's attack.
...
"Huang Runfa, the left position will be handed over to your company. Until the main force arrives, your company will be responsible for the defense of this hilltop."
"Yes, battalion commander, resolutely complete the mission!"
Lou Asi did not expect that the soldier he had been chatting with for a long time was actually a company commander. At this moment, he led his company to seize a hilltop.
On this hilltop, the friendly forces of the second attack group in front have dug some trenches, and the entire position has begun to take shape.
Huang Runfa led his company to continuously deepen and add gun-proof holes in these trenches according to tactical requirements.
According to the order from the headquarters, they will have a battle with the main force of the Japs here. For Gao Jianwu, it is easier to eliminate the little devils by drawing them out of the city base camp.
Now, with the third attack group as the main blocking force, a defense line more than 1 kilometer deep has been formed. Three tank companies were placed behind the center as a counterattack force.
A large number of artillery clusters are well-proportioned to form an arc-shaped position, which can contain five or six square kilometers of Japs. This is Gao Jianwu's trump card. Before the main force of Japs arrives, Gao Jianwu will not expose the strength of the artillery. , at most, use support artillery to knock out the little Japanese's mountain cannon.
Therefore, Huang Runfa and the main force of the infantry battalion still have to face the threat of bombardment from the Japanese infantry artillery and mortars, and must strengthen the defense of their positions.
...
Various intelligence coming from the front converged on Gao Jianwu. For Gao Jianwu, the location of the main force of the Little Japs was gradually marked on the map, so that he knew the progress of the Little Japs well.
The main force of the Japs in Tainan has been drawn out, and now the anti-tank brigade waiting for them on the first line of defense is deterred by tank counterattacks. At the same time, prepare to wait for the arrival of naval reinforcements from Kaohsiung to form a superior force to counterattack.
After hearing the report from the front line and discovering the enemy's tank troops, the commander of the Kumamoto Division no longer reported any hope of a quick victory. In his opinion, only after concentrating the main force can he hope to break through the enemy's tank defense line.
Not only his anti-tank brigade but also the navy's anti-tank forces need to join before they can hope to fight against enemy tanks.
The Army's aviation and the Navy's aviation suffered a disastrous defeat almost at the same time. Not only did the commander of the Kumamoto Division wake up, but it also allowed Lieutenant General Takagi of Kaohsiung to dispatch a tank brigade and an anti-tank brigade.
At this time, they had no room for excuse. The enemy was stronger than their most pessimistic estimates, so this time the Kumamoto Division and Vice Admiral Takagi's navy tried their best.
The two armies have exceeded 30,000 people, including three artillery brigades. In addition to the mountain artillery brigade of the Kumamoto Division, Lieutenant General Takagi sent a 105mm howitzer brigade and a 75mm field artillery brigade.
This is already the standard for an artillery regiment of a Class A division. With the addition of two anti-tank brigades and a tank brigade, the little devils dispatched all the elites from Tainan, completely surpassing that of a complete Class A division. strength.
From the perspective of the little devil, this kind of strength is not weak enough to deal with the Southeast Task Force that hastily landed ashore. However, the Air Force has already suffered a disastrous defeat. Otherwise, if a flying team of the Air Force is added, the chance of victory will be even greater.
But now the air force reinforcements are still on the way. Although the Army Air Force in the north direction of the little devil still has some Nakajima Type 1 fighters and light explosive bombers, Lieutenant General Hase does not dare to put this little wealth on him. He does not know what the land force is now. Whether the Mustang fighter air group of Xingguo and Major General Smith is still there, in his opinion, if the Mustang fighter group of the Southeast Task Force is still there, sending them here now is still a loss of lives.
Due to an unexpected combination of circumstances, Gao Jianwu won a rare chance to breathe.
Not only did the second attack group change their gear, rest, and return to their positions, but the three attack groups that landed in the second wave also successfully landed on the coastline of more than ten kilometers near Butai Port, and quickly gathered at Butai Port to change gear.
In addition to letting the fourth attack group join Zhao Dalei's attack team, Gao Jianwu began to fight for Jiayi house by house and completely clean up Jiayi's little devils. Gao Jianwu hid the other two attack groups under the dense forest near Jiayi. .
Lu Xingguo and the Smith Flying Team took turns to cover the skies over Jiayi, intercepting and driving away the reconnaissance aircraft of the Little Japs from a distance. According to the Little Japs' intelligence, they always estimated that three assault groups were landing, which was also in line with their expectations of fishing boats. Estimation of conveying capacity.
They have not yet thought that the main force of the Southeast Task Force has long been hidden near Penghu. After all, according to current intelligence, most of the Southeast Task Force is still coming in and out of Xiamen Island.
It was this intelligence error that allowed them to misjudge the entire situation.
After a mixed brigade was sent to Taipei and Kaohsiung to Tainan and a strengthened Class A division was sent as reinforcements, Lieutenant General Hase, Lieutenant General Kumamoto and others believed that they could at least draw a tie with the Southeast Task Force. You can block the Allied landing troops near Jiayi.
As for the Navy, there is a detachment of the Fifth Fleet personally commanded by Vice Admiral Takagi. The little devil believes that it can at least have the upper hand. After all, the Southeast Task Force is now exposed as a small fleet of General Demore. As long as it avoids Enemy bombardment from the air, they will be the victor on the sea.
In the Tainan waters, Lieutenant General Takagi sat on his flagship, looking at the sea in the distance and lost in thought.
In order to keep abreast of the Allied air force dynamics, Lieutenant General Takagi sent several reconnaissance aircraft under his command to monitor the sea area in the southwest direction of Hong Kong and Kowloon and the sea area in the west direction of Xiamen to provide early warning.
"Your Excellency General, Air Reconnaissance Unit No. 1 reported that there are no enemy fighter planes in the nearby waters!"
"Your Excellency General, Air Reconnaissance Unit No. 2 reports that the nearby sea area is safe!"
...
Lieutenant General Takagi, who kept scanning the sea, breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the aerial reconnaissance plane reported nothing.
In his opinion, the most dangerous thing now is the enemy's dive bombers. Although the Mustang fighter jets carrying heavy bombs are annoying, they are much less threatening than the Allied dive bombers.
After all, the torpedoes carried by dive bombers are far more lethal to ships than heavy bombs. A flexible ship like a destroyer can use flexible movement to avoid aerial bombs from aerial bombardments.
But it is not so easy to deal with the torpedoes dropped by the enemy.
Just when Lieutenant General Takagi thought everything was going well, suddenly the destroyer on guard duty in front issued a combat alert!
"Your Excellency, General, the Allied fleet has been spotted ahead!" The communications staff officer quickly ran over to report the intelligence, "One battleship and four destroyers have been spotted!"
Upon hearing this discovery, Lieutenant General Takagi's heart skipped a beat, because this fleet was obviously different from the fleet of General Demoore attacking Budai Port in the intelligence he had received!
This means a brand new fleet, and his fleet will face the risk of being flanked by two enemy fleets.
"Order the fleet to follow at full speed and immediately encircle and annihilate the Allied fleet!" Vice Admiral Takagi hesitated for less than ten seconds before decisively giving the order.
Before he discovers the enemy's second fleet, he can now use his superior force to deal heavy damage to the sudden appearance of the fleet!
"All ships, concentrate their firepower to surround and destroy the battleships of the Allied fleet!"
Vice Admiral Takagi issued the second order, and immediately, the entire fleet began to change formations, pressing aggressively against General Hutt's fleet to the north.
To the north, General Hutt also discovered Vice Admiral Takagi's fleet almost at the same time.
"Retreat and move closer to General Demore!" General Hutt had no intention of challenging Takagi's fleet to a duel.
For him, how to win this battle is the most important thing, not acting out of loyalty.
The entire fleet turned north and began to approach General Demore's fleet.
The two fleets fled and chased each other for more than half an hour. General Hutt pulled Takagi's fleet near General Demore's fleet. After the two briefly communicated with each other, General Hutt's fleet began to turn around and formed a formation with General Demore's fleet. The formation, one on the left and one on the right, turned around and started to attack the Takagi fleet!
Seeing that the enemy indeed had two fleets, and they merged together, Lieutenant General Takagi extinguished his ambition to annihilate the opponent's battleships!
The opponent's current strength is almost twice that of our own side. How to fight? !
Vice Admiral Takagi looked at the two fleets in the distance and his face twitched a few times. He wanted to leave and simply ordered the fleet to change sail and return to the base port, where they built complete coastal defenses. , there are a large number of forts and anti-aircraft artillery to defend them, and to cooperate with the fleet firepower, if fleets like General Hutt and General Demore dare to go, it will only cost their lives.
With the current design of coastal defenses, it would be difficult for even two battleships to take advantage, not to mention that Admiral Hutt’s fleet now only has one early battleship and one light cruiser of Admiral Demore, which has less firepower than the shore It is much weaker than the defense force.
As for the destroyer, under this defense system, if you dare to get close, you will die.
It's just that shrinking back like this is equivalent to giving up the sea to the Allied forces. If the Allied fleet is not restrained by General Takagi's fleet, the whole situation will take a turn for the worse for the ground troops who have just prepared to counterattack with the Southeast Task Force!
Takagi couldn't imagine what kind of misery the ground troops would be in without his own restraint. With the suppression of ten ships and cannons, his own special marines had no power to fight back!
Thinking of this, Takagi gritted his teeth and refused to retreat!
Even if the Allied fleet is playing hide and seek on the sea, these two fleets must be contained!
