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Red Alert: The Republic of China Text Chapter 655 Landing on the Five Islands (Part 1)

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    One month after the Battle of Hawaii began, the four islands of Japan in the Far East were also filled with smoke.  At this time, China had basically completed the blockade of Japan's key waterways. In the Pacific, when the First Division of the Chinese Marine Corps began to land on the main island of Hawaii, the Far East also launched an attack on the Five Islands Islands.

    The Goto Islands are located at the westernmost tip of Japan. A few hundred nautical miles to the west is Jeju Island, and less than a hundred nautical miles to the east is Nagasaki Prefecture.  The Goto Islands can be said to be the last gateway to the west of Japan.

    ??The preferred location for China to attack the Japanese mainland is the Goto Islands, an island group covering an area of ??nearly 700 square kilometers.

    Like the United States, Japan is also heavily defended here, with more than 200,000 troops assembled, most of whom are the elite 32nd Army under Ushijima Mitsuru.

    Just as the United States was preparing for a decisive battle on its home soil, Suzuki Kantaro's cabinet was also preparing for a decisive battle on its home soil and decided to organize a National Volunteer Corps, consisting of men aged fifteen to fifty-five and men aged seventeen to forty-five.  composed of women.  The press continues to publish endless reports of confidence in defending the homeland.

    Once the Chinese army lands on the Japanese mainland, it will be imperative to use the National Volunteer Corps.  A retired Navy fleet commander named Ando said: "The enemy's actions are exactly the same as we estimated when we first formulated the details of the plan to deal with the enemy. The strategy of allowing the enemy to invade the islands around Japan has many similarities with the strategy of the backwater formation.  Unless we are convinced that we have the power to use our skin to take the enemy's flesh and our flesh to take the enemy's bones, we cannot adopt this strategy."

    However, half a month after China began to attack the Five Islands.  General Ushijima's 32nd Army had suffered heavy losses.  In two weeks of fighting, his most elite troops lost 7,000 officers and men.  Although they defend the Fukue Island defense line, the Chinese Marine Corps has occupied the northern half of the island except the main peninsula - there are only two groups (battalions) defending there.

    On March 16, after three days of fierce fighting, the Chinese army captured Jiuzhongyue. The mountain is 1,200 meters high and has rugged rocks.  Standing on the mountain, you can have an unobstructed view of the entire peninsula. The capture of Kuzodake actually ended the battle for the northern half of Fukue Island.

    There is a small island called Iejima a few miles west of the Motobu Peninsula.  The island is oval in shape and five miles long.  The entire island except for an extinct volcano standing six hundred feet high near the center.  The rest of the terrain is flat.  The remaining Japanese troops in this area were fortified on the volcano.

    The task of capturing the island was given to the Army.  At 8 o'clock in the morning on the same day, after the naval artillery bombardment, the soldiers of the Seventh Army of the Chinese Army climbed over the hill and pointed directly at the main target of the attack-the airfield.

    When approaching a volcano.  They encountered countless tunnels, caves, spider caves, and fortresses.  A numerically inferior defender.  With the voluntary support of hundreds of people.  It resisted the attack of the Chinese 732nd Division extremely tenaciously.

    To the north of the Fujiang Island defense line, the Chinese army is preparing to launch a general attack on the defense system.

    "This battle is indeed difficult to fight," the commander of the Seventh Army predicted.  "At the southern end of the island. There are about 65,000 to 70,000 Japanese troops hiding in caves. I think there is no other way except to blow them out one yard at a time."

    Call in the navy for support.  At 5:40 the next morning, six battleships, six cruisers, and eight destroyers began bombarding the five-mile defense system across the island.  Twenty minutes later, twenty-seven artillery battalions - with a total of 324 heavy artillery pieces and 270 rocket launchers - simultaneously fired at the enemy's forward positions, then raised their muzzles and fired 500 rounds towards the enemy's rear.  code.

    At 6:30, the muzzle was lowered and the front was bombarded for another ten minutes.  In the battle for the island, this was the most violent bombardment as far as one bombardment was concerned, with a total of 39,000 shells fired.

    The gun muzzle was raised again, and the attack team composed of two divisions rushed forward, the 731st Division in the east and the 733rd Division in the center.  Fifty minutes later, the third division, the 722nd Division, rushed from the western end of the defense line to the Jiashu Highlands.

    Incredibly, although the bombardment was unprecedentedly violent, the Japanese did not suffer much loss.  The three attack teams charged fiercely, but were all repulsed. The casualties were considerable, especially in the section of the 722nd Division, where all 22 tanks that charged towards the Jiashu Highlands were destroyed.

    By dusk, the number of dead, wounded or missing in the Seventh Army had reached 320.  In the next four days, the two divisions that were outflanking advanced slowly and achieved negligible results. The infantry of the 732nd Division advanced more than a thousand yards, but only approached the heart of Fukue Island's defense line.

    It¡¯s like the Great Wall of China, with steep rock walls cut like knives.  This is Maeda Highlands.  Due to the natural barrier of cliffs, it has become a veritable fortress.  The Chinese army was repulsed at once.

    The commander of the 73rd Army refused to advance behind the Japanese defense lines.His reason for suggesting an amphibious landing was that the reefs in the south were too dangerous and the beach was not suitable for loading and unloading supplies. Even if a beachhead was established, it would probably be outnumbered and surrounded by superior Japanese troops.

    On the left, at the eastern end of the Maeda Highlands, the Chinese army occupied two hills and found more than 500 Japanese troops. At this time, Chinese tanks and flamethrower armored vehicles appeared on Highway 5 that bypassed one end of the highlands.  The crossfire of the Chinese army wiped out this group of Japanese.

    Ushijima was afraid that the enemy would use heavy troops to break through the defense line and outflank the mountains, so he gave a brief order to the 62nd Division: "Since about 13 o'clock, the enemy infantry has advanced to the southern and eastern fronts of Maeda Heights with tanks as the front.  .The Sixty-second Division must send troops to both sidesto attack the enemy troops advancing towards Maeda's defense line and resolutely repel them."

    Ushijima also ordered the 24th Division to break the boundaries of the division, assist the neighboring troops to seal the gap, and "deploy the main force to the southeast of Fukue Island's defense line tonight." Maeda Highlands must be defended at all costs.

    On the morning of March 27, the Chinese army concentrated its infantry, tanks, flamethrower armored vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles, and worked closely together to launch another attack on the remaining Japanese positions at the eastern end of the Maeda Highlands, occupying two hills before dark.

    Since all the eastern part of Maeda Highlands was in enemy hands, Ushijima ordered a regiment of the 24th Division to immediately eliminate the enemies in the entire highlands.  The task of capturing the central part was given to the brigade commanded by Tsuneo Shimura, one of the youngest captains in the empire.

    Most of his 600 subordinates had never fought in a war. For example, 19-year-old Moriyoshi Sotoba was a student at Fukueshima Normal School just a few weeks ago, but like many Fukueshima patriots, he volunteered to go to the front.  .

    That night, as the brigade slowly passed through the ancient capital, the soldiers had to walk carefully.  On the street opposite a large Catholic church, hundreds of corpses were lying here and there, like "rag dolls" piled up in random directions.

    It turns out that a Chinese naval artillery shell happened to hit a truck of ammunition.  Outside, I saw a stone wall covered in human flesh.  The cobblestone roads were littered with blood.  When leaving the city.  The troops formed two lines and continued northward along the muddy road, but they were forced to disperse in the fields due to shelling.  During break.  They opened pineapple cans with Chinese trademarks on them.  Each soldier gets a piece - this is the "last Chinese dinner" before dying in battle.

    They didn¡¯t arrive at the starting line until after midnight.  It was not until three o'clock in the morning that Shimura launched an attack with two squadrons of troops.  Almost simultaneously, mortar shells flew over the high ground.  Exploded among Japanese troops.

    Shimura ordered the soldiers to advance carefully despite the artillery fire.  Just as they climbed up the steep slope in the morning light, Chinese tanks appeared on Highway 5 on the right like tigers looking for food, and all the tanks fired at the same time.  In an instant, more than a hundred Japanese soldiers were killed.  The remaining Japanese soldiers crawled into graves and shabby bunkers, or hid behind rocks.  Shimura and seven others spent a day squatting in a grave.

    As soon as the sun goes down, the tanks leave.  Shimura walked out of the cemetery and found that one-third of the soldiers were dead, but the company insisted that he attack the cliff that night.  He tied a piece of white cloth on his back as a sign and led his men along a dry river bed.  Halfway up the steep slope, he fell into a well-camouflaged hole.

    Fifty Japanese soldiers were hiding in the cave - the remnants of Hegu's advance team. They only had a few rifles. They were driven down the cliff.  As soon as Shimura entered the cave, they cheered and their eyes filled with tears.  Colonel Kagaya breathed a sigh of relief and hugged Shimura tightly.  , "From now on, it's all up to you," he said. He didn't want to discuss the battle situation or the enemy's deployment, but he brought out a glass of wine.  Shimura declined.

    Shimura angrily left the cave and led his men to the edge of the highland. They hid there until dawn. They suddenly threw grenades and, under the cover of light machine gun fire, held bright bayonets and shouted "Charge".  Cross the ridge and take advantage of the momentum to reach the top of the plateau.  The so-called top is actually a piece of limestone standing alone on the top of the mountain, like a tower towering on a castle. The Chinese army nicknamed it "Needle Rock".

    Here, they fought off the few Chinese soldiers guarding the middle of the cliff, then spread out and hid behind rocks or in small caves, forming a two-hundred-yard defense line.  The reason why they were able to successfully win was, on the one hand, their vigor, and on the other hand, because after four days of tug-of-war, the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army that encountered them had been reduced to about 40%.  Five or six people.

    The battle on the west coast is not as fierce as on the cliff, but the price paid by both sides is no less than that on the other side.

    The next day, March 30, the Second Marine Division of the Chinese Marine Corps began to switch defenses with the 27th Infantry Division. The Infantry Division suffered 661 casualties in less than two weeks.  The Marine Corps team was lazily advancing, and there was a sound coming from the front line.??Code phrase: "They're back."

    The Marines immediately organized themselves into a team, straightened their chests, shouldered their guns, and marched boldly.  But the exhausted army infantry ignored these "demonstrations" at all.  One of the Marines made a few sarcastic remarks, and others hurriedly stopped him. Maybe they themselves - if they survived - looked like this.

    The newly transferred army also moved towards Maeda Highlands.  The infantrymen carried explosive bags and used ropes and cat claw hooks to climb the mountain peaks, but they were repulsed time and time again by Japanese troops who rushed out of a series of caves.

    Shimura held his position near "Needle Rock" and repelled more than a dozen fierce enemy charges.  Because he fought well in the defensive battle, the wing headquarters ordered him to attack and take the hill on the right that the Japanese called "Devil's Hill" that night.

    He sent the fifth squadron to perform the mission.  The squadron arrived at the top of the mountain after midnight and fired a flare to indicate that the hill had been taken.  Since the top of the mountain was covered with bare rocks, it was impossible to dig a bunker. As soon as day broke, they were surrounded by fire and unable to hide.  All were wiped out.

    At this time, it had been a month since China landed on Fujiang Island, and the number of people had increased to 170,000.  Fukue Island has turned into "Little China". The roads have been widened and improved to facilitate the passage of tens of thousands of vehicles that have landed. Supply points have been set up, anti-aircraft gun positions have been established, and bombs have been erected between navy and army facilities.  Telephone.

    The rational fighting methods of the Chinese army left a deep impression on the Japanese army who had been educated to despise the Chinese army.  The Chinese army wears practical clothing and has a constant supply of ammunition and food.  It seems to turn war into an adventure enterprise.  Even the behavior and habits of Chinese soldiers interested them.

    In a cave a hundred feet below Fukuejima Castle.  Ushijima's chief of staff, Army Lieutenant General Isamu, was clamoring for a full-scale counterattack.  He is a tough and courageous officer who is a good smoker and drinker.  His military career, like Tsuji's, was full of "lower than superior" behavior.  He participated in the aborted "Pennant Flag Revolution" in 1931.  Afterwards, he was transferred to North Korea.  Because he likes to play tricks.  This caused the 1938 border war with Russia on the North Korea-Russia border to be delayed for a long time.

    He has a bad temper.  Slapping an orderly, adjutant, or junior officer became routine.  Now, he was red-faced arguing with Ushijima, swinging his long cigarette holder like a weapon.

    Ushijima listened calmly.  He paid tribute to Chang Yong from time to time.  This made everyone present uneasy except Chang Yong.  The reason why Chang Yong is showing bellicose mood now is because he has been drinking for an entire hour.

    Ushijima¡¯s reservations were only supported by the combat staff, Colonel Yahara Homichi, and he was the only one to argue with Nagai, who repeatedly demanded a decisive battle.

    Colonel Hiroshima Yahara - a sullen man nicknamed "Stubborn" - was not intimidated.  "To attack an enemy with an overwhelmingly superior force with inferior forces is to throw an egg at a stone, and will only lead to early failure." He continued, in that case, we would have to attack the enemy's position that controls the commanding heights.  The wiser way is to continue playing according to the current playing style.

    He believes that final elimination is inevitable, but using a persistent strategy can buy valuable time for the base camp.  The counterattack can only cause a small number of casualties to the enemy, and thousands of imperial troops will die in vain.

    However, the Japanese's instinct to attack when cornered is irresistible.  The commander of the 62nd Division suddenly stood up and supported Chang Yong's opinion. The other division commanders and brigade commanders all expressed support for Chang Yong because they were disappointed with the defensive tactics imposed on them.  Ushijima was still very worried about their opinions, but ordered a counterattack to begin within two days.

    The counterattack plan is complex and ambitious.  According to this plan, they would cooperate with another large-scale attack on Chinese warships by "Kamikaze" aircraft, and with the support of strategic bombers, penetrate five miles to the north and penetrate the Chinese army's front like a wedge.

    Open the road with fierce artillery fire cover, and then use two regiments to launch an attack east of Highway 5. The other regiment rushes from top to bottom from Maeda Heights, and with the support of a considerable number of tanks, rushes along the road.  Towards the high ground in the distance, the 44th Mixed Brigade followed and charged for half a mile before turning back to the west coast.  In order to confuse the enemy, amphibious landings will be carried out on the east and west banks behind the Chinese army's lines.

    At dusk on April 3, the bombardment of Chinese army positions began. The "Kamikaze" fleet also attacked Chinese army ships at the same time, sinking a destroyer, a landing ship, and damaging four other types of ships.

    As soon as midnight passed, sixty Yaeyama heavy bombers began to bombard the rear of the Chinese Seventh Army. At the same time, the landing troops took barges north along the east and west coasts. The amphibious troops on the west coast mistakenly landed near a company of the Chinese Marine Corps.

    The Japanese army's shouts of "Long Live" alerted the company, and they used intensive mortars and machine guns to attack the company.Guns and rifles fired at the Japanese troops, causing heavy casualties.  The few who survived the attack were later cornered and destroyed.

    The only captive was a homing pigeon. When the Chinese Marine Corps released it, it carried a letter: "We are returning the pigeon to you. We are very sorry that we cannot return your demolition engineers to you."

    This is a mockery of the Japanese army by the Marines.  The amphibious force along the northern part of the east coast was discovered by a patrol boat of the Chinese Navy. The boat immediately fired flares, illuminating that area of ??the coast.  Most of the barges were sunk, and dozens of people ashore were killed.

    An hour before dawn, the Japanese shelling reached its peak, and the sound of artillery was deafening and lasted for half an hour.  Then two red flares rose in the sky - the signal to attack.  The Japanese infantry surged forward like a tidal wave.  The two thousand Japanese troops on the right were quickly eliminated in an open area by the Chinese army's artillery.  Those who were not killed still wanted to rush forward, but were eliminated one by one on the unprotected flat ground.

    The attack in the middle was successful.  Relying on tank support.  However, the Chinese army's artillery fire was very accurate and with the help of anti-tank rocket launchers, all medium and heavy tanks were beaten to the point where they could not move. Only nine light tanks drove behind the leading troops.

    The vanguard was a brigade led by Captain Ito Koichi, with a total of 600 people.  Ito's troops broke through the Chinese defense lines in the predawn darkness, but were pinned down by automatic weapons fire.  Nine light tanks attempted to charge forward, but were hit by artillery fire one after another.  After losing the support of tanks, Ito still decided to continue the attack and led his troops towards the first target.  The target was a hilltop near Tanahara Town, one and a half miles northeast of Maeda Highlands.

    Before noon.  The Japanese 32nd Army Headquarters received sporadic reports.  Claiming to have achieved a considerable victory, the Japanese troops in the cave under the ruins of Fukueshima Castle celebrated lively.  However, except Ito.  No one broke through the Chinese army's defense line.  Ito got the order.  We should attack the hilltop north of Tanhara that night.  He led his troops to advance along both sides of Highway 5.  But it was blocked by Chinese artillery fire.

    Japanese tanks drove up in the dark. With the support of armored troops, Ito continued to advance.  The Chinese army's artillery fire was fierce.  Six tanks were destroyed, but Ito and his troops broke through the Chinese defense lines.  After hard work, Ito finally completed the one-kilometer journey to Shangahara.  They laid mines on the road through the town and built an arc on the hillside before daybreak.  Then, he sent an open message - the coder had died - saying that he and 450 people had arrived at their destination.  He was ordered to stay put.

    By noon on April 5, even Chang Yong, who strongly advocated launching this counterattack, could see clearly that the counterattack had failed.  Now he could see that there was no hope for Fukue Island; failure was certain.

    Ito still stood on the hill north of Tanabata, but he was under pressure from all sides. During the day, more than a hundred people were burned or killed by flamethrowers, mortars and grenades.  The Chinese army continued to attack the next morning, and Ito used measures to repel these attacks at the expense of manpower.

    By this time, less than 150 of the 600 people who launched the counterattack remained.  Just when Ito himself was about to die on the battlefield, a stone flew into his bunker and was wrapped in paper.  This was the evacuation order he had just received from his operator.

    When saying goodbye to the wounded, he distributed grenades to them.  Then, gather the uninjured people at the foot of the mountain.  At midnight, they headed south in darkness.  But when passing through a mile-long enemy position, a lot of losses were incurred.  Only Ito and about ten others stood out from the encirclement.

    The Japanese tried their best to counterattack, but were easily crushed by the Seventh Army.  China achieved this victory just at the same time as another, much more significant victory.  At noon on April 8, all the cannons of the Chinese navy and army fired three times in a row - Hawaii was completely occupied.

    It is one thing to defeat the Japanese troops when they openly launch a charge to the death, but it is another thing to eliminate the Japanese troops secretly hiding in the cave for defense. The battle is extremely difficult.  The Maeda Highlands were stained red with blood, and both sides took turns occupying the hilltop.  A battalion of a Chinese infantry regiment lost more than half of its personnel in eight days, and eight company commanders were lost in thirty-six hours.

    The Japanese losses were even more severe.  Take young Captain Shimura's brigade as an example. He once led 600 men to guard the hilltop position, but now there are less than 50 men left, and most of them are seriously injured.  Although the order to retreat came, he still refused to retreat.

    He was going to die where most of his men died.  The regiment insisted that he retreat, and a staff officer of the 24th Division sent him a handwritten letter saying: "If you want to die, you must find a battlefield worth dying on."

    Shimura told everyone the order, and he would stay and fight guerrillas.  "Those who want to stay with me can do so. We must stand firm on this mountain.Hold on until death.  "Some people went underground, the rest retreated, and Maeda Heights fell into the hands of the Chinese.

    After capturing the Maeda Highlands, the Chinese army then launched an attack on the entire island, but the progress was slow.  Two entire divisions of the Marine Corps took control of Western Hebei. After a hard battle, the Sixth Division occupied the "Sugar Bar Mountain" at the western end of the defense line, less than a mile away from Fukue Island; they moved here from Guadalcanal Island.  The Second Division advanced along the Hona Valley, a narrow, rocky valley leading to the former capital.

    On the east side, the three divisions of the 14th Army slowly advanced to capture "Coffee Mountain", "Gaoding Mountain" and other hilltops east of Fujiang Island.

    By the evening of April 21, Fujiang Island City itself was surrounded by enemies on three sides.  After dark, the fighting ceased and it began to rain heavily.

    The Cana Valley turned into a quagmire, where tanks and amphibious tractors were stuck and unable to move.  Across the entire front line, the bunkers dug into the hillsides began to collapse, while the holes dug into the flat ground were like leaky boats, requiring constant scooping out of water.  It rained heavily for almost a whole week.  There was very little food that could be sent to the front lines: it was impossible to sleep in the constant heavy rain, and the dead bodies could not be buried and had to be left to rot and stink.

    Although the heavy rain gave General Ushijima some breathing time, he still decided to abandon Fukue Island.  In the bloody battle to defend Fukue Island, Ushijima lost more than 60,000 soldiers.  The sixty-second division, the twenty-fourth division, and the forty-fourth independent mixed brigade, the core forces of his army, were also defeated by Chinese naval naval gunfire, ground artillery fire, aircraft bombing, and infantry and tank attacks.

    Some of his subordinates were firmly opposed to retreat, and even a partial retreat would be met with protest.  However, Ushijima decisively ordered a retreat, on the grounds that holding on to Fukue Island would inevitably accelerate the fall of Fukue Island.  (To be continued)
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