Age of Conquest Reborn

The Battle of the Korean Peninsula was divided into three battlefields, one was Incheon, the second was Gunshan, and the third was Mokpo. The key battlefield was Mokpo at the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula. General Tanaka Shinichi, the commander of the Japanese Korean garrison, abandoned Incheon.

The troops to the north, and the troops to the south of Incheon, were concentrated in the direction of Busan, Gwangju, and Mokpo. It seemed to be a contraction strategy as a last resort in the face of the three-pronged attack of hundreds of thousands of troops from the Southeast Mobile Corps.

But the actual effect is very obvious. The Japanese troops on the line from Busan to Mokpo have become unprecedentedly strong. More than two-thirds of the Korean garrison troops are concentrated in this direction, which has become a hard nut to crack. While guarding the Busan port,

With its back to the Japanese mainland, it can receive a steady stream of reinforcements, and Mokpo is the new general Tanaka, the bridgehead of the Busan defense line. It is strange that he does not fight for his life.

Ma Chaoyang had a very clear grasp of all this. As far as the Japanese military situation in front of him was concerned, about 200,000 troops were concentrated along the line from Busan to Mokpo. In Mokpo alone, more than 60,000 Japanese troops were stationed, and there were also

Timely reinforcements from the Japanese army in the direction of Gwangju could be obtained at any time. Therefore, Ma Chaoyang knew that the Battle of Mokpo was urgent.

From a strength comparison point of view, the Southeast Mobile Corps that attacked Mokpo consisted of four brigades, plus three brigades of the Marine Corps. The seven brigades totaled 120,000 people. Compared with the Japanese army's strength, they were at a disadvantage, but Tanaka Shinichi needed

The key points of defense are not only Mokpo, but also Gwangju and Busan. Therefore, the number of troops that can be used in the direction of Mokpo will not exceed 100,000. This was carefully calculated by the Southeast Mobile Corps staff department when formulating the plan.

of.

After fighting for a whole day, the troops commanded by Ma Chaoyang successfully penetrated the Japanese defensive positions at Mokpo Port, forcing the Japanese army to retreat to the second line of defense. All hundreds of thousands of troops came ashore. They consolidated the beachhead position and formed a formation with the Japanese army to the west of Mokpo.

Confrontation situation.

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, Ma Zhaoyang disembarked from the landing command ship and walked slowly to Mokpo Beach. On the usually clean beach, there were puddles of blood stains vividly in front of his eyes. The rising tide continued to wash the blood stains into the sea, and the sea breeze gradually

But the pervasive smell of gunpowder smoke could not be blown away. Bomb craters, broken guns, and broken arms could be seen everywhere on the beach. Everything on the battlefield all showed the intensity of the battle just now.

Colonel Xu Guangqi, chief of staff of the corps, caught up from behind and said, "Report to the commander, the casualties of each unit have been counted. The 9th brigade suffered more than 3,500 casualties, including 873 killed in action.

The brigade suffered more than 1,300 casualties, including 423 killed in action. The 11th Brigade suffered more than 2,200 casualties, including 381 killed in action. The 12th Brigade suffered 1,700 casualties.

Of the rest, 315 were killed."

"According to statistics, the four brigades we participated in the offensive suffered a total of more than 8,700 casualties, of which 1,992 were killed! About two-thirds of the casualties occurred during the beach landing stage!

"Speaking of this, Xu Guangqi's voice deepened, and a sad look appeared on his face.

Ma Chaoyang took a breath of air and did not speak. Only the muscles on his cheeks were twitching uncontrollably. In just one day of fighting, the casualties exceeded more than half of the main brigade, with nearly 9,000 casualties and 2,000 killed.

, in one day, there were so many casualties, which was unprecedented in the combat history of the Southeast Mobile Corps. Ma Chaoyang's heart was bleeding, and he was almost broken in pain.

The sunset faded away its last rays, and night fell. Ma Chaoyang stood on the beach, like a sculpture, motionless for a long time. The late-tide sea water came up one after another, soaking his trousers. Xu Guangqi worriedly reminded: "Commander,

Let’s go ashore, the tide is coming in!”

"Chief of Staff, how many Japanese troops will be annihilated?" Ma Chaoyang suddenly asked.

Xu Guangqi was silent for a moment and replied: "According to statistics from each brigade, the number of Japanese troops annihilated was approximately 10,000!"

Ma Chaoyang let out a long sigh, "The casualty ratio is one to one. This is when we have control of the air and have naval gunfire support on the sea. Without these favorable conditions, the casualties of our corps would have been much greater.

By the way, Chief of Staff, why are the casualties of the Ninth Brigade so high? They account for more than one-third of the total casualties. What did Hao Jiasheng do? Is this how he directed the battle?"

Ma Chaoyang's voice sounded a little angry. He deployed two brigades at the same time to land on the beach. The 10th Brigade suffered only more than 1,300 casualties. Only the 9th Brigade suffered such huge casualties. This is very abnormal. The 9th Brigade

Brigadier Hao Jiasheng must bear responsibility!

Regarding this situation, when the casualty statistics were done after the war, Chief of Staff Xu Guangqi personally went to the Ninth Brigade to understand the situation. Seeing that the commander was angry because the Ninth Brigade had suffered such heavy casualties, he explained: "Commander, the Ninth Brigade has suffered such heavy casualties.

The casualties of the Ninth Brigade were due to causes. According to the battle plan, when the attack started, although two brigades were deployed at the same time, due to the terrain conditions of Mokpo Port, it was actually the Ninth Brigade that launched the first wave of attacks!"

"The 10th Brigade and the following two brigades attacked behind the 9th Brigade. Although the aviation bombers and naval guns destroyed all the Japanese army's surface positions, there are still many remaining Japanese underground fortifications.

Therefore, the Ninth Brigade suffered such huge casualties. When I went to the Ninth Brigade to learn about the situation, Brigadier Hao Jiasheng also expressed that because the troop casualties were too large, he was willing to assume command responsibility!"

What else could Ma Chaoyang say? He knew Hao Jiasheng and was a very capable commander. He did not want to see such huge casualties in the 9th Brigade. After all, they were his soldiers. During the landing operation, they appeared in the beach grabbing stage.

The maximum casualties were a normal phenomenon, unless sea and air firepower completely destroyed the Japanese beachhead defense positions. Looking at it now, it is obvious that this effect was not achieved.

It wasn't the aviation bomber group or the warships' cannons that were ineffective, but the Japanese underground defense system. It withstood the first wave of bombing and shelling. The 9th Brigade bore the brunt of the Japanese counterattack. Fortunately, the troops

After paying such heavy casualties, the Japanese beachhead was finally captured. After all the troops landed, there would be no such heavy casualties in the future.

Ma Chaoyang walked heavily onto the beach, leaving two deep footprints behind him, but they were quickly smoothed away by the tide. "Chief of Staff, are there any casualties in the three brigades of the Marine Corps?" He was very abrupt.

asked.

Xu Guangqi replied: "No, the three Marine Corps brigades assigned to our Corps landed in the last wave. At that time, the first troops to attack had already captured the Japanese beachhead! Battle!

It’s already over!”

Ma Chaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he was right not to involve the Marine Corps in the beach landing battle with the largest casualties. Those were Han Tie's three precious main brigades, assigned to him. If the casualties were too large, he would

With that guy Han Tie's temperament, can he forgive me?

The two people had just landed when a dozen figures came towards them. Ma Chaoyang's guards hurriedly took a vigilant posture. When the figures came closer, Ma Chaoyang recognized them. They were Chen Mengqiao, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade, and Commander of the 2nd Brigade.

Commander Li Bohan, Commander of the Third Brigade Xiao Jinting, followed by more than a dozen guards, were coming from the opposite side.

Ma Chaoyang hurriedly greeted him, but before he could say anything, the three brigade commanders of the Marine Corps stood in front of him, raising their hands in salute with serious expressions. Ma Chaoyang was a little confused, and returned the salute involuntarily.

Asked: "Three brigade commanders, what happened?"

Chen Mengqiao, commander of the 1st Brigade of the Marine Corps, was obviously the spokesperson. He ended the salute neatly and said: "Commander Ma, on behalf of the other two brigade commanders of the Marine Corps, I would like to express my opinions to you!"

Ma Chaoyang was stunned and didn't understand why, but he still said: "Commander Chen, if you have any opinions, just tell me everything you know. I, Ma Chaoyang, am not a tiger whose butt you can't touch!"

Chen Mengqiao said: "Commander Ma, the combat order of our three brigades, assigned to the Southeast Mobile Corps, is the troops under your command. There should not be any distinction between near and far, but in today's beach landing operation, you are

Arrange our troops to land in the last wave. After we land, the battle is over. The three of us think this is unfair to us!"

"Commander Ma, we understand your good intentions, but as a soldier, you are slighting us by doing this. Just now, Brigadier Li, Brigadier Xiao and I went to the troops of Brigadier Hao of the 9th Brigade.

After taking a look, we saw that there were a lot of casualties, and we felt heartbroken when we saw them!"

"Commander Ma, please forgive Chen Mengqiao for bluntly saying that your deployment is obviously inappropriate. The main combat goal of our Marine Corps is island landing operations. Beach landing operations are specially trained and are our strengths.

Among them, the Japanese army is our target. If it were any of the three of us in today's beach landing battle, there would not be such heavy casualties!"

"Commander Ma, I am a straight-tempered person. When we arrived, our Commander Han also made a special statement. Not to mention other battles, you must implore Commander Ma to let your troops go up.

In that case, the casualties will be much smaller! However, you did not arrange our troops, so we are here to give you advice! Ask Commander Ma to treat us like the troops of the Southeast Mobile Corps!"

Chen Mengqiao's eloquence was good. Because of his excitement, his tone was a little trembling. His words were not intense, but his meaning was very clear. He hoped that Commander Ma Chaoyang would not be afraid of large casualties just because he is a Marine Corps unit.

Dare to let go and use it boldly.

Although Chen Mengqiao and others came to give opinions, Ma Chaoyang did not feel disgusted at all. On the contrary, there was a surge of heat in his heart. He said that Chen Mengqiao and others came to give opinions. In fact, they were not here to ask for a fight!

(To be continued)