Age of Conquest Reborn

The division troops landed in the southern part of Chichijima. The more than 15,000-strong Chichijima garrison was in pieces. After receiving the report, the commander of the 105th Division, Lieutenant General Harukawa Kazichi, was stunned. In less than half a day,

, the total defense strength was lost by nearly one-third, which he never expected.

What he hasn't thought about yet is why the China Division troops left Iwo Jima alone and suddenly attacked Chichijima Island? It's unreasonable!

The southern part of Chichijima must not be lost and must be recaptured. Lieutenant General Harukawa was clearly aware of this. Less than two hours after the gunfire on the battlefield subsided, the Japanese 105th Division dispatched a brigade of 10,000 soldiers.

A multi-person force, under the cover of a heavy artillery brigade, launched a counterattack towards the southern area of ​​Chichijima.

Within more than an hour, Tang Qiusheng, commander of the South Road Offensive Force Headquarters, sent two brigades of Marine Corps troops to the southern landing site of Chichijima Island. In this way, the Marine Corps Division that landed on Chichijima Island would

There are four brigades with more than 60,000 troops, all under the command of the commander, Lieutenant General Han Tie.

Han Tie set up his headquarters in a hidden unit that had been bombed with only a small half left. He frowned and looked at the half-shattered hidden unit and the burnt corpses of more than a dozen Japanese officers.

They were laid out in the hidden department, and the air was filled with an unpleasant smell. "Get these corpses out of here!" he ordered the guards to arrive.

After the guards had tidied up, Han Tie observed the terrain and couldn't help but smile bitterly. The previous rounds of shelling were so brutal that the original Japanese defense system was reduced to dust, and the original appearance could not be seen at all.

When you put your feet down, the floating soil can reach up to your calves. You don't even have to dig fortifications.

Fortunately, Han Tie's landing force did not intend to stick here. "Order, the troops disperse on the spot, each looking for cover, waiting for the Japanese army to counterattack!" He gave the order, and as soon as he finished speaking, several artillery shells screamed.

, falls nearby.

"You guys still have artillery?" Han Tie frowned. At this time, the phone on the shell box rang. Han Tie picked up the phone. It was Major General Chen Mengqiao, commander of the 1st Brigade, calling, "

Commander, in front of our position, a large number of Japanese troops are coming from the center of Chichijima Island, do you want to fight?"

"It doesn't matter to you, just hide the troops!" Han Tie replied firmly. He said to Chief of Staff Wang Dongshan: "Report to the headquarters immediately. The Japs have dispatched troops to counterattack, and artillery. Please request artillery fire."

support!"

Then Han Tie was overjoyed. He said to Chief of Staff Wang Dongshan: "Chief of Staff, you kid is so stupid that you are going to get beaten by yourself. Leaving the strong fortifications and being exposed in the wild without air supremacy and strong artillery fire coverage is going to kill you."

almost!"

Tang Qiusheng provided fire support to the Korean Railway's landing force. It was not just naval guns, but also carrier-based bombers and fighter groups. The more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers who fought back were attacked from the sea and before they saw the shadow of the division soldiers.

Fierce double fire from the air.

Large-caliber naval gun shells and heavy aerial bombs blasted the Japanese troops into pieces. Fighters flew by at low altitudes, hitting Japanese soldiers with strings of bullets. The artillery that covered the infantry in counterattacks was a key target. More than half of them were attacked.

Hours later, of the more than 10,000 Japanese troops who fought back, only more than 2,000 returned.

Lieutenant General Chunchuan was shocked. Less than a day after the battle started, he had lost nearly half of his troops. The battle was unwinnable. He suffered two heavy losses. He also learned to be smart and no longer had extravagant hopes.

Instead of retaking the southern part of Chichijima, they concentrated their forces on the defenses in the central area of ​​Chichijima, hiding their presence.

After making a plan to hold on to the central part of Chichijima Island, Lieutenant General Harukawa quickly reported the situation on Chichijima Island, which had been violently attacked by the China Division fleet and landing forces, as well as the heavy casualties of the Imperial Army soldiers, to the general staff of the base camp, requesting reinforcements.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commander of the Iwo Jima garrison, was also notified. He knew very well that Chichijima, which is isolated in the Pacific Ocean, would definitely not be able to defend it without external reinforcements!

On Iwo Jima, the commander of the Kuribashi Division, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commanded his troops, and they were on the beachhead and deep positions. For three days and three nights, everyone from the commander of the Kuribayashi Division to the ordinary soldiers were highly nervous, and there was a smell of death.

, shrouded the entire Iwo Jima, and the destruction of the 85th Air Force made the Japanese soldiers on the island despair.

After receiving the report from Lieutenant General Harukawa Kazuchi, Lieutenant General Kuribayashi Tadamichi breathed a long sigh of relief. At least for a short time, Iwo Jima was safe. He also couldn't understand why the China Division troops gave up attacking Iwo Jima.

, and turned to attack Chichijima in the Ogasawara Islands?

While the four brigades of the Marine Corps landed in the southern area of ​​Chichijima, Tang Qiusheng was not idle. He allocated part of his troops to occupy other islands in the Ogasawara Islands, including Ogasawara Island, Hajima Island, etc. These two islands were

It was deserted and there were no Japanese troops stationed there. What he valued was the geographical location of the two islands. In the future, the Ogasawara Islands could serve as an important maritime logistics supply base for the southern offensive forces.

At the same time, Tang Qiusheng reported to the division commander that the troops had landed in the southern part of Chichi Island, and emphasized in the telegram that the casualties suffered when the troops landed were extremely minor, and that he meant that the Japanese troops guarding the island would be severely damaged.

Obviously, they want to capture Chichijima Island as soon as possible and build it into a maritime supply base.

After receiving the telegram, Tang Qiuli was finally relieved that the history of the bloody battle of Iwo Jima by the US military would not be repeated. He approved Tang Qiusheng's plan and emphasized in his reply that "the capture of Chichijima Island is actually necessary and does not limit the possibility of a repeat."

time, but during the battle, the principle should be to avoid heavy casualties in the troops!"

"It is recommended that the southern offensive troops should use a large number of artillery fire, especially rocket launchers, in the battle to seize Chichijima Island. The first choice of bombs used by carrier-based bombers should be 'Buddha's Light' napalm bombs!"

In a word, what Tang Qiuli meant was that he could take his time, give full play to his firepower advantage, and use massive artillery shells and bombs to blow open the Japanese defenses, instead of winning the battle to seize Chichijima with heavy casualties.

After reading Tang Qiuli's call back, Tang Qiusheng smiled and said to Fleet Chief of Staff Xin Xiguo: "Chief of Staff Xin, forward the original text of the division commander's call back to Han Tie!"

Han Railway's landing force rested for two days at the southern landing site of Chichijima. Within two days, a large number of heavy artillery and rocket artillery, as well as heavy equipment such as tanks, landed at the landing site. Two days later, the troops began to move toward the central area of ​​Chichijima.

Attack forward.

The purpose of Lieutenant General Harukawa's retreat to the central part of Chichijima Island was to take advantage of the natural terrain conditions and solid defenses, hide in concealed areas, bunkers and caves, and use a large number of soldiers from the anti-personnel division's offensive troops to support them until reinforcements sent from the mainland arrived.

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However, Lieutenant General Chunchuan obviously underestimated the ferocity of the firepower of the Korean Railway troops and the fighting style of the division troops. Before each pass, tanks cleared the way. First, large-caliber heavy artillery poured out raindrops of shells, blowing up the position seven times.

Everything fell apart, and then there were frightening new weapons, shells with long tail flames flying all over the sky, exploding seas of fire, and finally, napalm bombs dropped by bombers.

With such ferocious overlapping firepower, very few of the Japanese defenders in the attack area survived, even if they hid in solid underground fortifications and caves. They could escape the bombardment of heavy artillery shells and rockets, but they could not.

The all-pervasive flames of "Buddha's Light" napalm.

After three rounds of fire strikes, in addition to being blown up and burned to death, the remaining Japanese soldiers also died of suffocation due to depletion of oxygen. In the cave, piles of corpses of Japanese soldiers could be seen everywhere, with no trace of any trace on their bodies.

scars.

Han Tie's landing force advanced unhurriedly towards the northern part of Chichijima Island, using countless artillery shells, rockets and napalm bombs to blast through the Japanese defense lines. Everywhere they went, all Japanese troops were killed.

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A week later, the Korean Railway troops finally forced the remaining 7,000 Japanese troops to the northernmost tip of Chichijima Island. Then, after a day and night of non-stop shelling and bombing, the Japanese troops were completely wiped out. Chichijima Island finally fell into the hands of the division troops.

Here, Chichijima Island at this time looks like it has been poured over by volcanic lava, full of desolation and ruins.

This battle lasted about two weeks and completely wiped out the 105th Division of the Japanese Chichijima garrison. The garrison had a total strength of more than 40,000 people and captured less than 1,000 prisoners. To this end, South Korea

The Iron Troops only paid less than 2,000 casualties, but used more than 30,000 tons of ammunition. Chichijima was blown down inch by inch by the division's artillery shells and bombs. It is not an exaggeration.

After capturing Chichijima, the first thing Tang Qiusheng did was to order the logistics department to build a field airport and docks and other military facilities on Chichijima, so as to turn Chichijima into an advance to attack the Japanese mainland in the shortest possible time.

Logistics base.

The news of the fall of Chichijima reached the Japanese mainland and immediately caused a great shock. The Ogasawara Islands are the last of the three defense circles in the southern sea direction of the Japanese mainland. The senior officials of the Japanese base camp did not expect that the China Division

The troops' attack direction was not from the north, but from the southern Pacific direction, and they left the Northern Mariana Islands and Iwo Jima Islands behind and headed straight for the Ogasawara Islands.

The tens of thousands of troops originally deployed on the Northern Mariana Islands and Iwo Jima Islands have become useless decorations. Without strong naval forces, the troops on the two islands can only hold on and cannot attack.

The geographical location of the Ogasawara Islands is so important. Although it is more than a thousand kilometers away from Tokyo, the mainland, in front of the China Division fleet with aircraft carriers, this distance is not enough for a carrier-based aircraft to fly for an hour, and bombs will fall on the mainland at any time.

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With the fall of Chichijima, there was no longer a defense circle that could be used in the Japanese mainland. It was like a sharp knife of the Chinese people, heading straight towards Tokyo. The cold blade made the Japanese tremble in their hearts.

(To be continued) (To be continued..)

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