The first batch of soldiers were teams led by fellow villagers themselves. The reason was that this was the first actual combat after the armed swimming training of the Expeditionary Army soldiers, and fellow villagers were a little worried.

The other is that he inherited Zhang Chi's command style, believing that the commander sometimes must go to the front line on the battlefield, otherwise some emergencies will not be able to command in time and it will easily miss the opportunity for war.

More than a dozen Higgins landing craft slowly drove into the entrance of the atoll amid the sound of gunfire. The sea surface was even filled with the water vapor evaporated from the shells when they exploded. It was full of gunpowder and the saltiness of the sea water. The poor visibility made it difficult for the landing drivers to grasp the direction, and they did not dare to turn on the lights... Turning on the lights is likely to make the Japanese army notice their existence, so the driver could only follow the troop ship in front of them nervously in the darkness, driving in the darkness.

Fortunately, these drivers also undergo night battle training... They are Chinese sailors of the New Seventh Army. The US military generally does not choose night battles, so no matter the navy and air force, they all have less training in night battles. Of course, this is limited to the US military in this era. After the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the US military fully realized the shortcomings of their night battle capabilities and worked hard to supplement this shortcoming.

But Chinese sailors are different. Chinese sailors fight against the strong with weak. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, they even specially trained to secretly drive ships filled with explosives at night and approach the Japanese warships and then detonate them. Therefore, their training in night wars is stronger than that of the US military.

The pilots of these landing craft were also carefully selected from Chinese sailors, and they successfully transported the troops through the narrow atoll entrance into the designated location of the lagoon in almost pitch black.

After the war, when asked how they could do this, their answer was: "One is to listen to the sound, the sound of the motor. However, the sound of the motor is not very reliable, because it is sometimes difficult to distinguish among the rumbling cannons, and the other is to feel like driving the boat."

The success of these sailors made the fellow villagers change their minds temporarily... When he and the first wave of soldiers arrived at the designated lagoon, they ordered all soldiers to jump into the sea and wait, waiting for the landing craft to return and then take the second wave of soldiers to launch an attack on the enemy.

The fellow villagers should be very risky in this way. The main danger is that the soldiers waiting in the sea may be discovered by the Japanese army. At that time, the entire plan will not only lose 5≤5≤5≤5≤m, but will also cause heavy casualties to the troops... The soldiers have no ability to fight back in the sea, and can only allow the Japanese army to fire.

However, the adventure of fellow villagers was later proved worth it, because the number of sneak attacks was too small, with only more than 500 people, and the fortifications of the Japanese army on Bito Island were very complete... Bito Island is only 1.18 square kilometers in total, and more than 6,000 Japanese troops were struggling on this island for more than a year. It is not an exaggeration to build Bito Island into a hedgehog with fortifications on all sides.

For such an island, it is difficult for 500 people to play a role, especially fellow villagers who also know that the Japanese Navy Special Marines stationed on Bito Island... For this force, fellow villagers have fought with them on Guadalam, knowing that their combat effectiveness and fighting will are not comparable to ordinary Japanese troops. This is a difference between the US Marines and the US 7th Division. Although the combat effectiveness of the US Marines was not very good at this time, it was much better than that of the US Army.

Therefore, fellow villagers did not dare to take this risk. He was worried that after the 500 people launched a sneak attack, the Japanese army, who was good at night battles, would launch a counterattack against them at all costs, but the second wave was too late or the entrance to the lagoon was blocked by Japanese artillery fire, so this operation would be in vain.

So fellow villagers and more than 500 soldiers were floating in the sea for more than twenty minutes... It was not very difficult for the soldiers to come because they could catch the equipment wrapped in ponchoes and float in the water. What they were most worried about was that the Japanese army called a few flares to the center of the lagoon or searched in this direction with searchlights, but none of this happened.

In fact, these people in the countryside have been worried too much.

The reason why the Japanese did not shoot flares to the lagoon or search with searchlights was not because the Japanese were not vigilant, but because the US military fired smoke bombs on all the atoll islands, especially the Japanese army stationed heavily in Bito Island. Among them, the US Marine Warrior Division also played a role. They fired almost all the smoke bombs brought to the island.

Coupled with the smoke and water vapor from the shells, the Tarava Atoll was shrouded in smoke. Even if the Japanese fired flares towards the lagoon or searched with searchlights, it would be difficult for them to find the expeditionary soldiers floating in the sea one kilometer away.

There is also some surprise. This was not caused by the Japanese, but by the US Navy's artillery shells... Just like before, Bito Island is coral sandy, and Bito Island is only about 500 meters wide. So even if the shells shot by American warships to Bito Island were accurately shot to Bito Island by relatively fire, some of the shells will still bounce into the sea water of the lagoon.

So from time to time, several shells crossed the soldiers' heads and exploded nearby, which made the soldiers think that they were discovered by the Japanese... The soldiers could not tell whether this was a US shell or a Japanese shell, but the fellow villagers had no flares from the sky, and they were convinced that they were not exposed, so they stabilized the soldiers and let them continue to lurk.

In fact, the fellow villagers were not sure at the time because he could not understand... Since the Japanese did not find them, where did these shells come from? The American artillery would not be so inaccurate. Even though they knew that their people were going to land from the lagoon, they would still hit so many shells into the lagoon?!

Even after the war, fellow villagers could not solve this puzzle, even if they asked about the US Navy or Japanese prisoners of war, they could not have shot the shells on both sides.

Until Nimitz expressed his curiosity about the battle of Tarawa... He did not understand why the US Navy had carried out such a protracted and long-lasting bombing on Tarawa and was also bombed by heavy artillery and aviation bombs, so he could not destroy the fortifications built by the Japanese army of Tarawa, resulting in such great casualties.

So, Nimitzt found an island with a geological terrain and geological shape in the Pacific Ocean, built fortifications in the form of Bito Island, and conducted artillery tests and observations, and finally discovered the mystery... The shells would bounce on the island and jump to the other side of the sea to explode.

Only after further experiments did the US military know that to destroy fortifications like Bito Island, large-caliber artillery must be used to use delayed fuzes and fire at a high angle.
Chapter completed!