In order to cooperate with the Japanese army's entire combat operation in North China, half a month after the fierce fighting in the second phase of the battle, the Japanese army and navy carried out the first in 44 years in the direction of Qikou, and it was also the last time the Japanese army carried out during the entire World War II.
A large-scale landing operation is imminent. The waters off Qikou are full of Japanese fleets and transport ships preparing to land.
Just when the deputy commander-in-chief commanded the main force of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Military Region to launch a full-line attack on a Japanese division that was rushing towards Huguan. On the Qikou coastline hundreds of kilometers away from Lin County, the Japanese had already fallen
The first batch of naval ships, with various caliber shells from 356 mm to 120 mm.
The Japanese navy used fierce artillery fire, and under the constant correction of the calibration aircraft hovering over Qikou, it carried out fierce bombardment on all possible targets along the Qikou line. The huge explosions along the Qikou line resounded through almost the entire Bohai Bay.
.After half a month, the direction of Qikou ushered in earth-shattering artillery fire from the Japanese Navy. Only this time it was no longer a bluff by the Japanese Navy, but a real wolf.
However, compared with the twists and turns of the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi, the battle on the Qikou front line seemed a bit too step-by-step. Perhaps it was the previous shellings that wasted a batch of shells, but nothing useful was found. Therefore, the Japanese army
Although there are many troops in the secondary cover, they are mainly anti-submarine and anti-aircraft ships such as destroyers.
The large ships dispatched only three battleships, one heavy cruiser and one old armored cruiser, plus two light cruisers. However, considering the navy's current precious battleships and the air threats that the enemy might bring, the Japanese Navy not only dispatched
The land-based aviation force previously transferred to the Shandong battlefield was used as air cover for this landing operation.
A naval aviation training team stationed in Lushun was also ordered to dedicate part of the zero-fighting force to serve as escort. The Yamato battleship and the two Fuso-class battleships that had previously shown off in the Bohai Bay were dispatched to cover these battleships and the aircraft carrier group was deployed to bomb the coast of the Bohai Bay.
, did not appear this time.
The Army's landing operations have been delayed, but the Navy cannot keep all large and medium-sized ships on the mainland to cooperate with the Army's landing operations that are not yet known when. What's more, under the siege of the wolf pack tactics of US submarines, a large number of transport fleets
Being sunk has put the navy's fuel reserves in the country into trouble, and the fuel reserves in the country are declining almost every day.
Large and medium-sized ships are very oily, and the fuel required for each dispatch is astronomical. The first two bombardments on Tianjin and Qikou did not achieve any results, but wasted the navy's precious fuel. Although this time
Although the Army dispatched two divisions at once, the Navy is really reluctant to part with its precious fuel reserves and accompany the Army to continue playing like this.
Therefore, although the Navy dispatched a large number of destroyers to transport the Army's landing troops, as well as undertake anti-submarine and air defense duties, it only dispatched eight large and medium-sized ships. These eight ships were transferred from the original planned location to the Navy because the Navy gave the Army some face.
They were drawn from Taiwan's fleet.
As for the Yamato, which is considered a national treasure by the navy, hundreds of rounds of 460mm naval gun shells were wasted last time, and the navy's precious 460mm naval gun barrels were used less due to excessive wear.
The longevity has made the senior officials of the Navy Ministry feel pain to death. This time, no matter how hard the Army does its work, the Navy will never agree to dispatch again.
Are you kidding me? The Yamato ship is for the decisive battleship battle with the American and British monsters, not for your army to use as a fort. The last time it was dispatched, it gave the army a lot of face. This time, you want the navy to waste precious resources.
Don't even think about charging for you. Not only the battleship Yamato has not been dispatched, but also the battleship Nagato has not been dispatched.
Therefore, although the Navy dispatched three battleships this time, as well as a heavy cruiser, an old-fashioned armored cruiser, and two light cruisers to provide fire support, it thought it was enough. But these three battleships are undoubtedly old things.
, even the two existing battleships of the already old King Kong class have not been dispatched.
In addition to the fact that fuel is precious and cannot be wasted, the Navy also believes that the enemy does not have a single combat ship or large-caliber shore guns anyway. For the enemy bomber group that only has aerial bombs, a more flexible destroyer can
On the contrary, it is more appropriate.
However, although the navy did not dispatch too many large ships, it also mobilized all possible landing ships from the mainland and Taiwan. In addition to four first-class transport ships, it also dispatched 11 second-class transport ships. And almost
All local destroyers and anti-submarine ships were dispatched to escort the landing fleet.
Of course, in the sea outside Qikou, the Japanese navy was very worried about this place. It had already swept out mines countless times before, so there was no need to go to great trouble this time, so this time it did not carry a minesweeper except for destroying submarines.
It's just that the Japanese Navy didn't know that the anti-alliance deployment along the Qikou coast this time was different from before. There was really no mine laying before.
But this time, mines were not only laid in the sea off Qikou, but also the location of the mines was carefully researched and designed. After the mines arrived, Du Kaishan was not in a hurry and transferred these mines, which were extremely valuable to the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Mines were deployed in a hurry to the sea outside Qikou.
Instead, based on the experience of the Japanese bombardment of Qikou last time, the minefield was deployed more than 20 kilometers away from the coastline. Moreover, the location of the minefield was carefully designed and was deployed under the Japanese battleship last time.
The position of anchor firing. Du Kaishan valued the Japanese battleships. As for the destroyers escorting them, his own cannon group could still deal with them.
There is no way. Previous experience tells Du Kaishan that if he does not deal with these large ships with large-caliber naval guns with a range of more than 30 kilometers, he will not be able to reach them at all, and it will be difficult to destroy these tough ships with their power.
The thick cannon group of the battleship could not pose any threat to the Japanese landing fleet.
If you don't want to kick them out of their fire support group as much as possible, the artillery fire of these large ships at a location more than 20 kilometers along the coast is enough to destroy their own artillery positions. 356 mm caliber artillery shells are simply
His artillery positions cannot withstand it.
However, relying solely on the three-line combat, the already very tight aviation force was far from being able to meet the needs. Therefore, when laying mines, he adopted various methods to maximize the power of these mines. Even if they could not be sunk,
Several warships, but we must find a way to drive them out of the Bohai Bay.
As for whether the large ships of the Japanese Navy will continue to be stationed at the previous position when providing fire support, Du Kaishan is quite confident. Although he has never dealt with the Japanese Navy, he is extremely familiar with the Japanese Army.
I have a deep understanding of the rigidity of the Japanese.
Last time, the Japanese naval fleet fired at that position for half a day without encountering any trouble. It will definitely continue to be stationed at that position this time. Moreover, the water depth on the Qikou coast is limited, which can accommodate large ships.
The berthing positions are limited. In addition, before the Japanese warships are dispatched, the Japanese navy's minesweepers always stop at those positions and continue to conduct surveillance and mine clearance activities.
Although these minesweepers were transferred after the Japanese Navy fleet was assembled, it is almost certain that the large Japanese Navy ships this time will definitely fire at the same position as last time. However, in order to prevent the Japanese Navy from being recruited, Du Kaishan
He didn't just wait passively, he still took certain measures.
At the same time, after the Japanese naval fleet completed its assembly in the waters of Beichangshan Island and sailed westward into the Bohai Bay, in accordance with Du Kaishan's request, the aviation force secretly dispatched more than a dozen B-24 bombers, just as the Japanese navy was heading towards Qikou.
While the shells were pouring down, a mine net was secretly laid behind them in the Laotieshan Channel that they had to pass through on their way back.
Although these mines can only wait passively and cannot take the initiative to attack, how effective they can be. Du Kaishan, who does not know the navy and always pays attention to taking the initiative, does not know. But judging from the charge of these mines, Du Kaishan believes that
Even passive waiting will pose a certain threat to the Japanese navy.
Hundreds of kilograms of high explosives will surely give the Japanese navy a good drink. For Du Kaishan, this is also a helpless choice. There is no way, he has no ability to take the initiative. Those who want to fight
To be more outstanding, he can only use more brains and use all possible means. But what the effect will be, at least for now, he is still confused.
These mines deployed by Du Kaishan were urgently manufactured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance Arsenal, and they are also the only mines currently owned by the Anti-Japanese Alliance. They are M-26 anchor mines and KB anti-Japanese anti-Japanese mines that were exchanged from the Soviets using certain new technologies.
After the warship battery tentacle mine technology was developed, its own imitation products and finished products provided by the Soviets, as well as more than 400 magnetic mines given by the Americans, were introduced.
The reason why they were not deployed before was because the Anti-Japanese League mines had just been imitated. The Soviets provided too few, and the Americans promised had not yet arrived. And the Anti-Japanese League itself had no spare production capacity at a time when the war was intensifying.
, come to large-scale surprise manufacturing.
Although the Anti-Japanese Alliance requested the Americans to provide a batch of mines before the war, the Americans were slow to act. It was halfway through the battle before 500 magnetic mines were delivered. In addition to some samples provided by the Soviet Union, as well as anti-
A batch of emergency production before the Allied War, totaling more than 3,000 mines, was already the only inventory of the Anti-Japanese War.
Deployed too close to the coastline or too early, they can only be swept away one by one by the Japanese navy's minesweeper ships, which will not have much effect. On the contrary, it will be a waste of already precious mines. For these only mines that can be deployed in
The weapons deployed in the sea were very precious to Du Kaishan. In order to make good use of these things, he had racked his brains, just to make these key weapons play the greatest role at the critical moment.
After Du Kaishan received the batch of mines sent from the rear, he considered it several times, and at the suggestion of the commander of the Bohai Navy Region, deployed the anchor mines and some magnetic mines in the sea off Qikou. The last time the Japanese navy bombarded Qikou,
The most powerful battleships are deployed in the position. When laying mines, in order to achieve the greatest concealment as possible, wooden boats are used to manually lay mines at night.
The time for minelaying was chosen when the Japanese navy began to gather on Beichangshan Island. In order to avoid the Japanese fleet that had been patrolling in the Bohai Bay and to seize the only night before the arrival of the Japanese fleet, these mines were
The mine laying was completed, and Du Kaishan also tried his best when laying mines.
Fortunately, the Japanese Navy has several patrol ships in the Bohai Bay. In order to avoid the U.S. Navy submarines that have penetrated into the waters between the mainland and North China, and the increasingly frequent activities in the Bohai Sea area, threatening these valuable warships of the Navy. The Japanese Navy in the Bohai Sea
All the remaining warships in the Gulf went to the waters of Beichangshan Island to escort, leaving Du Kaishan one night to lay mines.