Chapter 207 The Japanese Navy Underestimated the Enemy
For the Japanese Navy, which had been turned around after being bombed, the loss of these large ships was not the most fatal loss. The most fatal loss was that the battleship Yamashiro, which served as the flagship of the entire escort fleet, was bombed and sunk.
It's more than just a battleship.
In this battle, almost the entire command system of the Japanese Navy, as well as all senior officers and combat staff. The rapid sinking of this battleship took away the brains of the Japanese Navy who directed this combat operation. From the fleet commander to the senior
Not a single combat staff officer escaped.
The biggest reason for this result is not how accurate Du Kaishan's calculations are. It is that this time the Japanese navy covered the army in the Bohai Bay landing operation. In the face of it, there were no naval ships, not even the power of air-to-ship weapons.
The largest airborne anti-ship torpedo in the Anti-Union Alliance is really too careless and taken for granted.
When it conducted two bombardments on the Tianjin and Qikou lines before, the huge fleet dispatched by the Japanese Navy did not encounter any air threats or obstructions from minefields. In addition to consuming some fuel and wasting a large number of artillery shells, the Japanese navy participated in the battle.
Not even a single piece of paint was touched off any of the ships.
The results of the operation were too smooth, and the Japanese Navy believed from top to bottom that the biggest threat to this operation was the U.S. Navy, which has almost ubiquitous submarines. As well as those in the Anti-Japanese Alliance who lacked experience in anti-ship combat and lacked the ability to deal with ships.
There are aircraft with ship attack weapons, and of course there are also more or less shore defense artillery.
Therefore, the Japanese Navy this time dispatched the Yamashiro battleship equipped with six twin-mounted 356mm naval guns, and two aviation battleships equipped with four twin-mounted 356mm guns, specifically for reconnaissance aircraft.
After coming out, the Anti-Japanese Alliance deployed artillery positions in the direction of Qikou to support the army's operations.
Plus a Yakumo armored cruiser equipped with two twin-mounted 203mm naval guns, a heavy cruiser Maya equipped with four twin-mounted 203mm naval guns, plus two
A light cruiser equipped with four single-mounted 140mm naval guns, as well as a large number of destroyers and coastal defense ships equipped with a large amount of anti-aircraft firepower are enough.
The Japanese navy participating in the war believed that the navy's biggest task was to use naval gunfire to suppress the anti-alliance defense fortifications of various sizes that appeared along the Qikou coast after the last bombardment and within a depth of more than ten kilometers, and to support the army's landing operations.
It also provides anti-submarine and anti-aircraft escort for the army's transport fleet.
When formulating this combat plan, almost no one in the entire Japanese navy, from top to bottom, thought that the purely army-based Anti-Japanese Alliance would lay mines in the Bohai Bay, and there was no even possibility that the Anti-Japanese Alliance would possess mines.
I have considered it. Because laying mines is also a technical job. Without the navy's resistance, how could mines be laid? Is this a joke?
Otherwise, the Japanese Navy would not agree to the Army and dispatched so many ships at once. Even the newly equipped electric detectors, which is what the Japanese call radar, were brought out. But the auxiliary ships among them were for air defense.
The main ones were anti-submarine ships and not even a sea sweeper was dispatched.
The previous two shelling operations were extremely smooth and did not stir up even a single wave. This made everyone in the Japanese Navy very optimistic about this mission. Even the sailors believed that this operation was just a simple shooting.
At most, the drill is just about dealing with a few enemy aircraft.
As long as American submarines do not appear, the possibility of other threats appearing is almost negligible. The enemy does not even have a torpedo, it is just a simple army. They have no ability to threaten the Imperial Navy on the sea.
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Maybe on land, these enemy forces are indeed capable of fighting. But on the sea, the Empire of Japan still has the final say. You can make the army suffer repeated losses, and basically have no power to fight back. But on the sea, it is
The imperial navy still has the final say on China's coast.
No matter how many artillery they have, they can't compare to the firepower of a battleship. No matter how large the caliber and range of the artillery is, it can't compare to the more than 20 356mm naval guns of three battleships combined. No matter how strong their fortifications are,
It was so strong that it could not withstand a single 356mm artillery shell. There was no navy, and there was no opponent that could even use a sampan, which made the Japanese navy very arrogant.
You must know that when attacking Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands in the past two years, the navy did not make such a big effort. Sending two battleships to provide fire support would give the opponent a lot of face. You must know that it was against the world's number one,
The second largest naval power, to deal with the Resistance Alliance without a navy, dispatched a battleship and two aviation battleships, which was already very serious.
Although in the final preparation stage before the landing operation, the Navy also dispatched minesweepers to conduct minesweeping operations along the line from Tianjin in the north to Laizhou Bay in the south. However, after wasting a lot of time and precious fuel, the Japanese Navy, which had found nothing, completely relaxed
The last trace of vigilance in my mind.
Before the implementation of this landing, all the minesweepers in the Bohai Bay were mobilized back to Lushun and the mainland. Even in order to deal with the U.S. Navy submarines that, in their opinion, pose the greatest threat to the entire landing operation. Even the few minesweepers that were originally patrolling the Bohai Bay were
Coastal defense ships and sea sweepers were all transferred to the Laotieshan Waterway and other sea areas to take over the escort ships deployed from the mainland to escort the fleet.
Unexpectedly, it was the night before they landed that Du Kaishan deployed a considerable number of mines in the sea area where his battleships last carried out bombardment. And the mines he used were not floating mines that were exposed on the water and easy to be discovered, but fixed mines.
Anchor mines and magnetic mines under the water's surface.
At the same time, the target chosen by Du Kaishan to lay mines was not the waterways leading to the beachhead for the Japanese troops to land on the beach, but the parking area where the Japanese navy's large ships were stationed last time. Du used land warfare thinking to fight naval warfare.
Kaishan, his idea is actually very simple. Who said that laying minefields must be deployed many days in advance? Who said that laying mines requires a dedicated minelayer?
Who said that mines cannot be laid using wooden boats and some improvised simple lifting equipment? For opponents like Du Kaishan, who become more excited the more difficult situations they face, there are only unexpected ways in this world, but no solution.
Problems that cannot be solved. Dozens of small wooden boats can still solve the problem.
And I have been dealing with the Japanese for so many years. During the battle, when did I deploy the minefields in advance? Isn’t that waiting for the Japanese to figure out their minefield deployment in advance? After so many years of fighting,
The Japanese have been beaten right before our eyes, so temporarily laying mines would be more powerful.
Du Kaishan, who knew that there was no way he could not understand naval operations in a short period of time, decided not to follow the instructions and learned how to carry out anti-landing operations by rote. He simply used the method of ambush on land.
It was used in this anti-landing operation.
In his opinion, it is better to give full play to one's own strengths by just following the script. It is not fighting the Japanese army on the sea. In this anti-landing operation, in addition to the Japanese army's support firepower being too strong and its mobility being super high, in Du Kaishan's eyes
, there is not much difference from the usual blockade and counterattacks.
It was this idea that made Du Kaishan not use these precious mines to block the waterway when he set up the minefield, nor did he deploy all the mines in the Bohai Bay to completely seal the Bohai Bay. He did not do this
The reason for this is simple: these mines can only destroy some small ships by blocking the waterway.
Large ships have deep drafts and long range guns, so they cannot get too close to the shore. And according to the infantry march sequence, no one would put the artillery at the front of the march. No matter how the Japanese army uses their tactics, it is important to take the lead in the front.
They must be those little miscellaneous fish. Laying mines on the waterway is not only meaningless, but it will also not make the Japanese army cripple their muscles and bones, and completely give up the attempt to land.
Even if a few small ships are bombed, it can only slightly delay the Japanese landing operations. On the contrary, it is easy to alert the Japanese army in advance and find a way to clear these mines. Either don't do it, and if you want to do it, just deal with the big ones.
Those destroyers and coastal defense ships are meaningless. If you want to blow them up, just blow up their few large ships.
As for the reason why these 3,000 mines were not used to completely seal off the Bohai Bay, the reason is simpler. The Bohai Bay is the territory of the Chinese, and it is the place where people around the Bohai Bay make food. If this place is full of mines,
Does it know whether you are a Chinese merchant ship, a fishing boat, or a Japanese warship?
The Anti-Japanese Alliance has no warships, let alone the means to clear mines. Even these newly created mines have few people who know how to use them. It is easy to remove these mines, but it is troublesome to clean them. Laying these mines is much larger than mines.
It is not easy to mine mines, and it is estimated that it will be even more troublesome to sweep them.
The Anti-Japanese Alliance fought on land, and even required detailed minefield maps to be drawn up when laying mines. After the war, all the mines laid were cleared, just because they were worried about accidentally injuring innocent people, not to mention when it was related to the jobs of surrounding fishermen.
In the Bohai Bay?
Minefields on the ground cannot run or move. As long as a detailed map of the mine area is prepared, it is not difficult to clean them. But the mines were laid on the sea. Who knows where they will drift to?
Go. If the layout area is too large, innocent people may be accidentally injured if they are not cleaned in time.
As for whether the remaining mines could be cleared as quickly as possible after the war, Du Kaishan had never even thought about it. What a joke, just a minelaying job relies on the deployment of dozens of workers from the arsenal and the cooperation
A regiment from the Bohai Navy District, plus an engineering battalion from the Anti-Japanese Alliance, spent a whole night wandering at sea before finally getting it done.
And when laying mines, we mainly relied on dozens of workers. In order to deploy the mines to the predetermined area before dawn, the dozens of workers almost died of exhaustion. Determine the depth, and place those anchor mines.
Magnetic mines are exhausted when pushed into the sea. Without professionals and ships, clearing mines is out of the question.
If too many mines are deployed, if the Japanese fail to use them up, then the remaining mines, without technology and equipment, may turn the entire Bohai Bay into a dead sea, but they can be smashed
If it destroys the jobs of the people around here, No. 1 will destroy his own without hesitation.
After arriving in Qikou, Du Kaishan liked the prawns and yellow croakers in the Bohai Bay very much, but he didn’t want to never eat these things again. If the fishing boat can’t go to the sea, where else can he eat these delicacies? Even if it’s just for himself.
Du Kaishan doesn’t want to turn the entire Bohai Bay into a minefield.
What's more, he doesn't have so many mines in his hand, enough to completely block the Bohai Bay. Besides, even if there are enough mines, he will not do this. If he blocks the Japanese landing fleet so that it cannot carry out landing operations, then how can he
Isn’t it true that I can’t win the battle? I’ve been busy for such a long time, and I’m empty-handed. What a waste of time?