On February 16, 1945, the U.S. military dispatched a thousand carrier-based aircraft to conduct air strikes on various coastal airports in Tokyo Bay. On the morning of February 17, the U.S. military dispatched another 500 carrier-based aircraft and once again swept across Tokyo.
Bay. On this day, the US landing fleet, under the cover of a large fleet, officially launched the Iwo Jima offensive campaign.
It's just that the US military focused its attention on the Japanese mainland a thousand kilometers away. However, it ignored the Hajima Islands in the Ogasawara Islands right under its nose, not far from Iwo Jima. Although these islands are not big, there are no airports on them, or even
They are basically uninhabited islands.
However, these islands have many harbors, and the straight-line distance from Iwo Jima is only a few hundred nautical miles. They are quite suitable as attack bases for some small ships, but the US military has ignored these small islands. The Japanese Navy not only deployed a large number of them here, but
suicide speedboats, and almost all the torpedo boats in the mainland were moved in this direction.
Although before the battle was launched, the US military dispatched a large number of army and navy aircraft from Saipan to carry out indiscriminate bombing of this small island. From February 16, the final stage of the campaign, the US military prepared firepower
It lasted three full days. During these three days, the US military poured more than 24,000 tons of artillery shells and bombs on this small island with an area of only 21 square kilometers.
When landing, the U.S. military received a large number of naval guns, including seven battleships, and fire cover from a large number of carrier-based aviation. However, the U.S. military's landing on the island still fell into a bitter battle and huge casualties. It abandoned the beachhead position,
The Japanese army, which concealed its main troops and firepower in the mountains, used extremely accurate and fierce crossfire to inflict heavy casualties on the landing US troops.
From the official landing on February 19th to the 22nd, the number of US military casualties reached more than 7,000. As the first wave of landings, the 3rd Marine Division lost two-thirds of its troops in just three days.
combat effectiveness. The tanks that landed and cooperated with the battle lost fully two-thirds under the crossfire on Mount Suribachi.
The Japanese army's 240mm large-caliber howitzers hidden in the Suribachi cave continued to bombard the landing area of the US military. Although there were only three such large-caliber howitzers, in addition to posing a real threat to the landing US troops
In addition, the psychological shadow is even more serious.
The huge sound of the 240mm shells breaking through the air frightened the US troops who landed. Once hit by it, at least one platoon was lost. Its huge power even directly blew the M4 tanks landed into the sky by the US troops. The Japanese troops deployed in Iwo
The island's four Meiji 45-type 150mm cannon also launched fire attacks on the US fleet.
Before the war, the Japanese marked the entire Iwo Jima with shooting scales based on the range and power of the various artillery on hand. Except for some rapid-fire artillery and infantry artillery, the rest of the artillery was hidden in Suribachi.
In the cave of the mountain, the U.S. military's fire attack basically did not cause any damage to these artillery pieces. However, the Japanese cross-fire was accurate and hard.
In order to counter the Japanese artillery fire, the M-type 240mm howitzers deployed by the US military to the island were lifted into the sky by the Japanese artillery fire before they could be deployed. Several destroyers arrived and opened fire.
He was also seriously injured by the Japanese long-range cannon.
In order to destroy the Japanese artillery positions that were exposed only after the battles started, the Americans mobilized three battleships, the North Carolina, the West Virginia, and the South Dakota, and ventured to the waters closest to Iwo Jima to concentrate all their forces.
406mm naval gun. Under the guidance of forward artillery instructors and aircraft, it carried out fire strikes on the Japanese artillery position on Mount Suribachi.
Joining the bombardment behind them were the USS Missouri and the USS New Jersey, the two latest American battleships. Behind these three battleships, they also opened fire on the Japanese artillery position at Suribashiyama. These US battleships with huge naval guns,
Directly joining the fire suppression on Mount Suribachi somewhat relieved the pressure on the landing US troops.
The wealthy United States fired three thousand rounds of 406mm artillery shells in one breath, plus countless 203mm artillery shells, to harden these large-caliber artillery and hidden caves that caused heavy casualties to the landing US troops.
Shocked to pieces, shut up these large-caliber artillery pieces.
In this post-war battle, it was called the most brutal and bloody battle for the US military to land on the island alone in the entire World War II. During the battle, the Japanese not only resisted tenaciously on the island, but also secretly transferred to Izu
Suicide aircraft on the islands also continue to carry out suicide attacks on the US fleet under the cover of new fighter jets.
Hidden in the Chichijima Islands and Hajima Islands north of Iwo Jima, the Japanese navy's suicide attack speedboats also cooperated with suicide planes in the sky and submarines in the sea to carry out crazy attacks on U.S. warships. The entire Iwo Jima and surrounding waters
, turned into a cruel and extremely bloody battlefield.
In the naval battle around Iwo Jima, although the Japanese army sent a large number of submarines, the tight anti-submarine network built by the US military around its fleet had no effect. It only sank one US ammunition transport ship and one empty one.
troop transport and two destroyer escorts, but seven or eight of its own ships were sunk.
The Japanese navy, fearing that it would lose all its remaining strength in the decisive battle on the mainland, within a short period of time, all except Kaitenren's torpedo launching boats were transferred back to the mainland. However, the Japanese navy deployed in the areas north of Iwo Jima
The Japanese suicide speedboats on the island and the suicide planes flying all over the sky brought countless troubles and casualties to the U.S. Navy.
Under the cover of a group of fighter jets, these aircraft braved the U.S. military's anti-aircraft guns to form a fire net, and the outer defense circle formed by carrier-based aircraft. Fully loaded with explosives to launch suicide attacks, although there were not many opportunities to break through the U.S. military's defenses, they still achieved more or less success.
It achieved certain results, in addition to damaging a battleship and a heavy cruiser, it even sank a US military escort aircraft carrier and two escort destroyers.
Compared with the overwhelming number of suicide planes during the day, the Japanese Navy dispatched a large number of suicidal speedboats at night. In addition to the Jiaolong special attack boats based on the Hajima Islands and with longer combat ranges, submarines secretly infiltrated the U.S. fleet under the cover of night.
In addition to the torpedoes released from the surrounding areas.
The large number of Zhenyang speedboats that attacked from Iwo Jima caused the U.S. fleet to suffer a lot. These crazy Japanese soldiers braved the intensive interception fire of the U.S. fleet and used the maneuverability and flexibility of their boats to catch the ships at every opportunity.
Just hit it directly, which is far more difficult to deal with than those suicide planes.
Although the Americans, who had experienced this kind of crazy behavior on the battlefield in the Philippines, were already prepared to a certain extent, facing so many suicide weapons attacking at the same time at once was enough to make the Americans somewhat agitated.
Caught off guard. If the special attack tactics of the Japanese army in the Philippine battlefield are still in the stage of small attacks, then during the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese had already fully launched them.
The Americans are overwhelmed by these suicidal weapons. But the US military is the US military after all, and its response speed is quite fast. A huge number of landing craft are temporarily equipped with recoilless guns and large-caliber machine guns, specifically on the sea.
They had to deal with the Japanese suicide attack speedboats and manned torpedoes, but they were still struggling to deal with it.
Different from the battle in the Philippines, the special attack time chosen by the Japanese army this time was at night when the visibility was quite poor. They also adopted a variety of special attack speedboats and man-operated torpedoes to attack at the same time, combining long and near tactics. The most important thing is to invest in one time
The number is enough to make the three-layer defense system constructed by the Americans scramble.
These speedboats, which only had a dozen or even several tons and were capable of high speeds, under the cover of the torpedo boats desperately releasing torpedoes, threw the American fleet into a panic. On the first night, several Americans were sunk.
A destroyer and a light cruiser. Several large and medium-sized ships were seriously damaged and had to be towed back to the mainland for repairs.
Three tank landing ships loaded with tanks and two ammunition transport ships were also sent directly to the seabed by these speedboats. In desperation, the Americans could only expel all the large ships after nightfall, except for light escorts.
The medium-sized ships withdrew to the distant sea, leaving the landing troops on the island.
These speedboats waited until daylight and disappeared, then returned to the waters of Iwo Jima to support ground troops in operations. However, although this tactic reduced losses, it also greatly reduced the efficiency of the Americans' attack. Because at night, after the U.S. fleet withdrew,
, the Japanese Army on the island continued to launch counterattacks, trying to drive the landing troops who had lost fire support into the sea.
The U.S. Marines and Army who landed on the island were in unspeakable misery. They often spent a lot of effort during the day to advance a few hundred meters. At night, after losing their fire cover, they went crazy again.
The Japanese were driven back to the starting point. If the Americans had not had the advantage in infantry weapons, maybe the Japanese would have driven them directly into the sea.
But the price paid for this tug-of-war is that the number of American casualties is rising every day, and the offensive efficiency is unbearably low. The most important thing is that supplies can only be unloaded during the day, so that people who are used to being on the battlefield
The Americans, who are extravagant and extravagant, also rarely have shortages of supplies.
Although the U.S. military has mobilized almost all the PT torpedo boats that can be mobilized from the Philippines and Guam, the number of these PT torpedo boats is still insufficient in the face of the Japanese army's continuous suicide attacks. The most critical thing is that the four torpedoes on these torpedo boats are not enough to deal with these small
The boat was useless. It only had two 12mm machine guns, and its firepower was too weak.
Although the Americans filled these torpedo boats with small-caliber anti-aircraft guns everywhere, they still could not meet the needs. The gunboats modified from landing craft had poor seakeeping due to their flat bottoms, which not only affected the accuracy of firepower, but also failed to expand the defense range and play their role.
The effect is also very limited.
The huge number of suicide speedboats and planes not only caused confusion, but also directly affected the operations on the island. In addition, the admiral in charge of commanding the Iwo Jima cover fleet suffered heavy losses. Under the deliberate reminder of some people,
The idea came to the Resistance Alliance, which consisted of a small fleet consisting mainly of gunboats and only a few light ships.
Emergency personnel were sent to Harbin to interview Yang Zhen, hoping that the Anti-Japanese Alliance could send their gunboat fleet, which had never been valued by the wealthy US Navy, to participate in the war on Iwo Jima. After all, dealing with those suicide speedboats was like the fire hedgehogs of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Gunboats are more suitable.
The tonnage of US military ships is too large. Although they are equipped with a large number of small-caliber artillery, their flexibility is also much worse. Even the smallest escort destroyer has a full load displacement of more than 1,600 tons. The air defense and anti-submarine warfare of these ships are one and the same.
With good hands, it would be difficult to deal with these desperate suicide speedboats.
To deal with these large numbers of suicide speedboats, it is more suitable to use small ones against small ones. The US military in the Pacific battlefield is seriously lacking in such small tonnage but flexible speedboats. Even the number of torpedo boats transferred from the Philippines is
Seriously inadequate. The US military, which is furious, is desperate.