The sun slowly sets down the ridges, and the sunset reflects the western air into a fiery red color.
Located in Lingshan Bay in the southern Jiaozhou Bay, it is busy in the Lingshan Navy Port. Wu Peifu, member of the Military Commission and commander of Shandong Theater, looked at General Yang Di, commander of the Second Marine Corps, with a complicated mood, riding on Lieutenant General Yang Di, the flagship of Lieutenant General Ding.
The battleship of Yandang Mountain left the dock together, and on the sea, more than 70 ships carrying more than 31,000 officers and soldiers of the 2nd Marine Division, including the escort fleet, were preparing to set off in formation.
"Why don't a man bring Wu Gou and collect the fifty states of Guanshan Mountain? Please go to Lingyan Pavilion for a while, as a scholar, a marquis of ten thousand households."
Wu Peifu was very disappointed. Being able to stain the battlefield with blood and making achievements is every man’s dream. Now, Wu is a member of the Military Commission and a general of the Republican Army. In terms of military rank, he should not be worse than the past ten thousand marquises, but his desire to serve the country on the battlefield is still here.
Not implemented.
Originally, the North Korean combat plan was mainly based on the military strength of the Shandong war zone. General Wu finally took a turn to make a name for himself. However, the bastard Yang Linge actually broke into North Korea in one fell swoop, which made him devote countless efforts to the North Korean landing combat plan to be formulated.
After a bubble, Wu Peifu was very frustrated when he thought of this.
I am 63 years old. According to regulations, I will retire from active service in two years, and my chances will be less and less. This time, I tried my best to fight for this Jeju Island, but the president still handed over the mission to the army on the grounds that the army was not very adaptable to amphibious operations.
Marine Corps.
The Marine Corps is an alien in the eyes of the army. Fighting on land is the work of the army, but they are in a strife. During the entire Nanyang war, the Marine Corps' limelight even surpassed the land and navy forces.
It turned out that the Army's credit was taken away by them, which was also the reason why the Army generals looked at the Landing Corps horizontally and vertically. However, no one could do anything. With the president behind their backs, the Marine Corps actually expanded like a balloon.
The leaders of the General Staff directly under the Marine Corps Command have expanded to have 12 Marine Divisions, and the total strength of the shore personnel exceeds 450,000, making it a brand new military branch outside the land and navy.
With the increase in the number of cross-sea combat, the number of Marines dispatched more and more frequently. There is no way to do this. Marines are more adaptable to maritime transportation and landing operations than ordinary army. At least they will not be seasick at sea.
Jeju Island is located at the entrance of the Korean Strait, which guards the passage of the Korean Strait and has also become an important springboard for the Republican army to attack the Japanese mainland. In the plan to attack the Japanese mainland, seizing Jeju Island has also become the primary guarantee for the implementation of this combat plan.
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the entire operation, the main forces of the Navy's East China Sea Fleet and the Beiyang Fleet have set out in advance.
The Yandang Mountain converged with the assembled troops on the sea. The entire fleet was divided into four rows according to the pre-arranged formation and began to advance towards the outer sea, forming a very spectacular picture on the sea under the setting sun. The entire fleet was made of
79 ships consisted of 32 transport ships and some auxiliary ships.
The escort fleet, which was once commanded by Lieutenant General Ding, includes all the main forces of the 7th Battleship, including two remodeled battleships "Yandangshan" and "Wuyishan", which were two British ships captured by the Republican Army.
The Queen Elizabeth-class battleship is modernized and although it is a little old, its speed of 28 knots and the 8 380mm 45-caliber main guns that are the same as the "Kunlun Mountain Class" make it fully competent for the mission of escorting the warship.
The fleet also includes two large air defense cruisers, Dihua and Xihaicheng, two cruisers, Baoding and Xining. There are also 16 destroyers and 12 frigates that undertake the anti-submarine mission of the entire fleet. The naval aviation troops participating in the escort mission
Fighters flew over the fleet in groups, and the huge roar was deafening, and the whole scene was shocking.
The navy's preparations were excellent. According to reconnaissance, the Japanese army's defense force on Jeju Island was about one brigade, but because the Japanese army did not attach much importance to it, there were not many permanent fortifications on the island, and most of the fortifications were the most recent.
The civil fortifications that have just been built are not very solid.
The most worrying thing about the landing operations of Jeju Island was the Japanese submarines. The Navy Command began to launch violent shelling of several landing sites on Taiwan before the entire operation, and put on a stance to prepare to land in Taiwan.
Japanese submarines operating in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea were attracted near Taiwan. After that, the Republican submarine forces blocked the exits of the Korean Strait and the Xiaguan waterway to form the first circle of anti-submarine networks.
The commander of the Beiyang Fleet, Wang Chongwen, finally had his first turn to join the war. At 3 a.m. on August 22, the main force of the Beiyang Fleet led by him had arrived at a waters less than 50 nautical miles from the scheduled landing point of Jeju Island.
Jeju Island is about 100 kilometers away from the North Korean coast and less than 300 nautical miles from the estuary of the Yangtze River. It only takes 14 hours to reach the landing site from the departure. Jeju Island covers an area of more than 1,800 square kilometers, and there are about 150,000 residents on the island now.
, it is not enough to defend such a large area, a brigade of more than 9,000 people is not enough. The Japanese recruited more than 7,000 Koreans on the island to form a brigade to participate in the defense of the island.
The terrain of Jeju Island is a typical volcanic island, with an overall shape of a slightly longer and slightly narrower elliptical shape from east to west. Mount Hanna, with an altitude of more than 1,900 meters, is located in the central area of the island. The terrain on the island is complex, with many volcanic caves, and it is easy to build fortifications based on the terrain.
Due to the straight coast of Jeju Island, the entire Jeju Island lacks natural deep water ports, and there are only two small ports, Jeju and Seogwipo.
The General Staff attached great importance to this battle. According to the combat plan, the Beiyang Fleet covered the 2nd Land Warfare Division in Feiyang Island, while the 9th Land Warfare Division landed in Seogwipo under the cover of the East China Sea Fleet. In addition, the 11th Land Warfare Division
In Jiaonan, the 5th Division of Lu gathered on standby in Chongming as a battle reserve force.
The main fleet in Wang Chongwen includes three heavy aviation warships, "Tianjin", "Qingdao" and "Shandong", "Changbaishan", "Xing'anling" and "Huangshan" battleships (formerly Provence, France)
There are 5 cruisers, 18 destroyers and 12 anti-submarine frigates. As more than 3,200 people from the 13th Marine Corps that landed in advance, they took four landing ships to follow the main fleet.
A crescent moon hung in mid-air, and the sea was very calm. The aviation fleet began to turn 45 nautical miles west of Jeju Island, while the 4th Battleship Fleet, which was fire support, continued to sail towards the northwest of Jeju Island.
Without the Japanese guarding the island, the fire support fleet consisting of three battleships, three cruisers and eight destroyers escorted four landing ships to the west of Jeju Island.
At 4:50 am on August 22, the destroyer "Qingzhou" walking in front of him saw a black shadow appearing on the sea, shaped like a small hill floating on the sea, which is Feiyang Island located in the west of Jeju Island.
The entire fleet began to turn to the east. In a depressing atmosphere before the war, this fleet with fierce fire began to approach the predetermined landing site, Hanlin Beach, west of Jeju Island.
At 5:20, violent artillery sounded in the eastern part of Jeju Island, and the fires formed by shell explosions dozens of kilometers away could be seen on the sea. The East China Sea Fleet began to launch an attack nearly forty minutes earlier than the scheduled time.
.
"Lao L, let's start too!" Wang Chongwen cursed first after receiving the telegram, and then issued a combat order.