At dawn six days later, Japanese naval aviation launched a fierce attack on the Aleutian Islands, but this was just the prelude to a large-scale attack.
After nearly two years of continuous expansion, the Japanese Navy's first aircraft carrier task force now has ten aircraft carriers, with nearly 600 fully loaded carrier-based aircraft, coupled with a huge battleship, cruiser and destroyer formation, currently in
The Pacific region is already invincible.[..com]
On the other hand, the U.S. military in the Aleutian Islands lost its flank protection due to the early fall of Pearl Harbor. At the same time, with the two interruptions of the Panama Canal, the Pacific Fleet, which had been hit hard one after another, was no longer enough to protect the North Pacific.
The number of troops stationed in the country such as the Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard has increased from more than 2,000 before the war to more than 16,000 now.
The Japanese army never plays cards according to common sense, and often launches operations with sneak attacks. From the Japanese Incident, the July 7th Incident to the Pearl Harbor Incident, the Japanese army achieved the objectives of the operation every time.
While the attention of the U.S. government and military was focused on Latin America, the task force was already rapidly approaching the Aleutian Islands under the cover of night.
At dawn, an overwhelming fleet of aircraft attacked Dutch Harbor.
Although the U.S. military's radar issued a timely warning and a shrill siren sounded over Dutch Harbor, it was a Sunday morning and there were not many officers and soldiers on duty... In addition, the Japanese commander, Admiral Nagumo Tadayichi, was calm and calm, relying on his own fleet.
Equipped with the latest radar warning system, the carrier-based aircraft was not allowed to take off until it was more than 30 nautical miles south of Unalaska Island.
In order to shorten the attack time, all the carrier-based aircraft were not in formation. After taking off, they flew directly to Dutch Harbor. It only took ten minutes for the first wave of dive bombers to begin attacking the three airports on Unalaska Island.
Most U.S. military fighter planes were destroyed on the runway before they started.
However, many US military fighter jets still successfully took off to fight. However, in front of a group of veteran Japanese naval aviation, the US military pilots with almost no combat experience performed poorly. After shooting down four Japanese fighter jets, all 16 fighter jets that took off were killed by the Japanese.
Zero fighter shot down!
Some old cruisers and destroyers of the U.S. Coast Guard were moored in the Dutch harbor. The Japanese torpedo planes appeared in full force. Amidst the shrill roars, one warship after another was hit by the torpedoes, exploded violently, and then capsized and sank.
While the air raid was ongoing, the Japanese landing operation was launched immediately.
In addition to Unalaska Island, the landing direction of the Japanese army also included Acate Island.
In addition to being the U.S. aviation base in the Bering Sea, Unalaska Island is home to a large number of Army, Navy, and Marine Corps aviation units. It is also the location of the U.S. Coast Guard Fleet Headquarters. Akat Island is the U.S. military base.
Although the army is small, the locations of large airports and radar stations must be controlled as soon as possible.
This time, the Japanese army transferred three regiments from the 7th and 20th Divisions of the 17th Army to form the Aleutian detachment to conduct landing operations.
The heavy cruisers, as well as a large number of light cruisers and destroyers, roared loudly together, and countless shells rained down on the forts and beaches on the two islands.
The U.S. Coast Guard warships had already collapsed under the attack of Japanese carrier-based aircraft. In addition, the air superiority was controlled by the Japanese army, and they had almost no power to fight back.
The U.S. military hastily responded to the battle and suffered heavy losses. Its morale was already low. Now that it is being bombarded by such a large-scale large-caliber naval gun, its morale has almost fallen to the bottom.
The landing operation of the Japanese Aleutian detachment was extremely smooth. By noon, the strategic areas on the two islands were almost controlled by the Japanese army. The US commander Brigadier General Sassoon could not withstand the powerful Japanese offensive and had to raise the white flag to the Japanese army. After a simple negotiation
…With the Japanese army guaranteeing the safety of the surrendering US military officers and soldiers, the US military surrendered unconditionally, and the sun flag flew on Unalaska and Acate islands.
While the Aleutian war was raging, fierce shelling also sounded from both sides of the Bering Strait.
The Bering Strait is located between the Chukotka Peninsula at the northeastern tip of Asia and Alaska at the northwest tip of North America. It is connected to the Chukchi Sea to the north and the Bering Sea to the south. The centerline of the Strait waterway is not only the national boundary between Russia and the United States, but also the boundary between Asia and North America.
continental boundary line, or international date line.
The Bering Strait is located at a high latitude, with a cold climate, frequent snowstorms and fog. Especially in winter, the temperature drops sharply, with the lowest temperature reaching minus 45 degrees. The surface of the strait freezes, and the ice layer is several meters thick. Every October
April of the following year is the icing period. This year, due to several consecutive big cold waves, the strait was covered by thick ice early on.
Under the Japanese army's desperate segmented construction with no regard for human life, the Northeast Asia Railway, which was extremely difficult to build, was miraculously completed before the deadline. The first batch of wagons loaded with supplies was loaded from Busan Port in southern Korea and headed north to Chuuk.
Uellen on the Qi Peninsula is more than 12,000 kilometers long. Even if the Japanese use diesel locomotives, it would still take five days and five nights to travel.
The Japanese army built this railway, and more than three million road construction workers died, most of whom were natives of Southeast Asia. There were also some prisoners of war from other countries. It can be said that under every inch of the railway track there are the bones and blood and tears of the workers who worked on the road ahead.
The first wave to launch the sea-crossing campaign was the elite troops of the Japanese Kwantung Army.
After the main force of the Japanese army was transferred south to attack Southeast Asia, the subcontinent and Australia, the Kwantung Army almost changed its ranks. Many units were newly established, and their combat effectiveness dropped a lot.
However, due to its proximity to the Northeast Industrial Zone and easy supply of troops, the Kwantung Army has a high degree of mechanization, ranking first among the Japanese armies at its level.
Especially after the "Malay Tiger" Yamashita Fengfumi was demoted as the commander of the Kwantung Army's First Front Army, the equipment and training of the troops were significantly strengthened. The Kwantung Army unprecedentedly established an "Armored Army" with eight tank divisions.
With a total of more than 2,000 tanks of various types, plus the newly issued rocket launchers, 37- and 57-anti-tank guns and other anti-tank weapons, the combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.
Japan's tank divisions are equivalent to European and American tank divisions, with two hundred to three hundred tanks, organized into two brigades and four regiments. Each tank regiment has three squadrons of medium tanks and one squadron of light tanks.
There is a squadron, a squadron of artillery vehicles, and a maintenance squadron. The division also has an infantry regiment, a search team, an artillery regiment, an air defense team, an engineering team, a maintenance team, a heavy-duty squadron, etc. directly under its jurisdiction.
Among the Japanese military's military manufacturing industries before the war, most of the tank manufacturing enterprises were privately owned... only 10% were state-owned, and the overall production capacity was low.
After many battles with the Anjia Army and a large number of tank samples obtained from the Far East Army rebels, the Japanese army's tank manufacturing technology has been accumulated to a certain extent. After the outbreak of the European War, the German army used tank clusters to fight, sweeping across Poland and France, allowing
The Japanese army realized the power of tanks and immediately changed the situation. In addition to placing large orders for tanks to various consortiums, the Ordnance Industry Research Institute also increased its research and development efforts.
After more than two years of technological transformation and upgrading, although the Type 95 light tank and the Type 97 medium tank are still in production, their proportion is very small. Most of the products are imitations of the Far Eastern Army's B-blade tanks.
, and combines the strengths of the Far East Army's Naike and German Panther tanks with Japan's actual Type 4 medium tank.
The reason why it is Type 4 instead of Type 1, 2, and 3 is that after comparing with the Anjia Army's main battle tanks, the tanks of the first three projects are no match. Therefore, although the project serial number exists, it has been shelved. The research department focuses on
A four-type tank with similar power to the Panther tank.
The Type IV medium tank was finalized in September last year. Its total combat weight is 30 tons, its length is 6.5 meters, its overall width is 2.9 meters, its overall height is 2.8 meters, and it has a crew of five. Its main weapons and equipment are Type IV 75
——Anti-aircraft gun, the auxiliary weapons are two 77mm machine guns, one is a parallel machine gun and the other is a forward machine gun.
The V-type air-cooled diesel engine equipped with the Type IV tank has a maximum power of 412 horsepower. The engine can work normally in the polar regions after adding anti-wave fluid. The maximum speed is 43 kilometers per hour and the maximum range is 300 kilometers. Its performance
The difference between it and Anjiajun's Leopard Sita tank is very small.
This attack on the United States was led by the Kwantung Army's First Front of Yamashita Tomobumi. After the forwards opened up the situation, the elite troops transferred north from the Australian mainland would appear, forming waves of continuous offensives and completely attacking the United States.
Destroy the American will to resist.
In order to ensure the safety of the army during the offensive, the engineers of the Kwantung Army and the staff of the Manchurian Railway have been closely monitoring the period after the Bering Strait was frozen, confirming that the thick ice layer was enough to support a 30-ton four-wheeler.
The tank passed.
After the fierce bombardment was launched, the Japanese engineers fought back against the U.S. artillery fire. Under the nose of Major General William Simpson, the commander of the U.S. Twelfth Army responsible for defending the Bering Strait, they built more than ten roads with straw and branches suitable for armored troops to pass.
Hundreds of suitable fuel supply locations and maintenance bases were selected on the roads and even on the vast ice. What is even more incredible is that the Japanese engineers Fangran built temporary structures during the two-day shelling.
Railway to connect the east and west of the Bering Strait.
Long before the attack, more than 2,000 Army Air Force fighter planes had successfully raided U.S. airports in cities such as Nome, Wales, Kotzebue, Noatak, and Anchorage in Alaska. Although the U.S. military successfully attacked
There was an early warning of the Japanese Air Force's attack, but since most of the Alaskan air force was transferred to the southern United States to participate in the Japanese combat in Latin America, a small number of fighter planes were simply not enough to resist the fierce Japanese offensive. In just one morning,
All airports in Alaska were devastated.
After the threat from the U.S. Air Force was eliminated, an overwhelming fleet of aircraft flew over the U.S. artillery positions, dropping aerial bombs to suppress the U.S. artillery counterattack.
On November 11, after two consecutive days of artillery fire that basically cleared the U.S. military's defenses on the east coast of the Bering Strait, the Japanese army's seven tank divisions and 12 infantry divisions began to launch a forced crossing operation.
The war between Japan and Japan entered a fierce stage.