Chapter 2167 is better than a stroll in the courtyard
May 21, 1943.
After spending more than half a month wiping out the remaining Japanese forces on the islands in the Central Indian Ocean, the Anjiajun Indian Ocean Fleet aircraft carrier task force set out from Victoria Harbor on Mahe Island and officially headed south to implement the "close the door and beat the dogs" plan.
A week later, the fleet successfully arrived in the northern waters of Mauritius.
This time going south, the fleet brought three marine divisions with it, and the combat supplies were relatively well prepared. The only problem was that the Anjiajun intelligence department knew very little about the deployment of Japanese troops on Mauritius Island, except for some photos provided by satellites and high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.
, there is no other further information.
These photos can only allow the fleet command department to understand the general area of the Japanese defense positions on the island of Mauritius, and how many troops the Japanese army has placed on the island of Mauritius, how many fortifications they have built, the strength of the fortifications, how many artillery pieces, and reserves.
How many combat supplies were purchased? It is not clear at all.
Of course, according to normal circumstances, the area of Mauritius is about two thousand square kilometers. To defend such a large area, especially the long coastline, the Japanese army will not be less than 30,000 people. Therefore, the fleet has already prepared to defend such a large area, especially the long coastline.
Plan to dispatch ground troops from the Seychelles Islands. But before that, we must attack first and find out the details of the Japanese army.
In addition, the command level of the aircraft carrier task force also has hidden concerns:
How many ships the Japanese navy can mobilize in the Indian Ocean region, how large the fleet will be, and whether it will threaten the safety of the landing force are all unknown.
Landing operations are different from traditional ground operations. They have high requirements on supporting firepower and the selection of landing beaches, the suddenness of the battle, the commander's grasp of the landing terrain, and the officers and soldiers' control of the advancement progress. This is the key to landing operations.
Characteristics. It is also the most difficult part. Almost every landing requires the commander to think repeatedly. Take into account many unfavorable factors and formulate a good plan to guard against situations beyond his control.
On the night of the 28th, the aircraft carrier task force detoured south from the northeastern waters of Mauritius Island and inserted into the southeastern waters between Reunion Island and Mauritius Island. In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Lei issued a combat order and sent more than 300 fighter planes to attack the island.
Raid attacks were carried out on the islands of Mauritius and Reunion, destroying all the Japanese military airports on the two islands.
Although the Japanese army sent fighter planes to fight, the number was simply not proportional to the Anjia Army's carrier-based aircraft. Most of the more than 80 fighter planes on the two islands were blown up on the airport runway. The rest also crashed in the air or escaped. From
More than 60 Zero fighter jets sent for reinforcements from the east coast of Madagascar also fled back to Madagascar in embarrassment after losing nearly half of them. Since the Japanese army lost a large number of land-based fighter jets in the Mozambique Channel and the Central Indian Ocean Islands, the loss of air superiority has become inevitable.
matter.
While carrier-based bombers continued to suppress the island of Mauritius, the aircraft carrier task force also dispatched a battle fleet, a heavy cruiser fleet and a destroyer fleet under the direct control of the fleet to carry out indiscriminate bombing on the island around the long coastline.
To find out the defense situation of the Japanese coast, on the one hand, it hopes to draw out the possible Japanese fleet to avoid being attacked by the Japanese army after the landing operation is launched.
After nearly a week of strikes, the airship radar that had moved over the island of Mauritius did not scan any trace of the Japanese fleet. The military reconnaissance satellite changed its orbit and monitored a thousand nautical miles around it, but no suspicious targets were found. In this case
Next, the artillery fleet returned to the aircraft carrier task force for resupply.
On May 5, the "Triumph", the battleship "Xihai" and the heavy cruisers "Tian Dan", "Li Ji", "Qin Qiong", "Kong Ming" and the escorting twelve destroyers brought sufficient
The ammunition arrived at the pre-selected Souillac Bay landing site. They would arrive there in the early morning, conduct fire preparations for at least two hours before the Marines came ashore, and then cover the Marines ashore.
According to the scheduled plan, the aircraft carrier task force will provide enhanced fire support to the Marine Corps before the launch of the landing operation. It will also provide direct air support when the Marine Corps lands. It will then need to withdraw from the battle to prevent potential threats from the Japanese fleet.
, then armed helicopters and artillery formations will be responsible for providing artillery support to the Marines. If necessary, guided missile destroyers can even be requested to conduct targeted strikes.
When the artillery formation rushed to the landing site, the landing fleet also arrived outside the Bay of Souillac around 4 a.m. on the 5th. At this moment, the island of Mauritius was full of burning fires. You must know that most places along the coast of Mauritius Island are
Almost all the plains and fortifications built by the Japanese army on the ground were plowed by artillery shells and aerial bombs. The fierce artillery fire scorched and ignited the windbreaks along the coast. The fires burned for several days and have not been extinguished to this day.
The landing fleet stopped on the sea about twelve nautical miles away from the coastline, and the Marine Corps officers and soldiers began to get up one after another to prepare for the beach landing.
At a quarter past five, the sea level in the east was illuminated by the morning glow, and the sky and the earth were hazy. At this time, the artillery formation was mighty and passed by the sea area where the landing fleet was parked. In less than ten minutes, battleships, heavy cruisers and
Flames burst out from the muzzles of the destroyer's artillery, followed by the sound of shelling, and finally the sound of explosions.
Preparations for the artillery fire before landing finally began. This was also the most violent wave of artillery fire since arriving in the offshore Mauritius.
Two battleships, four heavy cruisers and twelve destroyers began to pour shells continuously towards the beach of Souillac Bay ahead. More than 20 "Water God" reconnaissance aircraft hovering over the three to four kilometers long beach,
From time to time, a few bombs or incendiary bombs were dropped, and the situation on the beach and deep areas was reported to the bombardment fleet commander, and the gunners were instructed to adjust the shooting elements so that the shells could hit suspicious targets more accurately.
The bombardment lasted for two full hours. At 7:30 in the morning, more than 20 minesweeper ships under the landing fleet rushed up and began to clear the mines set by the Japanese army in the shallow waters of the harbor.
After the Anjiajun Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet moved south, the Japanese consciously set up minefields in the waters near islands with very important geographical locations and heavily defended islands to cope with the landing operations that the Anjiajun Navy might launch at any time. Especially in those islands
It is a harbor that is very suitable for landing operations. The Japanese army laid a large number of mines.
These mines pose a great threat to landing ships and must be removed. Otherwise, they will seriously affect the safety of landing ships and endanger the lives of Marine Corps officers and soldiers.
At eight o'clock sharp, the eight fire support ships belonging to the landing fleet began operations. These eight fire support ships are all flat-bottomed structures with shallow drafts. They can approach and attack in shoals with a depth of 2.5 meters. Their displacement is only 500
tons. Equipped with two 7,000-horsepower diesel engines, with a maximum speed of 30 knots, and a crew of fifty. Its main weapons are five 120mm 40-barreled rocket launchers, three in the front and two in the rear. It is also equipped with four twin-mounted 20mm Oerlikons.
Anti-aircraft guns, used for air and sea attacks.
Rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns are controlled by fire control systems integrated with radar and computers. They are incredibly powerful. They have performed well in the Hainan Island war before. Now it depends on whether the Japanese army in Mauritius can do a better job than the Japanese army defending Sanya.
.
According to the Navy's suggestions, Nanhua's shipyards are now vigorously renovating or building new special ships, such as air defense support ships equipped with only hundreds of 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, and fifty to one hundred Army 150
Millimeter cannon artillery support ships, as well as similar special ships transformed from salvaged sunken ships, are all used to support the Marines' landing operations.
These ships do not need to engage in sea combat. Therefore, they do not need to have too thick armor, and they only need to be equipped with one kind of cannon. Other warships do not have any of the equipment, and only need to carry out one type of attack, which greatly increases the ammunition.
The carrying capacity, combat intensity and firepower durability all exceed those of ordinary battleships. Of course, if faced with regular battleships, such special ships usually end up miserable.
Back to the main story, when the beaches along the Souillac Bay in the southern part of Mauritius Island were hit by continuous and violent naval guns, the carrier-based aircraft strike group sent by the aircraft carrier task force also arrived over the landing site. More than sixty F2-
The A-type "Haidongqing" carrier-based fighter is equipped with all incendiary bombs. After being thrown, these incendiary bombs will explode fifty meters above the ground. When the incendiary agent is thrown around in the air, the ignition device will
Detonate two meters above the ground to ignite the incendiary agent.
This kind of incendiary bomb can cover a range of about one hundred meters and burns very fully. At the same time, the ignited kerosene has strong fluidity and can penetrate into the ground along the gaps. In this way, those who are hiding on the surface cannot be traced.
The Japanese soldiers in the underground fortifications had to escape from the burning enclosed space.
Once the Japanese troops reach the ground, they will be "warmly" entertained by naval guns and aerial bombs, and will have to abandon their positions on the beach and withdraw to a safer rear.
Before the Marines landed, the density of artillery fire reached its maximum.
The eight fire support ships and the warships of the artillery fleet almost all tried their best to fire at the beach and deep areas. Most of the shells did not hit the target at all, but fell to the ground and exploded violently, leaving huge craters.
This may seem wasteful, but it is essential.
Such a density of shelling, especially if it also contains a large number of 380mm giant artillery shells, will fully weaken the opponent's will to resist, destroy its command system, and prevent the opponent from organizing effective resistance when the Marines land.
It's too late for the opponent to react.
Within an hour from 8 to 9 o'clock, twenty-six ships poured more than 10,000 artillery shells and rockets onto the beach of Souillac Bay where the Japanese troops were stationed. At the same time, the second wave and the third strike arrived subsequently.
The fleet dropped hundreds of aerial bombs on the same area.
The amount of ammunition delivered in just one hour reached an astonishing 1,500 tons, which was enough to eliminate all threats.
In fact, this is the case. The fierce artillery fire caused the Japanese army to lose its combat capability in a short period of time. Most of the Japanese soldiers hiding in underground bunkers were directly stunned by the large-caliber artillery shells. The entire position seemed to be located in the crater of a volcano.
It was shaking constantly, smoke was rising into the sky, and the ensuing explosions seemed to never stop, as if the end of the world was coming.
At nine o'clock sharp, the first batch of naval officers and soldiers of the two marine regiments had washed up on the beach.
When the landing Marines rushed towards the Japanese defensive positions under the cover of artillery fire, the landing ships quickly returned to the fleet to transport the second batch of landing troops ashore, while the support ships continued to provide precise fire support to the Marines.
The eight fire support ships used rocket launchers to completely cover the depths of the Japanese defense line.
The Japanese troops who were caught off guard put up sporadic resistance, but were quickly eliminated by the Anjia Army Marines who were like tigers emerging from their cages.
It was not until half an hour later that the Japanese commander realized that something was wrong. The resistance fire gradually became intensive. However, by this time, armed helicopters had already flown over the Japanese positions and fired air-to-ground rockets at the exposed fire points. At this time, the Marine Corps officers and soldiers also rushed forward.
After entering the Japanese defense line, the two sides began to fight for trenches one by one, bunkers one by one, and fortifications one by one. The battle quickly became intense.
At around 10:30 in the morning, the second batch of officers and soldiers from three marine regiments successfully landed ashore. Two of the regiments immediately went into frontline operations, while the engineering regiment began to use construction equipment to build facilities on the beach to quickly disembark the landing ships.
Create conditions and build a simple seaplane supply station to replenish fuel for the seaplane that has been directing naval guns in the air.
At around one o'clock at noon, two Marine Divisions had already landed ashore, and the landing operation was a complete success.
It was only then that the fleet commander, Lieutenant General Zhao Lei, who moved his headquarters to the "Huashan" aircraft carrier, was relieved. Based on the resistance of the Japanese troops on the front line, the size of the reinforcements and the confessions of the prisoners, the Japanese troops in Mauritius
The defense force deployed on the island turned out to be only one ** infantry brigade.
It is obviously unrealistic for more than 5,000 troops to be scattered along a long coastline and to resist the Anjia Army's combined air and ground assault in depth.
It is only a matter of time before the island of Mauritius is finally captured!
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