Chapter 538: The First Battle of Hawaii XI
“Boom! Boom! Boom…”
The first to greet the fierce “armored impact” of the US military were the 35-caliber high-explosive shells fired from the battleships “Hiei” and “Kirishima” on the sea near Haleiwa Beach. Those were two battleships firing! The whistling shells hit the battle line composed of US tanks and infantry. The 152mm secondary gun shells were better. As long as they did not directly hit the tanks, they would only kill some infantry.
The power of the 356mm shells was amazing. When they flew from the air, they made the sound of a train passing by. Every 356mm shell exploded, creating a huge gap in the US offensive front, throwing out everything within the explosive power range, and even the M3 tanks were easily overturned. As for the infantry, they were blown to pieces before they could even scream.
In front of the huge lethality of the battleship’s main gun, the tank, the king of land warfare, was really not much different from a child’s toy. However, the offensive formation of the US military tonight was relatively loose, and there were only two Japanese battleships involved in the bombardment. Therefore, the scene looked scary, but the damage was not too great. However, the attacking US soldiers were still quite shaken, and the infantry following the tanks were in chaos. Some turned around and fled, and some were frightened by the power of the battleship's main guns and ran around screaming, but more people lay down to find cover, and no one cared about covering the tanks.
The tanks in front had no place to hide, and there was no intention to stop at all, but to increase their horsepower and move forward, as if they wanted to rush through this death zone created by the battleship's gunfire as soon as possible. As long as they rushed into the Japanese devils' position, they could use the tracks to crush those yellow monkeys who dared to offend the majesty of the American Empire!
"Infantry and tank disconnected?" Maruyama Masao, who was supervising the battle, saw this scene through the telescope and whispered an armored soldier term in English.
"Yes." Paulus also answered in English, "Infantrymen should never forget that protecting tanks is their important mission, and tankmen should not forget to protect infantrymen. This is the basic principle of armored forces, but many troops cannot do this. Once the artillery fires, the infantry and tanks will be out of sync."
"Then we will be able to repel the Americans soon?"
"It's not that easy," Paulus said, "The first line of defense will definitely be broken, because the main guns of the battleships can't keep up for a few minutes. Didn't your navy say that the main guns are running out of ammunition? The 152mm secondary guns can't make such a big noise. However, the American tanks will be greatly weakened after breaking through our first line of defense. The second or third line of defense should be able to stop these tanks, and then we can counterattack with the support of naval guns."
The method Paulus said is the method that the German Wehrmacht is now preparing to use to defend against the Soviet tank sea-not to concentrate troops on the first line, but to adopt a deep deployment, using space to consume the kinetic energy of the armored forces' assault, and at the same time avoid a line of defense being broken and causing a full-line collapse.
While Paulus and Maruyama were talking, the American tanks and some infantry (not all infantry were lying still) had rushed to a distance of less than 250 meters from the first line of defense of the Japanese army.
At this time, the mortars deployed behind the Japanese positions fired dozens of flares, forming "little suns" shining with white light above the charging American tanks, illuminating the battlefield below.
Major Yusaku Yamada, the commander of the anti-tank artillery battalion assigned to the 2nd Division of the Japanese Army, suddenly removed the grass ring around his head, pointed his command knife forward and said: "Fire!"
19 Type 1 37mm rapid-fire guns deployed behind the Japanese positions showed their muzzles, and the gunners also lifted the cover and pushed the bullets into the chamber. Then the matchlock was pulled, and each muzzle spewed out deadly flames!
The Japanese Type 1 37mm rapid-fire gun is an improved version of the Type 94 anti-tank gun. It was originally intended to be used against the new Soviet tanks (I wonder if it was KV1 or T34?), but now it can be used against the American M3. The M3 tank is a light tank with a combat weight of 12.7 tons, and the thickest part of the frontal armor is 44mm. At a distance of 250 meters, the Type 1 37mm rapid-fire gun can barely penetrate it.
The anti-tank artillery of the 2nd Division is well-trained, and the distance of about 250 meters is close enough. Therefore, the accuracy of the first wave of artillery fire is very high. 15 of the 1 armor-piercing shells hit, of which 4 did not penetrate the armor of the M3 tank due to the problem of shooting angle. 3 of the remaining 11 hit the tracks of the M3 tank, and 8 penetrated the armor of the M3 tank and exploded inside the tank, paralyzing the tank.
All the US tanks that were hit by the anti-tank gun stopped moving and began to turn their guns to fire at the place where the muzzle flame just came out. A small number of infantrymen following behind the tanks also dispersed immediately and fired at the Japanese trenches ahead with Browning M11 Garand rifles.
In a shallow trench dug by the Japanese army more than 200 meters in front of the American infantry and tanks, the Japanese infantry also began to fight back with Type 38 rifles, Type 11 light machine guns, Type 92 heavy machine guns, and the Japanese Army's unique 50mm grenade launchers. For a while, the battlefield was full of orange and dark red lights flying around at a very fast speed, and fireballs rose from time to time, as well as dots of muzzle flames. It looked very lively and attracted everyone's attention.
Sergeant Yamada Jiro, who came from the countryside of Kurokawa County, Sendai Prefecture, poked half of his head out of a foxhole camouflaged with branches and leaves of Hawaiian coconut trees. He immediately smelled the choking smell of gunpowder smoke, bullets and 37mm The shells whizzed past his head, bringing up bursts of hot wind.
However, Yamada didn't care at all. His eyes were attracted by an M3 tank 30-40 meters ahead that was firing with a 37mm and machine gun. This was what he was squatting in this mud-filled foxhole for! He picked up the "Iron Fist" anti-tank grenade launcher, which looked unreliable. Then, according to the training requirements, he first opened the safety, then put the "Iron Fist" on his shoulders, and then aimed the spindle-shaped warhead forward. The tank suddenly pressed the firing switch. I felt a stream of heat spurting out from my back, and the "Iron Fist" launcher on my shoulder vibrated violently. The spindle-shaped warhead flew toward the seemingly huge M3 tank in front of me at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, It slammed into the front of the M3 tank and turned into a huge fireball. Then I saw an orange-red fire suddenly burst out from the top of the tank!
Yamada Jiro, who was ready to become a god, was stunned by the scene in front of him - a weapon with such rough workmanship actually worked! There is no need to go to Kudanzaka now.
"This is..." Colonel Collins suddenly put down the telescope in his hand, turned to General Short and said, "Admiral, I saw several tanks explode!"
"Explosion? It was hit by a 37mm cannon and the ammunition exploded, right?" Admiral Short also noticed that M3 tanks were turned into fireballs by the Japanese from time to time on the battlefield - this kind of M3 tank is too unreliable, right? After the Battle of Hawaii is over, we must recommend to the War Department to build the tank stronger, and the frontal armor must be at least 100mm thick.
Colonel Collins agreed with Admiral Short's suspicion. However, there is nothing to be afraid of anti-tank guns. Unless these anti-tank guns can be deployed mobilely and move their positions at any time, they will be targets for howitzers. So he made a suggestion: "General, the artillery has been redeployed and can start bombarding the rear of the Japanese front."
"Okay, 10 minutes of shelling should be able to clear out more than two-thirds of the anti-tank guns." Admiral Short nodded immediately and agreed with Colonel Collins' suggestion. His current tank group operations are similar to those of infantry. The key is cooperation with artillery.
Admiral Short believed that tanks should cooperate with artillery, while his opponents, the Japanese, believed that tanks should cooperate with submarines...
At the same time that American tanks and Japanese "Iron Fist" collided passionately on the plains of Oahu, about 30 Japanese Navy tanks had quietly surfaced under the cover of night on the sea near Waikiki Beach in the south of Oahu. out of the water.
Rudolf von Ribbentrop was standing on the control tower of the I-16 submarine at this time, his eyes widened as he watched a group of naval forces playing with tanks.
He only saw these navy tank crews taking out a bunch of machines from the submarine's open hatch, and then began to install them. These were the tank's engine and generator. In order to prevent water from entering during transportation, they must be disassembled and stored, and installed before being put into use. . The naval tank crews who assembled the engine and generator were all skilled workers, and the installation was completed in less than 15 minutes. Then these people quickly started to install the pontoons. After the pontoons were installed, the tank transformed into a ship with crawler tracks and four pairs of road wheels. The whole process took about 30 minutes.
Just as these naval tank troops were equipping engines and pontoons, a large number of Japanese Marines began to climb out of the cabins of 15 large submarines floating on the water. Each submarine carried forty-five fully armed Marines.
In addition, each large cruise submarine also carries 3 "small engine boats" on the deck. 60 Marine Corps "Step-up Team" members will be divided into 3 "small engine boats", followed by a group of "small engine boats" called The amphibious tank of the Type 2 internal fireboat washed up on Waikiki Beach.
If the raid on the beach is successful, 30 tanks will lead 900 Marines to attack Diamond Head near Waikiki Beach. If the raid on Diamond Head is successful, then the 305mm mortars deployed by the US military there may be destroyed or captured!