Chapter 51 The star-spangled banner is waving in the wind

This is a heavy artillery armor-piercing shell. According to the statistics of the Japanese artillery, the 240mm howitzer that fired this shell had fired 262 rounds before, and when it was the 263rd round, it suddenly hit the US ammunition depot by accident. The ammunition depot that was hit was supplying ammunition for eight artillery pieces. Immediately after being hit, the ammunition depot exploded. small island. In addition to the artillery on the main island, there is also the "Battleship Island" next to Corregidor Island-a fortification built with concrete on the coral reef according to the model of a warship.On this "warship island", known as the "unsinkable battleship", it is equipped with four 160mm artillery pieces, which can play a role in supporting the defense of the main island. However, under the continuous targeted bombardment of the Japanese army, the above Artillery positions were also destroyed.

The Japanese army gradually gained power in the artillery battle.Under the relentless shelling, the American officers and soldiers behind the fortifications seemed to be living in the center of the artillery target, living a life of extreme panic every day. After the rain of bullets, it rained continuously, and it continued to fall day and night. The fortifications were washed away as soon as they were repaired, and the whole island was in a mess of rubble. Honma hopes to take the lead in defeating the defenders spiritually, so that they will be defeated without a fight. The Stars and Stripes was hung high above the American barracks, and the Japanese artillery fired a volley every two minutes. During the second shot, the Stars and Stripes were shot down by shells, and the Japanese soldiers watching from the shore shouted "Long Live".This was regarded by the Japanese as a symbol of their imminent victory, and propagandists came to make a film called "Bombarding the Flag", which was screened on the front line on April 24.

After watching the movie, the Japanese artillerymen danced and danced with great pride, but after a few days, the American Stars and Stripes flew high in its original position again, as if it had never been shot down, and they were all dumbfounded— —We fire at that position every day, who has the guts to re-hang the flag? Indeed, some people had the guts. A soldier who did not want to "surrender" to the Japanese army braved the hail of bullets to climb up the flagpole and planted the American flag. It turns out that the Americans are so brave and patriotic. They will never give in easily without spending more money. April 29, 1942 was the birthday of Emperor Hirohito. After firing the salute, Honma gathered all 150 heavy artillery pieces for bombardment.

Since the morning, the US artillery positions have been completely suppressed, and the shock waves caused by the explosion of the shells almost shook away the American soldiers hiding in the foxholes.The soldiers were eager to avoid the artillery fire, and even if the Japanese bombers passed overhead, no one cared to pay attention. In the afternoon, the situation got worse. Several US military ammunition depots were surrounded by raging flames, and explosions occurred one after another. Similar concentrated bombardment continued for two days.Like machine guns, the Japanese artillery continued to spray flames, and by May 2, it had reached a fever pitch.

During the five hours of shelling, the Japanese army fired more than 3,600 shells, one of which penetrated the concrete wall of the ammunition depot, directly causing a big explosion.According to eyewitnesses, it was as if the whole island was exploding. The huge shock wave caused many soldiers and civilians on the island to bleed. Several mortars weighing 13 tons were shaken away from the fort, and one even fell 100 meters away. Japan is short of strategic materials, and has always been reluctant to use more shells on the battlefield, but this time in order to show off its material strength, it can be regarded as going all out.The consumption of such a large number of shells in a specific area has never been seen in the history of the Japanese army.

The U.S. military has no power to fight back. They can only wait for the shelling to come to an end before they can crawl out of the hidden tunnels, and then try to dig out those comrades who were buried in dust and rubble.Because of staying too long in the crowded and depressing tunnels, many soldiers also suffered from "tunnel syndrome", with disordered thinking and loss of combat effectiveness. Corregidor Island reached a critical moment of life and death. On May 3, 1942, the fresh water on the island was less than 5 days old.At night, a submarine quietly approached Corregidor Island at risk and picked up the last batch of women and children.Wainwright comforted the nervous submarine captain: "They (referring to the Japanese army) can only get close to us if they fight over, otherwise they can't get close."

Honma has been preparing to call over, but he does not have a ferry, and the 3,000 landing craft needed must be towed from Lingayin Bay, and these landing craft will be attacked by Corregidor Island when they pass through Manila Bay. The artillery on board attacked, so they could only use the night to smuggle them in three or five ships after the engines were extinguished. The smuggling process was very slow, and by May 5, only half of the landing craft had assembled.Benma was impatient to wait any longer, so he decided to log in in two batches, one batch first that night.