Chapter 85 natural fortress

Since the defenders on Peleliu Island were already on high alert before the Battle of Saipan began, it was difficult for the U.S. military to carry out surprise attacks and could only attack step by step. According to the inevitable rules of amphibious operations, the aircraft carrier force dispatched 400 carrier-based aircraft, and together with the fire support fleet on the sea surface of Peleliu Island, bombed and shelled the island for three consecutive days.Various obstacles on the waterfront beach of Peleliu Island were completely destroyed, and all visible defense facilities in the hilly area on the shore disappeared. The support fleet told Geiger, Commander of the Third Amphibious Army: "There is no target to attack again." Attacked."

Even so, repeated strikes were carried out in the final minutes before landing. At 8 o'clock in the morning on September 15, accompanied by a thunderous sound, the 16-inch cannon on the US battleship spewed out long red flames, and the artillery shells roared towards the island like a locomotive. The marines on standby were admiring the western scene. One soldier smacked his lips and said to another soldier, "Brother, it will cost a lot to shoot this kind of 16-inch shell." The soldier replied nonchalantly, "Fuck the money!" Except for battleships, other large and small naval guns did not rest. The salvo of cruisers' "8-inch machine guns" and the rapid fire of destroyers' "6-inch machine guns" were not inferior to the "locomotives" of battleships.Over Peleliu Island, carrier-based aircraft fired bombs and rockets back and forth.

Looking from the command ship, a huge thick black smoke completely enveloped Peleliu Island. Under the smoke, the island was covered in a sea of ​​flames. At 8:32 in the morning, the beach landing officially began.The plan of Geiger and Ruptus was to disembark 4,500 people from the five vanguard battalions within 20 minutes, and disembark 8,000 people within 85 minutes. Near the command ship, a group of landing craft appeared, crowded with soldiers in piebald uniforms.The landing craft seemed to circle aimlessly in the water, and then they waved towards the departure line from the coast.After arriving at the departure line, the crawler landing vehicle will pick up the soldiers on the landing craft to the beach in batches.

The tracked vehicles marched towards the beach in a dense formation, and the beach was still silent at this time. This scene was very similar to the Guam campaign commanded by Geiger. The prelude to landing on the beach seemed to have been accomplished, but when the U.S. troops boarded the beach and rushed to 30 meters away from the Japanese breakwater, there was a sudden burst of gunfire, and the unsuspecting U.S. troops were shot violently. The U.S. troops fell on the beach on the spot, and tracked vehicles were also destroyed on the shore one by one. The US military reconnaissance plane code-named "Spider" reported the situation to the command ship: "The first batch encountered resistance!"

There is a large evergreen jungle on Peleliu Island. When the US military reconnaissance planes observed and took aerial photos before the war, the real terrain was completely covered.In fact, although the mountains of Peleliu Island are not too high, the island is covered with limestone. The Japanese army dug artillery positions, machine gun firepower nets and bunkers on the soft rock walls, and engineers also dug tunnels. After that, Peleliu Island became a natural fortress. The bombing and shelling by the U.S. military for three days only destroyed the Japanese warehouses and shore equipment on the surface. Many fortifications were hidden deep in the mountain wall, and bombs could not touch them at all.For example, none of the heavy firepower of the Japanese army on the beach was taken away.

Only 50 meters from the shore, there is a headland overlooking the landing beach (that is, a pointed land protruding into the sea), on which there is a rugged coral ridge about 10 meters high.For the advancing marines, this was a terrifying natural obstacle, but what is even more terrifying is that the maps issued before the war did not mark this Coral Ridge at all! The U.S. military later called Coral Ridge a "point." The front of the "Key Point" is covered with honeycomb-shaped coral holes and shooting bunkers blown up by the Japanese with explosives. It is really difficult to see the existence of these coral holes and bunkers only based on the photos taken from the air by reconnaissance planes.

When the U.S. troops first landed, the Japanese army uncharacteristically held back and waited until the U.S. troops entered close range, and the "Key Point" and other hidden firepower points of the Japanese army on the beach began to abuse. Among them, only the "Key Point" was equipped with an anti-tank gun and six anti-tank guns. The double cannons, coupled with the close distance, naturally have extraordinary lethality. Among the five vanguard battalions, the two battalions of the 1st Marine Regiment located in the northernmost area were the closest to the "point" and suffered the most casualties.To make matters worse, the tracked vehicles carrying most of the field telephone equipment and radio operators were also destroyed by anti-tank guns on the reef, and the battalions became more confused after losing communication dispatch.

Although the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment, located in the westernmost part of the landing queue, was able to avoid the firepower of the "main point", its flanks were attacked by hidden firepower points on the beach. Many tracked vehicles were killed before landing. Soldiers became live targets for Japanese machine guns.The machine guns plowed over and over again, and the casualties of the third battalion were staggering. The command ship's radio speaker resounded with the call of "Spider": "The enemy has strong firepower, and the resistance has changed from moderate to severe. Some amphibious tracked vehicles on the reef are burning!"

Dozens of black smoke columns rose from the reef and the beach, and the "Spider" exclaimed: "It's terrible, the enemy has a huge artillery firing, and there are about 20 soldiers on the white beach (the landing beach code where the Marine Regiment is located) Two amphibious tracked vehicles are burning, and at Orange 3 Beach (the landing beach code where the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment is located), I can also see 18 burning, and the burst of artillery can reach this beach..."