Chapter 86 Biggest Jap

The main force of the Japanese army defending Peleliu Island is the 14th Division, which governs the 2nd Wing and the 3rd Brigade of the 15th Wing, plus the naval garrison, labor, and ground personnel. The total number is indeed only more than 10,000. There is little difference from the situation mastered by the U.S. military, but as the Kwantung Army drawn from Northeast China, one of Japan’s only remaining elite troops, the soldiers of the 14th Division have been carefully selected, and there are many veterans who participated in the war of aggression against China , The overall combat effectiveness is very strong.

An obvious feature is that the Japanese at that time were generally short, but the 14th Division had some big soldiers over 1.8 meters tall. The American soldiers who fought with them later said that they were the "biggest" soldiers they had ever seen in their lives. Japs". It should be said that if it’s just that, it’s not terrible. In the Battle of Mariana, the 29th Division stationed on Tinian Island and Guam was wiped out by the US Marine Corps. It’s terrible It is a change in the Japanese military's tactical thinking. From the Battle of Guadalcanal to the Battle of Marianas, the Japanese army often ignored the superior firepower of the US military and rushed blindly when defending, but the result was repeated defeats.With the end of the Battle of Mariana, the Japanese base camp finally learned from the pain and made tactical adjustments, deciding to adopt the strategy of defense in depth and tunnel fortifications, and fought a war of attrition with the US military.

After receiving the so-called "July Instructions" from the base camp, Lieutenant General Inoue Sadae, head of the 14th Division, told his subordinates: "Victory depends on whether we can learn from the lessons of the last few battles, especially the Battle of Saipan. The United States Men win by their physical strength, and if we could defeat them by physical strength, it would shock them unimaginably." For the first time, in the mobilization of the Japanese army, "material force" replaced "spiritual force" and bushido, which meant a considerable change.

Inoue made a special combat plan, but when the U.S. troops landed, he had already gone to other places for inspection. Inoue was replaced as the supreme commander on the island by Nakagawa Shuo, the captain of the Second Wing.Nakagawa participated in the war of aggression against China, and later entered the Army University for advanced studies. He has rich practical experience and tactical literacy. When Inoue was not on the island, he was responsible for implementing and testing the combat plan. According to the new combat plan, every Japanese soldier was required to stick to caves and cliffs, relying on the dangerous terrain and intricate fortifications to defend.This made the previous calculation that the bullets could pass through the island completely nullified, because when the US military was fighting on the ground, the Japanese troops mostly hid underground or in hidden fortifications-those fortifications were well camouflaged and were almost indistinguishable from the natural terrain. , Even when American soldiers walked up to the gun holes, they couldn't find their existence.

If there is any problem with Nakagawa's command, it is that he committed a common problem of the Japanese army, that is, he was not good at using artillery intensively, and the artillery was fired separately. Otherwise, hidden reefs and beaches would become an insurmountable natural danger for the US military. Even so, the artillery blockade still caused great losses to the US military. The shells stirred up large and small water columns throughout the coastline, and coral fragments were blown up and flying all over the sky.The command boat moored at sea was also shelled, and the shells flew one after another, which shocked the commanders on the small boat. Fortunately, none of the three shells fired in a row hit the target, and all of them passed over the small boat. It exploded behind the boat.

After many disasters, the U.S. military finally ushered in a turning point.The two battalions of the Fifth Marine Regiment were in the center of the landing formation, farthest from the heavy artillery of the Japanese army. Using this as a breakthrough point, the first wave of Marines boarded the beach one after another. Following an order, the second wave of fully armed marines walked along the railing of the transport ship to the designated positions. They saw that most of the landing craft returning from the shore were full of wounded soldiers.As soon as the wounded soldiers boarded the big ship, these soldiers climbed down from the net ladder one after another, and then transferred from the landing craft to the tracked vehicle.

Among the marines who took part in this battle, apart from veterans like Lecky, there were also many new recruits, such as the mortarman of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, and Sledge, nicknamed "Sledgehammer". In the queue of the second wave. This was Sledge's first battle since joining the 1st Marine Division.Compared with Lecky who landed on Guadalcanal back then, Sledge is now more nervous, because the battle on the shore has already entered a fever pitch ahead of time, and the sounds of various weapons are so loud that when he talks to his teammates, he has to speak loudly. Shout out to the other person to hear them.

The tracked vehicle was still idling on the surface, waiting for a signal to head for the beach.This kind of waiting caused a new recruit like Sledge to suffer, as if it lasted longer than a few lifetimes. As the tension continued to escalate, he broke out in a cold sweat, his stomach shrank into a ball, and even his throat Saliva feels difficult. The extension of the waiting time is due to the fact that the original tracked vehicles are no longer enough and have to be reorganized and allocated. It wasn't until he saw the second wave of naval signalers waving flags toward the beach and the driver of the crawler starting the engine that Sledge felt a "crazy relief."