Suddenly, as soon as an American soldier finished speaking, there was a series of dull explosions, and successive artillery shells continued to fall in the American fox trenches. Although the shells were not very powerful, they would still kill one or two Marines.
.
Lying down at the junction of the beach and the shrubs, Ichiki Kiyoshi made a gesture to a Japanese second lieutenant two or three meters away. Then the second lieutenant picked up his belt and led a grenade squad towards the flank of the US defense line.
Soon, the second lieutenant led his team to a place more than 200 meters away from the right side of the US military position.
This team consists of four grenade groups. Each grenade group consists of a launcher and an ammunition handler. The grenade groups led by Ichiki Kiyoshi also added an ammunition handler.
This is to prevent combat attrition and ensure sufficient ammunition.
Each ammunition hand carries 8 grenades in the ammunition bag and carries a rifle to protect the launcher. The launcher also carries 8 grenades. In other words, a standard two-person grenade team has 16 shells, and this grenade
The ammunition carried by the barrel team reached 24.
Soon, a sharp whistling sound suddenly sounded, and then artillery shells fell on the US military position one after another.
Faced with the sudden and violent artillery fire, Harry and other US troops could only try their best to lower their bodies. At the same time, they were very confused, "What weapons did the Japanese on the opposite side use? Why are they so dense and fierce?"
Harry was very curious about the Japanese artillery shells, which were powerful, fast-firing, and fell like raindrops. The red signal flares pierced the night sky, and then more intensive artillery fire poured down.
Suddenly, Harry saw several figures rushing up from the darkness. A 12.7mm machine gun on the position fired wildly, sweeping the black figures to the ground.
One of the dark figures fell to the ground and struggled to throw a grenade accurately into the foxhole.
Before Harry could scream, the machine gun in the foxhole was blasted into the sky. More black figures rushed over bravely, and Harry was horrified that the Japanese could still charge after being shot.
Suddenly Harry felt his shoulder being torn apart by a huge impact, and he fell hard to the edge of the foxhole. A Japanese soldier jumped into the foxhole. With the help of the moonlight, Harry saw the appearance of the Japanese soldier for the first time. It was not the same as the image promoted by the US military.
Erzhi, but with bloodthirsty ferocity in his eyes.
In the command post next to the airport, Thomas was talking to his men one by one, and the words were mixed with shouts, but these people did not speak English, and it was obvious that they were not the U.S. Marine Corps.
"It's the Japanese. They've attacked the eastern position!"
Thomas was shocked. He immediately predicted that the position near the beach had obviously been lost.
More than ten minutes later, the sound of gunfire on the right flank gradually fell silent. Through the telescope, Thomas saw the Stars and Stripes being pushed to the ground and a rising sun flag rising slowly.
"Damn it, the eastern position has been lost!"
Colonel Thomas's heart skipped a beat.
Although the position near the beach was not large, and in Thomas' opinion, it was just an insignificant place, otherwise only two platoons of troops would not have been deployed.
But the so-called irrelevance here has a premise, that is, the U.S. Navy can maintain absolute superiority on the sea, forcing the Japanese Navy not to dare to approach.
But it was obvious that Thomas underestimated the Japanese's gambling ability. They really dared to take advantage of the U.S. Navy's negligence and darkness and only sent a few destroyers and transportation halls to send troops for a sneak attack.
You must know that this place faces the sea. Once this place is lost, the Japanese fleet can arrogantly dock the transportation hall here and then calmly unload the infantry.
He grabbed the walkie-talkie and said, "Major Winston, you immediately lead a battalion to retake the eastern position. You must not allow the Japanese to comfortably occupy the eastern position."
"Mr. Colonel, the Japanese destroyers are constantly shelling the airport, and we found that the Japanese have a very high-speed rapid-fire mortar. I just asked the retreating soldiers why the eastern position was lost.
Because of this damn mortar.
The most important thing is that it is too dark now. If we launch an attack hastily, it will not only be difficult to regain the position, but it will also easily lead to huge casualties."
"What's your opinion?" Thomas asked coldly.
"My opinion is that we should immediately order the troops to hold their positions. After daybreak, our navy will naturally drive those Japanese warships out of this sea area. In this way, we can calmly retake the position."
Thomas was silent for a moment, and reason told him that Winston's words were right. The most taboo thing in war is to attack blindly when the enemy's situation is unclear. Although Americans do not have the proverb "it is better to be still than to move", some things are true.
the same.
After a long while, Thomas finally said: "Just follow your advice!"
Hearing the sound of hanging up from the phone, Winston breathed a sigh of relief.
To be honest, what he said just now actually took a big risk.
You must know that in any country or army, subordinates are required to unconditionally execute the commander's orders. Questioning the commander's order in person will be considered a challenge to the commander's majesty.
The reason why Winston mustered up the courage to persuade Thomas just now was actually because he wanted to take a gamble, because he knew very well how risky it was to recapture the lost position when the enemy's situation was unknown and the night was dark, and he might not even be able to make the entire situation.
The entire battalion had to stay there, but fortunately Colonel Thomas listened to his advice.
Unexpectedly, the Japanese did not continue the attack and stayed in place, which puzzled Thomas, Winston and others.
However, they finally understood this situation when dawn came.
The dawn sun shone on the island, and the American soldiers who had waited nervously all night found that all the beaches to the east had been occupied by the Japanese. Not only that, the Japanese had also occupied the southern passage leading to the interior of Guadalcanal.
"Damn it, how many soldiers did these Japanese monkeys offload last night?"
Thomas secretly looked through the binoculars from the bunker, looking at the rising sun flag rising in the east, his face looked particularly ugly.
"Sir, it's all my fault. If I had followed your order and recaptured the eastern position last night, the Japanese conspiracy would not have succeeded." Winston said guiltily at the side.
Thomas shook his head: "This is none of your business. If we took the risk to attack last night, your whole battalion might have been blown to pieces by the Japanese naval guns."
"Sir, we need to send troops to retake the eastern position. What happened last night will never happen again." Perhaps out of guilt, Winston volunteered.
"Okay, in an hour, you lead a battalion to attack and clear out all the Japanese monkeys there. I will contact the fleet to provide you with artillery support." Thomas agreed to Winston's request.