The pilots flying the Stuka gradually found their own feelings, and the new round of bomb drops achieved better results.
Another Mirage cruiser was hit, this time an aerial bomb penetrated the cruiser's deck vertically and directly hit the ammunition magazine inside.
This is completely different from a torpedo hit: a torpedo hit only involves the explosion of the torpedo itself, but in fact there is almost no fatal explosion.
Because the torpedo sinking of a warship mainly relies on the water inflow after the explosion, a large amount of seawater will instantly pour into the opponent's ammunition depot and oil depot, which is equivalent to helping the water injection to suppress the explosion.
Aerial bombs are different. When an aerial bomb hits, it detonates inside the warship after penetrating the deck armor. This means that it first causes structural damage and explosion, and then causes the hull to rupture and flood the ship.
So when the mirage cruiser was hit by a bomb, the explosion of the ammunition depot made the whole scene tragic and terrifying.
The huge explosion even flew parts of the cruiser into the air and fell onto the deck of another cruiser next to it.
The fire caused by the explosion of the ammunition depot under the turret in the front of the battleship almost ignited the bridge and the chimney at the back. All rescue efforts were ineffective. The oil depot in the middle of the battleship also exploded and caught fire. The entire battleship disintegrated on the sea before it sank.
.
In a sense, the protection level of Mirage's warships is average, and the cruiser's lack of tonnage leaves the main weight to the artillery and main armor belt.
Although the horizontal armor has been slightly strengthened, in fact they still underestimated the damage that naval aviation can bring to battleships.
Before I had time to mourn for this battleship, another cruiser on the other side was hit by a torpedo. It was different from the previous cruiser. This cruiser was lifted high from the sea by the explosion, and then fell back heavily.
When it hit the sea water, it almost broke in the middle.
Compared with the heavy cruiser that capsized before, this cruiser is obviously a light cruiser, and it looks like it has been modified.
It has four chimneys and only two main gun turrets at the bow and stern. This type of cruiser is not very powerful in terms of combat effectiveness. It is fast but has very limited armor.
This type of light cruiser is generally used for patrol and surveillance, and its main focus is economy. During wartime, it can barely make up a few ships with the main fleet, or it can act alone to protect a voyage, and fight with relatively unskilled destroyers.
At this moment, it was hit by a torpedo. Its protection was insufficient and its structural instability was highlighted. Originally, an aviation torpedo did not have such a huge power, but it almost broke when it hit it.
The Mirage's southbound fleet, which originally had only seven cruisers and three destroyers, could be said to have suffered heavy losses at this time.
Three of their warships were watching being sunk, and the remaining warships were struggling to hold on, with the risk of capsizing at any time.
Seeing that his fleet was about to be unable to withstand it, Mirage Haiang sent a message to the main fleet to report what he had encountered, and on the other hand, he issued an order to retreat immediately.
Are you kidding me? If we go further south, the entire army will be annihilated here. Their army promised support...well, if that can be considered support, it won't work at all!
Finally, several Zero fighter jets arrived, but they were beaten by the curved-wing aircraft being escorted. None of them escaped, and they were all shot down!
What is the use of such a cover? The number is not large, let alone the combat effectiveness: The telegram sent by Mirage Haiang to the main fleet focused on this matter: The army's aircraft support is unreliable. If we want to ensure that the main fleet is foolproof,
, there must be at least two hundred Zero fighter jets.
But this telegram fell into the hands of the main fleet commander Mirage Haifeng, and it became a big joke: their Mirage country had no more than 200 aircraft deployed on the South Island. How could it be possible that they all took off to support the navy?
In fact, the commander of the Mirage Army in the South Island, Mirage Wu Zhong, was ill and rushed to hospital. He had already ordered the Tulong bombers to take off again, targeting Leping and Dongshan.
In order to retake these two places, he had given death orders to the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions, ordering them to break through the defense line composed of Tang Army paratroopers before one o'clock in the afternoon.
Because the commanders of the Mirage Army stationed on the beach were almost crying. The reinforcements they had been waiting for had not arrived. Now they were squeezed into a corner and were about to be annihilated by the Tang Army's landing force.
…
On the beach, a landing ship drove directly to the beach. The huge iron door on its bow had been opened, the springboard had been lowered, and a jeep rushed ashore first.
Immediately afterwards, a Type 59 main battle tank drove out. With such advanced landing equipment, the 9th Army of the Tang Army could land ashore much faster than expected.
Sitting on the jeep, Funkzhi saw that artillery had already set up positions on the beach and set up towed 155mm heavy artillery. He felt that this time the landing operation was safe.
As a commander, he did not believe in the combat effectiveness of the Marine Corps, but he was full of confidence in the 9th Army he formed.
In order to support this landing operation, the weapons and equipment department above even gave priority to replacing some Type 59 main battle tanks for the 9th Army. With these advanced main battle tanks, Feng Kezhi did not think that his troops would be counterattacked by the mirage army.
Go to sea.
"Sir!" The commander of the 19th Infantry Division of the 9th Group Army who had just been sent ashore stood at attention and saluted Feng Kezhi: "The Marine Corps is clearing the landing site on the flanks, and my 1st Regiment is breaking through in depth! The 9th Armored Division came ashore first.
A company has been assembled, and they will support us in penetrating the enemy's second line of defense head-on."
Sitting on the jeep, Feng Kezhi returned a military salute to his men: "Let the troops give up the landing site as soon as possible! The subsequent troops cannot move forward!"
As he spoke, he pointed to the various landing ships and transport ships approaching the beach, and shouted to his men: "I will give you 2 hours. Your troops must cross the second line of defense of the Mirage Army and fight with the paratroopers."
Position contact!"
"Yes! Sir!" The leader of the 1st regiment stood at attention and saluted, and then hurried to carry out the order.
Feng Kezhi shouldn't have landed at this time, but he was eager to push his command forward. In his opinion, this was an attitude. A surrendered general like him should stand in the most dangerous place, for
The empire is loyal.
Behind him, more Tang Dynasty destroyers were pouring their artillery shells at the mirage army: countless artillery pieces spit out tongues of flame, making the entire landing site still extremely noisy.
The following troops were densely piled on the beach, most of them were the baggage of the 9th Army, as well as soldiers who had just been sent ashore.
Most of the artillery positions deployed by the Mirage Army in depth have been destroyed by Stuka dive bombers. The remaining ones can only support the frontal defense line and can no longer spare the power to shoot at the beach.
It was precisely because of this that Bernard acquiesced to Funk's move to push the headquarters to the beach. After all, Bernard also believed that only Funk's landing would mean that the landing operation was proceeding smoothly.
The engineers of the Tang Empire who had just landed were clearing the minefields left by the mirage army. Their method was simple and crude. They basically used detonators to directly detonate a certain area, followed by the next one.
The Tang Army did not carry much real mine-clearing equipment, and most of them were of lower priority and were on the later-numbered transport ships. At this time, everyone was not afraid of wasting it and could only use what they had.
Along the trenches left by the mirage, the 1st Marine Division was attacking to the west, while the east side was the main attack direction of the 2nd Marine Division.
The troops of their two divisions are working hard to expand the landing site. Under their attack, the width of the Tang Army's landing site has exceeded 5 kilometers.
When Funk came ashore, he could only hear the sound of gunfire in the distance. However, the gunfire behind him was still intensive, so he could only shout at the top of his lungs when he spoke.
"If I had known, I wouldn't have waited any longer!" He covered one ear with one hand, jumped out of the off-road vehicle with squinted eyes, and complained to the adjutant who was following him.
The headquarters engineers on the side were setting up a tent next to a reef, which was the temporary headquarters of their army group.
There are also communications troops who have erected antennas on the rocks. They need to arrange at least ten radio stations here and connect ten walkie-talkie devices... Of course, they also need generators and a camouflage net for air defense.
, deploy warning zones further away.
In fact, the command system on a battleship is more complete. After all, it is safer and quieter, and there are more and more comprehensive communication equipment.
However, it is not without benefits for the commander to go forward. At least this kind of local method of leading by example can indeed motivate the soldiers and make the entire unit fight more bravely.
In fact, the 9th Army was indeed encouraged: the 1st Regiment of the 19th Infantry Division, which had just landed, was attacking northward. Without tank cover, they had already pushed their defense line right into the eyes of the enemy's second main line of defense.
It's under the bed.
As the absolute main force in the group army, the 2nd Regiment of the 19th Infantry Division is coming ashore, and the artillery directly under the group army is also establishing its own artillery positions.
More tanks are also ready to join the battle. These Type 59 main battle tanks will not stop until they use up the fuel in their tanks.
"Let the following troops replace the first batch of landing Marines as soon as possible...their pants are all wet..." Personally supervising the establishment of his own headquarters, Feng Kezhi felt the cold sea breeze blowing on his face.
.
He went ashore directly from the gangplank, and his boots were dry, but the soldiers who opened the way for him waded ashore through the water. Now that they had endured the cold all morning, they really should take a rest.
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There are two updates today. Don’t wait any longer. I’ll continue to update when I feel better.
