After the US military occupied Iwo Jima, the headquarters of the dispatch forces also became nervous. Whether the enemy will attack Taiwan or Okinawa next is something that needs to be paid close attention to.
But while the Xia Army in China was thinking about it, an extremely important event in history happened. On the night of March 9, the commander of the 20th Bomb Wing under the 21st Bomber Command of the U.S. Army Air Force, Li
Major General May used 334 B-29 long-range heavy bombers to take off from the Air Force Airport in the Mariana Islands and carried out the second large-scale night bombing of Tokyo.
This was a round of carpet bombing. At 24:15, two navigation bombers arrived over Tokyo and dropped illumination bombs in the predetermined target area, and then dropped incendiary bombs to indicate targets for subsequent aircraft.
Then a large number of bombers dropped incendiary bombs at intervals, and the fire spread quickly. Each long-range heavy bomber carried six to eight tons of incendiary bombs, also called napalm bombs, and the burning area could reach 6,500 square meters.
rice.
During the two hours of continuous bombing, the 20th Bomb Wing dropped a total of more than 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs, razing 41 square kilometers of the city center to the ground, and the high temperature generated was enough to burn all combustible materials in the city.
About a quarter of Tokyo was razed to the ground, of which 18% were industrial areas, 63% were commercial areas, and the remainder were residential areas.
All twenty-two industrial targets to be destroyed in the bombing plan were destroyed. More than 267,000 buildings in Tokyo were burned to the ground, leaving millions of people homeless, including 83,790 people.
Thirteen people were burned to death, and more than 100,000 people were burned or choked.
In this air strike, only nine bombers were shot down, five bombers were seriously injured and forced to land on the sea, and the 42 injured bombers and the remaining bombers returned to the base safely.
The reason why it is said to be the second time is because on the night of the 23rd and 24th of last month, the US bomber group launched a large-scale incendiary offensive against Tokyo for the first time.
That night, one hundred and seventy-four B-29 bombers dropped a large number of napalm bombs on Tokyo, burning 2.56 square kilometers of Tokyo.
Less than thirty hours after the U.S. bomber group attacked Tokyo, 317 B-29 bombers attacked Nagoya at night, turning the city's aircraft manufacturing center into a ball of flames.
On the 13th, Osaka, Japan's second largest city, was also bombed by 300 B-29 bombers. 1,700 tons of incendiary bombs burned an urban area of 2.7 square kilometers in three hours.
On the 16th, the U.S. military bombed Kobe again, destroying the naval shipbuilding center.
"Everyone, I am naturally saddened by the large-scale and barbaric bombing of the empire by the enemy, but since it has happened, don't be so low-spirited. The empire still needs you to keep fighting." Chen Mingxiang said in the small restaurant at home.
During half of March, Chen Mingxiang listened to various good news about the US military's bombing of Tokyo, Japan. Although some people said that a large number of incendiary bombs were dropped directly into residential areas, causing a large number of Japanese civilian casualties. This was a typical criminal act, but he did not
Those who think so have never seen the miserable scenes of Chinese people during the bombing of mountain cities. Well done!
The time has been pushed to the 22nd. News that Tokyo and major cities have been bombed and suffered heavy losses have gradually reached the Japanese dispatched troops in China. After hearing such results, a group of officers from the Military Police Headquarters, as well as Yoshitaro Kawamoto,
He went to Mara's villa to drink with Nagatsuzu, feeling extremely sad.
"Battle? No matter how smoothly our war in China goes and how significant our achievements are, it has no meaning to the current empire. The Japanese mainland is the life support of all the imperial armies. After tossing and tossing, the troops are mobilized.
After wandering around, it turns out that the next target of the US military's attack is Okinawa!"
"But our base camp has transferred the most elite 9th Army Division from Okinawa to Taiwan for garrison. No wonder the staff officers of each army and the general headquarters are scolding the staff headquarters for doing the most idiotic thing in history.
Behavior!" Yoshitaro Kawamoto said angrily.
There is nothing wrong with preventing the US military from landing in China, but the geographical location of Okinawa is too critical. It is Japan's national gate and homeland. When the situation is unclear, the main division is transferred to Taiwan. This kind of mistake is simply
Unforgivable!
The Ninth Division of the Japanese Army belongs to the standing draft horse division, also known as the A-type division. Each division has two brigades, and each brigade has two infantry regiments, engineer regiments, and cavalry regiments.
There are eight regiments, artillery regiment and baggage regiment, plus the non-combatant personnel of the division and regiment headquarters and the two brigades and regiment headquarters, with a total establishment of 28,200 people.
The Class A Division has 7,630 horses, 14,900 rifles, 144 grenade launchers, 288 light machine guns, and 54 heavy machine guns.
, sixteen mountain cannons, thirty-six field cannons and other equipment, it is a combat unit coordinated by multiple arms.
"Speaking of the two recent attacks launched by the dispatched army headquarters, they are of little significance and will not help the domestic situation. The US bombers took off from Guam and Saipan in the Mariana Islands, and there is Iwo Jima.
The airport serves as a transfer station and there is no need for China's airport to serve as a base." Sifang Liang'er said.
"This is not what the General Staff Headquarters meant, but what General Gangcun meant. The U.S. Air Force's aviation fleet in China used the airport of the mountain city government to continuously bomb our railways and waterways, which caused great difficulties to transportation, and we
The Fifth Air Force currently only has more than a hundred aircraft capable of taking off for combat, and it is absolutely no match for them." Nagatsu Sahishige said.
"I have heard that the military supply work of the dispatched troops is very difficult. There is a serious shortage of food and ammunition. The country has been bombed and industrial production has been greatly affected. Under such a situation, is it necessary to launch a large-scale operation?"
Chen Mingxiang asked.
"It's not a large-scale battle. It mainly involves the 110th Division, the 115th Division, the 3rd Chariot Division, the 4th Cavalry Brigade and the 117th Division under the Twelfth Army.
The 87th Infantry Brigade's combat goal is to occupy Nanyang and destroy the Laohekou Airport of the Shancheng Government."
"As for the Twentieth Army's attack on western Hunan Province, it will not be possible in a short time. The main force of the 47th Division transferred from China is stranded in the Northern Dynasties and has not yet reached the designated area. It will probably not be until mid-April.
Launch an attack." Kawamoto Yoshitaro said.
The 47th Division of the Japanese Army was organized in Japan and consisted of three infantry regiments, a cavalry regiment, an engineering regiment, a mountain artillery regiment and a heavy equipment regiment. It was considered a relatively complete organization.
