This time the bombardment was led by Yandi's commander - Liu Xin, who served as the frontline commander.
Among these dozens of warships, light cruisers first opened the way in front to clear obstacles for the entire fleet.
Then, the light cruiser was followed closely by the heavy cruiser and armored cruiser. After these warships safely entered the bay, the seven main warships slowly entered the bay.
Liu Xin was on the battleship Yandi at this time, using a telescope to watch the situation on the dock from a distance.
By this time, the pier was already deserted, and almost no one was around. Only some soldiers could be seen in the distance, digging fortifications.
As the light cruiser got closer and closer to the dock, the enemy defense forces on land began shelling.
Since all the forts near the Japanese capital have been destroyed by the Nanyang Navy, the artillery units of the 1st Guards Division are now being bombarded.
Although they are said to have the most advanced equipment, they are only equipped with some 75 mm caliber light artillery. The large-caliber artillery is now in North Korea and the Qing Dynasty.
Although these 75mm light artillery guns have a very fast rate of fire, they have no effect on these light cruisers. Instead, with their shelling, the location of these artillery positions is exposed.
So the nine Cossack-class light cruisers began to counterattack with the 152 mm caliber naval guns on their warships.
Each Cossack-class light cruiser has six 152mm-caliber guns, and four guns can fire simultaneously on one side of the warship.
Calculated in this way, there are a total of 36 152 mm caliber artillery pieces, bombarding the artillery positions on the shore.
At this time, the enemy's artillery position was unlucky and was immediately covered by dozens of artillery shells.
Let’s talk about the specialness of this Guards Division. Other divisions have 8 regiments, but the Guards Division has 14 regiments. In addition to the 14 infantry regiments, the cavalry regiment and
There are two artillery regiments. In terms of strength, the Guards Division has a total strength of nearly 40,000, which is more than 10,000 more than other Class A divisions.
This unit originally wanted to be transferred to North Korea to let them see blood. However, with the rise of Liu Hai, Hirofumi Itto and the others did not dare to let this last elite leave the country, so they did not participate in the war against North Korea at all.
It's just that we have been defending the country's capital.
Prince Kitashirakawa Nohisa, the commander of the Guards Division, is a member of the royal family and the king's most loyal supporter. Without the support of this Guards Division, the king's status would never be so stable.
Precisely because this Guards Division is controlled by the royal family, their loyalty to the king is very great.
Therefore, although the artillery positions are now covered by artillery fire, these artillerymen are still desperately trying to rescue the remaining artillery pieces regardless of life and death, and want to move them to other places.
But they were in vain. After the light cruiser opened fire, the heavy cruiser and armored cruiser following the light cruiser also began to fire fiercely with artillery with a caliber of more than 200 mm.
This time, the artillery position was completely covered by artillery fire, and all personnel and equipment were lost.
The commander of the Guards Division, Prince Nohisa Kitashirakawa, was so angry that he slapped the table after receiving the news that all the artillery positions had been destroyed.
"Baga, didn't I tell them? Let them fire a round of artillery and move immediately. Why is it so slow?"
His chief of staff replied helplessly: "The opponent's reaction was too fast. Just as we completed the shelling, the opponent launched a counterattack, and the soldiers on the position had no time to move."
After hearing this, Prince Nohisa Kitashirakawa showed an incredible expression on his face, "How is this possible? Even the most elite artillery in the world would not be able to find our artillery position so quickly."
The Chief of Staff was also speechless now. He was also confused about Liu Hai's troops' counterattack so fast.
In fact, it's not their fault. This is entirely due to the three Iowa-class battleships. The artillery sighting radars on them have already locked onto the enemy's artillery positions as soon as the opponent's bombardment begins, and immediately signal all the bombardments through flags.
The warship passed the opponent's accurate coordinates.
Therefore, each warship can carry out such a rapid counterattack, so that the enemy has no time to make any other actions.
Before the Guards Division could make any other response, the main guns of all Liu Hai's warships had begun shelling all suspicious targets within 5 kilometers of the dock.
This time it was said that it was shelling suspicious targets, but in fact it was an indiscriminate bombing.
Almost all the buildings near the dock were destroyed in this round of shelling.
The Guards Division, which had built a position near the dock, also suffered heavy losses from this fierce shelling.
Because due to time constraints, these Guards divisions did not have time to build permanent reinforced concrete buildings, so their trenches and fortresses were almost all made of earth and stones.
How could these crude fortifications withstand heavy artillery bombardment?
Especially the 406mm main gun of the Iowa-class battleship. With one shot, almost all personnel within a nearby football field have no chance of survival.
Prince Nohisa Kitashirakawa, who was in the rear, saw that his forward position was covered by the opponent's heavy artillery, and his eyes were about to burst into flames. But he was unable to do anything about this situation.
His chief of staff, Tsunenobu Koyama, quickly came over and suggested, "Sir, the opponent's heavy artillery is too fierce. Soldiers must not use flesh and blood to resist the opponent's steel. I suggest that we immediately withdraw from the first line of defense and retreat to the second line of defense."
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Prince Noji Kitashirakawa thought for a while and then said: "The opponent's heavy artillery has a too far range. Even if you retreat to the second line, you can't withstand the opponent's heavy artillery bombardment. You might as well retreat to the third line of defense. At this distance, although it is still in
It is within the range of the opponent's artillery, but their shooting accuracy should be reduced, and the casualties of soldiers can also be reduced."
Chief of Staff Tsunenobu Koyama could only nod his head after hearing this.
Prince Kitashirakawa Nohisa. Once the two sides reached an agreement, he immediately issued an order, "Order all troops to retreat to the third line of defense for defense."
Following the order of Prince Nohisa Kitashirakawa, the Japanese officers and soldiers on the front line immediately retreated quickly.
But this distance of seven to eight kilometers is simply a road to death for these soldiers.
Since they were currently short of weapons, they did not dare to drop their weapons, so they could only carry heavy equipment and stagger back.
How could Liu Hai's fleet miss such a good opportunity? Therefore, hundreds of artillery pieces of various types kept covering a certain distance.
Under such fierce artillery fire, the Guards Division quickly retreated to the rear. When they retreated to the third line of defense, they counted their numbers. The Guards Division of more than 40,000 people had now lost nearly 100,000 people.
Thousands of people.
Prince Noku of Kitashirakawa Palace was in tears when faced with this situation. More than 10,000 people were lost before the war even started. If a war really breaks out, we still don’t know how many people in the Guards Division will survive in the end.
Go down.
Prince Kitashirakawa Palace Nohisa knew that he could not wait any longer, so he immediately sent people to the government side and asked them to send death squad reinforcements immediately, otherwise the position would not be preserved.
After Ito Hirobumi indirectly received the report from the other party, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood. The army of more than 40,000 people had lost more than 10,000 people before they started fighting. Now he still has the nerve to ask for reinforcements.
However, Oyama Iwa, who was assisting Hirobumi Ito, knew that the situation was critical. Now was not the time to move internally and immediately suggested Hirobumi Ito, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, in this case, if reinforcements are not sent, I am afraid that the front line will not be able to withstand it for long. I
It seems that we might as well gather all the police and send them to the front line to resist for a while."
What can Itto Hirobumi do now? He can only agree to Oyama Iwa’s suggestion.
On the sidelines, Aoki, the nominal controller of the national army, remained silent. In fact, only now did he realize the cruelty of war, and that victory cannot be won with passion.
At this time, all the police in the city were in chaos. Although these people had some military training, their main task was to catch thieves. They would not have thought that they would be on the front line now, so many of them secretly deserted.
When the head of the police department counted the number of people, only less than 2,000 of the more than 3,000 people who were supposed to be present were gathered here.
The police minister was so angry that he stamped his feet when he saw this situation. However, the front line was urgent and there was no time to tangle with those who escaped. He thought that after the battle was over, he would settle the accounts with these people.
In this way, the 2,000 police force was sent to the front line.
At this time, at the dock, Liu Hai's Marines had begun to land in small boats under the cover of artillery.
Due to the heavy reinforcements with artillery this time, they did not encounter much resistance and quickly established a small forward base on the dock.
After the base was established, all the marines took the original small transport ships of the Nanyang Navy and arrived at the dock one after another.
As the commander of the Marine Corps, Liu Lu also followed the troops ashore. As soon as he landed, he immediately ordered the Marine Corps to start searching and advancing in all directions.
At the same time, the Marine Corps' 122mm cannon was also set up, ready for reinforcements at any time.
As a result, the Marine Corps searched for nearly 2 kilometers and found no sign of resistance.
Liu Lu didn't believe that such a thing would happen. He personally led the guards to the front and observed for a while, and then he believed that the enemy army had really retreated.
This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Liu Lu originally thought that this time it would take a bloody battle to establish an advance base on the pier, but he did not expect that the opponent actually gave up resistance.
Since this was the case, Liu Lu smiled and accepted the enemy's kindness.
Liu Lu immediately sent an order to the signal troops next to him, "Order, the 1st Marine Regiment to establish a line of defense 2 kilometers away from the dock to prevent the other party from counterattack. The 2nd Regiment will reinforce the 1st Regiment at any time, and the 3rd Regiment will be divided into
The two units searched and advanced on both flanks to prevent the enemy from attacking from both flanks."