The Travelers of the Heavens

Time goes back to September 1, 1944, and the camera focuses on the sea off Saipan.

After the Allied forces prepared for sea and air firepower, transport ships, tank landing ships and other ships began to lower the rope nets and small landing craft. Soldiers of the 53rd Army of the National Army and the 27th Infantry Division of the US Army's Tenth Group Army began to follow the rope nets. Climb down the side of the ship and transfer to the landing craft.

Allied landing craft were everywhere on the sea. The landing craft carried by the national army sailed to the beach first.

As the landing craft group moved into the range of the defenders' heavy artillery, the 150mm cannons on the island began to roar, and soon the 105mm cannons also joined the ranks of shelling the landing troops.

Shells continued to explode on the sea between the landing craft. Some landing craft were hit by the shells and turned into a pile of scrap metal. The soldiers on the boats were either killed or seriously injured.

These 150 and 105 mm cannons on the island are all equipment provided by the Kyushu Army, totaling 100. There are a total of 220,000 rounds for both cannons.

In addition, there are 105 and 150 mm howitzers assisted by the Kyushu Army on the island, totaling 126. There are 350,000 rounds for these two types of artillery.

There are also 25mm rotary machine guns and several 120mm anti-aircraft guns, with no less than 2 million rounds of artillery shells.

As for other small and medium-caliber artillery or automatic weapons and ammunition, they are countless.

All heavy artillery ammunition is stored in the underground bunker behind the gun nest. This is to prevent the M Army's firepower from detonating the ammunition storage point.

When the M Army was preparing for sea and air firepower, all heavy artillery was hidden in concrete bunkers. After the landing began, they would be pushed back to their original positions by the Japanese defenders so that they could fire at the target.

The commander of the Saipan garrison was Lieutenant General Obata Hideyoshi, commander of the Japanese 31st Army Corps. His troops include the 43rd Army Division, the 47th Independent Mixed Brigade, the Saipan Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 25th Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment, the 7th Independent Engineer Regiment, and the 9th Tank Regiment, totaling 69,000 troops. people.

Although the Saipan Heavy Artillery Brigade is called a brigade, its strength has far exceeded the establishment of the Japanese Army Heavy Artillery Brigade. It is a"super large-scale heavy artillery group" according to Japanese standards.

Saipan's heavy artillery brigade is all equipped with 105 and 150 mm howitzers and cannons assisted by the Kyushu Army. This unit is the product of Obata Hideyoshi's merger of several original overstaffed heavy artillery regiments on the island in order to unify command. This unit is regarded as a trump card by the Obata Japanese.

In addition, the 9th Tank Regiment is equipped with 39 domestically produced Japanese Type 95 light tanks or Type 97 modified tanks, as well as two brigades with a total of 30"Mo" tanks eliminated by the Kyushu Army. As a result, the strength of the 9th Tank Regiment has greatly increased, with a total of 69 tanks of various types. This is another trump card in the hands of the Obata devils.

However, the Japanese seemed to intend to use the"Mo" tank as a self-propelled artillery. Obata Hideyoshi even called it a"Type 2 self-propelled artillery". Why is it called this because these tanks were sent to Saipan in 1942.

At nine o'clock in the morning on September 1, a regiment of the 91st Division under the 53rd Army of the National Army took the lead in landing on the island despite heavy artillery fire.

But at this time, the Japanese defenders only had artillery firing, and the machine guns were still waiting for orders.

Around 9:30, all the 91st Division came ashore and began to establish a beachhead position. The landing craft team also returned to pick up the remaining troops.

At ten o'clock, two regiments of the 91st Division began to advance deep into Saipan. The remaining regiment was responsible for protecting the landing site and the temporary artillery position on the beach and supporting the follow-up troops ashore.

The 12 M-made 105mm M101 howitzers of the 91st Division Artillery Battalion (PS: This gun is also called the M2 howitzer. In reality, it was renamed M101 after the war. The post-war name is used directly here) and began to fire at the Japanese positions that were discovered before the war. Shoot to cover advancing companions.

However, the Japanese artillery fire was fierce, and soon artillery shells hit the position of the 91st Division Artillery Battalion, immediately destroying three M101 howitzers, killing and wounding more than a dozen gunners.

At this time, Major General Feng Zhanhai, commander of the 91st Division at the beachhead, immediately called for air support.

Five minutes later, four F4U"Pirate" fighter jets carrying rockets flew onto the battlefield and threw their rockets at a Japanese artillery position.

However, not only were the rockets unable to blow up this concrete Japanese artillery position, but a"Pirate" fighter jet was shot down by a Japanese anti-aircraft gun.

After the M Army aircraft left, the Japanese artillery fire became more intense, and the 91st Division Artillery Battalion could only brave the artillery fire and move its position.

While the beachhead was under fire from the Japanese, the national troops advancing in depth were also strongly blocked.

As Obata ordered the beach defense line to open fire, the Japanese's crooked, Type 92 and Type 99 machine guns began to spit out deadly tongues of flame from the firing ports of each machine gun nest.

The national soldiers in the front row were hit and sacrificed by the intensive bullets, and soon 13.2 mm rotating machine guns also joined the ranks of harvesting the national soldiers.

The two regiments of national troops were pinned in front of the Japanese defense line and could not move.

A national army fire team carrying a"Bazooka" rocket launcher crawled to a Japanese bunker in a hail of bullets and attempted to fire rockets into the firing port.

But they were soon discovered by a machine gunner in another Japanese bunker nearby, and they immediately turned around and fired at the National Army's"Bazooka" group.

Needless to say, the result was that the National Army's"Bazooka" group fell under machine gun fire.

Later, the National Army tried to use flamethrowers to deal with the Japanese in the bunker, but when the hot flames rushed into the bunker along the shooting port, what the National Army's flamethrowers heard was not the howling of the Japanese, but machine gun fire. The clicking sound.

In an instant, several fire-breathing soldiers of the national army were beaten into fireballs, while the Japanese machine guns that were supposed to be killed were still shooting out of the bunker.

This shocked the officers of the nearby national army. Could it be that the Japanese had some divine help? This is of course impossible, because both the Japanese machine gunner and the deputy shooter are wearing heat-insulating suits, so within three hours, the flames of the flamethrower cannot kill the Japanese machine gunner at all.

The people of the M country did not mention the insulating suits to the national army before the war, so the above situation occurred.

The two regiments of the National Army's 91st Division suffered heavy casualties in front of the beach defense line. However, the two brigades of the Japanese Independent 47th Mixed Brigade took the opportunity to launch a counterattack under the cover of five 97-modified tanks.

Naturally, they were violently attacked by the U.S. Army. This group of Japanese soldiers suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat. Four of the five 97-modified tanks were destroyed. However, the Japanese soldiers still drove the Chinese army back with the cooperation of the defenders in the bunker. Once we reach the beach, we have completed our mission.

After counting the withdrawn national troops, there were more than a thousand missing, and almost all of them died while attacking the beach defense line. Although the 91st Division with more than 10,000 men suffered a setback, the division commander Feng Zhanhai reorganized the attack at two o'clock that afternoon.

At this time, the remaining two divisions of the National Army's 53rd Army and a regiment of the 27th Infantry Division of the M Army had already landed on the beach.

Lieutenant General Zhou Fucheng, commander of the 53rd Army of the National Army, decided to send the 116th Division to follow in the footsteps of the 91st Division to launch an attack on the Guizi Beach defense line.

The two sides fought until that night, and the national army retreated.

In the next month, the two sides fought many times around the beach defense line. The Allies were still unable to break through the defense line and were trapped on the beach in a dilemma.

By October 12, 1944, the Allies finally broke through the Japanese defense line on the beach. By this time, the 53rd Army of the National Army had killed 20,500 people and injured more than 5,000 people.

Army Commander Zhou Fucheng and his three division commanders, as well as officers at all levels, all went into battle and fought. Among them, Army Commander Zhou Fucheng and two division commanders were slightly injured.

In addition, among the entire army below the division commander, two regiment commanders were killed, nine battalion commanders were killed, 15 company commanders were killed, and 43 platoon commanders were killed. The 53rd Army was severely damaged and could no longer launch an attack.

The 27th Infantry Division of Country M, which had previously been responsible for providing artillery cover and medical logistics services, took over from the severely damaged 53rd Army of the National Army and continued to advance towards the island.

The young men of the 27th Infantry Division of Country M looked at the stacked bodies of the National Army soldiers. They were beating drums in their hearts. Just one beach defense line cost the National Army more than 20,000 people. So how tough is the core defense line on the island? , the soldiers of the 27th Infantry Division of the M Army could not imagine it.

Just as the M Army was advancing steadily, the Japanese machine guns hidden in the dark began to fire wildly. The M Army suddenly fell into chaos, and they all lay down to seek cover.

The M Corps correspondent quickly called for air support. But suddenly, artillery shells flying from nowhere fell into the M Army formation. This was the Japanese-made Meiji 45-type 240mm howitzer firing.

Although this guy has a large caliber, it is too old. It was equipped with the Japanese heavy artillery unit in 1912. Its current power is not as powerful as the 150mm cannon that uses ordinary shells supported by the Kyushu Army. There are currently two such artillery pieces on Saipan.

An unlucky M Army M26"Pershing" tank was directly hit by a 240mm artillery shell. Immediately, the iron lump weighing more than 40 tons exploded, and the scene was horrific.

In reality, the M Army did not equip a small batch of M26 tanks until March 1945 for use in the final stage of World War II. However, due to the"Mo" tank, the M26 tanks were deployed in March 1944.It was initially equipped with the M Army to gradually replace the M4"Sherman" tank.

By the start of the Battle of Saipan on September 1, the U.S. military in Europe and the Pacific had equipped a total of 1,750 M26 tanks.

The production quantity of"Sherman" tanks here is far less than the more than 40,000 in reality. It has become a transitional product. At present, some factories in M ​​country that originally produced Sherman tanks have begun to switch to the production of M26 models. tank.