Kuribayashi's performance may be a typical example of the contradictory character of the Japanese. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Not long ago, Kuribayashi Tadamichi had a premonition that Iwo Jima would be lost, and that he and his men would die at the hands of the Chinese army, so he suffered from the loss of gains. And now, when it knew that there was a reinforcement of the fleet, its attitude immediately made a 180-degree turn...... It is no longer a question of worrying about losing the ground, but of finding a way to keep the Chinese army and make it "pay the price", and then there is a kind of high spirits to show their hands.

But I am afraid that Kuribayashi Tadamichi never dreamed that the Chinese army at this time was already planning to strike a fatal blow at Iwo Jima with lightning speed.

It should be said that the focus of this blow was taken into account by Tadamichi Kuribayashi from the very beginning, and that was the airport.

However, Kuribayashi Tadamichi thought that he had set the airfield as a trap, or it could be said that he had used the anti-aircraft guns arranged in the tunnel to contain it, so he ignored it himself.

This mistake will soon bring a painful lesson to him, his subordinates, and even the whole of Japan.

The Chinese troops launched a bombardment of the Japanese army from the morning of the second morning, targeting the highlands of Oribashan, 382, 362A, 362B, and 362C under the control of the Japanese army.

Needless to say, why is the purpose of this...... Prepare for the upcoming offensive of the expeditionary force.

There are two aspects to the preparation mentioned here, one is to use artillery shells to destroy possible mines at important landing sites to open the way for a sneak attack by troops, and more importantly, to use artillery to cover the possible sounds of a sneak attack.

The second preparation was to learn the lessons of the Japanese army's sneak attack...... The Japanese army suddenly increased the intensity of artillery bombardment before the sneak attack, so Wu Yuhang was suspicious of the Japanese attack at the first time, Wu Yuhang was like this, and the experienced veterans in the expeditionary force certainly smelled the unusual smell of this, so from top to bottom there were actually a little psychological preparations for the Japanese tank penetration that appeared later, which was also one of the reasons why the Chinese army was able to successfully block the Japanese army from the defense line.

Of course, there is also an objective reason for this, that is, the Japanese artillery shells are very valuable, and Kuribayashi Tadamichi does not dare to use them indiscriminately.

In fact, there were still enough Japanese shells...... As mentioned earlier, many of the Japanese army's strategic materials were originally used in the Mariana Islands to confront the Sino-American coalition forces, but the rapid defeat of the Mariana Islands forced the Japanese army to drop all the strategic materials it had collected on Iwo Jima.

However, war is a thing that often tests the psychology and expectations of commanders.

In Kuribayashi's thoughts...... The U.S. military has exhausted the superiority of the sea and air, so it will be difficult for Iwo Jima to get supplies, and it will be difficult to get supplies, which means sitting on empty air, and the ammunition and materials stored on Iwo Jima will always run out and run out one day, and when the ammunition and materials are exhausted, it will be the moment when the 109th Division will "break the jade".

The psychology of people always wants to live a little longer and stay longer, so of course Kuribayashi Tadamichi will "save it".

But the Chinese forces don't need that...... Although Halsey said that only a small number of transport ships could be used to supply the Chinese forces, the so-called "small batch" was also dozens of transport ships, which were enough supplies for the Chinese forces to support this low-intensity bombardment.

Ironically, the warships that the U.S. military escorted the transport ships were even more advanced Fletcher-class destroyers than the Chinese forces.

It can also be seen from this that the U.S. military is not completely unable to support the Chinese troops in attacking Iwo Jima at this time, but that the U.S. military is unwilling to support or so quickly.

Roosevelt was well aware of the purpose of the Chinese army's attack on Iwo Jima...... That is to "encircle Wei and save Zhao", by attacking the Japanese mainland to force Japan to transfer more troops used to attack China to the Pacific direction, but this is not what Roosevelt wanted to see.

At the same time, Roosevelt did not want the Japanese troops on Iwo Jima to build too strong fortifications.

At this time, Zhang Chi did not know that Iwo Jima was no less important to the US military than the Mariana Islands.

Iwo Jima's location is right halfway between mainland Japan and the Mariana Islands...... The distance is more than a thousand kilometers at both ends.

Roosevelt also received information that the Japanese were building radar monitoring stations and airfields on Iwo Jima, and once these were completed, it would greatly hinder the US military's plan to use the Mariana Islands to bomb the Japanese mainland...... Soon after the US bombers took off from the Mariana Islands, it was possible for the Japanese radar to detect them, and at the same time the fighters took off to intercept them.

Although at this time, the Japanese radar and fighters were almost unable to pose a threat to the US B29 bomber (note: the ceiling of the US B29 bomber was more than 10,000 meters, while the maximum ceiling of the Japanese Zero fighter was 5,000 meters, and it was impossible to intercept the high-altitude bomber B29, and the fighters used by Japan to intercept the US high-altitude bomber were mainly the Type 1 Falcon and the Type 2 Dragon Slayer), but even so, the Japanese army's radar station and airport on Iwo Jima Island would cause great trouble for the US B29 to bomb the Japanese mainland. For example, a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers will take about two hours for the B29 to fly, which also means that the Japanese army has two hours to prepare.

This is one of the reasons why Roosevelt would agree to let the Chinese army attack Iwo Jima.

On the other hand, Roosevelt was worried that the Chinese army would attack too fiercely and quickly in the direction of the Japanese mainland, which would affect the development of the Japanese army's campaign in the Chinese direction, and then he would transfer too many troops to the Pacific direction...... This is also clearly not in the interests of the United States.

Therefore, Roosevelt's real idea was to let the Chinese troops drag themselves in the direction of Iwo Jima, the Japanese army could not build fortifications on the island, and the Chinese army could not achieve victory, and wait for the American army to catch its breath from the Philippines.

But Roosevelt's idea itself was miscalculated.

The first is that the hatred between the Chinese and Japanese militaries is not the same as that between the US and Japanese militaries...... The US and Japanese militaries often fight for the sake of fighting and are still in a relatively rational state, while the Chinese and Japanese armies are more likely to fight to the death and swear not to give up. So the state of immortality that Roosevelt hoped for would not have happened.

Second, it was Roosevelt who underestimated the Chinese military, or it could be said that he underestimated the ability of Zhang Chi...... In the eyes of Roosevelt and the U.S. military, it was unlikely that the Chinese army, with a total number of more than 50,000 troops and very limited equipment and supplies, would take Iwo Jima in a short time.

Here, Roosevelt and the American generals had added the combat effectiveness and combat experience of the Chinese troops, but they still did not think that the Chinese army could do it.

But Roosevelt and the American generals were proved wrong. (To be continued.) )