The battle was started by the American army, and first the shells were frantically smashed on Kwajalein Island. But the effect of these shells, in addition to embolden www.biquge.info ing the 3rd Marine Division, is to add some smoke to Kwajalein Island.

The latter was actually unfavorable to the U.S. military, which made it impossible for the U.S. military to see the Japanese artillery in the fortifications, nor the mines buried in the beach, and of course, the anti-tank trenches carefully camouflaged by the Japanese army.

The U.S. offensive turned out to be as Koji Kimura had estimated, using amphibious landing vehicles to launch an attack.

This offensive does seem to be huge, and a group of American troops as the vanguard is 50 amphibious landing vehicles...... Based on the calculation that each amphibious landing vehicle can carry 25 soldiers, these 50 amphibious landing vehicles can carry more than 1,000 soldiers. And this is only the first wave, and then there will be a second wave, a third wave......

The US military divided the 120 landing vehicles into three batches, the first batch of 50 vehicles, the second batch of 40 vehicles, and the third batch of 30 vehicles...... The plan of the US military was that after one group had gained a foothold on the beach, it would immediately go up to the second group, and when the second and third groups launched an offensive, the first batch of landing vehicles would retreat, receive American soldiers from the Higgins ship that entered the lagoon, and then transport them to the coast where the Japanese were stationed, so that the three groups of amphibious landing vehicles would cycle one after another, and constantly transport American GIs ashore to seize Japanese positions.

The idea is good, and if you look at the battles at Woje Atoll and Maloelap Atoll, this style of play will not be a problem.

But...... Johnson didn't think about what would happen if one of the three landing vehicles went and didn't return? That means that this cycle will be interrupted, and then the offensive of the American army will also be problematic.

Brigadier General Johnson may have taken it for granted that this would not happen, because there were dozens of landing vehicles, not to mention the amphibious landing vehicles themselves with armor and machine guns, and they also carried howitzers, mortars, etc. (Note: There are two models of LVT amphibious landing vehicles, one is armored, equipped with additional armor and two machine guns, and the other is a transport type, which is not equipped with armor and machine guns, and the transport weight is about three tons, while the US M1 howitzer weighs more than 600 kilograms)

As a result, the 50 amphibious landing vehicles were not only the fire of hundreds of machine guns, but also the artillery deployed after their landing, and Johnson had reason to believe that his men could break through the Japanese defenses.

But imagination is one thing, reality is another.

As soon as the U.S. troops landed, they encountered unexpected trouble, the Japanese laid a heavy barbed wire near the sea, these barbed wire fences were not used against the infantry, and Koji Kimura knew that the American GIs would not wade into the water to attack, so this was prepared for the landing vehicles.

In fact, Koji Kimura wasn't sure if the barbed wire would be effective against the amphibious landing vehicle, but he didn't know where to use it because he had a lot of barbed wire, so he scattered it among the coral reefs on a whim.

Of course, the US amphibious landing vehicle did not pay attention to these barbed wires and drove forward on its own...... But one layer of barbed wire may not do much, two, three...... As more and more barbed wire became stuck in the tracks of the landing vehicle, the landing vehicle was finally unable to move.

Of course, the barbed wire fence was only a few taels in front of them, and as the so-called guns shot the first birds, they cleared the way for the other landing vehicles with their own paralysis, and the other landing vehicles still advanced forward with a triumphant motor sound.

Many U.S. troops looked sympathetically when they walked into the landing vehicles entangled in barbed wire, and from time to time they used American-style humor to make a few jokes at the American soldiers who were trapped in the water and didn't know what to do...... They had no idea what awaited them in front of them, and they thought that the battle in Kwajalein would be as easy as the other two islands.

Soon they realized that they were wrong, because there were already bursts of explosions on the beach.

It was a mine laid by Koji Kimura on the beach, and these mines were both anti-infantry and anti-tank mines...... In fact, the anti-infantry mine is enough for the amphibious landing vehicle to eat a pot, and the landing vehicle is only a dozen millimeters thick when adding additional armor, otherwise the armor is only six millimeters, and the bottom armor is even just a layer of iron sheets, even if the anti-infantry mine will blow up a hole, and the anti-tank mine will lift the landing vehicle into the sky.

Explosions and screams like firecrackers soon sounded on the beach, and thankfully, most of the anti-infantry mines were detonated by the tracks of the landing vehicles, and the damage to the infantry and the landing vehicles was not too great.

However, this is not the last resort for Koji Kimura.

At this time, the guns of the Japanese army rang out.

Because the Japanese artillery was adjusted in advance and tested, as soon as the artillery was fired, the shells were fired very accurately on the beach, and in an instant the beach became a mess, and there were explosive shells and sand and gravel that were lifted into the sky, and the landing vehicles hit by the shells soon ignited a fire, and the American soldiers were blown into the air by the shells, and the wounded soldiers screamed from time to time, and occasionally several people could be heard shouting for medical soldiers......

At this time, the American officer who commanded the landing gave an order: "Attack at full speed!" ”

This order is understandable, because the US landing force at this time can almost be said to be fighting on its back...... Behind them was the ocean, and the retreat had to be done with the help of U-turn landing vehicles, but of course this would come at a heavy cost, so a more rational decision was to speed up the attack and break through the Japanese lines.

But this is exactly what the Japanese army wanted.

As soon as the command was given, the pilot of the landing vehicle slammed on the accelerator and rushed forward as fast as he could...... There was no need to think about the rest of the matter, there was another scream, and the landing vehicles plunged into the anti-tank trench one after another.

What's worse is that the battlefield at this time is full of smoke, the landing vehicle in front of it fell into the anti-tank trench, and the landing vehicle following behind did not know what was happening in front of it, and still slammed on the accelerator and rushed forward, so the landing vehicles crashed into each other one after another.

At this time, the Japanese artillery fire responsible for bombing the anti-tank trench rang out again, and one shell after another accurately smashed into the tank trench that had been unable to move, so countless American soldiers were killed, burned, or hit and killed by landing vehicles, and the smoke was filled with the screams and cries for help of American soldiers.

One of the surviving U.S. soldiers described the battle with horror in his eyes: "We didn't see anything but smoke, bullets and shells everywhere, and fires and debris from the explosion of the landing vehicle...... Isn't that what hell is all about? ”

Fortunately, Johnson finally knew that this attack could not be fought like this, so he hurriedly ordered the second wave of landing vehicles that were going to reinforce to stop advancing, and at the same time, the third group of landing vehicles immediately released their infantry and went to the beach to meet the retreat of American troops. (To be continued.) )