"Hit!" With Zhang Chi's order, the offensive operation against Bito Island began.

Before that, to the surprise of Halsey and all the American generals...... They had expected that the Japanese would launch a counteroffensive against the American troops trapped on Beato Island as soon as it was dark.

It should be said that the Japanese army had enough reasons to launch a counteroffensive: the American army was trapped in the short of water and supplies at the breakwater all day, and had not been able to organize a strong defense, so the Japanese army, which was good at night fighting, naturally had to take this opportunity to launch a counteroffensive.

It is conceivable that because the US army is behind the sea, and it is the sea after the high tide, once the Japanese army breaks through the defensive line, then the US army will only be surrounded and annihilated.

So the next day, the U.S. military was going to face a new beginning...... That is, the template of the first day of the attack is repeated over and over again, unless the American military can solve the problem of "avoiding" the tide or dare to attack at night.

But the Japanese launched only a small counteroffensive against the American army at about eight o'clock, after which there was no sound.

The reason for this was that sometime in the afternoon when the U.S. forces launched the attack, a U.S. Marine Corps member who was stranded on Beato Island spotted a group of Japanese officers in his sight, so he hurriedly called for naval fire...... AT THIS TIME, THE U.S. NAVY WAS CONDUCTING A TEST FIRING ON BITO ISLAND, SO THE 127MM NAVAL GUNS ON THE "LINGGOLD" AND "DASHIEL" DID NOT TAKE MUCH TIME TO FIRE A SALVO AT THE DESIGNATED COORDINATES, AND THE GROUP OF JAPANESE OFFICERS QUICKLY DISAPPEARED INTO THE SMOKE OF THE SHELLS.

The U.S. military thought it was just a group of ordinary Japanese officers, but they didn't know that they had inadvertently killed the Japanese supreme commander on Bito Island, Keiji Shibasaki, and all his staff members, and that they were exposed to bunkers because they had suddenly discovered in their conscience that they were going to abandon the concrete bunker headquarters and turn it into a hospital, and move the command staff to a reserve headquarters a few hundred yards away.

Shibasaki's approach was in line with the "spirit of bushido" because the process of moving the headquarters to the reserve headquarters required breaking out of the bunker under enemy fire, and on the other hand, they were very sympathetic to their subordinates...... Freeing up the safe command headquarters to the wounded would undoubtedly boost the morale of the Japanese army to a great extent.

So, to some extent, Shibasaki Keiji was right to do this, because they were surrounded by the powerful U.S. Navy and did not have any reinforcements, and they really needed morale at this time.

However, the facts proved that his decision was wrong, after Shibasaki Keiji and all the staff officers were killed, the Japanese army on Bito Island became a group of dragons without a leader, although the Japanese army soon handed over the command to Fukata Nakasa in accordance with military regulations, but Fukata Nakasa was actually just a person who could fight a war but could not command, and at the same time he believed that in this case, what the Japanese army should do was to use the fortifications to preserve its strength, so as to give the United States the greatest damage and do its best to hold Bito Island.

Therefore, the Japanese army did not actively launch a counteroffensive against the US Marines trapped on the island after it got dark.

It was under this circumstance that the U.S. Navy gnawed down the island little by little, paying more than 3,000 casualties on this tiny island of Beato.

After the war, some people even estimated that if the US Navy had not been lucky enough to kill Keiji Shibasaki and all his staff officers, the 2nd Marine Division would not have been able to take Bito Island at all unless the Japanese ran out of bullets.

Of course, this is not the case at this time.

With Zhang Chi's order, the gunfire of the warship poured towards the island of Bito.

Of course, only a small fraction of these shells were fired at Beato Island, and these shells had already been fired during the day, so that they could land on Beato Island without accidentally injuring friendly troops trapped on Beato Island.

The purpose of these shells is only to build momentum for friendly forces, or it can also be said to boost their morale and allow them to launch a feint attack on Bito Island.

The purpose of the feint was to attract the attention of the Japanese and to mask the sound of the landing craft's motors.

Most of the shells actually hit the entrance to the Tarawa Lagoon...... Warships of all kinds, numbering dozens of them, fired their guns of various calibers at the same time as the ones that were already better during the day, and in an instant they blew up the sea water at the entrance.

This did not attract much attention from the Japanese army.

The reason was that Beato Island was about six kilometers away from the entrance to the atoll, and it was still dark at night at such a distance, and in addition to the constant shell explosions on Bito Island, it was difficult for the Japanese to notice that the mines at the entrance to the atoll had been cleared by enemy artillery fire.

This is also one of the reasons why the geographical location of Bito Island is very important, and the Japanese army has deployed heavy troops on Bito Island...... The large size of the island and the fact that it is only six kilometers from the entrance to the atoll mean that there is a lot of artillery fire on the island and the entrance to the atoll can be blocked.

Then, the artillery fire that bombarded the entrance stretched out in depth, and its purpose was, needless to say, to clear the way for the landing craft of the Chinese army.

After the war, it turned out that this was not necessary.

The reason was that the Japanese did not think that the American troops would march into the lagoon and then attack from the lagoon. Therefore, the Japanese army was safe in the lagoon, except for some mines laid at the entrance to the atoll.

Of course, the US military, which does not have a full grasp of intelligence, can only use this stupid method, that is, to plow all the sea routes that are expected to pass through with artillery shells; although this kind of "plow" will be inaccurate because it is beaten indiscriminately in the dark, it is better to have a "plow" than not to have a "plow" at all.

The mission was carried out by a group of fellow villagers...... It was the main force of the new 1st Division, and it had achieved the best results in the previous armed swimming training, so it was natural that they would take on this task.

However, they did not have a single regiment, but divided the two reinforced battalions, the first battalion and the second battalion, a total of 2,000 people, into four waves.

The reason for this arrangement was that the American forces had lost so many landing craft during the daytime that only seventeen of them were now available for battle...... According to the calculation that each ship can intercept 36 people, and then deduct some of the equipment and supplies to be carried by the ship, so it can only intercept more than 500 people at most.

More than 500 people...... This is not good news for the Chinese forces.

You must know that this is a sneak attack, and it is a sneak attack into the lagoon, once the Japanese army finds out and makes some countermeasures, such as blocking the entrance with artillery fire, then the Chinese troops will not be able to continue to land in the lagoon towards Bito Island.

So, from the very beginning, the townspeople were ready to land and take the island of Beato with only five hundred people.

(To be continued.) )