Three days later, the Japanese launched a counteroffensive and the only one in the entire Okinawa campaign. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The reason why it took three days was because Ushijima needed to make a detailed battle plan...... The personality of the Japanese is like this, they always want to arrange every unit in every detail, and this is the case with the Japanese Navy and the same with the Army.

Ushijima was no exception, and during these three days, he and his staff officers studied in detail where the infantry was deployed, where the artillery was deployed, and how to coordinate it...... These deployments are even detailed down to the brigade level, that is, which infantry brigade is going to penetrate where it is going to penetrate.

This is understandable, since this is almost the only chance for the Japanese army, a chance to crush the Americans.

In fact, this can't be blamed on Ushijima Man's lack of firm stance, but Ushijima Man's inability to solve Zhang Chi's offensive of discord and division.

In this case, the Japanese army will not be able to hold out for long if it persists like this, so it is better to gamble and launch a counteroffensive, and if it succeeds in driving the American troops into the sea, then the Japanese army can buy more time to survive...... The Japanese are good gamblers and like to fight big with small, just like the attack on Pearl Harbor.

And for the Sino-US coalition forces, at this time they also felt pressure from the direction of the Japanese army.

In fact, from this morning onwards, Buckner and Zhang Chi had a premonition that the Japanese army would launch a counteroffensive, because the Japanese army's suicide attacks on the US Navy suddenly increased exponentially on that day, and suicide planes not only came from the direction of the Japanese mainland but also from the direction of Okinawa, and suicide attack boats, which were usually dispatched only at night, also launched an attack during the day.

And this suicidal assault lasted for 20 hours, only to continue in the middle of the night.

This overwhelmed the U.S. Navy under Turner's command...... On average, one and a half warships would have been sunk, but on this day alone, the U.S. Navy sank 17 warships and damaged 53, making it the most successful Japanese attack.

Turner couldn't help but make a call to the command of the Tenth Army.

"Lieutenant General!" Turner shouted to Geiger amid the sound of artillery and the whistling of warplanes, "Although I have faith in the plan made by you and General Zhang, ...... Those Japanese rabbits are crazy, and if this continues, you won't be able to see the US Navy in a few days, understand? ”

Zhang Chi laughed.

"General!" After laughing for a while, Zhang Chi replied: "This is a good thing, it shows that the Japanese have already planned to launch a counteroffensive, and they even told us the time of the counteroffensive!" ”

"Oh!" It was only then that Turner came to his senses: "You mean ...... Are they preparing for a counteroffensive? ”

"Of course!" Zhang Chi replied: "The Japanese don't actually have so many suicide attack planes, and the reason why they will be put into use on this day is to make you tired of dealing with it or even temporarily evacuate, so when the Japanese attack at night...... The Navy will not be able to provide more support to the Army! ”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, and then Turner replied, "You're right, General Zhang!" The Japanese are indeed very abnormal today, so ...... Not only should we not be intimidated by them, but we must remain in touch with the Army and be ready to provide fire support to the Army, right? ”

"Yes!"

"Good!" Turner said, "I'll get the artillery ready!" ”

Geiger was stunned for a moment and said, "So, the Japanese are really going to attack, right?" ”

"I think so!" Zhang Chi nodded and said: "And it's very likely that it's tonight, otherwise they wouldn't have piled so many suicide attack planes like this at any cost!" ”

"It seems...... I owe you a gamble! ”

"Let's wait until the Japanese really attack!" Zhang Chi didn't expect Geiger to put that sentence at ease.

The facts soon confirmed Zhang Chi's idea.

At eight o'clock in the evening, shortly after dark, the Japanese launched an attack on the American defense line......

The first artillery shell to come up was the 5th Artillery Group of the Japanese troops stationed in the Shuri area.

Under normal circumstances, the Japanese artillery in the Okinawa battlefield is like gold, on the one hand, because the Japanese artillery shells are not many, and Okinawa is blockaded by the US military, one shell is missing, so it must be used sparingly. On the other hand, as long as the Japanese army fires artillery, it will often be suppressed by the American army.

But this time it was different, the Japanese army really fired artillery at the American defense line for half an hour...... The Japanese had to do the same, because the U.S. forces were carrying out a loose mine offensive at this time, that is, laying mines in front of the defensive line one step forward, and if the Japanese wanted to attack, especially at night, they had to use artillery to clear mines.

The U.S. artillery, of course, did not show weakness and quickly launched a counterattack.

Not to mention that the number of artillery fire, rate of fire, and ammunition of the US army are more than that of the Japanese army, and the most crucial point is that the US army is ready to counterattack...... As soon as it got dark, the US Navy took off several seaplanes and flew over Okinawa to take turns carrying out reconnaissance and artillery combat missions.

As soon as the Japanese artillery group opened fire, the seaplane immediately saw the position of the artillery group and transmitted the data to the US artillery unit, and a few minutes later, a large number of shells went straight to the position of the Japanese artillery group...... The reason why it took a few minutes was that there was no advanced equipment such as artillery sighting radar at this time, and the reaction speed of the artillery was relatively slow, and it was even necessary for water reconnaissance planes to conduct artillery comparisons.

As a result, the 5th Artillery Group of the Japanese Army had to change its position after firing a few rounds, and then change its position after a few firings, and was completely in a passive position. Even so, after half an hour there were not a few guns left of the 5th Japanese artillery group.

After learning that the 5th Artillery Group had been basically wiped out, Ushijima's first reaction was that the Sino-US coalition forces were prepared.

Other words...... The U.S. and Chinese forces may have expected this attack by the Japanese army tonight.

But Ushijima felt that this was normal, and he guessed that it was most likely because the suicide attacks were too violent during the day, so the Chinese and American forces were on guard.

In fact, Ushijima felt this faintly from the beginning, because he believed that the sudden multiplication of suicide attacks would inevitably attract the attention of the enemy and prematurely reveal the strategic intent, and even the staff officer Nagayu, who had always advocated a counteroffensive, opposed this, because it completely lost the suddenness of the campaign.

But Ushijima insisted on doing so, because Ushijima did not pin his hopes on a frontal attack by the infantry, but on two surprise troops.

That is, the frontal attack of the Japanese army, including the 5th Artillery Group, was a decoy, a decoy that could be sacrificed.