"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General!" Yoshitaka Horie ran into Kuribayashi's headquarters in a panic and said breathlessly, "Enemy...... The Chinese army has already attacked Zhebo Mountain! ”

"What?" Hearing this, Kuribayashi Tadamichi couldn't help but be taken aback, although he had been surprised by the unusual shouts and gunfire coming from the mountain just now, he was still a little unacceptable when he was sure that it was indeed the Chinese army that had hit the Folding Bowl Mountain. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"How did they get there? How many people are there?! Kuribayashi asked.

"I don't know ......" Horie Yoshitaka replied, "There are a lot of people, and the mountains are full of ......"

Looking at the map and stunned for a while, Kuribayashi Tadamichi sighed and said, "It must not be an attack from the front, that is, it was swam from the sea...... Bastard, you fell for them! ”

Then Kuribayashi Tadamichi turned his head and ordered: "Order the troops, you must hold it, even at the last moment, you can't retreat!" ”

"Yes!" Yoshitaka Horie answered, turned around and went to deliver the order.

Looking at the map for a moment, some cold sweat gradually broke out on Kuribayashi Tadamichi's forehead...... He knew very well what it would mean if Oriba Mountain and 382 Heights could not be held, and it was not a question of losing one or two heights, but of completely losing control of Airport No. 1.

Once the control of Airport No. 1 is taken away by the enemy, it means that the fighters of the Chinese and American coalition forces will be able to enter Iwo Jima relatively safely, and the fighters assembled in Japan to reinforce Iwo Jima will face the embarrassing situation of having nowhere to land. As a result, the Japanese Combined Fleet could not be reinforced, and the end result was that Iwo Jima was beaten back to its original form, and it was once again completely blockaded and isolated......

"No, we can't let that happen!" Kuribayashi exclaimed and said to himself.

However, the situation on the battlefield is not as good as you want, especially when the enemy has taken the lead, and it is often too late to remedy it afterwards.

The Japanese troops at the top of the hill and the Japanese artillery deployed at the crater were crushed, and they did not even have a way to retreat, because once the mouth of the tunnel was discovered by the expeditionary force, they did not hesitate to blow it up with artillery packs...... This would not only prevent the Japanese troops from coming out of the tunnels for reinforcements, but also prevent the Japanese troops from escaping back.

Of course, the vast majority of Japanese troops still carried out Kuribayashi's orders...... Garrisoned at Oriba Mountain were two brigades of the 109th Mixed Wing under the 17th Division.

The nature of the so-called mixed brigade is similar to that of the mixed brigade, except that the mixed brigade is larger, and it generally has two or three mixed wings under its jurisdiction.

In other words, the combat effectiveness of this 17th mixed wing is actually not very good, and this is a second-rate or even second-rate unit in China.

However, there were some exceptions to the first and second brigades stationed in Oriba Mountain, and these two brigades could almost be said to be the backbone of the entire 109th Division...... The other backbones of the 109th Division of the Japanese Army, that is, veterans, were transferred to various units as supplementary soldiers as early as China because of the lack of front-line troops, and the insufficient establishment was filled by the new recruits who came from within the country.

However, a unit always has to keep some veteran troops, and only in this way can it be possible to set an example for new recruits or impart some combat experience.

The two brigades stationed at Oriba Mountain were the only units of the 109th Division that could be called veterans.

The reason why Kuribayashi Tadamichi arranged them to Mt. Oriba was because he knew the importance of Mt. Oriba from the beginning, and it could even be said that it didn't matter if the entire Iwo Jima was lost, as long as the high ground of Mt. Oriba, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, was still in the hands of the Japanese army, the Japanese army could defend and control the No. 1 airfield and wait for reinforcements.

But now......

Kuribayashi Tadamichi never expected that the Chinese army would attack Mt. Oriba at the first opportunity, and it would attack from the sea, which made all the defenses he had arranged before nullified.

Of course, because the Japanese troops on the mountain were quite qualified, they fought fiercely with the Chinese army on the hilltop position in the dark.

At this time, the Japanese army was not completely without opportunities, because the Chinese army was indeed slightly inferior to the Japanese in night fighting and stabbing ...... After all, the Chinese army has been equipped with American-style equipment for more than a year, and more advanced equipment will inevitably make the Chinese army neglect training in these two aspects. In addition, the Japanese army was familiar with the terrain, and wave after wave of pits from the tunnels on the positive slope poured up to join the battle group, which made it a little difficult for the expeditionary force to deal with it.

But......

It didn't take long for the sky to start to light up.

This is the moment that Zhang Chi is also the soldier of the expeditionary force who has been waiting for a long time...... As the fiery red sun jumped out of the sea, the blood-like sunlight suddenly sprinkled on the Oribo Mountain, illuminating the tunnels of the Japanese troops on the positive slope and the Japanese troops who continued to drill out from the mouth of the tunnel to reinforce the position on the top of the mountain......

The Chinese navy and artillery, which had long been prepared for reinforcements, would still be polite to the Japanese army, and immediately fired shells at those Japanese troops exposed to artillery fire, and the fighters and bombers on the "Pinghai" also took off one after another, and then attacked in all directions.

Of course, the reinforcement range of fighters and bombers was not only Oribo Mountain, but also the 382 heights where the 2nd Regiment was responsible for attacking.

The battle on the 382 Heights was relatively easy...... It can be said that the reinforcements sent by Kuribayashi Tadamichi from Mt. Oriba basically did not play a role, because the problem of the 382 heights was not that there were not enough soldiers, and the Japanese troops on this highland numbered more than 3,000 people, but the problem was precisely that there were too many soldiers and the composition was complex, such as Korean engineers, Okinawa engineers, army, navy, and ...... Now that a new reinforcement has been added, the Japanese troops on the 382nd Heights have been in chaos like a mess of porridge, and all parts have been fighting indiscriminately but there has been no progress at all.

However, the battle at Oriba Mountain was indistinguishable from each other, but this was only because the Chinese army was not as good at night fighting as the Japanese army and was not familiar with the terrain......

After dawn, everything went in favor of the Chinese army.

The artillery fire played a role, and the fighters and bombers also played a role, and these cut off the reinforcements that the Japanese troops drilled out of the tunnels.

Then, with the advanced equipment in their hands, the soldiers eliminated the Japanese troops mixed in the troops one by one.

So only half an hour after dawn, there was a cheer from the soldiers on the mountain, and the soldiers had completely controlled the surface position of the mountain.

Of course, there were still many Japanese troops hiding in the tunnels, but these Japanese troops did not pose much of a threat to the Chinese army.

Because, as long as they blow up the mouth of their tunnel, it will be enough to keep the Japanese army busy for a while.

(To be continued.) )