Yan Guozhong was also surprised when he received the news that the commandos had occupied the island of Aramagan. The two battalions planned to be sent to capture the island have not yet landed on the landing ship, so 22 scouts have taken down the island? Yan Guozhong immediately sent a call back, but did not receive a reply for two hours. At this time, Yan Guozhong was also annoyed, he knew very well the combat ability of those scouts, but he knew even better that if these scouts wanted to get wild, even he, a general, could not control it.

At four o'clock in the morning, a battalion was transferred from the reserve of the landing force on Agrihan Island, and then a destroyer escorted the convoy of transports that arrived in time. More than 300 officers and men of this battalion immediately boarded the destroyer, which then rushed to the island of Aramagan to the south at maximum speed. Because of the many detours (mainly to avoid the American shore defense guns on Pagan Island), the destroyers reached the vicinity of Alamagan Island at about half past ten in the morning, by which time the first American bombers had already flown over the island and were heading for Agrihan Island to the north. １６Ｋ…

Yan Guozhong received a telegram from the battalion commander of the Marine Corps at about eleven o'clock, that the island of Aramagan had indeed been occupied, and that it had been occupied several hours before they arrived, that less than half of the 22 scouts had been killed or wounded, and that all the American troops on the island had been annihilated (prisoners were also counted) and that the radio station carried by the scouts was partially damaged and could not accept the telegram, so there was no call back. At the same time, he telegraphed the two battalions on Asunción Island to arrive at Aramagan Island before dark, and the two engineering battalions that planned to be sent to the island to build the airfield, as well as the materials for the construction of the airport, must arrive at Aramagan Island on the night of 17 July, pave the runway before 20 July, and make preparations for welcoming the first batch of naval warplanes.

After a telegram was sent, Yan Guozhong breathed a sigh of relief, but he immediately found that there was still a missing link in this deployment. Before 11:30 a.m., he contacted HNA (at this time the shore-based unit of HNA was the only support force of the Marine Corps) and asked HNA to concentrate on bombing Pagan Island during the day and airdrop a batch of ammunition and supplies to the Marines on Aramagan Island.

The HNA received an order during the day on 16 June, knowing that the Marine Corps would quickly seize the island of Alamagan, but they did not expect the Marine Corps to return so quickly, because the landing ship transporting the landing force was still near the temporary pier and the landing site. However, this was a call from General Yan Guozhong himself, and the commander of the HNA did not dare to hesitate. Immediately ordered to adjust the daytime bombing plan, and three squadrons of bombers were dispatched to bomb the American troops on Pagan Island. At that time, the preparations of the HNA were not yet in place, and the main thing was that if a large number of tactical bombers set off from Iwo Jima or the Ogasawara Islands, they would have to refuel on Asunción Island before they could carry out the southward bombing mission. This allows a bomber (with two groups of pilots) to perform a maximum of two rounds of bombing in 12 hours during the day. At that time, the HNA deployed about 300 bombers on the front line (which could be replenished in time), and the battle on Agrihan Island was in full swing, and the HNA had insufficient forces to allocate it, and it had to bomb Pagan Island. This is completely beyond the capacity of HNA. Outcome. The front-line commander of the Navy kicked the question to the command of the Navy.

When Gan Yongxing received the telegram, he opened his mouth even more in surprise. His request was only to complete the task of capturing the island of Alamagan by the 20th, and the Marines took only two days. Instead of completing this task in five days, the first battalion was sent up, and two infantry battalions and two engineering battalions were to be sent up that evening. This speed is indeed too fast, so fast that even the chief of staff of the Navy is wondering if Yan Guozhong is lying about the results of the battle.

The relevant mobilization and planning began immediately, and after some deliberation by the staff officers in charge of the Marine Corps' operations, it was confirmed that under the circumstances, only General Luo Yunchong's strategic strike force could provide support to the Marine Corps, except for the HNA at that time. This time. Gan Yongxing hesitated a little.

The task of the strategic strike force was not light, and after basically suspending the strategic bombing against Japan (only some of the fighters deployed on Hachijo Island were still carrying out free hunting missions over Japan), the vast majority of bombers were engaged in this campaign. After the US heavy bombers bombed Iwo Jima, Luo Yunchong also retaliated by organizing several bombing operations against large US airfields in Saipan, Tinian, Guam, and other places, dropping thousands of tons of bombs within a few days. The U.S. military also went-for-tat, after bombing Iwo Jima. Large-scale bombing was also carried out on the islands of the Ogasawara Islands, such as the mother island, the chichi island, and the brother island (the islands where heavy bombers were deployed).

The two sides almost used the bomb as a "business card" to pass it back and forth. The two bombers, which were extremely close in performance, traveled back and forth over this sea area of more than one million square kilometers. Because the bombing range has exceeded the combat radius of the escort fighters of both sides, and the self-defense firepower of both bombers is not weak (relatively speaking, the "Wolf Dove" without replacing the 20mm machine gun is a little better than the B-17 with 127 mm machine guns) and the tactics of large aircraft group bombing are used, so this has almost become a battle between bombers. Maybe these bombers can't do anything about each other when they encounter each other in the air, but they can all destroy their opponents on the ground. This increased the intensity of the bombing, with both sides going back and forth, dropping bombs on each other's heads almost day and night.

When the Marines set foot on Aramagan Island, the Strategic Strike Force was in line with the U.S. Army Aviation (B-17) but was commanded by Admiral Nimitz, the commander of the Pacific Theater of Operations. At this time, the former commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral King, had been transferred to the post of commander-in-chief of the US Navy) was fighting inextricably. Although Luo Yunchong has more capital (five regiments and more than 1,000 heavy bombers), the Yankees have more fighters in his hands (the US military has deployed at least 800 fighters on Saipan, Tinian Island, Rota Island, and Guam Island, while the Tang Empire has only 7 squadrons of air defense fighters deployed on Iwo Jima and Ogasawara Islands, and these fighters also have to escort the tactical bombers of the HNA Airlines), and the mission of the US military is more single. Both sides fought fiercely for several days, but neither was able to completely destroy the opponent, nor was they able to completely paralyze the opponent. Now, it is certainly not easy for Luo Yunchong to disperse his forces to support the Marine Corps.

Gan Yongxing thought about it again and again, and finally sent Luo Yunchong a long telegram. He didn't use the tone of an order to tell Luo Yunchong how many bombers he had to send to support the Marine Corps. It just explained in detail the importance of the island of Aramagan and the importance of supporting the Marine Corps. The content of this telegram is just right, Luo Yunchong is a general with a very big picture, and after receiving the telegram, he immediately organized two heavy bomber regiments that should be rotated and rested, and dispatched to bomb Pagan Island!

In fact, the situation at that time was not so serious. Just when the Strategic Strike Force and the Navy's shore-based troops were organizing forces to bomb Pagan Island, the US military had not yet discovered that Alamagan Island had changed owners! The first U.S. bombers flew over the island of Aramagan just after 10 a.m. Originally, the island's ground communications center was supposed to liaise with the bomber group and provide weather reports (very important), navigational information, the situation in the surrounding airspace, and so on. But the bombers never received a signal from the island. The U.S. pilots weren't suspicious, because it wasn't once or twice that this happened. The pilots even used public channels to yell at the island's "slackers" and it wasn't until two o'clock in the afternoon, three hours after the first Marine infantry battalion had landed on Aramagan Island, that the U.S. Marine Corps Command on Saipan discovered the problem. According to the regulations, the defenders of the island were supposed to send back a telegram at noon, at least before one o'clock, confirming the security of the island. But now an hour has passed. The defenders of the island have not yet sent a telegram back. Something must have gone wrong. The commander of the American army reacted immediately, sending the nearest troops to the island to reconnoiter the situation.

The closest force to this unit is the U.S. forces on Pagan Island. Pagan Island is the largest island in the northern Mariana Islands and the most heavily defended island in the U.S. military. Before the Battle of Agrihan Island began. The U.S. military deployed a 5,000-strong Marine Corps here, and in the past few days, under the cover of night, it has successively reinforced the island five times, sending 3,500 additional men, and a large amount of supplies (almost all of them are transported by fast destroyers and torpedo boats, and slow transport ships cannot guarantee a round trip at night) Pagan Island is not only a support point for Agrihan Island, but also the core of the defense of the entire Northern Mariana Islands.

It was not until after four o'clock in the afternoon that a battalion of marines who received the order was organized. Then a destroyer was boarded, and four PT boats left the temporary pier on the island of Pagan. It was just after six o'clock that the small fleet reached the north of the island of Aramagan. It's too late.

The Imperial Marine infantry battalion that first went to the island had already built improvised ring fortifications on the island, and the battalion's engineer platoon (each Marine infantry battalion had an engineer platoon) had built a dozen bunkers and set up several small minefields with brought mines, just waiting for the American counterattack force to arrive. At about six o'clock, the two landing ships carrying two Marine infantry battalions had reached about five nautical miles southwest of Aramagan Island, and the Marine officers and men were boarding the landing craft and were about to get to the island before dark.

Other words. The counterattack of the American army arrived almost simultaneously with the reinforcement of the Don Imperial Marine Corps. The battle broke out at about half-past six, and the first American troops to come ashore were met head-on by the Marines. The Imperial Marines had long anticipated that the U.S. forces would mobilize the defenders on Pagan Island, so their defense was focused on the north side of the island. While the U.S. counterattack was still preparing its fireboats, scouts on the island spotted them, and two companies of Marines moved in and ambushed in the coconut grove behind the beach. As soon as the American troops stepped on the beach on their front feet, machine gun bullets, mortar shells (there was a mortar platoon in the Marine battalion) flew over.

The gunfire and explosions on the north side of the island were the command to charge the officers and men of the Imperial Marines who were ashore on the southwest side of the island. The two companies that had first landed on the island (the landing craft on a landing ship could transport at most one company of troops ashore at the same time) were immediately organized and rushed over before the follow-up troops arrived.

The battle was fought from half past six to about eight o'clock, and the counterattacking American units were completely routed. Although American destroyers and PT boats supported the landing force with artillery, their firepower was so weak that a PT boat that was too close to the shore was hit by a mortar shell. The strength of the US army is also below that of the Tang Army, and its morale and combat effectiveness cannot be compared with the elite marines of the Tang Empire. There was no suspense in this battle. When the last group of American troops raised their rifles and surrendered to the surrounding Tang troops, the American ships on the sea also fled in disgrace, and a telegram was sent.

The telegram was sent to the U.S. command on the islands of Pagan and Saipan almost simultaneously. The commander of the U.S. Marine Corps was surprised that there was at least one regiment of Tang Imperial Marines on the island (the captain of the U.S. destroyer obviously didn't understand ground combat, and the Imperial Marines who participated in the war at that time were only about a battalion of troops, but it didn't take long for there to be a regiment, and it was a reinforced regiment) Now the trouble came out, although Aramagan Island is not a very large island, but it is a very important island. After the Tang army occupied this island, it cut off the connection between Pagan Island and the rear, and when the Tang Empire deployed anti-aircraft guns on this island, it could force the American bombers going north to make a detour of hundreds of kilometers. In addition, there is enough space on the island to build a temporary airfield, if the Don army deploys fighters on the island......

The U.S. forces had no way out, and it was extremely important to recapture Alamagan Island, and that night, the U.S. Marines on Pagan Island were mobilized. A group of landing ships (all of which were slower, rarely exceeding 20 knots) were also transferred from Saipan.

At the same time, the officers and soldiers of the Don Empire marines on the island of Asunción were mobilized. After learning that the U.S. forces had begun to counterattack Alamagan Island, Yan Guozhong immediately ordered that the Marines of the half division (one infantry regiment, two artillery battalions, and one engineer battalion) remaining on Asunción Island be sent to Alamagan Island in the shortest possible time.

The island of Allamagan has become another focus of contention between the two sides, and it will become another battlefield where blood and artillery fire fly together!