From April 5 to April 19, the fighting on Okinawa was mainly an artillery battle. On 19 April, the battleships and cruisers of the naval artillery fleet approached Okinawa Island, and heavy artillery bombarded the positions of the army's hidden forts. The shelling lasted for an hour, and the army units immediately launched a charge, advancing 500 to 800 meters. General Wang Chaoyong once wrote: "This reminds me of the Battle of Verdun. The tactical defense of the army was as mobile and coordinated as that of the Germans. "The vanguard of the Chinese army advanced step by step, destroying the fortifications of the army on a ridge one by one, and finally attacked the top of the mountain. They thought they could go down the hill smoothly and continued to rush forward. In fact, there are no fewer fortifications on the shady slope of this mountain than on the sunny slope. It seems that it is not easy to go up the mountain and difficult to go down, and the Chinese army must break through the hidden fortress defense line of the Japanese army. These lines resemble the small Maginot Line, with bunkers equipped with electrical lighting and ventilation, and equipped with rail-mounted rocket launchers. The Chinese army adopted tank vehicles with flamethrowers, instead of soldiers carrying flamethrowers. One day, the army launched a counteroffensive, recaptured a village, and approached an airfield. The 27th Division of the Chinese Army was replaced by the 1st Division of the Marine Corps, a transfer that immediately stimulated combat effectiveness. The soldiers of the Marine Corps immediately realized that "the southern front is more difficult than the northern one." Due to the insufficient supply of ammunition, the pressure on Yue himself can only be tightened and relaxed. The "Sakura" attack planes of the Japanese army hit two ammunition transport ships, destroying all of them along with the 40,000 tons of ammunition and artillery shells on board. Fu Renxuan immediately made a decision and ordered the ammunition to be airlifted from the Philippines. The island of Okinawa has become a crater of fire that cannot be filled with military supplies. However, for China, which is a powerful country, it will not be a problem to bear this expense. On 30 April, Admiral Ba Tianlei held a press conference, saying that it was necessary to first cherish China's manpower, even if the battle would take more time and pay a very high price. On 7 May, heavy rain began again, hindering the movement of heavy weapons. In Ba Tianlei's general staff, many officers proposed to "launch an attack with a decisive surname" and wait for an opportunity to land behind enemy lines if necessary. Ba Tianlei refused to take these suggestions. On May 11, after fierce hand-to-hand combat, the Chinese army advanced another 800 meters. In the first month of the campaign, the Marines fought in the northern part of Okinawa and lost 95 men; Half a month later (the troops went south), the death toll reached 852. In 6 weeks, the Chinese Army lost 3,500 men.

On May 14, 1946, the aircraft carrier "Xia Yu" bathed in the faint morning light, sailed on the sea at the southern corner of Kyushu under a cloudy sky, and the course was 340 degrees northwest. The planes of the task force took off to attack the airfield. On the mast of the "Xia Yu" hangs the flagship emblem of Admiral Zhang Qifan, commander of the aircraft carrier fleet. Zhang Qifan boarded the "Xia Yu" three days ago, and the "Yucheng" in which he was originally sitting was severely damaged by two suicide planes, causing serious losses. Now Zhang Qifan's luggage and belongings have been destroyed except for the clothes he was wearing. It is said that the members of the "kamikaze" attack team are no longer all novices, and some experienced veteran pilots have begun to be added. Such an unbridled abuse of the most valuable talent will certainly not last. Still, this practice is extremely effective until these talented pilots are exhausted.

At 6 o'clock in the morning of 14 May, the radar of the "Xia Yu" discovered five teams. The fighters of the Chinese army are already in the air. About 25 minutes after the discovery of the aircraft, those on the deck of the aircraft carrier saw several planes falling from the sky with flames and smoke in tow far behind the ship. Air battles are fought entirely in the clouds.

At 6:50 a.m., the alert radar discovered a lone "ghost" at a distance of 20 nautical miles, an azimuth of 200 degrees to the southwest, and an altitude of 2,600 meters. The stern guns of the ship were pointed in this direction in unison, and as soon as the "ghost" appeared, they immediately opened fire. At 6:54, the "ghost" appeared and quickly approached the aircraft carrier. It burrowed into the clouds and flew for a while, then resolutely broke out of the clouds and descended at a distance of about 6 kilometers. This is a "Gale" fighter. The anti-aircraft guns of the Chinese ship opened fire. The machine rose into the clouds again. Anti-aircraft guns continued to fire. People were in front of the radar, on the deck, and on the bridge to closely monitor the approaching of the plane, and their eyes turned to the hidden clouds of the plane. The whole ship entered its combat post at 4 o'clock in the morning. All planes that did not take off had been drained of gasoline and put into storage.

The plane flew from the stern of the ship at an azimuth of about 150 degrees to starboard, that is, at an angle of 30 degrees to the centerline of the aircraft carrier. The machine was obscured by the clouds, and the ship was still invisible. The anti-aircraft guns continued to fire at the aircraft according to the targets reported by the radar, and soon the anti-aircraft machine guns also fired. All the guns were fired at the invisible "ghost" at the same time, and it was a rather peculiar sight.

At 6:56, the "Xia Yu" turned the rudder and sailed to the northwest 345 degrees. The plane, which was said to be the plane, burst out of the clouds at 170 degrees southeast and began to dive.

The angle of attack of the dive is not large, no more than 30 degrees, and the speed is about 450 kilometers per hour. There can be no doubt that this must have been a suicide plane. It calmly approached the aircraft carrier, moving nimbly to avoid being hit prematurely. It agilely changes altitude up and down, corrects direction, and aims at aircraft carriers with left and right rudder turns. This pilot is very sophisticated, and anyone who sees him coming can't help but gasp. In a moment, everything will come to an end, and the result can only be that this kamikaze attack aircraft crashes and crashes on the "Xia Yu", and the ending beyond that is difficult to imagine at the moment. In general, in similar situations, regardless of the extent of the loss, there will always be casualties.

Guns and machine guns of all calibers on the ship were whistling, and even rifles were fired. It was said that the plane flew over under a dense raindrops of artillery fire, and the fuselage had been hit in several places, and flames and black smoke were dragged out of the tail. But it still swayed slightly towards the aircraft carrier, getting closer and closer, and the wings formed a straight line, like a sharp sword in front of people's eyes. The deck of the aircraft carrier was empty, and everyone except the gunner was lying down. The blazing and screaming meteor slid past the "ship island" and crashed straight behind the front lifting platform, making a thunderous roar.

In this thunderous sound, the entire aircraft carrier shook with it. The officer standing on the bridge was dazzled by the blazing glare emitted by the explosion. After the bright light flashed, I saw the flight deck rise, and a 40-meter-long steel plate rolled up like a banana peel; A third of the lifting platform was blown off and it flew more than 100 meters into the air. Such a large steel plate danced in the air like a bird, and then fell on the surface of the sea, and at the same time, the billowing smoke filled the entire deck, which was extremely thrilling. Seconds later, first responders in asbestos overalls rushed into the smoke.

A total of 12 people were killed on board. Judging by the astonishing magnitude of the explosion, the material damage must have been extremely severe, but in reality, in addition to the holes that had been blown open and the decks that had been lifted, only a few manifolds had been blown up. The bomb on board the plane detached from the plane at the last moment of the fall of this kamikaze attack aircraft, penetrated two decks and exploded over a cabin stuffed with toilet paper. The pile of paper in the chamber acted like a spring cushion to hinder the downward blast force, which rushed upwards and shattered the lift table above. After the explosion caught fire, it burned several aircraft parked in the cabin of the hangar and furniture in several officers' bedrooms. When the indoor bedding caught fire, a puff of smoke came out, but it didn't cause any major fire. After the manifold was blown off, more than 2,000 tons of seawater entered the ship. It will take a few weeks to repair the deck. However, on the whole, the "Xia Yu" was lucky, it did not die, and it passed another dangerous hurdle. The suicide plane also severely damaged the "Kuafu" and "Yucheng", and nearly sank them. The two aircraft carriers were bombed to a pulp, scattered, and full of corpses. All the Chinese who saw them sail back to the port were shocked. And the "Xia Yu" only needs to bandage its slight new wounds, just like a veteran who goes to the military doctor with scars all over his body, and the military doctor always bandages him while joking with him. Today, only the 12 soldiers who were killed can no longer joke. The last impression they had from the world was the "kamikaze" attack plane, which dragged the flames to grow sharply, and its straight wings, like a sword.

The bones of the pilot were picked up, put together, and laid on the corner of the deck along with the blackened wreckage. The pilot's body was relatively intact only in the upper body, and it can be seen from the tears in the military uniform and shirt that the pilot was very muscular, strong and strong, with sparse sweat on his brown skin, a right arm and head still connected to the upper body, and his head tilted on his shoulder; His thick neck was already limp like a rag doll, and his eyes were still open. The entire ship lined up past the death squad's body. The soldiers did not want to look at the swollen faces and dull eyes of the deceased. Their eyes were only fixed on the buttons on their uniforms, thinking that they were going to fall into the hands of some lucky senior officer as a beautiful souvenir of war. The black button is carved with the crest of the kamikaze: a cherry blossom with three leaves. The poet Honju once wrote: "If you want to ask where the soul of Yamato is, and see the wild cherry blossoms bloom towards the sun." There is also a proverb that says, "Cherry blossoms are as beautiful as samurai." ”

On the island of Okinawa, the two armies continued to fight, and the fierce battle continued as before. On May 9, the Chinese army captured a high ground they called "Awl Mountain". The Chinese artillery immediately occupied the high ground and took advantage of the artillery positions of the Japanese army. However, after the Chinese army occupied the high ground, it began to rain heavily, and heavy weapons and military supplies were blocked, so the tactical progress made this time did not have the desired effect. On the night of the 24th, military planes unexpectedly transported harassment commandos to various airports on the island of Okinawa. The Chinese army saw a group of murderous demons emerge from the darkness, throwing grenades and explosives everywhere, and completely ignoring their own lives and deaths. The commandos killed more than a dozen Chinese soldiers and destroyed only six planes. The command of the Chinese army must have pinned great hopes on this operation, and its original intention was to inflict heavy damage on China's air force on the island of Okinawa so that it would not be able to repel the large-scale death-defying attack of the Japanese army's suicide planes. It is said that the air force has thrown all the last remaining reserves into a fierce battle, making the situation of China's navy, army, and air force very difficult. Chinese pilots take off every day, and even take off several times a day. The pilots of the 3rd Squadron of Fu Renxuan's task force made frequent sorties in this way, and they lasted for 77 days. The sailors on board were almost always on alert. Mechanics and maintenance teams are on duty late into the night every day, waiting for overhaul and maintenance of the aircraft. On the destroyer that served as a "radar sentry ship", the sailors were really hard. These small ships take turns on duty, and three of the six days are on the cordon. During these three days, the sailors could not sleep, but had time to lie on the deck or on the floor of their rooms for half an hour; They could only take advantage of the battle to devour a ration. One destroyer was attacked by 50 aircraft on the radar cordon. These 50 planes did not attack at the same time, because so many planes attacked 1 destroyer, this target was a bit too small, but the attack of the planes continued; The destroyer shot down 20 kamikaze attack aircraft with anti-aircraft guns in one day. Some destroyers are really blessed with great fortunes, and under the fierce attack of the planes, they cannot be destroyed or destroyed, which is amazing. For example, the destroyer "Earth Aircraft Star" was able to sail alone to a ship repair base after being severely damaged by two bombs and six suicide planes. It has already been said earlier that many destroyers were sunk. The last mass suicide attack was carried out on 28 May in the pouring rain. On the same day, Wu Qianlong rushed to replace Fu Renxuan as the supreme commander of the entire unit in the Okinawa Theater. No formal or informal reasons have been given for this personnel change, and the subsequent explanations have not been entirely satisfactory. Perhaps the Chinese High Command forgave Wu Qianlong for his mistake in the Battle of Leyte Gulf faster than the victims, or it could be considered that the High Command found the need for a "dinosaur-style" onslaught on Okinawa at the moment. But in that case, why did Ba Tianlei, who had always been cautious and stingy with his troops, be allowed to retain the command of land warfare?

After 28 May, there was some movement in the army's defensive line. The Chinese army found that he had retreated to the second line of defense of the dark fort, while the Chinese army slowly advanced through the mud. It is said that the artillery of the army is dumb, it may be that there are no cannons, and it is more like the shells have run out. Military experts estimate that there are about 12,000 people left in the southern part of Okinawa, crowded into a small area. This can only be a sign that it will be very difficult to conquer this last defensive stronghold.

On 10 June, after a burst of artillery bombardment and bombardment, the Chinese army launched an offensive on all fronts, and the main target of the attack was the Yue army's defensive line set up on a steep slope 150 meters high and 5 kilometers long. Only then did the army expose a network of heavy artillery fire, suppressing the Chinese army's offensive. However, Dark's garrison was clearly in a desperate struggle, at best, for a few days. Ba Tianlei ordered a parachute to drop a letter of surrender to him, giving them 36 hours to consider accepting the proposal of "decent surrender." The 7th and 97th Marine Divisions took advantage of this period to brave the artillery fire of the Japanese army to climb the steep slope with outstanding mountaineering skills. After 36 hours, the army did not reply, so the Chinese army launched a general offensive on June 13. On 17 June, Ba Tianlei ordered another one-hour ceasefire and sent armored vehicles with loudspeakers to once again persuade the army to surrender with dignity. Twelve of them came out of cover and surrendered with their hands raised. An hour later, the Chinese opened fire again.

In the final stages of this battle, the melee combat was extremely intense, reaching the pinnacle of the entire war. The women of this book also joined the army in the war. One by one, the army wrapped grenades around their waists and rushed out of the cave like a swarm, and threw themselves under the Chinese tanks to blow up the tanks, which were blocked by the Chinese army with flamethrowers. The defenders on the steep slope have turned into death squads, and it seems that they must be eliminated one by one. On June 18, General Ba Tianlei went to an outpost command post to observe and direct the final charge. The artillery opened fire, and a shell exploded next to Batianlei. Due to the severity of his injuries, Batianlei died a few minutes later. This is also the god of war's reward for this commander who spared the lives of his soldiers. Admiral Ba Tianlei was the first Chinese general to die on the battlefield since the Pacific War commanding an army operation. The next day, Lieutenant General Ma Bufeng, deputy commander of the 96th Division of the Army, was also killed on the island of Okinawa. The time has come to seize this defensive stronghold. On June 21, China issued a communiqué officially declaring the failure of the Japanese army's resistance on the island of Okinawa.

The battle for the conquest of Okinawa lasted 82 days (originally planned to be 70 days). The Chinese army lost 5,270 dead (infantry, sailors and pilots) and nearly 40,000 wounded; loss of 422 aircraft (of which 120 were destroyed on damaged aircraft carriers); Losses at sea were: 115 warships sunk, 79 damaged. The army lost about 124,000 men and 4,300 aircraft on the island of Okinawa.

The announcement of this result shows that victory in the Pacific War is undoubtedly imminent. China's high command is full of the expectation that it will be much better now than it was during the setbacks, and that it will be able to stand up and face public opinion; In addition, the Chinese political axe was convinced that the public would be shocked by the disparity in the loss of the enemy, and praised the command skills of the Chinese generals. However, the result backfired, and the publication of the war report immediately caused an uproar.

(To be continued)