With the support of dive bombers, the 4th Marine Division was able to continue to advance. At this time, the next batch of landing troops also landed on the beach. This batch of landing troops included a group of authentic tanks, although they were still a few

m3 light tanks, but in the Pacific, these tanks are enough to deal with most targets. With the support of these tanks, the US military approached their first important target in the afternoon: Airport No. 1. But it was already the afternoon

It's close to two o'clock, and it will be difficult to seize the airport before dark. And considering that the Japanese have the habit of large-scale night attacks, the US military will stop its offensive operations by three o'clock in the afternoon at the latest, and may even stop it slightly.

Shrink your position so you can arrange your defenses at night.

This is the first night after landing, and it is a crucial night. According to past situations, the Japanese will 100% launch a large-scale night attack on this night in order to drive the US troops into the sea. So from 2 p.m.

In half an hour, the Americans stopped their attack and began to build various fortifications. They dug trenches, built sandbags, set up machine guns and mortars, deployed tanks to the most critical positions, installed barbed wire, and buried mines. There was a lot of chaos.

They were prepared until dark. During this period, the Japanese artillery would appear from time to time to fire rapid fire, and then automatically stopped firing and disappeared into the tunnel before the US artillery fire could react.

They were busy until dusk, and everything was ready. The Marines believed that if the Japanese attacked at night, they would not get good results. After nightfall, the soldiers took turns to fall asleep. The soldiers on duty opened their eyes

With eyes wide open, he observed any disturbance at the front of the position. Navy warships continuously fired illumination bombs at the front of the position, and the entire position was as bright as day. However, the entire night, the expected "Banzai Charge" never appeared.

Early the next morning, the U.S. military resumed its offensive and successfully captured the airport that morning. However, it would take some time for the airport to be put into use. However, both the Marine Corps and the Navy knew the importance of the airport, so they sent all construction machinery to

They were all tilted towards the airport. But even so, it took a whole day for Airport No. 1 to regain the ability to take off and land aircraft.

As soon as the airport was restored, Ron's attack aircraft units were immediately put in. The Navy's bombers had limited bomb capacity and could not carry powerful fuel-air bombs, but the Army's attack aircraft were different. The P-38 fighter's

The maximum bomb load is almost the same as that of the B-17 bomber, and the modified PA-38 attack aircraft also maintains this bomb load.

As the PA-38 attack aircraft landed at Airport No. 1, the Japanese began to enjoy the baptism of fuel-air bombs. Now, the combat mode has changed again. After the soldiers discovered the enemy's fortifications, the first reaction was to summon attack aircraft

Drop fuel-air bombs.

The Japanese were not unprepared for the Americans' fuel-air bomb offensive, but what they did not expect was that the US military would actually use this weapon in this way.

"The enemy is still resisting? Okay, let's do another round of bombing right away!"

"What? Do you still need it? Okay, one more round!"

…

"General, we don't have enough supplies." Early on the morning of the fourth day, in a deep and dark tunnel, a Japanese officer was reporting to Tadamichi Kuribayashi.

After learning the news, Tadamichi Kuribayashi said nothing. After learning that the U.S. military had such a killer weapon, Tadamichi Kuribayashi was not unprepared. He did a lot of things. He sealed the tunnel and prepared for the soldiers.

Oxygen bottles and oxidizers were prepared to provide oxygen, but the US military's approach was really rogue. They just kept throwing fuel-air bombs on the fortifications, and at the same time allowed soldiers wearing oxygen masks to conduct feint attacks. Yes, these brave men

The Yankees, who are as small as mice, are feigning an attack! As soon as the imperial army starts to resist with those precious oxygen, they will immediately crawl forward, lie there and fire guns randomly, consuming the precious oxygen of the imperial army. After ten minutes, the air will be full of

The oxygen level in the air began to recover. Without saying a word, the Americans dropped another bomb! Where did they get so many bombs? Do American apple trees not bear apples, but only bombs?

Because the news was received late, and because Japan's transportation was blocked, the island's oxygen reserves were insufficient and could not withstand such consumption. After a day, the oxygen reserves were already exhausted. Now the Japanese army can only let the most experienced

The soldiers gave priority to using oxygen equipment. The rest of the soldiers could only hide in the tightly sealed tunnel first, wait until after the explosion, then hold their breath and rush to the shooting port to fire a few shots, and then run back to have enough oxygen before they suffocated.

into a sealed tunnel with oxygen. In this way, the firepower density of the Japanese army was greatly reduced, which gave the US military more opportunities to approach the bunker, and then use bazookas or blasting tubes to destroy the Japanese bunker.

Blow up.

Sometimes, the cunning Yankees will also play tricks of pretending to retreat. Sometimes, when they are fighting vigorously, they suddenly see the Americans starting to retreat. At the same time, the roar of the engines of the US military aircraft is also heard in the ears.

At this time, all the Japanese would reflexively run towards the tightly sealed tunnel, then dive in and close the door tightly. As a result, at this time, the Americans did not really retreat. On the contrary, they took advantage of the Japanese

While dodging an air attack, he rushed up and placed the flamethrower on the bunker's firing port.

As a result, on this day alone, the Japanese army was defeated in such a material-consuming confrontation. On this day, the US military captured the No. 2 Airport and successfully captured the ground position on Mount Suribachi. In the original history,

In order to achieve these goals, the U.S. military paid the price of thousands of casualties. Because the casualties were too great, the U.S. military once considered using chemical weapons against the Japanese troops on Iwo Jima. This plan was finally rejected by President Roosevelt and General Nimitz for political reasons.

But after the war, someone asked Nimitz about this issue, and Nimitz's answer was: If I were asked to make a decision again now, I think I would probably support the use of chemical weapons on Iwo Jima.

However, in this space, no Americans will discuss this issue anymore, because fuel-air bombs play the same role as chemical weapons. Since the Army Aviation aircraft began to take off and land on the island, the Marine Corps'

Progress suddenly went smoothly, but the Japanese were in trouble.

"General, why don't we just rush out and start a chaotic fight with the Americans? They won't be able to drop those damn bombs." A staff officer said to Tadashi Kuribayashi.

"Do you all think so?" Tadashi Kuribayashi looked around and saw several combat staff standing nearby, so he asked.

"Yes, General, the current situation and ideas are completely different." A staff officer replied, "Sitting tight and defending will not bring us a better exchange ratio."

Indeed, the battle became a war of attrition, but unlike what Tadamichi Kuribayashi thought, it did not become a war of attrition for lives, but a war of attrition for both sides' supplies. And such a war of attrition is obviously extremely detrimental to Japan.

of.

"So, can we get a better exchange ratio by charging onboard?" Tadashi Kuribayashi asked.

"How will you know if you don't try?" a young staff officer said without thinking.

"Have you never tried this before?" Tadamichi Kuribayashi's voice began to turn cold. He stared at "Yamada-kun, the exchange ratio between us and the US military is not satisfactory, but you really don't know how to make the exchange ratio higher?"

Yamada was a little flustered under the gaze of Kuribayashi Tadamichi. He avoided Kuribayashi Tadamichi's gaze and whispered: "General, being beaten passively like this, watching the enemy attack without being able to do anything, is really too...

The enemies have raised their flags on Mount Suribachi... Anyway, we have to find some other way?"

Yes, no matter what, we do need to find a way. The Americans have already transported armored bulldozers and a large amount of concrete to the island. Now that the US military has basically controlled the ground, the US military will use bulldozers to carry volcanic ash and

Concrete was used to seal up everything they saw that looked like a hole. Even if it was a mouse hole, the US military would wonder if it was the vent of a Japanese tunnel, and then directly block it with concrete.

.If this situation continues, sooner or later the Japanese on the island will be buried alive in the tunnels they dug themselves.

"We should go out in small groups to carry out guerrilla warfare." A staff officer said.

"What a delusion. Iwo Jima is much bigger. There is no room for guerrilla warfare. Do you think it's on Luzon?" another staff officer retorted.

"At night, long-distance shooting with rifles and mortars, coupled with infiltration by small teams, might have some effect. I'm willing to bring a team to try." The staff officer named Yamada spoke again.

"Yamada-kun, your idea this time is somewhat interesting. Let's try it like this."

…

That night, the Japanese resumed their past habit of night raids. However, most of these night raids were just long-distance shooting and shelling. The US military's defenses at night were well arranged. These actions, which were more like harassment, did not actually occur.

It brought too much trouble to the U.S. military. When the disparity in material power between the two sides is too great, no military strategy will actually have much effect. The Japanese troops on Iwo Jima are still resisting, but their resistance has also become worse.

It is getting weaker and weaker. This can be seen from the number of artillery shells falling from the airport. Two days ago, it was very dangerous for the attack aircraft force to take off and land at Iwo Jima No. 1 Airport. The Japanese would use their cannons.

Fired at the airport, although the firepower density was not high (because most of the artillery had been destroyed by battleships or dive bombers), the falling shells still reminded people of fear. When a PA-38 landed, it

Hit by Japanese artillery fire, even the plane and its pilot were lost. But two days later, there were basically no shells that could land on the airport. Ron estimated that in another week, maybe Iwo Jima Airport would be destroyed.
Chapter completed!