At 16:00 on October 24th, the Maruyama Division, which had gone through so much hardship, finally accomplished a great miracle. Without a map or supplies, it led a force that was already half-starved to death through the vast jungle and experienced many hardships along the way.

Through forests, mountains, canyons, rivers, swamps, and cliffs, we overcame hunger, disease, and death and finally reached the front of the Blood Ridge position.

Scout Jiro Osawa carefully hid behind the dense grass and looked at the US military position with a telescope. Obviously, after a series of previous battles, such as the assault of the Ichiki detachment, the Americans were very careful about the defense of this location. Get closer.

All the trees on the US military position have been cut down, and even the weeds have been burned. A distance of nearly a thousand meters is an open area with good visibility. Through the telescope, Osawa can clearly see that there are several layers of grass on the US military battlefield.

Barbed wire, and, damn it! Those barbed wires were covered with tin cans of leftover luncheon meat cans. At a glance, countless cans were swaying gently in the wind.

"Ah, canned meat! It's really..." Osawa has never hated the guys on the opposite side as much as he does now. "It would be nice if I could take a bite of something like that and die immediately!" Hunger and longing almost overwhelmed me.

Osawa was about to lose his mind. It took a lot of effort for him to restrain his urge to immediately rush to the US military position, kill the Americans, and snatch all their cans. He continued to maintain a crawling posture and observed carefully.

The enemy's defense situation. Well, there are a few US military sentries over there, and one of them is slowly hanging cans on the barbed wire. That must be what they have just eaten. Look at their nonchalant look with cigarettes in their mouths! Look.

Going up, the Americans were not very aware of the upcoming attack. Some places on the position were obviously bunkers, and Osawa carefully recorded them one by one. However, Osawa knew that compared with these, the American bunkers were

I'm afraid there are more, but these cannot be discovered by looking through a telescope.

The attack was about to be launched, and what he detected must be reported to his superiors immediately. He took one last souvenir look at the cans hanging on the wire fence, and then continued to crawl back slowly. At the same time,

He secretly swore in his heart: "I will definitely come back!"

However, the general attack was not launched on time because it suddenly rained heavily. The troops could not see the target clearly, so Maruyama had to postpone it for another two hours. This was the seventh time he postponed the general attack. If he could launch the attack according to the time of 22, he could even get

The navy's artillery formation provided fire support, but that was no longer possible. The navy said it took too long for them to come out and the warships were on standby and ran out of fuel, so they went back to refuel.

The 150mm howitzers and 100mm cannons that were originally expected to have high hopes were all abandoned on the road. However, Maruyama still has some guns. For example, the highly distinctive 92 infantry cannon that stole the show on the Chinese battlefield is still there.

There were several left. If grenades could be considered artillery, then the number of artillery would be even higher. The heavy rain finally stopped, and several Type 92 infantry guns were quietly pushed into the attack position, and the attack was about to begin.

Already...

Tom and Jerry were latent reconnaissance posts of the Marines. As early as two hours ago, when the Japanese army appeared in the jungle in front of the high ground, they had already noticed it. The jungle close to the US military station and the jungle close to the Japanese army station

There is a huge difference, that is, there are many wild animals, especially birds, in the jungles close to the US military. In the jungles close to the areas where the Japanese troops are active, not to mention birds and beasts, even the number of insects is very small.

——The hungry Japanese ate them all.

Although the Japanese army was very careful when approaching the Blood Ridge, no matter how careful the nearly ten thousand troops were, it was impossible not to alarm the aboriginal people in the jungle. A group of parrots that were frightened and flew up suddenly attacked the Japanese army.

My whereabouts have been exposed. Now, from a hidden observation post, Tom has seen with a telescope that the Japanese army has begun to set up 92 infantry artillery positions on the edge of the jungle: the 92 infantry artillery that was originally broken down into parts was assembled bit by bit.

Get up, first the wheels, then the gun mount, then the gun barrel. What about the shield? This thing has been thrown away a long time ago. Anyway, it can still fire without it. Jerry immediately used the wired phone to continuously report the latest findings to the people behind.

Command organization. "It was discovered in area 1 that the Japanese army was building an artillery position, and there was a Type 92 infantry gun on the position..."

There is a reason why the U.S. military is so well prepared. On 22ri, that is, the attack time set by Staff Sergeant Tsuji Masanobu and 17th Army Commander Hyakutake originally. Maruyama’s troops failed to arrive on time, and the general offensive was postponed. But someone did.

He arrived, and what’s more terrible is that he did not receive an order to postpone the general offensive. Most of the area on Guadalcanal is covered by mountains. Travel friends all know that in mountainous areas, often due to the obstruction of mountains, the signal of mobile phones will become very weak.

The signal was poor, or even had no signal at all. The same was true for the radio station. The other two regiments commanded by Major General Sumaji, who were responsible for launching the diversionary attack, did not receive the order to postpone the attack because of poor signal, so they sent the attack as planned.

The 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment of the US Army launched a charge.

He likes to give orders on behalf of his superiors (or the emperor), or simply removes frontline commanders with a higher rank than himself in the name of the base camp (on the 22nd, because the commander of the Kawaguchi Brigade discovered that the US military's fortifications were different from those before)

He understood something different and asked to postpone the attack. However, Lieutenant Colonel Tsuji Masanobu deemed him "war-fearing" and immediately ordered that Major General Kawaguchi be removed from his post and replaced by Colonel Tokai Hayashi Junchei, captain of the 230th Regiment of the 38th Division.

Compared with this staff officer, the US military staff officer is much more honest. He has less time to do the things that others have done for him, and the time to do the work that he should do is naturally guaranteed. Therefore, these Americans are careless and careless in the eyes of the Japanese.

They were quite meticulous when doing their work. At least, they were much more meticulous than the Japanese staff who found out there was no map when they set out. They did a detailed survey and mapping of all the areas in front of the position and numbered them.

Artillery trials were arranged to ensure that the artillery could accurately fire at any location at any time.

As a result, as soon as the two regiments led by Major General Sumagi launched their attack, they were covered by overwhelming artillery fire. Because there was no change in other aspects, all the artillery fire from the US Army fell on them. The eight light tanks of the Japanese Army

They rushed to the front, but were ambushed by anti-tank guns. These guys who had been rampant in China lost their dignity at all when facing the United States. In just a few battles, all eight tanks were destroyed.

It turned into a crematorium. The infantry who followed the charge were blown to pieces by artillery shells. In a blink of an eye, more than 600 people were killed by the Japanese army, and they had to retreat hastily.

This unsuccessful attack sounded the alarm for the US military. Vandergrift ordered: "All troops enter the highest state of alert." The Blood Ridge defenders even deployed two lines of defense, equipped with various firepower.

Moreover, all the thatch affecting the boundary in front of the position was cleared and preparations for defense were made.

Just when Maruyama's artillery team was ready to launch the first round of artillery bombardment, a strange whistling sound suddenly came from the sky. As soon as Senior Private Fujita Hiromichi, who was carrying ammunition for the Type 92 Infantry Cannon, heard this

He immediately threw away the ammunition box and lay down on the ground. As a veteran who had been on the battlefield more than once, he knew that it was the sound of the US military's 105mm howitzer shells cutting through the air, and the target of these shells was

here.

As soon as Fujita lay down on the ground, he felt the earth shaking violently, bumping like a small boat in the ocean. His ears were also filled with a huge and seemingly endless roar. He

He lowered his head, pressed his face tightly to the ground, and at the same time pressed his helmet tightly with one hand...

Not far away, Tom and Jerry witnessed the artillery fire. Seeing that the enemy's artillery position was completely covered by the first round of fire, the two excitedly high-fived each other to celebrate.

Fujita was lying on the ground, and suddenly he felt as if someone was pushing him. He opened his eyes and saw an officer saying something to him angrily, but he couldn't hear a word. There was still a roar in his ears. The officer went to the high ground.

Pointing in the direction, Fujita saw many people rushing there. The officer said something, then pulled him up from the ground, stuffed a 38 rifle into his arms, and roared again.

.

Fujita still didn't hear anything, but he already understood what the officer meant - the cannons were all gone, there was no need for artillery now, charge!

Fujita nodded numbly, took steps, and wanted to rush forward, but just after taking a few steps, he fell to the ground. As an artilleryman, he knew that this was because the huge shock during the shelling temporarily damaged the balance function of the vestibule. But

Now that the general offensive has begun, for the sake of His Majesty the Emperor, he must move forward no matter what. So he got up again and ran staggering towards the high ground.

Just as the U.S. military began to prepare for counter-artillery fire, Maruyama also realized that they had been discovered by the U.S. military. He immediately issued an order: "The general offensive begins!" So amid the fanatical shouts of "His Majesty the Emperor is onboard!", Maruyama's

The first assault began.

Blood Ridge is now a sea of ​​steel and flames. The U.S. military's 105mm cannons are constantly blocking fire. The Japanese troops who launch the attack must first pass through the fire net of 105 shells before they can get close to the U.S. position. Many people have not yet

Those who could enter the range of the rifle were torn to pieces by cannonballs.

In the Japanese Army's assault operations, their firepower level is generally as follows: at a distance of 2,500 meters, 92 infantry cannons are used to kill targets such as enemy bunkers, at a distance of 600 meters, they rely on machine gun fire for firing, and at a distance of 500 meters,

If you go up, use a grenade to attack. At a distance of 400 meters, you can rely on the accurate 38-meter cover. If you get closer, who can the Japanese Imperial Army fear with a bayonet?

Unfortunately, this system has completely collapsed. The 92 infantry guns were all destroyed before they could fire even one shell. As soon as they came out of the jungle, they were hit by the US 105 mm cannon. They finally made it through the 105mm gun alive.

The strike zone was a full six to seven hundred meters away from the US military. It immediately suffered a new blow.

Under the pale light of the flare, a special sound like an electric drill rang out. Everyone in the Maruyama Division was familiar with this sound. This was the sound of the Vulcan cannons on those damn American planes.

Could it be that when night fell, US military aircraft dared to carry out such dangerous close support?

However, the Japanese quickly realized that it was not an airplane. The 20mm shells were fired from the Blood Ridge. It must be a land-based version of the Vulcan.

These howling, ultra-high-speed anti-aircraft cannons immediately stunned the Japanese. Raindrop-like dense 20mm shells swept across the entire battlefield, but everywhere they went was a Shura hell with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

The scene. The 20mm artillery shell has terrible power. Osawa, who was leading the charge, witnessed the tragedy it caused: a 20mm artillery shell hit the abdomen of a comrade not far from him, and the man exploded from the abdomen.

Come, his body was beaten into two pieces at the waist, the flesh, flesh, and internal organs were all blown out, and half of his intestines flew out for more than ten meters and rested on Daze's rifle.

But Osawa has no time to mourn for his comrades, or even to be afraid, because he himself is also a target!

Fired together with the high-she version Vulcan cannon, there is also the M2 large-caliber machine gun. Although the speed and lethality of this .50-caliber machine gun are not as abnormal as the Vulcan, it can use its point of fire to attack those Vulcan cannons.

The fish that slipped through the net was quite good. Now an M2 was aimed at Osawa. A .50-caliber bullet hit Osawa's left calf, and the entire calf was immediately broken into two pieces. He lost his balance.

Da Ze fell to the ground. He raised his head in pain and saw a barbed wire fence only a few meters away from him. On top of it, cans were swaying in the night wind with a special temptation.

Regardless of his wounds, Osawa tried hard to crawl towards the barbed wire, leaving a bright red mark behind him. Finally crawling under the barbed wire, Osawa stretched out his hand and grabbed the barbed wires.

Not caring about the pain caused by the wires digging into his palms, he struggled to get up against the wire fence, stretched out a bleeding hand, and wanted to pick off a can. But at this moment, another shot

The bullet hit him... Osawa fell, dead. He could not fulfill his desire to rush into the American position, kill them, and then eat their Spam cans, or even touch them.

Before the wish of those empty cans could be realized, he was killed like a wild beast thousands of kilometers away from his hometown...

When the surviving Japanese continued to advance to the rifle range, the firepower they faced became more intensive. 80mm mortar shells fell like raindrops. Springfield and Browning automatic rifles (actually light guns)

machine gun) and a newer rifle - the M1 semi-automatic rifle equipped by the Army's 164th Regiment on the second line. The sound turned into a pot of boiling hot porridge. The surviving Japanese were also knocked down one by one in the position.
Chapter completed!