HCB Chapter 229: Chongxing Island Landing Operation, First Test of Vertical Landing Operation
Chapter 229: Chongxing Island Landing Operation, First Test of Vertical Landing Operation
There are not many areas available for landing on Chongxing Island, and the direction of the Chongxing Fortress is the area where landing operations are easiest.
The terrain is flat, the coastline is straight and there are not many obstacles.
This is why Chongxing Fortress was chosen as the construction site here.
On the sea, hundreds of personnel landing craft and tank landing ships formed a large-scale landing fleet, densely distributed in the sea area where the landing area was located.
Like a surging wave, it swept towards Chongxing Island.
There are also two special warships in the landing fleet.
It was the two Essex-class aircraft carriers.
"Boom boom boom..."
The spacious deck was now crowded with Twin Blade, Hind, and Nighthawk helicopters.
Hundreds of Marines have already boarded the plane.
"take off!"
Following an order from the bridge, helicopters began to take off one after another, and then flew in groups towards Chongxing Island, dozens of kilometers away.
Their mission was to skip the heavily defended Chongxing Fortress, airdrop directly to the rear of the fortress, and then launch an attack from the rear of the Chongxing Fortress.
During this period, carrier-based aircraft units and armed helicopters will cover their operations.
This tactic is also the vertical landing operation formulated by the General Staff, or it is more appropriate to say that it is the prototype of the vertical landing operation.
The Chongxing Island landing operation was just a trial run.
Since the Essex-class aircraft carrier is not an amphibious landing ship, there is no internal dock taking up space.
So it carries more helicopters.
The current carrying mode is 8+32+20. The two aircraft carriers carry a total of 60 ship-borne versions of the three types of helicopters.
The air formation consisting of 120 helicopters flying at low altitude was quite spectacular in scale.
The group of helicopters flew directly over the landing fleet, which also caused cheers from the Marines on the landing ships. They greeted them excitedly.
On the sea, the landing ships also began their final acceleration and sprinted directly towards the beach.
At this time, the landing fleet was less than 2 nautical miles away from the beach.
At this time, the defenders of Chongxing Island had not responded.
If the commander of Chongxing Fortress heard this, he would curse.
Hundreds of shells fell on the ground every second.
The smallest caliber shells come from the Mitchell-class destroyer's MK42 127mm naval gun.
The 127mm caliber is the smallest main gun caliber in the navy.
On cruisers, it can only serve as a secondary gun.
But even with a caliber of 127 mm, its power is comparable to that of a 150 mm caliber land artillery.
Because the amount of gunpowder in naval guns is much more powerful than that in land guns, and the rate of fire is also faster.
In this situation, even if he wanted to fight, the soldiers under him would not do it.
After all, this war was a civil war, not a war of aggression.
In addition, SAARC has now lost the support of its people and also the military.
The lower-level soldiers were not willing to work for the Southern Alliance to fight against the Renaissance Army, which had a good reputation in the country.
What's more, it was under the attack of naval guns.
"Commander, that guy surnamed Chen doesn't care about the lives of our brothers at all. He won't let us retreat and leaves our brothers here to die.
Why not just surrender the Fuxing Army directly? "
In the depressing atmosphere of the underground command center, the fortress commander's trusted officer couldn't help but speak out his true feelings.
However, the fortress garrison commander was still struggling at this moment.
The instinct of survival made him want to give the order to surrender.
But his military duties prevented him from giving this order.
It was his indecision that caused him to miss the last chance.
"The Restoration Army has landed and they are storming the beach!"
Suddenly the entire underground command center was in a panic.
However, the artillery shells that were still roaring overhead meant that they had manpower but were unable to advance.
Not only on the beach, but also on a flat land behind Chongxing Fortress, a number of Hind general-purpose helicopters and Nighthawk transport helicopters dropped off a large number of soldiers.
Soon, an attack formation consisting of an entire assault infantry battalion quickly advanced towards the Chongxing Fortress.
At low altitude, 16 double-blade armed helicopters provided ground fire support to the assault group and covered their advance.
About 1 nautical mile from the coast, tank landing craft opened their bow hatches.
One after another, PT-76 amphibious tanks drove out of the tank landing ship and plunged into the water. The water jet propulsion at the tail began to work, pushing the tanks forward at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour.
As the first amphibious tank designed by the Soviet Army after the war, its performance is quite good.
The combat weight is 14.6 tons and the front armor is 14 mm thick.
The weapons are a 76mm tank gun, a 7.62mm auxiliary machine gun and a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun.
Although this thing cannot defend against enemy anti-tank guns.
But it can provide certain protection capabilities and powerful firepower support to the landing soldiers.
What's more, in addition to the PT-76 amphibious tank, the Marine Corps is also equipped with the T-54 main battle tank.
However, this thing cannot be transported through water and can only be transported through ports.
A distance of more than 1 nautical mile is only about ten minutes for an amphibious tank traveling at 10 kilometers per hour.
The personnel landing craft is simpler and more brutal, diving directly into the beach.
As the bow hatch opened, an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle drove out first.
This is also an amphibious version of the multi-purpose infantry fighting vehicle. Its tonnage is similar to that of the PT-76 amphibious tank, and it also has the ability to fight across the sea.
It can also carry weapon modules of various calibers.
There are ranges from 20mm cannons to 122mm assault guns.
After the amphibious infantry fighting vehicle drove out, the soldiers followed the infantry fighting vehicle out of the hatch one by one.
Using amphibious infantry fighting vehicles as cover, they formed an attack formation.
At this time, the defenders on Chongxing Island still did not make any movement, and did not even fire a single shot.
This situation is a good thing for the landing troops, as it means there will not be too many casualties.
You should know that landing operations have always been on par with street fighting and mountain fighting, and are the most brutal mode of warfare.
Half an hour later, the vanguard of the Renaissance Army had rushed into the fortress area.
Twenty minutes later, good news reached the fleet command of the Chishan heavy cruiser.
"The defenders of Chongxing Fortress have surrendered without firing a shot. Our troops have successfully captured Chongxing Fortress and are advancing deep into Chongxing Island. We will occupy the entire island within days."
The telegram came from the headquarters of the 1st Marine Division.
Chen Rui, who was stationed at the Wusong Fortress, witnessed the fall of the Chongxing Fortress.
When he saw the Renaissance Army take over Chongxing Fortress without firing a shot and plant the Renaissance Army flag on a high place, he immediately said angrily: "Waste, good-for-nothing...you actually surrendered to the Renaissance Army.
Pass on my order to immediately fire at Chongxing Fortress and kill them all!"
The Wusong Fortress was equipped with four 4mm naval guns donated by the John Kingdom, which were the same 305-caliber naval guns as the Indefatigable-class battlecruisers.
These four guns are also the only coastal defense guns that can reach the Chongxing Fortress in terms of range.
"boom....."
Soon, roars were heard from the Wusong Fortress, and four 305mm caliber shells whizzed towards the area where the Chongxing Fortress was located.
Fortunately, this place is some distance away from the Wusong Fortress, and the cannon is old, so the accuracy is not very high, and only one shell fell into the fortress.
With a loud bang, the surrendered soldiers of the Southern Alliance within a range of dozens of meters were evaporated, and several Marines were also affected.
"Where did the gun come from?"
"Report, based on the trajectory, it's heading towards Wusong Fortress."
"It would be fine if we didn't bother them, but they dared to come to us. Immediately report to the Fleet Command and request an attack on the Wusong Fortress."
The commander of the 1st Marine Division, who was in charge of the landing operation, snorted coldly.
"Immediately contact the Air Force and have them launch airstrikes on Wusong Fortress and Nicheng Fortress according to the established plan, destroying their artillery and knocking out their teeth."
Chen Qifeng was surprised that the enemy's artillery range could threaten the Chongxing Fortress more than 20 kilometers away.
The Military Intelligence Bureau obviously did not discover this information.
In this case, we have no choice but to take action in advance.
Changes in plans also lead to changes in the entire combat operation.
After receiving the news, the Air Force once again dispatched bombing troops towards Qidong Province.
Two squadrons of Tu-16 medium bombers approached Shanghai under the escort of F-100 fighter-bombers.
The distance is less than 700 kilometers, which is just over an hour's flight for the fleet.
When they arrived over Chongxing Island, the fleet of aircraft could already see the Wusong Fortress directly.
The four 305mm caliber coastal defense guns were still showing off their power, continuously firing shells at the Chongxing Fortress.
30 Tu-16 medium bombers immediately launched the first round of precision strikes on the Wusong Fortress.
The narrow conical radar beam is directed towards the respective target.
Then he dropped an AS-1 Comet air-to-ground missile.
Under the beam-guided mode, the AS-1 air-to-ground missile flew at subsonic speed towards the Wusong Fortress artillery position more than 20 kilometers away.
"Air raid, air raid!"
The shrill air defense alarm sounded in the Wusong Fortress, and Chen Rui looked at the incoming missile group with a nervous expression.
However, these missiles are indeed very deceptive, and from a distance they look no different from jet fighters.
When the missile group arrived over the Wusong Fortress, the altitude of the missiles had dropped below 400 meters.
In an instant, the anti-aircraft guns in the Wusong Fortress, which had been on guard for a long time, began to roar continuously.
An interception barrage was organized in the direction of the missile's advance.
However, the performance of their anti-aircraft artillery was not very good, and the firepower was not dense. They only intercepted two AS-1 air-to-ground missiles.
The remaining 28 missiles roared across the sky and plunged into the guidance area.
Although the accuracy of beam guidance is not very high, it can withstand large numbers.
28 missiles fell at once.
The artillerymen on the fort were frightened to death, and some even ran away.
“Boom…Boom…”
The four 305mm coastal defense guns were not spared from the saturation attack.
The flames of the explosion instantly engulfed the four artillery batteries.
The enormous power directly destroyed or overturned the cannons in the open-air fortifications.
Shrapnel flew across the sky like the sharp scythe of the god of death, whistling through the air and causing a bloody storm wherever it went.
One wave of attacks silenced all four of the Wusong Fort's cannons.
The four sharpest teeth of Wusong Fortress were also directly pulled out.
While fierce landing operations were underway in Shanghai.
The General Staff is planning another operation.
This operation is an airborne attack on Hangzhou.
Hangzhou is very close to Shanghai, only 150 kilometers away, and there is a railway connection.
The reason why the General Staff chose to carry out airborne operations in Hangzhou was that they discovered through reconnaissance satellites that Hangzhou was short of troops, so they planned this operation on the spur of the moment.
If we can successfully land in Hangzhou, then taking Shanghai will be a piece of cake.