afterglow

Chapter 629: Fighting to the death; Kahului Tank Battle

"Shit! I can't believe we can't penetrate them!"

The M59 37mm capped armor-piercing projectile can penetrate a 2.5-inch (63mm) thick steel plate at this distance. It has good penetration capability. How could it not be able to deal with a mere armored vehicle?
Such a battle is beyond the comprehension of US tank soldiers. It is like attacking a car with a Hellfire anti-tank missile only to find that it is safe and sound.

"Listen to me! We can't stop here, Andy, go to the right."

Several Stuarts quickly dropped smoke bombs to obscure the view, and then maneuvered to the left and right wings, hoping to attack the flanks of the attackers.

The two Ming army armored vehicles did not linger in the battle and did not covet the fruits of victory. When they saw that the other side had made the correct response, they decisively reversed and withdrew from the battle.

Soon, the two of them left.

The ambushed targets were two platoons of Company D of the 711th Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army. Two of the seven M3A1 Stuart tanks were completely destroyed due to ammunition explosion or fire, and two were damaged. Ten U.S. soldiers were killed and three were injured.

Meanwhile, further south...

After a short rest to eat and drink water, the main force of the 38th Division continued to advance non-stop.

Along the way, the Ming army soldiers saw many vehicles abandoned by the US army, most of which had become burning wreckage, and many corpses were scattered on the ground.

These were basically the works of the Ming army bombers that swept past earlier.

Tanks, armored vehicles, off-road vehicles, and trucks drove past one after another, rushing towards the largest town area on Maui.

To defend Kahului Harbor and prevent the Ming army from splitting Maui in two, Lieutenant General Simon Buckner deployed two fairly powerful forces here.

The 27th Regiment of the 165th Division defended the western half of the city, and the 33nd Regiment of the 132rd Division defended the eastern half. The two were responsible for half of the direction and covered each other. At the same time, the 555th Independent Air Defense Battalion was also assigned to them.

In addition, the 737th Tank Battalion and the 640th Tank Destroyer Battalion were also temporarily dispatched here to reinforce and further strengthen the defense force.

However, the M10 Wolverine tank destroyer equipped by the latter was open-top and had no roof. It was much more vulnerable than normal armored vehicles under the rampant air raids of the Ming army's aircraft. The Ming army's dive bombers strafed and fired rockets at the same time, attacking in turns, and at least ten M10s were destroyed on both sides of the road.

Wisps of black smoke from the burning wreckage rose into the sky as American medics struggled to rescue the wounded soldiers who were bleeding profusely.

An infantry unit of the 145th Division was discovered by the U.S. military when trying to occupy Hill 12 in the southwest suburbs. After a brief exchange of fire, they hastily retreated. This marked the beginning of the battle in the Kahului direction at 09: noon.

Because the 1st Marine Brigade was in the rear as a reserve, the commander of the 38th Division, Deng Siquan, was able to boldly let go and put all three regiments into battle without hesitation, leaving only the mechanized scout battalion as a reserve.

The fist force - the 112th Regiment equipped with the Yuan-year armored personnel carrier, the division's tank battalion, and the 603rd Heavy Tank Team on the right wing launched a strong attack in the southeast direction.

The 113th Regiment was in the center, launching a feint attack from south to north to tie down and distract the enemy's attention, and was ready to launch a formal attack at any time.

The 114th Regiment was placed on the left wing, responsible for removing, clearing and occupying the hilly areas in the southwestern suburbs, eliminating the threat posed by enemy artillery positions and ensuring the safety of the left wing of the large force.

Deng Siquan actually did not want to deal with the American troops who were entrenched in the preset positions on the hills, because that place was destined to be very difficult to conquer.

However, the US military has deployed many widow guns - that is, M2 4.2-inch heavy mortars - in the depressions or reverse slopes of the hills in the southwestern suburbs. Their threat cannot be underestimated, and if they are not removed, they will be like a thorn in the throat.

The rumbling of artillery fire continued, and American planes also visited from time to time. The actions of the Ming army were greatly hindered. It was expected to launch an attack at the same time at 13:30, but until 14:00, several units still failed to arrive as scheduled.

"What's going on with the 4th Regiment? There's still a battalion that hasn't arrived yet, and we can't get in touch with it."

"Yes, the headquarters of the Third Battalion was bombed by enemy aircraft. The casualties are not yet clear."

"Report! Command center supervisor's phone call."

Deng Siquan calmed himself down and walked over to take the microphone.

In response to Zhou Changfeng's inquiry, he had to truthfully report that the troops were frequently interfered with by the US military's ground-to-air firepower and were unable to reach the designated position in time. It might take another hour to launch the attack.

After learning the latest situation on the front line, Zhou Changfeng hung up the phone.

After some consideration, he ordered the brigade's anti-aircraft artillery battalion to move its position two kilometers forward to provide more anti-aircraft fire cover for the 38th Division's rear positions.

At 15:00 in the afternoon, the short and powerful artillery fire was ready to begin on time.

In an instant, the arc-shaped battle line in the suburbs of Kahului was engulfed by the smoke and dust of explosions that occurred one after another in a very short time.

In the hilly area in the southwest, the 114th Regiment was ready for battle.

When the last round of rocket fire was completed and the red flares were launched into the air, the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion who had already entered the assault starting position immediately got up from the ground and launched an attack on the enemy in front of them.

At the same time, the Second Battalion detoured to the left side of Hill 145, trying to outflank the US Army's flank.

The battle entered a white-hot stage at the very beginning. The morale of the Ming army soldiers was high, shouting and rushing forward in a sparse formation, trying to defeat the enemy occupying the hill in one fell swoop.

Companies E and F of the 165nd Battalion, 145th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army directly defended the hill, with two platoons stationed on Hill .

Facing the fierce firepower from multiple directions and the terrible bouncing mines and directional mines, the brave soldiers of the Third Battalion once broke into the US military position.

However, the U.S. military immediately deployed several platoons to launch a tactical counterattack, and received mortar fire support from the regiment headquarters. The two sides fought three bloody close combats on the broken and dilapidated positions.

The two teams of equal size fought each other to a bloody defeat, with both sides suffering heavy losses. The position changed hands three times in four hours!

The Ming army suffered heavy casualties. The second battalion, which attacked head-on, fought one after another, and lost two captains, one lieutenant, and five second lieutenants in one afternoon. The total casualties were close to 300.

The US military was not much better off. The casualties of the two reinforced companies were close to 75%, with only one officer left alive. The troops completely collapsed. The commander of Company E was hit by a 112mm rocket fired by a Ming army aircraft while leading his troops to retreat, and no one was left alive...

The battle in the west was so fierce that it was no less intense in the east. The 112th Regiment and the tank battalion fought side by side, working together to launch a massive attack from the southeast to the northwest. Compared to the more complex terrain in the west, the flat terrain in the east was more suitable for mechanized troops to operate.

The extremely powerful Type 112 heavy tank was indestructible. It calmly used its 2.4mm tank gun to eliminate the US military's firepower points one after another. Even the reinforced civil engineering works were collapsed by the high-explosive bombs with a charge of kg.

The steel spears poked towards the narrow gap - the Ming army's mechanized troops chose to attack the junction of the two US battalion positions, and in just a quarter of an hour they tore open a huge breakthrough.

The U.S. troops in the second-line position attempted to use artillery fire to stop the Ming army's follow-up troops, and hundreds of artillery shells fell.

However, a large number of armored infantrymen riding on armored personnel carriers followed closely behind the armored forces. They got off the vehicles and dispersed immediately to expand and consolidate the breakthrough point, unafraid of the flying high-speed fragments.

The commander of the US military in the Kahului area was Brigadier General Ronald, who hastily ordered the tactical reserve to launch a counterattack.

After receiving the order, the 737th Tank Battalion and the damaged 640th Tank Destroyer Battalion went to the front line and cooperated with an infantry battalion to try to block the breakthrough.

A rare tank battle broke out in the Pacific battlefield, and the showdown between steel began immediately!

Neither the Stuart nor the Sherman were able to penetrate the armor of the Ming army's medium and heavy tanks from the front, so they aimed and fired smoke bombs to obscure the Ming army's tanks' vision while flanking to the wings.

The more than 10 M76.2 Wolverines participating in the battle were equipped with a 1000mm long-barreled gun that could penetrate 4-inch thick steel plates at a distance of yards, and could penetrate the frontal armor of the Type medium tank.

The white five-pointed star on the front of the US tank seemed to be a very good target. In a corner of the vast battlefield, a Type 40 tank from the division's tank battalion stopped and aimed for nine seconds before opening fire!
The 80mm wind-capped armor-piercing shell it fired easily penetrated the Wolverine's thin armor, which was only 38mm thick. The shell penetrated into the vehicle with hot metal debris. The impact just now had triggered the mechanical fuse at the base of the armor-piercing shell. The extremely short delay was only a moment, and the fuse detonated the detonator, which detonated the 58g of Zhu's explosives inside - a mixture of Taian, RDX, aluminum powder, and paraffin.

The armor-piercing bullet that penetrated into the vehicle and exploded broke into pieces, killing the five American tank soldiers inside almost instantly!
Capped armor-piercing shells, capped armor-piercing shells, tungsten carbide hard-core armor-piercing shells, armor-piercing shells and other shells of different calibers and types shuttled back and forth across the earth.

Some of the destroyed tanks broke down immediately, while others continued to move forward by inertia for more than ten meters, or the ammunition inside the tanks exploded and turned into fireworks on the battlefield...

After nearly a quarter of an hour of shooting, the tank battle ended with the US military retreating first.

More than two dozen destroyed American tanks added to the chaos on the already chaotic battlefield. The Ming army also lost two heavy tanks and eight medium tanks, half of which caught fire and could basically be considered completely destroyed.

The tank battalion and the tank destroyer battalion were unable to repel the invading enemy, so what could the accompanying infantry battalion do?
The U.S. military's counterattack ended in failure and could only be considered successful in delaying the actions of the Ming army.

"How are you guys? How long will it take you to finish?"

"It's generally fine. It's still closing in. Let's wait and see in a quarter of an hour."

Liang Xin could use the artillery telescope to clearly observe many details in the distance, and could even see the enemy soldiers with half of their bodies drooping on the hatch of the destroyed tank.

After a short rest, the 112th Armored Infantry Regiment, the Divisional Tank Battalion, and the 603rd Heavy Tank Team resumed operations, pressing forward slowly and steadily like an unstoppable torrent.

The defense line east of Kahului was shaky and dangerous. Faced with the slowly advancing Ming army, the 132nd Infantry Regiment of the US Army felt powerless and fearful, and desperately used all light and heavy firepower to fight back to boost their courage.

The powerful combat capability of the mechanized heavy troops made the US generals feel deeply powerless, and they could only repeatedly urge air support over the radio.

After waiting for a long time, more than a dozen A-24 Banshee dive bombers and P-38 heavy fighters finally arrived, and forced a dive attack against the firepower of the Ming army's self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

The Ming army's mechanized forces, which launched an attack in a wedge formation, were immediately hit hard. Dozens of 250-pound and 500-pound bombs fell one after another. The captain's car of the rd assault convoy was also damaged by the shock wave, and the commander and crew members fell into a coma on the spot.

This round of offensive collapsed. Liang Xin, who was both angry and regretful, gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, and reluctantly ordered to abandon the attack.

Amid the cheers of the American soldiers, the second-line troops of the Ming army began to fire smoke bombs to cover the attacking troops' withdrawal from the battle...

In the evening, the 114th Regiment in the west once again organized an attack on the hilly area.

The battle lasted until an hour after the sun set. The Ming army captured three of the dozen or so hills, and Hill 145 was recaptured by the US army for the fourth time.

At almost the same time, Zhou Changfeng made a special trip to the front line to inspect the battle situation.

Now it seemed that they were only one step away from achieving the campaign goal. As long as Kahului was occupied, the US troops on Maui would be divided into two halves, making it difficult for them to communicate and cooperate with each other, and they would be more easily defeated one by one.

However, it seems that the attack has been blocked for the time being. The resistance of the American troops defending this place is very fierce, and the coordinated ground-to-air firepower has seriously hindered the Ming army from organizing the attack.

After comprehensive consideration, Zhou Changfeng ordered the 38th Division to give up the west and concentrate its forces on the attack on the east; the 1st Marine Brigade was put into battle to take over the attack on the hilly area in the west.

The 38th Division was a friendly force he often came into contact with. The 1st Marine Brigade had cooperated with it many times, and he was very clear about its style.

The division was organized in Shanghai Prefecture. The average cultural quality of its officers and soldiers is higher than that of ordinary infantry divisions, so its technical and tactical levels are very good. However, the division tends to be more cautious, meticulous, and comprehensive in combat - in simple terms, it prefers to calculate and waste time to reduce losses.

If the battle was calm and not urgent, the 38th Division would often be able to achieve a good exchange ratio, but the current situation obviously did not allow enough time, especially since the U.S. side had not gained air superiority. Since the U.S. military had been deterred by the mechanized force's strong attack, it should have taken advantage of the victory to pursue and defeat it in one fell swoop.

"The 23rd Division should pack up, leave the beachhead, and move forward two kilometers to be ready." Zhou Changfeng added another order.

With the participation of the 1st Marine Brigade, the reserve force was taken over by the 23rd Division (minus the 96th Regiment), which had almost been transported ashore.

Today's situation has indeed exceeded the expectations of Lieutenant General Simon Buckner. According to the original plan, it would take the Ming army two or three days to break through the two lines of defense, during which time they would suffer heavy casualties from artillery fire and air strikes. As a result, the two lines of defense were broken through by the armored forces in one morning.

This directly disrupted subsequent arrangements, and the Ming army, which had already reached the suburbs of Kahului, would never give up and would definitely launch a general attack tomorrow.

He reported the current battle situation to the Pacific Fleet Command and requested that the reverse landing plan be implemented in advance - the 2nd Marine Division would conduct a counter-landing to the east of the bottleneck on Maui Island, thereby threatening the right wing of the Ming army's offensive force and forcing it to retreat.

The Pacific Fleet Command called back to say that this was not in line with the original plan and that it would take at least one day to complete the temporary dispatch.

Simon Buckner, who received the reply, said with a wry smile: "One day, how can we last one day?"

Brigadier General Ronald, commander of the Kahului area, said bluntly: "Based on today's situation, we can only hold out until noon after daybreak."

(End of this chapter)