I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 169 The fight between trapped beasts
Lin Chen carried his rifle and continued to grope forward.

The tunnels built by the Japanese army were so interconnected that they were like an ant's nest. He was very curious about how the Japanese army managed to avoid getting lost in such a complicated underground traffic.

There was no lighting, so many places were completely dark.
When he met people, Lin Chen's fluent Japanese gave him a great advantage, and he could even ask for directions.

After wandering around for more than half an hour, he finally figured out the location of the ammunition depot on the Japanese position, but unfortunately, there was not much stock left.

When he walked into Lieutenant Colonel Asayama's battalion headquarters, a fierce quarrel was going on inside.

Like most Japanese officers, Asayama was short and thin.

But maybe due to malnutrition, this guy is very thin.

The orderly beside him saw Lin Chen coming in, and his rank was higher than his, so he nodded and saluted.
"Hai! Sir, the captain is on the line, please wait."

Seeing this, Lin Chen came up with a plan.

"You go stand guard somewhere farther outside. It's not good if the captain's current condition is seen by other soldiers. I'll wait here!" Lin Chen's Japanese was very authentic, and the other party actually heard a Tokyo accent and thought he had met a fellow villager.

"Hayi, please!"

He walked out without even taking his gun, but then again, what kind of weapons would he need in the tunnel?
After he left, Lin Chen listened quietly. It turned out that it was Sulin Zhongdao who directly ordered the high ground to be defended to the end. However, Qianshan was obviously desperate about the situation. He thought that since they were going to die anyway, he might as well lead the team to rush out and die outside.

As expected, he was scolded by Tadamichi Surin. Asayama also had a bad temper and he actually confronted Tadamichi Surin directly, which was not common in the Japanese army with clear hierarchies.

Lin Chen listened to his nagging and walked directly behind him, twisted his neck in one move, then gently placed him on the table, pretending to be asleep.

"Moshi Moshi, Moshi Moshi, Asayama, are you still listening? Please be sure to defend the tunnel and strictly prohibit the 'long live charge'. Do you understand?" Needless to say, the voice coming from the receiver must be Sulin Tadamichi.

"General Sulin, there's no need to shout. Lieutenant Colonel Asayama has fallen asleep," Lin Chen took the intercom and continued the conversation jokingly.

"Who are you? Tell your captain to listen! Hurry up!" Su Lin Zhongdao was very dissatisfied. How dare you disobey?

"Sir, you can't defend Iwo Jima. Is one month more or one month less important to you? You might as well surrender directly. The US military will give you humane treatment in accordance with the Geneva Convention."

"Baga! Who are you and how dare you say such outrageous words? Qianshan! Qianshan!" Sulin was furious on the other end.

"I am a U.S. Marine. I have just sent Lieutenant Colonel Asayama to the Yasukuni Shrine. I hope you can consider my suggestion. I can easily deal with the defenders of this high ground. Can your Wonsan Command stop me? Surrender and don't let your men put up any more unnecessary resistance."

There was a long silence on the other end of the intercom.

“I don’t know who you are, but you speak authentic Japanese.

Frankly speaking, if the two countries had not gone to war, I would have hoped to make friends with Americans. I have studied in the United States and I know only too well the strength of the U.S. military.

But now that the war has begun, as a soldier of the Empire, I can only stand until the last moment and will never surrender."

"If we continue to defend, we will surely die. If you don't consider yourself, then don't you consider the thousands of men left on the island?" Lin Chen really wanted to persuade them to surrender.

"Needless to say, they are all soldiers of the Empire. From the moment they were sent to the island, their fate was already determined. We are not afraid of death, and we are destined to drift away like cherry blossoms."

After saying that, Sulin Zhongdao actually took the initiative to end the call.

“I really can’t shed tears until I see the coffin!”

Lin Chen knew that these diehards would undoubtedly tell them more, so he searched for information in the brigade headquarters, and he actually found a simple map of the island’s defense fortifications?
This is good stuff!

Although many places are not detailed enough, with this thing, the US military's firepower aiming will be much easier.

There is no time to lose, we must leave quickly.

After walking out for a short distance, I found that the private was still waiting outside, with a major and a captain waiting to be summoned beside him.

"Why does it take so long? Can we go see the captain now?" The leading lieutenant colonel looked very anxious.

"Of course!" Seeing that there were only three of them here, Lin Chen immediately attacked quickly with a knife, passing by the two Japanese officers at an extremely fast speed. The two men covered their necks in disbelief, but the blood spurting from their necks still made them speechless and they quickly fell down.

The private was stunned when he saw this. What was going on?
But subconsciously he wanted to run, but the dagger thrown by Lin Chen stabbed him in the heart.

Lin Chen walked over and pulled out a dagger, then took out two grenades and several bullets from their pockets.

The "turtle box" is really not worth looking at, and the saber is too cumbersome.

With these guys and the Type 38 rifles, is there no way we can get out?
He quickly arrived at the central arsenal on the Japanese high ground. Without wasting any time, he went up and killed two sentries. In the process, he made some noise, which alarmed the surrounding Japanese troops.

Hey!
Lin Chen decisively threw a grenade into the ammunition depot, and then quickly crawled out through a hole he had found long ago.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

There were constant explosions in the tunnel, as well as the screams and howls of the Japanese troops.

For a moment, the lifeless high ground was filled with flames, making the US military a little confused.

After suffering such a heavy blow, the Japanese army was obviously unwilling to give up, and immediately organized a dozen people to chase and kill them.
Lin Chen made full use of the high accuracy of the Type 38 rifle, killing one Japanese soldier with one shot, making the Japanese pursuit team begin to doubt their lives.

They even thought they were encountered by American snipers.

However, many Japanese soldiers came out from other passages one after another, holding Type 38 rifles and rushing towards Lin Chen desperately.

Could it be that he felt that he could not hold on and wanted to drag himself down with him?

At this critical moment, the U.S. naval guns opened fire.

The large-caliber naval guns covered the entire high ground with firepower, which made Lin Chen panic.

In desperation, he could only jump back into the tunnel to temporarily avoid the US artillery fire.

As a result, the Japanese soldiers in the tunnel did not hesitate when they saw someone suddenly coming in, and immediately confronted him with guns.
Lin Chen took great pains to get rid of the Japanese guards here.

The U.S. military launched a rare night battle. It is possible that they discovered that something had happened on the Japanese position, so they quickly provided fire coverage. The Marine Corps soldiers also took the opportunity to launch a general attack.

Lin Chen wiped out the Japanese brigade headquarters and destroyed the ammunition depot, so the Japanese resistance became extremely chaotic. The American army, which was not good at night fighting, actually took down most of the high ground overnight. When one of the troops passed the tunnel where Lin Chen was, they wanted to use flamethrowers, but Lin Chen quickly stopped them in English.

Especially when Lin Chen reported his unit number and rank, the American soldiers at the scene were also stunned. Breaking into the enemy camp alone?
Bro, do you have to be so awesome?
Americans admire adventurous heroes the most. For a moment, they regarded Lin Chen as a super fighting hero and immediately rushed to give him cigarettes and salute him.

If there were a war photographer here, I would definitely take a photo with him so I can brag about it when I get back.

Suddenly, a short burst of fire from the Japanese army came, and several American soldiers who had just relaxed were knocked down in an instant.

"Damn it, how did the navy fire their cannons?"

"This is not our naval gun, this is the Japanese 75mm mountain gun. Be careful, the Japanese are going to fight back!"

Indeed, after Sulin heard Lin Chen's voice in the command center, he realized that this high ground might be lost, but this place was crucial to the battle of Iwo Jima, so despite his limited manpower, he still put together three squadrons of troops.

After providing limited fire support with the division's artillery, they immediately launched a night attack.

Not many American troops succeeded in attacking the position, but perhaps they were already accustomed to the Japanese tactics, so they quickly built simple fortifications.

Lin Chen and others immediately joined the battle.

The Japanese attacked bravely, but they were facing the top-notch U.S. Marine Corps.

After the flares were raised, the Japanese attack formation was clearly visible. The 60mm mortar shells bombarded the Japanese army round after round, causing heavy casualties.

Perhaps they felt they were going to die anyway, so the Japanese army showed no fear at all. They continued to shout "Long live the US army" loudly and approached the US positions.

Several M1919 heavy machine guns formed a crossfire of death that could cover a large area with one sweep.

Although the Japanese army quickly used grenade launchers to kill the American troops, the exposed grenade launcher group was immediately suppressed by mortars.

Finally, a Japanese soldier rushed to the front and was about to throw a grenade.
The Browning M1918 squad machine gun opened fire again. Although there were only 20 rounds in the magazine, there were still many Thompson submachine guns and Spring rifles to replenish the magazines.

Lin Chen also picked up a Garand rifle and started shooting wildly.

This American rifle, which we affectionately called "Big Eight" during the War of Liberation, has a magazine that can hold 8 rounds of bullets, a very high rate of fire, and makes a crisp "choke" sound after firing.

He really likes this rifle, it's so easy to use.

At this time, the artillery on the battleship began to fire accurately according to the accurate coordinates reported from the position, and the large-caliber heavy artillery completely plowed the front of the US military position.

When the smoke cleared and they fired a flare to check, they couldn't find any living people, not even a complete body.

As follow-up US troops continued to arrive, the few remaining Japanese troops could no longer cause any major trouble.

By daybreak, everyone was nauseated by the scene before them.
There were broken limbs and arms everywhere, and a piece of bloody intestines was blown off and hung on the rock. The hanging part danced in the wind, which was indescribably creepy.

White brain matter was flying everywhere, no wonder the air smelled so bad.

Even Lin Chen, who was used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, couldn't help but feel his stomach churning.
The logistics of the US military is really first-class. Even at the front line, food is delivered very quickly. The hot milk, mashed potatoes and some green beans taste very good.

But no one had much appetite at that time, so they could only eat a few bites.

If the Japanese soldiers on the opposite side saw this scene, they would probably drool. Lin Chen had already seen how much stock the Japanese soldiers had last night.

If we keep doing this for a while longer, we might not even have any bugs left to eat.

Based on the intelligence provided by Lin Chen yesterday, the U.S. military readjusted its attack strategy, conducted overnight analysis and deductions on some possible fire points, and finally decided to use naval guns to aim directly at them and eliminate them one by one.

Then each attacking unit readjusted its firepower equipment, focusing on strengthening the machine gunners and flamethrowers. At the same time, at Lin Chen's suggestion, a group of soldiers with high shooting accuracy were mobilized to carry out precise fire suppression.

Through these measures, the US military's offensive efficiency has been significantly improved.

Sulin Zhongdao no longer had the composure he had at the beginning of the battle. His shiny black collar and haggard face showed that the battle situation was extremely unfavorable.

By now, the troops had run out of food, it hadn't rained, and there was no drinking water. The wounded could only wail in the aisles, and the only humanitarian measure that could be provided was to shoot them again.

His treatment was slightly better. The orderly caught a lot of insects from the tunnel for him. Sulin put them in his mouth one by one, chewed and swallowed them, and licked the wet areas on the rock wall when he was thirsty.

Even though the conditions were so difficult, he still did not change his determination to hold on to the end.

On his desk was a letter of surrender sent by prisoners from the American military commander.

It was reiterated that the highest respect was expressed for him and the Iwo Jima defenders he led for holding out until now.

They have fulfilled their military duties, and it is meaningless to continue to resist. Considering the current situation on the island, the US military urged Surin Tadamichi and his men to lay down their arms, and the US military will strictly follow the Geneva Convention to ensure that the surrendered Japanese troops will receive the humane treatment they deserve.

There was also a telegram from the Japanese military headquarters next to it. The content was not much, "We hope to delay the US military's attack on the mainland as long as possible and make the greatest contribution to the final battle on the mainland!"

At the end of the telegram was a commendation from the military.

Some illusory verbal rewards, but it required more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers on the island to sacrifice their lives.

Sulin smiled slightly. He knew that even if he could hold off the Japanese army for another two months, he would still suffer a crushing defeat in the decisive battle on the home front.

The U.S. military is simply too powerful. Those idiots in the military have never set foot on American soil and cannot understand the disparity in national strength between the two countries, otherwise they would never rashly provoke the United States.

He took out photos of his family, his beautiful wife, his sensible son, and his elderly parents.
All of this is about to go away.

He used a short period of time to quickly write a letter home, instructing on his funeral arrangements. He also helped some illiterate service soldiers write letters home, which was probably the most meaningful thing they could do.

Soon, the US military's artillery bombardment began again, and more and more dust fell from the rock wall, which indicated that the US military's attack forces were getting closer and closer.

He carefully put away the letter from home, asked the orderly to hide it carefully, then straightened his military uniform and returned to his command post.

On March 1945, 3, after burning the military flag and sending a farewell message, Surin Tadamichi resolutely led the remaining troops to launch a final counterattack. After the failure, he committed suicide in despair by disembowelment.

The U.S. military officially announced the end of the Battle of Iwo Jima on that day.

In this bloody offensive and defensive battle, the casualty ratio between the United States and Japan was 1.23:1, which was also the only time in the entire World War II that the US military suffered more casualties than the other side.

(End of this chapter)