ushernet Chapter 771: Erosion Step by Step
Chapter 771: Erosion Step by Step
On March 16, 1945, the 57th Task Force of the United States Navy set out from Manus Island and arrived at the United States Navy's naval base in Ulithi on March 20 for replenishment and a short rest. Then on March 23, the 57th Task Force of the United States Navy set sail from the Ulithi naval base and sailed towards the Sakishima Islands.
On March 26, 1945, after the 57th Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater arrived 100 nautical miles south of Miyako Island, the main island of the Sakishima Islands, it immediately dispatched carrier-based aircraft to bomb the Japanese airport on Miyako Island.
The 57th Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater was mainly composed of British warships. There were four 23,000-ton British aircraft carriers in the 57th Task Force. The displacement of these four aircraft carriers was almost the same as that of the Essex-class aircraft carriers of the American Navy, but there were only 36 carrier-based aircraft, which was only half of the number of aircraft carried by the Essex-class aircraft carriers of the American Navy.
This is mainly because the flight deck, ammunition compartment, engine room and other vital compartments of the British aircraft carrier are all equipped with 50 mm thick armored steel plates. With such armor thickness, the British warships have much stronger survivability than the American warships when facing the fatal impact of the Japanese kamikaze suicide planes.
However, due to the small number of carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carriers of the 57th Task Force in the Pacific Theater of the Allies, Admiral Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Theater of the United States, ordered the escort aircraft carriers of the 1st Squadron of the 52nd Task Force to cooperate with the aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom to carry out repressive bombing on the Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands and northern Taiwan, China.
After several days of air strikes, the Allied Pacific Theater's 57th Task Force and the 1st Squadron of the 52nd Task Force caused serious damage to the Japanese air forces and airport facilities in the Sakishima Islands and northern Taiwan, China.
At this point, before the United States' landing fleet arrived in the waters of Okinawa Island, the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carriers of the Allied Pacific Theater's 58th Combined Fleet and 57th Task Force had effectively weakened the Japanese air force in the south and north of Okinawa Island, further isolating the Japanese troops on Okinawa Island.
When the commander of the United States landing fleet, Admiral Turner, was formulating the landing operation plan for Okinawa Island, he proposed to first send part of the troops to seize the Kerama Islands occupied by the Japanese army.
On March 17, 1945, Rear Admiral Brandy, commander of the 52nd Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater, Rear Admiral Kieran, commander of the 1st Squadron of the 51st Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater, Major General Bruce, commander of the 77th Division of the United States Army, and Colonel Hanlon, commander of the Underwater Demolition Squadron, jointly formulated a landing operation plan for the Kerama Islands.
According to aerial reconnaissance by American aircraft, the American Navy discovered that the Japanese defense on the Kerama Islands was very weak. Therefore, the American army changed its original plan of using a reinforced battalion to capture the Kerama Islands one by one, and decided to use the offensive force of the 77th Division of the American Army to carry out landing operations on the six larger islands of the Kerama Islands at the same time, striving to capture the Kerama Islands in one fell swoop.
On March 23, 1945, Rear Admiral Brandy, commander of the 52nd Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater, commanded the 52nd Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater, which consisted of 18 escort carriers, 15 destroyers, 19 frigates, 70 minesweepers, as well as some small ships such as gunboats and submarines, and began to sweep mines in the approach channel of Okinawa Island.
The combat mission of the 52nd Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater was to support the landing operations of the American army. The escort aircraft carrier dispatched carrier-based aircraft to bomb Japanese positions and fortifications on Okinawa Island and Kerama Islands, and at the same time, cover the minesweeping operations of ships at sea.
On March 25, 1945, two cruisers and three destroyers in the support formation began to carry out preliminary fire preparation against the Kerama Islands occupied by the Japanese army. At the same time, they covered the underwater demolition brigade to reconnaissance the beach conditions at the landing sites of various islands in the Kerama Islands.
As a result, the United States Underwater Demolition Brigade responsible for reconnaissance discovered that the underwater reefs at the scheduled landing points on the two islands of Kuba Island and Yakahi Island were densely covered with reefs. The landing craft of the United States Army could not drive directly onto the beach and could only use tracked landing vehicles. As a result, the number of existing tracked landing vehicles in the landing force of the 77th Division of the United States Army could not meet the needs of landing on the six islands of the Kerama Islands at the same time. Therefore, the United States landing force temporarily changed the combat plan and only carried out landing operations on the four islands of the Kerama Islands.
In the early morning of March 26, 1945, 11 battleships, 11 cruisers, 24 destroyers and 8 frigates of the 1st Squadron of the 51st Task Force of the Allied Pacific Theater began to carry out artillery preparation on Okinawa Island to attract the attention of the Japanese army and cover the landing operation of the offensive force of the 77th Division of the United States Army on the Kerama Islands.
At 4:30 a.m. on March 26, 1945, the support formation began artillery preparations before landing on the Kerama Islands.
At seven o'clock in the morning, the attack force of the 77th Division of the United States Army was transported by more than 430 landing ships and divided into four groups. With the support of the United States' naval and air firepower, they simultaneously carried out landing operations on Zamami Island, Aka Island, Keirume Island and Tochiji Island in the Kerama Islands.
The Japanese resistance on these islands was very weak. By the evening, the landing combat troops of the 77th Division of the United States Army had occupied the four islands of the Kerama Islands. The United States' naval ships also began to deploy buoys and other anchorage facilities in the Kerama Strait.
That night, the Japanese army also sent kamikaze suicide planes and suicide boats to launch a special attack on the landing American army. Although this Japanese attack caused some losses to the American army, it did not have much impact on the entire battle.
On March 27, 1945, the United States Army continued to expand its victory and launched a landing attack on the remaining islands of the Kerama Islands, and soon occupied the entire Kerama Islands.
On March 31, 1945, the 77th Division of the United States Army occupied Keise Island between the Kerama Islands and Okinawa Island.
Since Keise Island is less than six nautical miles away from Okinawa Island, after occupying Keise Island, the 77th Division of the United States Army dispatched a field artillery group consisting of two 155mm howitzer artillery battalions to quickly land on Keise Island and establish artillery positions to support the United States Army's landing operation on Okinawa Island that was about to begin.