Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 780 Germany's Surrender

The commander of the 32nd Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, dispatched a part of his troops by barge to the coast behind the front line of the American offensive force to carry out landing operations and cooperate with the main counterattack force of the 32nd Japanese Army to launch an attack from the front.

However, the landing combat troops dispatched by Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru, commander of the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army, were discovered by the American army on their way because they did not receive strong support from the Japanese Navy and Air Force.

Immediately afterwards, the flanking landing force sent by Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army, was severely bombarded by destroyers and ground artillery of the American Navy. As a result, the flanking landing force was completely wiped out by the American army before it could even land.

As soon as the main attacking troops of the 32nd Japanese Army left the solid and hidden fortifications to launch a counterattack, they were immediately subjected to concentrated bombardment from the superior artillery fire of the American Army. As a result, this comprehensive counterattack organized by Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the 32nd Japanese Army, was completely crushed by the superior firepower of the American Army in less than 24 hours.

The comprehensive counterattack organized by Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army, was a loss that outweighed the gains. Not only did the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army lose a large number of combat officers and soldiers, but it also consumed a large amount of ammunition.

You know, Okinawa Island has been completely surrounded by the United States' army. The Japanese headquarters cannot even transport supplies to the Japanese troops on Okinawa Island. Therefore, the ammunition consumed by the Japanese 32nd Army's counterattack is even more difficult to replenish.

As the ammunition reserves of the various units of the Japanese 32nd Army were almost exhausted, the commander of the 32nd Army, Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, had to order all troops to save ammunition and required that each artillery piece of the 32nd Army had an average of only ten shells per day.

This comprehensive counterattack by the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army seriously affected the subsequent defensive operations of the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army on Okinawa Island. If the commander of the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru, had not launched this comprehensive counterattack, the personnel and ammunition lost in the counterattack could have allowed the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army to sustain the defense for a longer time.

On May 8, 1945, there was exciting news from the European battlefield. Germany, as an Axis power, announced its defeat and surrender. In order to celebrate the final victory on the European battlefield, every warship of the Allied Pacific Fleet off the waters of Okinawa Island, Japan, fired three shells at the Japanese defensive positions on Okinawa Island to congratulate the Allies on their final victory on the European battlefield.

The United States Army then deployed newly equipped flamethrower tanks and heavy tanks to attack the defensive positions of the Japanese 32nd Army. Under the cover of tanks, the United States Army braved the hail of bullets from the Japanese 32nd Army's defensive forces, rushed into the defensive positions of the Japanese 32nd Army's defensive forces, and crushed the trenches of the Japanese 32nd Army's defensive forces.

The flamethrower tanks of the United States Army fired napalm into the caves and tunnels where the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army was hiding. This time, the defensive forces of the 32nd Army of the Japanese Army could not hold on, and their defense lines were gradually broken through one by one by the offensive forces of the United States Army.

However, under the cover of darkness and smoke, Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the 32nd Japanese Army, quietly organized the 32nd Japanese Army's defensive forces to withdraw in an orderly manner to the next line of defense for defense.

Therefore, the battle between the 32nd Japanese Army responsible for defending Okinawa Island and the American Army attacking Okinawa Island developed into the situation where the 32nd Japanese Army's defense forces first held their ground, then the American Army's attack forces made a breakthrough with fierce fire support, and then the 32nd Japanese Army's defense forces retreated to the next line of defense and held on again, and this cycle repeated itself, which gradually reduced the defense area of ​​the 32nd Japanese Army under the attack of the American Army.

Since the beginning of World War II, although the Japanese army could not compare with the German army in terms of resources and quality, out of envy and yearning for the German army's airborne combat forces, the Japanese army and navy, which had always been unwilling to lag behind others, also began to form their own paratrooper units.

However, due to various reasons, the Japanese airborne troops have never been taken seriously, and the training of the paratroopers has long remained at the primitive basic projects such as tower jumping. It was not until September 1941 that the Japanese paratroopers began air training after obtaining airborne equipment provided by the German army. At the end of February 1942, the Japanese paratroopers finally completed their first real-life airborne landing.

When the Pacific War just broke out, the Japanese airborne troops participated in the southward advance and played a certain role in local battles. As a result, the Japanese airborne troops were touted by the Japanese headquarters as "divine soldiers sent from heaven". Later, the Japanese airborne troops were regarded as ace elite troops by the Japanese headquarters and hidden in the rear.

However, as the Japanese army suffered successive defeats in the Pacific battlefield, this elite Japanese airborne troop that the Japanese military headquarters was reluctant to use also became an important bargaining chip in the minds of the top leaders of the Japanese military headquarters to turn the tide of the Japanese army's defeat.

In November 1944, the Japanese Army's paratrooper unit was affiliated to the Advance Training Department under the Army Aviation. In December 1944, it was renamed the Advance Group, which was composed of the 1st Advance Regiment, the 2nd Advance Regiment and the Advance Flying Squadron. Each Advance Regiment had two Advance Regiments. Later, two gliding infantry regiments were formed. The strength of each regiment was equivalent to that of an ordinary infantry battalion of the Japanese Army at that time.

In May 1945, Admiral Soetake Toyoda, commander of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, saw that the defense line of the Japanese 32nd Army on Okinawa Island was constantly retreating. In order to save the situation on Okinawa Island, he ordered the transfer of 120 officers and soldiers from the Japanese paratrooper unit to form the "Giretsu Airborne Team" to perform special attack missions. The team leader was Captain Michio Okuyama, a "burly man" in the Japanese airborne force who was 1.7 meters tall and weighed 80 kilograms. The unit was code-named "Giretsu Airborne Team" and planned to use twelve Japanese Type 97 bombers to transport this special attack airborne force to launch the so-called "Giretsu Operation."

On May 19, 1945, the Japanese airborne troops finalized the combat plan for "Operation Yoshiko".