On June 25, 1841, the sound of artillery roared in the Tsugaru Strait.
On the sea, two Kaga-class battleships of the Eastern Empire Navy were leading a group of heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers to fire fiercely at the defense line around Hakodate.
One after another, large-caliber shells hit the Russian defense line hard, causing considerable losses to the Russian troops stationed here.
In the sky, fighter planes of the Eastern Empire Army flew over.
Groups of Type 1 fighters and Type 97 fighters covered the Type 100 heavy bombers, Type 97 heavy bombers, and Type 97 light bombers, and dropped bombs on the Russian defense line.
Although the Russian army has been operating in Hokkaido Island for so many years and has built solid fortifications on the island. However, facing the large-caliber naval guns and fierce bombings of the Eastern Empire Navy and Army aircraft carriers, it still couldn’t hold on. After all, the shells of large-caliber naval guns and heavy aerial bombs can pose a great threat to these fortifications.
If the Russian army deploys heavy troops on the 03 defense lines and wants to fight hard on the coast to resist the attack of the Oriental Army. Then it can be predicted that under the terrifying bombardment and bombing of the Orientals, the Russian army will suffer heavy casualties.
And the Russian troops stationed on Hokkaido Island have already considered this situation. Therefore, each unit has been deployed specifically for this situation.
In short, the main force of the Russian army is deployed more than 20 kilometers away from the coast.
At this distance, it is impossible for the Orientals’ large-caliber naval guns to accurately strike the Russian defense line. Even if the range of large-caliber naval guns exceeds 20 kilometers, the hit rate is already very low at this distance.
And the threat posed to the Russian army is naturally much smaller.
In the coastal direction, the Tsarist Russian Empire Army only deployed a small number of troops. Facing the fierce bombardment of the Oriental Navy, these troops hid in the solid anti-artillery caves.
Moreover, the mission of these troops was not to fight the Russian army to death on the coast, but to retreat inland to the real defense line after a slight resistance.
Once the Oriental Army landed, they would be stubbornly blocked by the Russian army when they launched an attack inward. Even more, the Russian army could cover the landing point of the Oriental Army with heavy artillery, causing greater casualties and losses to the Orientals as much as possible.
The firepower preparation of the Oriental Army lasted only half an hour before it ended.
The 1st Infantry Division and the 11th Division of the 1st Army under the Northern Army took the lead in landing in Hakodate.
The landing Oriental Army encountered almost no decent resistance and landed successfully easily. Afterwards, the landing troops quickly approached the Hakodate Port, preparing to seize the port.
Once the port is captured, it will undoubtedly be easier for the Japanese Army’s subsequent troops to land. Especially those heavy equipment, such as tanks and heavy artillery of the tank unitHeavy artillery of the troops, etc.
But what the Japanese Army did not expect was that although the Russian army planned to abandon the coastal areas, it would not let the Japanese occupy the port so easily. Otherwise, the landing efficiency of the Japanese would be greatly improved. At that time, a large number of Japanese troops, especially those equipped with a large number of heavy weapons, would be able to land quickly, which would undoubtedly pose a great threat to the Russian troops stationed on Hokkaido Island.
Therefore, the Russian army buried a large amount of explosives in the port of Hakodate.
When the Japanese Army rushed into the port, the Russian army detonated these explosives as soon as possible.
"Boom! Boom!"
In the deafening explosion, the entire port was shrouded in smoke and fire. At the same time, the Japanese Army that entered the port also suffered heavy casualties.
This news made the commanders of the Japanese Army look pale.
Fortunately, the landing was relatively smooth. The Russian army’s resistance was very slight, which gave them hope of quickly taking over Hokkaido Island.
In the evening of that day, the main forces of the 1st and 11th Infantry Divisions of the Eastern Army had already landed in Hakodate. (To read the most exciting novels, go to Faloo Novel Network!)
The next step is to send more troops to the coast. Then, launch an attack inland.
Northern Honshu Island, Aomori, Eastern Army Northern Army Headquarters.
General Nobuaki Mita, the commander of the Northern Army, is very concerned about today’s battle. This is the first battle of the Eastern Army landing on Hokkaido Island. It is even the first battle of the Russian Empire against the Russians in this war. If it can be a victory, it will undoubtedly greatly boost morale and will be very beneficial to subsequent operations.
"Commander, the 1st Infantry Division and the 11th Infantry Division have already taken Hakodate. The Russians offered almost no resistance and chose to retreat. However, the only drawback is that the Russians blew up the port of Hakodate when they retreated. This has greatly affected our landing speed." Lieutenant General Rensuke Isogai, Chief of Staff of the Northern Army, reported.
General Nobuaki Shida frowned after hearing this.
"The Russians actually retreated without resistance? It seems that they don’t want to fight us near the coast and don’t want to be hit by our superior firepower. However, they blew up the port, which did cause us great trouble. Order the engineers to quickly repair the bombed port. In addition, build a simple dock as soon as possible. If we want to launch an attack inland, we must send the heavy equipment of the infantry up!" General Nobuaki Shida ordered.
"Hi, Commander!" Lieutenant General Rensuke Isogai replied.
"Also, notify the landing troops to be on guard against the Russian counterattack. Perhaps the Russians will use the evening to counterattack and try to drive the landing imperial troops into the sea!" General Shida Nobuhiro then ordered.
At night, the aircraft of the Eastern Army Air Force could not be deployed in the battle. At the same time, the seaThe firepower of the naval guns of the army will also be greatly limited. In addition, at this time, the landing troops of the Eastern Army were not many.
Under such circumstances, if the Russian army launched a large-scale counterattack at night, even if it did not succeed, it would inevitably cause great losses to the Eastern Army.
"Hi, Commander!" Lieutenant General Isogai Lianjie nodded repeatedly.
As General Nobuhiro Shida expected, the Russian army did launch a counterattack at night after evacuating during the day.
However, the Russian army did not deploy infantry to launch a counterattack, but mobilized a large number of artillery, including the 210mm heavy howitzers of the heavy artillery brigade, the 155mm heavy howitzers of the artillery regiments of various infantry divisions, 105mm light howitzers, and rocket artillery brigades. There are also artillery of the Goryeo Kingdom Army, which implemented large-scale firepower coverage around Hakodate. .
