Battle of Leopoldville - 10th to 25th of August, 1948
While Admiral Yamamoto sailed off East Africa awaiting a reply from the Navy Minister that likely would never arrive, the Naval Landing Force advanced on the Belgian capital-in-exile at Leopoldville.
The plucky Belgians had their "little gray cells" about them and had setup an impressive in-depth defense plan from the Inkisi river to around the city. The Japanese Yokohama NLF division under Otani hit the first line along the Inkisi river and had to take some 10% casaulties and almost four days to get over the river defense line before making contact with the next layer of the defense just east of Madimba where the rail and road networks met at Sona-Bata.
In the meantime the NLF forces behind them pushed into the French Congo, but the stiff defense the Belgians were putting up prevented a follow on attack to the north by the Kure division which was instead directed to assist in taking Leopoldville. Still pushing on Leopoldville the Yokohama division had broken the second line and had bridgeheads over the Nguma on the outskirts of the capital. When the Kure division arrived on the 24th they found their compatriots engaged in bitter house to house fighting along the Boulevard Albert 1st in the downtown area. The Belgians were dug in with murderous fields of fire behind the mined Golf Course and Zoological Gardens, the Japanese were canalized into the streets to the north and south of this solid wall of fire, where they were blocked by armed barricades and rooftop sniping. The marine artillery was raining down on the city center and the engineers were blasting their way through the buildings along the sides of the Boulevard Albert 1st.
The Kure division was directed to circumvent the city center to the south, across the Aerodrome and up the Avenue de la Belgika and the riverside, splitting the Belgian defenses and crushing them against the Yokohama division still grinding against the Boulevard Albert 1st defenders. This brought the end to resistance in Leopoldville after fifteen days of harsh combat.
While Admiral Yamamoto sailed off East Africa awaiting a reply from the Navy Minister that likely would never arrive, the Naval Landing Force advanced on the Belgian capital-in-exile at Leopoldville.
The plucky Belgians had their "little gray cells" about them and had setup an impressive in-depth defense plan from the Inkisi river to around the city. The Japanese Yokohama NLF division under Otani hit the first line along the Inkisi river and had to take some 10% casaulties and almost four days to get over the river defense line before making contact with the next layer of the defense just east of Madimba where the rail and road networks met at Sona-Bata.
In the meantime the NLF forces behind them pushed into the French Congo, but the stiff defense the Belgians were putting up prevented a follow on attack to the north by the Kure division which was instead directed to assist in taking Leopoldville. Still pushing on Leopoldville the Yokohama division had broken the second line and had bridgeheads over the Nguma on the outskirts of the capital. When the Kure division arrived on the 24th they found their compatriots engaged in bitter house to house fighting along the Boulevard Albert 1st in the downtown area. The Belgians were dug in with murderous fields of fire behind the mined Golf Course and Zoological Gardens, the Japanese were canalized into the streets to the north and south of this solid wall of fire, where they were blocked by armed barricades and rooftop sniping. The marine artillery was raining down on the city center and the engineers were blasting their way through the buildings along the sides of the Boulevard Albert 1st.
The Kure division was directed to circumvent the city center to the south, across the Aerodrome and up the Avenue de la Belgika and the riverside, splitting the Belgian defenses and crushing them against the Yokohama division still grinding against the Boulevard Albert 1st defenders. This brought the end to resistance in Leopoldville after fifteen days of harsh combat.