Chapter 67 dead island

In the past, there were many high-level instructors in the Japanese aviation school, but after the outbreak of the Pacific War, most of them were dragged to the battlefield and rushed to death at the fastest speed like other old pilots . These instructors are finished, the quality and effectiveness of flight training can be imagined.Sakai saw with his own eyes that the level of pilots who received graduation certificates during the war was not as good as those students who were expelled from aviation schools before the war. Of course, time constraints are also an unavoidable problem.In normal times, students graduating from aviation schools have to spend a year in the Army Air Corps for internship and training before they can become aircraft carrier pilots.It is difficult to implement this rule at the moment. Most of the rookies who come to the aircraft carrier to fly carrier-based aircraft have less than 200 hours of flight time. Let alone open sea combat, it is difficult to pass the basic training.

The first item of the carrier-based aircraft ABC is the landing training, that is, how to land on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier.Sakai has never participated in sea combat, but he has also learned how to land a ship.According to his experience, this is a particularly difficult technique to master. He practiced it over and over again for a month before he finally learned it. The Japanese attack team preparing for takeoff on the flight deck.The number of qualified aircraft and pilots in the Japanese army was limited, but when fighting, there was a generosity of "stolen money that can't be used".

Sakai is the trump card educated by the elite soldiers, he is like this, let alone the rookies.The newly established First Aviation Battle has 300 pilots, at least half of them will take two months to barely land on the ship. Just like a baby learning to walk, if a carrier-based aircraft pilot can't land a ship, it means he can't walk.And before learning to walk, no matter how much the adults next to you help and worry, they cannot replace the baby.As the head of the United Fleet, Yamamoto naturally knows these inside stories better than others. Taking a step back, even if he doesn't install radar on the aircraft carrier and let the aircraft carrier come out in advance to escort the transport fleet, he can't protect the escort of the transport ship. Not only that, even the aircraft carrier has It is also unknown whether there is no life to escape.

Imamura thought that he was honored enough to come by the emperor's order, but he did not expect that Yamamoto unceremoniously rejected his request. Not only that, even the "Tokyo Express" was also stopped. Yamamoto's unfeeling is not incomprehensible. For example, the submarine force was originally an important strategic force. It can be used to attack and retreat. If used properly, it can even sink the US aircraft carrier "Wasp". It is said that it has fundamentally subverted its true use, and some people are ironically "cutting firewood with a razor", which directly leads to the decline of the submarine force's record.

The submarine crew couldn't figure it out either. As soon as they received the order, everyone looked depressed: "Oh, today is transportation again." Then they slowly got into the submarine. Yamamoto could still tolerate the submarine unloading the torpedoes and serving as a "submersible transport team". What he couldn't bear was that the submarine was likely to never return in order to transport some canned food: 38 Japanese submarines participated in the transport. Six ships have been sunk by U.S. patrol ships or torpedo boats in the port of Tulagi, and no one on board has been spared.

A destroyer who is forced to dance the "Bon Dance" as a "taxi" can be said to be overqualified.The design purpose of these destroyers is to be used in "decreasing operations" in fleet decisive battles, that is, to consume the opponent's vital forces to the greatest extent. Therefore, their main guns and torpedoes have strong firepower and fast speed. It is impossible for each type of ship to be comprehensive in design and construction, and to take advantage of everything.The Japanese destroyers have strong attack power, but weak protection, so they are not suitable for escort operations. Although it seems that the loss is not too large for the time being, who knows in the future?Yamamoto's suspension of the "Tokyo Express" was nothing more than to prevent the continued loss of destroyers and submarines, which would affect future naval battles.

Yamamoto weighed the gains and losses from his own standpoint, but the army would not consider it that way. In their view, the navy was so stingy that it refused to borrow lamps without fuel in broad daylight.Imamura was full of anger, but he had nothing to do about it. In order to solve Hyakutake's urgent need, he had to temporarily decide to send army planes to drop food. This is not only an impossible method, but it is indeed a bad idea that cannot be worse.The previous intelligence had accurately shown that the U.S. military had already controlled the air supremacy in the Solomon Sea area. In broad daylight, not even a seagull could escape the surveillance of U.S. pilots.

Japanese planes travel at sunrise, and after long-distance flights, they are often intercepted by U.S. fighter jets before they reach their destination.It was lucky to be shot down after a battle with the US plane. The most unfortunate thing was to escape the pursuit of the Japanese plane that had run out of fuel, which was tantamount to burying itself. Even if someone was lucky enough to fly over Guadalcanal, the food dropped in panic rarely fell into the camps of the Japanese army on the ground. Most of the parachutes with food bags attached to them either floated into the US defense line or were destroyed by anti-aircraft guns at Henderson Airport. .

Hyakutake thought that the arrival of Imamura would change the situation, but he didn't expect it to make things worse. The rice that was supposed to be delivered to Guadalcanal Island before November 22 had not been seen until November 23. Hunger replaced the counterattack of the US military and became the natural enemy of the Japanese army on Guadalcanal Island.Without food, the strong can still survive by digging grass roots to satisfy their hunger, while the weak have no possibility of survival.More and more people contracted malaria and dysentery, and soldiers fell in groups, lying in disorder on the barracks and positions.They opened their mouths wide like baby birds, humming and begging for something to eat with the last of their strength. Even if they put a mouthful of wild vegetables in their mouths, these people can close their eyes contentedly.

Since the Battle of Guadalcanal, this small island has been called "Island of the Dead", and now it lives up to its name.A soldier wrote in his diary: "The number of comrades who don't see the light of day is increasing day by day, they die forever, and the soldiers who starve to death go to heaven at night." The mysterious night ruthlessly devoured the living beings, and also gnawed at Hyakutake's heart. He lamented in the telegram sent to Imamura that the Japanese army on the island starved to death an average of 100 people every day, and the number continued unabated.If this development continues, Vandergrift can win without a fight, because it will not take long for the main force of the 17th Army to disintegrate and perish on its own.

Imamura panicked and hurriedly reported the situation to Tojo, hoping that the base camp could intervene and directly urge the navy to send a transport fleet. The scene when the Allied transport fleet in the waters of Guadalcanal Island was attacked by air.The plume of smoke on the water was not caused by aircraft bombs, but by downed Japanese aircraft. It can be seen that although the Japanese army also tried to cut off the opponent's supply line, it had little effect. Tojo also felt that it was very difficult. The difficulty of the navy was obvious. Even if the navy was forced to send out escorts, where to organize so many transport ships was also a problem. During the third Solomon naval battle, all the transport ships sent to Guadalcanal had already gone no reply. If there is no transport ship, civilian oil tankers must be requisitioned.After Japan occupied Southeast Asia, it mainly used civilian ships to transport Southeast Asian oil and other resources back to China. However, both the navy and army needed to requisition civilian ships, and the civilian ships gradually became insufficient. Japan itself is poor in resources. Even if it works overtime to build ships, it does not have so much steel.Tojo was forced to do nothing, so he had to turn to Germany for help, hoping to obtain 500,000 tons of ships and 1 million tons of steel.After negotiating for a month, I don't know how many telegrams were sent. Germany is only willing to give 10,000 tons of special steel, which is far from Japan's demand. Tojo scolded Hitler for this, saying that Hitler was really meaningless. Giving 10,000 tons of steel is better than giving nothing. This is not the Axis alliance, it is worse than shit. In the absence of foreign aid, if civilian ships are transferred to Imamura as transport ships, what will be used to transport southern oil in the future?What's more frightening is that the oil tanker has been transferred, will it still pave the way for Tiedi Bay like last time? In addition, there were nearly 20,000 Japanese troops on the island. According to the demand, at least 370,000 tons of supplies had to be added, which was not easy to raise. After a few difficulties, the base camp said no to Imamura. The Japanese army on Guadalcanal Island was dying of hunger, but Imamura’s promise of reinforcements as soon as possible seemed to be thrown into the Eastern Ocean, and it was still unable to be fulfilled. you. Imamura once told Hyakutake that two divisions of the 18th Army would be sent to Guadalcanal for reinforcements, and Hyakutake frightened the other party in the telegram: "When the two divisions you reinforce arrive, I doubt how many people will survive on the island. " Imamura was caught in the middle, all he could do was to forward Hyakutake's telegram to Tokyo intact, and let the base camp figure it out. The attitude of the base camp after seeing it was still indifferent and did nothing, which angered the Army Staff Headquarters.